Ageing and thrill rides

[NuttySquirrel]

Thought it would be interesting to initiate a discussion around ageing and its effect on how we experience rollercoasters/other thrill rides.

A couple of recent discussions have had me thinking about age and why it seems people 'grow out' of riding rollercoasters - namely the discussion about second-tier parks and why the average regional park seems so tame nowadays, and also this comment by Naga Munchetty (in the LWV news report on BBC breakfast) that one becomes less tolerant of riding rollercoasters as one gets older. I suppose there could be a number of reasons for this - greater susceptibility to motion sickness perhaps, concerns around physical injuries and increased recovery time, or the burden of adult responsibilities making people more risk averse.

So the question is (to our older members in particular!) - has your enjoyment of riding extreme rides changed at all as you've got older? Are there types of rides you used to enjoy but can no longer tolerate? And has your perception of risk/fear changed at all between your teens and your thirties, for example?

For myself, I'd say things seem to be moving in the opposite direction - I was extremely risk averse as a teenager, terrified of the idea of being hurled around a track or thrown around the air on a flat ride. I only ever rode Nemesis for the first time when I was 21, and I very nearly chickened out. Now I'm 35 and I barely feel fear at all - even of new rides where I don't really know what to expect. I'll even happily jump on most flat rides now which I wouldn't have done even 3-4 years ago. The only thing I can't do without feeling extremely nauseous is pirate ships, which other people I know seem fine with!

I'm curious as well if any of our older members think they might eventually 'retire' from extreme thrill rides (specific medical conditions notwithstanding), or do you plan to keep going into your 50s, 60s, 70s? I'm sure someone said they were planning to take their 70-year-old grandfather on Oblivion; I'd like to think I'll still be up for those types of exprience when I reach that age!

 

[rob666]

What is this ageing you speak of?
Does it come in bottles?
Can you get it on prescription?

My only personal gap came in my early thirties, bit of a herniated disc that meant no National for a couple of years.
It upset me greatly, thinking "That might be it".
Limit smiler to twice in a line using single rider off peak.
Revolution has knocked me sick backwards for the last twenty years, likewise waltzers and any fast spinner.
Still like getting a dozen loops in on skyforce though.
Nemesis was down to a three time limit with the end of the single rider queue.
ERT limit on the Big One was six times and enough...giving up for the last ten minutes in my mid fifties, beat the crap out of me.
As I got a bit older, the Beach agreed to build me a nice retirement coaster we called Icon.
Should keep me going for another thirty years at least.
My great current claim is the fact that I have been riding the Big Dipper for more than half its life.
Most people grow out of coasters in their early twenties, coming back again as parents, and grandparents.
Some don't.

 

[BlueRiver]

Peer pressure might have something to do with this, with people tagging along to a trip to a theme park so as not to miss out. Maybe they don't really enjoy thrill rides, but go on them anyway (kind of like the time I went on oblivion: I'm terrified of heights, and wouldn't do it again, but wanted to say I'd at least gone on it once). I know for me it's a lot easier to say I don't want to attend an event/activity now than when I was a teenager.

I went to AT this year, after a long gap, and enjoyed the rollercoasters as much as I always had. However, the next day I did have bad neck pain and that hadn't happened to me before. Pretty sure this was caused by the Smiler, I enjoyed it a lot but only went on it once: partially because it bashed me about at the end and it hurt, but also because I get motion sickness. This hasn't stopped me wanting to go on rides again, but I can see why for someone a bit more on the fence they might call it a day. And I think I was unlucky, rather than the bad neck having much to do with age (I'm only in my mid 30s), but perhaps people are more likely to decide a minor injury is a sign they shouldn't do an activity again as they start to get older.

On the positive side, my motion sickness seems to have got better with age. I did feel sick after going on the Smiler but I used to feel like that after Nemesis and that wasn't a problem this time.

 

[Matt.GC]

This is a fantastic thread by the way as a few times at Towers last year I started to ponder and worry about not being able to handle rides as I get older.

I'm now 40 so still relatively young, but motion sickness is starting to hamper my experiences. I've always got car sick since I was a kid and still do, so I'm always the nominated driver for long distances. But I rarely got ill on coasters only a few years ago. I'd say the last 2 years or so it's started to creep in. I can't do what I used to but that's a very recent thing which seems odd. I could smash rides back to back even only a couple of years ago, but this year I did stop a bit to re-orientate.

Physically, I've suffered from a bad back since I was a teenager. Because I'm an idiot, I've just taken pain relief for over 2 decades and soldiered on. It used to come and go, but at the beginning of last year it had got so bad I had days where I could barely walk, only moving with crutches. Some days I used to get a member of my management team out to help me get out of the car when I arrived at work. I couldn't sit down for long periods either and pain started going down my legs on car journeys so I bit the bullet and finally started seeing a chiropractor which feels like it's rewound the clock by about 10 years. But when I told my chiropractor what kind of activities I get up to, he was surprised that riding coasters was actually something I was still fine at. I actually find coaster seats some of the most comfortable seats to sit on as they take all the strain away from by back and support my posture. I did injure it on Taron last year but that's about it.

As with the mental side of things, that's a strange one. Because when I was a very young man, I was terrified of getting hurt in situations like apprehending shop lifters, getting mugged (happened twice), standing up for myself etc but there's not a ride on the planet I wouldn't go on back then and I found being a boy racer driving way too fast "exciting". Now I couldn't give a damn about getting smacked in the face and if someone tried to mug me I'd like to think they'd come away far worse off than me. But I can't tolerate driving too fast now, I feel a genuine sense of danger at speeds that don't feel right even if I'm well within the speed limit. Heights now terrify me, just going up a ladder gets the adrenaline going and the first ride on Oblivion every year makes me nervous, even though I've been riding it since 1998. I'm absolutely petrified of the Skyride and rarely ride it between Forbidden Valley and Dark Forest, only doing so once per year for the pure amusement of my kids.

I guess with heights I just need to stop being a little princess and get on with it so I think I'll be fine there as it's an irrational fear in terms of rides. But the motion sickness and back problems do worry me as I'd hate there to be a time where I can't do something I love.

 

[Ils]

I'm 40 in a couple of weeks and too be honest there are certain rides I can't do anymore...basically anything that spins.

I went on Spinball last year with my youngest it took me probably two hours to recover. The only ride that made me feel worse is Forbidden Journey back in 2019. How anyone can fully enjoy that ride is beyond me.

 

[John_P]

Seems to vary, did quite an intense trip to America last summer and was overly fine. Biggest issue was a few days of tooth ache. (all those sugary drinks)
And quite happily lapped ride to happiness last year. And got in as many rides on Nemesis during an ert late last year.

I just think when I've attended Club Pleasure Beach, RCCGB, and EEC events I'm still a good 20+ years younger than some of the older attendees.