Fear of Roller Coasters

I'm not a real fan of a slow lift up a huge hill. The most afraid I have ever been in my limited coaster experience was on Steel Force. It seemed like it took forever to get to the top..... wasn't a real fan of staring at the sky on Fahrenheit last time I was at Hershey.... or as my kids call it "The firey fist o'pain" (obscure Spongebob reference). But I didnt completely freak out.

After my first looping coaster, Sooperdooperlooper, the most horrifying ride I've been on is Millennium Force. Lake Erie looks like it's right beneath you! And Magnum to a lesser extent. But I more recently rode Bizarro at SFNE and the Connecticut River is a piece of cake.

I have no fear after these rides, despite my fear of heights. I worked on the 12th floor of a building in Boston and looking out the window was kind of scary, but a ride that height is no longer.

I personally didn't find Millennmium Force as scary as much as it was awesome. The first drop was very intense, I will admit.

I greyed out on Millennium's first drop this year. That was intense.

Interesting if you're into fear of amusement-park attractions, this year for the ol' Face your Fear program at Mount Union I decided to add flat/thrill rides to the mix and see what happened to the numbers, plus I just wanted to change things up a bit.

Typically, about 30% of the class ends up with a either a roller-coaster phobia or extreme high anxiety that we tackle. Same percentage this year.

With just the thrill rides (included in the survey was MaxAir, SkyHawk, Power Tower, Ocean Motion, Windseeker, and Witches Wheel), that number jumped to 54% of the class.

What's interesting to me is that some people with no fear of any roller coaster are absolutely terrified of a flat ride, and vice versa.

Any guess as to which the most feared flat ride at CP is (at least in my tiny sample)?

Windseeker?

Calypso?

Was Calypso the one with all the rocking cars that swing back and forth while spinning and lifting riders in the air? That thing made so much noise and looked so old it definitely scared the crap out of ME. *laugh*

Calypso:

I would guess the ferris wheel.

Definately the carousel

Oh, no, I'd like Calypso then.

Perhaps the Skyride?

In first place? Power Tower, by a pretty wide margin.

I always ask them to divulge some info as to what drives the fear and anxiety, and the most common comment was that this ride seems more prone to ride malfunction.

What you need to keep in mind is that people with high anxiety have an eye for it. That is, they look at a situation, they see what could go wrong, and then keep their focus only on that.

For this ride, specifically, the main catastrophic thought is that the ride will plummet down, and the brakes (the air I suppose) will not catch the car and simply let it collapse in a free fall into the ground.

Second place was SkyHawk, with the idea that the restraints will not hold anyone in and will essentially fling people tragically to their death, and in third place was Windseeker...mainly due to the height itself and "nothing to hold me in safely".

OhioStater said:
and in third place was Windseeker...mainly due to the height itself and "nothing to hold me in safely".

Well, the joke's on them. The real risk is getting stuck up there for half a day.

That's definitely an erection you don't want to get stuck on top of for more than four hours...

^Under either reading, it would be lousy to be a single rider...

[URL][URL][IMG]If you happen to be in the neighborhood on October 20th, come out and play.

[/URL]

I was terrified of the size, noise, and sheer "intimidation" factor of roller coasters (and most other rides) when I was a kid. I didn't like the idea of being strapped into something big and loud that was going to fling me around and I'd be powerless to get off or stop it if I didn't like it.

I gave into peer pressure during a high school trip to Six Flags, and got on Batman with my friends. I was petrified beyond words. Once the ride started, I literally thought I was going to have a heart attack and die, right there on the ride. I got off shaking and quaking, but after that... I was not afraid of anything lol. I spent the rest of the day on Great American Scream Machine and was in love with it.

Everyone has their own fears, and their own reasons for those fears. It's not our place to try and pick them apart and understand them. I've developed a serious fear of heights as an adult; no idea why. I can't look over a 2nd floor stair railing. But I still love coasters. As long as I'm securely strapped in, the height doesn't scare me. Go figure!

^^ I started off on Coasterbuzz petrified of anything over about 200 feet. Makes me laugh now.

I totally get the fear of heights but not coasters thing. I'll ride almost anything coaster related, but one of those Skycoaster things? No way. I don't even like driving over certain bridges and stuff like that. No one seems to get it since I'm such a coaster junkie, and I always tell them the same thing you said: I'm strapped in, I'm on a set course, and this thing is a steel (or wood) giant permanently installed in the ground. Not nearly the same thing.