Roller Coasters and Scared Kids

 

You know what is probably annoying.  Seeing some parent drag their kid on to a roller coaster kicking and screaming.  I say probably because I am not sure what it looks like from the other side.  I am that parent and I felt like we were being annoying. 

 

A lot of people just gasped.  “What, you forced your child to ride a roller coaster against her will, that could traumatize the poor thing.”  First of all, not just a roller coaster, but, Bizarro, the #2 coaster in the world that has a 221ft drop at a 72 degree angle.  Second, she isn’t a poor thing.  She is almost 11 years old and almost as big as I am. 

 

Yes I ignored her as she made complaints before even getting in line and for the entire hour it took us to get through the line.  Once in the gate, the tears and screams started.  She held to the bars of the gate with a vice like grip that were not easily pried away.  Forced to sit in the seat and locked in before she get out and make a run for it, she pleaded to the ride attendant that she didn’t want to do this and he calmly reassured her that she was going to like it.  Haha, someone on my team.  She told me she hated me. 

 

The ride starts and as we climb that 200 foot tower I point out that we can see the river and the rest of the park.  Hey look, we are higher than that ride that lifts you up and then drops you.  She isn’t interested, all she wants to know is why we are still climbing after 30 seconds.  Then the bottom falls out.  I don’t know if anyone has ever encountered a 72 degree free fall before but it feels like you are at about 110 degrees.  The speed picked up from the descent helps you climb another huge hill and drop again, then it is on to many more hills and twists and turns and through a tunnel before jerking you to sharp stop. 

 

I look over at her after we stop and she is smiling.  She said it wasn’t that bad, but I am pretty sure she isn’t ready to do it again…yet.  Sadly most other coasters she gets on afterwards are going to be a letdown.