My First Roller Coaster

It’s good to step out of your comfort zone. Whether it’s trying something new, or making friends. My experience was riding a ride that seemed big to eleven-year-old me. California Screamin’, in Disneyland, was my first crazy, upside-down rollercoaster.

Disneyland is always a fun place! They have small rides for kids and big rides for adults who are kids at heart. Many rides look threateningly big through a kid’s eyes, and Screamin’ looked terrifying to me. As I passed the ride, I could hear screams and the swooshing noises of the coaster car cutting through the wind. The passengers reached the top of the hill, stopped, and then sped down waiting to be caught by the tracks. I winced as the coaster raced down the hill. Yikes. Drops scared me, but the only thing worse was going upside down.

Could you fall out? The structure of the ride just went up, and up, and up, into the sky. Heights were not my thing. I started walking faster to get away from the frightening thrill of California Screamin’. I could see the boardwalk in view. Almost there. Maybe we could play some games. I just had to pass this ride, and I was there. When I had almost passed the long line of people waiting, I noticed the sunburned, waiting for riders. They looked impatient as they were leaning up against anything they could find. I slowed to a walk as I examined the people around me. This was just slow enough for a familiar sweaty hand to grab me on the shoulder.

“Hey,” my mom said, “Why don’t we ride this?”

She pointed up to the rollercoaster that I had been fearing.

“Umm, no thanks.” I quickly replied. I tried to hurry on, but no luck.
“Oh come on you’ll love it!” my mom enthused me.
“Ya go with mom, I’ll take your hat.” my dad offered.
I silently handed him my hat and peered up at the ride. It couldn’t be that bad right?
“That looks calm,” I thought, “I can probably ride this.”
“Ok fine let’s go!” I said, the end of my words starting to pick up excitement.

My mom and I headed off toward the ride leaving my dad and brother behind. I was half excited to go on this ride, despite my nervousness before. The line moved quickly and we were soon halfway through. I was wondering why the ride looked better when I looked up at it the second time, rather than the first. Then it hit me: I had forgotten about the loop and drop! The sun had been beating down on my face and blinding me without my hat. I overlooked the worst parts! However, there was no turning back now. We were almost to the coaster cars. I became more nervous as time went by. Would this ruin big rides for me? I didn’t know the answer, but it was too late to think, we were getting on. I was too scared to sit in the front or the back,

so we settled in the middle. When we got on the ride, the seat belt bars came down, and my regret settled in. I was stuck. The coaster slowly inched out of the covered boarding area and into the launch. The sun blinded me as the ride inched closer outside. Then the car stopped, and the heat soaked into the riders as we waited to blast off. After a few seconds that seemed like minutes, a voice came through the headrests on the seats. It was talking about safety, and then came to the countdown, moments later. Five. I clenched my sweaty hands and had a nervous smile on my face. Four. I’m glad my dad took my hat or, it would’ve fallen off. Three. Why did I go on this? Two. My mom tilted her head toward me, smiling.

“Ready?” she asked.

One. I nodded slightly and the ride began. The music immediately started pumping through the headset. I could not hear anything else. The car shot forward at unimaginable speeds. I was screaming. However, I was screaming with thrill rather than fright. We boosted up a hill, not the biggest one, but still pretty tall. I couldn’t even tell if we were going up or down, so by the time we were over this hill I was ready for the big one.

The ride continued over a few more bumps and then approached the big hill. The coaster slowed and snapped into place on the inclining tracks. We started going up: click, click, click, slowly but surely. I tilted my head, resting it to the side, and took in an amazing view. I could see across the whole park. We were so high, I didn’t dare look down. Click, click, click, it would take a while to get to the top.

“Fun?” my mom asked me while half screaming.
“Oh ya!” I shouted back, equally loud.
Click, click, clunk, we were at the top.

1I peeked over the front of the coaster as the people sitting up front started screeching. I could see the big drop coming. I was excited! 2I soon joined the screeching riders as our division of the car fell over the hill. Wind raced through my hair and cooled my face. So far. This was fun! I barely had time to recuperate from the drop before we started toward the loop. Here it comes! I hoped I was ready. The car accelerated through the loop, my face was pulled for less than a second, and we were through.

What? That was it? I was happily surprised and screamed at the top of my lungs throughout the rest of the ride. The following thrills were just bumps and sharp turns, not as terrifying, but still super fun. After we got off California Screamin’, I couldn’t stop talking! That was amazing! We immediately got fast passes to ride again later. My mom was right, that was so much fun!

I am so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone! I almost didn’t go on this amazing ride. My mom knew I would love it, and boy was she right! Later that same year in the summer, my cousin and I went with our grandparents down to Disneyland. When we arrived there I wanted to go on Screamin’. However, my cousin had never been on anything like it, putting her in the position I was in before.

I convinced her to go, and we even rode together in the front car! I’m so happy I got to take my cousin on this ride! Riding California Screamin’ helped me build up to even bigger rides that are my favorites today! I was even willing to go four times on Expedition Everest which goes backward at one point. Stepping out of your comfort zone is a great thing to do it helps you grow in understanding and makes you braver. Even if it’s something as simple as a rollercoaster.

The article was originally published here.