Miss Mikki wrote:
I am also claustrophobic, scared of the dark and dislike rides that drop!
I hate TOT. I have been on it 13 times. I hated it the first time, so how I got persuaded by family and friends to ride it another dozen times I will never know! Not keen on the drop in Splash Mountain either.
I also get nervous with thrill rides that I haven't ridden before. I don't like not knowing what is going to happen. So, with this in mind I had decided to swerve Everest, until my sister said it was very pretty and she thought I would be OK. I went on it and really enjoyed it. We ride Everest every time we go to AK now. So based on the rides you like/dislike which are similar to mine, I think you would be OK with Everest. Amazingly, I really like the the Rock-n-Roller coaster, it is fast and wild, but really fun and over quickly, so if you think you can try the harness restraints anytime in the future, this is a good ride to try. (I understand about the harness restraints, I had a panic attack in Stitch, when it used to be the alien ride - like a really bad panic attack, where I had to get removed by CM through the emergency exit!!!) I haven't dared try Mission Space yet.
Hi Miss Mikki--thanks. I feel slightly less nuts every time I meet someone else who "gets" why this is such a big issue for me, although I'm sorry that you are stuck with similar circumstances. I can't believe you did ToT 13 times!! Kudos! I went with friends last summer and sent them over to "that" end of the park while I went to Star Tours and One Man's Dream--much more my speed!! I would LOVE to do RnR because I've seen the track and I'm confident that I could handle the actual ride. Think they'd make me a special car with a lap bar if I promised to hold on really, really tight?
The only way I can get through the end of Splash is to remind myself that I once did Tidal Force at Hershey Park (100' psychotic drop that I thought I could deal with because it was a water ride, which somehow makes me feel safer than dropping down a big hill on a regular roller coaster) and lived, so I can make it down the 53' drop on Splash even though I hate it.
I really want to try Everest. I might send my husband first to do ride reconnoissance. I was all psyched up for Mission Space on our last trip. I had talked myself into the fact that it was ok for the screen to be inches from my face and I was looking out a "window" not staring at a screen. Then they dropped the chest harness (which I had not prepared myself for because I typically don't even try to ride anything that has this type of restraint). I had a cold at the time. I tried to take a deep breath to cough and I couldn't...CM rescue time. Thank God the ride hadn't started yet. The whole rest of the trip, I had mild anxiety every time we were in a dark ride. (I swear the air is thiner at the top of the "golf ball" than elsewhere in the park.) I kept saying over and over to myself, "the mouse loves you and would never do anything to hurt you..."