Dear LPG, 

When I was a lot younger I used to be a white-knuckle fan and though, for me lots of shouting and screaming were part of the experience, I felt pretty fearless until I found some of the information about how they have changed since I was a regular visitor to our theme parks.   As I get older I am more ready to watch my grandchildren flying around with the wind in their hair as pictured on their parents’ mobile phone videos before they tell me all about how much sweating and praying they did during the experience.    

The descriptions bring back memories of experiences that I can only vaguely remember now, and the rides that I thought were really worrying when I was young would have little effect on their thrill thresholds today.  

Being a child of the South London 1950s, Margate’s Dreamland was the place to go and, while the ghost trains, distorted mirrors and bumper cars demanded what many of the children of the 1950s’ felt to be an extremely courageous frame of mind, they are seriously eclipsed by what is available these days.  

I think that of all the different rides, the roller coasters were the ones that really stretched the fear factor and, they have evolved over the years, as have all the other attractions. 

But these days are days of walking and queueing for hours before getting to the beginning of such a ride, not to mention the fact that older heads and hearts just don’t have the nerve for all those thrills anymore, leave me missing the experience. 

Things have changed out there in theme park world though, as I found out by taking a look through the online camera lenses of a few of those brave people who are young enough to get on and get off such a ride with their sense of balance intact which, at my time of life, is the next best thing.

So, if like me, this is a memory you would like to relive, I have found a few videos which might take you halfway back to those days, and I also found some information on how they have changed. 

Enjoy… 

KC, Downham. 

KC shares a few thrills…

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… and a bit of information about what we have been missing on the white-knuckle scene lately…

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…and LPG adds some information on today’s celebration… 

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