Challenge 7: A roller coaster from your favorite manufacturer

Roller Coaster Challenge Day 7 – A roller coaster from your favorite manufacturer

Apollo’s Chariot, Busch Gardens, Williamsburg

Bolinger and Mabillard (B & M) based in Switzerland has invented inverted roller coasters, floorless roller coasters, and dive machines. Some complain these are "tame" rides, but to me an incredible smooth coaster is a well-designed one. Plus B&M is first place in reliability.

When built in 1999, Apollo’s Chariot set a record for most total feet of hills: 826. Apollo’s Chariot’s strengths are airtime and landscaping. This is my #1 airtime roller coaster. The track is built in the midst of tall trees and water. The ride does not sit on flat terrain either, and Apollo’s Chariot is designed perfectly to take advantage of these changes in elevation.

The first hill levels out at the top before dropping, which causes intense airtime on the first drop (especially in the back few rows). This drop sends trains down 210 ft. and accelerates them to 73 mph. Next is a 131 ft. hill that passes through a decorated Roman tent at the bottom. The third hill is arguably the highlight of the ride, as riders are first lifted out of their seats, then shifted as the train turns left. This hill is right up against the water, so it’s a great view too.

The ride continues through an upward helix and block brakes. Four incredible airtime hills complete the ride, possibly making Apollo’s Chariot B&M’s best ride after the block brakes. The first finishing hill drops into a watery ravine. Second is another “shifting” airtime hill that turns sharply when riders are already out of their seats. The third drop is 16 ft. and leaves riders staring at the finishing brakes dead ahead. However, there’s one more hill, and it’s a zinger. This 49 ft. hill is more than 3 times the size of the previous hill, and drops into a deep trench that you can’t see until you get there. I had watched the video of this ride literally hundreds of times before actually riding, and I STILL wasn’t ready for this surprise drop. This shows superior design and excellent use of landscaping. 

Pretty much everything B&M makes is of the highest quality, so it's hard to pick just one. Apollo's Chariot here is basically a bunch of big hills and might be the world's best airtime coaster.

Psalm 24:1-10

It makes a difference who you think made you. If we believe that animals and man somehow evolved out of the ooze, we neatly ignore the God-made vacuum in our lives and eschew any ideas of relationship with God or obligations to treat people as image bearers of the creator. When God creates, He does so with wisdom, variety, and love. The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, including the people.

The structure of a thrill-packed roller coaster mimics the topography of the earth: ocean depths and high mountains.  Unlike the run-away chariot driven by Apollo, we are safe and secure as we ascend His holy hill to receive His blessing.  We are lifted and thrilled by relationship with God, the King of Glory.  Let’s keep our hands and hearts pure and be transparent with our words. We’ll enter the presence of the King, the Invincible One. That’s the best airtime of all.

A Roller Coaster from your childhood

Roller Coaster Challenge Day 6  - A roller coaster from your childhood
GhostRider, Knott's Berry Farm

My visit to Knott's Berry Farm in 2000 began what I refer to as the "Modern Era" of my roller coaster experiences. (I was 12.) Before then I had only ridden a handful of very small roller coasters such as the “thrillers” at Arnold’s Park and Santa’s Village.  I had always been a fan of roller coasters, but I was much too scared to ride big rides like the wooden giant GhostRider.

I ventured on GhostRider first thing in the morning, and it scared me to death. It is an interminable two-minute ride with lots of airtime, intense turns, dips, and bumpiness (in a kid’s parlance, very bumpiness).  I was scared to the point that no amount of coaxing could induce me to ride it again that day. Before that point in my life, I still hadn't even gone upside-down on a roller coaster, so GhostRider was a dramatic leap for me. Nonetheless, this was an important event that marked the beginning of my "career" and started the three-year transition period from "non-rider" to "everything-rider."

Psalm 71: 5-8, 15-18

There are crystalized moments in our lives: memories we will never forget such as riding that first big rollercoaster, graduating from high school and the birth of a child. And then there are some things that seem to have always been a part of our lives.

With some, trusting God has been part of growing up.  The Psalmist thought it was perfectly natural to be praising God since God had cared for him since before he was born and had sustained him through his childhood.  This compounds the importance of teaching our children about Jesus. The Lord welcomes those who come to Him with the faith of a child, the ones who trust Him naturally and completely.

Sometimes it is a memorable moment, and sometimes it is a gradual understanding of God’s great love that bonds someone to the One who is faithful in everything. How precious to have received the teachings of God from earliest childhood! But no matter which way it came about, our response is clear: I will tell everyone of your righteousness. All day long will I proclaim your saving power.  I will praise your mighty deeds, O Sovereign Lord. I will tell everyone that you alone are just (Psalm 71: 15, 16).

Rollercoaster Challenge Day 5 - A roller coaster you have never been on but do not want to.

 Roller Soaker, Hershey Park

So far the two most difficult ones to pick were on consecutive days. I would ride any roller coaster, but I'll put this as one I'm not excited about getting on soon. It’s a slow roller coaster (20 mph top speed) where you get soaking wet while riding because of various water dumps and geysers along the way. Spectators are also able to drench the riders with sprayers. Probably the only cool thing about this ride is that the riders also have the ability to retaliate by dropping water on the people in line as long as their four-gallon supply lasts.

It was designed to be an interactive water fight, but combining the two concepts of slowness and getting wet was a terrible idea.  It’s not even particularly hot in Pennsylvania, so most days it’s not an immensely popular coaster.

Psalm 71: 1-5, 19-24

Have you ever been attacked? Have you been falsely accused of something or completely misunderstood? How does it feel? The first impulse we all have is to protest and to fight back. After all, we are not deserving of that indignity or disrespect.  The slower you go and the longer you stay on the track, the worse it gets. How unfair is that! It’s definitely payback time.

We need to come to the place where we leave the fighting up to the Lord. In Psalm 71:2, 24 the psalmist cries out: Save me and rescue me, for you do what is right. Turn your ear to listen to me, and set me free.… I will tell about your righteous deeds all day long, for everyone who tried to hurt me has been shamed and humiliated.

God is our hope of being rescued. It is so much better to start trusting Him early in battles rather than waiting until we are beaten down and seeking revenge on our own. When we allow Him to be our strength and protection (verse 7) we are giving others the opportunity to see God and be an example of how a follower of Jesus handles such things as hurts, lies, and disgrace heaped on them by others.

We do not know why God allows us to suffer much hardship. We only know that He is the one who lifts us out of the depths and restores us to life (20). Our response: praise.