When I was little, the scariest part of any roller coaster ride was actually the lift hill, because I didn't know what anti-rollbacks were so I was always afraid that the chain just might snap & we'd slide backwards into the station and explode. Guess I can blame RCT for putting that silly notion into my head.
I'm sure I'm like most of you in that roller coasters and most rides in general don't really scare me at all, but if I were to rank the scariest ones I've done, I guess they'd be:
1. Kingda Ka/TTD - There's no other coaster that maxes out speed and altitude the way these two do. They just
look more intimidating than anything else, and then once you get strapped in and get ready to launch, the anticipation is killer.
2. Skyrush - Because I've never felt less attached to a train or more like I was going to be thrown a great distance to my death.
3. Windseeker - Personally, I found this ride to be semi-terrifying. I'll admit I'm actually somewhat afraid of heights, so being up that high for that long made me feel pretty tense.
4. KD's drop tower - The slow climb to the top really builds up the anticipation. Somehow, the height doesn't bother me as much on this one though. Probably because Windseeker's seats are a little more exposed and don't have OTSR's, unlike your typical drop tower or space shot.
5. Griffon - Though nothing at all about this ride scares or intimidates me one bit, I'd think that being dangled over the top of a 200+ foot vertical drop makes a lot of riders feel a little squeamish. On every train, you can count on at least a few people to start screaming even before the train drops.
6. Every other hyper/giga I've ridden - Just because of the height, these can certainly be fairly scary. Once they get rolling, though, it's all just good fun.
7. The Incredible Hulk - I've never understood how so many people claim the launch catches them by surprise, because, hello, you can see the train shooting out of the tube enclosing the lift hill! Nonetheless, if you aren't prepared for it, I can definitely see how this ride could be scary.
8. Fahrenheit - Vertical lifts are just weird. They feel a little unsettling and disorienting (although maybe this is just a personal thing, deep-seeded in my childhood fear of chain lifts
). This, combined with the beyond-vertical drop, gives this ride a decent fear factor.
9. Verbolten - Several launches, a disorienting indoor section, and a track drop add up to make a surprisingly scary ride, especially for first-time riders who don't know what to expect inside the event building. For proof, just pay attention to the reactions of some of the strangers on your train next time you ride.
10. Big Bad Wolf (at night) - This ride experience is really more awesome than scary, but I'm kind of grasping at straws to make a top 10 anyway, so this'll have to do. BBW is (or was :cry: ) easily the one ride in my count that improved the most by riding it at night. Most of the ride's area was dark and fairly well-removed from brightly-lit pathways, and this combined with the swinging motion of the cars to create a really intense out-of-control feeling. You'd only see the building facades and track supports come out of the darkness just as you were seemingly about to collide with them. Then, on the second lift hill, they used to faintly play a howling sound effect that was very chilling and effective. I really like Verbolten, and I understand that coasters have an operational lifespan beyond which they just aren't cost-effective to maintain, but I still think it's a damn shame that Busch took this ride out.
