In which specific situation did your hobby save your butt?

[FreeFaller]

Hey guys!

 

The topic says it all: in which specific SERIOUS situation did your hobby (roller coasters, theme parks etc.) save your butt?

 

Let me name a few! I had to write an in-class essay last week and we had several topics where we could choose from. There was no interesting topic, BUT the question what I would do with a round-the-world ticket with 5 different stops, saved my life and grade in this case I wrote about a Disney-around-the-world trip (France, Japan, China, America). I hope my teacher likes it!

 

Now it's your turn! Tell us!

[gerstlaueringvar]

I always take coaster related examples on TOEFL, SAT and school test essays. Some of my favorite are Crystal Beach Cyclone, The Bat, Son of Beast and Hypersonic-XLC. I think ETS is in Jersey so taking examples from their nearby parks can help

[WFChris]

At some point in the past, knowing what an Immelman was helped me in some kind of social scenario.

[rolercstrluvr]

Back in high school, the teacher assigned the class an essay on what our favorite thing was to do outside of school. Perfect situation, I just wrote about most of the travels i've done so far with roller coasters. I saved my a$$ and my grade in that class.

[Hoppy]

Roller coasters and fireworks have helped out tremendously ... in college, there were quite a lot of reports - when I was out of ideas or had more pages and needed to write a certain length for credit, I found creative ways to talk about them (including my travel to Japan with roller coasters to boot) ... some of the things I said boggle my mind now looking back years ago but I got 4.0's on those ones...

[Double0Kevin]

It's paid my bills for that last 10 years or so. I'd say that's saving my butt.

[VinTheAttendant]

On Memorial Day weekend every year, my family would always take a trip to a nice little campsite in Brimfield, Massachusetts. In 2011, we changed things up by taking a trip to California as a graduation present for my sister and so I could visit the So Cal parks. I believe it was after visiting Six Flags Magic Mountain that we learned an EF3 tornado had touched down in Southern Massachusetts. A few days later, we learned that the campsite we usually go to was directly hit. I don't think there were any fatalities reported from the campsite, but it definitely would have put a massive halt to our vacation had we chosen to go back that year; thank goodness for my roller coaster obsession.

[MayTheGForceBeWithYou]

^On a similar note, I was able to go up to Glenwood Caverns this summer to get the new credits I had missed last year...turns out mere hours after we left, a massive forest fire sparked right near my house, and the entire area had to be evacuated.

[cal1br3tto]

A few years ago I wrote a term paper about marketing for theme parks. I even mentioned details like Dole Whip and Potato Patch Fries. As far as I know, the essay is being used as an example for other students. Hopefully a good one.

[ArizonaGuy]

A job while I was in college at Six Flags Fiesta Texas was my saving grace and paid my bills from 1996-1999. I was a ride operator for the Rattler, RoadRunner Express, Gully Washer, and the Wagon Wheel while employed there.

[eddytheviper]

Once had to do a presentation in Physics about the "fluidity of gravity".. everyone was stumped about what it meant but I wrote about the effect of G-forces, negative G's etc on roller coasters and got the highest mark in the class. Win!

[prozach626]

Had to take a detour on a vacation through a muddy back road, in a rural area. Otherwise, I would have had to back track and lose 2 hours at Silver Dollar City.

 

One hobby saved another:

 

[YoshiFan]

Not really a major situation but the only thing I can think of is during bar trivia that I usually go around every other week (I have been going for years and there has never been a roller coaster question ) one of the questions that helped us win the round was "What state has the largest part of the Ozarks?" Since I knew about Ozark Wildcat at Celebration City just from reading trip reports and forums, I knew it was Missouri. I think we won a $15 gift certificate for that round (each round is 10 questions but usually the scores are close where 1 question can make the difference between winning or not).

[Mrlittle]

I have two examples from College. My hobby made both very easy.

 

1. For my speech class, we had to make 3-5 minute speeches on anything. So naturally I picked coasters. I think I did one on the safety of coasters, how to break the fear of coasters, the emotions that one feels while on a coaster and the history of the coaster. I made an A.

 

2. For my newspaper class. I had to write a Front Page article so I did it over the 4 proposed parks coming to Houston. (2 of them are supposed to open in 2015 now) I still keep in contact with one of them.

[Hercules]

I was once captured by a Mexican cartel. They hung me by my ankles in an unknown location. The only way that I was able to escape was by answering a series of amusement park related questions. I answered all of them correctly. My memory of the event is a little fuzzy, so I can't exactly remember how many questions there were, or exactly what the questions themselves were because they gave me a shot of memory loss serum, and the next thing I knew I woke up in the middle of Mexico City up against the brick wall of a restaurant off of a dirt alleyway with my hands tied behind my back with zip ties.

 

I believe that is probably the most serious situation, but there have been a few others as well. Like the time I was getting attacked by a Tiger, and then I remembered my previous rides on Gwazi. I remembered to stiffen up and ride defensively, and the Tiger let me be.

[kidcoaster 2]

I was struggling to come up with a senior project for my last year of High School, so I just did a presentation on the history and demise of Geauga Lake, I passed. I even just found the material from it the other day.

[GwaziBSRider1]

I had to do a presentation last week for my Senior Engineering Seminar class about an engineering or technical project and the impacts it made on society. My presentation was the impact of the roller coaster throughout history, and I got an A!

[Mrlittle]

I was once captured by a Mexican cartel. They hung me by my ankles in an unknown location. The only way that I was able to escape was by answering a series of amusement park related questions. I answered all of them correctly. My memory of the event is a little fuzzy, so I can't exactly remember how many questions there were, or exactly what the questions themselves were because they gave me a shot of memory loss serum, and the next thing I knew I woke up in the middle of Mexico City up against the brick wall of a restaurant off of a dirt alleyway with my hands tied behind my back with zip ties.

 

[FreeFaller]

I was once captured by a Mexican cartel. They hung me by my ankles in an unknown location. The only way that I was able to escape was by answering a series of amusement park related questions. I answered all of them correctly. My memory of the event is a little fuzzy, so I can't exactly remember how many questions there were, or exactly what the questions themselves were because they gave me a shot of memory loss serum, and the next thing I knew I woke up in the middle of Mexico City up against the brick wall of a restaurant off of a dirt alleyway with my hands tied behind my back with zip ties.

 

 

[arby]

I was once captured by a Mexican cartel. They hung me by my ankles in an unknown location. The only way that I was able to escape was by answering a series of amusement park related questions. I answered all of them correctly. My memory of the event is a little fuzzy, so I can't exactly remember how many questions there were, or exactly what the questions themselves were because they gave me a shot of memory loss serum, and the next thing I knew I woke up in the middle of Mexico City up against the brick wall of a restaurant off of a dirt alleyway with my hands tied behind my back with zip ties.

 

I believe that is probably the most serious situation, but there have been a few others as well. Like the time I was getting attacked by a Tiger, and then I remembered my previous rides on Gwazi. I remembered to stiffen up and ride defensively, and the Tiger let me be.

 

[gerstlaueringvar]

I was once captured by a Mexican cartel. They hung me by my ankles in an unknown location. The only way that I was able to escape was by answering a series of amusement park related questions. I answered all of them correctly. My memory of the event is a little fuzzy, so I can't exactly remember how many questions there were, or exactly what the questions themselves were because they gave me a shot of memory loss serum, and the next thing I knew I woke up in the middle of Mexico City up against the brick wall of a restaurant off of a dirt alleyway with my hands tied behind my back with zip ties.

 

I believe that is probably the most serious situation, but there have been a few others as well. Like the time I was getting attacked by a Tiger, and then I remembered my previous rides on Gwazi. I remembered to stiffen up and ride defensively, and the Tiger let me be.

[TPDave]

I've had a couple of pub quizzes where random theme park facts have been required

[FreeFaller]

^ haha BEST answer so far Drinking GP and talking about coasters! Can be so funny!

[TPDave]

I vaguely remember getting one wrong once as well. A little embarrassing given that I had the opportunity to justify my hobby and ended up screwing it up!

[FreeFaller]

^Shame on you! I'm just kidding I'm sure they forgot about your mistake (thank alcohol!)