Coaster Dad Season 6: Spin & Barf

Dear Coaster Friends,

Another season down and we have already hit the ground running on season six. While last season had us trying out a lot of family style rides it ended with us at Dorney, last year, where we stepped it up to full on spin and barf rides. I have almost exclusively avoided them since I was much younger, but now I am rediscovering them as my daughter has been enamored by the speed!

Sticking with classics like the music express, scrambler, down draft, troikas, wave swings, and scooters has given her the chops to start asking to go on basically everything that looks fast. It also has her incredibly jaded with past family rides like the balloon race, and anything else that just sorta meanders around. She has drawn her own line and has declared the rides for kids lame. I personally was extremely surprised that I enjoyed the troika at Dorney Park I am genuinely looking forward to the next one. I have been really focused on coasters for myself so anything that might disrupt the flow or amount of laps I could handle has been pushed to the side. However the spin and barf rides are really the foundation of any park and I am seeing them through new eyes, so to speak.

On to the the main course, the coasters. She still loves the wild mouse, the focus of last year. However she also retried the Phoenix at Knoebels and this time it went from a one time accomplishment to let's marathon that mutha fucker, I'm paraphrasing of course. Every so often she will start chanting "Phoenix, Phoenix, Phoenix", at home, like she could summon it to her like Beetlejuice. This new found love for airtime, which she calls the bumps, gave her the courage to try Thunderbolt at SFNE. She thought it was pretty good, but she seemed less impressed than with the Phoenix. The shock of our last visit to SFNE was she tried her first looping coaster, Wicked Cyclone! She called the ride terrifying, but she seemed really happy with herself for trying it out. She also shamelessly bragged about it to anyone who would listen, so hopefully she will try it out on a future visit and she is also now a pass holder so we will be back. I recall my first "big" coaster with inversions was Steamin' Demon at Great Escapes, an Arrow looper. I sort of expected a similar first for her or maybe Superdooperlooper, since we live close to Hersheypark. The fact that she could claim her first big coaster was an RMC is totally wild.

Our future trips are becoming more and more exciting as she has cleared 48 inches. She is starting to check off more and more parks, and I can't wait to plan even more. The next big stop will bring us face to face with a different kind of mouse, Micky.

Author
Jeff Goodman