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movies+coasters= the most fun you could ever imagine!
*** This post was edited by PT300 on 10/2/2001. ***
Parks limit maximum size of riders on their kiddie coasters for several reasons:
1) Adults just don't fit in well.
2) The coaster may only be designed for so much weight.
3) To keep rowdy older riders from intimidating kids. This is why some parks allow adults on kiddie coasters only if accompanied by a child.
First off is the deffinition... "Junior" coaster.
What coasters are exactly in that class?
Case in point... Dutch Wonderland (Lancaster PA) has two coasters, Joust and Sky Princess. There are some out there who insist on saying that Sky Princess is a "Jr" coaster. I agree, it could be called a "family" coaster (in the sense that it is smaller and is not a wild scream machine), but I hesitate to call it a "Jr" (for the record, the RCDB does not refer to it as either a "Family" or a "Jr"... and I agree with that assessment.) Their other coaster is Joust... a small "family" (according to RCDB) coaster... a Chance model I t think, and they send you around on two laps. I would not call this a "kiddie" coaster, but this size I would refer to as a "Jr" (even more so than family)... Adults can fit into the seats comfortably, but it is geared primiarly toward kids.
Now all that the above is out of the way, I look at it this way... if you ride it, count it. I have ridden Joust and Sky Princess... and have counted Joust as well as Sky Princess. However, my main reason why I wanted to go to Dutch Wonderland (aside from taking our 2 yr old neice there), was to ride Sky Princess... I would not have made the trip if Joust was all that they had.
The line for Joust was non existant (as was the line for Sky Princess) and we had plenty of time. On the other hand, on a visit to Dorney Park, we spent our time on the major coasters (Steel Force, Talon, Thunderhawk, Hercules, Wild Mouse, Laser) and let all of the smaller ones go. I suppose my point is this... if I would ride a "kiddie" (or a kids coaster, such as Joust), I would of course count it... however I would NOT go out of my way to ride one of these coasters (to the point of scheeming to borrow another visitor's kid just so they would let me on if they have a "no adult with out a kid" rule). To me, that just smells of just trying to pad out the coaster count.
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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."
Personally, I add kiddie coasters to my track record, but it's so I'll remember riding them, not to add to the number I've ridden.
I ride some smaller coasters. The PTC juniors (beastie and the like) are actually good. The tivoli family coasters (RRE @ SFWoA) are intersting just because of the insanely long train. I rode Howler @ HW, just to do it. And the rides like Flying Unicorn and Woody's Nuthouse Coaster (IOA & USF respectively) are even somewhat fun.
All are on my count, but I wouldnt go out of my way to ride them. I pretty much only ride them only if they are walkons...I dont want to take time away from the kiddies (NOTABLE EXCEPTION: Reptar!)
lata,
jeremy
--when did they get so many black people on soap operas?
Like I said, the only true "kiddie" coaster (or, like I said, "Kid's" coaster) that I have ridden is Joust. My neice (2 1/2 years old at the time... this past July) wanted to, but then at the last minute, she said "I don't want to ride", so I got out of line with her. My wife said "give her here... and go ride," so I handed her off and got back in line.
Like I said in my last post, I would not make a specific point to ride a kiddie coaster or "kids coaster" (I have passed up ones at Lakemont, Old Town, SFA, Dorney and Williamsgrove), but if I would ride one (such as Joust), I WOULD count it. Not listed in CoasterBuzz's list of coasters, I count two smaller coasters in my personal count... Williamsgrove's old wooden (now defunct) kiddie coaster, and a kiddie coaster at the York Fair (yes, I do count two travelling fairs), but both when I was in fact a "kiddie" myself. The only recent "kiddie / Kids" coasters I have ridden and included is Joust (though some do insist on calling Flying Unicorn at IOA a Kid's/Jr coaster... I call it "family").
Oh, as a followup, while my niece did not want to ride Joust, she (with her mother, grandfather and me) did get her first coaster ride a few weeks ago at Hersheypark on the "Trailblazer". Okay, so it is a very short mine train to us all, but to her it was her first ride on "the big rollie coaster."
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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."
*** This post was edited by SLFAKE on 10/4/2001. ***
I love Zierer's long trains. Forty people!
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Don't look down-Oblivion
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