How did you become an enthusiast?

The year was 1986. I was just 8 years old when my parents decided to go to Kings Island for vacation that year. I remember getting in line for The Beast as soon as we got into the park. I was barely tall enough to ride. At that time I believe that it was still the tallest, fastest, and longest woodie in the world. I guess I got introduced to 'world record breaking' at a very young age.

The following year, 1987, was the first year I set foot on to the hollowed ground of Cedar Point. It was July 31, 1987 to be exact. Iron Dragon was the new ride that year. I rode Avalanche Run. I got soaked on Thunder Canyon. I refused to go on Demon Drop. I cried on Mine Ride ( I don't know why...I was 9...). Gemini was my new favorite ride. I was hooked in one day.

For over two-thirds of my life I have been an 'enthusiast'. I've been to the park at least once every season since '87. I worked at the park for 2 seasons. It is, and will always be, my favorite place. Cedar Point and rollercoasters are my 'drugs' of choice.

As a young kid in Cleveland in the 60's we had a number of amusement parks to choose from including Geauga Lake and Euclid Beach Park. But there was this park a little bit to the west of Cleveland that was undergoing a massive makeover with large scale attractions and lots of energy. We went to Cedar Point and we were hooked with the beautiful location on a peninsula, great rides and a wonderful old time Lake Erie resort atmosphere.

A lot has changed since that time. I've been to lots of different parks and ridden a bunch of coasters. I don't consider myself a coaster enthusiast however, I could not care less about keeping track of what coaster I've ridden, how many times I've ridden them, etc. I just simply enjoy a nice coaster ride. But, one thing has not changed, I'm still very much a Cedar Point enthusiast.

I love Lake Erie, and CP fits in perfectly with the boating lifestyle, especially since I have a seasonal dock at CP. To me CP is my favorite park because of a combination of location, resort atmosphere, family memories and an intangible feeling of contentment when there.

Personally, you can have Orlando. When you have CP, Lake Erie, a boat and the Lake Erie Islands you really have a non-stop holiday all summer long.

Excess money + boredom + need for stimuli + sense of traveling + pretty fun to ride a coaster

Oh yeah and Sandusky has this topless bar that serves a fantastic buffet. That's basically the main reason I go.

Does Sandusky really have that? or are you just fooling around?

Anyway, this is my story. When I was young, My parents always took me and my sister to all the carnivals. We usually rode merry go rounds and ferris wheels. Then my family and my grandma took us to Geauga lake every summer. We were obsessed with the rotor, space needle ride, scrambler, and that huge wave pool. It that had the face on the wall that would scare us so much. My mom always tried to get me to ride Double loop with her, but I always refused cuz I was so scared. I was even too scared to ride Big Dipper. But we had no idea that Cedar point existed.

Then, in 1998, my parents took us to CP for starlight. I was only 11 years old. Power tower was new, and I remember riding the drop side. I was terrified. But I conquered it, at least. It was also the time for me to get rid of the fear of going upsidedown. Corkscrew was my first steel looping coaster. I was even afraid of the first hill, and I hated that Drop feeling you get. (now it's the best feeling in the world!) The rest of the day, we rode ID, gemini, and a bunch of flats. But when we left that day, I was not hooked on anything. It wasn't untill they started building MF in winter 1999. We planned to go back to the park in 2000 for a breakers stay. The morning we woke up in the hotel, we rode Magnum for the first time. I was a little scared, but I think that coaster got me hooked. We didn't ride MF, the line was too long. We came back in August to ride and the rest is history...:)

1976 - Either a trip to Bob-Lo Island where I had gone twice a year for many years, or take a school trip to CP where I had never been before , took a chance at the CP trip - never looked back.

Miss_Maverick07 said:
we rode Magnum for the first time. I was a little scared, but I think that coaster got me hooked.

Magnum is what got me hooked too! :) And it's still my favorite coaster.

I started going to the park in the early 90's with a church group. It wasn't until High School that I went on my own though. I'd go with some friends on our own. But that was still only 1 MAYBE 2 trips a season. Then in 2004 I went with my brother for opening day. Since then, I've had a season pass and been going to CP for 2-3 trips a season plus day trips out to Michigan's Adventure. That is also when I started looking for other parks to go to when I've been on vacation. Heck, we wouldn't have gone to Dollywood or Valleyfair if it hadn't been for wanting to ride new coasters.

My family went to Cedar Point when I was very young but stopped going because I was too afraid of heights to ride coasters, and my parents didn't like them either. They didn't feel it was worth the cost to just go for flats and shows. My brother was 7 years older than me, so he would go with his friends and, understandably, we didn't really want to hang out with each other anyway.

So, I didn't ride a coaster until I was 14, on an 8th grade school trip. My first was Wildcat. I was instantly hooked, although I was still skittish about Iron Dragon on account of it being suspended (fool!), and Raptor was new that year so I didn't feel like waiting 3 hours.

Some friends talked me into getting a season pass in 2005, and I have every year since, so I usually go 8-10 times a year now. But I wouldn't say I was really an "enthusiast" until last year, when we went to PPP at Knoebels, stopping at Kennywood along the way. At least, that's when I started keeping track of my coaster count, which has doubled since Aug. '07. In addition to Knoebels and Kennywood, I added Kings Island, Knott's, and two in Las Vegas to my list in 2007.

What a difference having one's own car and disposable income makes.

-birdman

My mom took me to Geauga Lake in the Mid 90s, my first coaster was the Double Loop and from that point I loved roller coasters, the Raging Wolf Bobs was one of my favorite coasters for a long time. One Year I went to KI and I loved being there, my favorite coaster there was FOF but at the time it was named The Outer Limits. My first time at the Point was fall of 2004 and I fell in love with the place being a season pass holder for two years after that, and now I work there. I guess you can say I am a coaster enthusiast because I have been to GL, CP, DP, SFKK, Hershey, Conneaut, and Kennywood - the next best thing to old GL

By riding the Mine Ride was most likely 12 or 13 times in a row when I was finally big enough (circa 1983?).

Back then the ride that scared me was "EarthQuake!". I still have no idea why...that and the "cannons firing" portion of the Pirate Ride (when your boat went between the ships)...

Well, I was a guest since 4 1/2 years old, then I thought the best thing in the world would be to head off for CP days after graduation from HS and work as a ride host... I loved it actually, being away from home, living in dorms, making new friends, the whole environment... If I was single I would totally work at the park again. Well, if pigs start to fly and I ever get divorced, I would totally go back. BUT, I had loved CP ever since childhood, and for me, childhood memories were the best memories I ever had.

As a child, I remember all the times we would stay at camper village. We even took our little dog with us sometimes. I remember being afraid of the Raptor. What was I thinking? In 6th grade we were making licence plates out of construction paper, and I beleive mine said something like MGNM XL. Isn't that cute? I remember the D.A.R.E officer asking me if I was scared of the Magnum. And 7th grade I actually heard about the "magnum sinking" rumor and started telling my teachers the Magnum was sinking!! 8th grade we took a class trip to Cedar Point at the end of the school year. That wasn't too fun, because my ride partner didn't want to ride anything. GRR! I beleive I was in 7th grade when I stayed at the breakers, we stayed in one of the towers (was that Bon Air??) While I was a youngin, we stayed a lot at the Green Tree. So I think I became an enthusiast for Cedar Point because of ALL the fond memories I had developed from an early age.

My first ride was a Tilt-a-Whirl . . . when I was six months old! They say I fell asleep during the ride. And so it began.

Always was crazy about carnivals and fairs. Then, starting when I was five, in 1973, our family began taking yearly trips to Kings Island. I remember looking forward with utmost anticipation to that one magic day every summer. The other 364 days of the year, I would stare at my maps and brochures, doodling roller coaster and amusement park pictures. (Not much has changed.)

By the time I was nine, I got my first ride on Racer. That was the last piece of the puzzle. My addiction was cemented. I began lobbying for extra trips to KI, and then Cedar Point. My first trip to the Point was in 1977.

All through my teen years, I remained in a sort of state of denial about how full blown my interest was. I tried to fit in with all the others, pretending only nonchalant or passing interest in parks. But deep down, I knew I was different.

It wasn't until my adult years -- and even more so in my thirties -- that I truly accepted my state and gave in to the dreams. Now, 176 coasters and 51 parks later, my self-acceptance is complete. I am a coaster and park freak . . . and proud of it.

Out of the 51 parks, which one is your favorite besides Cedar Point?

You are assuming CP is his favorite?? ;)

Ensign Smith said:
I tried to fit in with all the others, pretending only nonchalant or passing interest in parks.

Don't worry, it was your home-made communicator and starting conversations with "Stardate 473-one five" that did that for you. ;)

Thankfully, growing up, my friends were into Cedar Point as well. And I was far enough away that one trip was enough. I remember doing all the coasters and big flats in one day, and that was with 2 hour waits for Raptor and Magnum.

:: (in best Shatnerian impression) "Joooohhhhhhhhhhnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!"::

In all honesty, CP is probably about my all-around favorite, though I sometimes get tired of the sameness after x number of visits.

Parks are so different, it's so hard to say, "this is my absolute favorite". I love little parks like Conneaut Lake, Idlewild, Beech Bend, Martin's Fantasy Island, Sea Breeze . . . the list just goes on and on. Kennywood, of course. Geauga Lake used to be my favorite short trip; my daughter and I would often just slip over on the spur of the moment for an afternoon, it was close enough to do so. Holiday World, definitely way up there, though they need more flats and at least one steelie.

If there was a real competitor in my mind for CP, it would be Waldameer. Now with RFII, it's such a perfect, little park. Like the perfect encapsulation of what a small park should be.

Of course, my all-time favorite, in a sense, will always be Kings Island of my youth, when Beast was new and Demon still Screamed, when Bavarian Beetle and Rotor still stood. I think that, somehow, there's a younger version of me that is still wandering the Coney Mall there.

To be honest, it was when I joined this site and got a little more into Cedar Point that got me into going to other parks. Heck, I made sure the site for a training class a couple years ago was in Minneapolis so I could go to ValleyFair again. And I was trying to get them to send me to one in Cleveland as well, but that fell through.

Now though, whenever we book a trip I'm looking for parks nearby that I can hit up while there. Speaking of which, if anyone knows of any good parks in the Phoenix area, let me know as we are headed that way for a week in February.

My mom took me to Cedar Point back when I was 10 years old (so 25 years ago), we only went once per year. Then up until recently I didn't get a season pass (I honestly didn't know such a thing existed) and it saves a ton of money on parking.

Just the rides in general (nothing specific) has me hooked on going every year. I've been 6 times so far this year and 5 times last year. I'm sure next year won't be a dissapointment for me either.

Just childhood memories of that place: Berenstien Bear Country, Avalanche Run, White Water Landing.

Also the ones that are still there: Cedar Creek Mine Ride (which is actually rougher than what I remember), Gemini and Corkscrew. My first roller coaster I ever rode was Corkscrew. Matterhorn and Scrambler. I know there not as thrilling as what the park offers now, but they are still memories and classics :)

I have alot of fond memories of my kids with the Berenstien Bears. I am sure the kids today enjoy the peanuts characters the same.

Let's play "guess Josh's favorite place".

I'll give you a big hint. :-D

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