Hello fellow coaster lovers,
Sorry I'm late in introducing myself. My filename is Gatekeeper since it's my favorite coaster of all. My real name is Paul.
I'm retired from the Air Force and now work security at a pharmaceutical plant near Sacramento, CA. My wife (Lali) is a RN at Kaiser Hospital. She's been on one roller coaster (Medusa at Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, CA/home park) her whole life, when we were dating. She hated it and thought she was going to die, but she lets me enjoy my favorite hobby - riding the tallest and fastest coasters that i'm able to go on.
I'm fortunate to live in Northern California where the closest park (6 Flags Discovery Kingdom is just 45 minutes away with two other parks within a few hours drive (Santa Cruz Boardwalk and Great America). Further South (7 hours away) is 6 Flags Magic Mountain.
My second favorite hobby is travelling. I've been blessed to have been able to go to a lot of cool places. My first Air Force base was in England/UK and got to travel all over Europe during the early 80's, including Alton Towers Amusement Park. This past September, Lali and I went to Europe - 3 days in London, one in Paris, 3 days in Italy and 3 days in Vienna. One of the days in London, I went to Thorpe Park (cool) - of course by myself.
As far as I know, I have three coaster records that I'm very proud of accomplishing! The first one was (now torn down) Tidal Wave (non-water) at Great America in 1980. I rode it 115 times without getting off (2 1/2 hours straight). The next record was on Medusa at 6 Flags Discovery Kingdom in 2006. It was a quiet Monday and I broke the record of the young kid (18 years old) operating the ride (36 times in a row). I did 40 which took about 3 1/2 hours. The last record was at 6 flags Magic Mountain in 2014. Another quiet Monday and I rode Superman 40 times in a row at the age of 53. I'm now a young-at-heart 57 years-young!
A cool side business I have is buying rare VHS/DVD movies at Thrift stores/Record stores really cheap and then selling them for an awesome profit on Amazon. My best sale: Purchased a VHS movie (Pipedreams - 1970's) for 25 cents and resold for $65 (Wow)! Another hobby I love is Mystery Science Theater 3000/Rifftrax movies and shorts. I enjoy watching bad movies, especially when they are humorously riffed. My favorite is Angel's Revenge - a Charlie's Angels rip-off from the late 70's!
I'll be going back to Discovery Kingdom in a few weeks and am excited to get back on the Wonder Woman ride, it's awesome! Medusa is also still very fun and exciting, even after all these years. I've been riding it since it opened in 2000 and estimate that I have ridden it close to 900 times. I never get tired of experiencing this cool ride, especially in the front row with my hands up high!
Take Care, Paul