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My first websites were www.danimation.com and http://thrillride.com/. Danimation was primarily forums for RCT, but had other forums for "real" coasters among other things, and had a really great tight knit community. Thrillride had excellent ride reviews from Robert Coker (who later published a book) but also included regular news pieces and the craziest and most entertaining rumors I've ever read.

www.screamscape.com has always been a great place for news and rumors as well, and I don't think the site design has changed since the early 2000's.

At some point in time Thrillride started forums of their own, but it was always a shitshow. I don't quite remember the timeline, but that eventually became www.thrillnetwork.com (which was also a shitshow) and Thrillride reverted to it's original purpose.

Coasterbuzz was always a great place for news and forums as well, even if the community was a tad cliquey.

And as usual there was likely hundreds of personal pages that have fallen by the wayside. I remember there used to be a a few pages just simply dedicated to all the links, and it used to be fun to browse them all, but it's all gone now.

rec. roller-coaster on Usenet predated everything, but I never browsed much on there (because I had no idea how to use it lol). I always wonder if I was missing out.

I always enjoy these trips down memory lane, but the older I get and the more consolidated the internet gets on these big social media sites (like Reddit) I start to wonder if the old stuff ever existed at all.

Ffs lmao I knew lmao everyone would be like hhhhhhphone hhhhh phone hhhh

also it is allowed to use a gopro if it is mounted tight to your hand chest or head hhhhh i made sure that it wont fall off

its a gopro with the hand mount its glued to my hand i made sure that it is tight hhhhhhhhh lmao hhhhhh

link to the mount: https://www.amazon.com/GoPro-Strap-Wrist-Mount-Official/dp/B00ZHDRHAG

(got the strap th0 hhhh)

You should always check with a doctor but from all the things you are describing it sounds like a lack of electrolytes/salt. Everyone constantly tells people that they have to drink water and lots of water but when you are at a park drinking plain water may be the worst thing you can do because generally people don't eat like they normally do and what little electrolytes they have get flushed out by the water. Soda isn't helpful either -- it is slightly better for electrolytes than pure water but the other ingredients cause you to feel like you thirst is quenched when it actually isn't.

There are two really great things for parks... the first is Thermotabs which you take while drinking water to get the sodium and the other I just recently found and works amazingly well is Pedialyte Sparkling Rush which you can take with you and just mix in a bottle of water. As a note, I buy regular 1L bottles of Pedialyte (or store brand) and drink on the way to the park but these are nearly impossible to deal with in the park. There are also regular pedialyte mixes that aren't the sparkling rush but I find the sparkling rush tastest great, is "light" on your stomach, and you don't have to mix it.

Let me be clear -- water IS important. Don't think you can just take the Thermotabs without drinking water but everyone always telling people to make sure they are drinking plenty of water is putting the emphasis in the wrong place.

I'm sure this has come up before, but I'm curious about coaster media that got you into the hobby like books, video games, movies, and tv specials. I know I and a few others were drawn in via Roller Coaster Tycoon (and this book too, in my case), but I'd like to know what other media's been particularly influential. I imagine RCT as being a huge breakthrough to the masses, but I have no idea if that's my nostalgia speaking or a statistically significant difference between the impact of that game and something like Planet Coaster.

My friend has this book on the Haunted Mansion. I haven't read it thoroughly, but it was pretty detailed and I liked it a lot. I wish they would have these kinds of books on other attractions.

I've told this story before, but I still love sharing it, and I assume there are some new folks around who'd appreciate it.

My uncle on my mom's side used to have access to discounted tickets to Dorney Park, and every year we'd get my mom's side of the family together to spend a day there. Usually the day would go off without a hitch - to wit, none of the rides were ever inactive, and only one of eight or so annual visits were rained out.

One year, however, our Dorney trip coincided with a heat wave. In an effort to ensure the success of the trip, my parents spent the preceding days trying to figure out how we were going to stay hydrated. My dad assumed that the park would provide complimentary water just to minimize the risk of heatstroke or dehydration or whatever among the patrons and rested on that assumption. My mother, not wanting to make any assumptions, decided to bring a backup plan in the form of a rather large water storage bag similar to the one listed here. How she expected us to access it is anyone's guess - were we supposed to find plastic cups somewhere, or just drink from the spout? - but despite (or because of?) my dad's derisive comments to her plan, mother held fast, and when Dorney day rolled around she carried in her handbag a massive plastic bladder of lukewarm water.

The weather that day turned out to be, as expected, hot. Not quite hot enough to be considered "oppressive", but still enough to have people diving for shade. Me being me, I wanted to start the day off with a coaster, but given that I was rather young at the time, the most logical option was the Wild Mouse. My sister followed, and only our parents accompanied us; the rest of the party had booked it to Wildwater Kingdom.

Perhaps this has changed since the early 2000s, but as a result of the park's family-friendliness, the ride's family-friendliness, and the ride's location close to the gate and along the main midway, Dorney's Wild Mouse tends to be unusually popular for what it is. Despite the heat, this time was no exception, and the three of us spent around ten or fifteen minutes in the (at that time) uncovered queue line, baking in the sun. When we got to the station, we handed our hats to our mother for safekeeping, Dad and I yielded the front seat to the ladies, and away we went toward disaster.

Now, before we entered the queue, my father had indeed found a park employee handing out free water. (Iced, no less - Cedar Fair takes care of its people!) Not one to admit defeat so easily, my mother had taken her handbag with her in line in case we spent enough time there to grow thirsty or overheated, in which case she could claim that her hydration plan had been validated and lord it over my father. However, thanks to my dad's efforts, the bag-o'-water remained unopened, sticking Mom with a useless piece of baggage. This led to a conondrum when we got to the station: the lack of an obvious safe place for personal items presented an obvious problem for my mother, who wasn't keen on anyone taking her bladder of tepid silliness for themselves. Mom weighed her options and, given that the Wild Mouse was tame enough to not repel the timid young mewtwo15026, decided to bring her handbag onto the ride.

Around the fourth hairpin, the handbag decided to overrule her decision and jettisoned itself into the queue line.

Once we returned to the station, my parents notified an attendant, who immediately retrieved the bag, mostly to put a stop to the tantrum I was throwing due to the loss of my hat. (Cedar Fair takes care of its people.) Sure enough, the multi-gallon missile-o'-water had burst upon landing, rendering itself completely useless and drenching everything else in the handbag. Fortunately, the projectile had stopped short of hitting any fellow patrons; considering the heat, I doubt anyone would have minded if it hadn't.

tl;dr: Mom stages an air-to-surface attack, accidentally invents the Roller Soaker.

This one is extremely dated (published in 1998 I believe) but it provides a great history of the roller coaster industry and is a bit of a time capsule in it's own right. Rides like Steel Force, Raptor, and Mantis are written as state of the art.

https://www.amazon.com/Roller-Coaster-Coasters-Twisters-Corkscrews/dp/078580885X

The one I really love is the Imagineering book. Not strictly coasters, but I still love reading it from time to time: https://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-Imagineering-Behind-Dreams/dp/0786883723

Wow thanks! I'm going to use this mic: https://www.amazon.com/Rode-NT-USB-USB-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B00KQPGRRE, would you recommend it?

My last trip to SFDK, I decided to wear a pair of my athletic/gym shorts, which have zippered pockets. They've since been deemed "my roller coaster shorts". They're lightweight, perfect to walk around in on a warm day and I never have to worry about what to do with my wallet, phone, keys, etc. Just zip the pockets up as I approach a ride and I'm done.

You can just search (Google or Amazon) for "sport shorts with zipper pockets", which should give you some good options. Here's an example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BN0HG1M/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_8r.xzbEVRCFEB

It's all about how you hold your weight and the restraint type. I am 6'5" and 341lbs(down from 395) with all of my height in my torso. One of my friends who has lost 200lbs so far because of his love for rides told me something that's kind of stuck with me. It's about where you can push the marshmallow. Unfortunately having a long torso and a gut works against us, if we had only had one of those it would be much easier to move the marshmallow.


On a whim I bought a compression shirt off of ebay for $10, and it's helped me fit on some restraints that I wasn't able to before. Here's a link to a shirt like mine.

It's also a matter of knowing the type of restraint, and the best seats for a bigger rider to sit. Unfortunately for alot of coasters with seatbelts, not all of the seatbelts are the same length. They are cut by hand and there is always some variance between seatbelts. One example of this is Wild Eagle at Dollywood, the only seat that the belt will buckle is the big boy seat on the inside of the right side row 4, the seatbelt is a bit looser there than the other big boy seats.

When you ride in the year also affects the length seatbelt, Cedar Point replaces all of their seatbelts at the beginning of the season. During the season the seatbelts are used and naturally stretch, so in the fall they are loser than they would be in the spring when they are brand new.

I've actually started a new subreddit for people like us who are trying to lose weight to ride coasters. Come over to /r/CoasterGains and we can conquer the walk of shame.

TL;DR: A long torso plus a belly can affect the ability for a rider to fit, it all depends on the type of restraints.

"Roller Coasters, Flumes and Flying Saucers" is my all-time favorite book about the amusement industry. The author gives a detailed account of the birth of Arrow Dynamics through the memories and anecdotes of Ed Morgan and Karl Bacon. Many of the stories in this book deal with the development of the original rides at Disney Land. I read it myself back in 1999, and recently read it again with my son.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0965735354/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_CIlJxb7JJDHGT

The former GM of cedar point, John Hildebrandt, wrote a book about his time working at CP from the mid 70's up to his retirement. It's a really good read and gives a point of view not many people see to the park. He describes some of the events they have done in the past, failed attractions, and Cedar Point's success while he was there. It is cool to read about how some of the park came to be how it is today and how much the park was shaped within the last 40ish years ago.

https://www.amazon.com/Always-Cedar-Point-Memoir-Midway/dp/099675041X/ref=asc_df_099675041X/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=266029226073&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1085671781061896269&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9060094&hvtargid=pla-572405282133&psc=1

Yes, they work great. I use this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003CJSFHQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_eha1Ab822DAB9

tl;dr: Zipper Cargo Pocket Shorts or something like the Flip Belt. If you have more than what fits in either of those and don't want to wear a fanny pack, just plan to leave it in a bin or use lockers for whatever works best to carry your stuff.

The American Roller Coaster is a fantastic read. It's 12 years old, with a ton of old coasters that don't actually exist anymore (for instance, Batman & Robin the Chiller spent several years in storage) and has a rather in-depth history of roller coasters in America, as you'd expect, loads of pictures, even a chapter on the history of roller coaster technology. I'm proud to still own a copy, even if the spine is a bit faded.

Haven't finished yet but really enjoying Always Cedar Point A Memoir of the Midway.

Shows a different perspective of Cedar Point then what I see.

It's a bit dated now, but Scott Rutherford's The American Roller Coaster is very well-written, informational and has plenty of interesting historical pictures.

Always thought they were cool as a kid, but then I checked out Roller Coaster by David Bennett from the elementary school library, and that was it for me.

For the US enthusiasts, I recommend reading Dick Kinzels autobiography.

https://www.amazon.com/Dick-Kinzel-Coaster-Amusement-Legacies/dp/0974332461

I think this is it but it's not red, yet when I look inside it looks very similar

My parents bought me this back in 2000, and it was formative in getting me into the hobby. Obviously, it's now 20 years old, but.

https://www.amazon.com/American-Roller-Coaster-Scott-Rutherford/dp/0760306893