Favorite roller coasters you've ever ridden

[Ava]

I'm making a trip to an amusement park later this week so I've got roller coasters on the brain. Here are some of my favorite rides I've ridden - what are some of yours?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. There's nothing like being a teenager and riding coasters...

even if they're crappy ones at county fairs.

That said, I've always gotten a kick out of Space Mountain and the Matterhorn, even though they're fairly dated now.

[Ava]

2. i haven't been to disney world since i was 7 years old

and at that time I was too wimpy to ride anything that was thrilling at all, lol :rofl:

now i love roller coasters!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

3. You're the perfect age.

Don't get me wrong, you'll enjoy coasters you're entire life. And I don't mean to sound cheesy or corny or patronizing or sycophantic. But when you're a teen you're old enough to go on the rides, and young enough to be a completely free spirit in enjoying them, and you haven't got to worry about/ bugged by your own kids at the amusement park, or worry about the money, and you've got that built in feeling of invincibility, etc. And also, I think, there's something about noticing the members of the opposite sex when you're a teen at an amusement park/county fair- all that adrenaline and endorphins and hormones, it's like sex without the consequences, sort of. At least those are among my favorite adolescent memories.

[TommyO]

30. At 42 years old

I still get those free-spirited moments anytime I'm on a coaster!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

31. This is from Bornagainhooligan's Age-Based...

Amusement Park Amusement Theory. Which I personally developed last summer on the shuttle bus ride back to my hotel at Disneyland. Here's people who enjoy amusement parks the most, in descending order:

Teens
Childless adults/empty nesters
Adults with kids old enough to venture off by themselves
Small kids*
Adults with small kids

*It may seem counter-intuitive that small kids are near the bottom, you'd think they'd be at the top. Nope. Small kids are too small to go on the big rides, small enough to get scared by the witch in the Snow White ride, their feet hurt, they get cranky because they don't get naps, they want every toy in the gift shop, and so on. I read somewhere that somebody did an opinion poll, and found that among small children their favorite Disneyland experience was the pool back at the hotel.

[TommyO]

34. Having been to many parks, I think you're right on the money.

I have seen the cranky kids and their even crankier adult handlers having a miserable time at an amusement park. It seems to be more of a problem at parks where you pay one price to get in and then have to make it worth the trip by hitting every single ride, show, and attraction. Of course, the more expensive the single-day ticket, the higher the pressure to have a good time; "pressure" and "good time" are frequently incompatible.

For my money, my favorite parks are the traditional parks that have no parking fees, no admission fees, and let you pay per ride (or get an all-day pass). Next up are parks where I have a season pass. I go to Dorney Park frequently (it's less than 20 minutes from my house), and that season pass is good at Cedar Point, Kings Island, Kings Dominion, Geauga Lake, and more that I haven't listed. Since I get to OH several times a year, the season pass makes those parks accessible without the pressure to make my $40/day admission worth it.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

37. I like Disneyland personally.

But you got to know how to do it- in two days, and take a nice break back at the hotel in the middle of the day.

And parents with young kids have to understand that a trip to Disneyland has got to be about their enjoyment more than the kids' enjoyment, paradoxically.

[Rabrrrrrr]

16. The last time I was at Disney World ('72), Space Mountain was under construction

:grr:

And when I made it to Disney Land (in '96), the Space Mountain there was closed for repairs.

:grr:

[Bzzzz]

4. The Beast...

Kings Island

[TZ]

5. Have you ridden Son of Beast?

That's pretty awesome too, but I love the Beast...

[swag]

20. The Beast was a fave of mine, too.

[BrotherBuzz]

6. The Big Dipper

It, and Playland at the Beach are gone, and have been replaced by condominiums. Times have been better!

[Submariner]

8. Revere Beach and Nantasket Beach just north and south of Boston

had Playlands like your photo that I enjoyed as a kid. And yes, both areas tore it all down for condos.

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. I remember the spooky ride at Playland at the Beach

Scared the piss outa me. I was 3. :scared:

[Sanity Claws]

12. Is that Rockaway Playland?

[BrotherBuzz]

21. Whitney's Playland at the Beach - San Francisco

The Big Dippers was torn down in 1957, the park closed in 1972.

From 1954 until 1958, George Whitney Jr. went to Anaheim and worked for Walt Disney on the development of Disneyland. He was officially "Disneyland Employee #7" and served as the only person on Walt's development team with practical experience in operating amusement parks.

[TOhioLiberal]

7. Ava,

you need to go here: http://www.cedarpoint.com 17 rollercoasters. :woohoo:

[Nikia]

14. I liked most of the Cedar Point Coasters

Which I road for the first time when I was 6 years old, being tall for my age. At that time, the biggest coaster there was the Gemini.

[TOhioLiberal]

18. There's a new one this year...

...the Maverick. Looks scary. :scared:

[Oeditpus Rex]

9. I've ridden only one

The Giant Dipper at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

It's tame by today's standards — longest drop is 65 feet, top speed is 55 mph — but it's 83 years old and a national historic landmark, and people love it.





You can take a virtual (QuickTime) ride on it here.

[kwassa]

36. My story about this coaster .....

On a trip down the coast from SF to Monterrey, we are discussing coasters that we loved. This friend and I had driven by Magic Mountain on the way up from Los Angeles on this trip, and are in a convoy with other friend in cars.

As we are coming into Santa Cruz, we needed to find a bathroom. My friend said "There are always bathrooms down by the pier." We drive down, and see this amusement park along the beach. A car pulls out, and gives us a space right in front of the bathroom at this park, which is open air and has no fence around it. We use the bathroom, walk out, and stare at the coaster.

We looked at each other, went to the ticket booth, bought a ticket, jumped on the coaster, took the ride, got off and climbed back into our car, which was only 30 feet away in it's space, and continued on our journey south. We couldn't stop laughing about it. Met up with our friends in Monterrey.

I think we visualized this ride and made it happen.

[dropkickpa]

11. Thunderbolt at Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh

Love that thing, wooden coaster that makes FANTASTIC use of the tortured geography, with dips going down into a ravine IMMEDIATELY out of the station.

I have a thing about wooden coasters, there's just something about them.

[pokerfan]

19. Then you would love Silverwood

I have a thing about wooden coasters, there's just something about them.

The best park in the PNW is in Idaho.
http://www.silverwoodthemepark.com/

Two big woodies and the original Corkscrew from Knott's Berry Farm. A group of us coaster fans on rec.roller-coaster rented the woodies for three hours after park closing a couple of years ago. From 10pm until 1am we had the coasters to ourselves. It was insane. Sometimes we wouldn't even stop returning to the station. As there were more seats than butts, unless anyone wanted the change seats. we'd just give the ride-op a thumbs-up and he'd send us around again. I stopped counting after fifty.

I took this pic of the coasters from the top of the Ferris wheel:



The ride that kind looks like a Ferris wheel is actually a Chance Skydiver.

There's also a brand new drop tower and a nice assortment of flats including a Super Round-Up. Some nice water rides: river rafting ride, log flume and bumper boats. And oh yeah, there's also an entire water park adjacent.

[dropkickpa]

24. OMG, that would be so fun!!

I'm jealous! I don't know what it is, I just love wooden coasters. We have the Racer and JackRabbit also at Kennywood, but the Thunderbolt is my favorite.

[pokerfan]

26. For me it's the freedom

I hate coasters where you have to get strapped in like some kind of astronaut. I really dislike "over the shoulder restraints" but all rides with inversions have them for obvious reasons. I just don't find inversions all that interesting.

For me it's all about the "air time," the drops and the speed. Goliath is my favorite SFMM coaster. Though it's made of steel, it has a huge first drop and a top speed of 70mph or so and just a lap bar to hold you in. Think of it as a "steel woodie." It's fun to try to keep your hands level and up as you go into the high-gee helix towards the end.

A fun thing to do on inversions is instead of just looking straight ahead or at the track, look to the side. That way you get the full effect of the world turning around. But, like I said, inversions just don't interest me that much.

Then there are drop towers. Probably my favorite thrill ride of them all.

And short of going into space, the ultimate thrill ride:
http://www.nogravitylasvegas.com/
They just need to drop the price a little, like by a factor of ten.

[TommyO]

35. Not all looping coasters have shoulder harnesses

Many of the Schwarzkopf loopers are still running with lap bars only. Ava's last picture shows Mindbender which is still blissfully shoulder harness free.

[pokerfan]

42. That's good to know, I will keep an eye out

Schwarzkopf's Revolution at SFMM was the first looping coaster and it was designed without the need of a shoulder harness as one can see from watching National Lampoon's Vacation. But it has the dreaded horse collar now. I believe that someone suffered a nexk or back injury due to being bent forward when entering the loop. The collar prevents that I guess,

But like I said, inversions aren't that big a deal for me. I rode Riddler's Revenge at SFMM (B&M Standup). Both times I was stuck with an inside seat and I couldn't even see what was happening. Without any visuals, you might as well be riding some flat ride. Plus you are straddling a bicycle seat and the collar buckles to the seat. I'd rather ride Goliath.

Another problem with all the restraints is the added time it takes to load and offload riders. Give me a classic wooden coaster with ratcheting lap bars and a ride op that lets me ride at one or two clicks.



(I was wrong about Goliath's specs. 255 foot first drop, 85 mph.)

Very useful website for coaster geeks:
http://www.rcdb.com/id615.htm

[TommyO]

44. I'm not a big fan of standups to begin with

I haven't ridden Goliath at SFMM yet, but absolutely love Millennium Force at Cedar Point, 310ft of steel coaster heaven!

http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/rides/coasters/millennium_force/index.cfm

[alphafemale]

28. That is a fun coaster.

That first dip as it exits the station is not apparent from outside the ride.

Kennywood used to be called itself "Roller Coaster Capitol of the World" at one time, and I seen the Thunderbolt listed in many Top 10 coaster lists.

[SPKrazy]

13. Well Not My Favorite

but my own emotions have been quite a ride for me lately.


definitely like this one though:

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. Living in America the last 6 years

I've been on a lot of wooden and metal rollercoasters at amusement parks, but nothing matches the constant near-death experiences and (Constitutional) whiplashes of living in Shrub's America the last 6 years, for pure adrenaline and fear.

[DemoTex]

17. Mirage III

[Rhythm]

22. Good ol' "Thunder Road" at Carowinds in NC...

It's an old wooden coaster, and that thing's been there since i was a little kid.
It used to scare the bejeezis out of me, but even now, if i was to make a trip down there, i would have to ride it first.

[underseasurveyor]

23. X is my all time favorite (so far) Six Flags in So Cal

The seats spin 360 degrees. I've ridden many a coaster but none feel like or compare to X, IMHO.




Deja Vu is a kick in the ass too :-)

[Shell Beau]

25. Just a few

Great American Scream Machine



The Flight of Fear at King's Dominion (in the dark rollercoaster)



The Volcano also at King's Dominion


The Anaconda


A quick but fun ride, the Hypersonic


And the ricochet, which looked like a kiddie ride, but was so much fun. It made you feel like you were going to fly right off the track.

And this which used to be called the Viper in Atlanta Six Flags (called Greased Lightning now)

[TZ]

27. Love the Volcano coaster...

quite a blast, literally!

[Lance_Boyle]

33. Ditto the Volcano

And man, was I surprised by the Flight of Fear. We had no map, and figured it was one of those 3D kind of "sit and watch the screen" rides. Waited in line maybe 20 mins, with no idea what it was. It was only when we got to the last "room" in the damned line that we realized it was a coaster. And *damn* what a coaster! Kings Dominion has grown up since I was a kid. And I still can't get enough of that drop-zone thing. Half my brain is still lingering at 350' over Doswell, VA...

[Shell Beau]

43. I knew it was a coaster but I was a little nervous not knowing what

it was going to do! It was a blast! I did enjoy myself at King's Dominion!

[TommyO]

29. Hmm, all of yours are from Six Flags over Georgia!

Mindbender, the last one you've shown, is still one of my favorite steel coasters, even though it's not the biggest, fastest or loopiest rides out there.

One of my favorite wooden coasters is at Knoebels, a traditional amusement park in Elysburg, PA

Here is Phoenix coming down the first drop:

[NewWaveChick1981]

32. I've always loved roller coasters!

:hi: :bounce: :woohoo: I've ridden a lot of them, but my favorite of all time was the Shock Wave at Six Flags over Texas. As far as I know, the Shock Wave isn't there any more (I was there in 1979), but it was big fun. :D

[TommyO]

38. Shockwave is still there, and still kicking butt!

It was opened in 1978, and celebrates it's 30th birthday next year.

http://www.rcdb.com/ig28.htm?picture=1

There's a lot of good information at RCDB.

[NewWaveChick1981]

40. OOOOH! Thank you!

:hi: :bounce: :woohoo: That's a great rollercoaster! I'm gonna check out that info site right now!

[SKKY]

39. I'm nostalgic, so I vote for "The Beast" at King's Island...

[Rambis]

41. Wooden one Arnold's park Iowa

It used to creak in the wind. I couldn't find a pic that I could use without permission.