Need "Myths/Wives Tales" about your body on coasters!

[Guy T. Koepp]

What about the myth that if a park provides lockers for free, no one will complain about the lockers?

[Mici]

My mother has always told me that riding roller coasters cause brain damage. After 18 years of riding I still have all my marbles... (I think!!!)

[TheCoasterGOD]

^Demon at Six Flags Great America was able to stall in one of its loops. It can happen, but it requires a great amount of equilibrium to where the weight will not carry the train one way or the other, making such instances a great rarity.

 

That happened on Demon because an Axle assembly came apart, coincidentally at the loop.

[Her0ofLime]

One that I have no idea why it isn't posted yet is if OSTRs are safer than lap bars.

One of the most common GP comments is "I'm not riding this! It doesn't have the shoulder thingys!"

[boardwalkbullet91507]

It's been touched a few times here already but what I hear most often is, "that ride rattled my brain!"

 

Also, "I felt my heart leap out of my chest!"

[Heideparkfanclub6622]

I felt my teen voice just come out it was back when the GC Was Younger.

[rcjp]

It's been touched a few times here already but what I hear most often is, "that ride rattled my brain!"

Actually that's not completely impossible. Even though the brain is pretty tight inside your skull there is still a bit of room for movement. I'm no doctor but I think that a insanely rough coaster could cause it to bounce a bit in our head.

[Mrlittle]

On coasters in the dark, I've heard multiple stories involving this line "Don't raise your hands or they will get cut off" or "its so dark, you can't see the poles in front of you so you have to dodge them". I've either overheard these stories or were told them by someone behind or in front of me on the train. It doesn't matter if its Space Mountain at Disneyland or Runaway Mountain at SFOT. Someone has lost an arm putting there hands up. I will never forgot riding Dark Knight at SFGAm and the guy in front of me was almost yelling at me to put my hands down because he did not want to see someone lose an arm like he had heard happen before.

[bill_s]

There's people who say it helps your body to hang upside down, so weightlessness etc. shouldn't be bad. I know I've gotten on Dominator with my back hurting and got off feeling much better, although tight restraints kind of help too. But then FoF sometimes manages the exact right bit of chiropraction.

 

"Blacking out" is real but the common thing is to confuse it with greying out. In my experience, blacking out can happen right when first hitting high G, while greyout tends to happen after sustained forces. The one time I felt like I was going to black out it was like that and one friend who actually blacked out on JJinx reported that; both cases heat was a factor. OTOH my friend that twice blacked out on I305 (lost his sunglasses both times) said it was late in the first curve -- and he's younger and otherwise in better shape than I am....

[Projektion]

It's been touched a few times here already but what I hear most often is, "that ride rattled my brain!"

Actually that's not completely impossible. Even though the brain is pretty tight inside your skull there is still a bit of room for movement. I'm no doctor but I think that a insanely rough coaster could cause it to bounce a bit in our head.

 

I think that might be the cause of the headaches some people usually get after riding particularly rough rides.

[rcjp]

^I got a massive headache when riding coaster express and I could swear I felt my brain being shaken like a cocktail although I'm not sure if that's what actually happens.

[Lucky fish99]

Apparently, some people believe riding roller coasters (especially Vekoma) will damage your reproductive parts! :/

[Dr. M]

I've revised my question a little, since I thought a "blackout" implied total loss of consciousness and according to Wikipedia it does not, blacking out really does just mean losing your vision.

 

Is it possible to completely lose consciousness (due to g-force) during a ride and then be conscious again by the time you hit the brakes?

[boardwalkbullet91507]

It's been touched a few times here already but what I hear most often is, "that ride rattled my brain!"

Actually that's not completely impossible. Even though the brain is pretty tight inside your skull there is still a bit of room for movement. I'm no doctor but I think that a insanely rough coaster could cause it to bounce a bit in our head.

 

I think that might be the cause of the headaches some people usually get after riding particularly rough rides.

 

Oh I'm almost positive that's the cause. There has to be room In there for your brain to do all sorts of things. Im pretty sure it cant rattle enough to give you a concussion but it for sure can give you a nasty headache.

[nander]

A slightly different question: are old coasters capable of causing permanent damage to one's back?

 

I ask this one, because my back hurt for about a week after a day with about 12 rerides on Blackpools wild mouse and 16 rerides on Grand National (quite a few backseat), among other rides of course.

[neovortex2k]

Well just the usual that they can cause brain tumors, blood clots and death.

 

I did hear a girl worry about her breast implant exploding under the weight of her harness or bursting under the high g forces.

[bill_s]

I've revised my question a little, since I thought a "blackout" implied total loss of consciousness and according to Wikipedia it does not, blacking out really does just mean losing your vision.

 

Is it possible to completely lose consciousness (due to g-force) during a ride and then be conscious again by the time you hit the brakes?

 

Well "blackout" is still stronger than "greyout" ... there should be a term for complete loss of consciousness. In all 3 cases I cited in my previous post, the persons claimed to regain consciousness before the end of the ride and remember nothing in between, plus in 2 cases the person lost their sunglasses. What I call blackout seems more a lack of preparation, because it can be almost instantaneous. My close call with it I pulled myself out, was a different sensation, and I went on to experience the normal level of greyout during the rest of the ride.

[DisneyWizard]

Knott's Berry Farm's Windjammer twin looper sent my father for a loop. He was unable to disembark feeling tore up from the floor up. It took three cast members and my mom to extract him. "I just need to sit down for a few minutes, where can I?" The cast members pointed down the stairs and past the exit. The next day his HMO physician examined him and the prognoses was he had suffered a mild stroke which had been exacerbated by the exertion to then find a place to sit. Knott's was formally contacted by certified letter complaining about the lack of temporary medical seating on the exit platform. No action was taken in response. Later on a phone call seeking to speak to the General Manager - that connection was refused and intercepted by a customer service operator without compassion who stated "Notice is clearly posted directed toward guests with heart conditions who should not ride." If they instead had replied "For guest safety a folding chair has been made available in the station." we would have been satisfied. We should have sued - he didn't HAVE a heart condition until induced that day by Windjammer. My mom was there with my dad until his death, but I wasn't - so this is a tale of HIS wife.

 

Also neither myth nor wives tale is the high G force at the bottom of the big loop on Six Flag's Magic Mountain 'Goliath.' Each time I'd ride my calves would turn into cankles as the weight of all the blood in my veins overwhelmed the valves and pooled in my legs. My wife would always report tunnel-vision at that point and once upon a drizzley April weekend I experienced the cone of conciseness recede into tunnel-vision, experienced only this once in my lifetime, as my wife blacked out entirely for a moment - also giving credence to the wives tale that coasters are faster in the rain.

 

So, if her report of total blackout caused by a coaster is a wife's tale, I'll believe her for she had no reason to fabricate and wouldn't have mentioned it unless it gave her notice and reason for concern.

 

—(o=8> wiz

[FeelTheFORCE]

DisneyWizard, that's sad hearing what transpired involving your father. My father is 60, has had a heart attack and bypass surgery, and we are VERY cautious as to what he rides. Windjammers may have further aggravated your father's condition, but who says it wouldn't have happened, say, while he was outside doing yard work or exerting himself in a similar manner? I find it difficult to pin it directly on the park, as it could have occurred anywhere. If I'm not mistaken, most deaths involving the heart, the rider already had a (sometimes unknown) preexisting condition.

 

That leads to my myth suggestion, the effects of rides and g-forces on the heart. I don't mean just pulse/heart rate, as we've seen many times already, but more specifically, how they can effect blood flow, blood pressure, the ability for your heart to effectively pump blood, ECG/EKC waves, etc. Possibly having two separate samples, one from a healthy person, and one from a person who has had a heart attack, bypass, heart disease, etc. Maybe even have an expert, such as a cardiologist, then weigh in with their opinions and scientifically compare the two. I feel this would be very useful information, considering how many incidents there have been involving people with previous and already existent conditions they were unaware of. Who knows, maybe it would save a life or two.

[Dr. M]

 

Well "blackout" is still stronger than "greyout" ... there should be a term for complete loss of consciousness. In all 3 cases I cited in my previous post, the persons claimed to regain consciousness before the end of the ride and remember nothing in between, plus in 2 cases the person lost their sunglasses. What I call blackout seems more a lack of preparation, because it can be almost instantaneous. My close call with it I pulled myself out, was a different sensation, and I went on to experience the normal level of greyout during the rest of the ride.

 

I guess it would just be called "passing out". I don't doubt it's possible to pass out on a ride, but if you have no preexisting conditions and are completely recovered by the time the ride is over, then I'd be curious if that's really what's happening. If you completely lose your vision, then your brain must already be in a heightened state where you may not remember anything during the ride, for instance during my first ride on Skyrush I apparently yelled "my thighs!" over the final bunny hop, but had no memory of this whatsoever afterwards, and that was without having blacked out first.

 

In any case it would be interesting for the show to cover the difference between greyout, blackout, and pass out, and how things like dehydration affect whether they occur.

Edited March 4, 2014 by Dr. M

[rcjp]

 

Well "blackout" is still stronger than "greyout" ... there should be a term for complete loss of consciousness. In all 3 cases I cited in my previous post, the persons claimed to regain consciousness before the end of the ride and remember nothing in between, plus in 2 cases the person lost their sunglasses. What I call blackout seems more a lack of preparation, because it can be almost instantaneous. My close call with it I pulled myself out, was a different sensation, and I went on to experience the normal level of greyout during the rest of the ride.

 

I guess it would just be called "passing out".

 

It's called G-LOC - gravity induced loss of consciousness.

[Dr. M]

^Thank you! From the Wikipedia article:

 

"Recovery is usually prompt following removal of g-force but a period of several seconds of disorientation may occur."

 

Guess that answers my question. It would be interesting for the show to go into factors that give some people a higher tolerance to g-force than others, genes, fitness level, etc.

[WFChris]

Large people's bodies 'morph' over the lap bar during negative g's, causing them to eject out of the train (Colossus SFMM, Perilous Plunge KBF). Is this considered true because it actually happened or is this a wives tale? Thought I would mention it....