How brave should I be?

[catkin]

First to put this into context - I AM A COWARD! ever since they were very little and needed me to go on rides with them, they have cajoled me into going on rides I wasn't sure about with the promise that they would look after me - and they did. However when it came to the Big Rides they never even bothered trying to get me on them.
So what's changed? Well DS1 has always quite liked rides, he did once suffer after a pirate ship ride so he avoids those now but otherwise fine & at 16 he's going to want to do lots of Big Rides. DS3 (11) is and always has been an adrenaline junkie, a fully paid up thrillseeker, loves heights & never been frightened of anything but water (he can't swim) Last trip in 2007 he sat in Star Tours like he was watching Basil Brush on tv.DH (luckily) doesn't mind rides of any description so has always been the one taking the children on the Big Rides while I stayed with the little ones or more recently with DS2. Now this is where the problem lies, now 14 the traitor has, over the years been getting braver and whereas before we would do POC (thinking ourselves very brave because after a few days we could hold our hands up on the drop!!) while the others did The Big Rides, I can see that this year he might also decide to join them.
So after all that waffle what I want to know is which rides do you think it would be worth trying so that I don't end up spending all my stay at the end of rides with a book and a camera. Space Mountain doesn't appeal at all, neither does RC racer. IJ has a loop but some people say it's fine, I'm not convinced. TOT sounds amazing but will I cope?What exactly happens on it, do you sit down, stand up (fall over!)? Teacups don't appeal as I get dizzy very easily and I don't fancy spending the days feeling sick, but I gather the cars version isn't as bad?
As a bench mark apart from the aforementioned POC I love Buzz and Peter Pan. At Legoland I have now graduated from being looked after by little children on the little dragon to managing the Big Dragon on my last visit so I'm thinking I might possibly try BTM this year.
So your thoughts please on these and RnR coaster, Crush, Armageddon etc
What else do people suggest I might try and in which order - is there a Beaufort scale of terror I wonder - and more importantly which do you suggest I don't try!!
I refer you back to my first sentence - I am a coward, but I would also like to spend some time on rides with my children!

 

[kizzabel]

BTM is well worth a try and TOT isnt too bad at all. Its more the build up and anticipation but for theming and the 'feel' aone you must try it.
SM is very heart in your mouth which I love but maybe build up slowly to this and RnRC!
Crush doesnt some spinning but is brilliant.
Teacups only spin as much as you twist the wheel whereas Cars you have no control over and I find it spins more then teacups.
Best of look with shedding the chicken suit but only do as much as you feel you can cope with, dont give in to peer pressure!!

 

[Carrie_Cat]

If you don't like spinning I wouldn't be doing Crush as it goes round and up and round and on in the dark. I love it but I like spinning round and never have suffered from motion sickness (used to read and knit at the same time in the car for hours on end)

SM2 is not bad as a ride but I don't do it as I hate getting my head smacked all over the place from it. SM(1) was a lot smoother

IJ is over so fast that you don't really realise what's going on, but again the head can take a few knocks.

I don't know if this is a height related thing as my OH doesn't get affected on IJ but does like me on SM2

I prefered ToT to Parachute Drop in TSP has if I'm going to drop suddenly I rather be doing it sit down with my legs not dangling in space. ToT has as Kizzabel said great theming and build up and you could always start by going as far as the chicken exit

Armagedon is just loud and shaky with an explosion but not scarey

Never done RnRC doesn't appeal but OH likes it - I sit opposite with a coffee and wait

Only do what you want to do and see how you feel on the day. BTM is great fun and I'm sure you will love it

 

[Jakaru]

* Sidenote: It's GREAT to be back and able to actually add some thoughts to these things, and not just be asking questions all the time. *

I HATE rides, I have a fear of heights, and I get carsick if I'm not the driver, let alone being spun in circles etc. I complained about the height of a Mini-coaster at Gullivers World, as I saw no need for it Not to be at Ground level. So here's the approach I took to the rides, and yet I still feel we made good use of 90% of the park and had a great time.

Anything with Mountain in its name or as part of the build is ruled out from the get go, as is anything that involves Dropping uncontrolably, so no parachutes for us (which frankly to me, doesn't look safe for smaller kids).

Didn't even consider IJ, TOT, SM, Racers, etc. Somehow, we missed POC entirely, and I don't quite know how, so can't comment on that one.

We had a 4 year old with us who generally shares my hate of scarey rides. However, once at Disney, something possessed her (and even me). She enjoyed the Studio Tram thrill (our gentle intro to it all!), Buzz, then Peter Pan (flying the dark, we scaled it up gentley, as much for me as her!), Teacups, then Star Tours (expected complaints, she didn't bat an eyelid). The Pixar Cars spinning thing was surprisingly fast spins, but again tolerable, she loved it, Slinky dog is great of course. Even Dumbo and the Flying carpets which to me normally trigger my heights thing were great, felt very solid and secure.

We would even have done Crushs Coaster (our upper limit!) but we never saw queues much less than 45 mins and weren't keen enough to wait that long.

The effects show Armageddon I would recommend only doing if Tram Tour has gone down ok, as the fire could be a bit over the top for some, but all went down well for us.

Once you add all those to Small World, Phantom Manor, the slow watching stuff kinda rides, and then other bits like Autopia, Nautilus and the live shows, I really don't think you'll Miss BTM etc, or if the others Must go on them, its relatively little to sit out of overall.

 

[DLPdaft]

BTM is fabulous - and I'm a coaster chicken (no way you would get me on TOT, I freak on the Frog Hopper at Gullivers !). Wouldn't go on RC Racer if you paid me, but Parachute Drop is brill (and very safe for little children, as well as the lapbar there are individual belts in the seats).

Honestly, I'm a chicken, but these rides are great .

 

[kizzabel]

Nothing else to add except apologies for my awful spelling. My phone is touchscreen and doed its own thing!

 

[jothp]

I don't really like rides very much but I do like BTM, it is fast and has some sharp turns but there are no big drops or anything nasty like that.

I can't really comment on the others as I have never done them

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I don't particularly like coasters, more a fan of the rides like Star Tours so looking forward to that at DLP having been on it at WDW.

I agree about the spinning, it knocks me sick - son loves it hence I have to go on with him!

 

[jillrobinson]

I didn't used to like the Teacups but I'm getting better the trick is just go in with just 1 other person and let them do all the spinning, it's quite hard work
Cars you have no control over, I'm OK but wouldn't want to do it more than once in a row.
If you're anything like me in that respect forget Crush, think that is the worse ride I've done at DLP, although it does start off very nicely just to lull you into a false sense of security before you know it, it's pitch black or I might've had my eyes closed, your spinning round, I didn't even know which way up I was ! You will never get me back on there.
RnR I wouldn't choose to go on, but if someone else really wanted to and they didn't have anyone to go on with I probably would, just remember that from start to finish, it lasts less than a minute.
BTM is brilliant and I've ridden that 3 times straight after one another, end of the night and CM just kept asking did we want to go again.
Indianna Jones I actually really like this one, it's not as fast or jerky as BTM IMHO, there is 1 loop that is over so quickly you hardly notice it, i'm trying to persuade Liam to try it in November with me. I should add that if they ever change it to run backwards again, avoid - I thought I was going to die when we rode it going that way.
Space Mountain 2 - I finally plucked up enough courage to ride it in 2009, it is extremely fast and I didn't enjoy it and probably wouldn't do it again because of that, but added to that I developed BPPV, a type of vertigo shortly after the holiday and apparently a cause of it can be head trauma, so I'm convinced that it was probably due to the amount of head bashing I got on SM2.

I'm interested in what Carrie Cat says about ToT, we've not done it, but have done the Parachutes twice and thought they were great fun, chickened out of ToT every time I was expecting it to be far worse than the Parachutes, so I'm interested to know what everyone else thinks

 

[KatyTheFairyPrincess]

I used to be such a wuss too and now theres not a single ride I wouldn't go on at any theme park lol. If you know spinning makes you ill then skip those but I really do urge you to give the others a go! Nothing bad is going to happen and when you get off I bet you'll think "I wish I'd been on this years ago!".
You only live once and sometimes its a case of grabbing the bull by the horns!