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THE THEME PARK — Come with me and you’ll be in a world of pure coaster-chasing appreciation.
In this case, chasing roller coasters doesn’t mean traveling to ride as many roller coasters as you can, it means experiencing roller coasters in a new way with a drone.
If you do a quick YouTube search, it’s easy to fall into a rabbit hole of roller coaster videos that show what it’s like to be a front-seat passenger. (Check out this video of Lagoon’s Cannibal to get started.) But drones add a new layer to the roller coaster experience.
The French theme park Nigloland recently posted a video putting its coasters on full display with a drone. In the video, the drone swoops and swirls and chases several drops and turns for a new visual treat. It’s one minute of high adventure and eye candy, all from the comfort and safety of your own home.
The experience is actually fairly close to playing a first-person perspective video game with a little rocking ocean movement thrown in. Come to think of it, if you are prone to motion sickness, you may want to skip the video entirely, but it’s worth a watch if you can power through.
From the visual cues in the video, it is obvious that the park and the drone operator are aware of the dangers of using a drone around people and mechanical equipment. The park is clearly closed, and each participant is wearing full-face helmets and other protective gear. In the spirit of this example of reason and safety, please use your drones responsibly. Martha Ostergar is a writer who delights in the ridiculous that internet serves up, which means she's more than grateful that she gets to cruise the web for amazing videos to write about. Follow her on Twitter at @monstergar.
