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Spent the day with good buddy D., who took me to ride the new attraction Mission: SPACE (large Shockwave files) at Epcot. I had been nervous all week about going on it, because I really didn't know how it worked or how intense it was. I love most roller coasters but am terrified of rides that just drop, like the Tower of Terror, and I feared Mission: SPACE would do that.
So I spent a few hours last night reading reviews of it online, which alleviated some of my anxiety. It's essentially a centrifuge, which simulates the G forces of a launch into space by spinning the compartment you're in really fast in order to pin you to your seat. Several of the reviews I read essentially said, "My spouse, who does not like roller coasters, loved it, blah blah..." so that helped to ease my fears. There also were several other reviews that said it may make you sick, which of course it did. I have a low tolerance for motion -- which is odd because I am on a lake in a boat three mornings a week -- and tend to get motion sickness easily, especially riding in the passenger seat of a car in stop-and-go traffic.
The park was dead -- possibly due to the rainy weather forecast (it hardly rained) and the Christian music extravaganza going on later that night -- so we walked right on. The snaking, cattle-call queue area was shorter than I thought, and it teemed with bored, loitering cast members (called "CMs" in fan message boards). The Steve Kmetko-lookalike "How many?" CM turned on his smile as we walked up. A perky thirtysomething couple queued up next to us in the safety video prep room. The woman, grinning broadly, was giddy about the ride. "This is so fun!" she gushed to us, without provocation. "I was nervous before the first time I got on just because I didn't know what it was like! But there's nothing to be afraid of!" (Insert random "tee hees" for effect.) OK, this really can't be all that bad.
The ride was exciting, and just as everyone said, different than most rides. It doesn't really feel like a coaster but doesn't lift your stomach into your chest, either (though it turned mine inside out). It does twist and turn more than I thought it would. It took me a good half-hour before I started to feel better. Someone on a fan board said that you pull 2 Gs in it, and astronauts in a real launch pull twice that. Don't know if that's true or not.
Here are a few scenes, sans the Mission: SPACE attraction, from today:
Hair on the dog.
Am I still green?
Can I take your picture? Um, OK.
God's on in an hour.
Picture-perfect ending.
Current mood: Tired
Replies: 2 shoutouts
Beautiful. I couldn't let it go without a picture. I suspect it had to do with the storm passing us by. It was a stunning sunset.
Posted by Huffy @ 09/07/2003 01:46 AM EST
wasn't last night's sunset fantastic?
Posted by tiff @ 09/06/2003 07:22 PM EST