Overcome A Fear of Thrill Rides

By Nathan Young on May 24, 2012

I wanted to write this article after I heard this story from my mom. My brother went with someone (name withheld to avoid embarrassment) to Six Flags over Georgia. But it was not a good time. This person was very scared of riding the thrill rides. So they only rode a few less scary rides and walked around for the rest of the day. Not your thoughts of having a good day at Six Flags. So I wanted to provide some tips to get over the frights of roller coasters and thrill rides at amusement parks. Just in time for Memorial Day Weekend!

1. Don’t pressure them: If someone is not ready to ride a thrill ride; don’t force them to ride it. Sure you can encourage the person scared of riding thrill rides to take deep breaths and stay calm. But if they are not ready to ride; don’t force it!

2. Start with smaller rides: I know I sound silly here but if a person is scared of riding a thrill ride start off with smaller rides. Like the ones you would find in the kids portion of the park. You can also try an old fashioned wooden roller coaster that most parks have. That should calm the nerves and encourage people scared of thrill rides to give them a chance.

3. Learn the layout of the ride: Go to the website of the park you are going to visit and you can see the layouts of many of the popular thrill rides. Plus go to YouTube as many parks have videos of the popular rides of the park you are going to visit. A good example is this video of the Millennium Force POV from Cedar Point. Weeeeeeeee!

4. Relax: Thrill ride enthusiasts are pumped up and can’t wait for the ride to start. But for people who are scared they are nervous and they want to feel safe. Don’t worry; all rides are inspected every day before the park opens to make sure they are safe. The odds are very very small that you will be injured or killed from a ride.

5: SCREAM!: Face it; thrill rides are designed for people to scream! Before you get on a thrill ride; take a deep breath, relax, and stay calm. And when the ride starts and you go through the first big drop let it all out! Thrill rides are designed for people to scream. And maybe the park you attend has a camera shot of you in your scared moment. Just let it all out and enjoy the ride!

I hope my brother and this person will try to go to Six Flags again before the end of the Summer. I used to have the same problems as I did not want to ride the scary rides. But I got over it! Just have a good time at the park!