What is your mentality towards riding kiddie coasters?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. If you do coaster counting, one means that many enthusiasts tend to resort to in order to up their coaster count is riding kiddie coasters. One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that enthusiasts tend to have different mentalities towards riding kiddie coasters and the level of care they have about getting kiddie coaster credits. Some have the mentality of “cred’s a cred”, and will travel very long distances to get the latest big apple or go-gator added to RCDB, while others tend to confine their kiddie coaster riding to when they’re available in larger parks, or even don’t ride kiddie coasters at all in some cases. So my question to you today is; what’s your mentality towards riding kiddie coasters?

Tell you what, I’ll split this into some categories:

• Category A: I’ll always ride kiddie creds, regardless of distance or surrounding attractions. I want the +1s!
• Category B: I’ll ride kiddie creds if they’re close to my location or a location I’m visiting, but I wouldn’t travel any long distance for them.
• Category C: I‘ll ride kiddie creds if they’re in a larger park I’m making a broader visit to, but I would never visit a park with the sole purpose of riding a kiddie cred.
• Category D: I don’t generally ride kiddie creds at all.

Which category do you fall into?

Personally, I’m going to be controversial and say that I actually fall into Category D; I don’t generally ride kiddie creds at all. I think “never” is a strong word, but these days, I practically always avoid them. I did try taking a Category C mentality for a bit, hence why things like Troublesome Trucks and Octonauts sit in my count, but I was discouraged from this after various embarrassing experiences on kiddie coasters, and I now sit firmly in the camp of “I don’t do kiddie coasters”. In fact, when totting up the potential credit tally from a new park, I exclude kiddie coasters by default these days. For instance, while Europa has 13 credits in total, I’ve always done my cred maths assuming I’ll be getting 12 coaster credits on my April trip (assuming no major reliability issues or crowds or anything, of course), because I just remove B-a-a-a from my mind.

I get why people do kiddie coasters, and I have no objection to people doing kiddie coasters, but I personally find that the embarrassment outweighs the good feeling from the +1 for me, and even excluding that, I’ve personally settled into the mindset that I’d rather do a more significant non-coaster within a park, or a re-ride on a coaster I particularly liked, than do a kiddie cred. And even if I had less issue with doing kiddie creds, I wouldn’t ever see myself edging higher than Category C or B, personally; I’m not sure I ever see myself doing long road trips with the sole intention of riding kiddie coasters. But I don’t judge those who do; each to their own, of course, and you will always have the upper hand over me cred count-wise!

But which category do you fall into when it comes to your mentality towards riding kiddie coasters?

 

[rob666]

Not controversial at all Matt, completely normal.
Grown ups should not ride kiddie coasters unless they have kiddies to look after.
Anything else is a bit weird, and deserves the funny looks.

 

[Thameslink Rail]

Generally I only go on kiddie rides if there is little to no queue for them otherwise I don't think it's fair on the toddlers.

 

[MattyH]

I mean a creds a cred.

I wouldn't travel specifically for a kiddie cred. If I'm visiting a fair and there's one I'd ride it but only if someone is with me to either ride it or laugh at me.

Again with parks with only kiddie creds in, there's a load that don't warrant a visit however, as with the misery trip if you can find a load of these parks and combine them into one trip with bigger parks inbetween it's okay.

Sure might get funny looks, especially when you get stuck due to the bar not releasing but if you're having fun and keeping out the way then what's the harm?

I'm sure the owners of the parks/rides won't mind earning a couple of extra quid from the odd enthusiast either so both sides benefit.

 

[Poisson]

Cat B: I'll go to one if its within a sensible distance of something else (See Misery Trip)

Always need a friend with me though, just to avoid accusations or anything of the like.

 

[Shaggy_Dog_]

I have kids so if we are a park together I’ll go on the junior and kiddie coasters with them. For example we just did Grand Prix Racers (same ride as Red Force Junior) at Gulliver’s Valley last weekend and I’ll definitely go on say Octonauts with them. But when it comes to Wacky Worms and Big Apples, I’m not so bothered if I don’t ride them myself, especially if it’s at a fair where they are pay per ride rather than something included in a park ticket.

 

[Brad97]

Cat D: I've got better things to do when I'm at a park. I still haven't ridden Octonauts.

 

[John]

I'm in group C. Generally speaking I don't visit parks just because they have an RCDB entry - there has to be something there that genuinely appeals, beyond adding 1 or 2 to an arbitrary number. There's a significant number of UK parks I haven't ever visited (and have no interest in visiting) because they don't have anything substantial enough to draw me in. On the other hand, I'll usually ride all the coasters whenever I visit a park for the first time, provided there's enough time to do everything else and it doesn't involve waiting over half an hour for a SBF Figure-8 spinner (looking at you, Energylandia)

There are, naturally, exceptions. I have what I call the "shame threshold" where self-consciousness causes me to avoid the smallest coasters. I don't have a strict cut-off point - it can vary by how busy it is and who I'm with. Related true story: Adventure Island put on an enthusiast event when they opened Kiddi Koasta, which comprised cheap wristbands and 30min Rage ERT. I felt like I should probably ride the new coaster whilst I was there but in doing so I only just avoided being the only adult on the ride with a train full of brownies (in uniform). I was next in the queue but elected not to speak up when the host asked if there were any single riders to ensure I was not on the same train.

 

[Danny]

The idea of people travelling to obscure parks in Korea just to ride a Wacky Worm to get into the four-digit figure is, quite frankly, laughable.

 

[Rick]

People who ride the kiddie coasters on their own are the people you don't want anywhere near your children, in my experience.

 

[Dan]

Category C for me. Most embarrassing kiddie credit was the worlds first Intamin coaster, Wilderness Run at Cedar Point. I’m not sure if they still do this but back when a few of us visited they didn’t allow adults on the ride however if you went to the museum and asked a staff member they would write you a permission slip to show the ride host so you could go on it. Never again!

 

[Rob]

Category C for me. Most embarrassing kiddie credit was the worlds first Intamin coaster, Wilderness Run at Cedar Point. I’m not sure if they still do this but back when a few of us visited they didn’t allow adults on the ride however if you went to the museum and asked a staff member they would write you a permission slip to show the ride host so you could go on it. Never again!

I think they have stopped this completley now and you cannot ride without a child. So we got lucky, or not depending on your point of view!

Category C for me as well though. I generally only go to parks that are worth visiting for one reason or another, but if possible I will try and ride all coasters in the parks that I do visit.

 

[D4n]

I went for Category A although obviously there are limits.

I have to be with somebody and be able to make a day of it. For example we headed 3 hours north to Ocean Beach on Saturday to tick off the creds despite them all being rubbish, but had a wander down the seafront and a meal as well. It was a decent day out, certainly preferred it to visiting Blackpool again.

I wouldn't have done that same trip alone. It would have been tragic.

 

[pluk]

I don't care what anyone thinks, if there's a ride I physically fit on I'm getting on.

People who ride the kiddie coasters on their own are the people you don't want anywhere near your children, in my experience.

I know it's said half jokingly, but this is rubbish* and a crap attitude. It's why some people have complexes. Why make people feel bad about having fun? It's not great.

*Most abuse happens within family and positions of trust, most people having fun on a kiddie coaster are simply having fun on a kiddie coaster.

 

[Dave]

Generally speaking most theme parks have at least one outlet that sells alcohol so I have never been bored enough to ride the kiddie coasters, except when I take my niece to theme parks.

 

[Benzin]

A group of enthusiasts who already have the cred watching the person who arrived late riding up on his own? Priceless.

Limit is anything that doesn't allow adults (through height limit or requires a kid to ride). I'm usually with someone anyway so it doesn't really matter. However I have made a friend of mine ride Jellikins at Fantasy Island because they came under the max height limit. I still do not have that cred and never will.