I have this really good friend and she doesnt know if she wants to ride it opening day at all cause its tall and fast and I told her its not going to be that bad(she thinks she is going to die lol)

and if she doesnt ride i would have to ride by myself.

Any tips how I can get her to ride it?

Tell her to wait in line for you with the promise that she can always just walk right through the train at the end if she doesnt want to ride. Then dont talk about the ride at all in line, until the station when you ask her what her choice is.

^^That's a good idea.

I've also told intimidated riders to have their eyes closed the whole time, which I've found works pretty well. Of cource, that strategy always failed with me cuz I'd be too tempted to open them.

Best of luck! It's hard to believe that for myself as recently as a few years back I refused to ride Invertigo or Delirium!?! Of course, now, my pulse won't even be elevated beyond the resting rate for my first D-back ride! Though riding is still very fun!! (just not scary)

I was scared a couple years ago too but now I'm a addict!

^^And I don't know how old you (2013 your HS graduating class??), but soon you'll want to ride more and other things like El Toro and Superman: Ride of Steel!!

its amazing what you absolutly refuse to ride till after you ride it

First off, welcome to KICentral. I would get her to wait in line with you and then hopefully she would change her mind. Just tell her to close her eyes like what tigellinus said when you're going up so she doesn't know how high you are.

its amazing what you absolutly refuse to ride till after you ride it

I agree with that. Two rides I have had panic attacks on are now two of my favorites.

I disagree with the part about closing your eyes.. if you don't know what's going on, you may think you are higher than you actually are and be more scared. How do you know what is going on or isn't going on when you close your eyes? If you don't want to experience the ride, don't ride it.

its amazing what you absolutly refuse to ride till after you ride it

Very much so >.< I refused to ride Drop Tower until my friend talked me into it. Now it's a must-ride.

Although I admit that the ascent scares the daylights out of me.

When i first rode Drop Tower (Drop Zone at the time) I was freakin terrified, but my friend threatened to bite me if I didn't... I waited in line, determined not to go, but in the end I thought it would be easier to just ride and avoid the embarrassment of being bitten in public. So maybe if you threaten to bite your friend she would ride Diamondback

Hi all. Long time reader, first time poster. Last summer was my first time visiting KI. I hadn't been on a ride in over a decade. So first thing in the morning Drop Tower and Son of Beast scared the bejesus out of me. After that I was scared on every ride and even refused to ride some, though I did enjoy Flight of Fear and AE. Finally toward the end of the day my wife talked me into getting on Vortex. Here's how she did it. She asked me to just walk over to the ride, look at it, and think about it for a while. I did that and it only made my fears worse. But then she said, "look at those LITTLE KIDS riding that ride! Those little kids are more brave than a big tough guy like you??" I rode Vortex (in order to keep my last shred of dignity) and I loved it so much that I got right back in line. Went back to KI two more times last season (rode everything), already bought gold passes for 2009, and have spent the off season staring at the DB webcam and reading the KIC forums. All thanks to that one ride on Vortex. So yeah, if all else fails try attacking her ego haha. worked for me!

Just tell her Cedar Point has a coaster nearly twice as tall, then it won't seem so big, that is until she is going up that hill!

tell her u will give her 5 bucks to ride it or buy her lunch/dinner.

Hi all. Long time reader, first time poster. Last summer was my first time visiting KI. I hadn't been on a ride in over a decade. So first thing in the morning Drop Tower and Son of Beast scared the bejesus out of me. After that I was scared on every ride and even refused to ride some, though I did enjoy Flight of Fear and AE. Finally toward the end of the day my wife talked me into getting on Vortex. Here's how she did it. She asked me to just walk over to the ride, look at it, and think about it for a while. I did that and it only made my fears worse. But then she said, "look at those LITTLE KIDS riding that ride! Those little kids are more brave than a big tough guy like you??" I rode Vortex (in order to keep my last shred of dignity) and I loved it so much that I got right back in line. Went back to KI two more times last season (rode everything), already bought gold passes for 2009, and have spent the off season staring at the DB webcam and reading the KIC forums. All thanks to that one ride on Vortex. So yeah, if all else fails try attacking her ego haha. worked for me!

With the track freshly painted, and a new coaster for this year, I bet you are really excited!

tell her u will give her 5 bucks to ride it or buy her lunch/dinner.

Ha! He's right...Money talks...

With the track freshly painted, and a new coaster for this year, I bet you are really excited!

VVEERRYY!! That bright orange track is going to stop me dead in my tracks like a deer infront of high beams as i admire its awesome glory, possibly drooling a bit. hahaha I'll See you in 13 days Vortex!!! And for the record... CF wouldn't invest the money to paint a sinking ride so hopefully the rumor will die now. But if Vortex were to sink I'd go down with the ship and ride her right into the ground!

Really? Kings Island painted King Cobra, right before it closed forever! Tis true.

Yep. King Cobra was painted during 1998 for the 1999 debut of the new Action Zone (the same year that Top Gun lost its red track color). And King Cobra last operated in 2001, and was removed at the start of the 2002 season.

Really? Kings Island painted King Cobra, right before it closed forever! Tis true.

wow. I stand corrected.That's really interesting though. I wonder if they hadn't forseen the closing yet at the time they repainted it? Or maybe the paint job was so old they thought the ride wouldn't make it to the end of the season without rust problems? Must have been a good reason for it.

Rumor had it the ride was for sale, and the paint job was not unlike detailing your used car before putting it up for sale. At one point, there were even rumors the ride was going to Spain! After the ride did not sell, it was removed.

what the just happened?

I already tried that haha.But i made a deal with her every ride thats her kind i ride(top gun, AE etc. ) she will ride my kind of ride,all the big ones,and I got her to ride Son of Beast!

but i told her sob is going to be more scary then Diamondback!

ahhh and it all makes sense. No surprise it didn't sell. I don't care how nice the paint job is, I wouldn't buy a used car that was next to impossible to buy replacement parts for.

You could always do like I did to some of my friends. Promise them that you just want them to wait in line with you and they can walk across the station and leave when it's time to get on, then place yourself squarely in their way so they can't get across. It worked on my husband.

I was going to do that but I don't want to make her mad.

Take something from her and do not give it back until she rides it. My mother did this to me when I was seven. We went to The Beach Waterpark and she wouldn't buy me lunch or dinner until I rode the Cliff, the biggest water slide in the park. Being a pudgy kid, I was hungry and rode it. It was amazing.

Rumor had it the ride was for sale, and the paint job was not unlike detailing your used car before putting it up for sale. At one point, there were even rumors the ride was going to Spain! After the ride did not sell, it was removed.

I was once told that by the King Cobra Ride op. Except the story at the time was that it was headed to a disneyland in spain I think....or something like that but it was definately spain

tell her u will give her 5 bucks to ride it or buy her lunch/dinner.

Ha! He's right...Money talks...

But offer her the 5 dollars first. That's cheaper than a meal at the park.

Here's what I would do: since she rode Son of Beast tell her it's about as tall and about as fast as SOB, but not NEARLY as bumpy since it's steel and one thing B & M rides are known for is being as smooth as glass. Plus, tell her to look at the faces of the people who are getting back from their ride as most of them will be smiling. This might just assure her that it's going to be fun. This video made me come up with the idea. If all goes well, she might just ride it with you. By the way, I used to be like some of you guys. I was absolutely TERRIFIED of coasters before I promised my dad that the next time we went to KI I'd ride every coaster with him. Ever since that first ride on King Cobra I've been hooked. Cant wait for Diamondback in 11 days!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOPH7FyljIA

Ok im getting her to ride Son of Beast she refuses to ride Diamondback cause its to hilly for her and I'm trying to get her to ride Vortex any ideas?

Yes, save Son of Beast for last.