people

The picture to the left includes four people, one of the few times, I actually went to ride in a group. The date was August 15, 1999, the name of the park was Valleyfair, the names of the riders were Manuel, who I met that day and Missy, Jaime and Jennifer who I already knew. The coaster in the background: Wild Thing.

I will never forget Jennifer's reaction to Wild Thing. After her ride she exclaimed, "I'll never ride that (referring to Wild Thing) again because the first drop just seemed to go on and on forever!" Note: The first drop on Wild Thing exceeded 200 feet. Only I was bold enough to raise my hands in the whole group, and I was the visitor.

On June 21, I rode desperado with a rider I met named Mike, who was 14, and on his way with his family to Utah from Southern California to do some fishing. He caught sight of my coaster T-Shirt and invited me to ride with him. His reaction to Desperado's 225 foot drop was priceless as he yelled and screamed like mad. I tried to get him to raise his hands on the first drop but couldn't. Although after the first drop, he did raise his hands up, throughout the rest of the ride.

In Florida, on July 3, I met this young brunette at Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom, while waiting in line. I cannot remember her name, but she had to ride Space Mountain alone, simply because her parents did not want to ride. She was particularly interested in the fact that I was taking this rollercoaster tour. I could never forget her telling all about Space Mountain.

When we got to the coaster she rode in front screaming throughout the entire ride. As I left, she asked me to walk with her so I did. Little did I know, she wanted to introduce me to her parents. Pretty funny when you think she was a total stranger about half an hour previous. I guess the people in Florida are really friendly.

On July 14, I was in Virginia. I met a teen, who had to ride all of the coasters by himself, because his older brother was afraid to ride. We met on the Lochness Monster. He was intrigued with my trip, and asked if he could hang around with me. I didn't mind. We rode the Lochness Monster, and Apollo's Chariot. He screamed on both rides. He espcially liked Apollo's Chariot after I convinced him to ride the very front.

While waiting for the Big Bad Wolf, a suspended coaster, he stated that he preferred to ride the back, because he thought the back was the best. I asked "Have you tried the front?" and he told me he had not. So I convinced him to ride the front. His reaction paraphrased of course, "From now on, I will ride this in the front because that (the front) really kicks."

On June 25, in the line of Mr. Freeze, I met this couple. Since I had never ridden Mr. Freeze, the blond girl told me that I had to ride Mr. Freeze on both sides in the front and back to really appreciate it. She told me that the ride was a trip. Her husband also agreed.

I told the couple about my tour, and they were both impressed. They asked me what my favorite coaster was. I told them so far it was the Texas Giant. The blond told me that Mr. Freeze is much better than the Texas Giant.

Although I did not ride with the couple, I could see their reaction to Mr. Freeze. Their screams and yelling was loud, and unforgetable. It's so nice to see people having a great time.

By the way, Mr. Freeze at this time unseated the Texas Giant as being the best.

On my tour, I met several over confident rollercoaster riders, who claimed to have done it all, and trying to educate me, on how to ride the coasters. I said nothing to these riders and only thought to myself, if you only knew.

In Montreal at La Ronde, I overheard a cocky ride operator stating that he had riden all of the rollercoasters. As the conversation continued, someone asked about a few rollercoasters that he obviously had not ridden, and he'd say "that one really doesn't count". He then stated that he had ridden over 100 coasters. When nobody else seemed impressed, he changed that to 200, which then turned into hundreds. All he was trying to do was impress his friends, who were impressed. The problem was he didn't impress anybody else, including me.

At Six Flags America in Illinois, I met this couple, who thought they had been on all the coasters. These 2 characters rode Raging Bull with a frown repeating over and over, "This ride sucks". I said nothing because, I could not understand how a 200 foot drop at more than 70 mph could be so boring? I overheard the couple say that they had ridden over 100 rollercoasters. By that time, I had ridden 300 rollercoasters and I thought "should I tell them?" I said nothing, but I did look impressed. The woman then stated that Magnum XL 200 was better. So how could Raging Bull be so bad and Magnum XL 200 be so great when both travel at over 70 mph and have 200 foot plus drops? I'm sorry, but I don't get it.

In fact, throughout the course of my trip, I met several others who thought they too had done it all. Most of these riders were still working on their first hundred coasters. All I can say is even at 411 rollercoasters ridden, I still have a good hundred to go before I can come close to stating, I have done it all.

I met this cool mexican guy while waiting in the line of Raging Bull, who was with his sister. At first, he was not going to ride in the front because he thought the back was best. I told him that he should try the front. His sister had never ridden Raging Bull. I remember as we went up the lift hill his sister covered her eyes and as we plunged down the first drop of over 200 feet, she screamed loudly. By the time the ride concluded she was totally out of breath. I got a kick out of how she reacted to Raging Bull considering that she looked like she was ready to pass out after the first drop. Raging Bull is truely an awesome ride!

In California at Paramount's Great America, I met this couple who took on Invertigo. This suspended boomerang type ride puts your seat face to face with another rider if you ride in one of the middle seats. As the train went through the first three inversions, I noticed her face turn white as she freaked out from the effect. She started to look sick. Since I was looking at her, I wasn't too thrilled about her getting sick and throwing up. After going through the remaining three inversions. I noted she looked a even more queesy. Thankfully, she wasn't that sick.

In Branson, Missouri, I saw this father who tried to get his son to ride Thunderation. Thunderation is a mine train ride where some of the seats are turned around, This gives you the benefit of watching the reaction of other riders. Thunderation started fine, and the kid was laughing until we got to the lift. This poor kid thought there was a huge drop that followed this long lift. His father kept saying to him that there was no big drop, yet this kid just kept yelling, screaming and crying, "I want ot get off. I want to get off." When the kid found out the that there was no big drop he started to laugh. This kid loved Thunderation so much that he wanted to ride again.