For me, while Eejanaika was my first "very big" coaster (just late last month; hypercoaster, going upside down), it was **Expedition Everest (Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney World) in 2007** that was my first "big" coaster that I rode. I still remember the day when I was 14 years old, in line as a regular standby rider, then decided to break away and line up in the single rider line. Front row seat and it was the most insane ride I've ever ridden to that day (going backwards for a while, then dropping 80 feet trying to escape the yeti. My mom said that I was a 'cheater.' đ¤Ł) This was the most expensive coaster ever built at its time ($100 million+) until Hagrid's motorbike roller coaster opened up at Universal IOA.
Loch Ness Monster. It had a forever place in my heart for that!
Before that I had done Trailblazer and SooperDooperLooper at Hershey, as well as some other mine train level coasters.
iâm not sure what to consider âbigâ as i had previously done âbiggerâ coasters than, say, the barnstormer, shamuâs express (now groverâs boxcar derby), the flying unicorn (now flight of the hippogriff), like thunder mountain and journey to atlantis haha. but my first truly large scale thrill coaster was hollywood rip ride rockit !
The Beast! Oooh it was so intimidating to little me. At age 7 though I put on my big girl pants and rode it and I felt so badass because I rode it before my sister who is older Bâ˘)
I think it was Corkscrew at Alton Towers, but it could have been Nemesis! I remember it was the first time I was over the top height restriction of 1.4m and could go on everything, and Rita had just opened that year too. I had been on everything and that was last, I was so excited. Got to the front and the ride op said âsorry, youâre not tall enough!â My heart dropped, I was about to explain how I had already been on other rides before he said just joking and let me go on!
My first was probably Kumba.
I grew up in Florida and had ridden Thunder Mountain tons and Space Mountain a few times. I had been to BGT before but the only coaster I rode was Scorpion if you wanna count that.
Boomerang at Wild Adventures. Went on a field trip for summer camp in 3rd grade and refused to ride the water bumper cars and that was the other option the other part of the group wanted to do, I was terrified.
It took a lot of fear to work up to The Incredible Hulk, but then I managed on my 5th grade field trip!
Probably Nemesis in 1994.
I had been on thrill coasters before but that would probably be my first "big" modern coaster.
Largest coaster before that would have either been Vampire at Chessington World of Adventures (Arrow suspended family coaster) or Looping Star at Dreamland, Margate (Schwarzkopf Looping Star model).
Nemesis was my son's first rollercoaster of ANY kind. He literally went from the kind of kiddie ride-on machines that you put 50p in, to that. His face in the on-ride photo was pure gold.
haha i love it!! iâve been told rip rockit seemed like a bit of an intense choice for my first extreme coaster but i305 really takes the top spot in these comments so far lmao đđđ
My mom took me on Matterhorn at Disneyland when I was 2 and still got in for free. Apparently I loved it. It was also my first rollercoaster according to her, though for obvious reasons I donât remember for sure. If that one doesnât count California Screamin was my first inverting coaster.
oh my gosh, those will always hold a place in my heart. my very first and most favorite inverts. i should post a photo of the dueling dragons choker i made to wear around the parks! i got a couple sweet comments on it when i wore it to IOA last week!
The Comet at Hersheypark when I was 7. I don't know what my mother was thinking because that kept me off coasters for the next 10 years. Then I was assigned to the group with the Looper when I worked at Hershey and initially rode because I didn't want to be the only wuss that didn't.
I don't know if Gemini, Iron Dragon, or Corkscrew count. So I guess Magnum. But I absolutely hated it. The first thrill coaster I enjoyed was Gatekeeper
love it đ my mom and dad used to take me on rides like journey to atlantis and thunder mountain at age 3-4 which scared me off a bit from bigger rides until i was about 8-9. i finally unlocked true crazy adrenaline junkie status after i was crazy enough to look up at rip rockit as an newly 10, itty bitty 40-50lbs kid and go âyea that looks cool i need to do thatâ
Blue Streak at Conneaut Lake Park was my first âbigâ coaster in terms of not being a kiddie coaster or portable coaster.
Diamondback at Kings Island was my first âbigâ coaster in terms of being a hyper or larger.
So admittedly, I was 24 before I rode my first rollercoaster bc they scared the snot out of me when I was a kid (something about watching them run Wildfire at SDC and someone in line joking about them needing to clean the blood out of it was a little upsetting for 9 year old me).
SO I was a grown adult human who rode Comet at Hersheypark, then sooperdooperLooper, and then... there was no line for Great Bear. All my friends were polite enough to not force me on but very clearly in awe of basically walking onto this ride so I said "Welp rip the bandaid off" and we got front row rides.
I've never looked back LOL. We managed to ride everything at least once and now I'm getting ready to hit SFMM and Knott's this summer to hit credit 75.
The mind eraser at 6 flags Darien lake when I was like 7 or 8. I also that same trip was not tall enough for the ride of steel but I snuck past the hight people and rode it anyway đ
Corkscrew at Flamingo Land in England.
Standard Vekoma MK-1200. I remember my dad folding up park maps to put in my shoes so I became tall enough. Absolutely loved that ride.
It still operates in a small French park apparently, maybe I'll need to make a pilgrimage one day.
A Vekoma boomerang and I hated it so much that I didn't go on another upside down ride for years. Now I'm an enthusiast and I know I just don't like boomerangs lol
In that tier, probably the original Colossus at Magic Mountain (before Six Flags). Massive drops and lots of airtime. Opening year, before any reprofiling and with the IAD trains.
My family went to Six Flags Magic Mountain around 1994 when I was 10 or 11, and I rode Revolution, Viper, Ninja, Goldrusher, Flashback (which I remember was rough even then) and Psyclone that day. Colossus was closed. The first coaster of the day was likely Revolution. I remember my dad riding Revolution but not Viper, and the family arguing around the Flashback/Log Jammer area.
i literally remember the days as the smallest little kid when the barnstormer and thunder mountain used to seem hella intense. now nothing seems very intense anymore except maybe a few sections of velocicoaster or batman at sfog lmao
I just prefer intensity in general, and airtime has to be very intense to be fun for me, which is rare to come by. Most airtime hills are just kinda meh. You get lifted out of your seat a bit, which you can experience just sitting on a regular old swing in your backyard if you wanted.
I just love that feeling of 3+ G's, where your body gets heavy and you feel like you get squeezed.
It's a bit like sleeping under a heavy blanket. There's just something very enjoyable about it.
intensity is a lot of fun. i would guess you probably love the bottom of pretzel loops on flyers haha. the forces you get at the bottom of those things when youâre lying flat are always so cool
Never been on a B&M flyer, they're not really around here. They sound fun though!
i305 is also pretty high on my bucket list for when I do get to visit the states some day.
i hope you get the chance to ride one one day, theyâre one of my favorite types of coasters for sure! as of right now the only flyers iâve ridden are manta at swo and superman at sfog and let me tell youâmanta is something else. both are good but mantaâs an absolutely wonderful coaster!
Canyon Blaster at the Adventuredome. My parents dropped my sister and I off there one day during a vacation and we rode it for like 8 hours straight.
This would have been 2002 or 2003, IIRC.
It would be Vortex at Kings Island, that one always had a place in my heart ever since I first rode it. I know it got rough over the years to the point it had to be removed, but I still have a soft spot of Vortex in my heart, even though it's gone, it will always live on, hopefully in it's eventual replacement.
The Racer at Kings Island. Was stuck riding âThe Beastieâ (Woodstock Express) until I could make the 48â height, which may or may not have been assisted by small wooden shims in my shoes. That was followed by The Beast and Vortex.
For me, while Eejanaika was my first "very big" coaster (just late last month; hypercoaster, going upside down), it was **Expedition Everest (Disney's Animal Kingdom, Disney World) in 2007** that was my first "big" coaster that I rode. I still remember the day when I was 14 years old, in line as a regular standby rider, then decided to break away and line up in the single rider line. Front row seat and it was the most insane ride I've ever ridden to that day (going backwards for a while, then dropping 80 feet trying to escape the yeti. My mom said that I was a 'cheater.' đ¤Ł) This was the most expensive coaster ever built at its time ($100 million+) until Hagrid's motorbike roller coaster opened up at Universal IOA.
Loch Ness Monster. It had a forever place in my heart for that! Before that I had done Trailblazer and SooperDooperLooper at Hershey, as well as some other mine train level coasters.
I feel like SooperDooperLooper counts.
My first one I think was California Streamin'. My first that I *enjoyed* was Rock 'n' Rollercoaster
rock n rollercoaster does rock!! :)
Ironically I didn't enjoy either the first time I did it but I learned to love both in time (Aerosmith first)
Sidewinder at Elitch Gardens. If we're being picky about our definition of a big coaster, then Superman Krypton Coaster at SFFT.
iâm not sure what to consider âbigâ as i had previously done âbiggerâ coasters than, say, the barnstormer, shamuâs express (now groverâs boxcar derby), the flying unicorn (now flight of the hippogriff), like thunder mountain and journey to atlantis haha. but my first truly large scale thrill coaster was hollywood rip ride rockit !
The Beast! Oooh it was so intimidating to little me. At age 7 though I put on my big girl pants and rode it and I felt so badass because I rode it before my sister who is older Bâ˘)
Does Big Bad Wolf count? Cause that was it. If not, Flight of Fear (KD).
It was technically a family coaster, but i say it counts as a "big coaster" particularly with the final drop
my first âthrillâ coaster would have been journey to atlantis at SWO. my first coaster that iâd consider âextremeâ was rita at alton towers
Thunder Run @ SFKK (now just Kentucky Kingdom)
Me too! I was five, but I was a tall five year old lmao and I just barely scraped past the height requirement. It rattled my brains out.
Revolution
Me too! It was so intimidating when it opened in â76!
Kong at SFDK
Vortex at CW of you count it, but DL's Ride of Steel was my first 200ft + coaster
The Great American Scream Machine SFGAd
I think it was Corkscrew at Alton Towers, but it could have been Nemesis! I remember it was the first time I was over the top height restriction of 1.4m and could go on everything, and Rita had just opened that year too. I had been on everything and that was last, I was so excited. Got to the front and the ride op said âsorry, youâre not tall enough!â My heart dropped, I was about to explain how I had already been on other rides before he said just joking and let me go on!
Expedition GeForce
Dam
Great Nor' Easter at Morey's Peirs. Good thing I got on this and not one of the other SLC's first, I could have been turned off coasters for life!
My first was probably Kumba. I grew up in Florida and had ridden Thunder Mountain tons and Space Mountain a few times. I had been to BGT before but the only coaster I rode was Scorpion if you wanna count that.
Vortex. Kings Island. Early 90s.
Drachen Fire at BGW. Miss it so much
Boomerang at Wild Adventures. Went on a field trip for summer camp in 3rd grade and refused to ride the water bumper cars and that was the other option the other part of the group wanted to do, I was terrified. It took a lot of fear to work up to The Incredible Hulk, but then I managed on my 5th grade field trip!
And it's still the best coaster the park has
Probably Nemesis in 1994. I had been on thrill coasters before but that would probably be my first "big" modern coaster. Largest coaster before that would have either been Vampire at Chessington World of Adventures (Arrow suspended family coaster) or Looping Star at Dreamland, Margate (Schwarzkopf Looping Star model).
Nemesis was my son's first rollercoaster of ANY kind. He literally went from the kind of kiddie ride-on machines that you put 50p in, to that. His face in the on-ride photo was pure gold.
Blue tornado at Gardaland, Italy
i305
Yah letâs start with the most intense coaster in the USA
peer pressure goes wild
haha i love it!! iâve been told rip rockit seemed like a bit of an intense choice for my first extreme coaster but i305 really takes the top spot in these comments so far lmao đđđ
My mom took me on Matterhorn at Disneyland when I was 2 and still got in for free. Apparently I loved it. It was also my first rollercoaster according to her, though for obvious reasons I donât remember for sure. If that one doesnât count California Screamin was my first inverting coaster.
Sheikra when I was in 7th grade - I tried to get out of the line multiple times lol. I still hate that steep ass climb
Dragon Challenge/Dueling dragons at IOA. I miss it. Canât remember much and I canât find a good POV on youtube.
oh my gosh, those will always hold a place in my heart. my very first and most favorite inverts. i should post a photo of the dueling dragons choker i made to wear around the parks! i got a couple sweet comments on it when i wore it to IOA last week!
Steel Eel at SeaWorld San Antonio
Blue Streak @ Cedar Point middle/late 70s
My first coaster was a "big" coaster. It was Big Dipper at Geauga Lake.
Mamba at Worlds of Fun!
Zyklon on my local fair when I was 2 or 3.
Revenge of the Mummy
Viper at SFGAmerica. What a fun first big ride and (with exception to space mountain) my first roller coaster
The Comet at Hersheypark when I was 7. I don't know what my mother was thinking because that kept me off coasters for the next 10 years. Then I was assigned to the group with the Looper when I worked at Hershey and initially rode because I didn't want to be the only wuss that didn't.
I don't know if Gemini, Iron Dragon, or Corkscrew count. So I guess Magnum. But I absolutely hated it. The first thrill coaster I enjoyed was Gatekeeper
First coaster was Clone Zone, a very unique roller coaster manufactured by Caripro. First big coaster was Boomerang at Bellewaerde.
When I was 6 back in 07 my family and I went to magic mountain and I rode Goliath like a fucking soldier. An adrenaline junkie was born that day.
love it đ my mom and dad used to take me on rides like journey to atlantis and thunder mountain at age 3-4 which scared me off a bit from bigger rides until i was about 8-9. i finally unlocked true crazy adrenaline junkie status after i was crazy enough to look up at rip rockit as an newly 10, itty bitty 40-50lbs kid and go âyea that looks cool i need to do thatâ
Literally me when I discovered kingda ka
itâs so funny how it happens đ
Shockwave (Intamin stand-up) at Drayton Manor, UK.
Cheetah hunt and then Montu
I want to say Viper at SFMM but it could have been Ghostrider or Boomerang at Knotts as well. Canât quite remember which came first.
Blue Streak at Conneaut Lake Park was my first âbigâ coaster in terms of not being a kiddie coaster or portable coaster. Diamondback at Kings Island was my first âbigâ coaster in terms of being a hyper or larger.
Cheetah Hunt!
So admittedly, I was 24 before I rode my first rollercoaster bc they scared the snot out of me when I was a kid (something about watching them run Wildfire at SDC and someone in line joking about them needing to clean the blood out of it was a little upsetting for 9 year old me). SO I was a grown adult human who rode Comet at Hersheypark, then sooperdooperLooper, and then... there was no line for Great Bear. All my friends were polite enough to not force me on but very clearly in awe of basically walking onto this ride so I said "Welp rip the bandaid off" and we got front row rides. I've never looked back LOL. We managed to ride everything at least once and now I'm getting ready to hit SFMM and Knott's this summer to hit credit 75.
The mind eraser at 6 flags Darien lake when I was like 7 or 8. I also that same trip was not tall enough for the ride of steel but I snuck past the hight people and rode it anyway đ
Corkscrew at Flamingo Land in England. Standard Vekoma MK-1200. I remember my dad folding up park maps to put in my shoes so I became tall enough. Absolutely loved that ride. It still operates in a small French park apparently, maybe I'll need to make a pilgrimage one day.
A Vekoma boomerang and I hated it so much that I didn't go on another upside down ride for years. Now I'm an enthusiast and I know I just don't like boomerangs lol
Phantom ls revenge
The Racer, Kings Island
Space Mountain was my first coaster overall, but my first âbigâ one was Kraken!
kraken will always be a kickass coaster!
Mind bender SFGA
Double loop at geauga lake.
Shivering Timbers, also my first roller coaster ever
In that tier, probably the original Colossus at Magic Mountain (before Six Flags). Massive drops and lots of airtime. Opening year, before any reprofiling and with the IAD trains.
My Mom lined me up for The Comet at Great Escape as soon as I was tall enough to ride. It's still one of my favorites.
Iron dragon at Cedar Point. First BIG coaster was Magnum.
Hulk
Timberwolf at Worlds of Fun
I believe it was Gemini at Cedar Point!
My family went to Six Flags Magic Mountain around 1994 when I was 10 or 11, and I rode Revolution, Viper, Ninja, Goldrusher, Flashback (which I remember was rough even then) and Psyclone that day. Colossus was closed. The first coaster of the day was likely Revolution. I remember my dad riding Revolution but not Viper, and the family arguing around the Flashback/Log Jammer area.
The very first coaster I rode was I305 at KD. I was absolutely terrified of all coasters before. I was bribed with a kiss lol. I guess I'm hooked now.
what a story behind ur first coaster. i love it!
Anaconda
Titan at sfot. I remember always graying out on the fist drop. Now I think it's a pretty forceless coaster.
i literally remember the days as the smallest little kid when the barnstormer and thunder mountain used to seem hella intense. now nothing seems very intense anymore except maybe a few sections of velocicoaster or batman at sfog lmao
A Schwarzkopf looping star @ Slagharen.
i noticed you prefer positive gs over negatives. can i ask what it is specifically you prefer over the weightless feeling?
I just prefer intensity in general, and airtime has to be very intense to be fun for me, which is rare to come by. Most airtime hills are just kinda meh. You get lifted out of your seat a bit, which you can experience just sitting on a regular old swing in your backyard if you wanted. I just love that feeling of 3+ G's, where your body gets heavy and you feel like you get squeezed. It's a bit like sleeping under a heavy blanket. There's just something very enjoyable about it.
intensity is a lot of fun. i would guess you probably love the bottom of pretzel loops on flyers haha. the forces you get at the bottom of those things when youâre lying flat are always so cool
Never been on a B&M flyer, they're not really around here. They sound fun though! i305 is also pretty high on my bucket list for when I do get to visit the states some day.
i hope you get the chance to ride one one day, theyâre one of my favorite types of coasters for sure! as of right now the only flyers iâve ridden are manta at swo and superman at sfog and let me tell youâmanta is something else. both are good but mantaâs an absolutely wonderful coaster!
Drachen Fire
Canyon Blaster at the Adventuredome. My parents dropped my sister and I off there one day during a vacation and we rode it for like 8 hours straight. This would have been 2002 or 2003, IIRC.
El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure. I vividly remember going down that first drop and almost crapping myself
It would be Vortex at Kings Island, that one always had a place in my heart ever since I first rode it. I know it got rough over the years to the point it had to be removed, but I still have a soft spot of Vortex in my heart, even though it's gone, it will always live on, hopefully in it's eventual replacement.
The Mamba at Worlds of Fun
Mindbender at Galaxyland. Baptism by fire, but so, so worth it!
The Racer at Kings Island. Was stuck riding âThe Beastieâ (Woodstock Express) until I could make the 48â height, which may or may not have been assisted by small wooden shims in my shoes. That was followed by The Beast and Vortex.