This post is in progress. Enjoy now but come back in a day or two for more.
Problems
Where is my nearest thrill ride? I don't actually want to ride one. I just want to see it, photograph it, read about it.
Buildings have fire escapes. Parachutes are designed to help you jump from heights and arrive uninjured. You could design a water vehicle so that if it rolled over or turned upside down, people could be protected in air pockets. Or pull themselves out of an escape hatch or a battlement design edge.
Water Thrills
Check out
Waterslides
Duck boats. WWII amphibious vehicles. I did these twice, on a press trip in New York, and again in Philadelphia. I loved it. It's a bit like launching a lifeboat. Your boat goes down a slide from land into water, a steep slide!
Fatal accident in the USA in 2018 (Chicago?) - but it was going in bad weather and passengers apparently were not wearing life jackets. I would want to go in good weather and wear a life jacket.)
You get duck boats worldwide. Usually, you can buy a combined ticket for an open top hop on hop off bus with a recorded commentary and a map, either free or extra, and a Duck boat river ride with commentary.
ROMANIA, Bucharest - hop on hop off bus
I thought this would be an easy option. Not for me. When they say hopping they mean hopping people. Not just sitting. Hopping. Hoping and hopping. If you are the nervous type, the open top bus tours with sides you can see over - plus overhanging branches to dodge is quite exciting. Children and adults love it.
What's not to like - plenty of exercise, steps to ascend and descend at up to fifteen stops, in a static or moving bus, leaping on and off. Signs tell you not to use stairs when a bus is moving. "Hey - this is our stop!"
You walk to the entrance of the museum, which is next to bus stop on the map - but the entrance is down the road or around the corner. hard Rock Cafe was by a lake. You must walk down to the Lake. Hard Rock Cafe is huge. Long walk to toilets at the end and back. Then run back to catch the next bus which goes only every fifteen minutes or half an hour. You find you are at the regular city bus stop or a rival company's stop and see your bus stop yards away and run to it waving - that is also over-exciting.
Static Thrills
USA
The ultimate thrill ride is the man on the moon and the highest observation deck is a space station. You could go to a Space camp. Those suits look awfully bulky and uncomfortable. On the other hand, you will be free-floating in space. Without an anchor, you and your food and other items I won't mention would be floating about. Gravity does have its advantages.
Yes, America is the place for thrills, especially theme parks. The USA is not a small country but a large part of the continent of North America. It's big and you have lots of choice, but distances between one and the next are great.
What's the hurry? Sit back and relax as a passenger in a family car (take turns driving), or take a flight and enjoy the view.
What about the cost?
Buy a house or rent for a year near a theme park and you can get an annual pass. Plus a constant stream of visitors, family and friends and ex-colleagues and others to visit you. No problem entertaining them, whether you want to be with them - or get rid of them! Be with them on day one and get rid of them on day three.
Australia
Tower of Terror, and The Wipeout, in Dreamworld, Australia.
Dreamworld, Dreamworld Parkway, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia QLD 4209.
Austria
Mieders
Canada
I've tried this rope bridge with family visiting from England and family living in Canada. Allow twice as long as you thought, because you can only go as fast as the slowest and most nervous of your groups - and you are held up by others who take fright!
Note that the time to cross is doubled if you have to go across and come back to exit the same way. Allow time for parking, buying tickets, photos and souvenir shopping.
https://www.capbridge.com
China
The Great Wall.
It is high. In fact, just climbing up the giant steps is a challenge. The steps are the height of a chair. The elderly need and helping hand. From the top, you get the views down and for miles.
The glass bridge - is static. The people looking down as they walk are swaying around!
On the other hand, lots of pedestrian suspension bridges are moving. They bounce as you cross. You stop, but people behind you are running after friends and family so the part beneath your feet bounces. So does the handrail.
Keep both hands on the rail and you will be fine. But you need one hand to operate your camera. If you are nervous, don't look down, look ahead.
If you are trying to ward off a panic attack, think of something else and talk about something else, such as, "What time will we have lunch? Where do you want to have lunch?"
Germany
Silver Star rollercoaster at Rust.
Italy
Gardaland (train ride from Verona, after Romeo and Juliet's balcony, a little excitement).
Aquafan Waterpark, Riccione. Contains Kamikaze, Twist, Extreme Rivers.
Mirabilandia.
Japan
Nagashima Spaland, Nagashima Resort, near Nagoya.
Russian Rollercoaster
Waikiki Waver Super Flip.
Singapore Thrills
Soft static options:
1 Marina Bay Sands observation deck. Hotel with infinity pool.
The place has two levels. The observation deck is big.
On New Year's Day, we chose to pay the extra for a ride up to the bar and cocktails eating area with the open deck. (The restaurants we also tried, and that's serious money. , but you tend to be busy eating and chatting and miss half of it.)
2 Gardens By The Bay
This is a whole Day activity. Must book. Two giant glassed-in areas. One has a giant waterfall with multi-level walkways. You can take the lift to the top and walk down. Get a combined ticket or a one year pass or sign up on their website and wait to check out seasonal, peak season and off-season offers. If you don't like heights, are budget conscious, or want to be in the open air, plenty of riverside walking past labelled trees in the public area outside.
3 Take the train around the Night Safari.
4 Cable car from the big island of Singapore to the small almost traffic-free entertainment island of Sentosa.
5 Big wheel (Singapore Flyer. Look for combined tickets and reductions booking online.)
Spain
On the camino del rey there is a cliffside rope walkway. You are half way up. Don't look down, except at your feet.
UK
Central London:
Pedestrian bridge from the Tate Gallery across the River Thames. From the cafeteria, in the Tate, you get a view over the bridge and river.
(Soft, static option, The Shard observation deck.)
The Shard.
You can get various options, just the Shard observation deck, Shard observation deck and sparkling wine, Shard observation deck plus a meal in their restaurant.
Outside London:
Alton Towers
Gulliver's Travels
Thorpe Park
USA
Free Thrills
I'll always remember our first trip to a hotel with an atrium and a glass lift. It was Atlanta, Georgia. The daily excitement is in the glass lift, for free.
In some hotels and shopping centres you get a free ride up to the restaurant or high floors. It can be quite nerve-wracking if you get in unsuspectingly at the lower level such as the basement or ground floor. Then the lift zooms up and the glass at your feet reveals the city street getting further and further below.
Check out options in the air and space museums in Washington DC and in Florida and elsewhere.
Useful Websites
CANADA
Niagara Falls
niagarafallstourism.com
Pedestrian suspension bridge.
https://www.capbridge.com
CHINA
cnto.org
GERMANY
German.travel/en
ITALY
http://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/thrill-seekers-guide-italy-five-best-italian-theme-parks
visititaly.com
JAPAN
seejapan.co.uk
RUSSIA
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2141189/The-worlds-scariest-rollercoaster-Russian-theme-park-ride-designed-make-thrillseekers-vomit-themselves.html
http://geekologie.com/2012/05/the-puke-inducer-terrifying-russian-them.php
SPAIN
www.spain.info
http://www.caminitodelrey.info/en/#5 - cliffside path (of the king?)
USA
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g34515-d258685-r137598390-Universal_s_Islands_of_Adventure-Orlando_Florida.html
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/one-kind-biplane-embodies-thrill-airshow-flight-180969864/
https://www.tripsavvy.com/top-aviation-aerospace-museums-united-states-3301104
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller_coaster
Duck boat sinking 2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz1U27zbWXw
Worldwide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_roller_coaster_rankings
all you need is lists
Insurance
Remember to take out insurance. Do some compfaison shopping. Check they cover the sorts you want. Some policies exclude skiing, snow sports, scuba diving, parachuting, bungee jumping or off-road activities. If in doubt ask. You might be able to add the excluded activity, especially if it's a one off and you are not doing it for a living. It could be just a few pounds or dollars more, or even free, just a matter of writing it in.
Print this out and add your own favourite and discoveries and suggestions from your friends and family.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer, author and speaker. I have other posts on Madeira, Singapore, the USA, London, The Shard, thrills, observation points, etc. Please share links to your favourite posts.
Problems
Where is my nearest thrill ride? I don't actually want to ride one. I just want to see it, photograph it, read about it.
Buildings have fire escapes. Parachutes are designed to help you jump from heights and arrive uninjured. You could design a water vehicle so that if it rolled over or turned upside down, people could be protected in air pockets. Or pull themselves out of an escape hatch or a battlement design edge.
Water Thrills
Check out
Waterslides
Duck boats. WWII amphibious vehicles. I did these twice, on a press trip in New York, and again in Philadelphia. I loved it. It's a bit like launching a lifeboat. Your boat goes down a slide from land into water, a steep slide!
Fatal accident in the USA in 2018 (Chicago?) - but it was going in bad weather and passengers apparently were not wearing life jackets. I would want to go in good weather and wear a life jacket.)
You get duck boats worldwide. Usually, you can buy a combined ticket for an open top hop on hop off bus with a recorded commentary and a map, either free or extra, and a Duck boat river ride with commentary.
Bucharest, Romania. Hop on hop off bus to this museum with not be missed staircases. Photo by Angela Lansbury, copyright.
ROMANIA, Bucharest - hop on hop off bus
I thought this would be an easy option. Not for me. When they say hopping they mean hopping people. Not just sitting. Hopping. Hoping and hopping. If you are the nervous type, the open top bus tours with sides you can see over - plus overhanging branches to dodge is quite exciting. Children and adults love it.
What's not to like - plenty of exercise, steps to ascend and descend at up to fifteen stops, in a static or moving bus, leaping on and off. Signs tell you not to use stairs when a bus is moving. "Hey - this is our stop!"
You walk to the entrance of the museum, which is next to bus stop on the map - but the entrance is down the road or around the corner. hard Rock Cafe was by a lake. You must walk down to the Lake. Hard Rock Cafe is huge. Long walk to toilets at the end and back. Then run back to catch the next bus which goes only every fifteen minutes or half an hour. You find you are at the regular city bus stop or a rival company's stop and see your bus stop yards away and run to it waving - that is also over-exciting.
Static Thrills
USA
The ultimate thrill ride is the man on the moon and the highest observation deck is a space station. You could go to a Space camp. Those suits look awfully bulky and uncomfortable. On the other hand, you will be free-floating in space. Without an anchor, you and your food and other items I won't mention would be floating about. Gravity does have its advantages.
Yes, America is the place for thrills, especially theme parks. The USA is not a small country but a large part of the continent of North America. It's big and you have lots of choice, but distances between one and the next are great.
What's the hurry? Sit back and relax as a passenger in a family car (take turns driving), or take a flight and enjoy the view.
What about the cost?
Buy a house or rent for a year near a theme park and you can get an annual pass. Plus a constant stream of visitors, family and friends and ex-colleagues and others to visit you. No problem entertaining them, whether you want to be with them - or get rid of them! Be with them on day one and get rid of them on day three.
Australia
Tower of Terror, and The Wipeout, in Dreamworld, Australia.
Dreamworld, Dreamworld Parkway, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia QLD 4209.
Austria
Mieders
Canada
I've tried this rope bridge with family visiting from England and family living in Canada. Allow twice as long as you thought, because you can only go as fast as the slowest and most nervous of your groups - and you are held up by others who take fright!
Note that the time to cross is doubled if you have to go across and come back to exit the same way. Allow time for parking, buying tickets, photos and souvenir shopping.
https://www.capbridge.com
China
The Great Wall.
It is high. In fact, just climbing up the giant steps is a challenge. The steps are the height of a chair. The elderly need and helping hand. From the top, you get the views down and for miles.
The glass bridge - is static. The people looking down as they walk are swaying around!
On the other hand, lots of pedestrian suspension bridges are moving. They bounce as you cross. You stop, but people behind you are running after friends and family so the part beneath your feet bounces. So does the handrail.
Keep both hands on the rail and you will be fine. But you need one hand to operate your camera. If you are nervous, don't look down, look ahead.
If you are trying to ward off a panic attack, think of something else and talk about something else, such as, "What time will we have lunch? Where do you want to have lunch?"
Germany
Silver Star rollercoaster at Rust.
Italy
Gardaland (train ride from Verona, after Romeo and Juliet's balcony, a little excitement).
Aquafan Waterpark, Riccione. Contains Kamikaze, Twist, Extreme Rivers.
Mirabilandia.
Japan
Nagashima Spaland, Nagashima Resort, near Nagoya.
Russian Rollercoaster
Waikiki Waver Super Flip.
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.
Soft static options:
1 Marina Bay Sands observation deck. Hotel with infinity pool.
The place has two levels. The observation deck is big.
On New Year's Day, we chose to pay the extra for a ride up to the bar and cocktails eating area with the open deck. (The restaurants we also tried, and that's serious money. , but you tend to be busy eating and chatting and miss half of it.)
2 Gardens By The Bay
This is a whole Day activity. Must book. Two giant glassed-in areas. One has a giant waterfall with multi-level walkways. You can take the lift to the top and walk down. Get a combined ticket or a one year pass or sign up on their website and wait to check out seasonal, peak season and off-season offers. If you don't like heights, are budget conscious, or want to be in the open air, plenty of riverside walking past labelled trees in the public area outside.
3 Take the train around the Night Safari.
4 Cable car from the big island of Singapore to the small almost traffic-free entertainment island of Sentosa.
5 Big wheel (Singapore Flyer. Look for combined tickets and reductions booking online.)
Spain
On the camino del rey there is a cliffside rope walkway. You are half way up. Don't look down, except at your feet.
UK
Central London:
Pedestrian bridge from the Tate Gallery across the River Thames. From the cafeteria, in the Tate, you get a view over the bridge and river.
(Soft, static option, The Shard observation deck.)
The Shard.
You can get various options, just the Shard observation deck, Shard observation deck and sparkling wine, Shard observation deck plus a meal in their restaurant.
Outside London:
Alton Towers
Gulliver's Travels
Thorpe Park
USA
Free Thrills
I'll always remember our first trip to a hotel with an atrium and a glass lift. It was Atlanta, Georgia. The daily excitement is in the glass lift, for free.
In some hotels and shopping centres you get a free ride up to the restaurant or high floors. It can be quite nerve-wracking if you get in unsuspectingly at the lower level such as the basement or ground floor. Then the lift zooms up and the glass at your feet reveals the city street getting further and further below.
Check out options in the air and space museums in Washington DC and in Florida and elsewhere.
Useful Websites
CANADA
Niagara Falls
niagarafallstourism.com
Pedestrian suspension bridge.
https://www.capbridge.com
CHINA
cnto.org
GERMANY
German.travel/en
ITALY
http://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/thrill-seekers-guide-italy-five-best-italian-theme-parks
visititaly.com
JAPAN
seejapan.co.uk
RUSSIA
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2141189/The-worlds-scariest-rollercoaster-Russian-theme-park-ride-designed-make-thrillseekers-vomit-themselves.html
http://geekologie.com/2012/05/the-puke-inducer-terrifying-russian-them.php
SPAIN
www.spain.info
http://www.caminitodelrey.info/en/#5 - cliffside path (of the king?)
USA
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g34515-d258685-r137598390-Universal_s_Islands_of_Adventure-Orlando_Florida.html
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/one-kind-biplane-embodies-thrill-airshow-flight-180969864/
https://www.tripsavvy.com/top-aviation-aerospace-museums-united-states-3301104
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roller_coaster
Duck boat sinking 2018:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz1U27zbWXw
Worldwide
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_roller_coaster_rankings
all you need is lists
Insurance
Remember to take out insurance. Do some compfaison shopping. Check they cover the sorts you want. Some policies exclude skiing, snow sports, scuba diving, parachuting, bungee jumping or off-road activities. If in doubt ask. You might be able to add the excluded activity, especially if it's a one off and you are not doing it for a living. It could be just a few pounds or dollars more, or even free, just a matter of writing it in.
Print this out and add your own favourite and discoveries and suggestions from your friends and family.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and phtographer, author and speaker. I have other posts on Madeira, Singapore, the USA, London, The Shard, thrills, observation points, etc. Please share links to your favourite posts.
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