Theme park rides which you found too excruciating to enjoy

[Lysander]

Let's be honest, even if you love rollercoasters and thrill rides, there's probably been at least one ride which you found too much to deal with and left you slightly traumatised.

For me, that was yesterday, and even though I've done loads of rollercoasters and other "thrill rides" over the years, it was a ride called Aeronaut at Winter Wonderland which pushed things over the edge. If you want to seek out videos of the thing, please do so, but it is so much worse to actually do and is quite deceptive when you're just looking at the ride as an observer.

I have to remember never again to go on any ride that spins you in the air. I ****ing hate it, and yesterday was no different. I spent half the time with my eyes closed and it took me about 1-2 hours to psychologically recover.

What other rides have you done which pushed things a little too far for your own comfort zone?

To end on a positive note... the best thrill ride/rollercoaster I've been on is Colossus at Thorpe Park. It's such a beautifully designed rollercoaster with loads of variety.

Oh, and I should give a shout out to Waltzers as a positive addition as well, those spin but are actually fun since they're on the ground, but they can be pretty intense. Again, simple but deceptive.

EDIT: The ride in question

 

[Lysander]

The swings that go stupidly high, never look like they've been built correctly. Done it once, never again.

Pretty sure one snapped a while back too.

There's one at Winter Wonderland called Star Flyer. It's 70 metres up and is just chairs attached with chains.

I went on it one winter and it felt like the chair was going to swing round on itself and twist the chain. I mean, it probably wasn't but it felt like that and it wasn't fun.

Star Flyer

Take in the views from the top of the giant 70 metre chair swing...

www.themeparkjames.co.uk

Interestingly, rollercoasters like Maus [which I've been on three times now, I think] are actually designed so you think the car will fall off the edge of the track, even though it won't.

Wild mouse - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Weirldy I am alright on rollercoasters that spin around though, like the Spinball Whizzer at Alton Towers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinball_Whizzer or this at 6 Flags California:

I think I prefer rollercoasters because you're on a track. But anything which suspends you in the air and throws you around is a massive no-no.

 

[Lysander]

Decided to take it easy with a flat ride, and randomly chose the Feng Ju Palace, thinking it was a walk around mad house type thing like another in the park. Nope. Full spinning room. https://www.phantasialand.de/en/theme-park/one-of-a-kind-attractions/feng-ju-palace/

Possibly the most excruciating minutes I've spent on a ride. Stared at the non-moving table in front as closing my eyes or looking around did not do me wonders.

To be honest that looks pretty ****ed up.

 

[Lysander]

Not a rollercoaster but the worst was this. I don’t really like heights so I will never know what possessed me to go on this.

This is literally the worst kind of ride for me. There's one called Blizzard which is the same deal. Just a straight pin with cars at either end which throws you around a fulcrum. Blizzard also has these turbines which whine as it goes around which just makes the experience so much worse. I can hardly even look at that ride, let alone go on it.

 

[Lysander]

I was a bit scared of rollercoasters until recently.

Went back to Thorpe Park recently and thought 'just do it'. Conquered Stealth so I am happy.

Stealth Front Seat on-ride HD POV Thorpe Park

Ride in the front seat of Stealth at Thorpe Park near London, England.Watch in high definition.

www.youtube.com

Stealth is pretty awesome. 0-80mph in 2.6 seconds or something. Quite a jolt. Humans aren't meant to move at those speeds!

 

[Lysander]

The ones that you queue for an hour+ and is boring as hell to ride.

None really "thrill" me that much unfortunately.

Oh God, I haven't done that for a while. I remember going to The Great Escape and queuing 2-3 hours for a ride which lasted under a minute. Just daft.

These days I tend to go to theme parks during the week, and just walk on to most rides.

 

[Lysander]

game over man, game over

Aliens reference appreciated.

 

[Lysander]

Why...

 

[Lysander]

The Black Hole at Alton Towers back in 90's - A fully covered (and fairly small) roller-coaster which, being covered, meant it was pitch black inside so you never knew where the track was going and what direction was next so you got thrown around a huge amount, smashing your knees to bits or being squashed to death as it was tandem seating (one behind the next) in each cart, with just a lap belt to hold you in .

Black Hole (roller coaster) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This reminds me of a ride at Thorpe Park called X: No Way Out. It was another dark indoor rollercoaster. It was about mid afternoon and quite a few hours before the park was due to close.

Me and my gf wanted to go on it so we queued like everyone else for about 30 mins while we listened to the dark ambient music which was quite decent and the queue snaked its way around all the corners indoors. We got to the cars and just as we were about to get on the assistant put the barrier up right in front of us. They were just too full to accommodate us so we waited for the next one.

So we waited for the cars to come back. Waited. Waited. Waited. Waited. Waited more. Waited. They didn't come back.

After about 10-15 minutes they told everybody to leave the building and closed the ride. We never found out what happened.

 

[Lysander]

Just found a POV video of the ride that pushed things over the line for me in the OP. I can't even watch the video.