CULTURE: NY Health Scapes: SOHO - The Cyclone - Shon Charisma Reporting...

The Cyclone

Staff Reporter • Monday, October 18, 2010

As I talked with a newly made friend regarding an upcoming SLE article, she suggested I head to SOHO, New York, and ride the great attraction, The Cyclone -- with my fear of heights, I knew this would be interesting.

As I landed in SOHO, the massive Cyclone loomed before me. As a person who is afraid of heights and obscenely large things, I backpedaled quite a bit to give me some distance from the structure. I immediately decided I needed to work my way up Cyclone, but I wasn't sure what to do. After all, my friend kept saying, "You have to ride the Cyclone. Go there and do it NOW!" I assumed I would arrive and there would only be the rollercoaster, but I was more than pleasantly surprised to take off on a "work out my nerves" walk and find so much to do while there.

Me on the Wonder Wheel

First of all, the Cyclone is definitely the main attraction; however, there are other attractions there, such as the Wonder Wheel, which is based from the real ride in Coney Island. I rode it about three times while I constantly peeked over at the Cyclone, gathering my courage to get on it.

The Paratrooper

Another attraction is the Paratrooper. It was the first ride I got on while at SOHO, and it's actually a very fun ride. It reminds me of the Spider ride of my youth.


The Haunted House

To walk the area and see the brightness, the cheeriness of the rides and space of SOHO, I had to stop when I came across The Haunted House. I saw my head tilting to the side as I thought,How did you get here? Initially, I thought it was there just for the month of October as a Halloween spot, but in researching a bit on Coney Island, I concluded this might be a variation of Coney Island's Spook-A-Rama. I won't say much about the Haunted House except to say that as I walked up toward the door, at least twice I jumped and stepped away as things just appeared.


Me gnawing on a corn dog

But being scared didn't make me run to the Cyclone any faster. In fact, I actually walkedfurther away from the behemoth and stopped at the Corn Dog on a Stick stand, where I had me some lemonade and corn dogs--with ketchup and mustard, of course.


Thinking about the upcoming ride on the Cyclone

And I kept on walking away from the Cyclone and sat in one of the diners nearby.


Aerial view

Eventually, I had walked just about every spot you could walk in the area; I walked through the neighborhoods where there were many apartments and lofts available for rent, and I found myself wandering the streets of nearby sims, all connected with NY Health Scapes. My eyes grew wide and the detailed development of NY areas, of the activities available: boat, train, and balloon rides, additional games, and other forms of entertainment abound.


There are many tour guide books to show you where the fun's at!

In fact, NY Health Scapes has 20 sims, all of them filled with enough fun to keep you occupied for several weekends, and there are tour guidebooks and other information available to make sure you learn of everything going on around the sims. After several hours of wandering, I finally told myself to get on with it and hop on the Cyclone.

Just like the Wonder Wheel, the Cyclone is a fixture at Coney Island; it is the most famous attraction on the entire island, and one of the most famous rollercoasters in the world. In short, I loved the experience of the Cyclone! Before you get on, make sure you load the sounds to the left of the cars. It makes the ride that much more realistic. I felt the anticipation as the car crept up toward that first major dip. I saw the water to my left and the buildings to my right, buildings that got just a bit smaller the higher I went. By the time the just-over two-minute ride was over, I was jumping back into the car and going for another spin. In the end, I rode it at least five times, and I can't wait to go back and ride it again.

After conquering my fear, I realized that this is definitely a place where families can come and spend an afternoon riding rides, eating corn dogs, drinking lemonade, and traveling about the sims of NY Health Scapes. What I experienced on my four-hour journey to SOHO (and remember, I initially went there just to ride the Cyclone) is that if you let your feet get to moving, you will end up oohing and aahing over all the cool things that meet you along the 20 sims. There was far too much for me to talk about in this one article, so over the next two weeks, I will continue to feature aspects of NY Health Scapes. Next week, I talk with Panacea Luminos, the amazing woman behind the sims that make up NY Health Scapes, and the following week, I'll show you further AWESOME things to do and see on the sims.

For now, you need to get yourself on the Cyclone, STAT, and here's the SLURL to do that!

Here's just a little taste of the beginning of the Cyclone journey...