Universal: Kids not done coasters before - Which to avoid?

[b00110908]

Originally Posted by pad406

It was Christmas time in fairness

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Ah makes sense thank you!

[chmurf]

Despicable Me is the one ride you will see queues no matter what

last week it was more 50 minutes as you witnessed than 2hrs at peak season

the trick is to do that one as early as possible (and even during early entry if you're eligible and USF has EE during your stay) or do the long queue rides in the last couple of hours before closing time.


But, in any event, even with Express Passes, the queue time at Despicable Me still remains high. Basically Express will cut the wait time in half, but it's always a long line, so opting for express for this would not make sense.

[Poppycat]

Actual coasters at Universal don't number that many, with Hulk and Rip ride rocket being the biggest.

Flight of the Hippogriff is an ideal first coaster if they've not been on one before. You can see the whole thing, so no surprises, it's not long and doesn't have any loops.

[MFras23]

I think the best coaster to try first would be gringotts, then forbidden journey (not a coaster but they can get a feel for going almost upside down to see if it’s for them), then the mummy.

If they’re feeling brave I would say hulk is actually pretty good because you can’t see the lift hill with it being encased and that’s the worst bit, seeing how high up you are!

[Forkbeard]

Ideally no coasters need to be avoided.

The key thing is to attempt the coasters in order of severity. With our son, once he managed one reasonably intimidating coaster, he was good to go on all of them. Our daughter had no fear anyway, so she just rode them from the get go.

Some people suggest YouTube videos... I'd very much recommend avoiding this tactic. Looking at something you might be fearful of just builds the tension. Get in line, make no fuss and you should be good to go. If you make a fuss and repeatedly ask them if they want to do it... then they will likely say no.

Another big factor is parents that are themselves scared. My daughter has a son of her own now and she's told her hubby to keep his wussy attitude to rides to himself

I get sick from the head bashing sometimes, you might want to consider popping a Dramamine just to keep you free from sickness.

[deanobrown]

Originally Posted by Forkbeard

Ideally no coasters need to be avoided.

The key thing is to attempt the coasters in order of severity. With our son, once he managed one reasonably intimidating coaster, he was good to go on all of them. Our daughter had no fear anyway, so she just rode them from the get go.

Some people suggest YouTube videos... I'd very much recommend avoiding this tactic. Looking at something you might be fearful of just builds the tension. Get in line, make no fuss and you should be good to go. If you make a fuss and repeatedly ask them if they want to do it... then they will likely say no.

Another big factor is parents that are themselves scared. My daughter has a son of her own now and she's told her hubby to keep his wussy attitude to rides to himself

I get sick from the head bashing sometimes, you might want to consider popping a Dramamine just to keep you free from sickness.

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I 100% agree with everything you've mentioned.
I was always a wuss when I was younger as my mum would never go on rides.

One time in Florida we arrived at Dueling Dragons and my dad really casually just held his hand out to me and said "come on, you can just give it a try", and without even realising I just followed him into the queue... And from that day I have never looked back!
The less fuss you make the less your kids feel like it's such a 'big deal'!

[Forkbeard]

Originally Posted by deanobrown

I 100% agree with everything you've mentioned.
I was always a wuss when I was younger as my mum would never go on rides.

One time in Florida we arrived at Dueling Dragons and my dad really casually just held his hand out to me and said "come on, you can just give it a try", and without even realising I just followed him into the queue... And from that day I have never looked back!
The less fuss you make the less your kids feel like it's such a 'big deal'!

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Thank you for saying that.

Your story is very touching. I hate to see children not able to experience everything just because they have no one to help them overcome their fears.

I too remember being scared and my dad used to make no fuss and he would just spot out some very young children coming off the rides and how they were smiling

Both my kids have grown up to love rides, but my daughter has yet to brave the two worse rides in Florida; Slingshot and Skycoaster at Old Town. They really are next level in terms of overcoming fear. She will be going on them next time for sure. Last year I managed to encourage a whole bunch of folks onto Slingshot. This man approached me and thanked me for encouraging his daughter to try it. She absolutely loved it, and more importantly she loved how she overcame her fear. It's very liberating.

[deanobrown]

Originally Posted by Forkbeard

Thank you for saying that.

Your story is very touching. I hate to see children not able to experience everything just because they have no one to help them overcome their fears.

I too remember being scared and my dad used to make no fuss and he would just spot out some very young children coming off the rides and how they were smiling

Both my kids have grown up to love rides, but my daughter has yet to brave the two worse rides in Florida; Slingshot and Skycoaster at Old Town. They really are next level in terms of overcoming fear. She will be going on them next time for sure. Last year I managed to encourage a whole bunch of folks onto Slingshot. This man approached me and thanked me for encouraging his daughter to try it. She absolutely loved it, and more importantly she loved how she overcame her fear. It's very liberating.

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Exactly! And now I'm such an adrenaline junkie I wonder how I ever even enjoyed the parks without trying all of the rides!

My 12 year old sister is begging me to take her on the Skycoaster in November and I'll admit that one may even be too much for me! I may need your kind of encouragement to go through with it! lol

[Forkbeard]

Originally Posted by deanobrown

Exactly! And now I'm such an adrenaline junkie I wonder how I ever even enjoyed the parks without trying all of the rides!

My 12 year old sister is begging me to take her on the Skycoaster in November and I'll admit that one may even be too much for me! I may need your kind of encouragement to go through with it! lol

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I think the most important thing for people to get their head around is that overcoming fear is an incredibly positive thing and especially for children. It empowers us all.

Slingshot and Skycoaster are terrifying to look at, and most people avoid them. No big queues for those rides

They both more or less hit the same heights, 300+ feet, and yet they feel incredibly different because of the mechanics.

I can honestly say that Dr Doom is worse in many ways compared to Slingshot. Slingshot is so smooth and the transition from standing to moving and from reaching the top to dropping is not jerky or sharp at all. Everybody I know who has braved it comes off saying the same thing... that they couldn't believe how easy it was compared to how it looks.

Btw, you can ask for Slingshot to be cranked to a higher degree of power. They do 50%, 75% and 100%. Not a great deal of difference in the feeling I think, but worth trying more if you like it.

Skycoaster is a different thing however. Most of us, me included, are none to keen on heights. To say I was terrified the first time is an understatement. Depending on the operator Skycoaster does take a little while to crank you up to the top and it's this build up that is scary. The next issue is having someone pull that rip cord. My advice is just do it the moment they ask you to. It comes over a loud speaker... 3...2...1 fly. Pull the cord. For a tiny fraction of a second you will experience that free-fall sensation that is unnatural but the most amazing experience. At this point the height becomes utterly irrelevant. You will be so excited to be moving down that it's just absolute pleasure. You will be smiling and laughing as you swing up and down a few times.

Another difference between Slingshot and Skycoaster is that once you've done Slingshot it's dead easy to go again, but Skycoaster will retain the height fear as you crank up for a few rides more.

Please do NOT avoid riding them. Words cannot describe how wonderful it feels to ride them. I felt stupid at how I had previous been so fearful. Walk in, pay your money and do it! Come back on here and tell everyone how great it was

My son described them; Slingshot... best ride ever, Skycoaster... a spiritual experience

[deanobrown]

Well you've definitely motivated me more than I was!
I think I'm going to give Skycoaster a try. Like you say, it's the rip cord part I'm already dreading the most! But I shall put that aside and just go for it. Thanks for the advice
You should be a therapist!