Have you ever self-spited yourself out of a roller coaster?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. Of all the things that can happen at a park, a spite is probably the most gutting. I'm sure we've all had an occasion where a ride has been closed for the day, or it's broken down, that means we haven't been able to ride it. But sometimes, some might voluntarily choose not to ride something for whatever reason. Whether it's through fear or just plainly forgetting it exists, we might sometimes choose not to go on a coaster. With this in mind, I'd be interested to know: have you ever self-spited yourself out of a major roller coaster? Have you ever voluntarily not ridden something for whatever reason?

For purposes of limitation, I'm going to keep this to relatively major attractions. There are a number of enthusiasts who often don't ride kiddie coasters (myself among them); if I were to include all of the kiddie coasters I've denied myself by choice over the years, this would be a long list!

If we're keeping it to more major coasters and excluding kiddie coasters, most of my examples are fairly historical now, but I have a few I could reel off! These are:

• Rock'n'Rollercoaster at Walt Disney Studios Park - This is probably my most significant one, and the only one I am yet to receive redemption on! When I was not quite 8, I went to Disneyland Paris, and I had the opportunity to make Rock'n'Rollercoaster my first ever inverting coaster. I was over 1.2m (but not yet tall enough for Space Mountain or Indiana Jones), and I'd never gone upside down before... but I chose not to ride it. Why, you might ask? Well, it was all because a boy from my primary school told me it gave him tummy ache... so I staunchly refused to ride it all trip on that basis alone! I'm still bitter with myself about this one 14 years on... I have provisional plans to return to DLP next year, and this is one of the attractions I care most about going on purely to avenge my 8 year old self! I don't even care if it's not that good; I just want to go on it to redeem my past self-spite!
• The Dragon at Legoland Windsor - It took me until I was 14 to ride this... because when I first went to Legoland at 6 years old, my sister and I both refused to ride it due to the perceived "scary" theming! I couldn't ride it on my second visit at 10 years old either, but I had a broken arm, so that was slightly more out of my control...
• Saw: The Ride at Thorpe Park - I did not go on Saw until my 3rd visit to Thorpe Park when I was 15. On my first and second visits in 2014 and 2015, respectively, my sister and I were still in the phase of being slightly fragile around any kind of vaguely "scary" theming. We pondered Saw on our second visit in May 2015, but we caught the restrictions board outside that said "Live or die... make your choice" on it and swiftly decided to live! I was also a bit too much of a law-abiding citizen to contravene the posted age restriction of 12... I visited in May and didn't turn 12 until July.
• Scorpion and Sand Serpent at Busch Gardens Tampa - On my first visit to Busch Gardens in 2016, I didn't ride either of these... because I quite literally forgot they even existed. No, I'm not joking; when we were in the park, I simply forgot they were there and forgot to ride them, meaning that I exited the park having missed 2 non-kiddie coasters purely due to my own actions! On my revisit in 2023, I made specific effort to ride them... and I'm glad I did given that Sand Serpent shut about 2 weeks later and Scorpion swiftly followed about a year after that!

In terms of non-coasters, the only thing I generally self-spite myself out of these days is anything involving live actors, particularly scare actors, due to a personal phobia of/aversion to scare actors. For this reason, I never did Derren Brown's Ghost Train, I have never ridden Nemesis Sub-Terra, I have never done a scare maze, and I also haven't done The Walking Dead: The Ride at Thorpe Park since they rethemed it (I got the cred in 2014 when it was X, so I'm slightly less bothered about this one than the ones listed above). Coasters-wise, I'm game for pretty much anything nowadays (kiddie coasters aside)!

But I'd be keen to know; have you ever self-spited yourself out of a major roller coaster? Or any other attraction, for that matter?

 

[Burniel]

I missed Seven Dwarfs and Slinky Dog Dash at WDW because waiting 2 hours for a family coaster wasn't going to happen and I was with family who (understandably) didn't fancy getting to the parks for 8am to get around the problem.

I will ride tiny coasters for the cred but only on minimal waits - I'm missing Duplo Dino and a couple of other similar scale creds for this reason.

Interested in your aversion to live actors Matt, I'm quite similar in that I don't really do dedicated scare attractions, but I will put up with the likes of The Walking Dead when it's just the one scene and I'm getting a ride out of it.

 

[Niles]

Mine was the Black Hole at Alton.

And it was caused by what was Clone Zone at The Milky Way down in devon. It was one of my first indoor coasters and they had a big alien in the queue that i found scary (i was a little easily scared fella at the time)

My dad said there would be no aliens on the ride and he was right up untill the end where they had an actor dressed as an alien that popped out and made "whoOoOoo" noise like a ghost.

Welp i burst into tears and was scared of both aliens and indoor coaster for a few years, and sadly while i had a bunch of chances by the time i got the courage to ride it we found it closed, hoped it would reopen but nope.

 

[JoshC.]

Only one I can think of would be Cobra at Walibi Belgium.

It was my first visit (10 years ago now!), and a busy day with lots of school trips. Had ridden a Boomerang (my first ever) the day before at Bellewaerde, so it was a low-priority ride. Ultimately didn't get the time to do it, but rode it the following year.

 

[davidm]

Two coaster candidates I immediately think of;

Snoopy's Great Race at Universal Japan - on my first visit there (2006) I had seen it in the indoor kiddie section but there was a bit of a queue so I thought "come back later" - only later, when I was sitting at the Hard Rock Cafe outside the park on my way back to the hotel I suddenly thought "oh **** I totally forgot to go back for the kiddie-coaster - d'oh". I redeemed myself a few years later though.

Revolution at Bobbejaanland - I saw the building in front of the ride, but did not see the sign for the ride, I walked around the side of the building and there was stuff temporarily fenced off, so I thought "ahh not running". Subsequently I found that the ride entrance is inside the building - d'oh. I redeemed myself a few years later though (and very much enjoyed it, the silly ride that it is).

An entire park as well;

Expoland in Osaka - I was in Osaka (because of the World Cup) in 2002, looking for things to do between football matches and (pre-RCDB/coast2coaster etc) thought that I'd just visit the Disney parks in Tokyo instead on the trip. D'oh. I also missed a fairly new USJ on that trip, not even realising that the park existed (but at least I have redeemed that subsequently). I guess I also missed Delphis on that trip but that's not quite so traumatic. No redemption for Expoland though, as it had shut by the time I was next in Osaka

 

[Matt N]

I also forgot to add that I self-spited myself out of Space Mountain Omega at Magic Kingdom.

I rode the Alpha side on the first day we went, but we only revisited for an evening on our final day in Florida, and my parents refused to queue for the second side of Space Mountain when we’d done the first on our prior visit…

It also took me 2 additional years after riding Hungarian Horntail to get the Chinese Fireball side of Dragon Challenge at Islands of Adventure for similar reasons… I’m glad I made specific effort to ride Chinese Fireball in 2016 given that Dragon Challenge got removed a year later!

 

[Matt N]

Interested in your aversion to live actors Matt, I'm quite similar in that I don't really do dedicated scare attractions, but I will put up with the likes of The Walking Dead when it's just the one scene and I'm getting a ride out of it.

I even find myself getting nervous around roaming entertainers in parks, who aren’t even intended to scare you, so I’ve always thought that doing anything involving scare actors would be a bad idea! For whatever reason, I’ve always found myself getting really anxious around costumed characters, even the ones that aren’t intended to scare you… so with that in mind, I’ve always been pretty averse to doing things with actors that are intended to scare you and can touch you in many cases!

I did The Walking Dead before it got rethemed, so I’m less bothered about not having ridden it since the retheme seeing as I already have the +1 from 2014 and I don’t remember it being anything especially earth-shattering even back then. But I might feel differently had I not already ridden it…

Maybe I should rip the plaster off and try it next time I go to Thorpe. As I understand it, aren’t the actors sometimes absent from The Walking Dead?
EDIT: Apologies… I didn’t realise I was double posting!

 

[East Coast Mariner]

Mine was the Black Hole at Alton.

That was actually quite scary. I didn't visit Alton until 1999, and Black Hole was definitely the scariest thing I rode that day. The on-ride photo was just me ducking down!

I even find myself getting nervous around roaming entertainers in parks, who aren’t even intended to scare you, so I’ve always thought that doing anything involving scare actors would be a bad idea! For whatever reason, I’ve always found myself getting really anxious around costumed characters, even the ones that aren’t intended to scare you… so with that in mind, I’ve always been pretty averse to doing things with actors that are intended to scare you and can touch you in many cases!

I agree. They're there to do... something. There's something quite artificial about it. Mind you, I don't like horror whether it's actors or otherwise.

Anyway, my self-spite is Bullet at Flamingo Land. I've only been to Yorkshire once, in 1996, and I really didn't fancy that ride. I think it was the steepness of it. I'm not really that bothered, to be honest, and at least I got The Ultimate at Lightwater Valley.

 

[Burniel]

I did The Walking Dead before it got rethemed, so I’m less bothered about not having ridden it since the retheme seeing as I already have the +1 from 2014 and I don’t remember it being anything especially earth-shattering even back then. But I might feel differently had I not already ridden it…

Maybe I should rip the plaster off and try it next time I go to Thorpe. As I understand it, aren’t the actors sometimes absent from The Walking Dead?

Yeah sometimes you'll get a run without any although I find the sign is often still out front saying they're in there making it rare to guarantee you won't see any. The theming is decent, but as you say not a must-do if you already have the +1.

And your point about double coasters in Orlando reminded me that I only ever got one side of Primeval Whirl for similar reasons - no real loss! Thankfully I also did both sides of Dragon Challenge just in time.

 

[Rob Coasters]

Slammer at Thorpe Park and Evolution at Blackpool Pleasure Beach - too scared, never gained the courage. Very sad I missed them.

Original Tonnerre de Zeus at Parc Asterix - didn't care for it, wanted to lap OzIris. At the time I was more upset about missing Vol d'Icare!

Web Slingers at Walt Disney Studios Paris - decided not to ride due to bad reviews and disliking the ride at Legoland Windsor with similar hardware.

Black Hole (Zierer indoor thingy) at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland 2011(?) - wasn't fussed about it, but regretting now. Freizeit Land Geiselwind visit is on the cards.

Loads of flat rides - I am often not inclined to ride them as much on solo visits due to the lack of assistance if I were to get a bit too queasy on one.

Sindbad at Fantasiana - skipped due to long queue and low capacity.

Rapids at Tripsdrill & Walygator Grand Est - skipped due to long queue.

Wild Mouse at Blackpool Pleasure Beach - didn't care for it at the time .

Bounce at Oakwood - only realised how demented that thing was after my visit. Wish I rode it now.

 

[Trax]

Gebirgsbahn & Grand-Canyon Bahn @ Phantasialand:
When I was a child, my uncle took me to a themepark once a year. This was usually WB Movie World (now Movie Park), as it was the closest park to home. However, at some point, he wanted to go somewhere else (he didn't really enjoy Movie World anyway) and suggested Phantasialand. Well, I new better and didn't want to go there because Wild Wild West (now the beloved Bandit) was my absolute favourite coaster and Phantasialand couldn't possibly have something better than this.
To be fair, it didn't ride nearly as horrible as it does nowadays.

Ricochet @ Carowinds
Wanted to ride it, but I felt that the queue was too long. When I finally joined the queue, the ride was closed due to the slightest of rain for the rest of the day. The second try was cancelled due to the park being closed due to inclement weather.

 

[Pink Cadillac]

I'm always missing creds lol The worst time was when I was in Energylandia. It was over 3.5 years since I had been on a coaster because I didn't get out of the COVID mentality for ages and I was also focusing on a career change. Well it was quiet and I was able to do 3 laps on Zadra at the beginning of the day without waiting and I just became quite ill. Even with paracetamol it was taking an hour for symptoms to subside and then they would start to come back again even on a junior boomerang . I thought it was due to me being too old for coasters as I'd had a long break. But I think it was because I actually got Covid a few weeks before flying out to Poland - It might have still been in my system.

In the end I think I missed 11 of the creds as I wasn't feeling up to it! I often ignore the kiddie creds anyway. But I don't give a **** anymore about trying to tick off everything. There are a few other parks too where I've missed out over half the park.

Also, I skipped out on the whole of universal studios Beijing because I was too ambitious with scheduling (I was planning to sleep on the overnight plane from tokyo to Beijing and get 5 hours sleep at the airport hotel, arrive at the park at 2pm and get as much done in half a day as I could) but after the most excruciating flight with my knee, I needed to rest it from 2 weeks of too much walking. Instead get 8 hours sleep starting from 7am Beijing time/11pm UK time, therefore fixing my body clock, had a bath and chilled in the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in.

Despite everything I have no ragrets! Apart from missing Arashi due to time management and missing Ghostbusters at Heide Park due to dementia - I forgot it existed until I walked past on my way in and was hyped to go on it later. Then immediately forgot about it again until I walked past it on my way out

















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[Nick13]

Mine is a bad one... X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain

We had 2 days planned for SFMM at the beginning and end of our trip in September 2023. On the first day, we were there for just a few hours from opening and driving up to San Francisco later in the day. Through a combination of jet lag, being at Universal Studios HHN until 2am the previous night and the heat, I was exhausted!

Did a lap of the park and ticked off loads of the creds with zero waits. Heading from Twisted Colossus back to the entrance area, we saw X2 running in the distance. Contemplated going for it then, but decided to leave for lunch at Jimmy John's (elite subs!) and save it for the 2nd day at the park when feeling a bit more alive.

A week later, 2nd day at the park - closed all day.

 

[James F]

The most recent that comes to mind is my visit to Luna Park, Coney Island. I could have gotten the Zampera Motobike, but I wasn't sure if it was open as I saw it testing, but didn't bother going for a closer look. I also saw staff around the Volare, but again didn't bother. Can't say I regret it much.

I usually try and do all the creds, but on my recent US trip I skipped the kiddie coasters as I wanted to prioritise time on the stand outs, plus I was a little too embarrassed.

All of Parque de Atracciones Madrid in an effort to save money from an extra nights stay in a hotel - I just didn't feel the rides there were worth the additional time and money. Bad enthusiast I know.

I didn't ride Hero at Flamingoland because it had a 30 minute wait which I refused to take part in.

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train always had 70-120 queue when I was last at Magic Kingdom during it's opening year, because there was no chance of getting a fast pass, it was another miss.

There's plenty more over the years that I just can't think of at the moment.