fraroc Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 I should preface this by saying...I'm not really "scared" per se' of drop towers, but I've always just felt really uneasy with them. Something about the fact that most drop towers hang you at the top and drop you without warning, I usually have to force myself to go on a drop tower, despite having these bad feelings inside me and pretty much every time it's finished with it's ride cycle, I end up enjoying it and want to go on again. I'm not going all "GP" and saying that drop towers are deadly, I'm just really uneasy going on at first, then I enjoy the ride. Is there any other coaster fans like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJeXeL Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 It's completely normal. My GF loves coasters however she absolutely will not ride LL:DOD @ SFMM, Tower of Terror @ DCA or Supreme Scream at KBF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraroc Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 I suddenly thought about it when I watched TPR's Zumanjaro and Lex Luthor videos, all I could think of is "Oh man, If I was among you guys I'd be pissing my pants my first time, but afterwards I'd be all like LETS GO AGAIN!!!" Because that's literally what'll happen to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boldikus Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Yes, you are not alone and I think there is hope for you. I've always loved coasters and will go on any and all but have mostly been uneasy about drop rides. The first drop ride I reluctantly did was Freefall @ Great Adv in the early 90's. I don't remember much of the experience other than being happy when it was over. About 15 years ago, my then girlfriend (now fiancee) dragged me kicking and screaming onto Morey's "Atmosfear" Larson drop tower and I felt like I was going to die. I vowed never again. I think a huge part of it for me is the unexpected/sudden drop and also unlike a coaster you are not facing down during the drop, therefore you don't know when you are going to stop. Last year with my first ever season pass to Great Adv I made many visits to the park in the spring while watching them build and then open Zumanjaro. Curiosity turned my fear of drop rides into a major internal conflict (will I ride it or avoid it?), until one day last July I had a sort of YOLO epiphany and forced myself onto the ride - alone as my riding partner for the day flat out refused - hands sweating and pulse racing, and... would you believe it? I loved it. Since then I make it a point to ride every drop tower at every park I go to, mainly to compare to Zum, as no other drop ride compares when it comes to duration of drop (I havent done Lex Luthor) but also just to push myself to do something I don't want to do, but I know I'll end up enjoying when its over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridewatchers Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Measure heights in meters, not in feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KBrylczyk Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 It's completely normal. My GF loves coasters however she absolutely will not ride LL:DOD @ SFMM, Tower of Terror @ DCA or Supreme Scream at KBF. Blindfold her and get her on Lex Luthor, preferably while Supes is sending a car up the tower. The amount that thing shakes is awesome! It's far from the best drop tower (2nd gen all the way) but being 400 feet up and having a car shake that tower like an earthquake is quite the thrill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnastyGnoric7 Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 I am the same way, coasters do not freak me out, but drop towers still scare me. When I rode Kingda Ka, for the first time, I was fine, but Zumanjaro was a different story, I wanted to crap myself, but I still went on the ride. I was freaked out for the first 175 feet, but I was fine later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viking86 Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Perfectly normal! It took me a lot longer to get comfortable with drop towers than rollercoasters, and I still get a little bit nervous when riding if I haven't been on one in a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraroc Posted July 10, 2015 Author Share Posted July 10, 2015 The strange part is, with launch coasters that have a without warning launch, I'm not afraid at all. The ride ops on Flight of Fear deliberately screw with riders by launching them without any warning after lulling them into a false sense of security. I LOVE that actually and I think it's so funny and thrilling at the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BotanicalStig Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Flat rides in general make me nervous (drop towers, strangely, are the exception). Rollercoasters do not. I don't know why, there's something about flats that I just do not trust. More so the things that bring you up high without much of a thrill, screamin swings, observation towers, giant frisbees, windseekers, etc. I will ride them (windseekers are some of my favorites, go figure) but they just make me feel unsafe. Maybe it's just the good sensations I know I'll get from a rollercoaster or drop tower that turns the fear off in my brain. It doesn't make much sense. My fiance wont ride drop towers with me anymore- you definitely aren't alone, but I can't get enough of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Even now I panic before the car drops. I hadn't been able to ride any drop tower until 2012 when I got on a Fabbri at a county fair. It scared the crap out of me but at the same time, I started to get over the fear. Over the years drop towers don't scare me as much. I do remember being more scared of Blue Fall than Dodonpa, even though Dodonpa ended up a million times scarier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrick_rc_fan Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 I love roller coasters but the tallest drop tower I have ever done was 30ft tall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrakenKing Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Measure heights in meters, not in feet. No. But to answer the OPs question, yes, it is normal. I couldn't stand drop towers for the longest time... I mean, I'd do them, but they'd always scare the crap out of me. Eventually I just kept throwing myself onto Doctor Doom's at IoA until I didn't get that "stomach in my throat" feeling. Eventually moving on to intamin/huss drop rides with a true free-fall. I think the trick is just to keep throwing yourself onto them if a park has one. You'll eventually get over your uneasiness with them. The last drop tower that I had a bit of fear on was Supreme Scream at KBF, only because I wasn't expecting it to be that tall, and I had never been on a Turbo Drop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XShortestStrawX Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 Pretty normal. I refused to go on Demon Drop at CP before it was relocated to Dorney. I would ride everything else, even Power Tower, but something about Demon Drop just scared the bejesus out of me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MisterP Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 I agree drop towers are more freaky than any coaster, but those WindSeekers freak me out more than anything... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
certifiedcoastergeek Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 I agree drop towers are more freaky than any coaster, but those WindSeekers freak me out more than anything... I always knew there was a reason Cedar Fair rated their WindSeekers a "High thrill ride"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcjp Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 I was also like this until a few years ago. I would ride any coaster but, while I wouldn't refuse to, I didn't get on drop towers until I tried my first one at Portaventura and now I love them! I still get a bit nervous while I'm waiting for the car to drop, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paradox Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 S&S drop towers are great especially when they run a combo cycle. The weightlessness that they produce is amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Samuel Posted July 10, 2015 Share Posted July 10, 2015 I went to Cedar Point a few years ago with five friends who all rode and loved Dragster, ran back in line to do it again, and then emphatically voted "NO CHANCE ON EARTH OR IN HELL ARE WE RIDING THAT" in regard to Power Tower, which I ended up riding alone. I've been to parks with a fair number of coaster-enjoying friends who simply won't budge with drop towers for a variety of reasons (they feel more vulnerable in comparison to being on a coaster, imagine being in a precarious position if the ride breaks down, don't like the anticipatory anxiety of a startling drop, visually don't like to dwell on heights, think the butterflies in the stomach feeling is unpleasant, etc.). I've also ridden three slingshots solo (well, an employee hops on with me) while my friends watch and think I've lost my mind. In fact, in recent years a lot of the Intamin and S&S towers I've been on have been walk-ons or minimum waits in otherwise busy parks...I do wonder if they scare off more ridership than intended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.J. Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 I dislike drop towers. I love roller coasters. ...meh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXthrills2010 Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Drop towers for me are such a pill. It's such a hard task to get myself into riding it because i absolutely hate the anticipation, wait and sudden launches & drops. I hate the idea of riding them but after riding them i'm usually stoked to go on again, but again the cycle then repeats itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canadianparkfan Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Will gladly ride any drop tower. I've been on a few that provide far better airtime than most coasters, and as somebody mentioned earlier, they often have rather short lines due to the "fear factor". Just look at the Intamin 2nd gen tower at my home park CW. It's less than 100m away from Leviathan. In other words, it's directly next to the meanest looking, most intimidating and largest ride in the park (one of the largest in the entire world). Surprisingly, however, the GP always run and hop in line for Leviathan without a second glance, but arre nearly always hesitant to get onto the drop zone, making it a walk on nearly every time I've visited . Personally couldn't be happier with how this plays out, as I actually find the drop on drop zone to be far more enjoyable than Leviathan's first drop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoinItForTheFame Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 You know, I LOVE roller coasters just as much as the next person on these boards. I live to ride roller coasters. I have been on the tallest... the fastest... "the most extreme." Yet I can NOT stand riding drop towers. I recently went back to Six Flags Over Texas and rode Superman Tower Of Power with my best friend, and I was seriously shaking so hard when the ride was over with I could barely stand up to get off the ride. There is something about sitting way up in the sky just waiting to plummet to the ground that I can just not mentally handle. 1.) I hate heights. Hating heights I think is what causes my huge hate for drop towers. I seriously get stressed out when I think about riding a drop tower. It is not enjoyable, it is not fun, it is not something I want to do, and when I get off a drop tower it is not something I ever want to ride again. I ride it once (most of the time I will ride it once, sometimes I will skip it all together) for the drop tower credit and that's it. I am pretty sure that I will end up having a heart attack and dying on a drop tower some day. That is how I will go out. We have a trip coming up to Kings Island shortly, and my partner wants to ride Drop Tower... I seriously get stressed out just thinking about it. When I think about riding the ride I start shaking, and my stomach ends up in knots. I know I will end up riding it... I will end up hating it... I will end up stressed out the entire way up the tower... and I will be pissed when we get off. (But hey, if riding Drop Tower makes him happy then I am all for it.) Am I the only one who gets seriously stressed out on Drop Towers?? They are not fun... They are not scary... They are just stressful. I tense up so bad it takes my body hours to calm down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsencarson Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 I can do drop towers, I just have to force myself on the ride, and remind myself that they are perfectly safe. The thing that bothers me isn't the height, or the sudden drop. It's the cables. Cables freak me out. They just don't seem to be the most reliable things around. My home park is Valleyfair, and we have an S&S drop tower, Power Tower. I'll definitely ride it, but I can't help but look at the cables on the ride. I don't mean to bring up bad memories, but cables don't seem very safe to me. I know, these accidents don't happen very often at all, but they still do happen. The accident at Kentucky Kingdom, the cable breaking on Sky Hawk, the cable breaking on TTD, even the cables breaking recently on the catapult ride at Mt. Olympus. Don't get me wrong, these are all great rides that are a lot of fun, but if a ride has cables, it's not going to an easy ride me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheikra5 Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 I don't think it's that weird. The suspense is usually far greater. I have never been more scared to ride something for the first time than Falcon's Fury. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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