Jarrett
Most Obnoxious Member 2016
So in my past season going to all these coaster events and meeting all these enthusiasts, I noticed that we don't all enjoy the hobby in the exact same way. Some of them would attend for one reason, some would attend for another, and we would all do different things at the parks. So with this in mind, exactly what kind of enthusiast are you? How do you enjoy the hobby? And what other kinds of ways have you seen the hobby manifest itself?
At various events over the summer I've noticed...
The Roller Coaster Enthusiast- I'm sure we all have some of this in us. These people just love to ride coasters, plain and simple. They don't care who made it, they don't care how the brakes work, they don't care that the coaster was shipped board-by-board halfway around the world in a relocation of biblical proportions. They only care how it rides and what they think of it.
The Park Enthusiast- This person loves the industry as a whole and while there's nothing that makes a day on the midway more fun than a good old fashioned roller coaster, they aren't the only thing worth doing. This enthusiast will make sure to ride the major rides, try the park's world-famous drippy and greasy deep fried conglomerate of something or another, take a spin on that one-of-a-kind flat ride, and wait two hours for the dark ride before cleaning out the park with the kiddie creds. It can take them a whole day to get their fill of what it would take a typical coaster enthusiast an hour at most.
The Filthy Whore- Over 75% of this person's coaster count consists of Big Apples, Go Gators, Dragon Wagons, Nautic Jets, Wacky Worms, Butterflies, those vile Zamperla helix things, and Ridge Riders. This person cares only about that number on Coaster-Count and will gladly run to the park restroom and cut their kidney out with their car keys for that ride op's dying uncle to bribe their way onto that Miner Mike. Sure it might not be the best, but it counts just as much as any Intamin thrill machine.
The Social Enthusiast- This person wouldn't even be at the park if they weren't surrounded by their partners-in-crime. Probably part of a coaster club, this person sees theme parks and roller coasters as a catalyst for social bonds to form. They'll go for that cred if enough people in the group need it, but most of the day is spent fooling around about the park, trying to see who can snap those flying scooters the highest or getting a good group laugh out of a game of Money Train.
The Enginerd- This person looks at a ride for what it took to get it there. The design process, the track fabrication, anything that was being taken for a test drive, the inner workings, and the final product and how good of an idea it was in the first place. This person gets mesmerized watching ride hardware in action, is more excited to try out that quirky little prototype than the big bad B&M hyper on their upcoming trip, enjoys ride walkbacks more than anyone else in the coaster club, can talk your ear off for an hour over how the sensors in that coaster work when you don't care, and IAAPA is like Christmas to them. This person probably wants to be the next Alan Schilke.
The Historian- This person would gladly take a day on a classic Americana park midway riding quirky flat rides and eating funnel cake as that white wooden coaster clatters away in the background before setting foot in a Six Flags park. They'll gladly sit in the car for nine hours to get to that park to ride the only coaster left of the three some guy you've never heard of designed. Half of their top ten was built before 1940 and how much historical worth the coaster has is a factor in its level of quality.
The Extreme Marathoner- Add up how much coastering this person has done and you'll get astonishing numbers. They've fallen from the moon back to Earth four times over, traveled around the world nine times on coaster track, been flipped upside down millions of times, and been subjected to more force over the course of their life than that of four USAF fighter pilots. And they have a coaster count of fifty-seven. This person has fallen in love with one specific coaster and has taken the concept of whoring a good ride to the next level, showing up at this park just to keep riding this ride over and over again, adding on to a count of thousands of rides they've gotten on it. This person is a local legend among their region and they probably have a nickname like [NAME OF COASTER] [FIRST NAME]. They might not care about their count as much their friends, but does that matter when you've found your perfect coaster?
As for me, I consider myself an enginerd and a coaster enthusiast with a bit of park enthusiast thrown in there. I do enjoy the experience of visiting a park as a whole but the reason I enjoy being there the most is to go after coasters and watch those incredible machines in action. I pass time waiting in line watching the ride do its thing and noticing in which direction the structure sways and the like, and once I'm done with all the big ones I'll go knock out that kiddie cred and then maybe get in a few rerides or check out that weird-looking thing I've not seen at a park before.
So what kind of enthusiast are you? Have you seen any others that don't necessarily match any of the judgmental profiles I've outlined?
At various events over the summer I've noticed...
The Roller Coaster Enthusiast- I'm sure we all have some of this in us. These people just love to ride coasters, plain and simple. They don't care who made it, they don't care how the brakes work, they don't care that the coaster was shipped board-by-board halfway around the world in a relocation of biblical proportions. They only care how it rides and what they think of it.
The Park Enthusiast- This person loves the industry as a whole and while there's nothing that makes a day on the midway more fun than a good old fashioned roller coaster, they aren't the only thing worth doing. This enthusiast will make sure to ride the major rides, try the park's world-famous drippy and greasy deep fried conglomerate of something or another, take a spin on that one-of-a-kind flat ride, and wait two hours for the dark ride before cleaning out the park with the kiddie creds. It can take them a whole day to get their fill of what it would take a typical coaster enthusiast an hour at most.
The Filthy Whore- Over 75% of this person's coaster count consists of Big Apples, Go Gators, Dragon Wagons, Nautic Jets, Wacky Worms, Butterflies, those vile Zamperla helix things, and Ridge Riders. This person cares only about that number on Coaster-Count and will gladly run to the park restroom and cut their kidney out with their car keys for that ride op's dying uncle to bribe their way onto that Miner Mike. Sure it might not be the best, but it counts just as much as any Intamin thrill machine.
The Social Enthusiast- This person wouldn't even be at the park if they weren't surrounded by their partners-in-crime. Probably part of a coaster club, this person sees theme parks and roller coasters as a catalyst for social bonds to form. They'll go for that cred if enough people in the group need it, but most of the day is spent fooling around about the park, trying to see who can snap those flying scooters the highest or getting a good group laugh out of a game of Money Train.
The Enginerd- This person looks at a ride for what it took to get it there. The design process, the track fabrication, anything that was being taken for a test drive, the inner workings, and the final product and how good of an idea it was in the first place. This person gets mesmerized watching ride hardware in action, is more excited to try out that quirky little prototype than the big bad B&M hyper on their upcoming trip, enjoys ride walkbacks more than anyone else in the coaster club, can talk your ear off for an hour over how the sensors in that coaster work when you don't care, and IAAPA is like Christmas to them. This person probably wants to be the next Alan Schilke.
The Historian- This person would gladly take a day on a classic Americana park midway riding quirky flat rides and eating funnel cake as that white wooden coaster clatters away in the background before setting foot in a Six Flags park. They'll gladly sit in the car for nine hours to get to that park to ride the only coaster left of the three some guy you've never heard of designed. Half of their top ten was built before 1940 and how much historical worth the coaster has is a factor in its level of quality.
The Extreme Marathoner- Add up how much coastering this person has done and you'll get astonishing numbers. They've fallen from the moon back to Earth four times over, traveled around the world nine times on coaster track, been flipped upside down millions of times, and been subjected to more force over the course of their life than that of four USAF fighter pilots. And they have a coaster count of fifty-seven. This person has fallen in love with one specific coaster and has taken the concept of whoring a good ride to the next level, showing up at this park just to keep riding this ride over and over again, adding on to a count of thousands of rides they've gotten on it. This person is a local legend among their region and they probably have a nickname like [NAME OF COASTER] [FIRST NAME]. They might not care about their count as much their friends, but does that matter when you've found your perfect coaster?
As for me, I consider myself an enginerd and a coaster enthusiast with a bit of park enthusiast thrown in there. I do enjoy the experience of visiting a park as a whole but the reason I enjoy being there the most is to go after coasters and watch those incredible machines in action. I pass time waiting in line watching the ride do its thing and noticing in which direction the structure sways and the like, and once I'm done with all the big ones I'll go knock out that kiddie cred and then maybe get in a few rerides or check out that weird-looking thing I've not seen at a park before.
So what kind of enthusiast are you? Have you seen any others that don't necessarily match any of the judgmental profiles I've outlined?
