fear of rides - help me

[dpwright]

Hi
I have a confession to make. My name is Paula and I'm a ride-a-phobic. With the title of the thread, I bet you were thinking i was going to be discussing one of my children. But it's me, all 41 years of fear.
I'm not sure where this came from, but there it is, and it's real. Despite that, my family and I have headed to the Orlando area 5 times in the past. The rest of my family are devout thrill ride-a-holics. And also despite that, I have thoroughly LOVED every trip to WDW and USO we've made. I love the atmosphere, the "slow rides" and the simulated rides. But I've never been on Splash Mountain, never been on BTMRR, never even been on POTC!! My goal next time is to at least get on POTC. I have had my DH and both DDs tell me time and time again that the drop is no big deal, it's a kiddie ride, there's not even a seat belt. I've gotten all the way up to enterring the boats several times and chickened out and bolted for the exit and waited for the rest. Is there any help for me? We're planning another trip to the area in a year and I REALLY want to overcome this, at least enough to do POTC or other "small time" thrill ride. I know I'll never make it on the Hulk or Rockn Rollercoaster, but I'd think it was the greatest accomplishment to make it onto POTC. Any ideas anyone, short of hitting the margaritas heavy right before or taking a lot of valium, neither of which appeal to me in the least?

 

[tinkandpan]

I am a ride sissy as well (i can call you that if i include myself in it). I have ridden Big THunder once and got that out of my system, I too have never been on Splash or the other mountains. As for POTC in all honestly, it is a super short and very simple drop. It helps if you know exactly when it is going to happen and know that it is the only small drop in the entire ride.

Don't read if you want to be surprised:



THe drop will occur at the very beginning of the ride- you will coast through the mist of Davy Jones, on your right will be a pirate scene. It will get dark (there used to be a recording that said, rough waters ahead- but i didn't notice it last time). Then your boat will point straight ahead and take a tiny little dip.

 

[mommy-on-the-move]

just wanted to wish you good luck- I used to be a ride-phobic too and then on my 21st my sister forced me onto a huuuuge vertical drop rollercoaster and I've not looked back since!

For me it was about getting on the first one and after that it was figuring out which ones i genuinely couldn't do, I don't "do" spinning rides as they make me sick but i found it was the fear of the being sick that put me off all rides as i associated them all under the same genre, which they weren't.

This will probably sound silly too but with me i had the fear of falling if something went wrong and so i went on my first one between my husband (large fellow that he is) and my sisters friend who is an army sergant as I knew both of them could hold me on one arm if needed (I told you it would sound silly!!!) and so even if something went wrong I knew someone *should* save me- of course it didn't go wrong, and looking at it if the harnesses held my dh and my sisters friend they weren't going to fail on me being half their size but i needed the reassurance.

Good luck.

 

[Harlie]

My DS7 is a Ride sissy, all we asked of him was to try each ride once and if he doesn't like it he will know and won't have to try again. Oddly enough he is looking forward to going on the TOT, it's all he talks about. He is nervous about some of the rides but he keeps repeating to himself "If mom can try sushi I can try the rides" yeah I didn't want to try sushi but I did just so he can learn that it is all right to try things before judging them. As for whether I like sushi......I like the sticky rice in it lol!

 

[PiperPizzaz]

I took my 11 month old on Pirates. Actually I would take a three month old on pirates. Does that help any?

I could live without BTMRR myself, but, if you want to try you could go on the Barnstormer ride. See if you can work up to it. It isn't that its not fun. It is just you can pretty much see what the ride is by watching from the outside.

Splash, it is sad you are missing out on that one. It is so cool. Maybe you can get a very light anxiety med or something. I can't wait for Ds to be old enough he will LOVE it.

Maybe you can go on youtube and watch the ride videos and desensitize yourself?

Good Luck!

 

[kitsch4]

Then your boat will point straight ahead and take a tiny little dip.

This is great wording. I would not even classify this as a "drop". I consider Tower of Terror and Splash Mountain drops. I really hope you are able to overcome your fear. Although I don't share your fear (except for the spinny rides!), I do believe it is real. Maybe you can try what the previous poster did and sit between your husband and daughters. It really is not scary, and you would be so proud of yourself if you were able to do it. I think there is somewhere on the internet (maybe YouTube) where you can go through the ride to see what it is like. If I remember correctly, the camera follows Johnny Depp on the ride to get his reaction to the upgrades with Jack Sparrow. If you can find it, maybe this would help you know what to expect. Best wishes!

 

[Not so Dumbo]

Another 'sissy' here. I won't go on Splash, ToT, or RnR. and that's just at WDW. Don't even get me started on the "real" coasters.
I was on Space mnt once and won't go back.
I have been on BTMR, I was nervous at first but since I was going on with my DS5 and DS8 I sucked it up. Guess what... I love it now. It's not scary, just fast.
As for POTC, I took my DD when she was 6 months, and there was nothing to make me regret it. It isn't much different than Small World in a sense.

 

[badblackpug]

Compare the drop in POTC to sliding down about 6 stair steps. That is it. The rest of it is just IASW with pirate scenery!