Scared of Roller coasters

My friend.....his name is Jon....HE DOESNT LIKE THE LOOPS OF A ROLLER COASTER AND THE "BIG"DROP. This year he is gonna come to cp with me and i want some useful ways to get him to go on the roller coasters. Plz help

blinfold him.

Don't drag him off to the biggest or the "loopiest" ride first. Ride the smaller ones like Iron Dragon or CCMR first and build your'e way up to the bigger ones.

Just try to assure him that once he faces his fears and just rides whatever it is that he's scared of, he WILL like it. And thats the truth. Ive never seen it otherwise.

You both will have a much more pleasant day if you don't push him to ride what he isn't ready to take on. Instead, offer them to him in a reasonable order, from mild to wild, as Coaster File suggests. Also, it might be easier to get him to try the first few if he can see the entire layout before getting on the ride---think Blue Streak or maybe Gemini, as opposed to Disaster or ID.

Finally, don't go with him if you aren't ready to spend a day without a ride on any of the bigguns.

You might also want to put RCT in his hands for a while. I had a friend who hated roller coasters, but as soon as he got into making them and figureing out what makes them thrilling to the little peeps, he got on some and is now an addict.

I would show him all the wheels and saftey features on the ride. Believe it or not many people don't know there are more wheels than the ones that just ride on top of the track. The first coaster I would start on would be dt because you can't see how high you are or the drop.

TTD was built, TTD was broke, TTD is alive

You may not be able to get him on many coasters. Some people just don't like them. Don't try to force him to do something that he really doesn't want to do.

You could try to explain to him that they are safe and that nothing is going to happen to him. Maybe you could tell him riding a coaster is like going to a haunted house, you want to get scared to get a rush, but you know that nothing bad is going to happen.

Like Brain said, you may just have to spend the day on milder rides. What fun is it if the both of you are not enjoying yourselves?

From personal experience, I was afraid of roller coasters but one ride on Geauga Lake's Corkscrew opened my eyes. I hated the hills so this wasn't too bad for me. Since you'll be at CP, do as others suggested and start with something small. I don't recommend DT as it could be scarier if he doesn't know what he is getting himself into. Good luck! Hopefully you'll have him on TTD by the end of the day. Also, how old is this person you are getting onto the coasters?

Two of my closest friends hate rollercoasters. Eight years ago a big group of my friends and I went to CP after Prom. I convinced one of my friends who hates Roller Coasters to ride the wildcat. We told him it was the mildest coaster in the park. When he got off he was as white as a ghost. We asked him what he thought and he responded with a screaming, "F--- You."

He has not ridden a roller coaster since...

Telling someone nothing bad is going to happen worked for me on Magnum 4 years ago, I was all panicy and scared, but then this 7 year old girl standing in front of me forced me to go on it so I didn't look like a COMPLETE chicken ;). After the lift hill I loved every second of the ride, so I guess convincing them and reassuring them over and over and over an.. well, you get the point, will work!

I agree not to force anyone on a coaster, especially a hypercoaster. I got my co-worker to go on Phantom's Revenge with me, a few years ago, and he told me later that he almost fell over trying to use the urinal afterwards. To say he was shocked was an understatement. Start smaller if you can. For example, he handled Exterminator fine the two times he rode (and this was after he told me he didn't like rides that spin. Ooops...I forgot to metion the spinning part hehehe.)

I suggest you start him on Woodstock Express and then Cedar Creek Mine Ride. Those should help him build up his courage, but if he can't handle those then no use in pushing him further.

Today, "Holiday Park" in Germany, home of "Expedition Ge Force" has announced to offer the worlds first "Anti-Rollercoaster-Fright-Seminar"!

Participants will be lectured by three experts (technical expert, coronary specialist and a conductor of anti-flight-fear-seminars). The seminar will end, of course, with rides on "EGF".
The seminar will cost 99€ (including entrance to the park and a hotel room) and will take place on May 21st.

I think this is a brilliant idea and a very good PR stunt. On the other hand, its funny that a park whith only two coasters (the other being a Corkscrew) is offering such a seminar.

I´d guess that more enthusiasts than "patients" will participate.

I used to be scared to death of rollercoasters, until my best friend in high school dragged me onto Maggie. I have loved coasters ever since.

Like most of the other folks in this thread have posted, don't push him if he doesn't want to do it. Coming from someone who was scared to death of coasters for the first 27 years of his life, I can tell you that a person will ride when he or she is ready to. Trying to force him to do something that he doesn't want to may put him off from trying it even more. If it is the climb up the lift hill and subsequent drop that frighten him, definitely start him out on the smallest coasters first and then work your way up from there. The first park I "did" after riding my first coaster was Hershey Park and it was a great beginners park. We started out on the small stuff first like the Wild Mouse, Trailblazer, and Rollersoaker, coasters that got me used to going up a lift hill and then worked our way up from there to the bigger coasters like The Comet, The Sooperdooperlooper, and The Great Bear. Something that my wife taught me and worked for me on the drops is to scream or yell going down them. A lot of first timers hate that feeling of having their stomach drop out and doing something vocal can really help to alleviate that. As for the loops, my only advice would be to start out on the Corkscrew and go from there. Once he hopeuflly realizes that inversions won't make him sick and are actually fun than you can both go up from there. Good luck and hopeuflly you can have him riding the tall stuff by the end of the day. Don't be surprised though if your riding MF and TTD by yourself at the end of the day as some of Cedar Point's more extreme stuff may be too much for a inexperienced person to handle on their first day.

Well, userx, I have one major piece of advice: don't go in with that attitude. Thinking "I'm going to get him on these rides" will only intimidate him and make you unhappy. Instead, don't mention it, or do anything. Then, ride Raptor, and try to read the look on his face when you just leave him alone on the midway. Contrary to what some say here, you may end up pressuring him to go on something. But do that if and only if you're sure he'll regret not riding the next day. If it seems like he really doesn't want to ride, don't make him.

Now, if he does really want to ride... Start him out on CCMR or Iron Dragon. I'd recomend ID, as it looks intimidating, but is really a rather fun ride (without a big drop). Then I'd nail him with Blue Streak, Gemini, or Corkscrew. If he's still game, I would introduce him to a little girl named Maggie... but for God's sake, don't put him in the ejector seat, and make sure his seatbelt's fairly tight!!

I'd say if you want to get him on a bigger ride, like TTD, sit and watch it for a bit and point out all of the happy little kids getting off of it. Hopefully he'll see that if an 8 year old can not only handle the ride but enjoy it, then he should have no problem. Of course, this could backfire if you see somebody crying as they get off, but that's a little less common.

I guess I'm not an expert on this subject though because pretty much all of my friends either like or love coasters.

My best friend David used to hate roller coasters. The way I got him into it is to pick somthing large and smooth and have him do that. Like we went to valleyfair I told him that if he went on the wild thing first thing then he could pick the rides the rest of the day. I had to throw in five bucks but he did it. And liked it so since he did that he liked roller coasters and I had no problem with the rides he picked because most of them i dwould have picked anyway.

tricktrack, there has been numorous seminars like that in the states. 2 sessions have been broadcast in some coaster shows on Discovery Channel, one at Santa Cruz on the Big Dipper, and one at IOA, on Hulk.