From: geoff@pmafire.inel.gov (Geoff Allen)
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 18:41:32 GMT
Organization: Roller Coaster fanatic with no hope for a cure
Subject: Re: Do You Scream?  (Was Re: RollerCoaster! Magazine)
Summary: 
Followup-To: 
Organization: Roller Coaster fanatic with no hope for a cure
Keywords: 

Hi gang!  I'm back from a coasterless trip to Houston; ahh the suffering
one must do for one's job.  I probably wouldn't have survived the two
weeks if I had had to visit Astroworld, Fiesta Texas and Six Flags over
Texas anyway. ;^)

Anyway, I come back and I find....

Rendell said:
| >>Truthfully, Buck has pointed out something many other people
| >>have told me : that I look 'serious' when I ride coasters.
| >>"You don't look like you are having a good time", they tell
| >>me. Usually, I am studying the ride, or bracing myself for some
| >>fiendish track-work ahead. I am almost NEVER scream/yell/etc
| >>when I am riding a coaster, because I am paying such attention
| >>to the ride. Do other people share this trait?

Then Michael A. Cornell writes...
| >I do!  I don't know what it is, but I NEVER scream or yell on a coaster,
| >unless it is at people standing watching the coaster go by.  Never a scream
| >of fright, it's more like "HEY UGLY!  WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT!"  Stupid
| >stuff.  I challenge the coaster to make me scream because of fright.  

Prompting buckley@powdml.enet.dec.com (Bill ``No, I'm not the host of
Firing Line'' Buckley) to write:
| I don't think I've ever screamed on a coaster -- well, maybe once...I
| remember my first ride on the Riverside Cyclone in 1983 with the PTCs,
| I remember it was FAR more coaster than I was expecting!!!  I probably
| screamed then.
| 
| BATMAN--THE RIDE (the original) is such a frantic, fun ride, that after
| you come off the drop, you're so psyched, they you just naturally kind
| of go "WAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa  Yeowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww"
| for the next 38 seconds til you slam into the brake run.  That's the
| only ride in recent years that has evoked such a response from me.

Well, I've never ridden Batman, but would probably make noise on it.  I
tend to like to make noise on a coaster, it adds to the enjoyment for
me.  I can sit there stoically and just ride it, or I can add
exclamations (``Wheeeeeee----haaaaaaahh'' or ``Whoooooaaaaaaaaa'' or
an occasional grunt or whatever seems appropriate) and have more fun
with the ride.  I can't fully explain it, but using the vocal chords
seems to change my actual response to the ride.  The drops are more
intense, the corners flatter, the airtime lasts longer.  It really
improves the coaster.

Now, listening to you sourpusses makes me think I'm a bit weird. ;^)

Anyway, rides that have gotten an *unsolicited* sound out of my mouth:

	Colossus, the original (at Magic Mountain), with PTC trains. 
		Sheer terror.

	Zipper. Things like ``Whooooaaaaaa'' when coming around the top of
		the boom and doing some wild flipping maneuver (similar to
		what I imagine a ride on Batman to be like).

	Tilt-a-Whirl.  I can't explain it, but I laugh hysterically the
		entire time I ride one of these.  My wife says I look
		like a doofus.  Perhaps, but I'm having fun!

	Colossus, the Fire Dragon (Schwarzkopf Doppel Looping coaster at
		Lagoon, Utah).  Ride this one in the last and *try* to
		avoid making noise on the swoop drop.  I can't do it,
		anyway.

Geoff ``I scream, you scream, we all scream for Schwarzkopf'' Allen

--
Geoff Allen          \  Please remain seated and keep your hands and arms
uunet!pmafire!geoff   \  above your head at all times.  Enjoy your ride.
geoff@pauling.inel.gov \
Newsgroups: rec.roller-coaster