Playing Hooky

Yesterday a couple friends and I played hooky and hit Six Flags in New Jersey. We couldn’t have hoped for a better day, the weather was perfect and the park was near empty.

The guy who organized the trip made the unfortunate decision to invite a new girlfriend who doesn't like roller coasters. Always the gentleman, he was forced to sit out many of the fierce rides, as she was intimidated. (Side note: The organizer (aka F.W.P.) made a serious pass at me last Saturday night, after which I explained to him that hooking up would be an awful idea because, "Don't you think Wednesday would be slightly awkward?) Thankfully, my other guy friend was as much an adrenaline junky as I and we hit every roller coaster of note. Our favorites were:

El Toro: This wooden roller coaster (pictured here) was the best ride of the day. El Toro begins with a jaw-dropping, stomach lurching drop -- at 76 degrees it is the steepest drop of any wooden roller coaster in the world. The entire ride is consistently great throughout. As my roller coaster buddy so eloquently said, "Unlike Superman, it doesn't blow it's load early."

Kingda Ka: Sheer insanity -- pictured in the back here -- it is the tallest and fastest roller coaster in the world. I actually to ride it twice to get the full experience, as the first time I was so freaked out, I kept my eyes closed the entire time. It was sick, the ride starts with you going 0-128 mph in 3.5 seconds, where you then climb straight up to 456 feet and then drop right straight right back down. It was sick... It was exhilarating... It was fast... I loved it!

Nitro: A fellow at the park described Nitro to me as the "Cadillac of roller coasters." After locking myself into the seat with only a dinky yellow lap bar (seen here), I was beyond anxious. There was nowhere to put my hands, my feet... Moving at 80 mph with a dinky little yellow lap bar distracted me, but somewhere around the quarter mile mark of the 1 mile ride, I relaxed into it. After dropping 215 feet, and speeding through 6 steep drops, horizontal loops, an S-curve and a high-speed "hammer head," I wanted to do the ride again....

The saddest part of the trip was all these fat Americas who couldn't fit in the safety seats. People would wait in line for an hour, only to find out that they were too fat for the safety harness to lock. It was so embarrassing, they would get kicked off of the ride and be subjected to snickers from those waiting in line.... (Alright, full disclosure, I snickered.) I can think of no better motivation for a diet than the public humiliation of being kicked off a ride.