So am I supposed to believe that one day some absolutely wild man came up with the idea to put a bunch of people in a cart and send them zooming around loops and dips at dangerous speeds on a rickety track? And people line up for this?
Surely these things cost a ton of money to build and maintain. Who the hell thought this was a good idea???
Humans aren’t alone in enjoying shit like that either, we’re just the only ones capable of building roller coasters. Lots of other mammals (and maybe birds?) have been seen doing things like repeatedly sliding down slippery rocks or things built by humans.
The mammalian urge to go zoom zoom
I did say and maybe birds! I wasn’t sure but it seemed like something corvids would do
I mostly just wanted to say “Mammalian urge to go zoom zoom”
real i just forgot the first part of the comment after reading the second part 
That is the greatest thing I've ever seen
I took my sister in law's little doggie for a bike ride. Put her in my backpack so only her head was sticking out. I hauled ass down around the block. Whenever they came over the first thing the dog did was hop in my backpack. Super cute
they are testament to the indomitable human urge to zoom
Gotta go fast
And upside down
these are just even funner trains. imagine if they transported you to work
Someday comrade. Someday.
I don't think(?) the modern ones, like the last 30 years or so, are very dangerous assuming people are taking normal precautions and the parks are maintaining them properly. Those old shitty wooden ones are fun as a kid but goddamn I do not recommend any of these rides as a 30-something+. As a kid/teen I could ride these things back to back all day long.
My dad insisted on some Clark Griswold style shit of arriving precisely when the park opened. Pre-bought tickets in hand (usually free or discounted from work...), packed lunch/snacks in a cooler he left in the burning hot vehicle, we would hit every single goddamn ride at the places. We'd only take a break for the cheapest possible slightly-warm bologna and kraft cheese on the whitest white bread sandwiches. Mustard only, no mayo, due to the 120 degree trunk temperature. Ice can only do so much.
Thanks to this post, I think I might have just unlocked the reason for feeling a general dislike towards my dad... another reason anyway. Although I do think I enjoyed it as a kid. You know, when he wasn't yelling at "not me and my brother" after he missed the exit on the highway and had to backtrack miles. Just screaming and gesticulating at the windshield. Sometimes vaguely hinting at "being distracted" by us. Which usually meant we were talking to him. Answering his questions. Thanks, Dad
My dad also got us up at 4am to get to the park when it opened because he didn't want to wait in lines. I don't think we were obligated to eat trunk sandwiches but it was a running joke in my family that he didn't want to be seen with us because he was generally walking 100 feet ahead, impatient to get to the next ride.
Ah, but you haven't lived until you eat a warm, soggy (from melted ice water) dogshit sandwich then go back to spinning around until you have a headache. Somehow never puked once...
I guess I was "lucky" in a sense though that my dad could find the (infinite...) energy to do this shit. He was basically a giant kid himself. It's weird now to think that he was doing all this stuff when he much younger than I am now. I was almost an adult when he was my age now. So most of the insane stuff he did was mid-late 20s, early 30s for him. Really makes it seem like if you wait to 30 to have kids... ain't no way you're keeping up. Or the kids might have a less unstable childhood. Hmm, tradeoffs 🤔
These really are just much more advanced version of like slides or swings. People just want to have some fun with gravity
I think I read somewhere they originated in Russia pre 1900’s. Ice slides that escalated into these monster coasters over time
one of those domino effect oppenheimer slideshows but it ends with the eldritch abomination known as falcon's flight
150 mph w/ 630 foot drop
The longest, tallest, fastest rollercoaster - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFVNGgwZk3c
It's a demo vid. It's due to be finished this year.
This is the coaster you build in roller coaster tycoon when you get the cheat code and get unlimited money.
You'd think it would be hard to make that look boring but those animators damn sure tried.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
The legacy lives on in some languages. In Spanish, the word for roller-coaster is montaña rusa, literally a "Russian mountain"
Same in French, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian
Huh, I speak Italian and I'd never wondered what the word for roller-coaster was. Thanks for the info.
Iirc, it's called American Mountain in Russia lol
I saw that the first ones in the US were to discourage workers from going to brothels????
I line up for them.
I’m not naturally a thrill seeker. I have an honest to god fear of high places. I will not stand near the edge of something, even.
But if you strap me into the seat of a rolly coaster, and it starts to go up the hill, clattering and bucking. Loud. Shaking. And then everyone puts their arms up (I love that part) and holy fuck here we go over the first drop. I love that shit. I will holler and laugh and scream the entire ride.
They are fun as hell
Without reading any of the other comments first, I imagine people started riding in mine carts and got a taste for it
the children really do yearn for the mines
I think some miners were goofing around with mine cars one day and had an idea
Yeah, but zoomie loops are fun!
I have a love hate relationship with them.
I love that they go zoom, but I hate that my big ol' burger dumper never fits in the seat. 
A funny note: I found out Arabs call these 'train of death' (gitar almawt)
What if we made a trolley... But had it go up?
Swings, slides, ziplines, diving boards. Beyond the cost of operation, roller coasters aren't all that different.
Journey > destination
It's natural evolution of an idea, you start by sliding down a hill
Then you build a jump
Then you wonder if you could do a loop-de-loop
Then you want to do it consistently
Then you want to do it commercially
It's just primal instincts (except the last one)
My parents took me to Disneyland when I was a toddler and we went on Space Mountain. It scared the shit out of me and I've had a phobia of most rollercoasters ever since. I can handle going fast and sideways, but not upside down or dropping. I'm not afraid of heights, I just can't be strapped into something that falls vertically very quickly.
I get what you're getting at, but it's funny because Space Mountain is an extremely tame roller coaster (no major drops or upside-down) by comparison to almost any other ride
The anticipation part of those rides that you just sit in and they drop you after taking you up high fucking kills me, I can't do them
I've heard people say rollercoasters were originally meant to simulate a runaway train, which was a legitimate thing to fear at the time. No idea if that's actually the true origin of rollercoasters.
Go zoom
Skydiving.
I love then but it's terrifying seeing the videos of people getting stuck upside down on them. I have poor circulation and genuinely think id die/get seriously injured from that
I got "stuck" on a log flume when I was a kid (I think if it went on longer they would've just let us walk down) and even that sucked and we were just sitting there, right side up, in the sun
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