Where did the Thrill go???

Hahaha very nice Dave.

Ha ha.

I find that "anticipointment" can set in sometimes. As others have suggested you need to slow down and enjoy the experience. When my wife and I go to Cedar Point these days (typically for Halloween) we take it slow, enjoy the park, people watch. I also live vicariously through first timers, it's fun watching people from far away see TTD for the first time or get nervous before riding Millennium Force.

I have found that credit whoring and lap counting is about the worst thing I can do for my overall enjoyment.

My sig, while funy, turns out to be exactly wrong for me.

hmm... Check your belt notches... Gaining weight can also add to your CI...

^^ I agree to some extent. There are some relatively local parks in my area which I have not been to. I don't have any desire to go to a park which has one or two mediocre coasters, just to ride it once or twice and leave, just so I can say I have rode it. I would rather go to a park I can spend an entire day at, even if I have been there before. I don't keep track of how many times I have rode any coaster in my lifetime, but on each individual trip I do keep track while I am there.

The only things that "thrill" me to the point where I am having heart palpitations is The Drop Zone and the Knoebels flyers, and of course the first or second rides of Dragster in a day. It's not even a fear, more like a "Heck YESSSSS!!!" Everything else that I like is just pure fun!

The Knoebels flyers start *scaring* me whenever they take on a life of their own, especially when it's very windy! :) There have been a few times where I have exited the ride shaking and not breathing well. :) There was one year during PPP where it was raining and VERY windy. Those were the best damn (if not the scariest) flyer rides EVER! :)

The Drop Zone's creepy "clanking" noises right before it drops still freaks me out till this day, but I love it! :)

-Tina

I don't get the thrill of coasters and rides like I use either. What I've found that seems to be the most enjoyable is airtime and forceful rides. Then again after a couple rerides I can take a nap on about any of them. In fact I've found myself greying out on some coasters because my heart rate is too low for the G-forces.
Probable the most enjoyable times I've had are at coaster events when everyone is into it including the ride ops. Unfortunately I haven't been to any like those in years. The 2002 SRM event was probably the ultimate.
Now that drop rides don't get heart pounding anymore I've found Tower of Terror to be my favorite drop ride. With the theming and the multiple programs it keeps you a little off guard. So I guess I've just tried to find other things to excite me because the fright of the unknown on the rides isn't their anymore.

RideMan said:
The real point is this: As the ride action becomes more natural to you, it isn't going to scare you, and you're not going to get that same feeling that you used to get. The question, then, if the ride can't *scare* you anymore, can it still *excite* you? For the best rides out there, the answer is "yes".
--Dave Althoff, Jr.

No ride on any coaster is as great as the 1st ride on a coaster! I remember waiting in line to ride Raptor for the 1st time in '97 I was terrified! I dont think I opened my eyes at all during the whole ride. As time has gone on (and 2068 rides later) certainly I'm not scard anymore but yes, I still get very excited! :)
I know with Raptor to make the 1st ride of the day in the front-it will be the only ride of the day that will tickle my tummy. If I am marathoning, the good thing about Raptor is Gs change and the whole ride can change depending on where you sit, or what time of the day you ride.

As others have mentioned here for me it isnt the coaster count, I am only a count whore on Raptor (and ok Diamondback 104 so far ;)) for me it is just CP. I stopped going there for the rides a long time ago. As a matter of fact last Thursday because Raptor kicked my hubby's butt during am ERT we didnt ride anything else the rest of the day except for the train. But that was fine for me! I love watching other people have fun and just love being at the Point.

I get thrills showing my horses whether it is a barrel race on my young Paint or a hunt course of 18 fences with my Pinto. Waiting to enter the arena my heart is thumping and I am ready to go! Sort of the same feeling you get riding that coaster for the very 1st time! :)

Jo
Lifetime Raptor flights: 2069 :)

Everyone has good points, but mine seems to have been overlooked. I state again that once I hit 225 lbs I started to lose interest because the thrills weren't there, airtime didn't have much impact anymore (until I rode Nitro and Thunderhead, neither of which I think I'd ever tire of). While this could coincide with the "been there, done that" syndrome, I really don't think so since I might get to an amusement park once each summer (twice if I'm lucky). I too, like many others on this forum, still enjoy rollercoasters and get a good deal of entertainment living vicariously through others like when I go with my extended family and the nephews start asking how scary things are. I even like to re-watch the shows on TV when they come around (have they produced anything new in the last few years?). I still await the day when I can ride a coaster and get a huge "thrill" like I used to. Until then, I'll simply have fun on them...

So, your point is that if you are over 225 lbs, rides aren't as thrilling, except for Nitro and Thunderhead?

Interesting. What I remember is that I had a hard time *enjoying* most rides until the year I exceeded 160 pounds.

At lower weights, I just got thrown around too much to enjoy it;once I got a little bigger I understood what everybody was so excited about...!

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

LuvRaptor it's funny that you said (No ride on any coaster is as great as the 1st ride on a coaster) because quite a few coasters I've ridden were a lot better later on. Either something changed on the ride (lapbar change on Outer limits FoF). Or it ran slow that day (usually woodies). Some coasters came to life at night or during ERT. Shoot, Nitro was disapointing the first time I rode it because I let someone else's opinion of it affect what I thought about it.
Now there definitely are some coasters that also knocked my socks off on my first ride (Millennium Force, Hypersonic, Voyage, El Toro, Riddler's revenge, Goliath sfog, Superman RoS sfne).
It seems like only the real good coasters were the best first time out and the medioric ones needed something more which made them better later on.

Sounds like a blues song... oh, wait.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qtm66Z3lebc

I agree. Although it took me 50x on Raging Bull to discover the thrill wasnt the same, even in the back row. Of course I also went on MF too. I've only been on TTD 34x or so. Now the only thing I get worked up about is the launch. MY wife and I both agree it's not the same now. I like Maverick more then TTD or MF. On MF, after the first drop, its boring now. Hell Magnum is better then TTD or MF now. We missed our yearly 2 trips to the point and dont even feel sad about it. Two years ago however, We would've been bummed out. But still hoping to make it to michigan's adventure somtime in september ( my wife has never been on it).

For me I have to ride a coaster 3 or 4 times before I even "get" it. After my first ride on El Toro, I didn't even really understand what had happened. After my second, I kind of figured it out and decided I liked it. After the third, (and sadly last of the day) I really got the ride and all its subtle (or not so subtle) goodness.

I think that part of the problem is that we are in such a hurry to run from coaster to coaster, that we miss everything else a park has to offer.

Parks have shows and so many other things to do, but we are sometimes so hell bent on just hitting the coasters, that we miss out on a lot.

It seems that latley, I have had more fun at parks that only have a few coasters. That gives me more time to enjoy the rest of what the park has to offer. I still love the coasters, but I have found that after I have gotton almost 300 coasters under my belt, a lot of them seem very much alike.

I had more fun at busch gardens last month, then I have had at cedarpoint in years.

I can relate to the coaster only mentality. Last Sunday we were at Stricker's Grove. They only have 2 coasters and while fun, neither got my heart thumping. On the other hand this was one of the best park days we have had this year. Reason, we were there with a dozen other coaster nuts from KI. Meeting people that you only know though a bulletin board was a real kick. I barely got any rides in with my kids because they were always off with the others from this group.

Bartman2 said:
LuvRaptor it's funny that you said (No ride on any coaster is as great as the 1st ride on a coaster) because quite a few coasters I've ridden were a lot better later on. Either something changed on the ride (lapbar change on Outer limits FoF). Or it ran slow that day (usually woodies). Some coasters came to life at night or during ERT.

I'll go with "almost all steel coasters perform at or near their best on the first ride, and typically will be somewhat better at night." Wooden coasters are kinda a crap-shoot - my first rides on B-Dash were, well, disappointing. Subsequent visits, thankfully, have proven infinitely more fruitful... :)

ERT, and esp. nighttime ERT, can also provide some amazing rides...as if The Voyage wasn't amazing enough during the day at HWN this year... ;) :) :)

edited for P.S. - Hey Bart, give me a holler sometime...we might need another Carowinds trip!

If you guys ever want to hit up a well-rounded park, coome up my way an we can hit Canobie.

Hop, I notice when I look up Canobie here on CB there is not a trip report or photo. If you want people to know about your home park you have to show us how great it is.