Spent yesterday at Kennywood. It's a small-ish theme park with more emphasis on historical significance than super-intense rides, but that hasn't stopped them from having quite a few—the most insane of them all being one where you're strapped into a harness hanging on a cable from a several-hundred-foot pole, pulled up to the top of a second, equally-high tower a couple hundred feet away,
and then released. As my dad observed and pointed out, you pretty much drop straight down about a third of the way before your own cable actually goes taught and catches you. Incidentally, people pay extra to do this, something they probably put in place to keep lines short, as it only holds up to three at a time.
As for me, I stuck with the traditional methods of obtaining vertigo, primarily the ancient wooden coasters, the Jackrabbit, the Racer, and the Thunderbolt. The Jackrabbit is very close to the entrance, so we all rode that one, at which point my dad and brother remembered that they hate rollercoasters and refused to ride any more of them. My mom and I ended up taking every wooden coaster twice because we had so much time to kill. The Thunderbolt probably has the best mix of features; the Racer is the tamest one, and the Jackrabbit is all about the big drops. And I found out something: screaming as you go downhill is not just something people do because they're excited or scared out of their minds. The G forces on the way down actually make my lungs kind of hurt if I
don't expel the air that way.
There's also an indoor coaster, a nearly pitch black "wild mouse" called the Exterminator, but as good as it was, I really can't say it was worth it since the wait was over an hour (they disguise the length of the line by putting about half of it inside the ride building). They had one more, a humongous steel one called the Phantom's Revenge, and... well, call me a pussy if you like, but it was the
fastest coaster in the world when it debuted
and it's been "updated" since then, so... yeah, no. I am not a bad enough dude to ride that monster. Considering how bad the G forces were on those other drops, I'm honestly concerned that I might black out.
The midway was mostly eh. They had one of those car rides, and the swinging pirate ship, and bumper cars (which I had never seen up close; the entire ceiling is electrified and you can even see the sparks), and a few "flat rides" I couldn't see the point of (nor, apparently, could their non-existent riders). The only really good ride was the
Paratrooper, although it looks a lot more wild than it really is.
It was an especially good day to go. Not too hot, or too busy (except around the Exterminator of course). It did rain a little towards the end, and a lot just after we left.