Coaster eras you miss the most

[Sandman]

Just thought it'd be good to get a discussion about different periods of time in the theme park/coaster world. I regularly reminisce about fond memories I've made as a coaster enthusiast, and I think it helps when you're away from the coaster community and whatnot.

Do you miss any particular period in time the most? Is there any trip or moment you'd absolutely love to relive? For me it'd probably be June/July 2006, when I'd plan all my trips to Pleasure Beach during class with friends. I remember Bling being relatively new at the time, and it always seemed to be sunny every time we'd visit. Used to love a midday ride on the Log Flume too, especially on those clear sky days where you knew there was a possibility you'd come off relatively unscathed.

 

[GuyWithAStick]

Tbh, this currently is a high point in my coaster life. I guess summer of 2014 was a fun year. I went to SFStL, SDC, Cedar Point, SFA, Herhsey, got an RMC 5 minutes away, and found a love for Duck Donuts(BEST DONUT SHOP EVER).

But for times I wish I was alive in, I really think that the late 80s/early 90s was a fantastic time. It was the highpoint of Arrow, the start of B&M, and a ton of other things that I really wanted to ride existed.

 

[Bat Fastard]

Not an era for the industry as a whole, but rather and era for me. 2004-2007, I lived in Georgia, and Orlando was a 2 hour trip away. We would go there almost every summer, and went to Disney and Universal a handful of times. I was a kid back then, so I wasn't an enthusiaist at the time, but man I wish I could go back and live near all those parks again. There's something about Orlando I love. Disney and Universal may not be the best for the roller coasters themselves (more so Disney, Universal has great coasters, but not too many), but those parks are incredible experiences and I want to get back down there so bad. Miss those times. Now I'm stuck in Kansas, and the nearest decent park (WoF) is 3 hours away.

 

[furie]

I don't remember the time - so you'll have to wait for ECG to come in and give you a personal perspective - but the golden age of the woodies in the 20's and 30's.

Some absolute nut-job coasters were built due to the designers pretty much making it up as they went along. Some fantastic designs by Fred Church, John Miller, Charlie Paige and Harry Traver - mostly running without any kind of restraints.

I'd love to go back and re-experience the 80's, but the rides were mostly crap. There were still some good old rides kicking around though, but the 2000's are the best era for me in terms of ride quality available and the amount of time I spent at parks.

 

[SimonSays99]

The 80s german funfair era were we had tons of Schwarzkopf coasters - LoopingStars, DoubleLoop, TripleLoop, Thriller, Himlaya, Katapults - and amazing flat lineups by HUSS, Weber, Mack and Schwarzkopf. Still remember going around the Hamburger DOM midway and we had:

- Schwarzkopf Monster II
- HUSS Pirate
- Mack Walzerfahrt
- Schwarzkopf Orbiter
- Weber Flying Carpet
- HUSS Enterprise
- HUSS Break Dance
- Schwarzkopf Thriller
- Schwarzkopf Katapult
- Weber Traumboot
- HUSS Troika
- HUSS Break Dancer No.2 (large variant)
- Zierer Waveswinger
- HUSS TopSpin
- Mack Hexentanz

I quite miss those times as there are lesser and lesser big flats on the funfair circuite due to costs

 

[Hyde]

Personally, living in California really afforded some great trips to SFMM, Disneyland, Knott's, Universal, and Vegas.

As for actual roller coaster eras, we are at the greatest peak of roller coaster design and creation. The Second Golden Age of Roller Coasters is credited as beginning with The Racer in 1972, and has powered through to this day. That's 44 years worth of roller coasters!

It would be cool to venture back to the wooden coasters of the First Golden Age. So many of these have been lost to time and history, with poor record of their design or experience.

 

[Ben]

I genuinely don't think it's ever been better. Like most technology we may be nostalgic for stuff that at the time was amazing but we still have the majority of good stuff and better stuff is constantly getting built.

 

[Howie]

Easy one for me this: the Alton Towers glory days of the 90's, when it was under the stewardship of Tussauds' rather than nasty old, money-grabbing Merlin.
I wasn't very well travelled back then, Alton, Blackpool and Draytes' were the only places I'd been to. In those days, Alton Towers was pretty much the only theme park you'd ever need (or so I thought). All the classics were still there - Corkscrew, Black Hole, Beast and my beloved ThunderLooper... and then, in 1994, Boom! Alton, Wardley and B&M unleashed Nemesis on the world. Man, they were exciting times!
A few years later they followed it up with Blivvy. Wow, what on earth will they come up with next?
As it turned out, the next thing they came up with was Air. Bit of a let-down. Things changed after that. The glory days were over.
It was also about that time that I discovered the RCDB, so that's also when I began looking further afield for new places to go, starting with this 10 loop thing at some place called Thorpe Park....

 

[BigBad]

I'm reminded of an Axe commercial quote. "There is a problem in the world: roller coasters are getting better.

Look at what's opening up this season: Lightning Rod, Mako, Taron, Flying Aces, Valravn, Storm Chaser, a couple of rides named Joker, and Lost Gravity quickly come to mind. After getting two gigas in 2000 and none since, Cedar Fair has built three in six years, and for all we know, they're going to build one at Kings Island for 2017 or 2018.

I'm with Ben; these are the good old days.