Enthusiast Clubs

I am looking at joining one of the roller coaster enthusiast clubs, particularly one that is apart of the CoasterMania (ACE, Great Ohio Coaster Club, etc.). I wanted to read some viewpoints from others that have been apart of a club before I make the decision.

1. Is there a better time to join or does it work to join at anytime, because it's a yearly membership?
2. I am mainly joining for CoasterMania and any other events that Cedar Point or Kings Island offer.
3. I noticed ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts) have a trial membership, but do want to waste that, if I can get help on making the decision.
4. Is it a waste of money if I only go to CoasterMania and no other events during the year? (Is it worth it?)

Please share your personal experiences. Anything helps!

You might eant to consider the trial membership, to see if ACE is a good fit for you, then transfer to an associate memership if it is.

I believe ACE yearly memberships from January to January. They do start the same time each year.

Is it worth it? If you have access to ACE events, and that's all your looking for, maybe not. If you find value in ACE's publications and websites*, probably yes.

I find great value in ACE's publications, but I'm prejudiced. I've had articles published in several issues of RollerCoaster! and ACE News. :-)

*ACE has two websites. Aceonline.org is the publc facing site. My.aceonline.org is for members, where they can register for events, manage their membership, download issues of ACE News and so on.

Or you can just join CoasterBuzz. Perks include "membership status" for most events, occasional CB events, and ad-free news and discussion.
Membership is 25 for a year, which goes from your date of sign-up, as on-line registration is instant. Your card arrives shorty and then you're in.

It's a nice, diverse group of guys and gals. Friendly and informative discussions are the rule there, without a lot of noise.

^I think this year I'm going to do that & carry through next year. My thing is though my entertainment budget this year went a bit away from amusement parks / trips. After getting Universal last October, I kind of want to hit more destination / one off parks. The local parks are great don't get me wrong, but I got a bit jaded having a pass the last two years. I'd bet next year I'll be craving it alot more, thus more enthusiast events.

CB Club also indirectly supports the cost of this site.

https://coasterbuzz.com/Content/Club

I read more on ACE and think I will let that one slide until a later time (need better income and a job that would support long-distance traveling for all of the parks! The yearly membership isn't that bad for all of that, though, plus the newletters.

Now just deciding between CoasterBuzz, CoasterCrew, and GOCC. All of them are $20-$25/year!

How would my Cedar Fair Platinum Pass fit in with any discounts? Only if I go to a non-Cedar Fair park, correct?

GOCC has newsletters and CoasterBuzz and CoasterCrew don't, so I might have just answered my own question....

When was the last CoasterBuzz Club event? I think it's been a while... GOCC has several events every year. But like Jeff said, CB Club helps support this site. Decisions, decisions.

Some events carry a price and some carry a season pass holders price. Just depends.

I don't believe the Coaster Crew has been on the Coastermania! list the last few years. Correct me if I'm wrong.

GOCC events are open to other clubs as well.

darkrider68 said:
I don't believe the Coaster Crew has been on the Coastermania! list the last few years. Correct me if I'm wrong.

GOCC events are open to other clubs as well.

You are right! Coaster Crew doesn't participate with CoasterMania and that's my biggest thing, that I want to be apart of.

Shane Denmark said:
When was the last CoasterBuzz Club event? I think it's been a while... GOCC has several events every year. But like Jeff said, CB Club helps support this site. Decisions, decisions.

It looks like CoasterBuzz has 3 whole events for year, including CoasterMania. Thanks for mentioning that (it helps)!

RCMAC said:
Some events carry a price and some carry a season pass holders price. Just depends.

Thanks! All of that reading was just confusing me more. Haha.

noggin said:
You might eant to consider the trial membership, to see if ACE is a good fit for you, then transfer to an associate memership if it is.

I believe ACE yearly memberships from January to January. They do start the same time each year.

Is it worth it? If you have access to ACE events, and that's all your looking for, maybe not. If you find value in ACE's publications and websites*, probably yes.

I find great value in ACE's publications, but I'm prejudiced. I've had articles published in several issues of RollerCoaster! and ACE News. :-)

*ACE has two websites. Aceonline.org is the publc facing site. My.aceonline.org is for members, where they can register for events, manage their membership, download issues of ACE News and so on.

Thanks for all of the ACE info! Very helpful!

RCMAC said:
Or you can just join CoasterBuzz. Perks include "membership status" for most events, occasional CB events, and ad-free news and discussion.
Membership is 25 for a year, which goes from your date of sign-up, as on-line registration is instant. Your card arrives shorty and then you're in.

It's a nice, diverse group of guys and gals. Friendly and informative discussions are the rule there, without a lot of noise.

Sounds easy and simple enough! Thanks! I might have to pass on this, as they aren't apart of CoasterMania, though. Bummer!

Coasterbuzz is on the Coastermania list.

You sound like a fair-weather club member.

joneske912 said:
It looks like CoasterBuzz has 3 whole events for year, including CoasterMania. Thanks for mentioning that (it helps)!

I guess I meant when was the last time CoasterBuzz Club organized/hosted an event... BeastBuzz, BooBuzz, etc.

darkrider68 said:
Coasterbuzz is on the Coastermania list.

Really? It's not on Cedar Point's website as one of the clubs listed for CoasterMania! Thanks!

Except, it is though.