Are you a coaster softy?

For me I would have to say it was the little dipper that kennywood had many many years back. My father drug me into the line i was kicking and screaming . He made me ride after that we took many many many rides. I actaully think he secretly wished he never made me ride.

Another would have to be the thunder bolt at kennywood. Every year when we would go for community day to kennywood we would ride that over and over as well. A friend of mine who has since passed on went on that with me and that was his first coaster ride. Ill never forget the scream of fear and the huge smile that he had on his face as we pulled back into the station.

Also, last but not least the Pheonix at Knoebels ...Ill never forget as my husband and I exchanged our wedding vows this past april on that coaster. My father now 70 was made to sit out because if health conditions. It would have been great if he were in better health to have ridden with us!

Heather

It seems weird to call real new coasters something you're a "softy" for, but;

"old" coaster: Steel Phantom. My first and still one of my favorites. *sniff* Phantom's Revenge will never in a million years come close to it's namesake in my eyes.

"new" coaster: Wicked Twister. With all that's at the Point, I could literally just sit on this coaster all day and be happy. It's speed, it's twists, and best of all, from the back seat, it's Dragster without the line! (sort of). Millennium sometimes is better, but nothing beats out the Twister for me.

1st of all, total agreement on wicked twister being the best!! just got back from my 1st trip to CP ever and i could ride that til the end of time!! like the front better tho ;)

but my sentimental fav is SFGAdv Great American Scream Machine. when i was young i was scared of coasters and especially loop ones. well at 32, i decided it was time to try loops. what a coaster to start with! while waiting for it to start (thank goodness it was a walk on) i started feeling sick to my stomach. never been so scared in my life! well the ride started and so did my love for coasters. how amazing! been hooked ever since and actually made it on Batman the same day! and i owe it all to GASM :)

The Racers at PKI. I remember that I used to be so afraid to ride the Racers. My mom used to have to bribe me with a dollar to ride it. It's still one of my favs.

Great thread Mamoosh!

Three coasters that make me verklempt...

Great American Scream Machine, Six Flags Over Georgia : Until a CYO outing in Jr. High, I had been a total coaster wuss. Then a couple of friends convinced me that if I closed my eyes and rode GASM a couple of times I would love it. In the course of two hours, I went from eyes shut and scared s***less, to smiling and screaming with my arms up. It's the coaster that really started this obsession.

Loch Ness Monster, Bush Gardens-Williamsburg : My first time in love with a coaster. It was such a thing of beauty and a great ride. For four years in a row we made our trek to BGW, and we always ended our days marathoning Nessie until closing. I stood under the yellow loops last year and felt sorry for the old girl (who is now a perennial walk-on) in the shadow of her new park-mates.

Space Mountain, Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World: This still reminds me of lost youth (in a good way). The perfect finale to my high school years was "grad night" at WDW. The high school gang spent a marvelous 8 hours (from 11PM - 7AM) having the best time all year (and with no alchohol), including a long stretch on Space Mountain. So what if it's a cheesy coaster in the dark...

O.K. now look what you've done. I'm feeling a little verklempt. Just talk amongst yourselves...

... wouldn't that be a great emotional moment for a movie also, to have loved ones out of themselves on a coaster (slo-mo?) while this music is playing (something like the main theme from "American Beauty") and maybe a narrators voice explaining something about life, the past, etc...
I guess that could really get me soft in the middle.

...
unfortunately, my own bio doesn't really yield a moment like that, being a coaster fan was a lone activity for me as no one in my family or other surroundings seems to really enjoy them.
My Uncle was taking me on a coaster when I was 6 (I remember I was just about able to read the name of the coaster written with lightbulbs: "Himalaya Bahn"). It was a travelling Schwarzkopf "Wildcat".
I remember being completely shocked and breathless.
From there, I guess my story is the same as anybody's.

Oh BTW, the Olympia Looping is currently installed here in Karlsruhe.

So.. when's the next coaster enthusiast event?
*** Edited 5/26/2004 3:11:18 PM UTC by superman***

Being from a non-enthusiast family I had to get my fill when I could. The only place that my parents will ride rides is at Disney World because they feel “safe,” and they never ride roller coasters.

I really have a soft spot for the Red Streaker at the defunct since 1984 Willow Mills Amusement Park. It was a PTC Jr out & back. For its size and length it was a tremendous ride(probably would seem tame to me now.) We’d go there every year for a company picnic as far back as I can remember. When I was about 7 or 8 years old I’d ride that coaster over and over all day until we had to leave. It is still in storage at a warehouse in Mechanicsburg. I wish someone would buy it, and restore it back to the great ride that it was.

Another place that I grew up at is Wildwood, NJ. There are so many past great rides. Flyer, Golden Nugget Mine Ride, and Whacky Shack on Hunts Pier, Jack Rabbit/Screem Machine and Castle Dracula on Midway Pier, Supersonic Roller coaster and Hell Hole on Sportland pier, and all the past and present rides on all of Morey’s Piers. There are too many too list.

I always looked forward to our Summer vacation growing up. Our family went there every year until I was 18 years old, and every few year since. I have so many fond memories in Wildwood. It still remains my favorite boardwalk to visit.

This year in July I am taking my family there. My son has been there with me already, but my wife and daughter haven’t. Could be a start of a new family tradition. ;)

The Phoenix at Knoebels Grove is another. As Heatherw had explained we were wed there last month. It was the perfect wedding, and I wouldn’t have wanted it done any other way. One of the things that really surprised me was that my mom(doesn’t ride) had to get on the Phoenix to watch her son get married. She said, “She flew out of her seat, and she thought that she was going to die.” ;) “I’ll never ride that again.” If anyone had seen the newspaper article she is the one that is in row 5 with her head in my brother’s chest as she was coming down the 1st drop.

Last season was the 1st time I had been back to Knoebels in many years, and the 1st for Heather. From now on we’ll be going there every year at least one time.

*** Edited 5/26/2004 3:13:03 PM UTC by Coasterfantom2***

Coasterfantom2....when you go in July, be sure and gets pics of Golden Nugget....it just MIGHT be operating again (they're moving it to Mariners Landing Pier)...:)

http://www.mrboardwalk.net/

While you're there, DO make sure and "Watch the tram car, please"...;)

P.S. Any and all Anton coasters "get me"...:)
*** Edited 5/26/2004 3:22:27 PM UTC by rollergator***

For me, it's three coasters, all were located at PKI:

1) The Bat - I remember seeing this amazing coaster SBNO when I was young (4 or 5), and being in awe of it. Even back then I liked the idea of horror flicks, so the Bat was that much cooler. It's even better that I got a press kit from the park last year.

2) King Cobra - This Togo was a symbol of amazement for me. It goes upside down? and you STAND? I was afraid to ride it as a kid, and when I finally made it back to PKI, they had just finished removing it.

3) Screamin' Demon - This coaster was the prized memory coaster for my father and my best friend's father. They told us tales of riding over and over without having to de-board because no one was in line due to light rain. Now that my friend's father tragically passed away in 1989, I hold Arrow shuttle coasters in my heart as a fond memory of happier times with my friend and his dad. *** Edited 5/26/2004 3:28:05 PM UTC by joe.***

Turn of the Century at Marriott's Great America in Illinois. After years of fearing big (it was big in the day) drops my dad's goading and the fact that my little sister rode it made me screw up my courage and ride. The Demon is cool but I miss those vicious bunny hops.

Zippin Pippin at Libertyland in Memphis, TN

I used to go to Libertyland all the time when I went to Memphis. I was probably 8 years old the first time that I went and I just loved it. This is also the first and only coaster that I ever got sick(actually passed out from dizziness) from riding. Of course it was because I rode it 12 times without having to get off.

Good Times.

I will always have a soft spot in my heart for two coasters:

1- Magnum XL-200- So many memories associated with the ride. So many friends, so many smiling faces... so many bruises. Long after this ride is gone the tip of the CP pinnensula will always be sacred ground for me.

2- Screechin' Eagle- Just a good ride. Underrated something aweful. I suppose I'm sentimental about it because of its uncertain future.

The pre-renovated Cyclone when SFNE was still Riverside Park, (back in the late 80's when Black Widow was still there and running). I went as a guest of a friend (some youth organization he belonged to had a day trip to Riverside that day), and we pretty much spent the entire day on Cyclone and a few trips on Black Widow. What I remember more than anything is that it rained all day (light enough that most of the rides stayed open), and I discovered how much better Cyclone was in the rain than on a dry day. *** Edited 5/27/2004 8:23:41 AM UTC by pete4winds***

I may only be 24, but I've been visiting theme parks since i was a teensy terror!

I think my favourite softy is definitely the Pepsi Max Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach here in the UK... the first time i saw it was back in 95 not long after it opened - i was up there with my parents visiting for the weekend for the world-famous illuminations.

As is the tradition with Blackpool during the illuminations, the PMBO was lit up from footer to track and looked amazing... at the time i was about an inch too small to ride (i had a growth spurt at 17 thankfully) but i just stood underneath it open-mouthed and said "I'm gonna ride you some day".

Fast foward 5 years, and i found myself in Blackpool with my girlfriend (who is now my wife), and we climbed on board for the first of many rides on it - we rode it in lovely weather that day and night.

A year later we came back with some friends, and was greeted with hurricane strength winds and ferocious rain. We got on the PMBO first to be sure of a ride before they decided it was too windy, and had the ride of our lives - we almost got put off afterward - the high winds behind us clocked the first drop speed at 97mph instead of the usual 80-85, and the rain literally burnt our faces, but it was worth it.

On a side note, the same day we managed to get on the Valhalla once and once only unfortunately... the wind was pushing the water at the top opening back into the tunnels and over the sensors, causing an e-stop every few minutes....

Ahhhh Blackpool.... see you in 3 weeks my friend... (yup, going back again... the 4 1/2 hour drive is worth it!)

Baz.

My softies:

Blue Streak at CP
After my first coaster at 8 years old that scared me to death, my first ride on Blue Streak in 1970 was a major breakthrough for me. I will always have a fond place in my heart for this coaster because of it.

Magnum at CP
After not being at Cedar Point for several years while waiting for my son to get tall enough to ride coasters, my first look at Magnum in 1990 was enough to make me shake just thinking about getting on it. But Ian would not ride, even with dad, unless I did too. So I stood in line, shaking like a leaf. I refused to look around on the lift hill I was so scared. But after the first drop I was totally hooked. There has not been one coaster that has frightened me since. Magnum has the honor of abolishing any fear of coasters.

---

jomo said:
SFMM's Goldrusher holds a soft spot for me still, my very first coaster ever.

And very first woodie (the first of many! ;o) which just celebrated it's 80th birthday:

link.

And the defunct Turn Of The Century at Marriott's Great America, the ride that converted me to an enthusiast way back in 1976. Once I experienced ejector air for the very first time, I was hooked for life!

---

Wierd, I was going to mention each one of these with the exception of Turn of the Century which I was too short to ride back then. I'd replace it with Willard's Whizzer and the Demon (when it had the effects and ejector air)

I also have a huge soft spot for the Matterhorn and Big Thunder.

The one and only coaster that comes to my mind is "THE BEAST"!!!! This was the last coaster I rode with my father, before he passed away......and at BEASTBUZZ, my two sons will ride it with their father for the first time. Someday, I am hoping my sons, grandsons, and I will all get to ride it together!

My Soft Spots:

Whizzer @ SFGAm. My first coaster. I remember riding it when I was about 5 with my dad.

Tidal Wave @ SFGAm. My first Looping coaster. Rode that one a few years later.

Then I lost touch. Never really paid attention to coasters throughout High School.

Then, I rode Raging Bull. Third soft spot. Got me hooked!

d8

Yea Gemini! It opened the same year I reached that magical height - my first "big" coaster. After eagerly waiting for hours to ride, I bumped my head on the back of the seat after the first hill and came off the ride in tears, yet still incredibly happy. My family thought I was scared and made fun of me until they felt the gigantic knot on the back of my head. And I've been coasting along ever since then...

For me, probably