Why do kiddie coaster credits matter to you?

[edh]

I've always wondered. For me, going to amusement parks is all about riding the best rides. Yes, Theres obviously some better than others, but i wouldnt waste my time for a kiddie ride. With the limited time i get I dont waste any of it. I've seen so many pics of people going to parks that are terrible just to get a credit. So my question is why is it so important to you to have gone on every single ride, when some are clearly not worth it?

[simaticable]

We're coaster enthusiasts, and most coaster enthusiasts are credit whores. Most of us will do whatever it takes to get a credit even if it means bribing a park to do so. (I'm looking at all those who went on the China trip )

[edh]

Well I call myself a coaster enthusiast but I guess driving an hour for a wacky worm to me isn't worth it. I guess it's quality over quantity. So what does coaster credits really mean to you? I guess to me it's just a number only you care about. I'm kind of curious some ridiculous coaster whoring stories some of you have.

[simaticable]

We're all coaster enthusiasts, but there are different levels of it. The people who drive an hour or more for a credit are the more extreme ones.

[Schotcher]

Because when they're Pegasus at Europa Park, they're awesome!

[cal1br3tto]

I have a variety of reasons.

 

For one, in general I don't have a "quality over quantity" mentality. Whether it's stopping to ride a kiddie coaster at a park with major rides, or going out of my way to a credit whore park, I don't think pursuing "quantity" detracts appreciably from my ability to pursue "quality." For example, I don't think I've ever gone and gotten 5 or 10 kiddie credits during a trip where I could've just as easily gone to a major park instead. It's both/and, not either/or.

 

Second, I see it as an incentive to enjoy more parks, and more of parks, than I otherwise would've. If I only go to parks for major rides, I might miss out on some fun experiences. But if I want to ride as many coasters as I can, that creates more opportunities for enjoyment, whether it's good times with friends, an interesting setting, or a funny story.

 

Third, I appreciate all coasters and find nearly all of them "fun" in some way. While of course many kiddie coasters will be fundamentally tame and even boring, some can surprise with a bit of airtime or laterals. They'd never be worth ranking highly, but I can still enjoy them in the moment.

 

For the record, I'm much more to the credit whore side than not, but I can also be a bit lazy about it. I don't ride all child-required coasters, and ride fewer and fewer of them over time. I'm also much more conservative nowadays in going out of my way for kiddie credits. Yes, I know from experience that it will be fun and I'll find it worthwhile, but often I can think of other ways I'd rather use those few (or many) hours out of my way.

[XII]

I have several reasons for being a credit whore. Mostly, its just a fun hobby. Now I won't subtract quality for quantity. I'd much rather go to a big really good park and only get 1-2 credits than go to a bunch of puny crappy places and get 20 credits. But I still do find it fun to collect credits. Its a fun hobby for me, and is the equivalent of collecting coins or stamps or something like that.

 

I'd also say that with the right people, credit whoring can be a ton of fun. I've had some of the most fun on tiny little sh*tty kiddy coasters cause of the people and the fun we all had. I know I had much more fun on this than several MUCH bigger coasters.

 

As for going out of my way for credits, I would not go out of my way just to ride some old Wacky Worm 3 hours away. But if I get some great friends and look up a bunch of other fun things to do in that town, then we have ourselves a fun little road trip and get the credit and have more fun in the general area. And besides, that Wacky Worm is still a much better ride than some of the horrible "non credit whoring" coasters I've ridden like Dragon and Gouderix.

[Angry_Gumball]

Sometimes, those kiddie coasters can provide some pretty wild rides! I still make way to ride Woodstock's Express at CGA just because it bounces you about and you actually get a tiny pop of air in the front seat...plus you have to love the sound of a metal trash can rolling down the hill sounds it makes!

[robbalvey]

Well I call myself a coaster enthusiast but I guess driving an hour for a wacky worm to me isn't worth it. I guess it's quality over quantity. So what does coaster credits really mean to you? I guess to me it's just a number only you care about. I'm kind of curious some ridiculous coaster whoring stories some of you have.

It's a different mentality. It doesn't make it right or wrong if you'd wait for a kiddie coaster to "count" it, or skip it. It's important to some people, not to others.

 

For me personally, I don't even keep an updated count. I ride stuff for fun. I'll do the kiddie coasters when we are on TPR trips because I know it's important to others, but even this year, I probably skipped about 10 kiddie coasters or powered coasters in order to go film or do other stuff.

 

Just because you wouldn't do it, doesn't mean it's not important to other people. I mean, I don't get why people watch football...

[Mrlittle]

I had this argument once with another coaster enthusiast about the kiddie coaster credit. Basically for me I will go on the kiddie coaster if I am at the park or if it was a stop along the way. I would never go out of my way for a kiddie coaster. When I went on a TPR Tour, that was the most kiddie coasters I have rode on a trip but it was fun having our little take overs of the coasters.

 

I think like most have already posted, its really just how extreme of a coaster enthusiast you are. If your into counts, its easier to get that number up by counting all the kiddie coasters. Besides, how funny is it when you have a kiddie coaster train full and it can not make it up the lift hill?

[simon8899]

While the MACK YoungSTAR, Gerstlauer Family and Vekoma MK-700 can be fun and they at least have some height and speed I mostly don't do the Wacky Worms or Zierer Tivolis - and even if I ride the former I won't drive for them hours or even visit a park that only has kiddie coasters even if the park is right on my way.

[Condor]

I used to pass on certain coasters in order to get more rides on the "better" ones, but now I find myself regretting that I missed those credits when it's a park I haven't been to in years. Once I started keeping track of my credits on a spreadsheet the credit whore in me awakened...

[Dailey Enterprizes]

I've been too big for kiddie coasters since i turned 13, but I hardly consider them forbidden fruit. I fall into the "I don't care" category. Parks are about enjoying the company with those around you. I've been to parks by myself a few times and I usually just take pictures and video, but I hardly care to ride anything. It's just the way I am...

[rcdude]

My rule of thumb is the following: If I am at the park, I want to do everything I am able to while visiting, but the park needs to have a reason for me to visit in the first place. For example, if I was to visit Six Flags Over Texas (a park I've never been to), I'd take the time to do Wile E. Coyote's Grand Canyon Blaster provided I'd already been on the higher priority attractions. However, I wouldn't drive over to Sandy Lake Amusement Park (another park I've never been to) even though they have two kiddie coasters simply because there is nothing of interest for me there. I also will not bother with a kiddie coaster unless there is no maximum height restriction or child requirement, and I don't mind skipping them if there are long lines. The main reason I take the time to do them, along with other non-major rides, is because some of them are actually pretty good rides for their size and you never know how an attraction will be until you ride it. Once I've been on a ride, I won't bother with it again if I didn't care for it, but otherwise I prefer to go on many rides once each versus a few rides over and over. In my opinion, people who go to a park and only ride the headliners are missing out, but if that's all they care to do I guess that's how they should spend their day.

[Rollercoaster Rider]

I ride "kiddie" coasters cause you can't judge a coaster by it's size. Whizzer at Great America is amazing and Millennium Force is boring. I'd ride Little Dipper here at GAm 200x than go on Mean Streak ever again.

 

 

You can't say a ride is boring/bad unless you've been on it.

[TheSchwitek]

Its just like playing Pokemon. Yeah, Mewtwo and Mew are awesome (Millennium Force and Expedition Ge Force). Sure Pikachu is really well known, but not the best in the world (Coney Island Cyclone). But in order to complete your Pokedex, you are still going to need to catch a Magikarp and some Dittos (Miner Mike and some Boomerangs). Some people just want to collect the whole set. Plus, I'm sure it will make Professor Oak (Anton Schwarzkopf) happy.

[Jew]

I honestly don't even care about riding kiddie coasters for the count...I think it's more about just having fun. What better way to have fun than on a coaster with your friends that you obviously don't belong on?

[David H]

I find myself asking myself this question more and more over the years. Because let's be honest, it's pretty stupid to go way out of the way for a kiddie credit, especially if it's a park or coaster you know isn't going to be very good. It's totally the collector mantality in trying to collect all of the credits you can, just like stamp or baseball card or comic collectors want more and more.

 

Generally speaking, the value for me almost completely lies in what else it prevents me from doing. If I'm already at a park, I'll want to ride all of the coasters I haven't ridden. I'm already there, after all. Generally speaking, if I p'm in the US, and there's a park with a kiddie credit within an hour of where I'll be, I'll probably try to pick it up. But overseas, my time is too valuable to spend on parks with just kiddie coasters or other unnoteable coasters, unless the park had more to offer than I'm interested in. This year, in Japan, Korea and Taiwan, I skipped tons of little parks and kiddie credits, because it would have kept me from doing other things I wanted to do, or would have required a longer vacation with even more time off. But if I'm with a group, I'll generally just do what the group is doing, rather than try to strike out on my own during the day.

 

During the TPR China trip, we hit way more kiddie parks than I'd have liked to, but since I was with the group, and since the vast majority of the group wanted to try to get all of the credits were possible, I stayed with the group, and generally managed to have fun. A lthough it did start to wear thin after a few weeks with a ton of credit whore parks. I did skip the pre-tour CreHo day in favor of sightseeing in Beijing, though. And I almost decided to skip some kiddie parks to stay at Happy Valley Wuhan for some extra rides on the high five woodie, but in the end decided to stay with the group. But if both sides of the high five had been open at that time, I'd have definitely stayed.

[australianalex]

If I'm with friends, I'll ride kiddie coasters just for fun - which I'm sure is what most members do on these TPR trips.

When I'm on my own I'll only ride a kiddie coaster if it's a woodie or if it's made by a company like Gerstlauer that make decent kiddie coasters. But I'll steer clear of wacky worms and tivolis etc

[Voxelmatic]

I only ride them if I've never been to the park and I still have time, or if I'm going with friends who want to ride every coaster (Happens a lot, trust me!). I don't have the kiddie credits at some parks, but some I only rode because I was too small for anything else. But hey, if people want to ride em, let em ride!

[texcoaster]

I've had enough awesome experiences on "kiddie" coasters that I don't ever rule something out based on looks or size or speed. Sure, if it's a major park I'm going to ride the "good" stuff and if there's time to get the kiddie credit without having to bribe a child to ride with me, then I'll do it.

I'm more likely to consider the kiddie coaster a "must ride" if I'm in an area and that is the only coaster around. I mean... kiddie coaster or no coaster at all... that's a no-brainer for me. OF COURSE I'm gonna ride it.

By going to those parks that just have the kiddie coaster (or the standard boomerang or Galaxi or whatever) I'm helping to support those parks that are likely hoping to expand someday or just trying to hold their own against the big park down the road in the next town. I do this for the same reason that I'll shop at a mom-n-pop store or two even though there's a Wal-Mart a few blocks down.

But I must say again, I've had some great experiences on kiddie coasters. Some of them are actually FUN (Knoebel's High Speed Thrill Coaster comes to mind) and other times I've just had a great time watching future enthusiasts take their first-ever coaster ride. The terror that turns to pure joy as the ride progresses, the excitement on the exit platform with the words "again! Again!" and the memories of my own conversion from fraidy-cat to hard-core enthusiast.

And as others have said, the people you're with can make a difference. I was at SFOT not long ago for Fright Fest and as I was heading for Freeze, I noticed that the Mini Mine Train station was full of adults. There might've been one or two kids on the ride, but the rest of the train was filled with grown-ups. I got in the queue and was on the next train. It was nighttime and the train slipped into the dark just over the lift... and at every tiny little dip or tunnel, about 20 sets of fully mature lungs screamed in mock terror right on cue. It was an impromptu thing that just happened for some reason and when the train got back to the station we were all laughing and high-fiving each other. It was the highlight of the evening.

[australianalex]

Funnily enough I've never been on a powered coaster. I'm just not sure wether to count them as credits or not, so to keep it simple I just don't ride them at all haha

[SharkTums]

I mainly ride them at this point just to piss off other enthusiasts. Same with powered coasters, I don't even count them, but I ride them just to annoy others. I'm awesome.

[Sir Clinksalot]

For me, it's mainly a fun goofy thing, to say a milestone coaster was a kiddie coaster or something.

 

I do have my limits and I'm willing to skip a Kiddie Coaster rather than steal some random stranger kid to ride with. Now if I know the kid, that's a totally different scenario.

[VinTheAttendant]

For me, riding kiddie coasters is all part of the fun of being an enthusiast. While I am proud of my list, I also see it as a running gag that I must get on as many coasters as I can for some quota that does not exist. I'll even hop on powered coasters though I don't count them. I think it's funny to get odd looks from parents and little kids who see some young adult (or two) board a tiny coaster with the expectation of a big thrill; in some cases, the ride operator becomes in on the joke and makes their day more enjoyable.

 

But joking aside, I really will not go out of my way just to get a kiddie coaster credit. When I visit a new park for me, I always go for the good stuff first, the unique stuff second, and then go a round on the kiddie coasters if there is time. While I won't drive several miles for a little credit, I have gone to a kiddie coaster in the middle of nowhere, and then checked out the rest of the town and had a very fulfilling and pleasant day. Other than time, the only other things that will stop me from getting a kiddie credit are lines more than ten minutes, and a maximum height restriction (unless I'm with a shorty I know )

 

So I've talked about why they matter to me and how far I'm willing to go for one, but as for the reason as to why I go for these coasters; I think every coaster enthusiast and arguably every person in the world has a kid inside of them. This kid is what sees the fun in what others typically don't see the fun in, it's what makes us enthusiasts in the first place. Each kid responds differently to different rides, and that's absolutely alright. Some of us see the kiddie coaster next to the 200ft coaster we've ridden a hundred times and say, "Sure, why not!" So we give it a go and then ride the 200ft coaster another one hundred times. We're admittedly sad and pathetic, but if you watch any TPR video, you'll see we come in great numbers and are happy to be sad and pathetic.