At what age did you start loving coasters?

[BDFS]

For me, I have to say I don't love coasters. I love theme parks. Perhaps that comes from growing up in the Ozarks. Silver Dollar City has never been a coaster park, and I doubt it ever really will be. They have more coasters now than ever before, but the real draw is the amazing theming. That may sound odd to a lot of you, but there really are a lot of people who come to SDC and never ride a roller coaster. They walk around and look at things, browse the shops, see the shows, and never get on a ride at all. So that's the theme park I grew up with: the home of the sixty degree, 100-foot drop on a path. And that's the experience I look for when we go to other parks as well. I don't really have any desire to go to Six Flags; it's just a collection of rides lacking an experience to bring them together. Batman's great, so is Mr. Freeze, there are a few worthwhile ones that really are a lot of fun. But the experience is the thing, not any individual ride. The best any roller coaster can do is give you a great two minutes, but a park can give you a whole day to remember.

 

While I disagree with your comments about the coasters TODAY, you are spot on in regards to everything else. It's the only park where we can bring 4 generations of our family for an entire day, and nobody wishes to leave.

 

Plus, where else do you get to see your 86 year old grandfather who NEVER leaves his farm, giggle and yell like a little kid when he rides Thunderation for the very first time?

 

Best... Day... Ever.

[GoBears]

4 years old when I rode Demon at SFGAm.

[narkitty]

I don't know the exact age that I started loving coasters. Fiesta Texas opened the year after I was born and my parents took me from the time I was 18 months old. My first coaster was Pied Piper (now Kiddee Coaster) at FT when I was about 3 or 4 and I was HOOKED.

My dad and I at Fiesta Texas on my first visit.

[TyRush]

Age 5, Comet at Hersheypark

[MorganFan]

When I was 4 years old (I was a tall kid). I already had a thing for trains when I got to go to SFOT for a birthday party. Everyone was riding Wile E. Coyote's Grand Canyon Blaster, but I got bored, and decided to go on Texas Giant (the old one). I've been hooked ever since.

[booink]

I think it was in 2005 when I was 7 years old, when I got my first La Ronde season pass. I started to learn all the stats of the rides by heart, and I was fascinated by the biggest rides. I also followed the construction of the parks Goliath in 2006, which at the time impressed me a lot.

 

My very first coaster, however, dates back to 2001 when I was 3 years old !

[daniellazarus]

I was 8 years when I rode my first coaster which was a "junior" woodie near Washington, DC

[Sharon29060]

11 years old when I first rode X-Flight at SFGAm! I'll never forget that day!

[XII]

When I was 8 years old, I got a SFMM Season Pass and started to go often. That along with getting RCT1 for Christmas is essentially what turned me into a roller coaster enthusiast.

[arby]

44 is when I started to really get into coasters and traveling to ride them.

 

It's nice to see I'm not the only one. I rode my first coasters at Geauga Lake when I was 8. I loved amusement parks but it wasn't all about coasters. At 18 I went in the military, was deployed all the time, and we couldn't afford to go to amusement parks. Then I went to college. Same story. After college we moved to Charlotte and I rode all the coasters at Carowinds which are average and reminded me of the ones I grew up with - except for Afterburn which really surprised me with the intensity.

 

Fast forward to when I was 40. I still only had about 35 credits and then I rode Intimidator. I couldn't believe that they were making coasters like that. I just love floater air time as my body is kind of beat up from 6 years in the Corps. At that moment I fell in love with coasters and I will ride a coaster any chance that I get.

 

I have been on better coasters than Intimidator since then but it will always be my sentimental favorite. I still enjoy the whole amusement/theme park experience more than anything else but I love coasters.

[PikaPika]

I don't know the exact age that I started loving coasters. Fiesta Texas opened the year after I was born and my parents took me from the time I was 18 months old. My first coaster was Pied Piper (now Kiddee Coaster) at FT when I was about 3 or 4 and I was HOOKED.

 

The Rattler!! Our family trips with our cousins were always to Fiesta Texas because my extended family lives in Austin and Fredericksburg. Even though I grew up going to East Coast theme parks, the Rattler was the first coaster that we all rode over and over again. I think I was 10, because we went the first summer it was open in 1992.

 

I can't wait to ride the Iron Rattler. Texas does it right!

[Diamondbacker27]

I'm pretty sure I was 8 and it was Raven at Holiday World.

Edited October 4, 2013 by Diamondbacker27

[loop-de-loop]

I was 14 when I rode my first "major roller coaster," but I've always loved roller coasters since I started playing RCT 2. I spent several hours a week playing that game when I was in elementary school.

[VF15]

When I was 14, Dragon Challenge (Red) was the coaster that made me start loving coasters, but I have to attribute Manta and Kraken as the two coasters that really kicked off my interest. I find it funny how I went from being deathly afraid of big coasters to not getting enough of them in just one day .

[xChris125x]

I've enjoyed parks and coasters since I was a kid (9 or 10). I was lucky to have ridden the Steel Phantom, my first major coaster, but it was the construction of Phantom's Revenge that really got me into things as the project was easy to follow on the newly emerging internet.

 

Now I design theme parks/attractions for a living. Dream big, work hard, and never give up!

[K1ngdaKa88]

I liked coasters since I'm about 4 years old, but only the kiddie coasters. The next big coaster Jump was when I was 11 years and I rode my first coaster with inversions! But I'm a coaster Enthusiast since I was 13

[GwaziBSRider1]

Two years old. It was the Rollo Coaster at Idlewild that started it all. Even though I haven't ridden it in at least 12 years, it will always hold a special place in my heart.

[viking86]

This documentary started it all for me. My parents recorded it off TV and I must have watched it a million times since. I don't know excactly when I first watched it, but the newest coaster featured is Dragon Kahn in the intro and that ride opened in 95, so I must have been around 10 years old. Funny thing is I was addicted to rollercoasters for years before I even rode a proper one, which happened as late as 2002.

 

This documentary still holds a very special place in my heart.

 

[mike541x]

My love for roller coasters started very early when I was probably 3. I used to watch America's Greatest Roller Coasters in 3D all the time and I was just fascinated even more when I would see them in person. Even after conquering Phoenix, and Rock N' Roller Coaster at the age of 6, my love for riding them didn't start until almost a teenager.

[boldikus]

The first time I rode the Jumbo Jet, I was probably around 5 years old. Became obsessed with that ride and all coasters since. It's the one coaster I'm really nostalgic about and wish it was still there.

[JRice92]

My love for coasters started at age 7 when us in Cleveland just got the brand new Six Flags Ohio and Batman: Knight Flight. Up to that point I had ridden other coasters there but that one made me fall in love with them! at Age 9 going to Disney world I persuaded my parents to skip a day at Disney so I could ride Dueling Dragons & The Hulk. At age 11 my mom & I were watching travel channel and they showed the tallest & fastest wooden roller coaster that had a loop only 3 and a half hours away at Kings Island and got my whole family to go and ride Son of Beast.

Now in my 20's all my vacation time goes to heading out to amusement parks and riding some more coasters!

[Rollercoaster Rider]

I think in Late 2000 or so when I saw a Discovery Channel Special and then I got interested in V2 and Deja Vu construction at GAm. I was about 11-12.

[grsupercity]

When I was 7 or so. When I was a kid I had maps of Michigans Adventure from about 10 different years in a row on my wall. It was cool to see like a timeline of maps get slowly bigger and bigger

[Uriel Galindo]

When I was 3 years old and I oppened my cereal box and there was rct2 in there, but my first real coaster was a boomerang coaster at La Ronde but I really became a roller coaster enthusiast this year at the age of 13.

[rcdude]

I've loved theme parks as long as I can remember (probably partly due to growing up with Disneyland passes), but the first time I rode a major coaster (GhostRider when I was 8), the ride really scared me. It took a year or two before I tried any other big coasters (it was during a trip to SFMM the year Goliath opened), but I'd say by the time I was about 10 I started to really enjoy them, and I was probably around 12 when I got to the point I'd consider myself an enthusiast.