Dealing with non-riders.

I have been dating this girl for about 7 months and she will not ride a roller coaster that goes up-side down, or higher then 100 feet. I have been trying and trying to get her to ride other coasters, but all my effort has been a complete disaster. She whines and complains that I spend to much of my time at parks instead of being with her and I ask her every time if she wants to go, but it's always the same: "Why would I spend $40.00 to wait for you to ride a roller coaster?". Well, this is getting very very annoying, I have made her watch every single roller coaster show there is, to prove that coasters are completing safe, however, she has this thing about airtime, she just does not like it. I on the other hand look for coasters that are going to mend to my airtime addiction. Is there anyway that I can convince her that she's not going to die from airtime? Any Suggestions?

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Everybody loves me, and I intend on keeping it that way.
-Cruel Intentions
* *** This post was edited by Goober on 8/5/2001. ***
I went to Florida in June with a friend of mine and her daughter who is 14. Her daughter was deathly terrified of riding even the kiddy coasters. We hit all of the major parks in Florida over that week and during the first part of the week we gave her major grief about not riding, but we were there to have a good time too, so she just had to wait. Finally, we just took the approach and said that it was ok if she just didn't want to ride, and let it be.

On the last day we were there, at IOA, we convinced her to ride the Flying Unicorn and she had a good time. She rode it several times, but was still reluctant to consider anything bigger, so we let it be.

About a half hour before the park closed, on our last day there no less, we got in line for our last ride on the Hulk, and as we pulled into the station, there stood her daughter in line! We were shocked to say the least, and she looked terrified. I didn't know how she was going to react so I asked my friend, and she said she would either get off crying or dying to go again. Needless to say, she got off with a huge smile on her face and had to run around for one last ride!

It was amazing to see someone experience their first "real" coaster and enjoy it. We even extended our vacation one day so we could go back on Saturday and let her ride some more, including Dueling Dragons. No question that the jump from the Flying Unicorn to the Hulk and DD was a huge one, but if a 14 year old girl can do it, anyone can!

I think your best bet is to get her to go with you , but just lay low, don't pressure her to go on the rides with you, just let her see how much fun everyone who is getting off had and see where that goes. One other thing we did was to get her to wait in line with us, making sure that she knew all she had to do was walk right through the train and not ride. That helped her get over her "fear of the unknown" as she was able to see how the loading process worked and the everyone came back to the station in one piece lol

Good luck in your attempt, as I don't know anyone that didn't love coasters after they got that first ride. I assume she has ridden some smaller woodies from the way that you wrote your question, so you already have a good start as we couldn't even get her on the kiddy coasters.
I was terrified of coasters until my brother forced me to sfmm last january. My brother tricked me first by saying "Oh, Lets go on a kiddie ride" I believed him and I went on revolution. I was terrified and I closed my eyes the whole time, After that we went on viper which I hated. The last ride we went on was riddlers revenge, I begged him not to bring me on it, I almost cried and for the whole ride I closed my eyes. I realized I was acting stupid and i went on revolution 2 more times and I liked it.
What you do is you point out a little kid thats barley tall enough and say,"If he/she can do it, then so can you!"
If that dosent work tell her that you will hold her hand and never let go until the rides over.

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SFMM went from Amusment Park to Xtreme Park.They skipped Theme park :)
Is there a over the counter drug that world relax her so maybe she wouldn't be so uptight?

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Everybody loves me, and I intend on keeping it that way.
-Cruel Intentions
Uhhhh I hope she dosnt know your wrighting this.

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SFMM went from Amusment Park to Xtreme Park.They skipped Theme park :) *** This post was edited by Xtremerider86 on 8/5/2001. ***
Dang, I feel sorry for you. Maybe you would start her of with junior/family/kiddie coasters, and then get to the small wooden coasters and then to the small steel coasters (Corkscrew). That's all I can think of. Sorry

Good luck, though;)

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Top 5 Coasters:
1)Raging Bull 2)Millennium Force 3)Medusa (SFMW) 4)Vertical Velocity (SFGAm) 5)Incredible Hulk, The
Ahh, dump her.

Just kidding.

It's hard to change someone's mind if they're dead set against riding. I have an aunt who will NOT ride rollercoasters, no matter what, and she's in her 30's.

Maybe making her watch coaster shows was a bad thing. She's probably afraid that if she goes on a coaster she will end up like Magnum Dan. :o)

Seriously though, if this is becoming such an issue that she's whining and complaining about you not spending time with her blah blah blah, then maybe she isn't for you. Sounds like your issues run deeper than just the fact that she doesn't like rollercoasters. Either take some time away from the parks or take some time away from her, I think you'll find that one of the two will help.

-Natalie
Who vowed she'd never date another enthusiast....mrah.

*** This post was edited by AirtimeSROS on 8/5/2001. ***
I was scared to death of roller coasters untill the school band trip to cedar point. I didnt go on an ride untill about 8 oclock right before we were about to leave i saw how much fun they were having and thaught nowone has died yet on this ride i was eventually peer pressued in to riding raptor i had soo much fun now i love coaster so bring some freinds and try to get her on a good ride
Its probably best to let her deal with it herself since the fear is probably psychological by now. If you get her on a Woodstock Express or something she will maybe enjoy it and want more of it.

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Beeman65
Assistant Webmaster
Kennywood Park Unlimited
www.kpunlimited.com
LuvRaptor's avatar
"Ahh dump her"

Good answer Natalie!! ;)

Thankfully I've never had to worry about something like that! I had a b/f once who THOUGHT he could keep up with me @ CP (this was 3 years ago) he ended up getting sick. He went and layed down in the car--me? I rode Raptor till the park closed. 32 laps that night. B/F was fine, not happy I didnt "check up on him" (PLEEASE-I was busy riding!) but KNEW better than to even hint for me to leave cause he got sick. I can handle solo trips to CP so if I had a b/f who didnt like it then his butt can stay home.....no biggie to me. Luckelly for me my b/f now loves CP and Raptor and handles my obsession quite well :)
I dont tolerate someone whining about the things I adore too well!!!

Jo
2000 Raptor Crew
2001 Raptor Crew
Po!nter Girl-FOREVER! :)
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When the floor's gone, so are you-see you back here in 2 32!
I used to be a non-rider myself for a few years. Nothing influenced me at all, not even my best friends. It is pretty much a decision your girlfriend will have to make. The more pressure the less she'll want to do it.
When I was younger, I was scared of coasters. All through Childhood, teens, even when I was 20 years old - I went on Gemini, Blue Streak, and Corkscrew (once) and it was a BIG deal for me to go on those rides.
Well, I didn't go to Cedar Point for approx. 17 years and then, 2 years ago, at the age of 37 YEARS OLD, I stopped being scared of coasters. I went on Blue Streak, Gemini, Demon Drop, Power Tower, Corkscrew, RAPTOR, & MAGNUM!!!
I am looking forward to going back later this month and trying MANTIS & MILLENIUM FORCE!
I'm even trying to talk my husband into a trip to California (SFMM) next year to go on X! :)
So, you never know when someone is going to suddenly realize that they like coasters.
My freind will drive 140mph on the freeway, but won't go on coasters. Execpt for the ones at Disneyland.
spring break i took my little brother and his two friends to IOA and one of them was terrified of coasters, but as we walked in both my little brother and the other guy immediately wanted to go on Hulk, so i pretended that i was afraid too, and told him that i'd go on it if he would go.. that seemed to work, he came off saying "that was awesome!"

later that day we were going on DD and my little brother wanted to go front seat on ice, but the guy chickened out again, so we walked out of the line, and waited for them. we waited right where you could see the blue train brake, and he pointed all the little children that were barely tall enough to ride and said "they're smaller than i am and they don't look scared." i think he felt stupid for being afraid.. i told him he'd enjoy it just as much as the last one..

long and short, he ended up going on DD like 4 times that day, and the Hulk 3 times, and we even got him on Dr. Doom's Fearfall..

if you want to convince someone that coasters aren't "scary" you have to take them on something big, but that's not too intense.. i mean on the Hulk, you get a tingle in your stomach during the launch, but after that you're just stuck to your seat and you don't feel anything, kinda like on one of those Expresso rides. i don't think if we'd gone on a woodie with lots of airtime that my little brother's friend would be have been "cured" that day..
In some cases people can have vertigo which could be something serious for some people while others are just whiny and annoying. I was going to pcw with 5 of my friends......and one of them was scared of everything. So I told her that she could wait and sit outside.
Stuff happens and then I told her to try Drop Zone (Intamin Giant Drop) and that once she gets off it...no other ride would be as bad. How did I get her to go on it? Easy I told her you don't really know whether it's scary or not unless you try it....if u do go on it and don't like it fine, but you can't judge till you try.......
That there is a really good point.

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Everybody loves me, and I intend on keeping it that way.
-Cruel Intentions
My Brother hates pretty much all rides. I'm the only one in my family with a coaster addiction. So, whenever I go to a park, its usually with my best friend or my aunt, who both love rides...My aunt just took to to PKI and CP!
joe.'s avatar
Jo,

You sound like the girl for me. Ill be sure to say hi this Wed.
Are you sure she's scared? Maybe she just doesn't like being banged around. That's why my wife hates coasters. She's certainly not scared as she enjoys smooth coasters, including Millennium Force. But anything with the slightest jolts (i.e., anything wooden, Arrow rides), she will not ride.

It is very frustrating, because I feel guilty going to parks with or without her. But hey, coasters are only a part of life. You have to choose which is more important to you: a human being or a machine. I still take coaster trips, but in moderation, mostly as side trips on other vacations.

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