Visiting a Park with Dad this Sunday?

My wife and kids made the assumption (correctly made the assumption I might add) that I would like to visit SFGAm for Father's Day this Sunday. So it's off the the park we go this Sunday. And since it's Father's Day whatever I say goes, right?

Are many of you planning to visit parks this Sunday? No, I'm not trying to anticipate what crowds are going to be like, but rather wanted to pose a question....

Are you planning to take your dad and make it a special day for him?

Or are you dragging your family along like me? Actually They are not being dragged along, they enjoy the park too, but they would not go nearly as often if it weren't for my insistance that we go to the park several times a month......

So I guess that makes me a true "enthusiast." My ever burning desire to fill all my free days on roller coasters with my family.

ya know, its sad, but my dad is the one who got me hooked on coasters when i was little, and now he doesnt like them much. thatd be an awesome fathers day, lol:)

oh well...ill be a father some day, and we will definitely be doing some coastering on fathers day!!!! :)

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"Happiness is the City of Hudson!!"

Michigan r0x0rs! :)

Hmmmm, I didnt even think about asking my father if he would be interested in going.

However, I know what his answer will be. Well, he will say "no" only after he throws me a wierd look. :)

Just like vacoasterfreak, my father also got me into coasters when I was a kid. He had to convince me to ride Demon and Tidal Wave.

Ahhhhh, what the heck!! It doesnt hurt to ask. He hasnt been on a coaster in probably 20 years.

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Arena football has arrived in the Windy City. Go "Chicago Rush"

MagnumForce's and My father wouldn't be caught dead on a coaster, I did get him on Mine Ride back in the late 70's and he said never again! I still have implanted on my brain the Hymalaia (sp) eposode back at the Monroe County Fair, long before MF was even born. The ride op "Wana Go Faster????" Dad over the noise of everyone else on the ride and the sounds of the Midway: "STOP, STOP!!!"

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Dave

Beware of Kiddie Coasters

It's been a tradition for the last few years that I take my Dad to Cedar Point on Father's Day. He still likes them just as much as me, although he's not as much of an "internet junkie" so doesn't have all that wonderful useless knowledge about manufacturers, element names, build dates, clones, etc. But usually by this point in the year, we haven't gone to CP together, but we've already gone twice this year. Perhaps another park, or we might skip it this year. If we do though, you know I'll be hitting the malls tomorrow scrambling for something else!

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"As soon as you design something that's idiot-proof, the world will go and design a better idiot." ... Thank you EchoVictor!
--Brett

PittDesigner, don't break the tradition. I've seen traditions go to the wayside one year and then crumble after that. If you go or not, hope you and your dad have a happy Father's day. And that goes to all of your families, Buzzers.

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Missing the Fallen:
King Cobra 1984-2001
The Bat 1981-1983

This is my first Father's Day as a father and I look forward to spending it wity my son and my father-in-law. We aren't going to be doing an coaster riding but it will be special none-the-less.

Well it's not exactly an amusement park but my daughter and I are taking daddy to the Pgh Zoo on Father's Day. Dad's get in free when accompanied by a child. :)

I think my dad's final coaster ride was last October. I'd been wanting to take my folks to Busch Gardens Williamsburg since my first visit in '91, and we finally made plans to do so during Howl-O-Scream last year. I managed to get them both on Wild Maus and Big Bad Wolf, and it took some begging (and bargaining) to get my dad on Apollo's Chariot. I swear, I thought he was going to have a heart-attack on AC. I think his coasting days are over.

It's a shame though, because I fondly remember taking several laps, with both of my brothers as well as my parents, on all the coasters at PKD and Hershey when I was a kid. My folks are both 67 now, so I can certainly understand why they are not thrillseekers anymore...not that they ever were to begin with. ;)

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-Mike B.
Son of Hulk

HardRider said:

Or are you dragging your family along like me?

I'm dragging my favorite coaster-riding buddy, my 18 year old son., with me to SFGAm. While he would probably rather be with his friends, we have enjoyed close to 200 different coasters together over the past 5 years. Of course, being Father's Day, I get my way (and paying is another incentive)

Mike

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Laugh your troubles away at Riverview, the world's largest amusement park.
*** This post was edited by Riverview Mike 6/13/2003 10:15:17 AM ***

I will not be riding with my dad on Father's Day, but I thought I would post to this thread to tell everyone my absolute, favorite memory that I have with my dad.

This actually occured before I became a coaster enthusiast. My dad's hobby is racing cars. One of the things he likes to do with his racing buddies to kill time is to go go-karting. Well often, go-karting involves driving out to the Dells for the day and having a good time. They usually go to a track just outside of town that has really fast go-karts but on this particular day, a day that I was actually tagging along with them, my dad and one of his friends ended up getting tossed out for excessive bumping (this isnt unusual, my Dad gets tossed out of more go-kart tracks than anyone I know)

Anyways, we end up going to Big Chiefs. My dad hates go-karting there because the carts are too slow but decides to go and try the "other" location (we had always gone to the location with the San Francisco Freeway track). We end up getting the ride all day passes in anticipation of all day go-karting. That is when my dad saw Cyclops. At the time, Zeus hadnt been built yet and Cyclops actually made one of those Discovery Channel specials.

Something here you should know about my dad. He hates heights. He used to fly a lot for his work and would have near panic attacks when he would get on the plane every time. Walking up on an escalator in a mall bothers him.

My dad and I have never ever been close. Hell we rarely talked. What my dad said to me next shocked the hell out of me... "So, you want to try out that coaster?"

After I picked up my jaw off the ground, I caught up with him as he started up the pathway to the entrance of the coaster. We get up to the platform and my dad says to me, "I saw this ride on the Discovery Channel, they say if you ride in the back you come off your seat." Next thing I know, we are sitting in the back seat of Cyclops and heading up the hill. Now remember, I am not yet an enthusiast. I had no comprehension of the airtime that lay ahead. We zip through the course of the ride, get ripped over the ejector hill and back into the station and off for our second lap. As we crest the hill, my dad has his hands up in the air!!!!

I have never riden another coaster with my dad. I dont know if he has ridden any since then. But it is one memory of my dad that I will always cherish till the day I die. So to my dad I say, Happy Fathers Day, and thanks for the ride.

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Bob Hansen
Resident Airtime Whore

Unfortunately, my Dad died several years ago. But he introduced me to amusement parks in general and coasters in particular. I think he would have been perfectly content to spend his life as an amusement park engineer. He knew gearing, centrifugal force, torque, tension, tolerances and all the other subtleties ride designers and maintenance people work with. I'm not an engineer, but I carry with me all those little details he handed down. Any time I visit a park I think of how much he'd enjoy being there. He loved Ferris Wheels and Carousels and Dark Rides and TiltaWhirls, but most of all, he loved the Jackrabbit, Racers and The Pippin, predecessor to the Thunderbolt. Fortunately, I have lots of old black and white photographs.

My Dad also introduced me to coasters when I was 10 when he had to plead with me all day to get me to ride Jack Rabbit at Kennywood. Now he still rides coasters a little but not as much as he used to but I will be spending the day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg with him. We are going down there for CoasterCon so it just turns out we're gonna be there on that day.

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Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here and drink whatever comes out."