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what goes up...

One more thing before I go.

Here's the current fight in our house: We will be making an outing to Six Flags Great Adventure in June. The daughter can't wait to go on the new roller coaster, Kingda Ka, billed as the tallest, fastest roller coaster on earth (specs here).

Kingda Ka will break all existing world records for speed and height. It will rocket riders horizontally from 0 to 128 miles per hour in 3.5 seconds before vertically catapulting them 456 feet (45 stories) into the air.

Would you let your child get on that thing? Would you get on that thing? Ok, I know Keith would. But would you?

Go ahead, click the large size. Am I the only one who gets vertigo and a sick sense of dread looking at that?

She makes several trips a summer to Great Adventure with her father. I will be none the wiser if she goes on the coaster with him. But I am forbidding her to ride this thing when she's with me.

Unreasonable? Probably. Projecting my fears onto my children? Most certainly. Giving in? Nope. That thing is a disaster movie of the week waiting to happen and I'll be damned if my child is going to be played by some has-been actress in USA's version of Coaster!(aka Distaster at Six Flags).

[Armchair psychiatrists may determine that I am angry at myself for being such a fearful wimp and really wish I could ride this thing, and thus am subconciously depriving my daughter of the thrills she will have on this coaster simply because I cannot share the same thrill. Fine. Whatever. Maybe.]

Update: HAH. She looked at the specs and decided she doesn't want to go on it, because of the quick acceleration speed. She went on the new one at Hershey last year, which was then billed as the fastest coaster, and she didn't like the whiplash feel. I never even had to say a word to her about me not wanting her to go on it.

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If you ever see me in the queue for that thing feel free to slap me around a little. There isn't a chance I'd let my kids (if I had any) go on it - not because I'm worried they'd die, but if they are dumb enough to not be crapping themselves at the very sight of it then I haven't raised them correctly.

P.S. I don't envy you the wisdom tooth extraction. I've got two impacted wisdom teeth on the left side of my mouth, but I choose to live with pain and pop aspirin rather than go through the pain of an extraction.

I can't handle rollercoasters of any size whatsoever - I even had trouble with the little one at Toon Town in Disneyland.

Yeah, I'm a wimp. And my daughter finds this to be an endless source of amusement. Luckily for her, she has a friend whose mom loves rollercoasters and takes them to Great America often enough to keep her happy.

Would I let her go on THAT thing? Hell, no. And I don't think I'd even want to know if she went with someone else.

So, no...I don't believe you're being illogical at all. Hey...being a mom is a tough job just with the everyday stuff. Expecting us to cheerfully send our kids off to be flung out into the stratosphere is just too much to ask.

Not just no, but HELL no. I have zero problem embracing my rollercoaster wimpiness. Eeeeek.

Hey Michele - It's funny, because Six Flags took a concept (or hired the same folks) that put this same coaster in at Cedar Point in Ohio, made it a few feet taller, and tweaked the "theme."

I pondered going on this last year, but chose not to. It looks really intense, and it's really specific about what you can be wearing, have on your person, etc., when riding. There are actually lockers at the bottom of the ride where you pretty much have to take off all metals, based on the magnets that are in the ride. And it's one of those things where they are very specific about height, and if you don't "fit just right" into the heavily belted in seat, then you don't ride. I might go this year if I head back out to Cedar Point, as it does look awesome from the stuff in the online videos - but the time coming back down in a twist is kind of crazy.

I would totally ride that! Woo hooo!!

Note to self: Alter vacation itinerary to include either NJ or OH.

okay... I didn't even realize there were people on it until I clicked the larger size!

and I soooo would not get on that thing because I definitely would be the one who peed myself, had a heart attack and/or passed out!

Don't worry, honey, that is just a mild psycotic reaction from the anethesia and painkiller. She'll be right as rain in a few days. Meanwhile, gather some good blackmail material, ask your aunt about the time your mom... Shh, here she comes.

One word... Cool!

But then I love coasters - not the old wooden variety but the high-tech, high-thrill modern coasters.

I suppose I drove my mother crazy too.

Hell yes I'd ride it and I fear heights where I can see the ground.

I think you;re being a wee overprotective. Nothing wrong with that in moderation. In the end...she is getting older, you're gonna have to let her win a few of these now and again. Plus, if you ultimately refuse, she'll resent the entire day instead of creating a fond memory with the family.

Roller Coasters never made me sick; it was the things that went round and round in one direction that upset my stomach. Anyway, hell yes I'd go and let my kids on too. Scary rides are rite of passage for teens. Who knows, she might find out she has it in her to become one of those Top Gunners when/if she joins the Air Force.

OK, let me add one more thing:

That's fucking INSANE. Straight fucking insane, and now I want to go ride it BAD. :)

That thing is frightening even in pictures. But apparently not to kids. My 7 year old saw it and wants to ride it. Fortunately he probably doesn't meet the height requirement yet, so I'll have a good excuse for wussing out the next time we are at Six Flags.

Having ridden Cedar Point's original Top Thrill Dragster (got lucky it was working on my visit ;-), this would actually give me a reason to want to visit NJ.

Unk

p.s. glad you're feeling better

Would I ride it? Not just no, but HELL NO!! I'm a total wimp about rides where I have no control over what's happening. But would I let my kids ride it? Yeah, I would.
This thing is just another example of the hardest part of parenting - letting (and watching) your kids make their own decisions (mistakes).

This is off topic but old topics seem to be revisted. All those "reasons" the DH is a good idea for picthers were disputed last night by Roger Clemens. :-)

...a sick sense of dread...
Ain't that the point?

I am not a psychiatrist...but I do play one on television.

Knotts in Ca has a similar one - about the same height, 0-80mph on about a 100 foot run-up, and the launch! It's a hoot. My only fear was we'd separate from the track at the apex, and become a smoking pit on La Palma, the street just outside the fence from the ride.

BTW, once you've gone over the top, the rest is just runout back to the loading platform.

Short ride, but intense.

Naturally, we had to go again.

;-)

Actually, those types of coasters are the least intense, because there's very little lateral g-force, and that's what tends to make people nauseous. All you're going to get on that one is an awesome feeling of weightlessness on your way down (like Superman at SixFlags Magic Mountain, which looks deadly, but is in fact the most boring ride ever devised by man). I bet your daughter will be disappointed if she's a real adrenaline junkie.

Oh HELL YES, I SO want to go on that :)

There's a ride in Las Vegas I saw on TV I want to check out to, that's like one of those "Giant Drop" rides where all the seats are around a pole and they lift you up to the top then drop you info freefall. The difference with the ride I saw on TV is they shoot you upward really fast so it seems like you're going to fly off the top... and the ride is on top of a skyscraper... muahahahaha....

Michele, cut the cord.

And these coasters are only intimidating because of the height. Beyond that, they're a one-trick-pony. A really good trick, but that's it.

The Coney Island Cyclone is a far more intense ride.

That said, I'd love to ride it.

My in-laws live right near Great Adventure.. looks like another good reason to go visit them this year. :-)

I love rollercoasters... any rollercoaster.

I thought it looked like the one at Cedar Point. I have yet to ride the Millennium Force yet, because the last time i was there, I was preggo :( But... this might be the year!

Nope.

But then again I have never been a fan of roller coasters.

I prefer things that spin you around so fast you become weightless and/or you throw up.

Oh...sweet Jesus...that thing...is a thing of beauty.

sniff

Go ahead, click the large size.

Oh yeah.

Sorry, it makes me tingly in all my happy places at once just looking at it, but I LOVE roller coasters.

So...she's going to ride it anyway with her father, but when she's with you, you're going to deny her that pleasure and make yourself out to be the hard-ass straight?

Just sayin'...not the Michele who was celebrating the rock'n'roll sounds coming out of her kids' rooms last week.

I've been on a lot of coasters, including Top Thrill Dragster, the slightly smaller cousin to this coaster. Top Thrill Dragster was extremely thrilling, but mostly from a visual aspect. It was not as gut wrenching as some kiddie coasters that I've been on. This may come as a surprise to some, but what makes a coaster a rough ride is not the speed or the height, but other factors, like how quickly you change direction. That's why some kiddie coasters are rough. And consider that when your flying in a plane, you're going much faster and higher than any coaster.

Still, fear is in the heart of the beholder.

I would SO ride that that it isn't even funny.

oh yeah, i'd totally ride that. about a hundred times.

that one may be the highest and fastest, but i think these rides at the Strat in Vegas are much more scary, just because they're all on the top of the highest building west of the Mississippi...

Get on it? I wouldn't go to a park with it in it!!! AND MY KIDS BETTER NOT TRY TO GET ON IT. I don't care if three of them are above 18. I've made my ruling!

I am sooo going to flyup there just to ride it!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

wusses.

I'm making it a point to journey down there pretty soon JUST to ride it as soon as possible.

I love coasters... the wilder, the better.I've made my 10 year old the same way.... she's finally tall enough and having a ball every time we venture to an amusement park... the wilder the better.

So, if you're on a roller coaster and hear two voices screaming "yiiiiiipppppeeeeeee" in unison, that's probably us.

Maybe I'm just crazy, but that looks like a lot of fun. ;)

Real roller coasters are made of wood.

The people who want to ride that are crazy. Not that the ride itself is crazy, but this coaster and Top Thrill Dragster really push the boundaries of physics, so conditions have to be perfect or they won't run it. My last trip to Cedar Point, I saw people sitting in line all day on the off chance that the wind speed at the top wold die down just enough that they would run the ride. I'd say the Dragster was running about 20% of the day. I'd ride it, but I'm not going to waste half a day in line just in case the weather conditions are good enough that I won't die. Plus, with the kids 5 and 2 I ended up in Peanuts Playground and Kiddieland all the time anyway (should I be worried that my 2 year old identifies only with Lucy?)

I personally get overly nervous on gigantic drops, and overly bored at the three-hour waits that preceed the latest-and-greatest ride. But I do know that they are perfectly safe. The only real reason to tell young people to avoid it is IT'S A GIANT PHALLUS, and what does that teach them?

I lovelovelove roller coasters, but my fear of heights trumps my love of 'coasters. Did you notice how the track twists on the way down? There's a quarter twist on the way up (to orient the cars) and it looks like one-and-a-quarter twists on the way down.

I'm wrong--it's 3/4 twist on the way down. Still ain't gonna ride it.

I am SO riding that!! :) I am THERE. Actually the 3/4 twist will take away of a lot of the freefall feeling. You probably get more stomach-drop on the 2nd hump.

MUST RIDE KINGDA KA CAN"T RESIST. Totally, I'll go on it. It's the coolest ride in the world!