Curious Notions

Time for number 2 in important backlogged entries. This one concerns my lab’s trip to the incomparable Cedar Point the week before classes started (i.e. August 24). Being a rollercoaster and zero-g fiend, the three years since I’d been there were far too many. The park wasn’t too full and wasn’t too empty, which means we got a lot of riding in, and I was thoroughly exhausted when I made it home after midnight. My ride count, with links to each ride’s official page, stands thus:

• Blue Streak
• Bumper Cars
• Gemini
• Iron Dragon
• Magnum
• Mantis
• Matterhorn
• maXair
• Mean Streak
• Millennium Force
• Raptor
• Thunder Canyon
• Top Thrill Dragster
• Wicked Twister x 2

Anyone who is familiar with the park can probably guess that I’m a thrill-seeking rollercoaster fiend. For those unfamiliar (or unwilling to click that many links), these are the statistics: 10/14 rides are rollercoasters, 1/14 is classified as a non-rollercoaster thrill ride, 2/14 are classic amusement park rides, and 1/14 was a water ride (otherwise known as the biggest mistake of my week). The photo gallery also contains some good pictures of various rides.

Some highlights and lowlights:

• I had my first ride on Top Thrill Dragster, a coaster that shoots you from 0 to 120 mph (193 km/h) in two seconds. You then head straight up a 420 ft (128 m) hill and then twist back down while dropping at a 90 degree angle to horizontal. I was completely shocked to find that the coolest part of the ride was the acceleration. The straight-up and straight-down was just a minor added bonus, really.
• maXair is a brand new ride that reminded me a lot of a ride I rode once in Germany. My primary recollection of that ride was that my mother got tremendously ill whereas I loved it and that I was terribly upset when we had to leave over her. It was similar this time, actually. No one got seriously sick, but I was the only one to get off without feeling ill.
• Riding a water ride, in this case Thunder Canyon, was the worst idea ever. A waterfall poured straight down on me. All I could think for the next several hours was: why didn’t I listen to Mark?
• I still think that Millennium Force is the closest I’ve ever experienced to a perfect rollercoaster. There’s none of the upside-down wildness that I love, but there’s a brilliant 310 ft (94.5 m) hill that you zoom down at 80 degrees and 90+ mph (145+ km/h). It’s a steel coaster, so it’s smooth as can be and there’s nothing like the pure speed.
• The most fabulous experience of the day was riding front seat on Wicked Twister, part of which is pictured above. WT is a U-shaped rollercoaster where riders are launched up one “horn”, twist at the top, free fall back down, and zoom up the other side. Rinse. Repeat. There is nothing more awesome than seeing 20 ft or so of bright yellow track in front of you and nothing else except blue sky. You hang there for an instant, and then you fall and twist and enjoy that glorious moment of weightlessness before laughing wildly at your speed.

Some people think I’m crazy when I talk like that. But there’s nothing like an upside-down horizon.