Tall Enough to Ride

by Daniel Snyder

“Three…two…one–” a God-like voice said, and we were off. There was no going back now. I was alone.

This all started on a perfect day when my family decided it would be a good idea to head to one of the area’s best and only amusement park. How could you not go when you only live ten minutes away? (Depending on how slow the grandma in front of you drives.) In Illinois, there’s this magical place called Six Flags Great America, and well, pull down your harness because I was in for the ride of a lifetime, and I had no idea.

“Tickets, please!” The young summer intern exclaimed as we walked through the front gate. She was a girl who had to have been about my age, and I wondered how she could be so happy in the sweltering heat. Then I looked around, and there was a spray bottle. For a minute, she jumped out of the booth, whipped off her red Looney Tunes hat, and sprayed her face in slow motion while her long brunette hair whipped back like a model.

“Daniel! Show the nice girl your ticket,” my mom exclaimed. The daydream I had was cut off, and my face turned as red as the girl’s hat while she smiled at me and held out her hand. She patiently waited for my ticket. I handed it to her in utter embarrassment, like she could see my thoughts.

After she finished punching our passes, we were through the gate, and she let us go with her routinely, “Thanks, guys. Have a Six Flags Day!” The first thing you see is this gigantic pool of water, with usually a few stray leaves that get in. Families from all over were lining the great pool that reflects the carousel and taking pictures before their hair got all messed up, and they had their fill of waiting in lines.

“What ride should we go on first?” My dad asked. I knew exactly which one, but I wasn’t quite ready yet.

“How about a warmup ride? Something not as intense to start with,” my younger sister chimed in.

“Great idea,” he said. We looked at the map for the nearest ride with less intensity. “Here!” He pointed to a roller coaster coated in yellow and black. “The Batman Ride. It only has one loop and a corkscrew. I think that would be a good one to start with.” We headed to The Batman Ride, and thus began the day that would change my life forever.

This story isn’t about all the rides we went on or even my overall experience at Six Flags, but a single experience I’ll never forget.

No matter how crazy a rollercoaster looks and how tough you think you are, there’s always one that makes you sweat a bit more just thinking about it. That ride for me was called “Vertical Velocity” or “V2” for short. It is categorized as a top thrill level rollercoaster with “U-shaped steel track spikes up in two impossibly high directions, one in an ultra-twisted inline curve, and the other straight up (The flash™: Vertical Velocity — Six flags great America).” It is a lightning-fast roller coaster that goes 70 miles per hour in four seconds!” It was intimidating, but I felt destiny tell me to get on that roller coaster. There was one problem. It was almost time to go. The sun began its salute and headed toward the horizon, where soon there’d only be a sliver left. As we were about to walk past the great coaster, I decided I wanted to make this ride my last for the day.

“Mom! Dad! Look at this one! Can we go on it, please? It’s only a fifteen-minute wait, and it looks like fun.” I looked at my sister and instantly saw the fear in her eyes as she shook her head.

“Uh-unh. I am not getting on that. It looks too scary.”

“Oh, come on, sis, it won’t be that bad. Look! It’s starting up now. Let’s watch.” I turned her body toward the ride, and we both watched the coaster at a standstill. After we blinked, the coaster was gone from the starting position and halfway up the half pipe.

“Nope. You know, we’ve done a lot of roller coasters, and I’m getting tired,” my sister yawned.

“She’s right, Daniel. It’s starting to get late, and the park will be closed soon,” my dad said. I ignored them.

“Well, would you or Mom want to go on with me? It’ll be fun.” They looked at each other for a few seconds and talked to each other.

“It is getting late, and I’m all coastered out,” my mom told him.

“Yeah, you’re right.” My dad turned to me, Hey, bud!” That’s what he’d call me sometimes. It sounded like a voice that faded as fast as that coaster would take me. I was at the point of no return, already standing in line. I was about to conquer V2. I looked over at my family and waved to let them know where I was and that I hadn’t run off and joined a convent or anything. All I saw was my dad smile and shake his head while a concerned look disappeared from my mother’s face. I turned toward the television screen they had above the line, and some of my nervousness went away when Bugs Bunny appeared, and Looney Tunes came on. It calmed me down just enough, so I wouldn’t second guess my decision to ride the rollercoaster that increased in scare factor as I got closer to the front of the line. You must understand that second-guessing myself was second nature to me when it came to school. Whether it was my work in school, the music piece I had to memorize, or if I did (fill in the blank with anything) correctly, I was never sure of myself. I did what every other low self-esteem-ridden teenager did: doing what others wanted to do, not considering what I wanted. I wasn’t going to let this be one of those times. A group of kids in front of me had to be half my age, and they were so excited about riding this roller coaster that they failed to see what was happened in front of them. The ride had come to a complete halt, as one of the coaster cars was stuck on one end of the half-pipe, and wasn’t coming down. Two people behind me towered over me, and I lost sight of my family. I hoped they would not know the ride had tech difficulties so I could continue to wait. After maintenance got there, which seemed like forever, the ride ran, and everyone stuck could exit the ride. The group in front of me bailed too. They performed a few trials, and it was finally my turn. I hopped into the seat with a pulldown harness while the operator mumbled something under the loudspeaker. A few attendants robotically did their safety checks, and when they got to mine, I wanted them to double-check, but they moved quickly and uniformly. There was something hypnotic about it, and I didn’t want to break the spell. I decided that I would become a safety expert and double-checked myself. Once I felt secure, all I could do was sit there and wait. Every passenger was checked, and once the safety staff cleared out, I knew it was time. I stared ahead and imagined myself rocketing forward and up and continuing to go through the Earth’s atmosphere and to Space.

The loudspeaker came on again, and it began while my heart was beating like a heavy metal drum line. “Three…two…one–” a God-like voice said, and we were off. There was no going back now as badly as I wanted to. I was a missile getting launched into the sky, and just when I thought I’d go on forever, I went backward and rode the U a couple of times back and forth, feeling more alive than I ever had before. Once it was over, I felt an overwhelming sense of joy and pride in myself for what I could accomplish, and I had to face the consequences of my actions. I walked toward my parents and saw big smiles on their faces and knew at that moment they were as proud of me as I was of myself.

I decided to go on the ride because I wanted to, and despite every reason not to, it showed me that trusting myself leads me to have fun experiences and enjoy life. It is the only one I have, after all. I stepped onto that roller coaster with a different mindset than when I had gotten off. Nowadays, I doubt myself way less than I used to. Sometimes, I do, but all it takes is to close my eyes, get back in line, and ride Vertical Velocity. I can confidently say that I was finally “Tall Enough to Ride” this roller coaster called life, and that was just the beginning.

This is usually the part where I’m supposed to promote myself. I’m just glad this found you because I believe for whatever reason, it was destined to. If you’d like to check out my other work, follow, comment, share, or even tip, that’s entirely up to you. I promise we can still be friends either way :) Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoyed my words!

-Daniel Snyder

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Copyright © All Rights Reserved.

Credits:

“The Flash™: Vertical Velocity — Six Flags Great America.” Six Flags, 24 Sept. 2022, https://www.sixflags.com/greatamerica/attractions/vertical-velocity.