Fear Amongst Friends

The following is a post from Stacey...

You arrive at the park with your friends and/or family and everyone seems to be in a great mood. Someone suggests to hit the biggest and baddest coaster in the park right away.

Only problem is, when you reach the queue, you begin to see the fear in one of your comrades eyes. Not the simple, "I'll conquer this" fear, but the, "no way, no how," kind of fear.

How do you prevent your buddy from running for the exit before you even reach the loading platform?

One sure fire way to scare them even more is to pressure them into hopping on board before they are ready. Calling them a pansy is only going to tick them off.

Try being supportive and let them know that you're all in it together. If it's someone else's first time in your party, have them sit together so they can have someone to relate to.

If the timid friend is an experienced coaster rider, remind them of all of the previous coasters they've conquered before. Tell them that if they went 200 feet, 300 feet won't feel much different. If they've reached a speed of 70 MPH, they won't even notice 10 MPH faster. It may also help to talk about the fun they've had riding coasters before.

Recently I stood in front of a girl in line who actually preferred to not talk about her fears at all. She needed to internalize her fears and block out what she was about to do.

If all else fails, give your pal a break. Allow them to sit this one out without giving them a hard time. Maybe they just need a few warm up coasters to get them motivated. Ask them later in the afternoon if they'd like to give it a shot.

Just remember... be encouraging! Not pushy!

Talk about this in the CoasterRadio.com Forums.