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Through Sentiment Only

MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
A recent thread asks for “Your Least Common Opinion.” This is sort of a very specific subset of that question.

What coaster do you love sheerly through sentiment or nostalgia, a coaster that you’d expect no first-time rider today to love?


For me, it’s Goldrusher at Magic Mountain. Childhood memories make that coaster sacred to me, but today it’s a rough, boring ride for most, and it’s been stripped of all its formerly beautiful, lush scenery. :confused:
 

JoshC.

Strata Poster
Antelope at Gulliver's Warrington. Rode it when I was 7, was my first woodie and I enjoyed. Remember looking a POV of it a couple years back and realized it looked terrible, but I still remember loving it.
 

JSM

Mega Poster
Santa Monica West Coaster. It was my first non-dragon wagon or wacky worm coaster and I've ridden it every year since I was 6.
 

Will

Strata Poster
The two I'll nearly always say - Lynet and Fluch von Novgorod. Admittedly, both are already very good on their own merits, but I have more of an attachment to them than most. Alas, the same Eurotrip 2009 magic didn't rub off on Daemonen or Piraten.

I also probably think Vampire at La Ronde is better than it actually is, down to the excitement of finally riding a North American coaster on what was already a fab holiday.

As Brits, we were all pretty gutted to see the back of Alton's Corkscrew all those years ago - it wasn't that great a ride, but it was iconic and the first big ride for a lot of us. I'm told the Dutch look at Python through similarly rose-tinted glasses.
 

Pokemaniac

Mountain monkey
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Den Aller Minste AKA Teeny-Weeny at TusenFryd.

Too small to be worth anything in any enthusiast's eyes. Too tiny and charming for me to ever let go of. Still sitting in my Top 10, over handfuls of coasters that probably offer much better ride experiences, strictly speaking.
 

Mysterious Sue

Strata Poster
Vampire at Chessington will always hold a special place in my heart. I'm sure it doesn't scare kids these days but I can remember thinking I was really brave riding it (and flaunting my Vampire pencil next day in school).
 

jayjay

Giga Poster
Antelope at Gulliver's Warrington. Rode it when I was 7, was my first woodie and I enjoyed. Remember looking a POV of it a couple years back and realized it looked terrible, but I still remember loving it.
I'll join you on this. It's slow, cumbersome and rough, but childhood nostalgia is a powerful thing. See also Whirlwind at Camelot, which was my first properly "big" coaster.
 

Sandman

Giga Poster
Not many existing coasters I can think of for this particular thread, so here are 2 that are no longer with us:

1. Texas Tornado at Frontierland Morecambe. My first proper rollercoaster at my first ever park, as well as it being a super nostalgic period of my childhood. I have a very specific memory of it (which I often reminisce about). My mum used to go shopping at Morrisons (next door to Frontierland) and from the car park you could see bits of the coaster as it raced through a wooded area at the back of the park. The sound of the screams followed by a car full of arm-waving loonies ripping past always gave me a sense of adventure before I even properly experienced theme parks.

2. Dragon Coaster at Camelot. A weird but wonderful ride, my fondness of it stems from the views I'd get as we trundled around the circuit. Camelot used to be very magical to us kids, and the jousting is another particularly vivid memory for me (although it isn't a ride so can't possibly count it ;) ).

*This is the 'bit' of Texas Tornado I used to watch eagerly from my car. Sadly I also have the memory of the track being torn apart from the exact same angle :(

79aed04178eb46864327cf6d025d224f--morecambe-tornado.jpg
 
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MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
Den Aller Minste AKA Teeny-Weeny at TusenFryd.

Too small to be worth anything in any enthusiast's eyes. Too tiny and charming for me to ever let go of. Still sitting in my Top 10, over handfuls of coasters that probably offer much better ride experiences, strictly speaking.
Only “handfuls” and only “probably”?
 

MestnyiGeroi

Giga Poster
My coaster count is somewhere in the twenties. There aren't that many coasters in the periphery of Europe, and I don't travel much.
Ah, fair enough. I can see having a nostalgic love of Teeny-Weeny, but it was hard to imagine the actual ride experience competing with the Mavericks and Shambhalas of the world. :D
 

Will

Strata Poster
1. Texas Tornado at Frontierland Morecambe. My first proper rollercoaster at my first ever park, as well as it being a super nostalgic period of my childhood. I have a very specific memory of it (which I often reminisce about). My mum used to go shopping at Morrisons (next door to Frontierland) and from the car park you could see bits of the coaster as it raced through a wooded area at the back of the park. The sound of the screams followed by a car full of arm-waving loonies ripping past always gave me a sense of adventure before I even properly experienced theme parks.
I'd totally forgotten that ever existed - doesn't look like the greatest layout in the world, but the idea of being a child watching a coaster from a supermarket car park is a very appealing one :) I'm sad this was spited before I was properly into travelling for coasters.
 

Coaster Hipster

Giga Poster
I don't have sentimental attachment to most of my coaster 'firsts'. Goudurix was my first inversion coaster and... well, it was bad even back then. Big Thunder Mountain Paris was my very first coaster, and but it wasn't really the reason why I became an enthusiast. Black Mamba and Goliath are, respectively, my first B&M and Intamin coasters and it's safe to say most first-time riders will appreciate it.

I remember having a fairly ok experience on Cobra at La Ronde back in 08' and I am kinda fond of its minor historical significance as a Giovanola/Intamin Stand-Up, so that could count as a though sentiment only I guess.
 

GuyWithAStick

Captain Basic
American Eagle. Most people see it as a rough racing woodie from the early 80s. Yes, parts are rough, but aside from that, it has some solid floater, some nice force, and a great sensation of speed.
 

tomahawk

Strata Poster
Viper at SFMM. It was the coaster I always wanted to ride from my first visit when I was 7. Once I finally rode it, I loved it. It's absolute crap and the corkscrews are the worst, but I just love it.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

henryjwillis

Mega Poster
Vampire at Chessington will always hold a special place in my heart. I'm sure it doesn't scare kids these days but I can remember thinking I was really brave riding it (and flaunting my Vampire pencil next day in school).
+1 for this! Also Shockwave at Drayton Manor. Was my first ever 'big' coaster and remember me and my friends running back round to ride it multiple times at the end of the day whilst ignoring angry calls from teachers telling us the coach was waiting.
 
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