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When did you ride your first "big" roller coaster?

furie

SBOPD
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
They didn't really exist when I was young :lol:

Corkscrew at Alton in 1980, opening first couple of weeks and I was 7.

I may have been on either Rollercoaster or Big Dipper at Blackpool before that, but I can't remember. I don't class those as "big coasters" though
 

marc

CF Legend
Re: When did you ride your first "big" roller coaster?

For me it was Big Dipper at Blackpool, I must have been 6 or something like that.

Other than that it was Corkscrew at Alton on the year it opened.
 

Rachel

Coaster MILF
Re: When did you ride your first "big" roller coaster?

Corkscrew at Alton Towers was my first coaster that went upside down so that was a pretty big deal to me.
 

CanobieFan

Strata Poster
I don't really know. I guess when/where I was growing up, we didn't really have many small-small rides. So any of the first few coasters I would have ridden would have already been full sized or what would be called medium sized now.

I've been going to parks and on rides all my life. I never "got into" coasters, I grew up with them as my parents would take me to 3-4 parks a year since, well, forever.

Possible first coasters for me -
Rudy's Rapid Transit - Santa's Village (not say... big.. but still bigger than your average kiddie coaster!)
Flyer Comet - Whalom Park (Back when a lot of smaller parks didn't even have height limits... If you had an adult you pretty much rode...)
Or... Yankee Cannonball - Canobie Lake (or possibly their Galaxi)
 

Jason Voorhees

Hyper Poster
^Yeah I never really "got in" to coasters either. I just rode a Crazy Mouse (cred #2) at 5 years old and just seemed to be in to them. I'm still growing up anyway, so I should have at least 150 creds by the time i'm olde with the ammount of parks my mom is taking me too.
 

oriolat2

Giga Poster
I rode El Diablo when I was about 8, although I don't class this as a "big" coaster.

My first big wooden coaster was Stampida when I was 12, and so was my first ride with inversions, Dragon Khan. It felt so good conquering both rides that had been teasing me for years!
 

wipeoutfan

Roller Poster
Yankee Cannonball at Canobie Lake Park when I was 8.

If that doesn't count, Bizarro at SFNE when I was 9.
 

caffeine_demon

Strata Poster
My first coaster was the scenic at Great Yarmouth (late 70s / early 80s), I can remember my dad, Grandad and nan telling me how when they first went on, they got half way up the lift hill and started saying they wanted to get off, I was determined not to do that.

I didn't, but it was close!

Shortly after, We went to florida, a year or 2 before epcot was built, and mum yelled all the way around space mountain (didn't do busch gardens), but I loved it!

We'd visit GY pleasure beach every year, they had one of http://flatrides.com/Ride%20Index%20Pages/fireball.html , but mum wouldn't let me go on it because i was "too small" (was probably over the min height though)

First looping coaster was corkscrew at alton, the first visit there(87 - 88ish, 4 man bob was there, wild mouse wasn't), mum was trying to keep it a secret, but a friend gave it away!

anyway - I've probably bored you now!
 

rollermonkey

Strata Poster
Yankee Cannonball was the first 'big' coaster I was too afraid to ride. I didn't ride anything bigger than Glissade until I was 19 and rode the Giant Dipper at Belmont Park.
 

Crossleyland

Roller Poster
I can't really remember my age but I know it was The Ultimate at lightwater Valley as my cousin dragged me on (before that i was like my brother and was terrified of most rides!) :D
 

Serena

Miss CoasterForce 2016
Staff member
Social Media Team
My first big coaster was Nemesis, aged 9, in 1997. It wasn't just my first upside down coaster, but also my first ride with a 1.4 height restriction which classed it as 'grown up' in my head.
 

Brookes

Giga Poster
I guess I was a bit late jumping on the coaster bandwagon. As a child, I was terrified of them and refused to go to Alton Towers. Then I went on a school trip to Paris at the age of 12, and with a bit of peer pressure and not really thinking what I was doing, I went on Trace du Hourra which I certainly considered big. I came off thinking it was actually really good, but I had been a little nervous. I also rode Tonnerre de Zeus as I had no idea what I was going on (you can't see much of it before you ride). This is when I started to get into coasters. On the same trip, I was somehow roped into going on Space Mountain: Mission 2 (I didn't like the sound of inversions), which was awesome. It then took another couple of years for me to get to the point where I would ride anything.
 

Auraofshadows

Roller Poster
As a kid, I was frightened of rollercoasters. I refused to go on even the small rollercoasters. I couldn't even go on The Flying Fish.

The first big roller coaster I went on was Rita, front seat. I think I was 14. It was a good experience. Took me another two years to go on something that had an inversion though.
 

EthC

Mega Poster
The Kraken was my first big coaster and I rode it when I was 9, got hooked on the big rides ever since :D
 

Smithy

Strata Poster
I remember going to American Adventure and wussing out on their Boomerang when I was really young, I remember going to Alton and chickening out of Nemesis and Oblivion but went on Corkscrew, second visit to Alton I talked up to my mates that I'd go on it so I couldn't back out. Not a clue what age we're looking at though, maybe 12/13?
 

rcjp

Roller Poster
Space mountain at Disneyland Paris when I was ten. My first ride with inversions. It's not massive but later that year I went to Parque Warner Madrid and rode some bigger ones. Superman atraccion de acero is still one of my favourite.
 
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