Andy Chase

I'm glad that Josh doesn't work on the Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

I'm also glad that in the half dozen times I went on that ride (a couple on my first trip to California in 1991, and the rest while living there between 1996-2002), I didn't get injured or killed.

As a kid/young adult I never subscribed to the "I'm going to live forever" school of thought to the degree that most of my peers seemed to; I was never inclined to drive my first car around really fast, consume potentially lethal amounts of alcohol, have friends throw Lawn Jarts at my head, et cetera.

But I never thought twice about going on amusement park rides. Well, I take that back - if I thought twice, it was because of the usual "oooh, that's a big drop" fear; When I was 9 or 10, the Jumbo Jet at Old Orchard Beach was a daunting prospect. The fear wasn't for my life or continued possession of all of my limbs and/or the ability to walk.

I like roller coasters, but the older I get and the more times I hear about accidents and /or fatalities on them, the less inclined I am to go on them... they're a lot of fun to ride, and probably statistically quite safe to ride, but I'd be so pissed if I managed to get on one of the exceptions to the rule and get myself maimed and/or killed, for the sake of a 60 second ride in a fast little train.