I did a lot of adventurous, out-of-character things while I was in Florida. I’m no thrill seeker by any stretch of the imagination, but I found myself zip lining over alligators and going for a hair-raising, upside-down ride on the Manta roller coaster. And mere hours after I got off the Manta, I found myself at Fun Spot USA, home to the world’s tallest SkyCoaster.
What is a “SkyCoaster”, you ask? This ride, which Jai has dubbed “The world’s biggest swing set”, is a little like the cousin of sky diving and bungee jumping. Riders are strapped into a large harness and pulled up 300 feet in the air. Once they reach the top, they must pull a rip cord which sends them lunging over the amusement park, flying back and forth until eventually slowing down and coming to a stop. Our hosts had shown me a little YouTube clip of the ride the day before which made me go, “Hmmmm“. When we arrived at Fun Spot and I looked up at the SkyCoaster, it was like vertigo – I felt physically ill just seeing it and picturing the possibility of me going on it.
One thing that’s important to know about me is that just seeing videos of people parachuting – which Jai looks at often for fun, as someone who used to sky dive – freaks me out. I don’t consider myself to be phobic of heights, but rather to have a completely rational fear of them. But although I don’t think there is anything wrong with my normal nervousness about being up high, I also see the value of challenging myself. Because I am so uptight and anxious in general, I think that doing anything I can do to face fears helps my quality of life overall, even if they are things that don’t relate to my day-to-day stress. But could I really do something this extreme?
Although we were brought here as media, we had free reign to say “No” and bow out of this activity. We had passes to do whatever we liked at the park, so we could have easily chosen a more serene activity. Many of our friends clamored immediately to do the ride, while I sat back with Stacey and Meredith. Meredith said “Thanks, but no thanks!” while Stacey and I were on the fence but leaning towards “Nope”. I insisted that I wanted to watch the others do it first so I knew what to expect, so we all headed up to an observation area with benches to mull over our fate.
Watching the Skycoaster climb up with the first 3 victims riders, Stacey said, “No way! I’m not doing that. They’re crazy!” I felt sick watching it. As we sat there, our conversation turned from “Nopenopenopenope” to “Well, I don’t want to regret not doing it…maybe we should? What do you think?” The manager at Fun Spot gently cajoled us by saying that we shouldn’t pass up the opportunity, especially since we’d get videos of our ride to share on our blog – she knew exactly what to say to a blogger! I hope you know that I suffer for you, dear readers! 😉
Stacey and I decided that we wanted to talk to the others after they got off and then make our final decision. After they encouraged us, we looked at each other and said: “Okay, I guess we should…” I felt sick and scared, but I knew that although it would be terrifying, it would only last for a few minutes, and I’d be glad I faced the fear once it was over. This was one of those unusual opportunities that comes up in life and I wanted to take advantage of it. But that doesn’t mean I was happy about it! It was April Fool’s Day, and I felt like the real fool was me.
They told me to smile for this photo are we put our harnesses on, so I plastered a fake grimace on my face!
Photo courtesy Melissa at Surf And Sunshine.
Up to 3 people can ride SkyCoaster at the same time, so Stacey and I insisted that another person had to do it with us. Melissa had literally stepped off her first SkyCoaster ride and said she would go right back up again. She also agreed to pull the rip cord, since neither of us would. What a brave girl!
Photo courtesy Melissa.
I felt so genuinely scared approaching the SkyCoaster – I didn’t even pretend to look happy for the photos. So many fears darted through my mind: What if my harness isn’t attached properly? What if something goes wrong and I fall? Who am I entrusting my life to? It’s just like the zip line: It’s enough that I’m doing it, there’s no way can I pretend to look photogenic too!
Photo courtesy Melissa.
After putting our harnesses on, we were led to an accordion lift and attached to the SkyCoaster, then turned upside-down to begin our slow ascent up. These hilarious photos capture my fear perfectly:
As we moved up, I had a death grip on Stacey’s arm – sorry again about my sweaty, clammy palms! 😉 She and I had just got done riding the Journey to Atlantis together, so we bonded through fear that afternoon. While we climbed up, Stacey said, “I’m so sorry, I can’t remember either of your names right now!” to which I replied, “It doesn’t matter!!”. As we watched the Earth disappear under our feet, Melissa told us reassuring things to try and make us feel better since she had just done this herself. Stacey took deep, cleansing breaths to try and calm herself as she repeated her mantra: “I surrender to my love of adventure…I surrender to my love of adventure…” Meanwhile, I was completely silent. The others remarked later that my reaction was the most worrying since they knew I must really be scared! They asked me how I was as we got closer to the top, and I sputtered out a robotic “I’m OK!”
Photo via Melissa.
I started having a panic attack inside as we got maybe halfway up, knowing there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. I was on the verge of tears and thought I might bawl, but I didn’t cry. Because I had kept my eyes shut for most of the ride on the Manta, I made myself keep my eyes open this time so that I could get the most out of it. For as long as I live, I will never forget the view from the top, looking down at the long beam of the SkyCoaster careening down into the water below.
Photo by Meredith at Suburban Coupon Mom.
Melissa told us that she would count to three, then pull the rip cord. 1…2…3!!!!!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Photo via Melissa.
Now, this is the part I did close my eyes for! We hurtled down 30 stories – you know that sensation of momentary weightlessness you get on a plane sometimes, where your stomach lurches into your throat? That’s what it feels like as you turn upside down and careen forward, then jerk back and swing in the other direction.
Photo courtesy miss Melissa!
Pic via Melissa.
As we swung wildly over Fun Spot, I let out my second expletive of the trip, then quickly said: “I’M SORRY I SWORE!!” because I knew the whole thing was being recorded for our commemorative video. Fortunately, you can’t hear me saying it in the finished video – I thought I was going to have to bleep myself out. 😉 As far as I’m concerned, I can’t be held responsible for anything I say on SkyCoaster!
Photo courtesy Meredith!
After the first two fly-bys, the swinging starts to slow down and become more fun. This is a great example in action of how facing your fears acclimates you to them: Normally, swinging that far off the ground would have bothered me, but after being 300 freaking feet in the air, it felt like nothing! Once we were lower down and moving slower, I enjoyed myself. The Fun Spot manager had told us that “Everyone has their hands out at the end” and I thought, “I won’t!” – but she was right, and I did eventually wave to everyone once I was closer to the ground!
Proof that I did let go of Stacey’s arm…eventually!! Photo via Melissa.
As I mentioned earlier, SkyCoaster films videos of the entire ride that are available for purchase afterwards. So to give you a better idea of the enormity of SkyCoaster, may I present my flight in full:
Did you enjoy hearing me scream my way down 30 stories? 😉 The funniest part about watching this video is the fact that I noticed Maroon 5’s “Harder to Breathe” started playing in the background right as we were about to pull the rip cord – that’s like my theme song! I’m usually very aware of my surroundings, but I didn’t notice it at the time; I didn’t even hear the announcer telling us that it was time to pull the cord. My fear had total tunnel vision at that moment!
As the ride slows, you are thrown a large plastic loop which you grab to stop yourself; you are then lowered back onto the accordion lift. As I got off the ride, I was giddy with relief and excitement that I had done something brave. We were so proud of ourselves for doing it!! SkyCoaster was one of those experiences that, while really, really difficult, was also very rewarding. As I got off, I said, “I can go on any roller coaster now and it won’t be as bad as that!” – well, I’m sure they’ll invent something, but you know what I mean. 😉 I faced a huge fear and couldn’t wait to tell Jai. Just watching sky diving videos with him makes me queasy, so I knew he’d be very proud of me. He texted me back after Googling Sky Coasterexclaiming, “That’s almost like base jumping!”.
That night, when I laid down in bed to go to sleep, I closed my eyes and saw that same vertigo-inducing view from the top, with the SkyCoaster beam extending down endlessly below my feet. What’s funny is that I got another panic attack just thinking about it and felt pretty anxious for about 15 minutes – yet another example of how our brains can perceive imagined stimuli and react almost as if it were actually happening. I actually thought that experience was helpful too; and that was the only time after the ride that I felt that, so don’t worry, I didn’t come off the ride with SkyCoaster trauma!
For those of you who don’t want to hurtle yourself off SkyCoaster, Fun Spot has a plethora of other activities you can do. The SkyCoaster ride took up most of my time, but I was able to sneak in one more ride on the Go Karts – I was expecting these to be a pretty mild race around a circle, but the Go Karts actually ended up being more extreme too, with a steep slope that had me riding the brake the whole time! Talk about a white knuckle afternoon! 😉
Fun Spot had a great carnival atmosphere that I wish I’d had more time to enjoy – I was entertained by the hot pink tilt-a-whirl blasting Lil’ Jon, which reminded me of somewhere the Jersey Shore gang might visit. On our way out, we got to stop and nibble on some cotton candy, which I think is a prerequisite to any amusement park!
I only spent about an hour at Fun Spot, and it is one I’ll never forget. I can’t believe that I rode the SkyCoaster and I’m so glad I got to have the experience and do something so far out of my comfort zone! What little I saw of the rest of the park was great and I’d love to return when I have more time. I even told Jai I would do the SkyCoaster again if he does it with me!
For More Information:
Fun Spot USA
2850 Florida Plaza Blvd
Kissimmee, Florida 34746
(407) 397-2509
All-Day Armbands: $35.95 for patrons over 54″, $26.95 for patrons under 54″.
Sky Coaster Admission: $40 per person individually; $35 each for two people; $30 each for three fliers. Videos available separately.Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Google+