Coasters for Sheer Fun.......or Just Credits?
It seems like some of you enthusiasts have ridden most coasters many, many times. You know the track layouts and the ride experiences like the backs of your hands.
Do you still get enjoyment from a ride even though you've ridden it so often? I would think a ride would seem boring after going on it season after season about 50 times per! So do you really ride these coasters for the fun of it.......or is part of the enjoyment the idea of increasing your coaster counts? Or.......as Elissa puts it....."CREDIT!"
*** This post was edited by Lallen on 5/30/2002. ***
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Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein
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www.coasterimage.com
I don't ride for "credit," but I do find coasters losing their thrill factor as I get older. Not just ones I've ridden but even new ones.
I haven't stayed at a park until closing since college (1998), with the exception of Holiday World, which made me feel like a kid. I just get bored anymore at parks. In fact, I can't remember the last time I went to a park and rode a ride more than once. Kinda sad.... :(
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He let the contents of the bottle do the thinking; can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding.
There have been times when I've ridden for credits, mostly junior coasters. However, I always ride for fun, even on those junior coasters. Sometimes when I've been on a ride just to add it to my record, it's been really fun, like The Flying Unicorn at IOA. Other times I wish I hadn't, like Wilde Maus (45 minute wait).
But the reason I ride at all is for fun. I'm not in it to impress others with a count.
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Proud CB club member
I ride coasters over and over that are fun. I ride coasters that are not fun only once so I can say that I rode it. For instance, I iwll probably never ride Mind Eraser at SFWOa or Desert Storm at Castles and Coasters again because I am not a fan of either...
I chose those two coasters because they are at the bottom of my most enjoyable coasters list.
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I fool so feelish....
There are a few things to look at here...
Do I ride coasters for credit... yeah, probably. Rode the Toboggan at Lakemont the other year even though I hate Toboggan's. However, I was there, walking past it, and had the time. I did not make a special point to get on it.
Some one mentioned about Flying Unicorn at IOA. Same thing here. We did not even know it was there when we visited, but we saw it and rode it. Was it just for the credit? Some might say that... however we did find it fun. On the other hand... if I would have really been "only after the credits", I could have waited and attempted to "borrow" someones kid to ride Pterdon Flyers with (when we were there, they were enforcing a 'adults only when accompanying a child' rule). As odd as this may sound, I have heard of people who have done this with kiddie coasters.
As far as re-riding a coaster over and over again for credit... how many people really keep track of the number of times they ride a certain coaster. However, what I do find funny are when people either a) ride a coaster over and over again and then complain about it saying they don't like it, or b) ride a coaster over and over again and then complain how badly it is aging or what ever because it no longer packs the same thrill they experienced when they first rode "... but now after my 250th lap of the season...."
SLFAKE said:
However, what I do find funny are when people either a) ride a coaster over and over again and then complain about it saying they don't like it, or b) ride a coaster over and over again and then complain how badly it is aging or what ever because it no longer packs the same thrill they experienced when they first rode "... but now after my 250th lap of the season...."
You are so right about that! I can't tell you how many times I've heard some genius say, "I rode S:ROS seven times yesterday and it is such a lame ride." LOL. Do these people even realize how ridiculous they sound?
BTW......I know what you mean about the Pteranodon Flyers rule. Until IOA has the ride vehicles reconfigured to allow more than 2 passengers per, I think the idea of that ride being for only kids will continue.
Fun is my primary purpose in riding, credits are secondary.
I will ride a kiddie coaster "for the hell of it" if I or the group I'm with feel like it. I'll skip them if I'm not in the mood, and wouldn't ever consider borrowing a kid. It's not that big of a deal to me. I'll also skip things I know I won't enjoy, like the Toboggan at Lakemont. I had enough of those at the fair when I was a kid.
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"He's blazin' away like the stars in the universe.." A. Vega + M. Rev "Ghostrider"
Someday there will be something here.
I will draw the line at "borrowing" someone's kid to ride a kiddie coaster. I may ask the ops to make an exception, and sometimes they will. I'll take the "cha-ching" for my track record, but I am much more interested in re-rides of really good coasters. There are plenty of kiddie coasters that I have passed up over the years.
I have honestly lost count of number of laps on most coasters that I have ridden "a lot." I think 160-170 is a good estimate of how many times I have ridden Ghostrider. I'm not trying to beat any records, I just enjoy the ride every time.
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Nothing... NOTHING... can prepare you for... the Fourth Dimension!
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X Looks Awesome! Oh Yea!!
Soggy sort of said what I was trying to say. I ride for both fun and the credit. Case in point is Six Flags America.
Last year I rode Two Face, Jokers Jinx, Roar and Wild One. I passed up Superman and Mind Eraser because they were broken down and the other coaster (the one in kids section... I forget the name...) because it was a kiddie coaster. This year I made it a point to return to SFA to Ride Superman because I really wanted to (and for the credit), and Mind Eraser for mainly the credit I guess. However, again, I passed up the kiddie coaster.
On the same note, my wife and I passed up Flitzer at Morey's Piers last summer because the line for this was very long while the line for Great Nor'Easter was non existant. Will I make a point to get back to Morey's to ride this coaster like I made a point to get back to SFA to ride Superman? No. Next time I find myself there, I will ride it if the opportunity permits.
Also, my personal record for "power riding" is 7 in a row (Kraken at Sea World)... hardly would qualify by many peoples standards. If it is a coaster I know I may not return to soon (if at all), I will make more of an effort to get in more rides. However, I do not waste whole days standing in line and riding a single coaster when I could bee seeing the rest of the park.
Lallen said:
I would think a ride would seem boring after going on it season after season about 50 times per!
50 per season? Heck, I rode Timbers 58 times on Sunday night/Monday! Hehe:). Anyway, there is no way I go for just credits. Upon finding out I had ridden ST some 400 times, someone asked if I still enjoyed it...my response was "I wouldn't continue riding if it wasn't fun anymore." This is totally true. For a short time I used to just ride for #s, but there came a time where I realized how great the coaster is, and how very very lucky I am to have it so close. Everytime I sit in the coaster car I feel like I'm home...and its just as exciting now as it was when I first rode. It may be tough for some people to understand, but marathoners know what I'm talking about. It's my baby, and I will never, ever get tired of riding it.
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Kara (car-uh)
461 Laps
58 in '02
"Are you sure you don't work here?"
*** This post was edited by ST chick on 5/30/2002. ***
Now that brings up something...
ST Chick said that she used to ride just for the numbers... but not now.
But you mean you would rather spend alot of your coaster time going to the same park and riding the same coaster over and over and over again (let's say... oh, I don't know... 58 times), rather than going to different parks and experiencing different coasters? And that brings up the question "how do you find the time to fit so many rides in on one certain coaster during one visit?"
In my most recent visit, I spend 6 hrs at SFA and got in a total of 13 coaster rides (5 on Superman, 2 on Wild One, Roar and Batwing, and 1 each on Mind Eraser and Joker's Jinx).
If I had the chance, I would rather ride 15 different coasters 2 times each (at total of 30 rides), and not 1 coaster 30 times while missing the other 14.
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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."
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Live on the edge and remember the Twist of Fate.
I suppose most things that I've ridden once, I rode just to try, and every now and then I'll find something surprisingly good (Talon, for instance, having not really liked 10 inverts before it) and just re-ride for fun.
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AC?, RB?, MF?, DD?, PR? Who can keep track of it all?
SLFAKE - If you've been to MA, you'd understand. One day last summer we rode Timbers so many times we lost track. We also rode the other coasters there a couple times each and most of the flats at least once. The crowds are so light that it's really easy to rack up the rides, and ST is such a great ride that it doesn't get old. It's not like she's driving 200 miles to ride one coaster over and over again, and if you look at her track record it's obvious she's gone to other parks.
If I lived that close, I'd do the same thing. Hell, I go out to SFGAm sometimes and marathon Viper if the lines are short. Sure I'll jump on some other rides if I feel like it, but if not...
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"He's blazin' away like the stars in the universe.." A. Vega + M. Rev "Ghostrider"
Someday there will be something here.
*** This post was edited by chris on 5/30/2002. ***
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