Hey guys Eli here. So Maddy and I are thrill ride lovers. We love to go to a Six Flags when we are close by one, and get on every possible ride we can. That free fall feeling is indescribably one of the most amazing feelings to get. So when we were planning our trip through Colorado this last summer, Maddy sends me a link on Facebook one day to this crazy swing type drop off a cliff in Colorado. Instantly it became a stop in our 2017 road trip.
The ride I am talking about is at Cave of the Winds called the Terror-dactyl, a 150 ft. free fall swing, dropped off the edge of a 200ft. cliff. The website for the attraction says that you will fall around 100 mph, and boy can you feel it. Hands down one of the most exhilarating thrill rides I have ever been on.
You will sit in this swing apparatus, and probably the worst part of the whole experience is the slow declining lean before the drop. Not that it was bad, but that was the most terrifying part to me, and based off the video we have from the ride, I think it was for my love too. Anyways, you will lean forward and begin to feel gravity pulling you down, but trust me, they have you safe and secure in your swing. After a certain point you will drop and the wind will press against your face and you will scream for your life and adrenaline shots through your veins. Then its just laughter as you keep swinging like a pendulum while they reel you back to the launch platform.
Now our experience did take a slightly different turn. In order for the attraction to be in action, certain weather conditions must be met. Even on their webpage, it says its opened with “weather permitting”. So there we are, sitting in our swing, they remove the floor from under our feet, we get ready to begin the decline to look down at our impending doom, when we are stopped. Yep, we just stop. The winds was blowing too fast for the operators to be able to let us drop. So there we sat just hovering over the edge of this cliff, our feet a dangling, for about 10 minutes.
Those were the longest seconds of my life, just sitting there looking down to a bunch of rock edges and trees. I’m sitting here freaking out and Maddy sitting next to me just kicking her feet in the wind. All we could do was have small talk with the staff about where we were all from, what we liked, where Maddy and I were heading, etc. Honestly I loved their staff. Very friendly people whom are encouraging and seem to want to enjoy their job as much as you want to enjoy your time there. Not to mention they completely helped with distracting my gaze from the ground below. That wait made me so nervous that when we were finally given the ok to be dropped, I kid you not I was praying to baby Jesus that I would live after this ride.
But overall, I LOVED THIS RIDE. I highly recommend that if you are traveling around Colorado and are going to be passing through or are close to Manitou Springs, you take the detour and check this place out. The ride costs $50 per rider, but it is worth every penny. Just wait till you see your photos and video after you depart from your drop.
Don’t forget to laugh.
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