First Coaster Credit !

I hate to start a new topic for this, but could not find one on which is would fit.

I have to brag. My grandson, just 29 days before his second birthday, got his first coaster credit today. He rode the "Dragon Wagon" at a local carnival today. Papaw is so proud. Looks like I have someone to share the back seat with for the next generation. (Pictures on Facebook soon.)

And speaking of the local carnival, the only "adult" ride they had was the most kick ass Tilt-a-Whirl that I have ever riden. Knowing that you usually get a pretty lame ride unless you do a lot of leaning, I took the grandson on with me (he wants to do everything) and planned on just letting is go in a big circle with a little rocking back and forth motion. This thing had more spin than I have ever seen on a tilt. Found out that it is much harder to lean to stop a spin than it is to get one going. However, he loved every minute of it and screamed to go back again. Later in the day, my wife and I took a ride and spun non-stop for a full five minutes. I think this is the first time ever that I have gotten off of any ride and had to set down to get my bearing back. If you ever run across a carnival in southern Indiana that has a tilt that looks like it is about to make it's final run, it is well worth the ride.

After my spell of vertigo a few months ago, I think I'm not going to trust a Tilt-A-Whirl anymore. I felt like I was riding one for 3 days straight. My catch phrase to all the nurses during my stay in the hospital was, "Someone, get me off this stupid Tilt-A-Whirl".

My Mom tells me that I rode the Big Dipper at Camden Park before my second birthday. I still don't think that they have a hight requirement for that coaster. lol

It's fun to take kids to parks with me. Sometimes it seems as if the magic of a park visit is starting to wilt away, but when you have a kid to accompany you to the park, it becomes fun again. (Just so they are tall enough to ride everything and they aren't "chicken". lol)

You have many years of amusement park fun to share with your family.

Well, congrats tgo your grandson, Lost!

I remeber my first "adult" coaster:

The venerable Yankee Cannoball at Canobie. The was quickly followed by my second: The Canobie Corkscrew, the biggest headrush i've ever had.

Thanks, but I have no children or Grandchildren. I'm only in my thirty's, and it's probably safe to say that I'm probably not going to ever have kids of my own...Maybe I should have been a little more clear...lol

I took my 13 year-old cousin to BGW with me last year, and he's going to KI with me next week. He's starting to become my amusement park sidekick. It helps me to not get bored at parks, seeing that I'm getting a little older now and have been to so many parks and on so many coasters.

I must agree, a park visit with the little ones is a much different experiance than an coaster junkie visit. When my kids were little, my wife, brother and sister-in-law would take all the kids to a park on a Saturday and then while the wife's took the kids shopping on Sunday, my brother and I would go back to the park and spend the day hitting the coasters. Soon the kids where big enough that they wanted to do coasters, so we were able to a two day family visit. Now that the grandson is here, looks like I will be going back to the split visits again soon. I have to admit that seeing the big smiles and hearing the laugh that only a two years old can do when they see Bugs Bunny or ride a kiddy ride is almost, (I did say almost) as much fun as a back seat on a woodie.

That is awesome, Kraven!

I like being around kids at parks, especially my friends' kids. All they care about is having fun. They don't care about anything else. They don't care about the "tallest" or "fastest" or "well, that coaster is better than that one because..." All they care about is "wow, that looks fun!"

It's MUCH more refreshing hanging out with a kid, a non-enthusiast, or an "adult" kid at a park than someone who is constantly complaining about everything and anything. Don't get me wrong, most of my adult friends are kids at heart, but there are always the few that have to complain.

I am not going to have kids of my own but I keep hinting to my brother and his wife that I will be GLAD to babysit if they decide to have kids, once they are old enough to ride anything. :)

-Tina

I wish I could confirm my first coaster credit, but due to my parents shaky memory I cannot take any credit from my lone trip to Euclid Beach in it's final year of 1969. I was one-and-a-half and my parents claimed to have taken me on the Racing Coaster and the Aero Dips. I went and looked into this and discovered that the Aero Dips was removed after the 1965 season, two years before I was born. My parents insist I rode it, so I've scrapped that and the Racing Coaster from my credit list since there are no pictures of me at all from EB to use for verification and I can't trust my parents memory. I'm also officially stuck at 99 coasters ridden!

Tom

Ah, I can remember like it was yesterday when Ava got her first ride credit on Jr. Gemini. Sixty + credits later and she is a bona fide little enthusiast . . . :)

Since there is a little bragging going on here... my sons first coaster was Vapor Trail at Sesame Place when he was 4. He now has over 150 credits at 11. He will hit 200 by his 12th birthday in October. His favorite coaster so far is Behemoth at CW. He rode it 26 times at an enthusiast event last August. I compare how I was at his age and he is much more adventurous then I was. Yes I am one of those super proud coaster dads.

By his teens he will be pushing upwards of 300 coasters. In his teens when most kids begin to become major coaster fans he will probably be bored with the coaster enthusiast scene, but until then I am going to enjoy every minute of riding coasters with him.

Lost Kause said: It's fun to take kids to parks with me. Sometimes it seems as if the magic of a park visit is starting to wilt away, but when you have a kid to accompany you to the park, it becomes fun again. (Just so they are tall enough to ride everything and they aren't "chicken". lol)

I could not agree more! Before my kids came along I was so easily jaded by the parks after a while. They do bring a whole new element of fun to it. Since my wife is no longer able to ride like she used to years ago, my daughter has taken over, and she may be a crazier about her coasters than either of us. My son, he likes to ride, but he's really cautious about most rides.

Zakkster said:
Since there is a little bragging going on here... my sons first coaster was Vapor Trail at Sesame Place when he was 4. He now has over 150 credits at 11. He will hit 200 by his 12th birthday in October. I compare how I was at his age and he is much more adventurous then I was.

My daughter is 11 and Diamondback was her 265th - she rode Millennium Force at age 5 and TTD at 8. In comparison, I almost cried on CCMR when I was a kid.

My son is 7 and is up to 96 coasters. (and he's still not even 54" yet)

There's a few really hardcore enthusiast kids out there though. Like 11 or 12 years olds with 500 or 600 credits.

I have noticed that young girls seem much braver when it comes to coasters then boys are. My son still wont do MF. He says 255 feet is his limit. LOL

My little guy is in the single digits: 7. Considering he just turned 3 and is 40" tall I don't think he's doing too shabby. His 8 month old brother showed a lot of interest in Diamondback's final helix and splashdown. I'm sure it won't be long until the two of them are riding partners.

The wife and I suck at doing parks kid less. So we're doing everything with them. Even enthusiast events! Poor kids. Pretty soon they'll be running around with yellow CBuzz t-shirts, bugging Jeff about his site, and talk about this one time at *insert park here*

~Rob

I guess it has to do with your upbringing. Neither one of my parents was a big coaster fan, although my mom and dad both rode them all at EB and my dad can claim Cyclone at Puritas Springs for a credit. Somewhere in the 1970's I got scared and wasted many years riding just flats until I realized that coasters might be fun. My kids will NOT miss out on what I did. Both my son and daughter want to know what new rides they can go on each year and aren't afraid to try anything. It's been pure joy watching them graduate from the Little Dipper at MKP to the coasters at Knoebels, and in my daughters case some of the larger ones at Dorney, CP and Waldameer.

Tom

My dad is a coaster enthusiast and he is the one who got me into it. He is 64 years old and still rides all the same coasters which I do, although he only goes with me to SFMM or KBF once or twice a year. I hope I can still ride when I am his age. My mom has always been afraid of coasters, and still teases me and my dad for being crazy to ride them. My first trip to a park, which I can actually remember, was to DL when I was 5. When I was tall enough for the coasters I rode them and loved it, so my parents started taking me to KBF. After it became obvious that I loved coasters more than anything else at the parks, and DL and KBF were not thrilling enough, they took me to SFMM for the first time when I was 8 yrs. old. The rest is history and I have been hooked ever since.

I don't have kids, but my 10 year old nephew is afraid to ride any coaster which is much passed kiddie level. My 11 year old niece is becoming an enthusiast and has been on all of the coasters currently at DL, DCA, KBF and SFMM. Her favorites are X2 and Tatsu, which are also my top 2. Since my brother-in-law and my nephew are afraid of coasters, sometimes my dad, sister, niece and I go to SFMM and KBF together, but most of the time I go alone due to conflicting schedules.