By Rachelle Carino, 16, Glendale HS

“Sure, Magic Mountain has scary rides. It’s got Viper with its many loops, or Collossus—the big white coaster with its big drops. It’s got newer rides such as Superman. And the newest one of all—Riddler’s Revenge. But the one ride that I think that is probably the scariest and most fun out of all of them is Dive Devil.
Dive Devil is the ride with big arches and bungee-type cables hanging from it, where you might see people swinging from the long ropes. It was supposed to have been designed to be a type of combination sky diving and bungee jumping ride. It’s a really fun ride, but the downside is that you have to make reservations and pay extra to get on it. The upside is that the more people (maximum three) you go on with, the less expensive it is for each person. I think it was about $40 altogether for two other people and I to go on together.
Last year I went to Magic Mountain to celebrate my birthday. After riding Superman, I thought nothing could have topped it. But Dive Devil did.

First we had to put on weird harnesses
When we first went in, we had to “get suited up.” We stood in front of this wall covered with harnesses hanging all over it. Since my brother was only seven, he of course got the smallest harness they had. He got kind of upset when he had to wear a purple harness (he doesn’t like purple). After what seemed like a long time (which was probably a matter of minutes) of measuring and pulling of straps, we were ready.We walked into a big metal box, got strapped in, and were slowly hoisted up to the top. At first, I was really alarmed, I heard some popping sounds. Mentally I was screaming, “AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! DON’T LET ME FAAAAALLLL!!!!” When we stopped, I realized it was just the “contraptions” adjusting to our weight. This was it—we were about to go. It was really scary just dangling there—it seemed like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of feet in the air. I was scared out of my wits. Here I was high above a bunch of rocks. I was thinking, “That’s a long way down, I hope I don’t fall. If I die I want it to be swift and painless. Please don’t let me die…” I desperately clutched my dad’s arm while my brother held on to the other side.
I was just watching the rocks below me, when all of a sudden, this guy with a bullhorn told me to pull the rip cord at my hip. After a little nervous searching, I finally found it and pulled it. As we went down, I screamed: “I’M GOING TO DIIIIIIIIIEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!”
Finally, we plummeted towards the ground. At first, I was soooo scared, then, I realized I was having fun. My brother and I had our arms stretched out in front of us, pretending we were Superman, while my dad was flapping his arms and quacking like a duck. We just swung in huge arcs, soaring above the gawking crowd. Finally, the swinging gradually lessened and my dad grabbed the long stick with a rope attached it. We came to a stop. After we got off, we bought a video of us to help remember the moment and some T-shirts. We watched a parade, rode on some other rides until the park closed, then left, with very sore feet and junk food in our tummies, but really happy despite our pain and fatigue. All I can say is, you MUST TRY DIVE DEVIL! It gives you such a rush and is so much fun!”