At what age did you start loving coasters?

[coasterboy76]

the first time I rode a coaster, the Runaway Mine Train at Six Flags I was only about, 7 and it scared the hell out of me! for the longest time I wouldnt go on any ride that went high in the air, this included all the rides at my annual school picnic.

 

then in 76, they opended the Screamin Eagle and it looked sooo cool, but the only thing was that it was so big. my sister got me to ride it, and I have loved roller coasters ever since..

[Rachel127]

I started in 1990, when I was 5, my parents took me to Knoebels. They tried to get me to go on kiddie rides, but I didn't want to, I only wanted to go on the Phoenix. I rode phoenix like 5 times that day and my parents had to drag me away, I've been hooked ever since! Sadly, now that I live in AZ I haven't had a chance to go to a park in a long long time, but hopefully sometime in april, I'll be able to make my first visit to SFMM, yay!

[Gmaster562]

For me, it started when i was 9. I was DEATHLY afraid of any roller coaster, but LOVED looking at them. I would watch videos and crap all the time. I remember when i was 7, i watched this group break a world record for most coasters in 24 hours. There final coaster they rode was "The Revolution". When they showed the pov, i new that i would NEVER go on that. When i was 9, i went SFMM, i would only go on canyon blaster, and ninja. I decided that i wanted to be scared and go on a looping ride, so my dad took me on "The Revolution". I loved it and went on it 20 times and counting in a row. Then we decided i wasn't AS scared of roller coasters, so i decided to go on "Batman". I loved that and jumped to viper, but chickened out. But later that week, i checked into DCA and rode "california screaming"... and THATS what got me hooked on roller coasters.

[Ace Of Spades]

All my life! Although, my first looping coaster didn't come until I was 6 when I went on RRC, and I didn't try any non-Disney megacoasters until 2004, when I finally braved Batman the Ride. Even after that, I was still creeped out by some...until I went on X in 2008. Now I just frankly love everything!

[LoopLover]

I started loving coasters very gradually. I grew up very close to a very mediocre theme park (Loudon Castle - Defunt as of last month) and visited regularly (4-5 times P.A.) I was a total wimp only riding kiddie rides until i was like 11! However, i gradually built up confidence and by the time i was 12ish i was riding the bigger rides at the park (Huss Enterprise, S&S space shot.....) And from then on i have grown to love rollercoasters, flat rides, Hotdogs and Theme Park Review and so today i consider myself a fanatic!

 

Stephen --- R.I.P. Loudon Castle Theme Park --- Hamilton

[davisal771]

I was always fascinated with coasters, I would watch my older brother play RCT all the time. I was afraid to go on any big ones until my family went to Disney/Universal when I was in 3rd grade. I rode RnRC and loved it, at IoA I rode Dueling Dragons, but I didn't ride Hulk. One innocent trip to Elitch's with my Best Friend Katie in 4th grade (who was a super coaster daredevil) I finally braved the Boomerang, then I braved the Mind Eraser (reluctantly). After that Mind Eraser ride, all fears of coasters were pretty much erased and I even rode the SkyCoaster that day.

To this day I'll ride pretty much any ride, with the exception of spinning rides.

[The SETGO Guys]

Removed by user

Edited January 5, 2012 by The SETGO Guys

[LoopLover]

^ I was a coaster wimp for ages before I loved them. I think it is just part of getting older and braver that we grow to love them.

[ebl]

As a kid in the '60s, I was terrified of the Matterhorn ( ), but had to ride it whenever my dad made me. A few years later, Magic Mountain opened and I was absolutely crazy about the Gold Rusher. And I haven't looked back.

 

I only wish that I hadn't been such a wuss in the late '60s because I'm sure my dad would have taken me down to ride the Cyclone Racer at Long Beach. It was operating till late 1968 when they tore it down.

 

Eric

[gforce532]

As a kid growing up in socal, my parents took Disneyland and Knotts all the time. But what really got into them was when I first rode Ghostrider back in summer of 1998. Me and my friend had actually chickened out on it earlier that day. But at the end of the day we finally force ourselves on it. Ghostrider was my first "big" roller coaster and really ever since that first ride I have been hooked.

 

As I looked back on it. I alway wonder how would my life be different if I wasn't a roller coaster and theme park nerd. I mean having an interest in them makes me want to spend my free time and money traveling around to different parks, go on different and newer roller coasters, and just seeing the world outside of my home state. Where if I wasn't into them I would problebly be spending my time in my house playing video game all day long and have a horrible social life.

[AJClarke0912]

Cool topic.

 

I think my love for coasters was very systematic. When I was little, I really liked trains (now, not so much). I also was getting into skiing, and I enjoy[ed] cars. I was also interested in LEGOs and stuff, which kind-of built the overall engineering interest. Sounds like a formula for something, right?

 

So, one day, I saw a Travel Channel program on the Top 10 Coasters. I loved watching the POV videos and the offride views of the coaster whizzing by. It was like railroad trains on steroids. I was highly interested.

 

Then, my parents gave me Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 for my birthday. I was hooked. I enjoyed making the coasters and parks a lot.

 

Finally, my first coaster: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This is what made me start my coaster passion. I mean, first of all, the coaster's theme is that of a train. Second, it goes fast and turns like a race car. Third, it features airtime and G's found when skiing. The perfect mix...

 

After that ride (which I fell in love with at the time), I was receiving coaster books and videos, along with RCT2. This fueled all of the fire, but I wanted more.

 

Then, Busch Gardens and King's Dominion in the same year, my first visuals on "big coasters". I was amazed watching Montu, Kumba, and Gwazi swirl about their layouts. I also rode Scorpion, which served as my first looping coaster. A year later, The Python was my favorite coaster (up until a couple years before dismantlement).

 

After this, I started my spree of RCDB picture viewing. I wanted to see all the rides in the world! I was particularly fascinated by the B&Ms (because of Montu and Kumba) even though I wasn't tall enough to ride them. Many people have told me about similar RCDB sprees, so I'm not the only wacko out there!

 

Later on, about 3 or 4 years ago, I got my first CoasterDynamix kit. This landed me onto my first online coaster forum (the CD site), and I was astounded that I could talk to intelligent coaster people! From then on, I got NoLimits (which landed me on about 6 different forums total) and I was finally in contact with the Internet. I also rode SheiKra around this time, which got me over my fear of heights and drops.

 

By the time I got to Cedar Point, I wasn't scared of Top Thrill Dragster like I thought I would be if I went a few years ago. This is about where I am today. I still love skiing and cars, but roller coasters tops the list. Trains are too boring for me now, it's all about a train that's twisting and turning! I think that's why I still like watching a coaster go about its track...something is really beautiful when watching it all happen.

 

All-in-all: Railroad Trains + Exotic Cars + Skiing + Engineering = coasters! That's why it became (and is) my favorite hobby!

 

 

 

 

**The Autobiography of Justin Clarke is on sale on Amazon for the amazing price of $1!**

[davisal771]

^Oh boy, those Travel Channel top 10 coasters... I VCR'd those and would watch them all the time, they helped contribute to my love of coasters too.

[Perilous Chris]

When I was three years old, my father took me on the Sky Jump at Knotts, and apparently I was shaking the rest of the night. I did not ride it again until I was 17.

 

My first major coasters were Montezuma's Revenge and the Corkscrew at Knotts. This was when I was eight years old. My parents talked me into riding them, and both rides scared scared me to death. From then until about 17, I was fascinated with rides, but I was quite phobic.

 

My first trip to SFMM in the early 1990's was somewhat uneventful. The only coasters I rode on that trip were Colossus and Gold Rusher. All I had to do was take a look at Viper while entering the parking lot, and I was not willing at all to give it a chance.

 

By the time I was about 17, I was willing to try pretty much anything. There are still some attractions that get me nervous. For example, at Kings Island I was a bit more relaxed after I got the Drop Tower out of the way.

[MeMeMe]

It definitely is good to face your fears.

That said, I discovered my love of coasters shortly before my first ride on the Tree Topper when I was six or seven. I've been playing RCT and its sequel longer than I've been riding the actual things!

[KDcoasterMAN]

'07 and the Griffon opened. I latter went on a coaster tour to Kings Island, Dollywood, Lake Winnie, Kentucky Kingdom, Six Flags over Georgia.

[Airtime&Gravity]

I don't remember how old I was, but it began when I started watching the amusement park shows on Discovery and TLC. My earliest coaster memory is from riding Spacley's Sprocket Rockets in 1998 or 1999, but it wasn't until 2002 that you could probably call myself an enthusiast. That year, my neighbor told me about RCDB, and I would ride my first major coaster that year. Since I was a short kid, I didn't do much coaster wise until 2005, and I'm kicking myself for it, as I didn't take advantage of a dead Cedar Point when I visited the park in 2004. So, while interested in coasters for as long as I can remember, I didn't really love them until 1998/1999, with me becoming an enthusiast in 2002.

[the wolverine]

I was rather young...

 

there's a very old park near Huntington, WV called Camden Park that I went to a lot as a kid. I rode their classic Big Dipper more times than I can count; first time I rode it was around... age 6, maybe? I want to go back there someday.

 

1993, went to Kings Island. I wanted to ride The Beast but I didn't. Either I was scared or too short, I can't remember very well.

 

Then in 1995 I went to Worlds of Fun during a break when my family moved out west. I remember riding the old Zambezi Zinger (which is apparently in South America now) and I might have rode Timber Wolf too, but I can't remember it well.

 

1999, went to DollyWood. That was the 2nd time I had been there, but I only mention it now because Tennessee Tornado had just opened. That was my very first inverted coaster. I was afraid of falling out of those, but I had to face my fear one day, I guess. I ended up riding that, maybe, 5 consecutive times.

 

Fast-forward to the present... I haven't rode many other coasters since then (only Belmont Park's Giant Dipper and Castles N' Coasters' Desert Storm come to mind), but I still love 'em.

[sspaz1000]

I was 5 at Ocean City, Maryland and I rode the Toboggan with my dad. I loved it. And I think there was some like little powered dragon coaster thing there too.

 

Then I was old enough to go to Dorney Park, and my first big coaster was Hercules. I fell in love.

 

Until high school, I had been afraid of looping coasters, and I had missed out on a bunch of fun at Six Flags Over Georgia on a school trip. Then back at Ocean City, Maryland, I went on the little looping star and realized it wasn't so bad.

 

I've been loving them ever since.

[DougMJr]

When I was 6, my family went to Martins Fantasy island. This was the opening year of the Silver Comet and my dad, a fan of the Comet at Crystal Beach, wanted me to ride it with him. I had never been on a roller coaster before, I was afraid, I did not want to ride. With a lot of persuasion and the promise of ice cream when we got off, I agreed to give it a try... Next thing I know, the ride is over. The best way I can describe how I felt when we exited the ride is as follows, "Comet is one helluva drug." I immediately made my dad get back in line with me, I completely forgot about the promised ice cream but it didn't matter. I was hooked, it had begun.

 

My childhood consisted of hours and hours of RollerCoasterTycoon, renting some VHS tape about Coasters from the local library over, and over, and over again. Recording Travel Channel specials on coasters onto VHS. Plastering my bedroom with park maps and brochures of parks that I would want to visit someday. And when my family finally got internet access, drooling over pictures of the brand new Top Thrill Dragster, gawking at pictures of Millennium Force, staring with disbelief at Son of Beast... a wooden coaster with a (now defunct :[) loop! My parents never quite understood my obsession, but hey... better than a drug habit I suppose.

[Fire2box]

I think 14 and it was TopGun/Flight Deck at California Great America.

[FeelTheFORCE]

I always enjoyed going to parks my entire life and liked coasters a lot, but there are three main rides that stand out in my mind, and "put me over the edge." First was my first inversion on King Kobra at Kings Island in 1999. Second was the ride I had on Magnum during it's 10th anniversary, also in 1999. Third was my first ever ride on TTD in August of 2003. All three rides I was scared out of my mind and remember vividly.

 

It was just a chain reaction from there. I've gone to so many new parks and places since I started following coasters and parks more closely. These places include SFMM, USF/IOA, SFGAdv, SFWoA/Geauga Lake, Dorney Park, KD, KBF, Darien Lake, Waldameer, Holiday World, and more. I even won the naming contest for Aftershock at Silverwood, which I would have never even known about if I hadn't liked coasters so much and been a part of forums across the net. I also think I've even been to Cedar Point more times in the 8 years since TTD was built than in the previous 13 years before that.

Edited January 14, 2011 by FeelTheFORCE

[Intimidator305]

It was back in 2000, when The Myrtle Beach Pavilion introduced The Hurricane!

 

[HappyEisentrout]

I will agree with the Discovery Channel top 10's.

 

I used to watch those every time they were on TV. Even if I had already seen them plenty of times. I grew up in Muskegon, MI so MiA was just across town. We only ever went once a year and didn't start until I was about 6-7 years old. Zach's Zoomer was the first coaster I ever rode and I rode it like 45 times that day. It was a big deal to move up to the bigger coasters. I tried Corkscrew the following year and then Wolverine Wildcat the year after that. I had never been to another park before and this was all I knew. Those places in the videos seemed so far away. I remember watching the Thunderbolt at Kennywood and saying I'll never get a chance to go there. I've been there every years for the past 5 years now.

 

My Aunt and Uncle invited me to take a trip out to Cedar Point the first day of summer break after my 6th grade year, 1998. Shivering Timbers had just been built and we took a class trip there before the end of school and I finally got that after watching it being built for so long. I was still weary of Raptor and Mean Streak but did everything else at CP that year, Magnum's 10th anniversary. Back when Chaos, Troika and Dodgem 2 were where Dragster is now.

[Crazy_Behemoth_Lady_Jess]

I was 15 when I first overcame my fear of the so called "really big" coasters. My cousins took me on Behemoth when I made my yearly family trip to Ontario. Ever since then, I started researching about coasters and instantly I was hooked.

[imawesome1124]

I was about 4, I had seen a show on the Discovery Channel and have loved them ever since.