A Love Letter to Rollercoasters
This is a ~2,300 word essay about my love for rollercoasters.
A Love Letter To Rollercoasters
Don’t get me wrong, when I told Maddie that I wanted to take her to Carowinds for her 30th birthday, it was really only so that I could have someone to talk to in the lines, and since I forgot to get her anything back in March, I figured revisiting a childhood tradition would make up for it.
In the beginning:
My relationship with rollercoasters1 has been one. When I was eight, I rode Space Mountain at Disney’s Magic Kingdom and was instantly hooked. The next day, I rode The Rockin’ Rollercoaster and needed to ride more so badly that I begged my parents to let us stay another day. For my birthday that summer, we would go to Carowinds for the first time. From then on, my interest fluctuated— but today, I’m left with nothing but love and admiration for all things rollercoaster.
Carowinds (2009):
I had just turned nine and was riding in the backseat of a hot and sticky Volkswagen Passat. I saw the cresting of bright multicolored steel towering over the interstate treetops, bending, twisting, and warping through the sky. It was the first time I’d ever seen an outdoor rollercoaster. I was amazed and bewildered at how something so tall and apparently flimsy could safely hold me and my cart. My first impression from the magnifyingly hot car window wasn’t a good one. I wasn’t sure I liked rollercoasters anymore.
***
When my dad and Maddie ran up to the front gate of the park, I hesitated. I was scared. My mom asked if I was coming, and something in her voice pushed me onward and into the park.
The height of The Intimidator is what scared me the most as a kid. Previously, I had only experienced indoor coasters, and being able to see how high up I could go meant that if something went wrong, it meant that I would die. Of course, I would probably die if something went wrong outdoors, indoors, or wherever, but there was something about seeing the actual structure that terrified me. Space Mountain was hidden beneath a carnival tent shaped, well, space mountain, and I guess because I couldn’t see the danger, it meant that there was no danger.
I told my mom that I was afraid, and Maddie quickly made fun of me for this. I was teased, called a baby, and told that I would regret not riding it. This time, my mom’s words of encouragement failed, but she was happy enough to wait with me while Maddie and my dad rode The Intimidator. I felt small and disappointed.
My mom questioned my newfound anxiety, saying that she thought that I had liked rollercoasters, to which I defended myself, saying that I do like rollercoasters, just not the ones that go straight down or upside-down. And with that, I was washed with relief; I could qualify my anxiety, be made fun of less, and enjoy my time more.
For the rest of the trip, I rode only the “kiddie rides” and smaller coasters like Runaway Reptar or Ricochet. I was certainly still made fun of, and I was certainly still disappointed in myself for not riding the more intense rollercoasters.
READING BREAK: This video was recorded in January 2024 during a month long Roller Coaster Tycoon obsession.
Disney World (2013):
We returned to Disney World a few years later; I must’ve been 12 or so. I don’t remember much of the trip, but there are two distinct memories:
I used some money my grandmother gave me to buy not only a sombrero in the EPCOT Mexico gift shop but also a ‘rice hat’2 from EPCOT Japan.
I decided at the very last second not to ride The Rockin’ Rollercoaster after waiting in line for 2 hours.
This time, not only my evil teenage sister, but mom and dad made fun of me for being scared too, and once again they told me that I would regret not riding it. My mom graciously sat out with me, and we walked to the exit to wait for my dad and Maddie once again.
I don’t remember exactly the reason for not wanting to ride The Rockin’ Rollercoaster, especially since I had not only ridden it once before when I was much younger, but I had also ridden Space Mountain the day before my Rockin’-Chickening-Out, just like the trip from when I was eight, and I loved it! It was one of those bad-gut-feeling moments, I guess. And I did regret not riding it, about thirteen seconds after leaving the park that day.
Carowinds (mid 2010s):
A couple of years later, a friend from school invited me to join his family trip to Carowinds after I boasted in 7th band class that I loved rollercoasters, probably to make myself seem more interesting,3 but I also think I was unconsciously pushing myself to like them again. I accepted the invitation and rode every rollercoaster that was open that day. It turned out, I not only liked rollercoasters, I loved rollercoasters and was hooked once again.
That same friend4 and I would repeat this plan for the next three birthdays, returning to Carowinds each June and July not really to celebrate our birthdays, but to celebrate rollercoasters.
What’s your favorite rollercoaster? Message me.
Carowinds (2019):
During my senior year of high school, I took my first ever girlfriend to Carowinds while on Spring Break, and it was probably my favorite time ever going; it was a Monday, so there was nobody there, and we rode Fury 325, Carowinds’ baddest, fastest, and sexiest new giga-coaster back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back, I don’t know, something like 12 or 13 times. That time was the last time I went to Carowinds since taking Maddie last week.
Disney World (2020):
In February 2020, my mom, dad, and I returned to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and boy did I ride every ride. I was finally one of the cool kids; my dad and I rode The Rockin’ Rollercoaster four times in a row, each time in the front row5.
Carowinds (2025):
I’d been mentioning wanting to go ride rollercoasters to literally everyone in my life recently, but I’d especially been pestering Maddie and my dad6 for a while now. Finally finding a good time this spring, I asked Maddie if she would like to go for her birthday; tickets on me, of course. She agreed, and we settled for a day in early May.7
It was probably the single worst day to go in terms of avoiding kids, as there was a middle school music competition happening, which we didn’t realize until we saw dozens of school buses pouring into the parking lot just before we got there.
The line for The Intimidator was nonexistent because The Intimidator has been renamed to Thunder Strike8 or something like that. We eventually got on and were successful in getting to wait to sit in the front seat, the best seat, the only seat. The ride was fantastic. Everything I remembered it being and more (other than the name, of course).
We were disappointed to find that two of our favorite rollercoasters, Carolina Cyclone and Vortex, were both unexpectedly closed, and we couldn’t figure out anything other than that it was unplanned maintenance.
Most disappointing was the deletion of my beloved Nighthawk, a “flying coaster”9 developed by Vekoma in 2004, in which you lie down on your back in the cart, and it soared you through the sky like Batman gliding through Gotham. I knew that it would be shutdown; someone (I forget who) told me it was closed, as it had been on 75% of previous trips, but I didn’t know that it was permanently removed10 and that there would be nothing to replace it; nothing but a temporary “slingshot” bungee launching ride that isn’t even included in regular ticket prices.
I’ll never forget you, Nighthawk.
The only other complaint for the day was that of a seemingly common new phenomenon in which children will hold spots in line for one another. Repeatedly the same group of little girls would cut in front of me and Maddie in some fashion, and repeatedly Maddie got (slightly hilariously) upset by it. I only reciprocated her anger when an adult woman joined their gaggle and cut us while waiting for Fury 325.
Fury 325-- I mean, what can I say? No words. It’s my favorite rollercoaster. I go to Carowinds for Fury 325. Ride in the very front, very back11, or not at all.
Maddie and I ended our trip with a back-to-back ride of Copperhead-Strike, which for some reason, had the shortest line of any ride that day, clocking out at a rapid 10-15 minutes, and one last ride of After Burn, which also had an oddly short line for how great of a rollercoaster it is.
On our way out of the park, I wanted to buy a Nighthawk commemoration t-shirt that I saw while in the gift shop for The Intimidator Thunder Strike, but Thunder Strike and its gift shop were closed, and the other gift shops didn’t have it, so we left.
What I love About Rollercoasters:
While nothing quite compares to the feeling of my organs rising and falling as gravity loses its grip on my insides, my favorite thing about a rollercoaster is the laughing. I don’t exactly know why it happens, but when I’m flying through the air, letting my arms and legs flail, gasping at the wind flapping into my cheeks, I look over at the person sitting next to me, and I laugh. I don’t know whether it’s the thought that we are both at the mercy of this massive fun machine capable of swiftly ripping off limbs or launching us across the parking lot, or the adrenaline pumping into my brain, but it happens every time. I giggle and buffoon with uncontrollable giddy. The only other thing that happens every time is that right before getting to the top of the first ‘big drop’ I close my eyes and think to myself, “If this is it, I wouldn’t want it to be any other way.”
I love rollercoasters.12
As I typed the word ‘rollercoaster’ my word processing software scolded me with that dreaded red squiggly line underneath. Confused, I searched on the internet if ‘rollercoaster’ should be ‘roller coaster’ or ‘roller-coaster’, and found that only one official dictionary has ‘rollercoaster’ defined as a single word, Cambridge Dictionary, whereas Merriam Webster, Wikipedia, Britannica, Collins Dictionary, Oxford Dictionary, www.Dictionary.com, and more all had otherwise configuration of either a space or a hyphen between ‘roller’ and ‘coaster’. I would like to officially declare my support for Cambridge Dictionary.
See the included image above, I think I still have the rice hat. I KNOW I still have the sombrero.
Not that you are uninteresting if you don’t like rollercoasters, in fact, I find it very interesting if you don’t like rollercoasters. Why don’t you like rollercoasters?
Our friendship fell off and we lost contact after high school, but I did run into him once at a bar in downtown Raleigh. We were both very intoxicated.
They aren’t supposed to let you choose seating, but I guess since we asked nice, looked nice, smelled nice, or all three, she let us wait for the front. Back-to-back-to-back-to-back.
My mom had expressed uninterest in going again, perhaps she didn’t want to have to wait around with me, thinking that I would chicken out…
I had suggested that we go on either a weekday or a Sunday so that we have the best chance of avoiding kids who might still be in school or daycare, but Maddie’s schedule wouldn’t allow it, so we went on Friday, May 9th.
It’s a terrible re-brand and I don’t even want to take the time to confirm if I got the new name right.
“On this really unique ride, riders are comfortably and safely harnessed in a prone position. Riders start in a sit-down position and are transported sideways to a dark ride section. They are immersed in a story to save the world using their flying super powers. Prepared to get launched, the track and seats are turns 90 degrees creating a smooth transformation from dark ride to flying coaster from where the flight begins and riders experience inversions, air time moments, near miss moments and a lot more. With their arms stretched out, face down and parallel to the track, this is as close as it gets to flying like superman! The combination of the different positions of riders, creating a free view dark ride section in combination with a thrill, makes this ride type a one of a kind in the roller coaster industry.” https://www.vekoma.com/flying-coasters
I don’t really frequent any rollercoaster forums or news sites, but maybe I should. www.Coaster101.com seems to be a pretty cool place.
The back is highly recommended by fellow Fury 325 cult-members, members; I just can’t bring myself to choose anything but the very front, so we’ll have to take Justin Marioni’s word for it. Also, it should be noted that while waiting in line for Fury 325, Maddie and I saw a guy fast-pass his way into riding it back-to-back- * 15 or more (over 30 times)—and each time he was in the very back, so there’s another attribution in support of the very back.
There are more rollercoasters and theme parks that I’ve loved that are not mentioned in the timeline, those honorable should be noted: Verbolten and Apollo’s Chariot at Busch Gardens, and Fahrenheit at Hersheypark.