As for what is and what isn't, I covered it a little.
I think if there's no height limit (just a "child must be able to hold themselves upright" rule), then that's a true kiddie coaster.
As soon as you start needing to be a certain height, it becomes tricky. I mentioned Alton's RMT above. For a powered coaster, it's got a very fast, powerful helix. I really wasn't sure about Maxi-Minor_Furie going on it (I needn't have worried). It's got a 0.9M limit, which means that really you're talking three or four years old to go on it. However, due to the nature of the beast, I'd say it isn't a kiddie coaster, but a "family coaster" (one you take kids on when they're at school age probably - which they'll enjoy even as they start hitting the bigger rides).
There's no hard and fast rule though. Obviously I get a good idea of the coasters and I tend to know roughly if I think they're suitable (I really wasn't sure about Cobra at Paultons for MMF).
I mentioned in the other topic about what younger children want though. They want to be entertained, and generally in a very simple way. While MMF enjoyed his ride on Cobra, his favourite coaster was Flying Frog and he enjoyed the bunny car ride almost as much as he enjoyed Cobra.
The reason is because Cobra overloaded him. It was too much. Yes, his reaction to the thrills was positive, but there was too much for his young system to deal with. Too many changes in experiences thrown at him. While each one (being high up, the twists, the helix turns, the bunny hills) are something he loved, altogether in a short space of time meant it just wore his system out.
Flying Frog is a simple "woosh, bounce" kind of thing. Plus it has a cute frog on the front
That makes it a much more appealing ride to MMF, even though he enjoyed the single ride on Cobra more.
Kids like simple repetition (it's how we learn), so input needs to be simple. Even a quick blast of enjoyment is not as satisfactory to a child as something plain and enjoyable repeated.
I hope I've made myself clear on that? :lol:
So kiddie coasters that win are ones that do a single kind of thing well, or have lots of interesting things to look at (so Dragon at Legoland is good, as is Big Thunder Mountain).
East Coast(er) General said:
Snoo, is the new kiddie coaster at Bowcraft worth the trip? It's only 30 minutes from my house, so maybe we could stop by in a few weeks when furie comes to visit.
Looks like we'll have to make an exception to our rule when the kid & I go to Germany later this year.
LOL Jerry! I'll be able to tell you how good it is! I'm an expert now on these things
Minor_Furie and "The Kid" can stand at the side hanging their heads in shame at us :lol:
