"Thrilling" activities that are not roller coasters?

[Bat Fastard]

What else do you enjoy that is thrilling and gets your adrenaline pumping besides roller coasters? It can be anything- another hobby, interest or passion, your job, or simple, little things in life. Here are a few things I view as "thrilling" close to or on the level of roller coasters-
Cars with very fast acceleration and lots of torque.
Shooting guns (full auto especially)
Flying in a small airplane (Cessna 172, Bonanza G36, etc)
Jet skis
Paintball
Skydiving (never done it but man I want to)
Skiing
That's all I can think of right now. Roller coasters are without a doubt my favorite thrilling activity, but these are some things that can get the blood pumping on or near the level of roller coasters to me.

 

[SimonSays99]

I also did Bungee Jumping and Wildwater Rafting so far. But doing coasters on a slow day visitor-wise is far more coast-efficient.

 

[GuyWithAStick]

I find that the Xtreme Starflyer and Slingshot attractions to be quite extreme. I sometimes need to hold someone's hand.

In all seriousness, I've not really done much from Dare Devil Dive(Xtreme Starflyer) at Great America, tubing on a pre-made track, and Jet Skiing once in rainy weather. But I would REALLY like to try the following:

-Skydiving
-"Indoor" skydiving/wind tunnel
-Bungee Jumping
-Parasailing
-Hang gliding
-Drive a really powerful, fast car somewhere traffic laws don't apply.
-Same as above, but with boats.
-Zorbing(giant, inflatable hamster balls you can go inside of)
-Wingsuiting
-One of those really long, "professional" zipines that go over ravines and mountains.
-Skiing
-Waterskiing

I have a fairly long bucket list.

 

[KristofWB]

I once did some kind of laser-shooting in a forrest, which was fun, but not that extreme.

For my 25th birthday, my sister offered me a skydive out of an airplane in Spa, overhere in Belgium. She gave me a card that said I would experience something more thrilling than Dalton Terror in Walibi Belgium. I remember being really scared when I was in that tiny airplane. But I loved every second of it!

 

[Hixee]

We had a topic on "Hobbies/Interests that arent theme parks/roller coasters" a while ago, and I feel like I've seen this topic before, but a cursory search isn't returning anything, so maybe I'm making this up!

To quote (part of) my post from that other topic though - on the topic of mountain biking:

I've been riding for years, but in the last two years have really got into it. I consider myself to be pretty proficient all round. Shameless plug time? Oh okay. Here's a video from mine and my brother's trip to Winterberg in Germany back in 2014.
[youtubevid]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPppWkpDieM[/youtubevid]

And some pictures from the same trip, in Germany (the yellow jersey and black striped jersey is me)

I've been to the Alps and Germany riding (and hopefully New Zealand in the not-to-distant future), as well as all the stuff local to me in Wales and Bristol. Depending on what you're doing (the uphills are less thrilling ), it can be a very adrenaline filled sport. The risks are a lot higher, meaning you do get a real buzz (unlike that from coasters) when riding a good trail.

I have done/do a variety of the "adventure sports", including:
-bouldering/climbing (used to do this more often, but have been struggling to find the time recently)
-skydiving (only been once, but will probably do it again at some point)
-skiing/snowboarding (only been once, but will probably do it again at some point)
-go karting (in and out)
-paintballing (in and out)
-surfing/bodyboarding (usually when I head down to Cornwall with friends)

I'll give most things a go once, but I would particularly like to try:
-jet-skiing/power-boating
-water-skiing
-bungee jumping
-probably more I can't think of just yet...

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

I'd say my favourite one would be aviation considering I'm doing it as a career. September should be interesting when we start our upset training (recovering from upside down etc).

I use to have a jet ski actually and it's pretty easy to do around here considering I live smack dab in the middle of the Great Lakes. Sadly, it was sold to get two snowmobiles instead, which turns out to be pretty thrilling as well.

White water rafting was simply amazing and something I'll have to do again some day. I've tried parasailing too, which I really hated when we first started to go up but then ended up enjoying.

Last but not least would be paint ball, which was a **** huge rush, much to my surprise. I didn't think I'd like it, but I rolled up in a tank top and shorts because it was about 100 degrees out that day, so the risk of being shot on bare skin definitely added to the rush! Turned out it didn't hurt as much as I anticipated, but still gave me a few welts.

 

[caffeine_demon]

[youtubevid]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ocqs2tOq0w[/youtubevid]

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

^ Oh yah, totally forgot about ziplining I did that in Puerto Rico and it was pretty scary, especially because my Stepmom couldn't figure out how to stop so she kept nearly killing herself smashing into trees .

 

[jayjay]

My biggest thrill activity outside coasters is karting. You may look at that word and think of something like theme park karts, which have all the power of a wet flannel, but even getting out to a decent outdoor circuit with hire karts is a good start. I did a few rounds of the British University Karting Championship, which uses these things...

A Club 100 kart can do 60 mph, which doesn't sound like much until you're sitting a couple of inches off the floor behind a screaming engine, right next to another kart. Additional thrill points if it's raining.

The best session I've done was in an X30, one of the fastest engines available before you move onto gearbox karts. Turns out strapping even a modest sized engine onto a vehicle that weighs 100 kg produces immense acceleration. With tyres that produce a lot of grip, you can corner very quickly too. I didn't realise how physical it was until I felt my neck muscles giving way after three 10 minute sessions.

 

[Trihunter]

I did "The Slide" at the ArcelorMittal Orbit (The big red tower thing at the Olympic Park) recently. That was great. It's basically just a bi tube slide, but it's almost 200m tall and you hit 15mph in a tiny dark tunnel.

 

[Hyde]

In a previous life, I was a high ropes director for an outdoor education center in California, and have worked a number of other high ropes courses around Ohio.

In California, I worked with three high ropes courses (and one low ropes course); the coolest feature was a 738 ft. zipline that ran across a ravine that was on property:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDCbsEUJQkk[/youtube]

Otherwise, I am a big outdoorsman, most focusing on hiking, kayaking, and lots of photography. Some recent trips:

Honeymoon in the Adirondacks

Geiranger, Norway

Glacier National Park

Sedona, Arizona

 

[roomraider]

I was lucky enough to do this a few years ago.

[youtubevid]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Bnv99zRa8[/youtubevid]

Outside Riga in Latvia you can go down their bobsled run for around £50. Which sounds like a lot for 50 seconds. But wow.... those 50 seconds are just pure insane intensity. the g-force levels make even the most intense coasters I've been on pale in comparison.

I've done a sky dive and a few Bungee Jumps too and loved all of them. Bungee Jumps scare me a lot more than Sky Dives though.

I've done a fair amount of other stuff too. Not done the slide at Orbit yet but i did abseil off the side last year. That was fun

I also Ziplined across Wembley stadium that same week.

Perhaps my favorite thing I've done even though its not as intense was a Paraglide of a mountain in Turkey.

The running off the edge of a mountain was pretty scary in itself but the flight down was incredible. I was lucky enough to have an expert endurance flyer as my tandem and we flew for well over an hour, catching thermals and performing some pretty intense near vertical spiral drops. I felt quite ill by the time we landed but it was incredible stuff.

 

[Chris Brown]

Perhaps my favorite thing I've done even though its not as intense was a Paraglide of a mountain in Turkey.

The running off the edge of a mountain was pretty scary in itself but the flight down was incredible. I was lucky enough to have an expert endurance flyer as my tandem and we flew for well over an hour, catching thermals and performing some pretty intense near vertical spiral drops. I felt quite ill by the time we landed but it was incredible stuff.

Also a personal favorite of mine Roomraider!



The views are simply incredible.

I think I've posted about it before but i used to ride BMX a few years ago, here are some snaps.





Other stuff;

-Indoor skydiving (naf) really want to do the real thing.
-Flow rider machines
-Skiing
-Mountain Biking
-Drifting cars
-Track days

 

[DelPiero]

I got married in Olu Deniz, a few of the wedding party did the Paragliding, I wasn't fussed.

We go back every couple of years so one of these times I'll actually do it.

 

[Pink Cadillac]

These are fab

 

[Chris Brown]

Another one for the list,
Got into shooting recently and am looking at getting a shotgun and license sorted. Stupidly expensive but a good laugh.

Here's a nice pair I hit over the holidays,

 

[Benenen]

I used to be a highboard diver as a teenager and it's something I'm trying to get back into.

My local pool has a 3m and 5m board which I can do handstand somersaults and inward dives off (where you jump out backwards but rotate forwards), it's bloody terrifying but gives you such a great buzz!

Definitely a sport for goons due to all the freefalling involved plus the rush of fear and relief from the adrenaline is very similar to how you feel riding a coaster.

 

[Howie]

Dogging.

 

[TilenB]

Dogging.

Running around with your dog?
http://www.erlebnis.net/woerthersee/dogging-hundelauf-am-woerthersee/

 

[Howie]

^Yes. Running around with your dog. That's it.