CoasterMania 2018

I thought a few years back when it became a paid event I saw 1200...not sure if that is still accurate

I was guessing maybe a thousand or so from a couple years ago but wasnt really sure. Didnt get to attend last year due to a wedding (very poor planning on their part I would say). .

Don't remember what year but back when lunch was at the catered area between Raptor and Blue Streak,they announced 2200.

I never got to CoasterMania! before it was a paid event, but I heard it got too big for its own good. The last couple years have been around 1200 tickets.

^Before it was a paid event, it was insane. I'd guess around 2500 people, about 1500 too many imo. The ERT was bad, long lines for everything, and, although I never witnessed it, I heard they ran out of food for the last lunch group a few years in a row. What I did witness though, on multiple occasions, was people complaining about the freebies. I once saw a guy screaming at a worker simply because they didn't have the correct size pullover for him.

I don't know why it was ever a free event. Just about all enthusiast events cost money.

Not back in the day when Coastermania started.

And it was awesome. I remember one of those early years when the evening ERT was on the hot new ride, Magnum XL200. We were disheartened to see a long line outside, snaking all the way through the tunnel. But when the ride opened to us those people amounted to maybe a two or three-train wait all night. And that was if you wanted one end or another. The middle was pretty empty.

I seem to recall that Coastermania was originally thought up Jack Falfas. He started something similar at Knotts Berry Farm when he took over West Coast Operations of CF. It was called the Winter Coaster Solace, and it became THE off season event in Southern CA. Alas it is no more.

Coastermania was pretty good in 2017. I started the day off at 6:00 and it went until 12:30, I got back to my hotel room at Sandcastle Suites at 1:00 A.M.

I was thoroughly exhausted.

19 hours at Cedar Point, went back to the hotel room 3 times, twice to change when I went to Cedar Point Shores.

We did a lot of walking that day, great exercise.

Went to my first Coastermania the year Mantis opened. It was free and opened to ACE members and season passholders. I'm guessing attendance was about 1000 people. IMO being an enthusiast was better in the pre-internet days.

^I'm sure that was the case. And honestly I wish I was even aware of the enthusiast events at an earlier age. The child in me always thought that I had to be an adult to be an enthusiast, so I never even considered joining a club until I was in college. I believe my first Coastermania was in 2008 or 2009, and I've been going since.

Some have been better than others, but the ones 2 or 3 years ago were the worst. I believe I heard there were roughly 2,500 people in attendance, and as discussed, the ERT & lunch lines were quite long. Not saying that they were bad events, because they were free, and it was amazing that the park allowed that many people. But relative to other years, those were pretty rough.

^^ I was never an enthusiast before then, but from what I've heard, since then there has been increasing disconnect between enthusiasts and the industry, enthusiasts have become less influential, and a culture of "online enthusiast morals" discourages enthusiasts from trying to assert any sort of influence or suggestion like they may have used to.

http://www.rollercoasterphilosophy.com/2011/geauga-lake/

Manage change Giga, manage change.

GigaG said:

from what I've heard, since then there has been increasing disconnect between enthusiasts and the industry,

You have heard wrong. Nothing wrong with the relationships. There are more events than ever before.

Ok. Maybe I just have a "grass is always greener" mentality. I imagine that, in reality, some aspects have improved and some aspects have gotten worse.

I'd say relationships between enthusiasts and parks have come a long way since the 2003 Holiday World incident. That was when the bottom dropped out and it took a number of years for things to "get better".

At the end of the day we are owed nothing though, and that needs to be remembered. The parks don't need us, nor do they need our business. Events like Coastermania and passholder preview events are generous gestures. If people misbehave enough, they will stop.

^What really stings me is seeing that article though and how it compares Giant Dipper at Belmont (which was SBNO for a very long time, and slated for demolition, when some fans including enthusiasts came together to save it) to GL's Big Dipper (where enthusiasts actively sabotaged, mocked, and downplayed other enthusiasts' efforts to save an old woodie.)

It kind of applies to other situations too. But I think that shows there's been a negative shift in some aspects.

And the Broken Record of the Year Award goes to...

Yeah, I don't think there was an effort to actively sabotage, mock and downplay efforts to save Big Dipper. The two situations you mention are different. You have one coaster at an active tourist spot and one in a small town far off the beaten path.