What happened to the fun?

Let me clarify my position a bit...

I'll be the first to admit that I hate SFO and the way they run the place. That's unfortunate because I love the new rides (I'm somewhat indifferent about Batman, but that's another story). I can be critical of rides but there are only a few I outright could do without.

The type of responses that Simcoaster mentioned are more in line with those that I find odd. It's like every coaster must have at least 10 seconds of ejector air, be a certain height, not have OTSR's, follow a certain layout, etc. If all coasters had these qualities, wouldn't we get a little bored?

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

Get me to a park, with a coaster in it, and I'll show you 1 out of every 10 that thinks that something is wrong. We live in a negative society, that's the truth. People find it easy to criticize, it either a) takes the edge off a conversation, or b) allows themselves to feel above everyone or everything else.

On the other hand, I just wrote a slightly negative remark in my trip report to Kennywood...and you guys are saying "what could be negative about Kennywood?" Well, really, nothing, but when ride ops are sucking on cokes and not paying attention to capacity, we ALL write about it.
But over analyzing rides is another thing. With our human thrill factor raised to new levels this summer...people need more to increase the rush...we all have a problem. We need RCA, and bad. (Roller Coasters Anonymous) So instead, people complain about size and thrills. Jeff brought this point up with Wild Mouses. OH MY GOD, do I love these things. The largest drop is about 30 feet and the speed is 35mph, but they are the most fun you can have on a coaster. I laugh from the first turn to the brakes. Does that make me a freak because I like these rides?? People that tell me that I'm crazy because I like these rides have a serious economical problem. MF's aren't built daily in this business. More fun for your buck is in the character of the ride, not the total thrill. You're right...what happened to the fun?


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There's nothing like a woodie...

Part of it may be that we do all the research and know who is a good company. Some prefer arrows some prefer B&M and so forth. (No don't start a war with me about who is better) I agree with martling. We all hear and know that a ride is great, and for some reason we examine it to hard forget about fun and think it was bad. Sure I ride rides that I don't really like alot but I make them fun for others. (and myself). I am guilty some of the time when I ride, sometimes I have forgotten about fun and found things I disliked about a ride, even though there were good things in that ride. Some of the problem may be that we know to much about the rides and their faults. It is not a problem if as jeff said we still have fun when riding it.

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Closing Time: 5:30
CP Arrival Time: 5:50

Whose Line is it Anyway?

I go to an amusement park to have FUN! I enjoy a good coaster. I like a selection of flat rides. I like a classic well maintained carousel with a band organ. In other words the entire amusement park experience. Yes ,I've done my share of nit-picking, but I also realize that everybody and everything has their good and bad days. I grew up with Kennywood being MY park. I now live on the west coast. I'm lucky to get to KW once a year. When I do I savor every second! You should do that with every park visit!

I'm going to sit on the fence on this one.

Sure, when I'm at an amusement park, the last thing I think about is all the critical stuff. When I got home from my trip to PKI this summer, I sat down and tried to write a TR, but found I just couldn't do it. I was too busy enjoying myself to really critique the park. I have never been to any amusement park and not had fun.

On the other hand, I do think that some of the negative comments found on this forum are really interesting. When I go to a park and something strikes me as being really negative, then yeah, I will talk about it. If we all sat around saying good things in these forums all the time, it would be pretty boring because we would all agree. There's nothing wrong with a good argument, that is, as long as it remains an argument and doesn't become a personal affront.

So, while I agree that people can be too negative while at parks, I do think it is interesting to have such things pointed out, and there is no better place to do it than here, on these forums.

It's one thing to criticize a park for poor operations, lazy ride ops or even bad maintenance of a few of their coasters. It's quite another thing to say, "Well I'm going to bash everything about the park that I know others love because I'm pissed off". That's just stupid and unappreciative. That's why I take offense to every Six Flags being lumped together. Sure they do have a common thread that runs throught their parks, but unless you've been to all parks outside of Ohio and Kentucky, keep your little snide remarks to yourself. Be specific in your criticism, and don't lump everything together because your upset(CP rides, SF parks, under 18 ride ops, ect.) It makes for more intellegent and "fair" discussion. But of course most people don't see that until something *they* love is bashed.

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The new KING of coasters:
SFNE Superman
Unforgettable!!! *** This post was edited by Simcoaster on 9/5/2000. ***

When I go to a park I go in with an open mind about the place. A rides not open on time, oh well maybe they are working on it. We'll get on later. If I enter a park and lots of rides are down since there are a handfull of employees, that makes me upset. If they don't want to have a fully operational park why do we need to pay full price. I can see if the ride had an accident being down but not for no one to operate it. While I walk around a park I like to just look around at the suroundings buildings, trees,flowers,and people in general. If I look and see trash cans everywhere filling over with trash I think it gives the park a "we don't care" look. I can understand being full near popular rides but not overflowing all day long. If I see too many negative thing I start to get upset with the park.
--While riding a coaster the first few times I like to just ride it and not make decisions like this part should have this or this would be better if...After I ride it several time I start to pick it apart. In my opinion if I can ride it may times over and over without thinking of many changes I like it. As for # of trains. I personally think if a line gets over 45 minutes they should run two. I know Knoebels is notorious for one train on weekdays since they have the handstamp then. Lines never get ove 30 minutes long though. On weekends they run two since they have pay per ride and make their money then. The lines are double and triple then the weekdays too. I can also understand if there was an accident with 2 trains running. I just think if a park knows there are going to be 50 busses in the lot because of camp and company picnics they know what to expect.

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Parks Hit For 2000! PKD, BGW,DP,HP,PKI,HW,SFKK,SFA,GAdv,SFNE,LC,GE,QP,CDP,LP,KG,SFO,WG,GE,KW,IW,WL,

well in the age of ignorance and bickering, by analyzing everything bad about a roller coaster or park- people deny themselves the right to fun. Thus, they don't enjoy themselves.

"Sit down, shut up, and enjoy the ride"

Relax

I have to be honest with you all. There has only been one coaster (almost two) that I have ever been on that I really didnt like. When I think of all the other things that I could be doing with my time (work, laundry, etc.) riding even the (perceived) worst coaster would be more fun. In fact, of the seven parks I've been to this year (carowinds,ioa,usf,sfa,pki,sfgam,sfkk) only at SFGAm did I actually conciously think to rate the rides. It only happend at that park because 1) I grew up there and know the rides backwards and forwards and 2) I spent three days there, two of them back to back. I had intended to do something like that for IOA, but when I started riding, all that went out the window and my Freudian ID took over. If someone doesnt allow this to happen, then they might as well spend the 40 bucks on a POV video and analyze it that way. Then at least they could rewind to critiuqe evey little detail =]
later days,
jeremy

For a change of pace go read Barry Short's trip report in the Trip Report forum. He "gets it". Our love of rollercoasters and amusement parks is suppose to be FUN. Jeff has established this site so we can converse on the subject 24/7/365. (thanks Jeff).
While I appreciate "tips" on what to avoid or don't miss rides/attractions, is it really important to "rate" everything?
Remember, even a bad coaster ride is better than a day at work/school or wherever else you would be.
As has been posted, sit back, hold on to any loose articles cooasterbuzz is not responsible for their loss or damage and ENJOY the ride

That's another thing that irritates me (and the reason that I'm so quick to delete such threads)... coaster ratings. How people can rank coasters and say, "That coaster is my number one, and this one is my number two," is beyond me. I can generally name five or six coasters I've been on that are my favorites, but it's hard to choose one over another. An argument could be made for choosing a ride as your last ride in the face of Armageddon, but these lists of twenty rides ranked seems silly to me.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

I'm starting to agree with Jeff. I added a LOT of new (to me anyway) coasters this summer. And in some cases I CAN say "this is my favorite inverted" (see my latest trip report, I know I'm guilty of some of the things Jeff's talking about ;) ) I'd be REAL hard pressed to come up with a "top steelies" ranking for, say, Millennium Force, Alpengeist, Apollo's Chariot, Superman:The Ride of Steel, and Magnum, or a woodies ranking of Villain, Roar (east), Thunderbolt, Jackrabbit, CI Cyclone, Grizzly, Beast, Hurler, etc.

It used to be easy to say "this is my favorite", but there's so many good coasters out there...

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--Greg

http://www.pobox.com/~gregleg/

When it comes to ranking coasters, I can give a clear cut list of 10 personal must-ride-at-all-costs. I can also give a somewhat smaller list of avoidables. But the huge middle of my list is one big jumble- they are all coasters: what I live for to ride.

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I asked for a car, I got a computer. How's that for being born under a bad sign?

I think ranking coasters is a good thing for the most part, and I have no problem whatsoever clearly defining the best coasters I have ridden. I think it's great if parks view the discovery channel's top 10 show, and want a top 10 for their own park. I heard that after years of avoiding hypercoasters, Del Holland saw Steel Phantom on discovery's top 10, and thus Goliath was born. I think where people get in trouble is when they make the mistake of taking them too seriously. Thinking that if a coaster doesn't make their top 10, it's somehow a bad coaster. I can think of at least 25 coasters that I love. But my top 10 are the one's that completely blow me away. Besides, we rank *everything* in our society(restaurants, cars, movies ect.) . It may not always be fair, but it's human nature.

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The new KING of coasters:
SFNE Superman
Unforgettable!!!


*** This post was edited by Simcoaster on 9/8/2000. ***


*** This post was edited by Simcoaster on 9/8/2000. ***


*** This post was edited by Simcoaster on 9/8/2000. *** *** This post was edited by Simcoaster on 9/8/2000. ***

Thank You Jeff!! You took the words right out of my mouth.

I think the real question is what the definition of a Coaster Enthusiast really is.

Immediately following the announcement of the Goliath semi-clone, I noticed somebody said "Groan, another hypercoaster. These things dont excite me anymore." Now that is the ANTI-enthusiast.

There's people who LIKE coasters, and will certainly ride them if they have the chance, and then there's people that are kept sane only by frequent trips.

Also, and nobody TRY to deny this, most people that claim to be enthusiasts that ALSO happen to live withing 15 miles of Cedar Point, dont really enjoy them nearly as much as out of towners. (there are exeptions..)


Also, Jeff, wasnt it you that was complaining about the helicies and straight track on S:ROS? Another element to the ride will not always be your favorite... *** This post was edited by Millennium Force on 9/9/2000. ***

I LOVE my mother-in-law. So there.
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Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill.

I don't recall complaining about Superman, but I do recall stating that they do provide a few "dead spots." That certainly doesn't mean I wouldn't get on it today if I had the chance.

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Jeff
Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com

I grown up going to Cedar Point, and I am a CP diehard fan, but if I ever go to another park, I take in the great parts of the day and shrug off the little things that bug me. These are including smoking and not moving people through the queue. Meanwhile, I enjoy my day because there is NO other thing I'd rather be doing. I went to Kings Island, and I posted a detailed Trip Report that was mostly supportive of the experience, and I explained that the other park I'd only been to was Cedar Point. The first post said something along the lines of, "Wow, and Cedar Point fan that liked their day at Kings Island". I know these types of posts are exactly what you are talking about, Jeff, and they are rather sad. I mean why over-evaluate the thing you love the most to the point that it's no fun anymore. Enjoy amusement parks, they are a rarity that is unaffordable to lose. Assessing the parks is one thing, but once it turns all to negative comments, it's gone to far. And this is happening now, I'm going to hate to see what the posts will look like in mid-January.