whats your favorite ride experience?

The guy who made the burgers that year was pretty awesome, too.

My first trip to Disney when my son was old enough to realize what it was all about was loaded with great experiences. Of note...the first ride on the monorail (since I remembered being as awed as he was from my youth in California).

The first ride on the Jungle Cruise when I told my son I used to be a Jungle Cruise Skipper. And the first ride on the train.

For a more individual experience my first ride on Raptor on opening day when I was in the front row of the first "public" train.

Riding Splash Mountain in shirt and tie during testing.

Any of the numerous times I rode the Big Dipper by myself.

birdhombre said:
Edit: By "bird is the word" did you mean me, or the papier-mache bird head??

Both - I rarely miss a double-sided opportunity...or a double entendre. Really good things often come in pairs...

Raven-Phile said:
The guy who made the burgers that year was pretty awesome, too.

Yes he was!

Mold and mildew aside, I don't recall a better after-party since the SRMs...

I wish there was another opportunity to snag a cabin or something like that this year. The moldy smell sucked, and the old-ness of everything was kind of gross, but it was still a great time.

Some of my favorite experiences:

1.) Nighttime, front-seat rollback on Dragster during Halloweekends. It was simply magical for a few reasons (not just ride related!).

2.) Ride on Great Bear one right at Hershey. It was deathly-hot all day and at twilight I hopped on front seat. Air was cooling down a little bit, but as soon as the train went over the water areas it literally felt 5-10* cooler. The change from warm to cool and back again throughout the ride was a really cool sensation though. Plus being at night and all that, was awesome.

3.) Riding the Hulk at IOA after happy hour at Margaritaville... I never had such a crazy ride. It totally made for one trippy experience. Hulk messes me up all the time especially during the afternoon heat, and having a very strong buzz going on mellowed that out quite a bit. Although I did completely black out for the entire loop I believe, either way, I can't wait to do it again!

4.) The 'classic' Raging Wolf Bob's rides at SFWoA... Before the G-Trains and retracking and all that. I loved that ride in it's original form... Riding it during Fright Fest ( I miss that event so much :( ) when the whole ride was completely fogged up. Sigh.

After reading Ensign's awesome post I truly regret posting my first sarcastic post on this topic. I must have reread his post at least 4 times, coming each time with the same conclusion that I have a very special ride experience that I would like to share with you all. Some of you know that I have and always will bhe battling my own demons. My special ride experience happened just before all that. This will probably be lengthy, and I apologize in advance.

October 2004, my parents and I decided to bring my son for a last trip of the season to CP for Halloweekends. I can't seem to remember, but I think it was the last weekeend CP was open. My 7yr. old son loved going to CP as much as possible, but had never been there for Halloweekends. Since, it was a spur of the moment trip we could only go on Saturday and the park was slammed. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we were able to do everything that we wanted.

My son wanted to ride MF at night, so we decided to wait in 2 hour line almost right at closing time. My mom and dad didn't want to wait, but my son talked them into it. It was a cold, but awesome ride that I will never forget. As we went through the ride photo booth my mom told me to go look at the picture, which I did. The photo had all four of us perfectly in one frame. I bought two photos. Little did I know at the time, but that would be the last photo all four of us would be in again.

My son was killed while riding with my wife at the time, after being t-boned by a drunk driver. My wife was my high-school sweetheart and she blamed me for my son's death because I worked over that day and couldn't pick him up on time. She constantly brought up the fact that he would still be alive if i hadn't worked over that day. It got to be that I beleived her. That's when I first turned to the drink to soothe my aching heart. Our marriage basically ended the day our son died, we were divorced 2 months after our son died.

Shortly after we got divorced my mom was diagnosed with stage 3 clear-cell lymphoma cancer. That just caused me to drink even more. While m y mom was going through chemo and radiation, she also helped me through my first addiction. I went to re-hab and all that, but she was the one that got me through it. My mom died in December of 2006 from the cancer that she so bravely fought for almost two years. She made me promise 2 days before she died that I wouldn't get messed up on drinking again. Drinking didnt do me in the next time, drugs did.

I went through another re-hab, this time without my mom. I made it through rehab, and got married again. This marriage lasted about 8 months. My dad had two heart attacks in the span of 3 months which made me go back to drinking again. This time I met my current wife in re-hab, who had some of the same demons that I battled. She had lost custody of both of her kids, due to she liked Vodka just a little bit too much. We both kinda leaned on each other, and needed each other. I am proud to say that we have both been clean for almost 4 years now. And, we have joint custody of her bkids now.I do have the occasional drink every now and then, but seem to know my limits now, or I have gotten over the need to drown myself in sorrow.

I'm so sorry that this has been so long, but it took Ensign's post to make me look at that picture sitting on my nightstand to make me understand just how special that moment was that I will never have again. God, posting this was to damn hard!!!

Wow... no words. Thanks for sharing.

My top ten in chronological order:

1. I don't technically remember it but in 1986 1 week before my 3rd birthday I rode my first ride: the Yankee Cannonball which started the madness. I was unable to ride that ride the following year because a height limit had been enacted.

2. Spaceship Earth 1989: My first trip to Disney World was a last second affair my parents set up when my grandfather was diagnosed with lung cancer. He was unable to ride BTMRR with me due to just receiving chemo. With so long of a ride we had some great conversations and it was really special to have that time alone with him. I will forever associate that ride with him.

3. Lochness Monster 1990: This ride was my first looping coaster but it is not my first ride from that trip, but the last which is why it makes this list. My mom and I rode in row 1, at midnight, on the last train of the night. It was the height of coolness for a 7 year old.

4. Iron Wolf 1993: The first and only time I have ever been afraid going up a lift hill on a roller coaster. The ride was not that impressive but I will always remember the only time a ride scared me.

5. Alpengeist 1999: Front Row, early morning with my dad, sister and brother in the row with me. Oh, and for some reason the MCBR was off, crazy.

6. The Beast 2000: 3 night rides in the rain, with no brakes. These rides are why I dont think any ride will be able to dethrone the Beast from its #1 spot.

7. Millennium Force 2000: Ride #1, the incredible speed that ride has just made for an amazing first ride.

8. Magnum XL 200 2007: Coastermania. I rode, without switching seats out of my favorite row (last car, first row) 15 times in a row, more then half of them without the trims on. I remember driving home that night with my thighs were burning, and the following day I couldnt walk. Those rides are probably my favorite roller coaster memory.

9. Dumbo the Flying Elephant 2007: Chip, Dale, Goofy, my Mom, Dad, brother, and me with a few other strangers at 3am in the morning. As we were walking out the "Goodnight Kiss" started as we walked under the castle.

10. Voyage 2009: Fall Affair in the pouring rain, in the front row with lightning starting to flash all around.

Corkscrew Follies, your story is a very moving one. Thank you for doing us the honor of sharing it with us.

Ensign, you did me the favor of sharing your story. I on the other hand struggled mightily about posting mine. Granted, I'm not a member here or on PB, but I have ben a member of ACE in the past. I have been a member of TPR for 7 years now, even been on multiple trips with that group of people, and my conclusion is that as a whole the coaster community is a great and diverse community that I'm proud to be a member of.

Thanks, to everyone who has read my story.

When I was 10, we took our yearly trip to Kings Island on General Electric day. My parents were friends with a couple who worked at GE, and tickets were very cheap. This also made the park incredibly crowded, and for years, I never went to KI on a non-crowded day.

The Vortex was new that year, and because of the crowd, my dad and I had to choose between riding that or the Beast; neither of us had been on either before, and my biggest coaster at that point was the Racer.

We chose the Beast, and I think that choice and the resulting ride really changed the way I thought about these machines.

To this day, while I recognize the flaws and understand the criticism some have of the Beast, it has never budged from my top slot. I totally acknowledge that sentimentality plays heavily into it, but as with the first song you hear of your favorite band, some things never leave you.

Here's a couple of favorite ride experiences that weren't associated with a Coaster Club Event. The first occured in July of 1991 when I was flying to Los Angeles, Ca. The route had me flying from Detroit to Dallas, then Dallas to San Diego, and finally San Diego to Los Angeles. When I arrived in San Diego I saw I had a 3 1/2 hour Layover between flights and it was about 11:00 AM. So I took a Shuttle to Mission Beach, Rode the Giant Dipper, had lunch then returned to the airport and flew to Los Angeles. Arriving in Los Angeles, I picked up my Rental Car and BEELINED to Disneyland where I spent the remainder of the day. I've done Doubleheaders before and since, but this is the only case where I FLEW between parks!

In August of 2003 I was flying to Houston (To Visit Astroworld) from Florida and I had to change planes in Charlotte. Arriving there I looked up at the departures monitor and saw my flight to Houston would not take off for 5 1/2 Hours! What should I do? How about a "Mastercard Moment":

Supper - $15.00

Round Trip Cab Fare - $30,00

Admission to Carowinds: - $42.00

Riding Five Roller Coasters Between Flights:

P-R-I-C-E-L-E-S-S!!!

Break Trims said:

but as with the first song you hear of your favorite band, some things never leave you.

First Ramones song I heard, I thought it was God-awful and that they were the worst band I'd ever seen/heard. But as you say, it never left me.

Regulus, that's really cool!

As a young'un, and deathly afraid of roller coasters I vividly remember riding the Golden Nugget with my Grandfather on Hunt's Pier. He was an avid photographer, and I have POV film of this somewehre.. he liked to tape roller coaster rides.

Finally getting my daughter to ride the Flitzer in OCNJ which got her over the hurdle of riding a coaster in the first place, she has since ridden everything at Hershey Dorney ,Wildwood, and SFGA.

My first trip to Knoebels, my son was 4, tall enough to go on anything and unafraid.... first ride we all went on was Twister, and I had him in a headlock to keep his head from violently snapping around LOL.

Last time we were at Hershey previewing the park the night before, we made it on the last ride out on Storm Runner with no idea what to expect... hilarity ensued, we couldnt stop laughing.

It's also become a tradition to grab a ride in the rear seat of Phoenix, watching everyone in front of you sequentially pop out of their seat is a good for some lulz...

Edit.. forgot the best one.... not informing my wife about the backwards portion of Expedition Everest, when she hates going backwards... I pled ignorance, but she wasn't buying it.

So glad you brought this topic back up. One of my favorites. I already posted, and I have many more favorites, but one particular incident keeps popping up into my head tonight/this morning:

My good friend Ivory has recently returned to riding roller coasters after years of not having been on one (didn't live near a good park). After I had taken her to Dorney and started her on this great path of discovery, I upped the ante and took her to Great Adventure. We saved El Toro for last of the coasters because I didn't want her to be underwhelmed by all the other rides (which happened to me when I rode Toro first). Ivory and I rode Superman, Batman, Medusa (Bizarro), and then Nitro (yes, we bounced around the park quite a bit). Not a great deal of Nitro is really visible from the front of the ride, and although Iv was a little concerned about the height of the lift hill, she still got in line and got on the ride.

So we start up the lift hill, and for all those B&M lovers, you KNOW how torturously slow a B&M hypercoaster lift goes to the top. Ivory is starting to get a little nervous. She's saying, "Man, we are really high off the ground. Jeez, are we gonna be at the top soon? This is too high. I don't think I like you too much, Jax. We're in the clouds, aren't we? We're gonna high five Jesus soon." By the end of the lift hill, she was at the point of "Jax, we gonna die. Imma die, but imma kill you first. We are going. To. Die." Then we went over the side and speeding through the course, and she's just screaming these long, operatic, supersonic screeches while gripping the clamshell like her life depended on it. I was laughing so hard I couldn't scream with her, and by the time we got to the brakes at the end (airtime hills punctuated with her threatening my well-being and me cackling harder and harder), I had tears pouring down my face and my stomach hurt and I could not stop laughing.

Best part? After I recovered, two seats in the very front opened up, no one wanted them, and the ops let us hop in for a second ride front and center. There was more laughter, there was more screaming, and we definitely bought that picture!

Favorite ride experience?

Coasting for Kids at Kings Island a few years back. I went alone and didn't know anyone there. Racer was the coaster that was being marathoned. A few rides in, a whole family of about seven people came up the ramp to ride. A teenager wanted to ride in the furthest back seat, and I was riding single near the back, so he hopped in.

Racer was running really well. We rode that crazy coaster in many many different seats over and over. He was so fun to ride with. He acted so goofy during the ride. Sitting in the station between rides, I asked the kid to tell me more about him. I was curious about his large family attending the event.

He told me that he and his family are always invited to Give Kids the World events because he had cancer when he was very young, and when he was sick his family visited the Give Kid's the World Village in Orlando. In conversation, he told me that he is not sick anymore, and that the trip to Orlando helped him to recover.

I hung out with him and his awesome family all day. We spent less time at Racers then we should have, and rode everything else all day. He is a really cool kid who is going to go far in life. We are still in contact through Facebook.

I guess that was my favorite park experience, and not just ride experience.

@Bunky... that was my reaction riding Steel Force for the first time.. I'm trying to act cool with the kids, but all that is going through my mind is "Damn it's taking a long time to get to the top" I dont like heights but once the ride is going I am good, the lift hill is like torture though.

Contrast that with Skyrush and Fahrenheit, you're not up there long enough to even notice how high it is LOL.

Hah! And on Steel Force, depending on what seat you sit in, you can really feel the train "wobbling" back and forth while you go up, which doesn't help the situation either. Steel Force was my very first 200 footer, and I made my best friend ride it first before I would get on it. *chuckle*

My favorite ride experience actually happened while off a roller coaster. Because of its high g's, I had a brief black-out on the Intimidtaor 305 at Kings Dominion (this was back in 2011), and told somebody - ka staff at KD - in the form of a joke. I came back about an hour later to ride it, and it was closed down. I walked away pretty sure it was me who caused it. It's my "favorite" experience because now I guess I can laugh about it.