Questions on coaster type deffinitions

Recently I got into a "dicussion" over types of coasters... specifically Dutch Wonderland's Sky Princess. This is a CCI coaster that is 2000+ feet long, around 50 feet tall, uses a full size PTC train (I think it is full size), and actually has a good bit of "roughness" in its turn around and helix for its size. The person I was "discussing" with insisted that this was a large "Kiddie" coaster.

Now granted, I realize that Sky Princess is not a scream machine, but I would call it more of a smaller wood coaster than anything else (certainly NOT a kiddie coaster).

Looking things up on the RCDB, they define a kiddie coaster as a coaster designed soley for kids, and I knoe that often times adults are not permitted to ride (either by park regulations or by the fact that the trains are too small to accomodate adults).

They also refer to Family coasters on the RCDB as a coaster that is designed primarily for kids, but that adults can comfortably ride also.

I would consider Sky Princess a family coaster except for the fact that those little coasters like its neighboring Joust and other small steel coasters of that design are called Family.

The term Junior coaster I see applied to some coasters, but all seem to be much smaller than Sky Princess's 2000+ foot length.

I guess my question is...
What is the most accepted deffinition of a Kiddie Coaster, Family Coaster, and Junior coaster, and would Sky Princess fall into any of these three categories, or would it be considered a smaller wooden coaster that is designed wigh "families" in mind?

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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."

If they allow adults to ride the coaster, than it is a family coaster because all members of the family are allowed to ride. It can't be  kiddie if all members can ride. If there are no adults allowed, then I would call it a kiddie coaster. I really don't know what a junior coaster is defined as. I think it has the same meaning as kiddie coaster but I could be wrong. I don't think that term is used as widely as family or kiddie.
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Okay, maybe I should withdraw that classification of "Junior" coaster. I have not heard that used recently (and certainly not applied to any recenlty built coasters). From my understanding "Junior" was a term applied to small coasters (but bigger than kiddie) and was used alot in the years after WWII and to the 1970's. Examples would be Waldameer's Comet and Idlewild's Rollo Coaster (at least I heard them referred to as Jr.s).

I guess my question really comes down to "Family", and when does a coaster stop being a Family coaster and becomes a smaller standard coaster? I do agree that Dutchwonderland's Joust could be called a family coaster, but on the same token I wonder if Sky Princess should be in that same cagegory? Granted, the Princess is small compared to most wooden coasters, but then again it is large compared to what has come to be know as Family coasters.

I suppose that is my actual question.

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"I wasn't always this cynical, but then I started kindergarden..."

I think that a "junior coaster" is a more politically correct way of calling it a kiddie coaster.;)
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Kennywood is my home park!!!

Accually, one "new" (1996) coaster is a junior. Pegasus. It's another CCI, runs normal sized trains, and has lots of laterals. It's funny, quoted from CCI's website "Custom Coasters designs its junior coasters to be less intense than its larger coasters."

Thats strange, less intense? I'd say for a small, slower coaster, it packs quite the punch. If it had OTSRs, it would have headbanging worse that Shockwave (SFGAm). How is that not intense?

But really, what I belive to be a family/junior/kiddie/normal/what-ever-you-want-call-it coaster is what ever the person categorizing it belives it is. I know it's strange, if you thought MF was a kiddie coaster, it would be, to you. If that doesn't work good enough for you, do the 2nd best thing. The manufacurer's designation. If you can't figure out what that is, the next step is... use RCDB's information!
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Hi! I'm Hungry, whats your name?

*** This post was edited by TrBiggar on 11/17/2001. ***