How I Faced My Fears At Disney World

Back in May, during the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, we heard a lot of great speakers.  Specifically, Lisa Druxman talking about gremlins on your shoulder stuck with me.  Given that I have a fear of falling – not heights, mind you, but falling – I decided to knock that gremlin off by going on four rides that scared me.  Yesterday, I posted photos of me on the rides.  Today, I’d like to share some details.

Expedition Everest

No matter how strapped in I am, I’m always worried that I’ll somehow fall out on a turn.  Yes, it’s a ridiculous fear, but fears are rarely logical.  So I went onto Expedition Everest with NHL feeling very nervous.  For those who don’t know, Expedition Everest is a climb up Mount Everest that gets stopped when the elusive Yeti breaks the tracks ahead of you.  Then you plummet backwards around and down and through some dark tunnels.  In the end, this ride wasn’t too bad.  The backwards part was disconcerting as you couldn’t see where you were going, but at least you could see where you had been.

Verdict: Not too bad. I would go on it again.

Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith

NHL was nervous about going on this one, but decided to be brave and go on it with me (and B and B’s father).  I told him how proud I was of him.  I didn’t really know what to expect with this one.  This is an entirely indoor rollercoaster that takes place in the dark with Aerosmith music blaring.  I prepared myself for the dark twists and turns, but what I didn’t prepare for was the start of the ride.

After getting in the car, you approach and stop at a red light.  If this were a normal rollercoaster, you would slowly go up a ramp before the ride sped up.  Not this ride.  Once the light turns green, you go from 0 to 57mph in under 3 seconds.  That isn’t a smile on my face.  It’s my face being pushed back by the acceleration.

This ride was much worse than Expedition Everest.  Being in the dark made every turn almost completely unexpected (some neon signs provided clues) and thus triggered my fears with every twist.  This ride also had a few moments where you are upside down – a BIG no-no for my fears.

Verdict: I’m glad I went on it… but I’m not going to ride it again.

Tower of Terror

I’ve actually gone on this one before.  When NHL was five, he was determined to go on the ride.  I couldn’t let him show me up, so I went on it also.  When it was over, the only reason I was able to get off was because I knew, if I didn’t, I’d be riding it again.

For those who don’t know, the Tower of Terror lifts you up 13 stories and then drops you.  This isn’t it, though.  The drop is random.  You might plummet 10 stories, you might only go 5.  You then go back up and down about seven times – with each rise and fall being randomly determined.  This means that the ride is different every time.

This also plays right into my fear of falling.  After all, the whole point of this ride *IS* falling.  So, knowing what I was in for, it took all of my courage to go on it again.  Every time we went up, I could have sworn I left my internal organs below and every time we dropped I felt the terror rising.

Verdict: Not.  Ever.  Again.  I proved that I can go on it (twice) and now I’ll focus my energies on other, tamer rides in Hollywood Studios – like Toy Story Mania.

Space Mountain

This ride is similar to Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster in that it takes place in the dark.  Whereas Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster had some neon signs to look at, Space Mountain had nothing.  You couldn’t tell where you were or where you were going.  You could tell when you went into a turn by being slammed one way or another.  There was no other warning at all.

This was possibly the worst ride.  Even with Tower of Terror, you knew what was happening.  At the bottom of a drop, you were likely going up again.  At the top of a rise, you would soon plummet.  With Space Mountain, there was no such signal.  Plus, I rode Space Mountain after eating a huge dinner at Boma.  Not a good ride to go on when your stomach is overly full.

Verdict: I’ll stick with the People Mover from now on, thank you very much.

In the end, I’m glad that I faced my fears.  Now, I won’t be quite as likely to let my fear get in the way of trying something out.  However, when it comes to these rides, with the possible exception of Expedition Everest, I don’t think I’ll be going on them again anytime soon.

Disclaimer: We paid for our own trip to Disney World to attend the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration.  Though we were given an incredible deal from Disney, they never asked us to blog about this event. All opinions expressed above are my own.