I Take That Back
I just can’t not write about this.
We just saw a Six Flags commercial which tried to claim that Six Flags Magic Mountain is the roller coaster capital of the world. Being from Northwest Ohio, I know this to not be true. Cedar Point has and always will hold that title, as far as I’m concerned. I looked up the park to show my husband some pics of the park’s newest coaster, which by now is a few years old. Then we scanned through the specs to what kind of crazy ride this is.
I’m talking about the Top Thrill Dragster, which I don’t know if I will ever have enough guts to go on, even if you combine all of my past lives. It has a 90 degree angle of descent, but, oh yeah, a 90 degree angle of ascent too. Anyway, I’m scanning and pretty soon I come across this little spec:
“Fiberglass and steel coaches with individual lap bars, interlocking seat belts and padded head restraint systems. May not accommodate Guests of Exceptional Size.”
They capitalized it. Like it’s like Rodents of Unusual Size or something. Hilarity in the name of political correctness?
DUDE – seriously – the ONLY reason I went to school day every in eight grade was so I could go on the end-of-year eighth grade field trip to The Point. Please, Six Flags doesn’t have anything on the Magnum and the Mean Streak and, oh, yes, that ancient Blue Streak coaster, which is really the scariest one because if I remember correctly, the seat bars don’t go down very far and you constantly feel like you’re going to fall out. Plus, the thing must’ve been constructed in like 1823. Which makes it all the more awesome, of course. Somewhere in my mother’s photo albums there is a pic of me standing in line for the Blue Streak, dressed in all flourescent colors, as was the style, and sporting a gigantic NKOTB pin. God I love the early 90s. Yay for The Point!!
once i (mostly) conquered my fear of coasters, i found the gemini to be my favorite—that first drop was just divine in the front seat. we went for physics day my junior year and i rode the mean streak (my biggest coaster to that point) but my friends couldn’t get me on the magnum… i rode the witches wheel over and over for like an hour and a half till they were finished. several years later i dragged my terrified cousin on the mantis and the minute he was off he wanted to go back on. i love how roller coasters can do that to you!