My fun question of the week... Week #2

[disprincessatheart]

I was still in preschool when I started out on the Lady Bug at Darien Lake in NY. My mom tells me I would get in line, ride, get off and run right back to the entrance. I'm sure I didn't have to wait long, if at all, for the next ride. I can't imagine anyone doing this now, but back in the early 80's she said they'd actually leave me there alone and go do another ride, and come back for me and I'd still be there riding and getting back in line.
Here's the link to what this ride currently looks like http://www.coastergallery.com/SF/SFDL03.html When I was a kid it was red and black

the first real coaster I did was also at Darien Lake a few summers later (I was probably 8 or 9?) the Viper I was very scared but wanted to keep up with my older sister.

 

[bellaminnie]

I don't remember the first roller coaster i went on probably the racer at kennywood park in pgh. I do remember the first time i went on a coaster upside down though it was in the 8th grade on the laser loop at kennywood because i knew they would be closing it soon. after i rode it, i just didn't see why i was so scared to go upside down on a coaster, it was nothing.

 

[jodiey]

I don't remember the exact age I was, but maybe around 12 and it was the screamin' demon at the Great Escape in Lake George NY

 

[georgemoe]

Oh man. Very first "real" coaster has to be the Flyer Comet at Whalom Park in Lunenburg, Ma. An old woodie or whatever the coaster fans call them. Early teens in the early 70's. A lot of people would not ride it it wobbled so much. I'm not up on it's history but believe it burned down in varying degrees a few times.

 

[aspen37]

My first real coaster was Corkscrew at Knott's Berry Farms. It was in 1975 and I was six. My sister was 2 years older than me but I was alot taller than her. I was tall enough to ride but she wasn't. I felt bad but still rode it without her.

 

[Ragrobyn]

It was August 1972 and I was 6. It was the Matterhorn in Disneyland. It is still my favorite - Tommorrowland side at night

 

[disneyholic family]

I think I was around 6 or 7. It was at the now defunct Bob-Lo Island Amusement Park. Looking at pictures from the web, I can only imagine it was Sky Streek. It was a blistering day, and being a kid, hadn't had much to drink. I rode it and hurled all over the place as soon as I left the exit queue. The boat ride back to Detroit wasn't much fun. I didn't ride a roller coaster again until WDW, about 8 years later. Now I can't get enough of them. Any one want to go to Cedar Point???

i found this map of boblo - i remember the sky streak.....

http://www.bobloisland.net/images/boblo1987map.jpg

it wasn't bad....had a bit of air time...nothing like the coaster at edgewater, but not bad...

i never rode the sky streak as a kid, only much later when we went with the kids a few times in 1989---we went 3 times....the first time from detroit (that was one scary boat ride....the clue should have been the guards were wearing brass knuckles )
and 2 more times from the canadian side...

DH and i were talking about it....how it probably couldn't have existed now anyway....
how would they have managed it with all the border crossing security (don't you need an ID now to cross the tunnel/bridge?)...
so how would they have managed people going to boblo from both detroit and windsor?

we sure used to live in a lot more innocent times...

 

[jpeka65844]

Mine was the Timber Wolf at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City. I was probably 13 or 14: 1988 or 1989. I hated it. I remember begging to be let off on the first incline. To top it off, I was in the last car and got whipped around a lot.

I didn't ride another roller coaster until Space Mountain in 2005. For a time, I was only about inside roller coasters. I don't like seeing what comes next. The anticipation was a little much.

But eventually, I was able to ride Everest at AK and CA Screamin' at DLR.

I still don't think I have it in me to try a "REAL" roller coaster like The Boomerang, Superman, or Manta. Only time will tell....I AM becoming braver in my old age.

 

[Bornteach]

My first was at Nantasket Beach on the board walk in the seventies. At the time it boasted it was the world's largest wooden coaster. I do not remember if it had a name LOL!

I know I was scared to death!

 

[evildiva]

This is a second hand story since I was too young to remember but apparently my first roller coaster was the Scooby Doo at Kings Dominion in VA. That ill-fated ride occurred sometime around 1984. According to my mother we were strapped in a climbing the first hill when I got out from under the lap bar and decided to get off the ride because I changed my mind. I did not ride another coast again until 1997 when I rode Space Mountain in Disney World. BTW that was my third time at Disney. I was so scarred from the Scooby Doo that I missed out on SM and BTMRR on my first two visits.

 

[aGoofyMom]

I think I was around 6 or 7. It was at the now defunct Bob-Lo Island Amusement Park. Looking at pictures from the web, I can only imagine it was Sky Streek. It was a blistering day, and being a kid, hadn't had much to drink. I rode it and hurled all over the place as soon as I left the exit queue. The boat ride back to Detroit wasn't much fun. I didn't ride a roller coaster again until WDW, about 8 years later. Now I can't get enough of them. Any one want to go to Cedar Point???

boblo was great, but didn't have much in the way of coasters when i was little.....
but just getting there on the boat and riding the dodgem cars was a perfect day for me...

here's a youtube of Boblo - remember this commercial? (i do)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NFxX8YjAGg

and a kind of related commercial that REALLY takes me back (i guess before your time?)...
it seems like it's supposed to be on the way to boblo, though it's not on one of the big boats...but maybe it's on the little boats that sailed from the canadian side of the river....we used to go from there when we took our kids in 1985...i forgot the name of the city - amherstberg?)...
anyway, here's the commercial....i remember this one well...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQqyDj7RX6Y

i found this map of boblo - i remember the sky streak.....

http://www.bobloisland.net/images/boblo1987map.jpg

it wasn't bad....had a bit of air time...nothing like the coaster at edgewater, but not bad...

i never rode the sky streak as a kid, only much later when we went with the kids a few times in 1989---we went 3 times....the first time from detroit (that was one scary boat ride....the clue should have been the guards were wearing brass knuckles )
and 2 more times from the canadian side...

DH and i were talking about it....how it probably couldn't have existed now anyway....
how would they have managed it with all the border crossing security (don't you need an ID now to cross the tunnel/bridge?)...
so how would they have managed people going to boblo from both detroit and windsor?

we sure used to live in a lot more innocent times...

The Sky Streak was my first coaster too...it may not have had much air time, but that was ok for me since the lap bar is purely decoration with me.

The boats left from Amherstburg, just south of Windsor. I went a few times, learning how to hold myself in. I think I was about 12 or 13. We left Windsor in 84 so after that it was the odd trip to Canada's Wonderland.
I am still not that fond of roller coasters. I can handle the ones at WDW but for the really big - I need to have shoulder harness, and even then....

 

[epcotimagineer]

trailblazer at hershey park. i was 6 and before they fixed it, i couldn't stand the height points. i never touched a rollercoaster UNTIL... i went to disney for my first time in may '06 and i was 14, i was forced to go on Big Thunder and i LOVED IT. it turns out that hovering over the ground is much more reassuring than dangling thirty feet off the ground. i have now conquered all thrill rides and rollercoasters at disney!!! THANK YOU BIG THUNDA'!!!

 

[tolemommy]

I was born & raised in northern CA, my father was a big Disney fan. He would take us to Disneyland a couple times a year. The first time I rode a rollercoaster was at Disneyland & I was maybe 5 or 6 years old. We waited in line and road the Matterhorn, I'm going to consider it a rollercoaster. I loved it, I was hooked, and I've been happily riding them ever since.

 

[ms*mountaineer]

My first coaster was Space Mountain in WDW - whatever year that was in the 70's that it opened. (I can still picture the sign that said Your Wait Time from this spot is 2 1/2 hrs)