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Kiddie Coaster Etiquette

Benenen

Benenen

Hyper Poster
Matt's recent discussion in his Paultons thread has got me thinking about the embarrassment of riding tiny coasters and if there are ways to make the experience less excruciating.

I recently split from some mates on a day out in Portsmouth to ride the caterpillar coaster on South Parade Pier. I got there and the ride was deserted so I sat in the front expecting to be sent straight away. However a family came up the entrance and ended up sat right behind me and I felt bad going round knowing I'd taken the opportunity for this little kid to sit in the front while I just sat there awkwardly like a melon.

My question is are there any unspoken rules and etiquette some of our more experienced members have built up over the years to make cred counting as smooth and least socially awkward as possible? For example if you're first to board a caterpillar is it best to sit at the front or go to the back so a kid can be at the front but risk looking like a nonce who wants to watch?
 
Basic rules are don't turn up under the influence of anything or be disrespectful. Mind your language even in gest.

Let people ahead of you if they can stay as a family group. The children's little legs are slow unless they are running under all the barriers . Must be hard to constantly keep them in line.

Just take whatever seat is free (they all count). Not everyone will reverie the front and back like we do. They could well be looking to the side waving at family off ride, or watching their own child enjoying/hating the ride.

If anyone is going to get stroppy it'll be an adult and that's something you can't control. Any action has a counter response where someone could think you should have done it differently, including not riding at all. but that's no good. Side quests add value to the main goal. And kids need to learn to share right?

Riding at a quiet time is best - you could even explain you just want 'one lap quickly please' but that only works on rare occasions. Other times it will confuse and disorientate the operator making it take even longer. And they may never have had the ability to change the default settings.

If you must have a child to ride only ever look for & approach a parent who has already been round enough times with their child and just wants to sit on a bench. They ideally already know the score, and will be able to keep an eye on you both. Don't expect this to ever happen though and its very strange if it does.
 
emoo said:
Riding at a quiet time is best
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This is actually the ideal way of doing it at major parks. Going at opening first thing before others show up....or at the end of the night when there's less likely to be children around

If you must have a child to ride only ever look for & approach a parent
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Yeah.... DON'T do this. It's insanely creepy and it makes me cringe just thinking about it

I think another major tip is trying to go with a group of other adults. Like a ride take over, so it's less awkward and everyone can get their credit at once. I definitely feel less dumb riding a baby coaster with two or three other grown-ass people rather then just on my own.
 
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I mean if the kiddie creds are *that* important to your count the best way I can suggest getting them is going during some sort of enthusiast event. Something like Holiday World's Holiwood Nights, Coastermania, Coasterstock, etc.

Might be a bit of a pain in the ass if you don't really want to deal with ACE for their events or other coaster clubs for the park run events, but usually parks are willing to make exceptions for coaster clubs.
 
if I’m riding a kiddie cred on my own, I find looking “special” helps. Thankfully it comes naturally to me.

I know what you mean about the uneasiness. It’s unpleasant, but I tend to let any families board first and the sit in wherever. And I never use my phone on or near one if I’m on my own.
 
I said this in another thread, but if you turkeys care so much about cred count but are too embarrassed to park yourself on a kiddie ride, have you ever tried just lying about it? It's not like anyone here (or anywhere in the world) cares enough to fact check you.

And even if they do, what are they going to do? Kill you? Like just go ride things you actually enjoy instead, 5head.
 
emoo said:
If you must have a child to ride only ever look for & approach a parent who has already been round enough times with their child and just wants to sit on a bench. They ideally already know the score, and will be able to keep an eye on you both. Don't expect this to ever happen though and its very strange if it does.
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I've had the reverse happen, two young girls I'm guessing 8-10 wanted to ride their first ever coaster but parents were afraid to ride themselves. They saw I wasn't with anyone else and asked if the girls could ride with me. Granted, this wasn't a kiddie coaster, in fact a B&M hyper. Those two girls thoroughly enjoyed it and made my day.
 
I had a similar experience on the Rollerskater at Kentucky Kingdom. Was stood in the gates waiting for the back row when a kid came and stood next to me. I said I’d move forward a couple of rows so that he could have the back & then he said he needed to ride with me as he wasn’t tall enough to ride alone! 😂
 
emoo said:
'one lap quickie please'
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Don't say that to some of the operators I know.....

Wacky worms and big apples can make quite effective torture devices given that the operator can adjust certain settings on a lot of them...... I was greeted by a group of obnoxious mid to late teenagers on a quiet day once, they all wanted to ride "this ****ty little ride" and came out with comments like "make it good or else".....
So I backed the trim brake alllllll the way off, left the station brake wide open, sat back and enjoyed the screams...... of agony for about 15 laps. The upstop pads got a workout that day I tell ya. They all got off with very visible bruising.
 
Nick13 said:
I had a similar experience on the Rollerskater at Kentucky Kingdom. Was stood in the gates waiting for the back row when a kid came and stood next to me. I said I’d move forward a couple of rows so that he could have the back & then he said he needed to ride with me as he wasn’t tall enough to ride alone! 😂
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When I was about 12, I was queuing for the enterprise at pleasurewood hills and a mum approached with a kid about 3 or 4 yrs old.
Her: Are you going on this ride?
Me: yes.

*plonk* - Kid placed right in front of me with no "do you mind taking him on?"!! - Was a bit nervous with him being so young!
 
Occasionally you'll have to explain yourself to ride hosts, but increasingly, they figure it out. I find wearing 'gooniform' helps - probably because it helps look a bit special :D

Otherwise, it's just a matter of letting kids go first, pick seats etc. and then heading as far as you can from them. At La Ronde, I was accidentally mistaken for being part of a school trip when I joined the line for Marche du Mille-pattes. I got the cred, but it was a bit awkward for all concerned. To be honest though, that's one that I don't understand the restriction on anyway!
 
When we visited Holiday World a few years back @Chris Brown decided to sneak off whilst we were getting food to nab himself the kiddie cred (I already had it and Conor didn't care). Obviously he stood out like a sore thumb and started getting some increasingly concerned questions from some locals concerned for their kids with whom Chris was queueing with. He just tried to blag it, saying it was a forfeit for losing a bet. This story was made more believable as we finally realised where he was and started yelling 'SHAME' at him as he sat, a lone adult, on a train full of kiddies.

So yes essentially if in doubt, don't go alone. And secondly if questions get weird I'd go down the 'drunken bet'/'I'm doing it for charity' route. People seem more understanding of those excuses as opposed to just...I'm a roller coaster weirdo.
 
nadroJ said:
If questions get weird I'd go down the 'drunken bet'/'I'm doing it for charity' route. People seem more understanding of those excuses as opposed to just...I'm a roller coaster weirdo.
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Yes, I remember Richard teaching me that one to help me get on that excuse for a Big Apple in Hemsby all those years ago

Served me fairly well since :D

I've had the 'this ain't a rollercoaster, mate...' once or twice at less salubrious seaside resorts over the years. Got the creds in the end, but it's an annoying argument to have to have...
 
In the Asian parks, people generally don't care. You see adults riding kiddy crap all the time. There also isn't the insane assumption that everyone is a paedo either.

The bigger parks in the West seem to understand our ridiculousness, so I've never felt too stupid getting the creds in those, but I definitely prefer to do them as a group in those cases. It's only really the smaller, "end of the pier" kinds of places that I've ever felt a bit uncomfortable, but I've done so few of those by myself that it hasn't been an issue.
 
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