Coasting For Kids media round up, benefiting Give Kids The World

Don't get me wrong, I think it's great to raise money for something like this. Like Jeff said, it is more pressworthy and incentive to get people involved. If they are going to allow them to wander around riding other things, why not make it a CP "Fun Day" instead of a "Ride Gemini All Day" event?

But, I stand buy what I said before, (knowing I am in the minority here), that participants should attempt to ride as much as they can. If I were donating, I would rather see it go to someone that cares enough about the fundraiser than someone that raises money for playing in the park. Which they can do on any given day. If I could've taken the time off work, I would have went. I would have loved to ride with friends Jason, Cathy and Arron all day!

And I still think that no one cares about your opinion, as it distracts from the intention of the event in the first place.

Question here: how did riders switch on and off the trains throughout the day, after a restroom break for example? Did you use the exit ramp? Did you have to wait off the platform if you did? Or did people generally ride as much as they could, then head off elsewhere till the PM session?

While I don't think people should be expected to ride every lap of the day, I can see CoffinBoy's point, but more as a public relations issue. If you're going to reserve an entire train for GKTW riders, I think you should try to make it as full as possible, even if you have people taking turns doing laps. It doesn't look good to the GP to send out trains less than half full while telling them they have to wait because that train is reserved.

Why is it so hard to comprehend that there's no requirement for people to ride Gemini all day. There was a guy who got sick by 7:15 this year. Should be have been forced to get back on the ride and "suck it up", or leave the park because he couldn't handle it?

Pulling a marathon all day like that isn't enjoyable, physically or mentally, for a lot of people. I think, in total, we did about 6-7 hours of riding, and that was almost too much for me. I was sore for 2 days after the fact, but I did it for the kids. Point is, I did as much as I could handle for them, and maybe a little bit more. That's all the is asked of participants.

Hell, some people didn't even show up. They still raised the money. Not a single person I accepted a donation from, would have been upset to learn I didn't do the entire marathon. It's really just a bonus offering, that comes along with the free admission that participants earn for raising over $50.

I realize that there are some who see this as the perfect "ERT-portunity", but that's totally not it for me. I'd have been perfectly happy with a Skyride, or Paddlewheel Excursions marathon just the same. It's not about the coasting - it's about the kids. If the event had been overbooked, I'd have gladly offered up my seat on the Gemini marathon to someone who really wanted it, and I'd have enjoyed my day doing other things, because the event is about giving and I participated to give, not ride.

RatherGoodBear said:
Question here: how did riders switch on and off the trains throughout the day, after a restroom break for example? Did you use the exit ramp? Did you have to wait off the platform if you did?

Generally, when you walked away, you could come right back up the exit ramp and sit down on the train. They were really laid back about it, so long as you stayed behind the gates while the train was pulling in or out.

The thing is that I raised a lot of money for Give Kids the World and equally as important I introduced the organization to a lot of people who didn't know what it was. It sucks that someone would say that my efforts weren't good enough because I wasn't able to ride the coaster the entire day or because I walked around the park to take a break.

I think the hard part to accept is that doing an event on a coaster carries certain limitations with it. Coaster riding is something where it's very hard to know one's breaking point, as opposed to say walking during a walk-a-thon. Not only that, but you can train for a walk-a-thon. Only under the rarest of circumstances can you actually do roller coaster marathons, and even then, the body's ability to handle extended coaster riding is, I suspect, significantly lower than other activities often done for charity. As such, I don't think that those who couldn't do the full 71-lap extravaganza of Steel Force, for example, in any way put in less effort than those who did. Dare I say it, I think those who couldn't go the distance probably had to put more effort into it because they obviously had to acknowledge the fact that they had reached the limit of what they could endure. I don't necessarily consider it more of a feat that I went the distance, if you will, because it wasn't really that hard for me to do so. However, that poor lady who got sick after lap 5 obviously pushed herself to an extreme I fortunately didn't have to reach. Ditto with the rider who got sick on Gemini at 7:15.

That being said, if somebody came and rode 1 or 2 laps and quit simply out of a decision that they'd rather do something else with their time, I'd probably not be too thrilled about it either, if for no other reason than the impression it would send. Again, though, if they did 1 or 2 laps and called it a day because they couldn't take anymore, hey, they gave it their best shot and it just didn't work out. That's OK.

I personally believe that all donations should be made only on the condition that the donor really wants to give money to the charity. If you're giving money and demanding I ride for hours on end, sorry, I don't want it. However, I, as a rider, need to take some responsibility for why I'm there as well and put an effort into getting in the laps I can. If I can go 10 laps and that's it, fine. Noting that the following questions are hypothetical and not due to any observations on my part of any riders, if I know I can go 20 without breaking a sweat and I decide I'm only going to do 10 because I simply don't care to do 20 (again, knowing full well that it would take minimal effort to do so), wouldn't that be a little irresponsible of me? Do I really believe in the cause if I'm not willing to give it my best?

However, CoffinBoy, be wary of assuming that anyone came just to "play around in the park." If they did, I'm sure, it was because they'd taken what they could of the marathon and had to call it quits for legitimate reasons. The only reason I saw people bail at Dorney was because they'd reach their breaking point. If that's the case, I don't have any problem with them doing other things in the park. Should they be punished for their inability to go further? I know you said you have no problem with people jumping ship for legitimate reasons, but then you went right back and basically volleyed the accusation that they were quitting just to go play in the park, which I hold was probably rarely, if ever, the case.

CoffinBoy said:
If I were donating, I would rather see it go to someone that cares enough about the fundraiser than someone that raises money for playing in the park.

Wow. Talk about offensive...

I, like everyone else, had to raise at least $50 to be able to participate. If I only cared about "playing in the park", I would have stopped at $50, instead of raising $533. I, like everyone else (I assume), cared about the fundraiser more than anything else.

Like I said before, sorry about your luck. Try not to be so bitter towards people who raised money for a good cause. It's not about you, or me, or anyone else. It's not about any amusement park or roller coaster. In the end, those things are not important. What is important is uplifting the spirits of little kids with life-threatening illnesses. It's about raising money for Give Kids the World, dude.

Well said. This entitlement nonsense, or projecting entitlement as the case may be, is pretty ridiculous.

I didn't mean to offend those of you who were sincere about the event. I was just making a point that someone COULD have simply paid what was needed to participate, rode Gemini at their leisure, and stroll around the park without caring about what they are actually there for. I am not saying anyone did that. Just that they COULD. Again, I am glad they raised a lot of money.