Coasting for Kids 2010?

Would it help if I agreed to elbow you in the ribs every lap?

Heck, in that case, I'd just go ride Thunder Road!

Do they count your laps or is that up to me? I am thinking a lanyard with one of those clickers on the end!

I would definitely need something to keep track of laps. I usually lose count before lap 10 on any ride.

I'd really like to do this, but I don't have any vacation time to spare to take a weekday off. I realize it's easier on park capacity to do this during the week, but a Saturday or Sunday or even just a weeknight instead of a weekday would allow some more of us to do this.

You can still donate, or sign up as a "virtual rider." Just sayin'. :)

They did not count for us. I bought myself a tally counter. Until recently it still had my count from last year on it. I will have it again this year. I talked to Ryan Saturday. He was our Entertaining Ride Op for the day. He works on Maverick this year. He said the park is rounding up the crew from last year to work the event again this year.

In the words of Ryan, "Red only wins when Chuck Norris Crys. And Chuck Norris doesn't cry."

Counting laps is geeky. :p

I only planned on keeping track of the total amount of time I rode, but now you guys have got my gears turning. Maybe I need one of those clickers, if only for the reason to put my number of rides in the paper.

I can't really see myself counting laps. I guess you never know, but it's not likely.

There is only two instances I count laps:
-consecutive laps without getting off (I still get geeked out by this one so forgive me)
-figuring out how many rides I did in one day on the car ride back (to see how "productive" I was/how much I payed per ride, that's right I'm a frugal geek)

The more I think about it, though, the more I realize that the folks who have donated for my page may be asking how many times I rode it. Hmmmm. I still don't know, but I may end up counting.

What I'm really counting on, though, is for the particpants at this event to keep things interesting and entertaining. I'm guessing I'm going to be bored after the first couple of laps when the novelty wears off. ;)

So I hope my Dorney peeps bring their "A" game! :)

Quick question: who should checks be made payable to? I think for coworkers it might be a little easier for them to give me the donations in person, so I want to make sure I get them the right info.

As of today, I've raised more money offline than online, even though I've been asking for donations on my Facebook once or twice a day.

No one has wrote me a check yet, but I assume that they should make it out to "Give Kids The World". I searched and searched the net for that info, and found nothing.

Yes, make out checks to the charity.

I just signed up yesterday for Cedar Point! Any idea how close we are to having 60? Do people have to register as a "virtual rider" at that point?

If we didn't already have 60, you would have put us there. A few days ago we were at 59. The top 60 earners will be the riders. You should get a confirmation e-mail within a couple days. It should include this info:

"In addition to park admission and a complimentary meal, each participant raising at least $50 will receive an event t-shirt. Please respond to this email with your t-shirt size as soon as possible to request your preferred size.

The response for the Cedar Point event has been tremendous and all of you are to thank! Since it’s looking like we’re going to surpass the 60 participant maximum for the event, we’ve added a change that we wanted to alert you of. Anyone who raises the $50 minimum for the Cedar Point event will receive a complimentary admission ticket for July 29 as well as an event t-shirt. The top 60 fundraisers will be selected to take part in the Gemini marathon and receive the meal options."

Can any of those registered at Cedar Point change their registration to Dorney? I don't know if any would want to, but you know, Dorney's where it's at, so... :)

(Just thinking if anyone wants to be sure to be able to ride, maybe they may want to change their registration to another park, like Kings Island or Dorney.)

If I was closer to any other park, I would do it. But, only because of the overflow. However, I live in Cleveland. Going to any other park would require a night in a hotel.

Looking forward to reading your article. I have no talent for writing. I would love to have a press release that had some fill in the blank spots to send to my local newspapers. I think that the neighborhood papers would run something like this.

I contacted GKTW about it but have not gotten a response.

I could do Kings Island round trip in a single day, but that would be a grueling 3 hour drive home after Racing all day. :)

Oh well, I suppose it's more incentive to go out and find sponsors. At the very least I'm guaranteed a t-shirt it sounds like. If I don't get to marathon Gemini, I'll just head over to Blue Streak and marathon the Magic Seat instead!

OK, here are some rough numbers. It's getting harder to do this as the number of people signed up increases. So, don't take this as gospel.

115 total people signed up 7 did not indicate on their page where they were riding. Though I suspect they are at Cedar Point.

Cedar Point - 52 (26 have no donations yet)
Kings Island - 12
Dorney Park - 11
Knotts Berry Farm - 10
Valleyfair - 8
Michigan's Adventure - 5
Kings Dominion - 4
Worlds of Fun - 2
Canada's Wonderland - 2
Great America - 2
Carowinds - 0

48 people have raised $6010. Many of those still haven't reached $50. 67 haven't raised any money yet. Assuming everyone gets to the minimum $50, we will raise at least $10,000.