Coaster Celebration, 9/15/02

This morning, I left my house at 6:45 to attend what would be my first enthusiast event ever. I hadnt attended Saturdays Coaster Celebration and I walked into the Garden of Eatin knowing just about no enthusiasts. THAT would change.

Chiller opened about 10 minutes after ERT started so I headed to Nitro. What followed, was the BEST roller coaster moment I have ever had. I recieved front row, first train of the day with just ONE other person on the train. COMPLETELY brakeless ride. No trims and Mid Course Brakes or anything. Wow... I wonder if that will ever happen again.

What followed was about 45 minutes of Nitro riding. I met lots of people (Oh, incase someone that was there is reading this.. I was the 14 yr old with a navy blue legend t-shirt over a long sleeved shirt) including Sam of the coaster zombies, Coastin Steve, an enthusiast named Debra (homepark of SFNE if shes reading!) and just so many other people.. Im pretty bad at writing this but just bear with me.

Anyway, Chiller was running with half empty trains so I proceeded in that direction. In there I met Ted Ansley (We didnt talk, but we DID say hi to each other), someone named Marcos (I think.. Im really bad at names!!) and Alex from Alexspace (Whom I would later spend the day with).

After oh... 10 rides on Chiller Batman, I actually decided to leave after realizing that anymore rides on Chiller would make me puke. Off to Batman: the ride. Like THAT will make me feel any better.

Batman was a walkon to the front. Great! Incredible ride, plenty intense, and running fast. Too bad my stomach didnt think it was that great.. Seeing that im so terribly stubborn, I headed over to.......

Nitro!! I rode Nitro with a newly made enthusiast named Matt. Great guy, extremely friendly and just nice!!! We must have ridden Nitro around 15 times, it was just crazy. And just as quickly as it started, ERT ended. Bah. So I decide to hang out with Matt for the day (Who also happened to be in the same group with Alex, Sam from coaster zombies and some other people whose names just escape my head. sorry!) and basically have a great rest of the day.

Since Thunderstorms were forcasted, crowds were absolutely minimal. Chiller was a 1-2 train wait with one side open, Nitro and Batman were walkons and... yeah. So was every ride in the park.

Ok since im really lazy, and im doing a terrible job of writing this, im going to sum up the day as Incredible, fun, and something that I will NEVER forget! The Coaster Zombies have some of the niceset people as members and just...... I had fun.

Thanks to everyone that made this day great! I just hope they have one next year. I think the attendance was 252? Doesnt seem to be enough for another :(

Coastin Steve is a GREAT friend of ours, but beware...he's got a *rep* for his outrage-ous Halloween costumes at PPP.... He's an old-time RRCer, and a really nice guy...if you ever need to find him in a park, just locate a Skyscraper, Slingshot, etc. and listen for the howls of laughter.... I've been introduced to Sam, but he was busy running a table at PPP...

Glad you had a great time, I know "too many" enthusiasts from NJ/E Pa....Sandy N. hangs out here occasionally, Chillforce is another great guy from the area...Haven't met AJ, yet.....ALL of them are insane though...living "up there" like Polar Bears....

*** This post was edited by rollergator on 9/21/2002. ***

Yeah, Coastin Steve is a great guy. We've been sending emails back and forth for some time now, even before I met him in person!

I cant wait for my next enthusiast event. I was going to try to get out to PPP, but I couldnt get transportation. Steve was very friendly and even offered me a ride, but my dad wasnt ok with it. Theres always next year though! :)