Wipe Out

Alright, I know what you’re thinking «This looks like it belongs at the County Fair or local carnival. Why waste time standing in line at Knotts Berry Farm just to ride on this?» Well, I have an answer for you; it’s carries the ambitious rating of 4 given to High Thrill Attractions, so OF COURSE I had to check it out with two of my favorite munchkins, ages 8 and 12, in tow. Their parents sacrificed joining us for the ride of our lives to stand in line at the Coaster 50’s style diner just behind this attraction. Whatever. Their loss.
This was actually the boys’ idea to stand in line for this ride. They’re both over the required 48″ in height to ride so they didn’t actually need me, other than to raise their enjoyment factor of course. I was willing to stand in line just to humor them, as this ride didn’t really look like much at first glance. Then I saw the sign. You know, those warning signs that are stationed around the park at the entrances to those rides that are rated for their thrill factor along with listing a whole bunch of language limiting your right to sue the park if you possess one of their ‘high-​risk’ medical conditions such as back pain, neck pain, heart conditions, pregnancy, or are recovering from recent surgery. Because the first thing I like to do when I’M recovering from major surgery is to go to an amusement park and ride all the most dangerous rides. Just saying; sometimes we just need to thin the herd out a little (TOTALLY KIDDING).
The ride is a big circle with seats facing in both directions around the outside. The ride starts spinning around its central axis in a clockwise direction which mean, yes you called it, half the people are going to be spinning forwards and half are going to be spinning backwards. I sat next to the 8 year old at his insistence with the 12 year old facing us. There are signs that state clearly that the larger passenger must be seated on the outside edge of the car, but Lee wanted to sit on the outside and I allowed him to do so. Which lasted until the employee running the ride saw us and straightened us out. It’s a good thing, too, because the centrifugal force smashed him into my side as the ride started spinning faster and faster and faster. It felt like he was crushing me and he is just a kid. And, of course, I was one of the LUCKY ones who got to ride backwards the whole way. WOOT WOOT!
As the ride continues to rotate, the central axis lifts off the ground — not in a «Hey, now you’re going around in a circle high in the air» sort or way but more of a «Now you’re spinning like a Tasmanian devil AND going up and down as you go around. Hope you didn’t want to keep that lunch down.» This creates alternating feelings of weightlessness and crushing downward forces. It’s NOT a ride I’d recommend doing right AFTER a large meal, but for us it was just perfect timing. The line wasn’t horribly long and the boys’ parents were just receiving the food and sitting down at a table when we returned.
This ride gets 4 stars for being much more exciting than it looks.
Check out the video I posted if you want to see it in action!