More handpicked essays just for you.
Influences that could affect childhood development
Personal narrative about roller coasters
Personal narrative about roller coasters
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Influences that could affect childhood development
Roller Coasters Many thoughts were running my head as I headed to Great America for the first time. “What am I going to ride? Why do I want to ride?” When I arrived, I picked a ride. It was called the Demon, and forgot one crucial detail: I had an extreme fear of roller coasters. Though, I wouldn’t call it a phobia, it was rational. I waited a good hour until I got in the front of the line. It was torture waiting in the hot summer sun. I realized it while I was in the front of the line, so it was too late to back out, they would call me a chicken head. But who would expect an 11 year old, 4’11 boy to love roller coasters? I had a completely rational fear of rollercoasters. Well, that’s what I thought at this point. “So maybe”, I thought
Every year an estimated 290 million people all over the world flock to amusement and theme parks to experience the thrills and excitement of the modern day roller coaster. (Boldurian 16). Now thousands of people a day can safely experience the G-forces that an astronaut or fighter pilot would experience in flight. "The Revolution" a roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia California gives riders an amazing 4.9 Gs; that is 1.5 more than an astronaut at launch. (Boldurian 16). These G-forces create thrills and fear and excitement in all who ride them. But the truth is that there is no reason to fear. Roller Coasters are exceptionally safe. The mortality rate for roller coasters is one in 90 million, and most of the fatality occurred due to failure to follow safety guidelines. (Boldurian 17). But roller coasters have not always been this safe. One of the first coaster attractions was actually just a mine rail designed to bring coal to the base of the mountain (Lemelson-MIT Program). The attraction was a thirty minute ride, with speeds of more than one-hundred miles per hour. As time went on entrepreneurs in the late 1800's began creating “quick buck cheap thrill attractions.” These early coasters lacked safety for the sake of thrills. This changed when John A. Miller engineer and roller coaster designer began making coasters. John Miller held over 100 patents many of which were for roller coaster safety and functionality that are still used today (Lemelson-MIT Program). John Miller's inventions and improvements to the roller coaster make him the father of the modern roller coaster that we know today.
It was the summer of 2012 and my family was taking another trip to Six Flags Great America. Earlier that summer we went just for me to be disappointed. At the time I wasn’t 54 inches yet and couldn’t ride any of the rides that I wanted to because they were the most popular at the amusement park. But, I hit a growth spurt between trips and we planned to ride all of the big rollercoasters. The one that I was most terrified of at the time was Raging Bull, one of the tallest, fastest, and longest steel coasters in the US. As we started to wait in line for the ride I was shaking with both anticipation and fear and began to rethink my idea to ride the rollercoaster. I decided to stay in line and see what many people thought was a great coaster.
During late 2013, in Arlington, Texas, a family of three stood in line at the popular amusement park called Six Flags. The family was raring to ride the rollercoaster deemed the tallest steel hybrid coaster in the world named the Texas Giant. Once it was their turn to board the coaster, the family members loaded into the carts and were advised to lower the lap bar and listen for it to click. When they did so, the mother, known to media as Rosa Esparza, noticed that her lap bar only clicked once. Concerned for her safety, she caught the attention of the ride attendant and asked if she was secure. He proceeded to tell her “as long as she heard it click she was fine.”
I have this fear that causes my body to shake. When I think about it, my skin becomes pale and cold. It’s death speeding through my mind. Once I have seen these monstrous roller coasters, the only thing in my mind was fear. Knowing that I’m afraid to go on these rides, I didn’t want to look like a fool in front of my friends. My mind is thinking of deadly thoughts. My palms were sweaty and I was twitching like a fish. I was petrified of heights.
“Come on, guys,” I yelled at my family, which consists of my mom Madonna, my father John, and my two sisters Alissa and Kara, as I ran frantically across the jam-packed parking lot to the opening gate that led to a world of adventure. As wide as the world around, my eyes pierced at the doorway to a world of fun. Families, of all sizes, were enjoying all the possibilities of fun. Hearing laughter and frightening screams, warned me of the experience waiting for me within the doorway to everlasting amazement. The sweet baked smell of funnel cakes swarmed into the fresh morning air. Before I knew it, my family and I were ready to enter Valleyfair, an amusement park that offers summertime fun to the maximum.
What most people expect to hear is me looking forward to riding the roller coasters. I hope that’s not what you thought because I hate them, maybe not hate, but really I’m just not a big fan of high altitudes in general. Consequently, this is why I was always reluctant to going with my family on this trip. Nevertheless I always went. Now that you know I’m not a fan of heights you could guess what attractions I was accustomed to riding, let’s just say my height requirement was more than enough to be eligible to ride. This specific year I decided to bring a friend to accompany me and in hindsight that was a bad idea because he was a roller coaster
In a park near you very soon...there is a roller coaster that has never been seen before. The Looper...The Looper is one of the fastest rollercoasters in all of HersheyPark.When you are riding The Looper you will feel many different feelings you will feel happy, excited, suspended and sad because the ride is going to end. As you are waiting in the line you will be passing a sign that read “Enter if you dare”. You look to see how much of a line is in front of you, and you see about 20-30 people. WHen you are waiting in line you decide to do a little research on the ride and you see that the ride lasts for 1 minute and 30 seconds. You scroll down the page to see how much track is put into this ride and there is a total of 100 meters of track on this ride.
Ever ridden on a roller coaster and notice the feeling you get afterward as your adrenaline is pumping. Have you ever noticed how happy you are at that moment, or even paid attention to how quick you are to find the next ride to ride on? Or what about the variety of motions you go through during the ride. You are most likely to be pulled back and forth and in directions, you did not think was possible to even go. Yet once the ride comes to a stop you also gain this sense of achievement knowing what you have accomplished.
Never ending queues weaved and meandered through the swarm of people away from the attractions in a random route. People, families, boyfriends and girlfriends stand idle and lethargic, waiting in line patiently for the hurricanes of fear and enjoyment to ride upon them, listening to the squeals of both horror and excitement increasing in volume as the ride turns and twists, goes round the loop-de-loop and curves in every direction.
3,2,1 Whosh! whaaaaa! There it is, I see Top Thrill Dragster. We just drove to cedar point, seeing the 420 foot tall Top Thrill Dragster, made me think twice about being here. It was a surprise from my dad going here. After all I was always scared of heights and roller coasters. I wasn’t looking forward to this!
It all began when a couple of friends and myself went to Six Flags for some fun right at the beginning of summer. We arrived there early in morning, which was about nine o’clock for us. The birds were chirping and the sun was bright. There was also a hint of dew, making the grass sparkle in the sunlight. The place was packed, people were standing in huge lines waiting to buy their tickets. My friends and I were lucky because we had season passes and just walked right to the front gate and walked in. Naturally there was a security check at the front gate, little did I know that I was going to run into them again in the near future. From there we went straight to the ride “The Mind Eraser.” It was always wise to go to that ride first, because as the day progressed, the line grew longer. Since the ride is only about a minute long, the wait then becomes to long to make the ride worth the wait. As we got on, all of us were a little jumpy. It was the first time being to the amusement park that year, and our stomachs were not immune to the s...
Your friends have to practically convince you to change your mind in matter 30 seconds. At this point you can hear your own heart beating in your ears. Everyone seems to vanish and the only thing that you can see is the seat of the roller coaster that has sweat on it due to the previous rider whose nerves got the best of him. There is no turning back now and you have no choice but to get on the ride. Sitting on the ride, waiting for the ride to begin is the most heart wrenching part. You cannot prepare yourself to be flown 50 miles per hour. When you take off, it feels as though your breath is being pulled from your body. For a slip second, you feel like you can’t catch your breath, and you can see the people in front of you desperately trying to gasp for
It was a sunny fall day in Anaheim California. Disneyland roller coasters were sparkling in the sun as I made my way to my first ride of the day, California screamin’. I had never been on this ride, because the last time we visited Disneyland I was 10 years old and being the strong willed child I was, I refused to go on any scary roller coasters. Now that I was 14 years old, I was ready to go on perhaps the scariest ride in the California Adventure park. My three younger siblings Abby, Isaac and Micah also wanted to go on it, so we get in line. I looked down and my youngest sibling Micah, who was four years old. He looked terrified, because this was his first ever roller coaster ride. Soon enough it was our turn. We walked up to a friendly guy with a Disneyland vest on and a
The one thing that use to keep me sane was seeing how people kept coming and going from these different roller coaster rides everyone having fun and enjoying themselves made me feel like I will always be alright. Another fear of mine was getting in a situation that would have me panicking on the overall height of the roller coaster and possibly get stuck. My friends also use to get so excited on roller coasters that sometimes before getting on them I use to have this instinct that I would always want to watch as well as search possible roller coaster worse case scenarios which led me to be more terrified. Sometimes I believe it is all in my head as I have never seen or have been in a roller coaster accident. As time has gone by I have come to a conclusion that I can go ahead and do roller coasters and go with what I feel I can do and isn’t too much for
I have always been fascinated by carnival rides. It amazes me that average, ordinary people eagerly trade in the serenity of the ground for the chance to be tossed through the air like vegetables in a food processor. It amazes me that at some time in history someone thought that people would enjoy this, and that person invented what must have been the first of these terrifying machines. For me, it is precisely the thrill and excitement of having survived the ride that keeps me coming back for more.