Back then my favorite roller coaster was any coaster that didn't have loops. I could tolerate the highest hills and the steepest drops. High speed turns were a must as I wanted to feel g-forces, the kind that made it hard to sit up straight. I loved (and still love) wooden coasters even if they sometimes felt rickety and metal coasters are fine, although the smooth ride takes away some of the feeling of speed. Up, down and around, roller coasters have always been my favorite part of going to an amusement park and I would ride any coaster as long as it didn't turn me upside down.
I'm not sure why I was afraid of loops and corkscrews, afterall I knew the physics behind why I wouldn't fall out. My dad is an engineer so I knew the physics behind a number of things and he demonstrated the concept behind a loop by using a glass of ice. The ice barely moved as the glass flipped over. It didn't even raise its hands and scream. (Silly ice, screaming is the best part of the ride.) There was no reason to be afraid but I chose to miss out until that fateful day when my 6th grade class took a field trip to Old Chicago Amusement Park.
Old Chicago Amusement Park was a bit of an oddity in its day: a fully enclosed amusement park wrapped in a shopping mall. Opened in 1975, it was billed as the first indoor amusement park (Mall of America opened years later in 1992). I doubt the park ever made any money. The rumor back then was that it was built to be a massive tax writeoff. By the time of our class trip it was already clear that the park was in trouble. Many of the stores were closed leaving the mall section with a number of boarded up storefronts painted to look like they were stores from an 1890s era main street. Of course as preteens we didn't care about the boarded up stores, even though we had to pass them all to get to where the rides were. We only cared about two things: the rides and which one of the girls we would ride with.
Funny but I can't remember her name now but back then I would have done anything for her. She knew it and all our friends knew it as well. And so she became the one designated to get me to go where I said I would never go, into the queue of the Chicago Loop: a looping roller coaster named after the section of the city where Grant Park and the Willis Tower (Sears Tower) are located. My friends were quick to correct me telling me they were corkscrews not loops. Either way they turned riders upside down and everyone knew that the idea of a loop made me weak in the knees. But she asked and I was stuck riding the coaster. Anything to sit next to what's her name.
I was scared...to,,,death! So, as the ride pulled off I did what any red blooded coward would do. I closed my eyes. Did you know that with your eyes closed a ride on a roller coaster is over before you realize you've hit the bottom of the first drop? Yes you still get that feeling in your stomach on the first drop but the rest of the ride feels kind of like a wobbly seesaw. I couldn't believe it when the ride was over. What had I been so afraid of?
Later, what's her name conned me into buying her lunch. After that I didn't see her again...ever again. We wound up going to different schools the next year. Such is the life of a preteen. She was out of my life. In her wake I was left with a love for looping roller coasters.
Now I can't leave an amusement park without riding every coaster no matter what type. Just ask my family about the long queue lines. One time we stood in a queue line that was so long that it had a concession stand about a quarter of the way down its length. The ride was worth the wait (the food wasn't worth it but the coaster was). I love roller coasters, especially when they turn me upside down. I wish I could thank ole’ what's her name for getting me on the Loop. If only I could remember her name!
(I understand that as Old Chicago was closing a number of its rides were sold to other amusement parks. The Chicago Loop is now the Canobie Corkscrew located in Canobie Lake Park in New Hampshire.)
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