Mantis

I'll be going this sunday and i might ride mantis for the first time(if the line is pretty short) anywho, i always told myself "i'm never gonna ride that!!" but somehow i got the urge to want to ride it. So i was wonderin, how do you reduse the pressure on your legs? Does it cause any pain in your legs? and Doesnt it kill your crotch??:)LOL!
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Feet all the way back, lean in to the harness, keep legs straight.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 35

Kust like any other standup, there will be forces on the legs. It's nothing bad, it's suppost to happen. Unlike popular belief, no it doesn't hurt "The Package".
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3 Force rides:
3-2, 5-1, 9-2

I suggest trying to bend your knees just a bit, so that you aren't stiff and can rebound with the forces. Mantis is a great ride - beautiful airtime in the loop, especially in the back seat!

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Disaster Transport '97 Crew
Iron Dragon '98 Crew

Just one peice of advice, don't be an idiot who sits down in the seat, otherwise "The Package" will be hurting. If you ever see someone coming back crying or looking with intense pain, it's cause they were stupid. Never happend to me, and never will. Jeff said it pretty much right, I've rode it like that, I've also rode it where I have my feet out a little, standing up strait and had no problem.

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Car 5, Discovery Channel, look for me on the
on-ride discription.
MF Rides-12

The farther back you sit/stand, the less the forces will be. Put your feet back. Stand completely straight. DO NOT attempt to lift your legs. Also, the lines have been longer (at times MUCH longer) than usual do to MF being right next door. Try to get there as your first ride, if you do not do the "MF Dash"

I have found it helpful to keep your feet up about an inch from the ground so they do not get sucked down. So just hold your feet up and enjoy the ride!

Fighting the G's with bent legs is what causes the pain. Try pointing your legs down and your toes up on Raptor in the helix, I think you'll see what I mean. Let your skeleton support the weight and do what I said to keep the center of gravity in line with your body.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Guide to The Point
Millennium Force laps: 35

At first when yo get on the ride in the station you have a hard time keeping your legs straight. It feels kinda weird but once the ride starts you feel totally comfortable.

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Raptor '00 Count: 63

If you want the most out of your ride, ride in the front row. This is so much fun especially since you're standing. It's only an extra ten minutes or so of waiting when you're in the station. When you've been waiting an hour or so in the queue it just seems like you owe it to yourself.

*** This post was edited by MFistheBEST on 8/17/2000. ***

I LOVE THE MANTIS!!! MY friend and I want on the Wendsday after school got out. It was great since there was no one in the line. I just went last week and the average wait was like 1 hour. But after dinner it shortened to like 25 min. We go on and off in about 20 min twice.

Make sure you bend your knees when they lock your seat just a little. If you stand straight your knees will lock and THAT HURTS! I worried about the same thing when I first tried it but after a little bit, you start to enjoy it SSSSSOOOOOO much that you don't even notice that you're standing up and all of your fears leave you!

Here's a tip: ride it after dinner when the line is short. If your fear builds up to where you want to get off of it on the first hill just close your eyes. Then after you have a lot of fun on it and you realize that you didn't need to close your eyes, you can get right back on and keep your eyes open the whole time and enjoy it even more! That's what I did and it worked!

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~**Cand I change my name to Magnum Fanatic?**~

~Meredith Petro

Ok heres a few more questions,,Is the ride Smooth?Is there any head banging?Do you get dizzy going through the inversions??

Im wondering all these stupid questions cuz i never rode a coaster with inversions.
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Eric, I have never had a problem on Mantis, because the method I use works. First, I pull the harness down so the OTSR just barely touches my shoulders, then I hold it there until the ops lock them. I ride with my legs all the way back, leaning into the harness, and I shift towards the inversions to prevent headbanging.

Hmmmmm, to lock or not to lock your legs? I've always been told by band directors that locking your knees pinches the blood vessel or something, and that would be made worse by lots of G's. But, if you didn't lock them, you would be fighting the G force with your knee muscles?

I know people will disagree with me on this, but seriously...

Look at this thread. We're talking about how to not get hurt on a roller coaster. Seems odd to me.

I was scared to death of Mantis, rode it, and didn't like it. Will I ride it again? Probably. I can't judge somebody or something from meeting it/he/she once.

By the way, give me a sit-down coaster that has inversion any day before a standup. Two reasons. 1) I don't like standups :P and 2) I think you should be rewarded by *sitting* after waiting in line forever!

And that's all I've got to say about that.

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How dare you vanquish the Steel Phantom without his consent? Fear the Phantom's Revenge.

In my 3 years of riding it, I decided to try riding with knees locked, legs straight. Ouch. Going through the turns and inversions really puts the postive G's on the legs [even though that is whats supposed to happen] Just bend your legs a little. And make sure to keep your riding postion from the moment you get on the ride. Otherwise, the restraints might lock up when you don't want it to

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Brian Z.
Hometown parks: Kennywood, Cedar Point!
Feel the Force NOW!!

I don't know about all the rest of you, but I rode Mantis 3 times this year and loved every one. Especially the time in the front. I had no pain at all, and I kept my legs straight too. Maybe I just have strong legs or something, I LOVE MANTIS. It rocks.

Favorite ride experiences at CP

1)MF
2)Raptor
3)Magnum
4)Mantis

I have never been on a stand up before, and im hearing how to stand so you dont get hurt!? I think you should just be able to enjoy the coaster without spending all your time figuring out how not to get hurt. Will I enjoy my first ride on a stand up coaster without hurting myself?
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Feel the Force

No, just for those of us who have week legs. Which seems to be a minority. It's not the stand up part it's the forces.

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Dispatch Master, This is Transport one! I'm losing control, I'm losing control!

As far as head banging is concerned, there are a couple areas of track where the track turns sharply left than sharply back right again. The first area is I believe right after the inclined loop, and the second area is shortly after the last inversion.

There is also potential head banging when you turn to go into the mid-course brakes (it gets me everytime) and near whiplash when entering the final brake run. They stop the train very hard. That is unless they can get a train going up the lift and the other train on the block into the station before a train enters the brake run.

Riding in the front will expose you to all the different elements before you get to them so that you can better prepare yourself.