How old were you when you rode your first looping roller coaster?

[fly girl]

When I reached that magical height requirement I was on them. I am short so it took me longer than I wanted as a kid. I think I was 7 years old. The first one I believe is The Demon at Six Flags.

I grew up just a few miles away from Cedar Point and live even closer now. I’d say it was in 1976, the year the Corkscrew opened and I was 14. Can’t do rides like that anymore.

I remember going as a little kid and being too short to ride. Oh, I was mad! Couldn't ride The Gemini either. Watching my Dad and Sister go really made me angry. It looked like so much fun and I was missing out. I got to go on the Wildcat instead.

Fast forward to 2015 and taking my daughter to CP. Rode the Corkscrew with her and almost broke my back. Good gravy that ride is rough. I can still do rollercoasters but not when they are that rough. It's downright painful. Give me the slick fast coasters like Millennium Force. Still my favorite roller coaster of all time.

 

[torene03]

I think I was about 10 or 11. I was in line for the Demon at Great America with my parents. My mom swore I could leave if I was scared at the front. Yeah she lied! It took my until I was about 14 to open my eyes on upside coasters.

Ha! My first upside down coaster was the Demon, too! I think I was a little older though, but I don’t really remember.

I do remember being younger and absolutely terrified of the Grizzly, got forced on, and loved it after.

 

[goofyernmost]

54

 

[DLgal]

54

Well, way to go!

 

[bcla]

Ha! My first upside down coaster was the Demon, too! I think I was a little older though, but I don’t really remember.

I do remember being younger and absolutely terrified of the Grizzly, got forced on, and loved it after.

I think that was a different coaster with more or less the same layout. Marriott had a plan to build three parks, but the one near DC got scuttled due to local opposition.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriott's_Great_America_(Maryland–Virginia)​

Marriott's Great America was a planned amusement park and resort which was proposed for two separate locations in the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area in the early 1970s, with an intended opening date of 1976. The Marriott Corporation intended the park to be the centerpiece of its chain of Great America theme parks, alongside the completed parks that later became Six Flags Great America in Illinois and California's Great America in California. In both of the locations it proposed, Savage, Maryland, and Manassas, Virginia, Marriott encountered heavy opposition that made it impossible to proceed with the development plans. Later on, a third attempt at building the park was made in Guilford, Maryland, but the company had lost its enthusiasm and the project was dropped by 1980.​

​

The area around Manassas would later face a similar controversy with the proposal of Disney's America.​

This source seems to indicate that this footage was from Santa Clara, since it mentions that it was built just down Highway 101.

After being manufactured just a few miles north on Highway 101 by Arrow Development, Turn of the Century began thrilling riders at Marriott's Great America back in 1976. It sported an all-white structure and featured ejector airtime hills along with back-to-back corkscrews.​

​

It was renovated and re-themed in 1980 to become The Demon and still runs at both Great America parks in Santa Clara, CA and Gurnee, IL. ​

Or this Super 8 home movie.

 

[luvnwdwgal]

When I reached that magical height requirement I was on them. I am short so it took me longer than I wanted as a kid. I think I was 7 years old. The first one I believe is The Demon at Six Flags.



I remember going as a little kid and being too short to ride. Oh, I was mad! Couldn't ride The Gemini either. Watching my Dad and Sister go really made me angry. It looked like so much fun and I was missing out. I got to go on the Wildcat instead.

Fast forward to 2015 and taking my daughter to CP. Rode the Corkscrew with her and almost broke my back. Good gravy that ride is rough. I can still do rollercoasters but not when they are that rough. It's downright painful. Give me the slick fast coasters like Millennium Force. Still my favorite roller coaster of all time.

Space Mountain makes me feel like I’ve been beat up afterwards. I have always loved that ride but not so much anymore.

 

[fly girl]

Space Mountain makes me feel like I’ve been beat up afterwards. I have always loved that ride but not so much anymore.

Space Mountain at WDW is rough. And when you are in the dark and you don't know which way your going to be moving, recipe for disaster if you are hitting a certain age.

I like Disneyland's, that Space Mountain is good. Matterhorn on the other hand ... similar track as SM at WDW. And don't ask me why but the left boarding side has a rougher ride than the right. Maybe it is all in my head. But I will only ride the right side.

 

[tinkerbellandpeterpan]

My parents never created a fear. My mom didn't like coasters and always skipped them, but my dad LOVES them and was always trying to convince us to join him.

We have never created a fear in our kids either. My older son rode Tower of Terror at 4 of his own free will, and then he regretted it for like the next 13 years. He is finally ready to try it again next time we go to WDW (he's 17 now). He rode CA Screamin as soon as he was tall enough. He's been DYING for his younger brother to be ready. Our whole family hi fived yesterday after my son rode it, and we had been encouraging him, but respecting his desire to wait.

For my part, I can't understand the parents who won't allow their kids to be scared of rides and who force them to ride, even when they clearly don't want to, by saying "you'll be fine.". I've seen it so many times and it makes me so sad. It's bullying at its worst.

Great. I don't think your parents ever did or that you did either since I don't know them or you so I'm not sure why you quoted me. I've seen tons of parents when a kid wanted to ride something instilling their own fears. I believe I said my parents were supportive when we wanted to ride something. Not that they dragged us on kicking and screaming. I'm sorry your child had such a bad experience that it bothered them for 13 years. It seems like it really wasn't that big of a deal if he wanted to try other coasters. Which makes my point...he tried it, didn't like and doesn't have to go on it again until he feels like it. And he now thinks he might try it again which is great. I hope he has a blast!

My husband isn't a ride person. He doesn't like roller coasters. Totally fine by me. Do I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that his mom hated them and told him they were scary and frightening and so he never tried them as kid....yep, I sure do. Does it mean I like my mother in law any less or think she was a bad parent....nope. Does it automatically mean if he tried them he would have like them....no of course not.

Edited: to correct some grammar/sentence structure

 

[AppleDumpling]

My son FINALLY rode the Incredicoaster at DCA yesterday (a proud moment because he has autism and is very sensitive to sensory experiences and had been trying to psych himself up for YEARS). He is just shy of 16. He loved it and we rode it again almost immediately.

Got me thinking about how old I was when I was finally brave enough to try one. I was 12 and it was a coaster at a Six Flags near St.Louis. I don't really remember much about it other than it was black and had a name like a snake. Viper, or Cobra, maybe. After that, I was ALL IN on looping coasters.

LOL, never, and I’ll be 60 this year. I have a fear of heights and know my limitations. While the ones at WDW are relatively tame, I generally don’t do roller coasters. Rode a few in my teens and 20’s, but had no interest in going on any that go upside down, backwards, or where your legs dangle off the seat. Just not for me. And now I can’t, due to a neck injury. DH is the opposite. He’ll ride any roller coaster, the more extreme, the better. DS is like me, rode a few times, doesn’t care for them.

OP, I’m glad your son enjoyed it and feels good about himself for overcoming his fear. I’m sure it’s a big boost to his confidence.

For my part, I can't understand the parents who won't allow their kids to be scared of rides and who force them to ride, even when they clearly don't want to, by saying "you'll be fine.". I've seen it so many times and it makes me so sad. It's bullying at its worst.

I agree. I would never force anyone, of any age, to go on any ride they are uncomfortable with. I’ve seen videos where a kid is screaming and/or crying, clearly terrified, and the parent is laughing at them.

 

[Silver saucer]

I was pretty fearless as a kid. I had much older brothers and wanted to be like them. My parents didn't promote fear and were not the hovering type. I loved all the scary fast rides. I don't' remember an age exactly, but I know I was very young and had fun!
I was also very trusting so when I was told something was safe and fun, I believed them. And they were right.

 

[RedAngie]

I was in my early teens when it opened I think, and it was the Sea Serpent on the boardwalk in Wildwood, NJ. I wasn't afraid of looping coasters, I just never had the opportunity to ride one before this one was built. I look at it now when I'm there and it's such a tame coaster compared to ones I've gone on since.

The Sea Serpent opened in 1984.

 

[RedAngie]

Lightnin’ Loops in 1978, the year it opened, at Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ when I was 17. It was a two track shuttle coaster with interlocking loops. You had to climb and climb and climb even more stairs to reach the loading/unloading platforms. A few other parks with similar rides had elevators, one of which was the long defunct Circus World/Boardwalk & Baseball near WDW.

The first full circuit looping coaster I rode was The Loch Ness Monster at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg when I was 20 in 1981.

The contractor who installed the fencing at the bottom of Lightnin’ Loops bought the materials from my father’s company. 6’ high black vinyl coated 9 gauge chain link fencing. I personally attached the fabric to at least one of the custom made gate frames. You can see the black posts and top rail in this photo. My initials are (were) on the gate frames.



Back then loops needed to be supported by hanging from those parabolic arches.

The inverted Batman coaster now occupies Lightnin’ Loops site.

 

[DLgal]

Lightnin’ Loops in 1978, the year it opened, at Six Flags Great Adventure in NJ when I was 17. It was a two track shuttle coaster with interlocking loops. You had to climb and climb and climb even more stairs to reach the loading/unloading platforms. A few other parks with similar rides had elevators, one of which was the long defunct Circus World/Boardwalk & Baseball near WDW.

The first full circuit looping coaster I rode was The Loch Ness Monster at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg when I was 20 in 1981.

The contractor who installed the fencing at the bottom of Lightnin’ Loops bought the materials from my father’s company. 6’ high black vinyl coated 9 gauge chain link fencing. I personally attached the fabric to at least one of the custom made gate frames. You can see the black posts and top rail in this photo. My initials are (were) on the gate frames.

View attachment 640267

Back then loops needed to be supported by hanging from those parabolic arches.

The inverted Batman coaster now occupies Lightnin’ Loops site.

Super cool! My "home" park growing up was Great Adventure. By the time I started riding looping coasters, Scream Machine was all the rage!

 

[RedAngie]

Super cool! My "home" park growing up was Great Adventure. By the time I started riding looping coasters, Scream Machine was all the rage!

I think Scream Machine opened in 1989. I rode its clone at 6F Great America north of Chicago in 1988. A third one of the same style was at 6F Magic Mountain north of LA maybe in 1990.

Unfortunately all three of those became unridable headbangers to me within 5 years of opening.

In my old age I have to be careful about which coasters I ride. I generally avoid those with loops and inversions now, but there are a few exceptions.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Early 20's I believe

 

[slo]

I don’t remember an exact age, but I was definitely in middle school - I was at Great America in Gurnee, IL

 

[goofyernmost]

Well, way to go!

The last time was when I was 64 with my Grandson. The last time I was in DHS I was 71 and had some mobility problems so I skipped that and went to Star Wars Land instead. Smugglers Run was the only one open at the time.

 

[Dead2009]

34 and it was Dominator at Kings Dominion. I HATED looping coasters as a kid and I hate heights lol.

 

[maxaroni]

I was in my early 20s when I went to Great Adventure with my DH. I was not a roller coaster person at all, then started going on them with DH. I don’t go on anymore due to back/neck issues, DH same. However, DS28 learned very early to love roller coasters. He was 5 and did Great Bear at Hershey Park. It was the summer before he started kindergarten. His wife and their friends all go on all the rides, all the coasters.

 

[neverlandsky]

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