BooBuzz 2010: Details posted

Thanks Jeff for everything. It was a very nice spread. Good ride (would have been better with no water dummies though - not your fault), good tour and good food. CP was SUPER busy on Saturday, so it was nice to get a little TLC on Friday. I am not sure what you can do about the a$$holes, but I can tell you that I cherrish the ERT and everything you do for us. Please have faith in us. As always, it is always the ONE that makes us all look bad. Have a great winter!!

I have to admit, though I didn't see anything along the lines of harsh physical contact, I was rather surprised to see just how intense some of the guests were getting during the ERT. I mean, seriously, it's just a ride.

sirloindude said:
I was rather surprised to see just how intense some of the guests were getting during the ERT.

Same here...and by 'some' I mean a certain, particular few.

I wanna say it was a same certain few that have acted that way at past BooBuzz events as well...but I may be mistaken.

But yeah, there were children there that behaved more like adults than those few 'overly enthusiastic' enthusiasts.

"Intense" is one way to put it, "immature asshole" is another. It's exactly the kind of crap that used to pride ourselves as not having. Agreed with Gonch that there are kids who act less like kids.

I must've missed all that while I was having a good time. :)

I did notice a lot of rushing to get back in line, which baffles me cause it's not like waiting 5 minutes to get on a ride is bad at all...

But the biggest disappointing moment was the one girl ride op that kept hitting her speaker thing on, which in turn relayed her speaking on the PA... Regardless of whether or not you think people can hear you, you probably shouldn't say that something is "retarded" while on the job... or ever for that matter

Ensign Smith said:
I must've missed all that while I was having a good time. :)

Or maybe it was you who was doing the pushing - you did mention on PBuzz that you were looking forward to running into people;)

Damn. I've been outed. ;)

Jeff said:
To the moron who pushed my wife out of the way on the Millennium Force platform, don't ever come to one of my events again. Ever. I'm getting tired of seeing adults act like children.

Someone pushed Diana? That's ri-dick-ulous! Seriously.

I didn't see any shoving, but I did see the scurrying to get back in line and I just laughed. What the hell were they running for? It was one train operation. Hurry up and wait much? Idiots.

On a positive note, I had a blast this year. Getting to hang out with Ensign Smith (Mike) and Sirloindude (Justin) was a lot of fun. Thanks guys.

And of course face time with my podcasting peeps and their families was also fabulous. Good times... take a drink. :)

I must have missed the shoving as well. I was busy trying to keep warm...went against my better judgment and wore shorts......brrrr! There were definitely some characters though. . . .

The food....all I had was the potato salad, two of the huge ass cookies and hot chocolate. Carb city!! The veggie burger was ...eww!

My only regret was missing Dragster. I didn't see it operating all night....and I stayed till the end. Oh well..

I got a shove from a person too. It was someone I thought was a friend. Not that it should make a difference whether or not the person is a friend. One of these days it's going to cause an altercation. I'm more tolerant than most people and it annoyed me quite a bit.

That's one of the reasons I'm often put off by enthusiast events (of any kind). My first event was Solace 2005, and there was a couple in their 40s or 50s who were running, pushing people out of the way, and ended up running thru a landscaped area with flowers and plants, trampling on all of them, just so they could get to Ghostrider at the start of ERT.

My group openly mocked them because we were 'in their way' as they rused thru/around/past us.

That kind of behavior is plain stupid.

I was at the park that evening, but as a civilian, with a group of decidedly non-enthusiast friends. We had a good time, even though the park was packed for a Friday. We got there around 7, and I didn't personally witness any "enthusiass" behavior.

Clearly, there's sense of community among those of you who post here, and this really isn't directed toward you, as I’m sure that you behaved and enjoyed yourselves. However, reports like this reinforce my stance that although I love the hell out of roller coasters, I'm not a fan of the subculture it's spawned, and I wouldn't care to be labeled an enthusiast.

To me, going to the amusement park is a social activity. It's about deciding where to go next, and about seeing the look on your friends' faces after an exciting ride. Conversely, I see single-rider marathoning as a fairly anti-social activity, in which the rider only sees himself and the coaster as important, and sees other people as an obstacle. I don't think it's hard to see how a very selfish attitude can develop from this. On a recent podcast, Jeff asked whether riding coasters can lose all of its joy if done too much, and I think the answer is yes.

I had a great time a couple years ago on a Halloweekends Friday night when a friend and I were able to get about five rides in under an hour on MF, but looking back on it, I hardly remember being on the coaster; rather, I remember having a good time with a close friend, laughing at the absurdity of what we were doing.He said he had been on the coaster 30 times that night, but I certainly wouldn’t have traded places with him.

To each their own I suppose, but I just have to think that amusement parks were not created with the main intent to allow socially awkward men to pursue an obsession, and to hell with everybody else. Again, I’m sure I would have enjoyed catching a lap with many people on here, but yeah, it’s largely this type of boorish (and quite frankly, loser-ish) behavior that keeps me away from stuff like this, in favor of enjoying the parks moderately with better-adjusted people.

While I'm vocal on the fact that I don't identify with the people that take the hobby too seriously, as with any hobby you have, there is usually the extreme group off to itself that I don't tend to want to be around because they tend to think that roller coasters are actually important outside of it being just entertainment.

However, and obviously, this is just my opinion, I disagree with this:

Conversely, I see single-rider marathoning as a fairly anti-social activity, in which the rider only sees himself and the coaster as important, and sees other people as an obstacle. I don't think it's hard to see how a very selfish attitude can develop from this.

I tend to see it more as there are people that are so far into the hobby, and so extreme, that they probably don't have anyone around them that wants to participate. I don't think single riding makes one anti-social, but in extreme cases, I think single riding is the effect of anti-social/socially awkward behavior.

I love going to parks and doing other activities with friends. But to be honest, I also like doing many hobbies by myself, and I wouldn't consider myself anti-social by any means.

I've been to Carowinds 9 times this year, 7 of which I was by myself either all day, or most of the day. I went because I enjoy going, but I don't think of others as an obstacle. And I know many others who are that way as well. I like to spend my free time doing what I like to do, and sometimes that's going to an amusement park. I did SFoG mostly by myself this year too, and enjoyed it.

But I also don't like to be around the extreme fringe groups in coasterdom because they're already only self consumed. But it's like that with any hobby. I see people like that at concerts, museums, and other entertainment venues.

Like I told Carrie at PPP, though, once you get out (If that's your thing) and meet the non-fringe people and realize that there are quite a few that you have more in common with than just coasters, events where you get to hang out with those people are a lot of fun because you're with the well adjusted people, who just happen to have the same hobby.

The incentive existed because (at least early in ERT) there was less than 2 trains of people participating and only 1 train running. So beating enough folks back to the loading platform meant you got back on the train you just got off without waiting for the three trains to cycle again. I don't think that incentive exists with fewer people there or if more than one train is running with riders. None of that makes being rude to other folks right though. And certainly none of that justifies pushing anyone.

We had bad luck with Dragster too. Got in line at 6:00 and were at the turnstiles at 6:15 when a train rolled back. I hadn't seen a rollback in a few years. Technicians went out to fix something on the launch run so the ride was shut down. We got out of line about 6:30 with the ride still shut down. Saw it running again about 45 mins later so we got back in line. It was running fine until we got up on the platform. They had to reset something so it stopped for about 5 mins. We stayed in line and rode. Didn't want to take a chance again. And the rest of the night it seemed to run sporadically.

Yeah, I didn't mean to imply that single riding leads to anti-social behavior or causes it, but I do agree with you that it's the sort of behavior to which an anti-social person might gravitate.

I also think there's a disctinction between single riding and single marathoning. As a passholder who lives close to Cedar Point, and who has a flexible work schedule, there one or two days a season where I'll decide to go to the park, and I won't try to gather up a group of friends because of the short notice or because I know they're working. I can enjoy myself for at least a few hours, and it's nice to be alone with your thoughts sometimes. I certainly don't think there's any harm in that, although I'd always opt to go with a group of friends if possible.

But compulsive single marathoning is different, and while it's only my unprofessional opinion, I don't think it's the sort of behavior that would occur or appeal to a very normal or well-adjusted person. These people may be so far to the fringe that they don't have any peers to share the experience with, but I think it's at that point that most people would take stock of exactly what they're doing with their lives.

I'm a big proponent of the idea that there's nothing so wonderful in life that it can't be ruined by overindulgence, be it music, film, intoxicants or even sex. I see coasters as fitting in squarely with the above.

But I enjoyed reading your points, Tekwardo. From your posts, I wouldn't consider you as enthuiass, or anti-social. We probably agree on a considerable amount on this subject. If I ever do make it to an event, I'll gladly grab a lap with you.

Break Trims said:
I'm a big proponent of the idea that there's nothing so wonderful in life that it can't be ruined by overindulgence, be it music, film, intoxicants or even sex. I see coasters as fitting in squarely with the above.

I'm pretty sure if the average enthusiass overdid any of those things, they wouldn't be an enthusiass. :)

Absolutely! And on this, we seem to agree more than differ on the subject.

I will say these positive things about the event:

• I think having it on Friday was good, especially given the "rumors" that the park hit capacity on Saturday. Although, it seems like doing any kind of event in October means it's going to be crowded.
  
• The haunted house tour is a fun perk. I could do one of these every year and enjoy it as long as it was a different house each time.
• The kettle corn at dinner was ridiculously good.
  

Break Trims said:
But compulsive single marathoning is different, and while it's only my unprofessional opinion, I don't think it's the sort of behavior that would occur or appeal to a very normal or well-adjusted person. These people may be so far to the fringe that they don't have any peers to share the experience with, but I think it's at that point that most people would take stock of exactly what they're doing with their lives.

I think that goes too far. I am certain that I am on the fringe when it comes to coasters, but normal with everything else. I have friends who like coasters as well as friends who do not. What I have not found yet is someone who likes coasters as much as I do. In fact pretty much everyone who knows me thinks I am nuts for wanting to ride them like I do. I admit that I go to the park with a goal of getting 70+ coaster rides in the day if I am by myself. It is not that I don't want people to share the experience with, rather they do not want to have the same experience as I do. And that is fine. When I go to the park with others I dial it back. But if I go by myself why can I not do what I want as long as it does not involve pushing people out of the way. Why does it make me odd because I do not want the same experience as you want?

And I do not think it is fair to pick solely on enthusiasses for running through the handicap gate on Millennium. If you have ever had the pleasure of doing that, how many parents with their kids are right there doing the same thing?

Do I push people out of the way to get on the next train - no. Do I grumble about how slow they are walking - yes. Maybe that makes me odd. But the next time you start riding my bumper on the highway because I am not going as fast as you would like me to I better not hear any grumbling - that would make you odd:)

And no, I was not at BooBuzz. And yes I believe that some people get carried away with their antics. But I truly believe they are in the small minority.