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Episode 53 - Sean Flaharty Spills the TEA (Part 2)
18 Plays4 years ago
This week on the premier comedy roller coaster podcast Sean Flaharty joins Ben and Zach to discuss a legendary fart in the flying saucer in the Flight of Fear queue at Kings Island, The incident on the Raven at Holiday World during Star Raven Mad 2003, How the National Roller Coaster Museum could've opened at Kings Island (and ACE declined) and much more!
Actually, we're the worst roller coaster podcast on the internet!
Find Sean Flaharty on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCC74P4rJUa80ZSdWW9GiaTw
To learn about Sean's work with Veterans visit: www.eyesoffreedom.org
To help out a great friend of ours and a genuinely awesome person, Tommy Faircloth, during his current time of need please visit: https://gf.me/u/y45gw9
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Transcript
Podcast Creation and Anchor.fm
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey Ben, making a podcast is pretty tough, right? Yeah, you gotta like record stuff and then you gotta upload it and it sucks. I know, it's a fucking bummer and it's a lot of effort, but I just found out about Anchor.fm, which lets you record and edit directly through their website or app, as well as upload and publish to platforms such as Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
00:00:21
Speaker
So anchor.fm is not a porn site, right? Not yet, because it's still free, too. So, you know, they'll start charging once they got only fan style content. Well, that's good. That's good to hear. So if you want to jump on the train before it's all titties and pussies, download the anchor app or go to anchor.fm to
Promoting Patreon and Community Interaction
00:00:39
Speaker
get started. Hey, your favorite coaster sucks listeners. We want to take a quick sec to talk to you about Patreon.
00:00:45
Speaker
Do you have a dollar sitting around your house right now? Well, if so, you should join our Patreon at patreon.com slash your favorite coaster sucks. What else are you going to do with that dollar? There's not a whole hell of a lot you can do with it. But I'll tell you with that dollar, you can join our monthly zoom calls. Those are so much fucking fun. Aren't they, Ben? Hell yeah. Pay for friendship. It's what we're all doing nowadays.
00:01:08
Speaker
Hey man, it's community. We got a nice little community here built up. And yeah, it's behind the paywall, but a buck a month. We think almost anyone can handle that, right Ben? Hell yeah, you can't even get like a McChicken unless you like live in a state with no sales tax, so. So why not throw it our way? Throw us literally a bone. At patreon.com slash your favorite coaster sucks.
Comedic Award Discussions
00:01:33
Speaker
America, we are at a crossroads.
00:01:37
Speaker
Tensions are high, division is running wild. That is why your favorite coaster sucks, is asking for you to vote. Hey, uh, Zach, the election already happened. Yeah, I, I knew that. Okay. I was, um, talking about the golden ticket awards. They aren't having those this year. That voting happens in July. Yeah, no. I, I know, I know that. Okay.
00:02:07
Speaker
I mean, I want everybody to vote on the Mitch Hawker wood and steel pole. They haven't had that in like 10 years. Okay. All right. Um, okay. I'm asking everyone to vote for us on the kids choice awards. No, you're not. Are you even eligible for that? I don't know. Look, dude. All right. Okay. All right. I just want everybody to vote in the lays flavor contest.
00:02:38
Speaker
I guess. Yes. Yes. America, do your part this year and vote in the Lay's flavor contest. Yes. I don't know. I came up with a slogan, suck the vote. I thought, suck the vote. Did you even vote? Yeah, man. Joe Stein. Uh, there was an election like this year. What? Okay. Fuck it. You know what? You're hopeless. All right. Let's just play the episode.
Humorous Podcast Introduction
00:03:11
Speaker
Welcome to the worst roller coaster podcast on the internet. Now let's join Ben and Zack as they tell you why your favorite coaster sucks.
00:03:28
Speaker
And Zach and some joke about erections. I'm Ben and I have to pee really bad. That could also be a joke about erections. For sure.
00:03:42
Speaker
Yeah, I like to think about that when I'm listening to a Coaster podcast, being that I generally have an erection for half of it. Holy shit, if you have an erection that lasts half as long as one of our episodes, you could call a doctor or like email, ride this one podcast and tell them about it. Starting only fans.
00:04:05
Speaker
Seriously, might have some crazy shit going on. I have no fucking idea. How many erection jokes can be made in the intro?
00:04:14
Speaker
Um, it's a grower, not a shower. Nice. It's classic. I can't think of any more. What are some good direction jokes? You know what? No, actually, I just remembered something in this episode. I don't know if we covered it in the first half or the second half, but we talked about replacing your phone ringtone with the two girls, one cup theme music.
00:04:36
Speaker
and trying to see if, like, anybody recognizes it, but doesn't admit that they watched the movie. You know what I'm talking about? So...
00:04:44
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I don't remember which part that was in either. So either it's coming up or you heard it last time. And that's actually a great set because I will catch everyone up to speed real quick on where we are at coming into this conversation. I am in the middle of texting a mutual friend of Sean and ours named Ray when we come into part two of this recording.
Guest Introduction: Sean Flaherty
00:05:08
Speaker
stories about Ray farting in the Flight of Fear queue line and on the racer. That's where we started off with Sean Flaherty. I don't remember where it all goes from there. There's some fucking I'm going to I'm going to say this as clear as possible. There is some juicy tea in this episode. Wouldn't you agree, Ben? Yeah. So, you know, don't burn yourself. Sip lightly.
00:05:37
Speaker
exactly exactly this part two here is where all the uh this part two part of the episode is after we had been talking already for i don't know two and a half hours so this is when shawn really uh started opening up more and was was more free flowing with the stories and specifically some names too
00:06:03
Speaker
And I got to say, I did because I, I like Sean. He's a friend, good dude. And I would do this for any of our guests. I texted him before I put this episode together and said, Hey, you're cool with me putting everything in here that you said. Right. And he said, yep, everything's good. So it got Sean's blessing. No, it's good.
00:06:29
Speaker
Well, I mean, we're not total fucking dicks. If you come on our show and you spill some serious tea, and then you say, hey, maybe not that thing, X, Y, or Z, we can work with that, you know? But in the case of Sean Flaherty, there is no X, Y, or Z. You're getting all the tea direct. I had a great time talking to
Theme Park Trips and Community Interaction
00:06:51
Speaker
Sean. What about you?
00:06:52
Speaker
Yeah, it was a fun episode. I did not expect we'd be like talking with them for like six hours. Yeah, it was a long night. And, uh, I don't even remember what I drank. That's like, that's like with long episodes, like once it's done and I realized that it's like 11 30 and I was like, Oh, fuck.
00:07:11
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's the thing, especially when it's a marathon episode like this one was it's hard to keep track. I know I maybe got up, got a refill on my water or another beer or something. I don't even know, you know. Right.
00:07:25
Speaker
We're sitting here talking, it was a great time. Um, and we will be having Sean back on because we're going to premiere his fully edited Coaster. I think it's called Coaster 99 or 2001. I don't remember what year we'll give you the details once we know, but that's going to be fun.
00:07:46
Speaker
We're going to do our classic Your Favorite Coaster Sucks style commentary and of course release the full video for free on a Dropbox that'll be available. That'll be a bunch of fucking fun. Look for that soon. Nice. That'll be a fun one to do. Yeah.
00:08:01
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I think maybe if we don't have a guest in one of our scheduled spots soon, we'll do another video commentary episode. It's been a minute. Those are always a lot of fun. I do want to say, let us know. I'll give us a quick plug real quick up top. If I can hit us the fuck up, we're on all the socials, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr. Your favorite customer sucks at Gmail. You can leave us a voicemail at 312-572-9552.
00:08:31
Speaker
Or of course you could reach us at your favorite coast, your socks.com or by leaving us a review on whatever app you use to listen to podcasts. Hit us up. Tell us what you want to hear, man. We, we, uh, we strive to deliver what everyone wants to hear. Hope we're hitting it out of the park, but I know we're failing miserably. So that's okay.
Encouraging Listener Engagement
00:08:51
Speaker
As if you always have fake Mount Olympus reviews.
00:08:57
Speaker
Sure. Absolutely. We'll take all bad park reviews. If you've got a good one star park review, real or not, send it our way. We love them. You know how to get a hold of us. I got to give quick shouts to one of our listeners because he hooked me the fuck up after my visit. Mark Michael Barbosa, I believe it was. Sorry, I don't want to spend time looking for it, but shouts his his Instagram is
00:09:25
Speaker
Coaster idiot Michael he hooked it up for your boy. I saw a millennium force patch at Cedar Point by Steel Vengeance Didn't see another one all fucking day at any shop So he he was able to get one for me and send him my way so shouts to him
00:09:41
Speaker
those yeah man yeah yes indeed i'll talk real quick about my trips did cedar point did king's island halloween and closing day respectively halloween is cedar point was great but i did have a fast lane plus so that definitely makes it much better
00:10:00
Speaker
Closing day, Kings Island was fair because a lot of the major rides were down a bunch. But Orion is fucking dope or a roller coaster podcast. I figured I'd lead off. We get that done in the intro. Right on. Well, it's good to hear Ryan doesn't suck. No, Orion's dope. It gets a it gets a full on thumbs up from this guy. What? How cold was it when you were there?
00:10:26
Speaker
It was above 40, like 42 to 45 the whole time. Okay. It was mad windy. I wonder, I wonder how that affected the actual height of the ride then. There might've been some shrinkage in play. I mean, cause when you factor in how much taller it is, you know, cause it's not like it's just shrinking from the base that the whole thing would be shrinking, you know?
00:10:53
Speaker
All right. Well, I don't want to put you to sleep with the shrinkage talk. Oh, shrinkage. Yeah. I'm I am not feeling that right now. Yeah. Let's let's not do the shrinkage. Maybe we can. I mean, I got a turtle turtle mode. You're poking out.
00:11:15
Speaker
It's a slow crawl. All right. Well, you know, how many erection jokes can we make in the fucking intro? We're going to find out. We I think we may have. I don't know if you've got a better one. If we missed one, let us know. We'll cover it soon, but we will not finish it soon. All right. OK. Oh, OK. All right. I have to be done with these. Yeah, it's kind of hard to do.
00:11:38
Speaker
Let's finish up and clean up and get to the episode. We'll be talking to Sean Flaherty here for a bit. We got some great stories coming up in here, y'all. Go check out Sean Flaherty on YouTube. He has an awesome channel. And I was actually in his most recent vlog where he goes to Kings Island. He also rides the Blue Flash in there, which rip R.I.P.
00:12:05
Speaker
to him, not the ride. Um, but yeah, you'll see your boy in there and a nice little plug. So check that shit out. Uh, also real quick, gotta say go, go, go, go, go, go. Vote. No, we covered that. My dumb ass is already
00:12:30
Speaker
Go get out and help our buddy, our really great friend, Tommy Faircloth.
00:12:36
Speaker
I wanna spend a moment talking about this. Tommy's a great dude. I know a lot of folks in the Coaster community know Tommy. We got the link in the episode description down below to where you can go to his GoFundMe page currently. He's unfortunately battling cancer currently and we just wanna send some love to Tommy. So I kicked in some money over there.
00:13:04
Speaker
And I really hope if you're moved enough, you know, Tommy, he was on one of our episodes a bit back. Check that out. That was a great episode with a lot of great T2. And not T2 like at Kentucky Kingdom, I meant T as well. But Tommy's a great friend and we hate to see him struggling. So we hope that maybe you'd be moved enough as well to go help him out.
00:13:28
Speaker
in his time of need right now. And Tommy, if you're listening, man, all the all the love and good vibes in the world to you. We love you, brother. We're here for
Personal Updates and Podcast Challenges
00:13:37
Speaker
you. Positive vibes. And yeah, I hope for the best. Yeah. Likewise. So love love to Tommy Faircloth. You're a homie. And if you're a listener, please, please consider hitting the go fund me and kicking in a few bones for our homie. He's he's good people.
00:13:58
Speaker
Ben and I have known him for years. Shit, we, we probably wouldn't be as close of friends if it weren't for the gap. No, we were good friends before the gap, but the gap was still a very significant part like of that time.
00:14:13
Speaker
Well, that's true. We'd probably still be pretty close, but I I always think about like those like crazy shit posting like post touring. Oh, yeah. Where we'd be like talking and just like post touring the fuck out of the gap. Yeah, I do remember that.
00:14:32
Speaker
I remember, I mean, it was just insane how like accounts there had like hundreds of thousands of posts. Yeah, that's right. And it was like, here's, it's like the post tours of the week and it'd be like someone who would have like 25,000 or some shit or like 5,000. Yeah, I remember that cause
00:14:54
Speaker
It was like a big deal to be in the top 10. Yeah. And our buddy Chris had like 58,000 posts or something. Oh yeah. Yeah. That sounds about right. And I think he was the top poster. Yeah, probably.
00:15:08
Speaker
We'll have to see if we can get him on here. We got a whole bunch of gap stuff we have to schedule. And maybe, um, maybe we could try to get Tommy back on here at some point. Yeah, it'd be fun. But yeah, I don't know. We're gonna, we got anything else up top for the intro here?
00:15:26
Speaker
Uh, um, I've got nothing. You're in Denver now. Yeah. Thank God. Um, everything's cool. Everything's great. One weekend. So I'm finally kind of settled feeling pretty normal. You were a few days from moving when we recorded this episode. So,
00:15:45
Speaker
Oh, that's right. Yeah. Oh, shit. That's right. We recorded that the Thursday before I left. Yep. I think damn. I don't know how the fuck that move happened, but it finally finally happened. It's weird to think about like it's over now and it's like, oh, thank God. Well, congratulations. I'm glad you're, you know, feeling good in Denver. Yeah.
00:16:08
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So I don't know. We're we're still kicking here. Your favorite coaster sucks. We ain't going anywhere. This is
Episode Introduction with Sean Flaherty
00:16:16
Speaker
going to be a fucking rough winter for everybody. So buckle the fuck in, y'all. Yeah, things could get a little weird. Yeah. You didn't know we'd be trying to keep it up during the whole intro. God damn it, I suck. All right. Well, is it time we just get to it?
00:16:35
Speaker
Let's, let's get to two girls, one cup or the episode of Sean, whichever one, whichever one happens to pop up next is a surprise except if you, if you haven't seen two girls, one cup in a while, maybe revisit it. You might get a new perspective on it than you'd had before.
00:17:04
Speaker
I'm not even going to... Oh, by the way, it's a very graphic website, so don't go there unless you're fucking weird, so...
00:17:14
Speaker
Yeah, anyway, we, uh, we're gonna get started talking with Sean Flaherty here. Where we pick up, I've just texted our buddy Ray, and, uh, we pretty quickly launch into everything else, so enjoy, leave us feedback, there's plugs at the end too. Go check out Sean, help out Tommy, wear a mask, wash your hands. Right on. Yeah.
Social Media Jokes and Personal Stories
00:17:51
Speaker
bench and I are talking to Sean clarity about you. And thank you for saying that correctly. Everybody gets it wrong. Sean Flaharty. They put cheese in there. Flaggerty. Come here. You know. Oh, good Lord. Which is fine. It's a weird name. So he says flate of fear saucer. All right. You'll see. Okay. All right. So Coaster
00:18:21
Speaker
N... M... Met... Holy shit, I can't pronounce this name. Uh, Coaster and a Met Mark. Coaster and a Met Mark. And it might be a... Alright, uh, he says, what is your favorite beer when eating pizza?
00:18:36
Speaker
Yes. No. You're going to answer probably only the first time I ever. I think it's the only time, the only first time I drank an entire pitcher of beer was the only way I was eating pizza. So did you ever go to Louise? No, I know about it, though. OK. Yeah. Because I only lived two hours in the park, so I didn't stay up there very long, like after park close or whatever. I just go right home. OK. All right. Let's see.
00:19:03
Speaker
Scott Levine, SCT Levine. Hey, Scott. He says, how did you get the idea to start Theme Park Review? Nice try. Well, it was a great idea, but then Rob stole it from Sean. Yeah. Well, here's the thing. I mean, I remember Theme Park Review being just like trip reports with photos.
00:19:26
Speaker
And I was in a lot of that older stuff. Like when he moved to Florida, we would hang out down in Florida. And it was just like a photo trip report type of page. And that literally was like the last time I'd been to that site. That was it.
00:19:44
Speaker
So then I know he has a forum, you know, I, I was, we were talking about worlds of fun earlier and the marketing guy, uh, was, we were in his office after we, we did the off-ride shoot of Fowler and he goes, Oh, there must be another enthusiast here. And I'm like, really? And he's like, yeah. And he showed, he turned his monitor around and it was a picture of my car that was on theme park review. That's literally the only time I've been like on the forum and they were making fun of cause I had a coaster plate on it. So.
00:20:14
Speaker
Ray texted
Humorous Food and Travel Stories
00:20:15
Speaker
me back. He said, ha, ha, ha. Don't let him forget the racer drop and turn around. I told you, I told you. I wonder what the source was and was it by chance burger cane onion rings? No way. It was, it was, it was skyline chili.
00:20:36
Speaker
My god that reminds me of another race story so on the gap they used to have these they would give like gap money For different things you could post well I think a lot of it came from sending dick pics to Tommy. Oh, no
00:20:54
Speaker
But that's at this point, it's a long time ago, so it's all purely speculation. Anyway, they would have auctions where people would put things up. And I remember I bought a can of skyline chili from Ray using cap dollars. Oh, so there we go. So there we go. Bring the full circle. Absolutely.
Coaster Experiences and Debates
00:21:17
Speaker
All right, Ben, there's a few from Facebook if you want to take those. So, yeah, Daniel P asks, what is the best on ride soundtrack and why is it Tika Waka? Who is Tika Waka? I have no idea.
00:21:32
Speaker
Uh, best on ride soundtrack. Um, I don't care totally much for the ride, but, uh, rip ride rocket, because I can listen to Pantera while I'm riding or, you know, um, black label society. So I'm going to say that that's solid. Um, yeah, I mean, you can choose your own. So that's a plus. Yeah. So, uh, chance K or asks, uh, free spin skyrocket to and boomerang fuck Mary kill.
00:22:04
Speaker
Um, skyrocket to fuck and I've only written like two of them, uh, marry a free spin. I've only written one of those and that was apparently the most intense one there is. And that's in Japan, um, because it just spins nonstop. Uh, and boomerang fucking kill those. I'm not a fan. I agree a hundred percent with that. There are a couple of boomerangs I've written that were decent and I've actually rewritten them, but usually I'll write a boomerang for the credit and never even look at it again. Yeah.
Opryland and Dippin Dots Stories
00:22:30
Speaker
I would love to see a boomerang right now done.
00:22:33
Speaker
with the new Vekoma way of doing things and seeing how that would be. Yeah. Not one of those junior boomerangs, but like a full one. I also hope they revisit the giant inverted boomerang because Deja Vu is still like one of my favorite co-series. It's an intense ride, man. Yeah, I would love to see like a new generation giant boomerang, especially come to America. Yeah. Yeah. Not likely, but I'd love to see it. Sure. Absolutely.
00:23:03
Speaker
So, uh, Josh M asks, uh, did you ever get a chance to visit Opryland? No, I got close to it, but I never got to write. I never got to go there. I didn't realize. I didn't realize Opryland had that really bizarre indoor coaster. That's on, that's at Bobby on land. Oh, the Vekoma thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I read that one at Bobby land or however you say it, I wrote that. Oh, is that, is that the exact one?
00:23:31
Speaker
Well, I think it's just a, uh, like a clone. Oh, okay. Yeah. I could be wrong, but I think it's a clone. I think there was only two of those built. Okay. Yeah. It looks fucking weird. It's very weird. So, uh, Robert asks Dippin dots and is it still ice cream of the future? It never was part of the future. No, I mean, I, it was, uh, well,
00:23:57
Speaker
Not that this is too much information because I am on your podcast anyway, but I did IAPPA in 2004 and I went to the Dippin Dots stand because they were giving out free samples and they gave me this huge bowl of like cookies and cream Dippin Dots, which was really tasty. But then like a
Bizarre Coaster Community Tales
00:24:15
Speaker
half an hour later, I was in line for like, they had this mini Sally dark right there that you could do. And dude, I almost launched a sea pickle in my pants. I had to get out of that line and run.
00:24:26
Speaker
to the bathroom and I was in there for a half an hour. So I have not had Dippin' Dots since that moment. Wait, I want to revisit, uh, launch the sea pickle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. That's a new one, but I like it. I got that from Howie Mandel out of all people. Okay. One of his things. Yeah. My favorite term for that is like, uh, I don't know, give birth to a hammer handle.
00:24:56
Speaker
I've heard ass gnome, I've heard all kinds of stuff. I don't even know if it still exists. I'm sure it does, but do you guys remember rate my poo.com?
00:25:07
Speaker
No, it was just people that took pictures of their shit and posted it on this thing and people would rate it and they had some horrible like somebody literally crapped out like a gnome it looked like a gnome in the bowl and They had one where somebody just took a dump on top of the tank like on the the lid of the tank at a gas station And it was like the 15 incher So it is horrible man. Was that um crazy shit calm and
00:25:34
Speaker
I remember crazyshit.com
00:25:44
Speaker
Oh, here. Well, so God, again, I won't mention names, but this, this
ACEO Tour and Hotel Stories
00:25:52
Speaker
is classic. Okay. Um, on the ACCO tour, the last day, uh, one of my friends that was rooming with somebody he didn't want to room with, he was just sick of them. He said, I'm getting my own room for the last night. I'm sick of this. So he booked his own room. And then when he went to get his stuff out of the other room, the guy was gone, his roommate. So.
00:26:10
Speaker
He took the biggest dump in the bathroom, like in the toilet, and didn't slush it, and then kept the lid open, and then turned the heat on in the room and walked out. So I don't know what happened. I have to ask. We did a commentary episode where we watched Rob Alvey's video of that trip and just did some commentary for it.
00:26:38
Speaker
They went on and on and on about how shitty this fucking hotel at Blackpool was. Oh, my God. It was a nightmare. Pottons. Oh, my God. That place. It was like a holiday camp, they called it. And it just wasn't comfortable. Some of the rooms didn't even have bathrooms in them. You had to go down the hall to go to the bathroom like in like a dorm or something. Oh, yeah. Our room had a bathroom.
00:27:06
Speaker
But every night you get back from Blackpool, wherever we were at, because we stayed there for quite a few days, and they would hand you a bagged lunch when you'd walk in. And it had an apple, a cheese sandwich, and a little juice box. And every night, they were so proud that they were handing those out.
00:27:26
Speaker
And then like after like the last day, they were just like everybody was just like, we got to get the hell out of here. So we went from that to the the hotel on property at Alton Towers. So it was like night and day. Yeah, that hotel looks fancy as fuck. It is nice to the elevator. Every floor has its own theme song for one of the rides in the park and it has all like shows and stuff in elevator. It's badass. Oh, nice. Yeah. That sounds awesome.
00:27:54
Speaker
OK, because they like just kept complaining. I'm like, this really, really. They rightfully had a reason to complain. I mean, it was I was sick as hell. Like when we stayed there, I had a really bad cold. And so I would like to leave Blackpool and walk down. I mean, it was walking distance of the park. It was only like, I don't know, maybe not even a mile away. And we'll just take a nap man. And I hated it. It just was not a comfortable place. It's been torn down, I believe.
00:28:23
Speaker
Well, I guess that's a good thing. Yeah. I mean, it was, it was the most budgeted place of the entire trip for sure. Shit. Well, all right. Then I guess that segment, cause there's like a whole segment dedicated to that. I've never even seen that video. Like I, I have a lot of stuff. Like I made my own version of that stuff. Like I, back then I was putting everything on DVDs with audio commentary and subtitles and bonus features and all that stuff. And I just never were like released
Media Days and Coaster Events
00:28:50
Speaker
them. I just gave them to friends and I have a,
00:28:53
Speaker
something like eight or 10 hours of footage from that trip. And he's a lot of it. That's kind of where we had a bit of a falling out. So. Well, if you're interested and especially for our listeners, go back a couple episodes and you'll find not only did we provide commentary for the entire thing, we also very selflessly provided a Dropbox link where you can watch the entire video for free. Oh, shit. All right. I'll have to check it out.
00:29:23
Speaker
So that's, that's up there. Yeah. I bit the bullet and paid Rob, uh, I think 15 bucks for a couple of those old ones. And then, you know, I did the heroes thing and uploaded them to Dropbox for free.
00:29:40
Speaker
Well, hey, it is what it is. But how many years has he been making money off of those with like copyrighted music? I think he can take the hit for 20 year old videos at this point. I'm sure. Yeah. I mean, that was one of the reasons why, you know, you couldn't really do that stuff. I mean, you could. There was no copyright infringement when you're just handing them to people, you know?
00:30:01
Speaker
Well, yeah, and I think the thing is, it's just like it's such a small operation that he's pretty much just flown under the radar with that. Yeah. Yeah. And that's fine. I don't like hate the guy. I'm not going to report him for that shit, but.
00:30:17
Speaker
In the name of fun, I'll take his video and release it for free. I mean, you know, I gotcha. I got to ask. We've been asking this question a long time, but I think you probably may have the best answer. Do you have any buffet horror stories? I actually.
ACE Involvement and Controversies
00:30:36
Speaker
Don't think I do. And the main reason for that is because I've never been like, are you talking about like a buffet at events?
00:30:45
Speaker
like mainly coaster related, but, you know, more broadly as well. Not that I can remember. Uh, give me a couple more minutes and maybe I'll think of something, but I can't think of, I mean, I've witnessed a lot of the phase, obviously, cause all the ACE events I used to do, but I never saw anything bad, I guess, or I'm just not thinking right now.
00:31:11
Speaker
Well, then how about, how about this one then? Cause this, this is, I think you'll, you'll have a good answer for as well. It's like, what's like the worst media day or enthusiast event or like opening day. And it was kind of humorous. I felt really bad for the park, but your part great America. Um, and 2003 they opened up Superman. Okay. Um, and then the next year they opened up that Mardi Gras section.
00:31:38
Speaker
Yep. And I went to the media day for that and hardly any of their new rides were running, but their spinning coaster wasn't even certified by the state yet. So they allowed us to ride at one time and then they felt bad because there was nothing else to ride. So they opened up Superman for the rest of that day. So their media day for their new area was overshadowed by the Superman.
00:32:01
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, cause, um, I know like there's a, there's the whole thing about enthusiasts complaining about media days and it's not for them. And you know, people thinking that's ERT. Um, but it's always nice when a part kind of does that. Cause it's kind of like, uh, you know, shows that they care about guests or, I dunno. So that's cool.
00:32:27
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it was, it was a lot of, I mean, there's, I used to do media days all the time, especially when I was the PR guy for ACE and stuff. But, um, that's another, I mean, media days are not coaster events. I wish more people would really realize that. Cause there was a lot of people complaining at that particular media day event saying, Oh, we're not getting enough rides, stuff like that. Cause some, somehow, I guess we've become like the roller coaster tea podcast as well.
00:32:55
Speaker
And that's fine with us. I mean, all right. I think that's what happens if you just don't take this whole thing very seriously. Eventually you end up just.
00:33:06
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, I like to have fun here, but I mean, at the same, you know, when you sent me the original, um, the, the invite for this and you were like, you know, we're pretty controversial and all that stuff. And I'm like, well, I don't know how controversial I can be because I'm not, I'm not generally a rude person, I guess. And I'm not saying you guys are rude, but there, this feels very open and relaxing and it's, it's, it's been a lot of fun, man. Well, we, we, we are glad you're here and we're glad you, uh, you're enjoying this. Oh yeah, man. It's been great.
Handling Holiday World Incident
00:33:36
Speaker
Oh, oh, Ben, this is what you were talking about. These got edited out of the releases we had. Oh, really? Yeah. I think I know exactly what in my release. I think I know exactly what you're talking about just by. Yeah. Well, they were in a video, so I guess we can talk about it.
00:34:00
Speaker
Um, it's, it's, I think that's from Phoenix, right? Uh, no, I think it was that from holiday world. Oh, it's Twister. Okay. Yeah. So it's, it's, I think it's got to be Phoenix fall fun fest. Another one that was from, um, I thought there was, there was one from cheetah. Yeah. Yeah. And it has like a caption that says fake airtime or something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what you're talking about.
00:34:28
Speaker
Yeah, because Ben Ben was talking about this when we kind of started doing those video commentary episodes. Yeah. And he's like, I'm not sure where those segments went. He was looking for these. It's for our listeners. This is some still images from old Rob Alvey videos of Alyssa with her lap bar like on like one click, maybe. I don't know. I guess I don't know. I mean, like maybe it's not even engaged. I'm not. It's hard to tell.
00:34:58
Speaker
I remember that being part of the video and I remember watching the video back in the day going, what the hell? But yeah, and she's like standing up. Yeah, so yeah. I mean, I think we heard from Tommy when he was on the show that they used to do a lot of like shit like that. And then they they had to stop to be more like.
00:35:22
Speaker
you know, park friendly or whatever. I mean, you know, back, back then parks used to allow you one click rides for ERT. That was just like a common thing for a lot of parks. I remember vision land during our ERT in 98 the year that thing opened. Um, the ride up was giving us an extension for the seatbelt and doing one click rides.
00:35:48
Speaker
Oh, shit. Yeah. Well, we're going to go ahead and say it now because times have changed. Do not fuck with your restraint. Don't don't try to like get around it or don't unbuckle your fucking seat belt. Yeah. Don't fuck with that shit. Yeah. It's unfortunate what happened to happen. Although I guess if that was a common practice,
00:36:14
Speaker
It was only a matter of time, really. Well, I mean, the lot bar is going to keep you in there if it's even at one click. OK, it's when you take the seat belt off or you sit in a certain way that you could fly out. That's bad. And you want to know why there's more restraints on coasters or why they're tighter. It's because of stuff like that.
00:36:41
Speaker
Yeah, basically too much fucking fun is happening. Yeah. And now nobody can do that anymore. Well, I got to ask then you were like highly involved with ACE. You said you were in the EC. Do you have, do you have any interesting stories? You know, mind sharing, you can omit names. If you like, there wasn't, there wasn't a lot with the EC in particular, because there was a lot of, I was the youngest person on the EC by far back when I was on that, I was up here. Not surprising at all. But just to show you,
00:37:12
Speaker
that position in particular what some of the stuff you had to go through. I was at Cedar Point for a Coaster Con in 2004 and Top Thrill Dragster didn't open surprisingly for any of the ERT that was scheduled. So the park went out of their way to like give us like Millennium Force on the fly or you know other other rides in that park and they didn't have to do that but I was they had the you know how like at Coaster Cons I don't know if you guys ever done it but they had like an H photo contest there
00:37:38
Speaker
And I was, the photo contest was actually in the park. It was at the town hall in the park. So I was in there voting, looking at the pictures and this family comes up to me and they were like, dragsters not running for ERT tonight. And I was like, no, it's not. It's down for the count.
00:37:54
Speaker
And they said, well, what are you going to do about it to get it up and running? And I'm like, what? Is there a magic button you think I own to make it everything right? Like, I don't understand what you're saying. And they really, really complained and all that stuff. And it made me so frustrated that I went to the one area of the park where I knew that nobody would be sitting. And that's those bleachers in front of dragster. When that ride doesn't run, there's nobody sitting in them.
00:38:18
Speaker
So I went up there and just cleared my mind. And that's when I was just like, I have got to get out of this because I started looking at this hobby as more of work than fun. And I was like, I'm out of it, man. And then then that's when I told Carol Sanderson, I can't, you know, I didn't quit my term early. I was only supposed to be there for two years and I did my full two years. And like we were in, um, we were in Seattle actually. Um,
00:38:47
Speaker
at, well, it's not Seattle, but poor all up. Yeah. Yeah. I can't ever pronounce it correctly, but we were there for an event. I get corrected. So it's funny when I first moved here, I got corrected so many times and I don't know if I'm saying it right anymore, but yeah, I think it's right. Okay. So there's that and we were there at the event and then like, that was my last event as a PR director. Like as soon as the wheels of that plane took off on the runway,
00:39:14
Speaker
I was done with it. That was the deal. And I was flying back to Chicago with a bunch of other enthusiasts, and the plane couldn't take off. We were on the runway taking off, and I was like, here we go. I'm done. And it stopped. And we had to get another plane and all this stuff or something. It was hilarious. But yeah, there's been a lot of A stuff.
00:39:42
Speaker
I am glad how Ace dealt with a lot of the negative stuff in regards to Holiday World, what happened and everything. That was pretty intense. But other than that, you know, there was, I mean. So you were the PI director when that happened? Yeah.
00:39:59
Speaker
Oh my God. No wonder you quit so quickly. You had like the worst storm of PR.
Tragic Event's Community Impact
00:40:07
Speaker
I was an ace regional rep for a couple of years and the Bill Lincolnheimer, who was the president at the time, said, we're looking for a new PR position because David Escalante is leaving. Would you want it? And I was like, I don't know the first thing about that.
00:40:22
Speaker
And the more he talked about it, I decided to give it a try. And one of the concerns I had is I told Bill that night on the phone, what if we lose a member at an event? And he says, that's never happened. It never will. And then it happened.
00:40:40
Speaker
I didn't leave the park that night after that accident until about 4 a.m. And because Will Cook, myself, Paula Wernie and Pat were all in the office trying to come up with like a press release. And we worked on it for hours. And then the fiance of the lady that died came back to the park and wanted to talk to Carol and I. It was just a super surreal
00:41:06
Speaker
messed up thing and then I wasn't allowed to leave Santa Claus until Will told me I could and he let me leave the next morning and that night I get home and Paula said we're gonna have to give your phone number out to the media because you're the PR and I was like it's fine let's do it and I'm not
00:41:26
Speaker
shitting you. The next day, I got 47 calls from reporters across the country between 11am and 6pm. So this day, if you Google my name, some of those articles still come up. And the last guy I talked to, I think he was from The Post in New York, New York Post.
00:41:43
Speaker
Uh, he was just a real prick and he was like, uh, is it true? She was only 110 pounds. I'm like, I don't know. I don't know who, I don't know the lady. He goes, is it true that she didn't, uh, necessarily put herself at risk by standing up on the ride? And I'm like, sir, I can tell you what I know. And that's it. So I told him what I knew. And the next morning, Bill Lincolnheimer calls me and he's like, what the hell were you trying to say?
00:42:06
Speaker
And I was like, I don't know what you mean. And he forward me a link and it said a quote from me. That's still out there. I went through the associated press. It said, flirting said the 110 pound film or didn't necessarily put herself at risk by standing up. And I'm like, Oh man, you gotta be kidding me. So we were going to get a retraction reprinted, but then we thought, uh, it would bring more attention to a, so we just let it go. Oh yeah. Yeah. It, it, it, it.
00:42:33
Speaker
Honestly, I could do a three-hour episode on just that night. It was terrifying, man. But it trained me a lot of how parks deal with that. Here's the scariest part of the whole thing. I called my contacts at Kings Island and Cedar Point, the marketing, to get tips on how to deal with this. And they didn't know what to say because they hadn't gone through it. And I'm like, oh, shit.
00:43:01
Speaker
So good Lord. Yeah. So, you know, I, then that's why I have such a strong tie with holiday world. I mean, both Paula Worney and I, um, we, we got a little bit of PTSD from that night and, uh, what helped me deal with it is, and this was the recommendation of Paula. Um, I was for, uh, for a good year, a year and a half, I was afraid of Raven. Like I didn't want to even look at it. And she said, no, you need to go ride it and you need to go ride it.
00:43:31
Speaker
You know where you need to ride it. So I went and rode it in that seat and Just the whole ride. I mean, I know it's not it's not proper to say this at such a family park, but I just just screamed fuck fuck fuck the whole ride and It helped me get over that. So Yeah, dark times man
00:43:55
Speaker
Man, I can't even imagine. You know, I'll be honest, man. I'll be completely honest here. When you sent me the script for this or, you know, the way that's laid out and it had the killer coaster, I was really, really hoping it wasn't going to be Raven. No, I mean, that was our first one. But we don't relish like, you know, in that it was just kind of a funny idea for a segment. Yeah.
00:44:24
Speaker
turn a phrase, you know, but no, uh, I did. Well, first I didn't know that. And if I did, that would have been a particularly tasteless choice. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's, you know, it happened. I mean, there's no, uh, shying away of talking about it, but it was just, um,
00:44:43
Speaker
It was bad, man. It was, it was, I learned so much from that night. Uh, that really helped me, uh, do my PR job a lot stronger and it helped me understand the inner workings of parks. Like you would never believe like on the trauma level. I mean, I, you, when you see a park go through that, it just changes how you look at parks. It really does so.
00:45:06
Speaker
Well, especially because they're family owned. Yeah. Yeah. It was, it was so bad seeing Will Cook shake when we were, I mean, he, when that guy came back, that fiance, he was shaking. He was so scared. It was, it was so bad. Um, we can edit this out too, but do you know the whole story about, um, like with Rob having footage and like threatening to use it in court or something?
00:45:31
Speaker
Um, I had, so he got, he got what I was talking about earlier. Yeah. Well, I mean, we can, I don't want to like talk about Robin here so much, but Rob, Rob got busted. Remember I told you somebody got busted shooting POV on Raymond. That was him that day. There was employees. Ironically, uh, the day the lady flew out of the ride, they were down walking by the track when it was running and they looked up and saw apparently him with a camera and, um,
00:46:01
Speaker
They, they, they radioed up to the station saying, don't release that train. We need to see who that was. And then they confronted him and I don't know what happened. I'm sure I heard it wasn't great, but he got banned from the park because of that for at least two years. And then that's when he got banned from ACE too. And, um, then the band was released at holiday world and I never understood why, but that was one of the theories going around that he, um,
00:46:30
Speaker
He had pictures of you know, the one-click rides or something. I don't know. I don't know that for a fact I just heard that like you guys have heard Okay Yeah, okay Well again, we we don't you know want to completely deal in untruth But that is definitely a rumor that has I've heard that quite a few times and and nobody that I know I mean, I never asked Rob about it I don't know if he would share that with me, but I don't
00:47:00
Speaker
You know, I don't know. Well, it's it's an interesting story either way. Yeah. I mean, and that was the night. I mean, that night is when everything happened. I had heard things slightly differently. I had kind of heard that. Him being banned from Ace and from Holiday World was more reactionary because of the the death.
00:47:24
Speaker
Uh, I don't think that's true because I know he got busted for shooting POV that morning because they, they, they used to allow us to take cameras during ERT, but they would only do it at night. And he said, well, it's dark. You know, I can't get anything. There was a lot of complaints about that back then, but he did it anyway. So. Well, we heard one other rumor that I thought was interesting and maybe you could shed a little light on. This one doesn't involve Rob. The rumor we had heard, and that was actually on the show from our friend, Dana.
00:47:54
Speaker
He said there was a rumor that the fiance had recently taken an insurance policy out.
00:48:03
Speaker
I haven't heard that, but I've heard the theory that she was pushed and I could really send shivers down your spide some of the stories I've heard about that. But like, see, and this goes to that that night when he came back to the park from the hospital, you know,
00:48:27
Speaker
Carol and I and Paula went out. It was straight out of a movie, man. We walk out and it's raining and there's a silhouette of this guy just standing in this backlit alley between these two buildings at Holiday World. And he came up and hugged us. And he wasn't crying. We just thought he was in shock. And the first thing he said to us was,
00:48:52
Speaker
uh, you make sure she looks good. She didn't, she didn't deserve this or something like that. And we're like, what do you talk about? He's like, write, write a positive story about her and your ACE news and roller coaster, make her look like the goddess. She was, you know, that type of stuff. Um, and we didn't know what had happened. We didn't know if the, at that time that, you know, we didn't know if the train malfunctioned or what. Um, so he asked for our numbers, our phone numbers. So I gave him my cell number and, or maybe it was even my phone, home phone back then. Uh,
00:49:21
Speaker
And I said, if you need anything, call me. So I pull into my driveway from coming home from that event. And I walk in my house, my phone's ringing, I pick it up and it's that guy, it's a fiance. And he's like, you asked, you told me to call you if I need something, I need something. I said, what's that? And he's like, I need you to drive back to New Jersey with me. And I'm like, sir, I just got home back in Columbus, Ohio. I'm four hours away. And he said, I'll wait.
00:49:46
Speaker
So I'm a man of my word. So I started packing clothes again saying, I don't know this guy, but I'm, you know, he's hurting right now. And then he called me 10 minutes later and saying his, his aunt was flying him from Louisville, but I was literally one of the last people to talk to him. And, um, at coaster con in 2004 and see, he told us what he witnessed on the train. Like he told us, uh, like it was dark and all of a sudden they pull on the station and she wasn't there.
00:50:16
Speaker
You know, uh, but then I get this call from Paula when I met Cedar point for coaster con in 2004. And she's like, be on the lookout for this reporter. And I think she didn't send me a picture of him. She goes, he's harassing our staff about what happened that night. And he's right. He's for GQ magazine. He's on his way to Cedar point where he never showed, or at least I never saw him, but the art, the article comes out and it's written by this reporter and the fiance.
00:50:42
Speaker
And in it, he was, it's this whole big dramatic thing about, he says, like, when she left the train, their eyes locked as she went through the structure and all that stuff. And I'm like, that's not what he told us, you know? So I don't know what's going on with that guy or any of that stuff anymore. But it was just, it was insanity, man. It was, it was just crazy bad.
00:51:04
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I don't mean to, like, impress you for being honest, man, quite honestly, anytime I talk about it helps. It really does so. Well, I mean, obviously, that's kind of a big incident. Like if you're a roller coaster fan, like an enthusiast at any level, you probably know about that incident. Yeah. I mean, some people call it the coaster enthusiast version of 9 11.
00:51:33
Speaker
I could see that. I've actually, I've actually heard that a couple of times. I mean, it's, it definitely changed everything for, I think parks in general, not just like enthusiasts, but I, uh, we definitely appreciate you sharing so candidly because especially, you know, we're coming up on, it's been almost 20 years. I know. I can't believe it.
00:52:00
Speaker
Like these stories only get muddier and harder to follow as time goes. So I'll be honest. That's one of the biggest questions I get asked is about that night. Usually from motor enthusiasts. Quite frankly, I didn't know you were so involved at that level at that time, but since our kind of conversation kind of flowed to that naturally, you know, I, I know I had some curiosities and orbit as they may be. Yeah.
00:52:28
Speaker
But, you know, it was, it was, it was bad, man. I mean, we, the entire enthusiast community, not just ACE, the entire enthusiast community had to really, really, really work to get, um, trust back into the parks.
00:52:43
Speaker
Yeah, but I think we still kind of see that now. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, it's part of the history, man. It's part of the history. And I did what I needed to do to get through it. And I know I mean, Paula, I just feel so bad for her.
00:53:01
Speaker
It was, it was just really, really, really bad. Both of us were like vomiting and stuff at one point because we were so sick. I mean, not at the park, but like when we got home, uh, just cause it was, you know, somebody died, you know, uh, then ACE member who just joined died, uh, an enthusiast died. And, uh, it wasn't during ERT, you know, but still horrible. Yeah. Jeez.
Media Appearances and Recognition
00:53:27
Speaker
Well, I mean, yeah, I appreciate you sharing so candidly. You got it, buddy.
00:53:32
Speaker
If there's any podcasts I could feel comfortable talking about it, it would probably be this one. Nice. Well, I mean, it feels like we're old friends by this point. Oh, I know. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Probably if I wouldn't have been an awkward teenager, I would have emailed you and been like, I'm going to Cedar Point, want to meet up or something? I totally would have. I really would have.
00:53:57
Speaker
But like, I kind of figured I don't know if you ever had this, but like when I was a kid, there was like the people you'd see in the coaster community. And I guess.
00:54:08
Speaker
That's where that whole like celebrity idea comes from. Yeah. I mean, I can remember the first time somebody recognized me for one of those, those discovery channel things. Cause I used to do it. I did quite a few of them. And, um, I was at Scandia park in California. You know where it's at? Remember that park? Yeah, that was fun. Yeah. I'll say that awesome. Yeah. That thing's by far the scariest steel coaster I've ever ridden, man. That thing was crazy. And, uh,
00:54:32
Speaker
This mom comes up to a, to me and my friend, Jeff, who was on the same discovery channel program. And she's like, my sons are on that ride and they think they recognize you. And I'm like, really? And then we talked to them and they were all like, Oh my God, we saw you on discovery channel. And I'm like, Oh shit. Is this going to be my life from now on? But it's not bad. It's not bad.
Roller Coaster Documentaries
00:54:52
Speaker
So.
00:54:53
Speaker
Well, no, I mean, I definitely remember seeing you in some of those shows. Yeah, I have a lot of them uploaded on my channel, but those are fun times. A lot of fun. I've been rewatching a lot of those old ones just for fun recently because I've been bored and it's a good nostalgia trip. Oh, it really is. Yeah, for sure.
00:55:09
Speaker
I remember I had them all, like not all of them, but I had like, they used to air them in blocks, you know? Yes, they did. So I had a good block of them on a VHS tape that I used to just watch the fuck out of. That's the majority. I started recording them on DV tape, like in the 2000s, so the quality would be better. And now I upload them in like 60 frames per second, so they're really smooth and stuff like that.
00:55:34
Speaker
Oh, nice. Because, yeah, most of the ones on YouTube definitely look like an old VCR. Yeah. Yeah. But I kind of find that to be kind of fun and like soothing in an odd way. Sure. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's it's it's it's old school. That's how it was. You know, we didn't have 4K or anything like that.
00:55:52
Speaker
And that's kind of looping it all back around to like the different generation of coaster people now. Yeah. Like that's what the fuck we had. Yeah. We had that tape and we had the America's greatest roller coaster thrills tape. Yeah. And like maybe a couple other tapes and some books and like 240 P. Yeah, that was that you had that. So like if a new Discovery Channel show came on, that was the shit. Yeah, absolutely.
00:56:22
Speaker
Like that was the most exciting fucking thing. Like when they used to do extreme rides every year, a hundred percent.
Online Engagement and Coaster Questions
00:56:28
Speaker
That's the, that was the big one I did extreme rides 2001. That was the one I did a play by play on like millennium force. So I think I remember that. Yeah. Yeah. I actually, I actually, uh, just a couple of months ago released a footage I shot during that shoot, like in the station, just hanging out with staff and all that stuff. Um, so
00:56:47
Speaker
Hey everybody, we got shirts. Your favorite coaster sucks on the Amazon store. Check it out. Absolutely right. We do. We got a bunch of colors available and the shirts are in two different designs. We got the classic golden ticket logo and our rolly ride logo. I also got 10 different colors, man. Yeah. Like you're wearing a shirt right now, so you could always use more shirts. Add to the collection.
00:57:11
Speaker
Get in a lot of crazy. We're in line for your least favorite ride. Tell every throughsy their favorite coaster sucks. Make a fanboy, the Fury 325 cry. Very easy to do all by sporting a your favorite coaster sucks shirt. We also got sweatshirts available through Amazon. We are now shipping to Germany and UK. So if you are out there listening to us, you can get our shit there to buy a shirt. All right, I'm back.
00:57:38
Speaker
Fantastic. I think the three beers I had, I'm not used to it, so my body gave me a headache. Damn. Yeah. I haven't drank in a while. Well, we also tend to have that influence on people. I don't know. Well, as soon as you said, you know, get some drinks and yeah, I was like done. Yeah. Well, you know, I, I was trying to make our pitch pretty concise and accurate, you know? No, it was perfect, man. It was perfect. I liked it because it was different than the other ones I've done. So.
00:58:07
Speaker
Hey, come on and talk about your top 10 coasters. I don't have any. So how many exact miles of coaster track have you traversed? Yeah. Well, let's see, you know, there's a stupid questions I get asked by the media all the time. Like, do you like this ride? Well, of course I do. I love it. Why? You know, well, what do you mean? Why? I like the ride. You know, they always want you to go somewhere else. So.
00:58:34
Speaker
That and like, it's always like when random people ask questions, it's like, have you been on top field dragster? It's like, yeah. But you don't, sometimes like, if they're not in a coaster, it's like, you don't want to be a dick and be like, of course, but yes, I've been on it. It's a lot of fun. Yep. Oh yeah.
YouTube Comments and Negativity
00:58:54
Speaker
One of the big things I get, the most popular video on my channel is this Griffin video, this off ride I have. And they, people that put comments in there that are always like,
00:59:03
Speaker
Oh, I saw this thing like it at Kings Island. And then you're like, well, no, it's not at Kings Island. They may be at Cedar Point thinking about Raven. No, no, no. Like a diamond back, same, same type of ride, man, you know, same manufacturer, but a lot of GP don't understand like that just because a ride looks the same, it's, it's, it's not the same ride. Yeah. I, I'm surprised you engage with those type of people.
00:59:29
Speaker
I don't think there's, I got to catch up on my comments because I've been taking a break, but I reply literally to every comment that comes on my channel. I just feel like I have to, you know, and it might not be the answer that people want, but at least I replied.
00:59:45
Speaker
Oh, you're really nice. I mean, I think I just got a big heart. I know. And sometimes it gets me in trouble, but, you know, it's me. Because sometimes YouTube comments are like, it's like actual, it's not even like human sometimes, like comment where it's just like, you're watching a video of like a coaster POV or like all the comments on like TPR videos where it's just like, he's fat. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. They've gotten at me too. Cause I was heavier last year than I am now. And, uh,
01:00:15
Speaker
People put some some fucked up shit in there man, and I'm just like yeah you're entitled to your opinion, but I also have the power to like just Delete your comment. You know if you're here if you're purposely here to hurt someone then don't come here. I think like 90% of those people It's like a jealousy thing. Oh a hundred percent It's like
01:00:40
Speaker
They see people that do cool shit and they're like, fuck, why can't I do cool shit? Yeah. Just be original. Be yourself. Just be yourself. What you see on my channel is me. It is me. There's no character or anything. It's just my life. That's it. The problem is you actually have to be
Vlogging and Content Authenticity
01:00:59
Speaker
interesting to do that. I guess. That's like a rarity. Generally, people aren't very interesting.
01:01:08
Speaker
That's why we only have one guest on per episode. Like one of the biggest YouTubers out there lives about a half an hour from me is a guy named Roman Atwood. And he's got like 16 million subscribers. And all he does is family vlogs. But people dig that stuff, man. But he had to hire a full-time police officer out in front of his property because there were so many people that wanted to be like him and ask him questions and just show up at his house.
01:01:36
Speaker
You know, that's fucking creepy. I know it is. Yeah. It's like, um, younger people almost think that you have to, the only way to have fun is to do it through that kind of is like fun is a byproduct of that kind of medium, not the other way around. Right. Exactly. Yes. I agree.
01:01:58
Speaker
Well, also it probably doesn't help when, you know, generally the presentation in terms of like YouTube and social media is like, look how much fun this is and how great of a time we're having. I, yeah, I think it kind of like perpetuates this mindset of like, Oh, you have to do X, Y and Z in order for you to have fun. Yeah. Yep.
01:02:23
Speaker
Which is not fucking true. It isn't. If you like riding coasters, just go do that. Yeah. And if you happen to like have some friends and use your phone to film it. Perfect. But don't be like, oh, I'm going to make this genius fucking cinematic film about a coaster. Yeah. And I'll get a million YouTube views and everyone will love me.
01:02:48
Speaker
Like do the cinematic coaster video, but don't think it's going to do anything in terms of like, you know what I mean? You do it for the satisfaction of it. A hundred percent. And that's exactly what I try to tell some of these younger dudes. He said, don't do it for the views. Do it because you'd like to do it and then everything will fall into place. You know, I said, you know, if you put, if you have a thousand videos on your channel, per se, you know, chances are one of them hitting is going to happen, but don't, you know, um,
01:03:17
Speaker
Or, you know, I'll get some of the enthusiasts that, you know, they'll ask me, they'll be like, well, how did you get videos with that many views? I'm like, I have no idea. It just happens. If I knew the secret, I'd be doing it with every one of the videos, you know?
01:03:33
Speaker
Well, yeah, there's
Parody Video and YouTuber Critique
01:03:34
Speaker
definitely certain strategy tips that you can look up on YouTube. Sure, exactly. But like nothing can take the place of like you just got to connect with people. Yeah, I there's a I need it. You know what? I need to subscribe to them. Actually, there's a GP coasters. Do you know who that is? Sounds familiar. Yeah.
01:03:55
Speaker
Um, it came up in my, he's, he's, um, actually, you know, comment on some of my videos. So I know him through that. I've never met him, but he had a vlog. I came up with my.
01:04:07
Speaker
suggested the other day and I watched it and the whole beginning of the video is him making fun of like the YouTubers that are like, we need a hundred thousand likes before this video is done. You know, they're overdoing it. He does such a really cool job of mimicking that type of mentality. And when I first saw it, I was like, oh man, this is one of those people that over goes over the top of that. And then I realized, oh, he's making fun of them.
01:04:35
Speaker
So it was a pretty cool video. Yeah, I love shit like that. I think that's kind of what we try to do here, too. It's like so many people take the shit so seriously like that, too, in terms of like, oh, we got to have clout and so many followers and it's like, no, let's just sit back and have some fun and make fun of that bullshit. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.
01:04:59
Speaker
I don't know if you keep up with any of the Orlando area vlog people at all. I don't. I mean, Dan from Midway Mayhem is a friend of mine, so I'll watch his stuff. But to me, the Disney vlog people.
01:05:14
Speaker
I just can't get behind that stuff. I mean, no offense to them. I'm sure they do really great stuff, but I'm not the biggest Disney fan to begin with. And I when I go to Orlando, very rarely do I go to a Disney park. I mean, the last time I did was with Ray Osborne, actually. So that was a few years ago, though. OK, well, yeah, that that whole scene is like it's very similar to roller coasters.
01:05:40
Speaker
Yeah, but it's the whole, the, the particular subset of like people who make content and this whole like bullshit gravitas to it, where it's like, Oh, I can smell the bullshit through YouTube. Come on.
01:05:59
Speaker
So I, I just love to be on the other side here and go, you guys are all idiots. I mean, I mean, see, I applaud you guys for being that honest because I don't very rarely do I call somebody out like that. You know what I mean? Like it's, um, I don't know. It's just, it's kind of a mixed bag. So, yeah, well, I mean, see the thing is I think it has a bad,
01:06:28
Speaker
It'll have a bad influence on younger kids who are just discovering this shit. Right. Because I think it's a self reinforcing model. Yeah. Yep. It's like, you know, one person that actually gave a shit about coasters was able to successfully make a YouTube channel and then a couple of other people who actually cared did.
01:06:50
Speaker
And then like a bunch of people who were like probably casually interested are trying to like mimic the success and it creates this like weird non-community community. Yeah. Yeah. That's the best way to put it, man. It really is. I also think if people like, um, like if everybody wasn't concentrated on like putting content for publicity or views, like people could just actually be having fun with each other.
01:07:18
Speaker
Yes. And that it's like what I said earlier, just just have fun, you know, just go out and have fun. Don't worry about all those little tiny bullshit
Friendship and Coaster Community Recap
01:07:28
Speaker
things. Go and ride a coaster that's designed so you can have fun. And it's fine if you want to shoot it and do a vlog or whatever like that. But do it because you like it. Do it because it's fun. Don't do it because you think you're going to be Mark Wahlberg.
01:07:42
Speaker
Yeah. Next time you go to a park, try not filming. Just try it. Right. You just go one time and don't film. That, that crazy dark stuff I was going through a couple of months ago, um, when I went back down to the Kings Island finally and had to kind of be reintroduced to everything, I didn't bring a single camera. So cameras are off limits, man. I'm not doing that. So there's times for it. And there's times when you don't do it.
01:08:09
Speaker
And that's perfect. And like you were saying, you took a break for like a decade. It's like, yeah, we did that shit too, because this is, you can't live your life around this shit. Right. Right. So, um, back on the rec roller coaster days, there used to be, um, like a signature at the end. It said, uh, we, we, we came for the rides. We stayed for the friends and that's,
01:08:35
Speaker
The way it should be, you know, maybe I'm saying that backwards missing it backwards. No, no, that's, I had it the right way. Meaning that being coasters are tie us all together, but, and we stay, we're friends, but that there, there shouldn't be anything else influencing that. So, and that's what I hope kids, God, I hope kids aren't listening to this, but you know, they are anyway. If they do take away from us in general is just like,
01:09:05
Speaker
Use this shit for fun. Not as a means to like build up some Instagram following. Like it's cool if you do that because you like it. It's just odd if you're doing it just to do it.
01:09:21
Speaker
I, yeah, exactly. I mean, that's one of the main reasons I'm not on social media as well. Cause I just don't think I have to deal with all that. And I just don't need that much content that I need to be in contact with everybody at all times. I mean, I know I'm in the minority when I say that, but I try, I had a Facebook account for a couple of years and I, this is where it started getting weird for me as like, I was at Kings Island or Cedar Point or some park here around here. Um, and enthusiasts came up and said, you,
01:09:50
Speaker
Uh, I noticed you didn't like my picture that I posted and I said, well, I didn't see it, you know, and sorry. And they're like, well, that's what friends do. They like other friends posts and stuff. And I really appreciate if you liked it. And I said, again, I didn't see it. And I was one of these like Facebook people that like didn't keep scrolling down to read stuff. Like usually what was on the screen is what I read and that was it.
01:10:16
Speaker
And I was like, man, people are just so desperate to be liked. I don't want any part of this. So I was I was just about to say, you don't have to justify not liking somebody else's shit. I know, but I shouldn't. I shouldn't even say anything. I should just walk the way. But, you know, I will. Because like, here's here's the deal. Maybe if you don't have tact, I'll fill you in. You can approach someone and say, hey, Sean, check out this photo.
01:10:47
Speaker
You just show them it. Yeah, exactly. And then you're not confronting somebody, and you can connect with somebody in that moment. Perfect. I wish it had been that easy. I feel like I'm harping on shit like such an old man, but... Nah, man, you're good. I mean, we have to reflect and look how things have changed, man, you know?
01:11:09
Speaker
I'm glad that there's still younger people who actually do have fun and like taking the piss out of this stuff. Yeah. I mean, I definitely do it for fun. You know, uh, I don't even know where I would be if I didn't have roller coasters and parks in my life. You know, I don't even think that, but, uh, they, I've used them as a tool, you know, to get through some tough times in life and I've used them for fun. I've used them to meet people. I've used them, you know,
01:11:35
Speaker
And it should just all be about kind of bringing people together in a way. And, uh, I wish more people would realize that a hundred percent, man. That's a, that's, that's like the takeaway here. Speaking of which we got a, we got a kick-ass final segment. All right. Uh, we like to pay tribute to a dead ride. Nice. Ben, did you have any other particular questions you wanted to ask? Um, I mean,
01:12:05
Speaker
We talked about it a lot. I can't think of any at the moment. Yeah, we covered a hell of a lot of ground in this episode. I think we did. What are we going on? Like three hours now or something? We are at three hours, 15 minutes. Wow. Okay. Oh yeah. Plus we were talking for a while before we started. Yeah, but that's, that's all right.
Future Collaborations
01:12:27
Speaker
No, we'll, we'll hopefully we'll get you back on at some point. Cause this is great. No worries, man. That would be great. That'd be fun.
01:12:34
Speaker
Oh, shit, maybe after we get Ray on, we can get the two of you on. Oh, Lord, man, do we got stories? OK, yeah, that would be a lot of fun, man. And oh, I got another idea if you'd like to. If you have any of your old DVDs that you're uploading or anything like a full one, if you'd ever be interested in doing a commentary episode with us. Oh, it'd be great. As a matter of fact, God, I can't believe it's 21 years now.
01:13:02
Speaker
Uh, I made this video, uh, back when everybody was doing it, like tapes, like we were talking about, uh, I made a video called coastered 99, which was the sequel to Martin McKinsey's coastered video. And it's an hour and a half. And I, I've always wanted to post it online, but I use copyright music throughout the whole thing. So maybe we'll have to do one of those. So. Totally. Yeah, it was a lot of fun. I'll send it to you guys for sure.
01:13:27
Speaker
Absolutely. Yeah. All right. So we will schedule that soon. We'll have a commentary episode with some exclusive old shit from Sean Flaherty.
Tribute to Big Bad Wolf Ride
01:13:37
Speaker
That'd be awesome. And what's weird about it is I put it on DVD and added commentary to it, but I don't want to add that because it was so horrible quality, like the sound quality. So we'll just do it live. Perfect. In the words of Bill O'Reilly.
01:13:55
Speaker
So, yeah, anyway, we like to pay tribute to a dead ride because it seems only appropriate. And as our guest, we're going to leave our pick up to you. So what ride are we paying tribute to? Oh, uh, Big Bad Wolf. It's a good one. Big Bad Wolf. I'm really glad I got to ride that before it closed.
01:14:18
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I wrote it several times, but, um, that one's still kind of stings because that was so such a fun ride. I mean, I love revolting. Don't get me wrong, but I really miss big bad wolf. What was it? But like, definitely. Was that built after, that was built after iron dragon, right? No, it was, uh, iron dragon was 87. Oh, okay.
01:14:37
Speaker
And I think it was 87. And then Big Bad Wolf, I think was I think Big Bad Wolf was the first era suspended comeback coaster, if I'm not mistaken. I mean, that was definitely the best one.
Unique Suspended Coaster Features
01:14:50
Speaker
I mean, I never got on fucking Eagles Fortress. No, I didn't either. But yeah, it's the best one I've written for sure.
01:14:56
Speaker
Like it had more to it than like all the other ones like the bat and Vortex like they have like the drop that's kind of similar. Yeah But like the other elements don't hit quite the same way No, they don't and there was like the shakiness the big bad wolf that the other ones don't have either and like those buildings like Oh so good
01:15:21
Speaker
That's the thing like none of the other specific so I can't even talk none of the other suspended coasters have any of those like Near misses really though. I mean the closest thing there was was like when son of beast was still around Well, I was top gun back in the day, but the bat now came within six feet of its structure at one point. Oh, yeah, that's right That's right What uh, what section?
01:15:46
Speaker
Uh, it was, it was the lift Hill. Um, and it was the section on the bat, the section of the bat was the final turnaround, like the little helix it does before it starts heading back to station. That turn that kind of goes over like the valley area right there. The structure for sun abyss used to be right there. Okay.
01:16:04
Speaker
Yeah, I got pictures. I got some construction pictures of it with I stood underneath the the track of Top Gun as it was going over and you can see the footings below it like oh shit like that's really that close it's gonna be and it really was.
01:16:21
Speaker
I wonder if there's any pictures of that. I got tons of them. I'll have to send you guys. I think I made a video of all the concert, Coaster Construction, Ohio for that year. And it's all pictures, but it's edited the music and there's a lot of Son of Beast and I bet you it's in that one, too. I'll get the link right now and put it in here. But yeah, Big Bad Wolf is a good one, man.
01:16:43
Speaker
Yeah, it was. I was really bummed when they announced they were tearing that out. I'll tell you the exact moment where I found out where I'll never forget this. I was going up the lift hill on. Oh, my God, I'm drawing a blank. What's the flying coaster at SeaWorld in Orlando? Manta. I was going up the lift hill on Manta. God, I can't believe I zoned out there. And I was with somebody in the industry and they leaned over to me and said,
01:17:12
Speaker
Big Bad Wolf's leaving next year, go ride it now. As we were going up the lift hill and I just looked over and said, what? I mean, that's how I found out on the lift hill. Oh, shit. Yeah. Speaking of like sad moments like that, I'm sad that like the removal of Magnum will probably be sooner than later. Yeah, I was thinking that too. Which is going to suck. That one's going to be hard for me.
01:17:38
Speaker
That'll be, yeah, that there will be a lot of people angry. Maybe RMC will redo it. And then I actually think like that's one ride that I don't know. I don't even know what they would do to replace it. I mean, unless like there'd be a tough spot to fill since it's so thin for the Golden Horse there.
01:18:06
Speaker
Like one of the ones like the drop track, not the vertical tilt track ones. Oh yeah, yeah. God those look sketchy as fuck. Oh yeah they do.
01:18:19
Speaker
Well, they're, they're taking a dive coaster. Just doesn't look right at all. Oh God. Yeah. Ben shared that picture before. I was like, this is not like, it's got that like weird kink on the drop where the B and M's are like usually halfway through the B and M copy track turns into Intamin copy track. There's a video of it online.
01:18:41
Speaker
Also, like the the four row train, if you watch the video, there's no real like it doesn't seem like it really breaks at the top. So the last row, I just wait jerks over the top of that thing. Yeah. Well, I'd write I'd write it for sure. I mean, I mean, I come back to the station alive, but I'm hey, hey, it's a credit. Yeah, right.
01:19:04
Speaker
I mean, it would be worth the experience. If you would do Montaña Russa dell'Alta, then I think we could survive a Golden Horns.
Unrealized Coaster Designs
01:19:13
Speaker
Yeah, that's true. I mean, there are some horrible rides out there. Do you remember the promo for that Gia Venola coaster that was like a robotic arm? Yeah. Oh, yeah. It was that. They had a model for it and everything.
01:19:27
Speaker
Yeah, that thing looks fucking crazy. It did. But at that point, they they had already built their two hyper coasters and that just killed that company.
01:19:36
Speaker
Yeah. I bet. I bet. I bet that thing wouldn't have even worked though to like. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's when you do stuff like that, that's why that thing in Abu Dhabi still hasn't, or it's getting ready to open or just did open that thing. That's at the same park with a formula Rosa. Yeah. The indoor crazy thing with tilt tracks and stuff like that, whatever that is. Oh yeah. Oh, I don't know if I've heard about that.
01:20:02
Speaker
Yeah, it's like part of it part of it's like outside Like it like or it has a section where it kind of goes out the building and it has like a corkscrew and goes back in it's it's made by oh Man, what's that company? I Can't remember the name of the company, but it's supposed to have like sliding tilt track and have you guys been to Fantasian land? No
01:20:24
Speaker
They have, they have this spinning coaster called windges and windges does that too. Like one side of it on the lift Hill, you tilt on an angle and it releases you. It's, it's really, they have a section of track at the end. You're rolling on the straight section of track and the entire track falls down like a foot. Why it's still rolling and it goes back into place to make it join with the rest of the track.
01:20:46
Speaker
That ride looks so sick. I remember seeing a video of that, but I hadn't thought about that since you mentioned until you mentioned it, you know, all the things on that ride or all the, all the cool things on that ride are hidden inside. You can't see that it does that stuff.
01:20:58
Speaker
Oh my God, this picture of you at the end of this video.
Coaster Memorabilia Stories
01:21:02
Speaker
I mean, that's that's Batman on the track. Yeah. Yeah. There's one of me on Millennium Forces track to holding the track like halfway through the video or something. But yeah. Oh, man. I want to make that the thumbnail of this episode of Jesus, man. I was like fucking 30 years old then.
01:21:23
Speaker
That's fucking fantastic. You, that picture couldn't say like 99 anymore. I know. Unless, unless you were maybe like at Woodstock 99. Oh shit. Other than that. Yep.
01:21:40
Speaker
These pictures are awesome though. I see my, uh, before my mom moved to Phoenix, I went over to her place and she handed me these boxes and she's like, I think these are yours. There was all those photos, like tons of construction photos. I'm like, Oh my God. So I got a decent photo scanner and, and tried to do my best to put those together. Cause, um, and then Kings Island asked me, they don't have any pictures of drops out in the parking lot. And there's a couple in there and they were like, can we add these to our archives? I was like, well, hell yeah. Yeah, that's dope. Yeah. That's one thing I really think is awesome about Kings Island.
01:22:11
Speaker
is that they actually seem super like supportive of their like big fan, like their mega fans. Oh yeah, they really are. Cause like my home park is great America and their official stance towards enthusiasts is go fuck yourself. Wow. And, and.
01:22:29
Speaker
I don't want to say rightfully so. I mean, they used to be very enthusiast friendly at one point, but a lot of that started off sour when an ace member was taking construction photos of Batman and they didn't want that to get out and then ace published them and they got in a lot of trouble for that. Oh, shit. I didn't know it went that far back. Oh, yeah. Makes sense. But they have always treated me so well. I mean, they for Superman's media day, I think they flew me up and
01:22:56
Speaker
got me a rental car and a hotel and everything just to be at their media day to talk. Oh, the park is phenomenal. Yeah, I will say our like our ace region here is shit. OK, it wasn't always. I don't think you guys had a really, really strong region there for a while. Yeah, although when like your regional rep is ousted as a pedo, it's never a good thing. Oh,
01:23:22
Speaker
That's a that's a tough recovery. Yeah. But, you know, all that aside, I yeah, I don't think that did us any favors us. I don't think it did us as enthusiasts any favors with the parks. Right. Or with them specifically. So, yeah, it's really awesome that Kings Island actually like is cool with their hardcore fans. You know, at one point they were thinking about putting the Ace Museum in Kings Island.
01:23:49
Speaker
I've heard that, okay, can you tell me about that? That wasn't a rumor then, huh? So there was two, because I was very, very close, I still am very close to the marketing department at that park. And there used to be this like college football hall of fame, like right outside the park. And I know at one point the park said, hey Ace, why don't you put it there? And they were like, no. And then they were gonna offer a place inside the park to do that. But the problem with that is,
01:24:18
Speaker
ACE didn't want, and rightfully so ACE didn't want anybody to pay full admission into the park just to go and being able to see the museum. You know what I mean? They wanted to be more affordable than that. So that's why they didn't take Kings Island on their offer from what I remember, but I know it was talked about. I don't know how far it got with like the museum committee and stuff, but Kings Island themselves told me that. So wait, hold on. I just have to take this back a second. What year was this? Oh man. Uh,
01:24:49
Speaker
It was during the Paramount years for sure. So, um, maybe, maybe around the time side of beast was open, maybe two to 2000, 2001. I think that's when I was hearing about it. The museum was definitely already a proposed and like known about thing by 2001. Oh yeah, dude. Holy fucking shit. Okay. So real talk,
Proposed Ace Museum
01:25:13
Speaker
I was telling you earlier that Chris Robery tried to start some shit with me because I was kind of trolling the museum. Well, I then took it a step further and decided to do some research on the museum. And I made a YouTube video that pointed out some things about their finances. That's all public record. You know what I mean? I mean, I don't know too much about the finances, but
01:25:39
Speaker
I mean It's like the reason I was asking you about that Hirschman thing is like they supposedly made a donation of land That I couldn't find or no not bland architecture Okay, but there is no record of it in their taxes like of the company not the company the museum company's private, right? But then the next year like their charitable income had dropped by
01:26:06
Speaker
a little under $200,000. So it went from like $280,000 to like $80,000. And it's like, that's really weird. So I just pointed some of that stuff out and now hearing even more detail, because I guess the earliest I could trace back the museum was to 2001.
01:26:27
Speaker
just based on public records and stuff. I don't know when I first heard it, but it was around that time. I know Jeff Seibert was still at Kings Island, and he left in 2005, so it was definitely before that. I had heard that about Kings Island though before, but I had not. It was just a rumor, but
01:26:47
Speaker
Well, I mean, the ace guy at that time gives it actual some credibility. So Kings Island told me about it and I never like brought it up to ace themselves. But I know they were looking for places. That's when Larson kind of said, hey, we have some storage that you can have. And maybe we'll make the museum around that in Texas. But that's when like Kings Island has just always been very, very, very supportive of ace and everything. And they just wanted to take it a step further. I think it would have been great.
01:27:17
Speaker
I agree. I wish they would open that fucking place. I just want to see it, you know. Yeah, I think it's I think it's going to happen, but it I just don't know. I mean, I donated my steel phantom car to it, but I have no idea if they even have it. So we'll see. Oh, I forgot about the car. Yeah. So how did you get that? Well, it was it was the show. It didn't have like the restraints and wheels or anything, but
01:27:46
Speaker
Steel Phantom was still around, and in 1998, I got a call from Bill Lincolnheimer, and he knew I was such a huge fan of that ride. And he's like, dude, the park is shredding the old Steel Phantom cars, like the original... What color were they? Yellow, I guess? Yeah, mine was yellow. And they went to blue trains. They got new trains.
01:28:11
Speaker
So, uh, he says, if you have a hundred dollars in a way to get it back to Ohio, you can pick one up. So I called a buddy with a truck, got a hundred dollars, went to Kennywood. They took me back and put it on the truck and I drove it back to Ohio, but it was too big to get in my house. So my friend stored it in his place in a, uh, somewhere else in Ohio. And I got a call from ACE, um, several years later and they're like, Hey, are you looking to get rid of it? You want to donate it? And I said, yeah, but you have to go pick it up.
01:28:39
Speaker
And I don't even know if they picked it up because I haven't talked to that dude that was, um, storing it for years, but yeah, a hundred bucks and it was mine. I thought it would have been funny. This is uber geeky to like bring it in the house and put it in front of the TV and watch a POV of a steel phantom and say, I'm the only person in the world doing this right now by sitting in a steel fan car. Now that would be an amazing YouTube video. Oh man.
01:29:08
Speaker
I can see the hatred now, no. But yeah, it's. Well, I still got to say, man, that's dope that Kings Island is super supportive. They really are. I mean, the ace walk back they used to do. And I mean, all these parks, think about this for a second, all these parks that have early morning ERT, like for season pass holders and all that stuff.
01:29:30
Speaker
that all stemmed from the ace walk back Kings Island would do every morning for us because that's when Kings Island was like, Hey, if we do that, we'll just do it for everyone for season pass holders. And then it just spread like wildfire. Okay. Interesting. I think so at least. I mean, it kind of makes sense. I don't think
01:29:49
Speaker
I don't think like even Disney world was doing that. Right? Yeah. Up until like the mid 2000s. You can trace it back to the ace walk back. Yeah. So have you ever ridden the beast with Carl Eichelmann? Uh, no, but, um, I, I met him a couple of times. Uh, we did this beast 25th anniversary video and he, he, I have that DVD still.
Beast's 25th Anniversary Video
01:30:12
Speaker
Yeah. I haven't, I actually have a, that,
01:30:14
Speaker
that documentary uploaded on my channel somewhere, that, that whole thing. Carl was part of that. Don Helbig was part of that. And I was part of it. And out of all the interviews I've done, that was the most nervous I've ever been at an interview. Um, because I just thought it was for a coaster, man. I didn't know they were going to play it in line for the beast for three years straight, but you know, um, it was, yeah, Carl, you know, he passed away last year, I believe. So.
01:30:40
Speaker
Oh, I didn't know that he died if you go ride the beast now, they did a really cool thing They put all these like history boards while you're standing in line and they have one dedicated to him with pictures of him writing it and I met his niece there at the park last year And she got to see those for the first time she was really emotional that's in one of my vlogs somewhere I don't remember which one but it's in there
Carl Eichelmann Tribute
01:31:04
Speaker
Shit, I didn't know he had passed. That sucks. Yeah, he was a good dude, man. He seemed really nice. He was very nice. I would have probably invited him on the show, because that would have been interesting. Yeah. Don Helbig was really, really close with him. And Don, I think, even made a blog post about it on King's Island's website.
01:31:27
Speaker
I didn't invite Don, but I know it sure as shit he wouldn't show up. No, Don's a pretty private guy, you know. And that's fine. I mean, obviously, I don't think anyone's going to show up on this show as an official representative of anything, and that's totally fine. Right. But you never know. You never know. Well, every time we have like a cool conversation with
01:31:51
Speaker
That's what I like is like getting people like you who have been around, but are very like cool. Thank you. First of all, I gotcha. I gotcha. I understand though. Well, there's a lot of like crotchety old people in the community too. You know what I mean? There is, there is. They don't like change. But then on the flip side of that, there's the younger people want too much change. And I think we're right in the middle.
01:32:18
Speaker
I agree. I mean, like, I feel like just even the name of the show, like your favorite coaster sucks. Yeah. There's like people who that really pisses off and then people who laugh at that shit. And there's a pretty clear divide on who those people are. I mean, I'll be honest. I told three people that I was doing this podcast. I didn't tell them when I just told them I was I was going to do it. And two of those three people were like, why are you doing that? Do you know those guys? I'm like, I will.
01:32:47
Speaker
And they're like, it's really controversial. And they make fun of a lot of people. And I was like, well, I just won't make fun of people, but, you know, more power to them if they want to do that. But, you know, um, but it wasn't like they were like, you're stupid for doing it or anything like that. They're just like, be careful. Oh, our reputation proceeds us and that's fine. Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully, you know, the, the bark was bigger than the bite. Yeah. I'm like, Oh shit. Do we live up to that reputation?
01:33:17
Speaker
Well, I mean, you know, I don't know if this is a good comparison, but somebody's got a shit because if not, you know, make a mess and who's going to clean it up? You know, people. Oh, hey.
01:33:28
Speaker
You heard the intro. We are the worst roller coaster podcast on the internet.
Podcast Reputation and Community Honesty
01:33:33
Speaker
And we wear that with pride. I don't think you're the worst. I mean, given I don't listen to a lot of coaster podcasts, but this is, honesty is very important, especially in today's world. And I applaud your honesty. I'll give you that for sure.
01:33:54
Speaker
No, that is the most PR person answer I could ever expect for that question.
01:34:03
Speaker
That's like, I didn't do the son of beast media day. Cause I was out West. Um, but I, I helped Kingsland planet. And one of the people that I was at, at the park that day and, you know, taking my place did an interview and somebody said, what do you think a son of beast? And they said.
01:34:23
Speaker
Son of beast is the exactly what I thought a 200 foot wooden coaster would feel like. Like it's, it's, it doesn't say anything bad. It doesn't say anything particularly good. It's just right there in the middle. That is a time when honesty is the exact right answer. Right. Exactly. For sure. Yeah. My favorite is a, it's a good addition for the park.
01:34:45
Speaker
Right. I've done that. I've said that many times too. And you know, you got to be careful there. I swear to God, man. There was somebody that face off that was the first media day I ever worked with the park on and in 99 April 99 and I invited a bunch of, you know, the park put me into and.
01:35:08
Speaker
They, I was responsible for getting the writers. So I got all these enthusiasts to come and this one girl did an interview and they said, what do you think of face off? And she said, face off is good, but it's nowhere near as my favorite Magnum XL 200 at Cedar point, which opens up next weekend. And I went, Oh, and then sure as hell. Um, when it came time to invite writers for this, the.
01:35:32
Speaker
the beast or the son of beast announcement day where we were riding the beast for hours, um, the park, the PR lady at the time, I gave her the list of writers and she went down and said, Nope, Nope, Nope, Nope. And we were left for eight writers. I had 30 writers and she said, Nope, Nope. Because she follows all this shit online and yeah, crazy. Oh wow. Yeah. I'm really not surprised.
01:35:57
Speaker
Because there's I think that's kind of a reputation just coaster people have now to parks. Right. Yeah. You know, again, it's kind of a sticky situation. And I got I got a little bit of flack recently because I think it's the last video I uploaded, actually. I have this off ride of Orion and the park took me back and off limits to get. And I never asked asked to do that. They offered it to me.
01:36:27
Speaker
And I took them up on the offer and I said, they said that this was only like the second time they had done something like that or whatever. So I thanked them for it and they said, no, we wanted to do something for you for just being supportive in the industry, you know, and the enthusiast community. It was just a nice gesture that
01:36:48
Speaker
because everything that's been going on in the enthusiast community, they just wanted to do something positive for somebody for once. And I thought that meant the world to me, but more importantly, it meant that they know that not every enthusiast is bad. That's what I got out of that. And there's tons of parks that think that way. They may not show it, but trust me, there's a lot of parks that support us. Oh, I know that. And I think it's fantastic to see parks that really do go out of their way. Yeah.
01:37:19
Speaker
Support enthusiasts and I think that's great because you definitely have done a lot for this community Obviously a reason that we were aware of who you are for Shit since we've been in this community for you know, 15 years or
Roller Coaster Hobby as a Lifestyle
01:37:34
Speaker
whatever. Yeah Thank you guys again, I mean
01:37:40
Speaker
I'll never get used to when people ask me to do stuff like this or they come up to me in person, like I'll never get used to that. But it's always nice to know, like I don't care if you don't like the videos or anything like that, but it's nice to know that somebody's out there watching, even though I don't upload videos for that reason, it's just nice to know that somebody can relate. And if somebody can relate, then you have a tie to them.
01:38:02
Speaker
And some of the people that I've known the longest in my world are just like you said, that some of the best and some of the worst are in this in this hobby. And for a long time, I referred to this hobby as a lifestyle because it kind of was, you know, now it's a hobby. But, you know.
01:38:19
Speaker
It can be and it's, it's up to the individual to what, at what point they want to get up to that line or cross it. Well, I mean, maybe, maybe it should be recommended that you cross that line just to see how bad things can
Living Life Fully
01:38:33
Speaker
get. That's, that's true. And that's usually when you take that decade break. Yeah. Yeah. When you realize there's more.
01:38:42
Speaker
Yeah, and you do a lot of learning and growing. Yeah away from amusement parks. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Oh shit. Well, holy moly. We're gonna have to make this one a two-parter. Yeah, that's fine, man. You wanted story, so I hope I didn't disappoint in that aspect, but I'm telling you right now, man, this has been a lot of fun. It really has. I needed this more than you can imagine.
01:39:03
Speaker
This this was better than I had actually hoped it could have gone. Well, thank you. Well, like, obviously not have talked to having talked to you before ever. It's always like, you know, there's like a level of cold call. Sure. People that we we don't actually know. Yeah. I mean, when I went in, I was like, man, I wonder how this is going to go. I was so excited the whole day to do this. And then it's just been it's just been great, man. It really has.
01:39:32
Speaker
Well, I'm glad to hear that. I figured it would go well because I was like, well, he's friends with Tommy. And if you're friends with Tommy, you know what I mean? Like Tommy's a good dude in Ray and so many others. Yeah. I didn't know you were friends with Ray, but knowing that now I'm like, oh, of course. Yeah. I've known Ray since he was 15 years old, man.
01:39:51
Speaker
Yeah, it's just crazy. Like every once in a while I'll have these moments where I'm just like, holy shit. It's 30 years since I've been really riding coasters. How did that happen? I don't understand how any of this happened. It goes by so fast. And the people that you know, life is so fast. And the way I look at it is if you're born at point A and you die at point B,
01:40:17
Speaker
uh just fill all of that with as much joy as you can um because everyone dies not everyone lives man that's a great way to look at it yeah don't take the straight line yeah make that path zigzag i actually said that to my friend josh and he actually tattooed that on his on his leg i actually said everyone dies not everyone lives and he actually got that tattoo so jesus you know
01:40:42
Speaker
I mean, that's, that's absolutely true. You have to, you have to choose to live, but you don't have to choose to die. So as long as we all have this gift of life, might as well try and make the best of it. Absolutely, man. I don't, I don't take it for granted because I've been in some situations where, uh,
01:41:01
Speaker
you know, I thought I was going to die. And I'm just like, okay, well, at least I had a good life, you know? Um, but I feel bad for people that can't say stuff like that. Like they, it's, you know, their last moments and they're like, man, I wish I would have gone places or I wish I would have done this. And you know, you can't do everything in life. There's still stuff that I would have loved to have done when I was younger that I can't do, but now, but it's just like,
01:41:26
Speaker
You know, it's, it's, it's life is a fickle life. Life is about what you do though. Not what you don't do. Yeah, you're right. So you got to make the best of what you do. Yeah. It's too short, man. Don't, don't hold, you know, I try to tell people, don't hold too many grudges and, and don't try to take life too serious because if you do, that's when you start noticing shit, that's not accurate or, or, or alters your mind in a way that.
01:41:52
Speaker
Really can screw you up. So yeah, sometimes you just got to take a good risk and eat at CC's. Hey, there you go. I don't think we have CC's here anymore in Columbus. That's probably good. That's for the best. Yeah. I used to love some of their stuff though, man. I'm not gonna lie. I had like whatever their, their cheesy bread stuff, man. Dude, that was tits. Yeah. I mean, there was a moment. I mean, there was a time when it was okay. I mean,
01:42:20
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, right now it's just crazy bad, but, you know, it was, it was up until the moment that, uh, well, Ben had reminded me that when we had ate at CCs, I got H1N1. No. Well, I can't, I can't say a hundred percent. Like it's not like they were contact tracing, but there was kids with snotty hands touching the pizza.
01:42:48
Speaker
Yeah. The same time we were there and then I had to go to the hospital with H1N1 like the next day.
01:42:58
Speaker
I mean, you know, one plus one. Yeah. Well, I never got tested for it, but there's a chance I had COVID in late February, early March. I was sick, really, really sick for a solid week and I had a fever. I couldn't taste anything. I couldn't smell anything, you know, that type of, all the symptoms. And, but I never got tested for the antibodies or any of that stuff.
01:43:21
Speaker
but holy shit, you definitely had COVID. I don't know. It's weird. I don't know where I would have gotten it from or anything, but it just, um, I was like, like I would, I would take showers because I was shaking so much with chills, like it like hot showers. They weren't doing anything. It felt like cold water and I'd have really strange dreams and shit. Um, but you know, I usually donate blood. I haven't done it this year. Um, every 56 days, I just thought I've been doing for the last 20 years and,
01:43:50
Speaker
Uh, they're now Red Cross is now testing for antibodies when they, when they do the blood. So if it comes back like, Hey, guess what? You had it. I wouldn't have been, I won't be surprised though. Shit. Well, damn dude, glad you're all right. Yeah. I mean, I just thought it was, you know, a really bad flu, but another thing that's walking to my benefit, I heard, um, they just kind of released a study and I don't know how, I don't know what to believe anymore, but, um, they said the O blood types, um, fight off the virus a lot better than the rest of the blood types. And I'm O positive.
01:44:20
Speaker
So maybe they had something to do with it too. Like I wasn't sick for like three weeks, but I'm telling you, this is scary too. Um, the last three days I was in Japan last year in July, I got sick and it lasted almost an entire month, man. So did Dan from Midway, mayhem. We both got this horrible, horrible fucking, I, yeah, I lost 20 pounds because of it, man. It sucked. Yeah.
01:44:45
Speaker
Damn. Like if you watch like the beginning of like my Japan vlogs, um, I'm heavier. And then if you want, like the very first shot in the first vlog is me after the trip. And then it goes to me before the trip. It's like, you can see it in my face, how much weight I lost.
01:45:03
Speaker
Oh fuck. Yeah. Damn. It was, it was pretty, it was pretty crazy. I mean that, and that was in July. I mean, I don't think that was COVID. I don't know what it was, but I was in Asia. So, you know, uh, who knows, but I just want all this shit. I keep on thinking that I'm going to wake up and I'll have a great laugh about, Oh, well, the word really isn't that bad, but it just keeps getting worse and worse. And what can you do about it? You can sit back and laugh.
01:45:28
Speaker
Yeah. Drink a beer. Uh, yep. There you go. Maybe if you, if you're comfortable, well wear a fucking mask. Yeah. And if you're comfortable with that, maybe try to go ride a roller coaster. Yep. Absolutely.
01:45:40
Speaker
Because I'll tell you right now, when, when the parks opened here in Ohio, I was, I had a lot of reservations thinking, I don't think this is going to be safe, man. You know, but then I went to Kings Island on July 6th and I couldn't believe how safe I felt. And to this day, I will fight for the park saying that they're more safe than going to a Walmart or any grocery store right now because they're, they're.
01:46:05
Speaker
requirements are so strict that you have to follow them or you just don't get, you'll get kicked out of the park. And that's a good thing. I mean, I definitely had major reservations this whole year. Yeah. I'm glad you guys are taking it serious. I really am. Yeah. I mean, at first it was like, everything's canceled. Yeah. And then in July, um, I got married and congrats,
Roller Coaster Wedding in Las Vegas
01:46:34
Speaker
man.
01:46:34
Speaker
Thank you. Yeah, my wife and I got married on the roller coaster at New York, New York. Oh, no shit. Yeah, it was awesome. Ben was my best man. Fantastic. Yeah, that is all. Especially during Covid, it was a good experience. Like it's kind of fun. Like we were we were extra like is going to say or your wedding. I just want to say like it was fun to like go to the ride before it opened and like just
01:47:03
Speaker
Yeah, we had two rides of ERT. Nice, okay. Yeah, but we kept it small. It was a total group of six. Yeah, I'm not a big fan of big weddings or anything like that either, so. And that's the best part is when you have six people and it's on a roller coaster, it's bing, bang, boom, wedding's over, cool. We are married. I did a wedding on Legend the year it opened. I was part of the people on the train, so. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, it was a lot of fun.
01:47:33
Speaker
But we were like very concerned about like being in Vegas. Oh, yeah. But we figured like, OK, pretty much at this point, anything you do is a calculated risk. Yeah, that's true. As long as you're doing what you can to protect yourself. There's there's you can do things, you know,
01:47:58
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, other than that, we've been in our apartment since March. Like, yeah, I mean, I did a trip to Pennsylvania. I hit a couple of parks out there and then Cedar Point, Kings Island, Kings Island. I did. I think this would be my sixth time there this year. Um, and then Hollywood nights. And that's been it for me for parks. Uh, I didn't feel comfortable flying this year, so I haven't done that.
01:48:23
Speaker
Um, same. Yeah, we we drove all the way out to Vegas. Yep, I drove the Phoenix. Yep. And we stopped at Glenwood Caverns on the way back. Oh, I wanted to, but they were closed. And we were lucky enough that like the timing was right and they happened to be open. So it was like, fantastic. Have you been there? No. Oh, man, that park is so fucking cool. Let's watch Dan's video of it. He posted like yesterday or whatever. That drop ride is the craziest fucking drop ride.
01:48:53
Speaker
Yeah, Taylor, he like shot a POV or something like last year. And he was, he was like, just like, dude, you have to ride this ride. Like, you have to ride this ride. Like, and then, so when I was in Colorado, on my way out to Phoenix, staying with friends, they weren't too close or they weren't too far from Glenwood, but it was close. I missed it. I'll get out there though.
01:49:16
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. No, it's definitely worth a visit. Like they only have a handful of rides, but each one is so good. Like their chair swing is the craziest fucking show. Yeah, I've seen that. Yeah, not the screaming swing, but just the regular chair. Oh, that shit scared the fuck out of me because like for basically like
01:49:39
Speaker
A little more like a third of the platform is on land. So two thirds of it. The swings are just like out and it's like a thousand feet down. It's higher up than the scream and sweat. See, I love heights, so I would be all over that thing, man. It was fucking terrifying. So much more than the scream and sweat. I've ridden the bigger coaster when it was at what was that place? Celebration City. I think that's where it came from.
01:50:07
Speaker
Yeah, it was closed and I was there, but I didn't even care because it didn't look that great. It wasn't the best. I think I even have a POV, another POV of it on my channel from when it was at Celebration City. So, yeah, I mean, it would have been a credit, but it's not like the other rides are really well, you know, the other rides, you know, the alpine coaster is pretty good, too.
Glenwood Caverns Experience
01:50:30
Speaker
I heard that as well. Yeah. Great views. You know, I've seen video of that as well.
01:50:35
Speaker
And it's, it's really hauling. I got a good moment of air time. I was not expecting it. I was like, Oh, I'm looking on YouTube right now. There's so much stuff I have to, I got to catch up on as far as like videos to watch. Cause you know, I really haven't watched much, but I'm going to get back into it real, real soon. I heard the cave tours were good, but we didn't feel comfortable cause they looked really like,
01:51:01
Speaker
crowded together, especially being in a cave. Yeah, I wouldn't. I've done the one at Silver Dollar City, which is just amazing. But, uh, yeah, I would, I would do a cave tour, but not during COVID for sure. Yeah. Like I would do it if it wasn't, you know, COVID going on, but I've heard they're, they're cool. Just not wasn't, wasn't something I was going to do at that visit. But yeah, it was like, at this point we saw that great deal for breakers and it was like,
01:51:28
Speaker
It was basically a buy one, get one. Yeah. That's what we're doing. Yeah. So it was like, okay, you know what? Let's just do it. This is the last chance we'll have to ride a coaster. Cause great American never opened this year. Oh, they didn't open at all. No, they're going to do holiday in the park lights, but no rides, just lights and outdoor shows. Did they open up hurricane Harbor?
01:51:52
Speaker
Uh, no, they got approval to open and then they didn't open. I was watching like, Oh, what's his name? Nick. Um, that does videos from there. Uh, coaster Nick. Yeah. Yeah. I was watching some of his videos earlier when they were like in the parking lot, just looking at the park, but I, I guess I didn't know that they didn't open. Wow. Yeah. No, never, never got to open this season. Just like California and Virginia. Oh yeah.
01:52:20
Speaker
Yeah, it's been a real fucking shit-ass backwards year for coasters.
COVID-19 Impact on Cedar Point Anniversary
01:52:25
Speaker
It really has, man. And this was supposed to be a huge year, especially for Cedar Point, man. Their 150th anniversary. And I mean... Well, God bless Kings Island for still getting their ride open. Oh, I know, man. I know. I mean, they were panicking, I'm sure. Like, oh, shit. That ride alone cost more than it did to build the entire park in 72.
01:52:49
Speaker
adjusted for inflation No, I was it was the build the park was less than 30 million dollars Okay, holy fuck. That's that seems cheap as shit to build a whole park. Yeah, but you know didn't have as many rights I just found some old pictures of me on my first visit there and I think I was two years old and it just looks so different the park, you know, I
01:53:10
Speaker
Uh, it's changed a lot and it's going to continue to change a lot. So, um, it's, uh, I'm curious, you know, it's one of my home parks. I live right between Cedar Point, Kings Island. So I go to both of them frequently. Just, just for fun. Is Orion a Giga? Yes. I counted as a Giga. There is that whole thing though, where apparently it's only 299.6 inches tall in the winter time.
01:53:39
Speaker
Oh, I've heard that too. Millennium forces and a gig in the winter time, you know. Oh. That's the stuff I'm talking about now. Why?
01:53:55
Speaker
Why hate a ride because, you know, it, it doesn't do that. I mean, like, I'll be honest, like my first ride in a ride and I was like, Oh, it's okay. You know, but the more, more like, uh, Josh rids and bacon, him and I wrote that thing 10 times a couple of Sundays ago and like at the rain and it fucking hurt, but.
01:54:15
Speaker
It was some of the most memorable rides, man. We had so much fun on that thing, man. It's getting faster and faster every day, so I'm happy for it. Say what you say about the layout, but it is what it is. It's a fun ride. Honestly, the thing that confused me most about that ride is that the first element is the boring turn from Raging Bull.
01:54:38
Speaker
Yeah, pretty much. I mean, it was, it was their take at doing something like RMCs, like sideways thing. And, um, I've only written it twice where there was actually decent airtime going through it while you're sideways. Uh, see the thing that a lot of people don't understand as well, as well as that park hasn't operated with full trains yet. And when it does, it's going to be going even faster. Well, then hopefully that is better than the turn on raging bull. Cause that's all I could better than the start of raging bull for sure.
01:55:07
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Cause like Ben pointed it out and I was like, Oh shit, that is. Yeah. And you know, on raging bull that that's like the one part where you're like, what the fuck is this? Yeah, exactly. I know. I know. I know that. The thing about, I love doing on Orion is if you're on the left-hand side of the train, especially with, if you're on one of the outside seats, when you get to the element and you just look down, like tilt your body down to look down, it's a really cool perspective.
01:55:33
Speaker
Interesting. And if you're on that train as well, going into that, that turnaround when it, before it goes down, if you're leaning to the left, the train's tilted completely sideways and you, you get like this weird view, like a front row view of the horizon. It's, it's strange as hell, but I love finding little things about rides like that.
01:55:52
Speaker
That's like, uh, I found, uh, what was fun on B and M hypers is to like turn around and look backwards on the first. Oh yeah. Yep. I used to do that on millennial force a lot while right in the back row. Um, do you guys remember? I mean, I don't know if you guys remember this. This used to be a thing at ACE events back in the day, but it was called the chain. Do you remember that? Uh,
01:56:16
Speaker
No, what's that? So during ERT, everybody is holding onto the hand of the person behind them for the entire train. It's like a giant chain of people holding arms. And the reason you do that is because when you go like a ride on Phoenix, there's a video of me doing this with a bunch of enthusiasts on Phoenix, you know, with a ride with a lot of airtime, you can feel other people's airtime when you do that. It's really strange, man. What? Yeah. It's like you can feel like
01:56:44
Speaker
Like the front row would get it and then the second people would get it, but you'd feel it in their arms as they're going over the hill. Like everything's just slightly delayed. And if you look back, you can see like everybody's arms doing the airtime moments, like as they come. That's the Dutch rudder of roller coasters. I'm docking on rails. No, that's weird. I've never heard of that. What, docking? Isn't that the next thing?
01:57:10
Speaker
I don't know. I just meant the thing about holding arms. Yeah. Sorry. Somebody pointed this out to me. I didn't know what it, I still don't really know what it is, but somebody pointed and said that, Oh, it was like docking on rails. And I was like, what, what does that mean? But like, do you know what it is? Yeah.
01:57:30
Speaker
Tell me what it is because I don't really know. So it involves two men, one being cut, one being not cut and the man who isn't cut embracing the other man's dick with his foreskin. OK, now I know. OK, well, now I know. And I probably should have asked that. But oh, it's like a dick hugging another dick. Yeah. Wow.
01:57:56
Speaker
I don't know. That's a funny thing because I'm like looking at the, the thing that, you know, you guys had typed up and I'm, uh, thinking, wow, these people are probably like, okay, this, this rail, this podcast has gone off the rails. And I'm like, well, wait a minute. No, this is the podcast.
01:58:14
Speaker
Yeah, no, this is like honestly and Ben's made this point before the best shit especially like in podcasting all comes from just having completely unscripted Unplanned conversation. I love it. I'd love that. Yeah. Yeah cuz then you like you know, it's authentic. It's authentic. It's very relaxed and
01:58:34
Speaker
Plus like most people are listening to podcasts, driving, you know, someone could just be driving alone on a road trip and they're in a, what, Arizona 3 AM. You kind of just want someone else in the car. Yeah. I listen to, I listen to podcasts when I'm driving a lot of times, like long distance drives and it makes the time go by very fast. Yeah, definitely.
01:58:58
Speaker
So if, if we're accompanying you on your long drive, we hope you are driving safely and, uh, watch out for that deer right now. Yeah. Um, look out for cops. Don't be speeding if you see them. Ignore that woman named cinnamon at the gas station. Lot lizards.
01:59:26
Speaker
I didn't know what that was. So when I was two, I was like 19. We're on I-90 somewhere in Montana going to Silverwood. Actually, yeah, we just got done with that amusement park driving that had a rollercoaster that went around.
01:59:41
Speaker
Oh, you went there. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I've been to Montana twice and never went there. I mean, it was like, unless you're trying to do, you know, like Glacier National Park or something, it was way out there. Okay. But we were at a rest stop and I was like outside smoking a cigarette and a woman came up to me and started talking to me and I didn't know what a lot was or it was.
02:00:06
Speaker
That's totally random. Wow. I was just like talking to her like casually, you know, like just out of boredom. And then Eric's like our friend, Eric's like, no, she's shut the fuck for money. Yeah. Wow. As as eloquently and subtly as our buddy Eric ever was. Oh, boy. Yeah, I mean,
02:00:34
Speaker
So have you encountered any worse hotels than that one at Blackpool? Oh, yeah, tons, man. Matter of fact, well, you guys know the gravity group, right? Yeah. Okay. So Mike Graham is an engineer with the gravity group and he's one of my best friends, man. I mean, we've done trips together. I mean, he's just a really, really good dude.
02:00:54
Speaker
and him and I did this trip up to Michigan's Adventure for, they had this coaster event called Timbers Fest, probably like 2003, somewhere around there. Maybe it was, I think it was 2001, I can't remember, but Mike and I, Mike came up here from Cincinnati, jumped in my car, we went up to Michigan, and somehow the days in, they screwed our room up. We left Michigan's Adventure after ERT, get to this days in,
02:01:23
Speaker
It was just, it was just a trash place and stuff. So we didn't think anything of it, but they're like, Oh, good for you guys. You get like the honeymoon suite and we're like honeymoon suite, like days in, like what the hell? And I was like, you know, I was like, we're near, you're wrong. We're not a couple, you know, we're friends and they're like, well, we only have one room and you guys get it. So we're like, okay, whatever. So we get up there and like, it was like, it was just, I think the bed was like in the shape of a heart or something. It was just crazy.
02:01:54
Speaker
And I was like, there was like no other couch. I'm like, okay, well, we have to share this. And he's like, like, don't tell anybody about this. This is embarrassing. So here I am on a podcast telling everybody about it. But you know, we had a lot of fun there. We went to a Denny's, um, right before we checked in the hotel and they forgot to make our food. And, um, people were like, it felt bad because they were giving us fries from their plates. Cause we're the only people in the restaurant with no food.
02:02:22
Speaker
And they didn't give us our drinks. So I had enough of it. So I went back in the kitchen. I just walked back there and they're all just sitting around and I'm like, they're like, you can't be back here. And I'm like, yes, I can. We haven't been served and it's been an hour and a half. What the hell? Like give us our drinks. And then they gave them to me right there and I walked him back out of the kitchen and we still didn't get our food. So we left. Damn. Yeah.
02:02:46
Speaker
Okay. Well, that's, that sounds pretty terrible. Yeah, it was, it was bad. I mean, I've stayed in some, some just shy. I stay in so many hotels for work and I, I've heard, uh, you wouldn't, I mean, you know, you'll hear people banging, you know, in the room next year or whatever, but I, I swear, man, I was leaving this room, this hotel one morning and I was like on the third floor of this place. It was in, uh, near Charlotte and I heard,
02:03:13
Speaker
this woman like moaning and groaning as I was like going down the hallway and I was like, Oh, someone's having fun there. And then what sounded like a fricking electric prod or some electric stick, like shock in her. Like I was hearing like and in a scream and yeah. And I got out of that place real fast. Sounds like my bedroom. Oh boy.
02:03:37
Speaker
Yikes. There's so many road stories and so many junky hotels. There's one in Ohio near Wheeling, West Virginia that I had to stay up for work. It was such a bad place. You walk in and the door is carpeted on the inside. You had carpet going all the way up the door.
02:03:56
Speaker
And I'm like, what? Yeah. And I'm like, why? I don't understand. Like why is there carpet on the door? And it was wet. And I'm like, like, Oh no. Yeah. And I'm like, what is, what is this? And I look up and the air conditioning unit was above the door and it was leaking and to prevent it from hitting the carpet, they just copied the door. Yeah, dude, that's gotta be the shittiest one. I'll stick with that one. Nice.
02:04:22
Speaker
Well, on the plus side, if there's a fire, they'll be able to open the door really easy. Yeah, I know. But on the downside, if you have mold issues. Oh, God. If you're sensitive to mold. I was staying in this big hotel near Kennywood. Maybe, I don't know, 15 minutes from Kennywood.
02:04:46
Speaker
At the recommendation of Bill Lincolnheimer, he was like, yeah, dude, you know, stay there. It's cheap and it's a nice place. And it was nice. We had three people in the room. I think my mom was there, uh, probably one of our coaster friends and then just me and we're all sleeping and the door was locked and in the middle of the night, some guy just walks into our room.
02:05:06
Speaker
And we're like, Oh my God. Yeah. We're like, hello. And he's like, Oh, I got the wrong room and walks out. And so I went down to the front desk and I was like, how can somebody have a key to our room? Like how, what gives? And they're like, Oh, we did it again. And I'm just like, Oh,
02:05:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's scared to hell. It's scared to hell. I woke up and there's some guy standing there looking at us, like, hello? Damn. Oh, no. Yeah. Good thing I imagine someone being on drugs and that happening. Oh, my God. They jumped out the window. Oh, Ben, you're not spreading COVID over here. I inhaled some rice.
02:05:56
Speaker
Okay. That belongs on a t-shirt. Sorry, I'm having a bad day. I inhaled some rice. I'm also smoking, so... Oh, okay. Yeah, that's kind of the other through line of our show. What, smoking? We just get high and drunk usually and just... Oh, okay. Well, I'm not drunk. I didn't get a bus tonight. I'm actually surprised, so...
02:06:23
Speaker
That's okay. It's not like it's a requirement. No, no, but it's kind of like, you know, there's like, uh, there's been a few times where we had guests and they got absolutely hammered. Oh, wow. Yeah. To the point we couldn't even use the episode.
02:06:44
Speaker
I see I had some crazy hammered moments. I mean, I've never once been hungover, which I guess is a blessing. But I had a blackout night in New York City once and it was bad. And ever since then, I was like, I can't do that again. So like I was there's a really nice hotel in New York City called the Waldorf Astoria.
02:07:08
Speaker
And we got, I was, I don't even remember how he got it, but my coworker got invited to some Wounded Warriors project thing. Cause he's a, he's a veteran, he's a Marine vet. And he was like, dude, we get, you want to go out there? I was like, yeah, I'll go. So they flew us out there. They picked us up like in a limo and stuff, took us to Waldorf store. That was a room. Then after the Wounded Warrior event, we all went out with a bunch of veterans and I started a tab.
02:07:35
Speaker
And those fuckers put all their drinks on my tab and I went to sign for it. $190 or something. Um, but I honestly don't remember half after that, but I, this is again, probably TMI, but I woke up in like the middle of the night or the, in the morning, like butt ass naked in, in my bed and they're like,
02:07:58
Speaker
I felt like I'd been in a sandbox. I was all like, it was just nasty. And I'm like, man, I gotta take a shower and I go in the bathroom and somebody clearly had just taken a shower. And I'm like, uh, what happened? Like what happened? I have no memory. Nothing of that. Good Lord. That was scary. I was enough to like, I,
02:08:29
Speaker
Yeah. I think that's the most terrifying thing that I've ever heard. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if I hooked up or whatever. I just don't know. I just, I honestly have no, no clue, not nothing, you know?
02:08:41
Speaker
It was just, it was wet. It wasn't me. Cause I was just nasty feeling, you know, I know I had not taken a shower, but there was like towels on the floor. Um, and like, like the, the, the tub was still wet. Like it just had just happened. So yeah, scary, scary times. I mean, I've had a few of those experiences living at Cedar in the Cedar point dorms. Oh, I know they, they like to party, man. Yeah. That's a, that's a good time.
02:09:14
Speaker
I miss the Cedar Point experience. I worked here at Great America.
02:09:19
Speaker
I heard this, you could be able to explain this to me then, man. I had a buddy that worked on Blue Street for years and then he went to like Wildcat and I still talk to him, he's a good dude, but he's a real conservative guy and he said that there was this thing he heard happened in the showers there called the Power Tower shower hour. Oh yeah.
02:09:45
Speaker
That's a thing. Well, it's not like it's an official like meetup and it's scheduled or anything. It's I think there's not a flyer for you. I think it's just the natural. I mean, you have a bunch of college kids like who are.
02:10:02
Speaker
18 to 22 getting drunk in a summer camp experience. And like, I think what happens is like the showers just naturally pull in the like cruisy vibe. And I think it just kind of happens. But yeah, I've definitely seen that. And maybe, you know, but he never saw it, but he said a couple of times is like when he went to go take a shower, he'd go back out of the shower to get his underwear and his underwear would always be stolen. Oh.
02:10:30
Speaker
Yeah, leave it. Yeah, no, that's definitely that's real. OK, wow. I thought for a while he was giving me like a line of crap and now I know so. But the nickname is funny because like the nickname, like I haven't heard that name. And since, yeah, probably like 10 years, it's funny. Oh. I cannot believe that.
02:10:59
Speaker
I'm pretty sure like if you go to Cedar Point or any park in Orlando where they have like people from all over the country that come into work there, all those kids are fucking each other all the time.
02:11:13
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, see, I've never worked at a park and I don't think I would. So I, you know, I obviously haven't like experienced that side of a park or anything, but like, and one of the reasons I didn't, I never really wanted to work for a park is because I know a lot of people that work for parks that hate parks now because they look at them as work.
Theme Park Industry Careers
02:11:31
Speaker
And I would never really want to get that plan. I mean, the ACPR stuff was enough for me to even think about doing something like that. But.
02:11:38
Speaker
Um, yeah, yeah, it has a really finite limit. Um, but I think it's also easy to get really pulled into that, um, cycle of working parks. And like at a certain point, you kind of have to realize, okay, am I going to be able to move up or, you know, like, what's my path?
02:11:56
Speaker
Like I almost did Cedar Point for a third season, but I'm sure if I did or I did it for three, like part of a third season. But if I would have went back like and live there full time for a third year, I'm sure I would have hated it and I would have like gotten way more sucked into it.
02:12:11
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. I can see that. I mean, I can see how, yeah. So you got, you got out when you needed to. Yeah. Cause it's, it's super easy. Cause you know, like February rolls around and you're bored of winter and like, you know, you're working another part-time job and you're kind of bored and it's nostalgic and it's fun. And it's just easy to like reapply every year. Cause you know, you'll get the job. So.
02:12:35
Speaker
That's awesome. It's a cool experience to work at a park. I think it's like extra cool if you're like an enthusiast because you get to see it from the other side. But yeah, I think it's definitely easy. Like you were saying, like a lifestyle that, that one easily becomes a lifestyle. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And there's some people though that have been successful at it. Um, you know, making it like a real, you know, like a, I don't want to say real career, but you know what I mean? Like a full time.
02:13:04
Speaker
where they're able to move up. But sometimes you have to like leave the park, take your experience, go do something outside of the amusement industry. Then you can come back in even stronger with more experience and you kind of have to like play that climbing game.
Career Prospects in Theme Parks
02:13:18
Speaker
Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Cause I know a lot of people that have gone bouncing around parks and I didn't quite understand why, but that, that makes a lot more sense now.
02:13:28
Speaker
And also, let's be totally honest, it's not like anyone's making a million bucks in that industry, despite the fact that ticket prices always increase and everything. Profit margins are low as shit. So it's not like anyone's getting super rich working at a park. But I mean, like if you making like, I don't know, 55K with 401K and insurance full time and you're at a theme park, like you're doing pretty well for that industry.
02:13:57
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I'm not saying it doesn't exist and it's not possible. It definitely is. And everyone who has those positions that I know personally absolutely loves their job and they do it because they love it. Yeah, that's the way you get this. That's the reason I get the sense from everyone I know who works full time, like the old cliche about like, you know, they do it for free, but like you really get that sense from those people.
02:14:26
Speaker
Yeah, but the ones that, you know, are going to succeed. I mean, it's pretty obvious that they're
Jeff Siebert's Career Journey
02:14:31
Speaker
going to exist. I mean, look at Jeff Siebert, you know, he started out Americana here in Ohio, then became the marketing director at Kings Island. Then literally Schlitterbahn hired him and then six or Fiesta Texas hired him. And now he's the president of Fiesta Texas. He didn't want to work for Cedar Fair. Well, he was gone before that happened. So,
02:14:55
Speaker
I remember talking to him like, I don't know, like a year or two after Cedar Fair had finalized the purchase and I was like, is that like why you left? And he just kind of smiled.
02:15:11
Speaker
Well, he got his job because he did such a great job marketing Kings Island's water park, like their new additions. Schlitterbahn took notice and I think that's how he got down there. So when he was at Schlitterbahn, I went down and visited him and hung out with him like all day. And then as soon as he went to Fiesa, Texas, I did the same thing. I haven't been down there since he became president though, but I'm so proud of that guy, man. I have learned more about the industry through him than anybody else. Oh, he is fantastic. He is such a good dude.
02:15:39
Speaker
When it comes to allies of enthusiasts within the industry, I don't know if I could think of anyone before him.
Supporting Roller Coaster Community
02:15:48
Speaker
Oh, absolutely. Just to give you an example of some of the stuff he would do, I was always invited to go with Kings Island to a no-coaster con in Chicago.
02:15:59
Speaker
We've been hopping the Kings. I drive down the Kings Island. We'd hop in the Kings Island van We drive up Chicago do the whole weekend and drive back but on that drive up there There was one other enthusiast that he would invite it was John Keeter and I don't know if you know who that is But he lives in Kentucky and he's big big supporter Kings Island as well and in the in the van we used to have the saying I mean, it's been well over 15 years so I can talk about this stuff now, but I
02:16:24
Speaker
They would share with us future attractions, like artist renderings and stuff like that.
Future Attractions at No Coaster Con
02:16:33
Speaker
So we found out a lot about what Kainzai was putting into those trips. And we weren't allowed to talk about them while we were on no coaster for years. But that's how I found out about Tomb Raider. That's how to find out about Delirium, Italian Job, all that stuff. So he knows that people like us
02:16:51
Speaker
like to hear that stuff, like unexpectedly. And that's why he would share it. So he's he's one of us, man. He really is. Yeah, no, he's great. We first, I'll say we had our first your favorite coaster sucks meetup at Fiesta Texas back in February, like right before. Yeah, like right before we hit. Yeah. And we we saw him. I had a chance to, you know, shake his hand real quick and
02:17:18
Speaker
Thank him for hosting the event there. It's fucking fantastic. I love that park, too. That's my favorite Six Flags park. It was great. I had never been there before, so it was so fantastic. It's beautiful at that place, man. And I need to get back down there, because I haven't been there since Iron Rattlers Media Day. Yeah, no, I loved it. And plus, a break from Chicago weather in February in San Antonio. You guys get hit a lot. We don't get as much snow as you guys get.
02:17:48
Speaker
That and that's what I was about to say is like what years did you go to no coaster con cuz I've gone so many times to that I did too I went oh Probably I did it several years in a row. So probably like 2009 to probably 2004 five or six as I went almost every year Okay, I think I went every year from oh five until like I don't know 2000
02:18:18
Speaker
13 or 15. So we were probably at a couple together, I would think. Yeah, I'm sure. And Ben was there for a few of them. Oh, nice. We were always, if you couldn't guess, the assholes in the back of the room. Right. And I was always sitting near the front with the park. Yeah, we were the ones sipping beer out of a coffee mug in the back. Oh, no.
02:18:41
Speaker
and just kind of laughing to ourselves. Right. Because, you know, there's a lot to be laughed at at that event. Were you at the one where Mike Graham debuted the coaster dynamics model? Oh, shit. I don't think I don't think so. Yeah. That's where he debuted it.
02:19:01
Speaker
That sounds awesome. He brought it from Cincinnati and then he asked me to, uh, he had it in his hotel room and he's like, can you help me bring it out there? So we brought it out. And then he had this like demo of the train, like on a straight piece of track that you could go back and forth and let the train roll freely on. And it was like a, it was like a bigger version of what he made, you know, just to give people an idea on detail and stuff. And I fucking broke it off the end of the track.
02:19:30
Speaker
Shit I felt so bad Although it should have had some sort of like peace at the end Well, I think it did and I think I just broke it and then it just fell off or something He was like, that's right. I'll put it back together. Oh Yeah, well, hey sounds like he was a pro. Yeah, he's building coasters now. So he did something right Yeah, I mean and
02:19:54
Speaker
Damn, if those nano coasters aren't the coolest fucking thing. Oh, man, dude. So, you know, have you have you guys seen that big steel vengeance model that's at Cedar Point?
02:20:05
Speaker
I've not seen it yet. I used to love that mean streak model though. Yeah, I mean, it's insane this thing and it's supposed to run, but the guy, they had to move it to another building recently. So it's in a different place and it's still being built, I guess. But that guy that built that is now one of the designers for the Coaster Dynamics models. That company has taken off so much they had to hire another designer too.
02:20:32
Speaker
So my buddy Jeff out in Arizona, he's got 70 of the 80 kits or however many they are. Hey, Coaster Dynamics, in case you guys listen to the show, you know, if you want to partner up on some giveaways or anything.
02:20:49
Speaker
We will advertise the shit out of you. I already advertised that shit anyway. I've been posting pictures of my little nano coasters. I've never bought one. I've never, I've never, I mean, it only because I know I would, it'd be like vinyl records for me. I just go ballistic and get them all. And, uh, no. So, I mean, they're fantastic. The next, I might have to.
02:21:12
Speaker
Well, yeah, I mean, they're, they're, they're amazing. Um, the next vlog I'm posting next week, I think, uh, has all the ones that my buddy Jeff has when I visited him in Arizona. And I'm just like, he's got them on these shelves. I have lights and I'm just so that sounds really nice. It looks nice as hell. I mean, and he, and he has them laid out in a specific way, but.
02:21:35
Speaker
I looked at those, I said, as cool as they are, that is not something I can just dive
COVID and Channel Continuation
02:21:39
Speaker
into right now. It would have been good at the beginning of COVID when everybody was like, they couldn't leave their houses to do something like that. But that's when I was just focusing on going through my archives and stuff like that. Because at that point, I was about to shut the channel down anyway. So I'm glad I stuck through it, though, because I don't know where I would have been without it.
Exciting Episode Commentary Idea
02:22:01
Speaker
I know that sounds weird, but I love that thing.
02:22:06
Speaker
Totally. Well, um, speaking of the archives, let's, let's definitely do an episode where we do commentary on one of your old videos. I think that would be dope. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let me, let me get it, uh, get you the digital copy of it and I'll, I'll, we'll, we'll range for the Dropbox and I'll send it to you so you can check it out and see if that's something you guys would want to do. Or do you guys like to do it live, not seeing the video at all? Like, um, well, we, I don't know if we've ever tried one that we haven't seen.
Documentary Contribution Experience
02:22:33
Speaker
We did one, um,
02:22:36
Speaker
We did a couple of the old Rob LV ones, and then we did one about the documentary about aerodynamics. Oh, the Ace thing. Yeah. Yeah. Which, I mean, I will give full credit. That's a very well-produced documentary. Yeah, it is.
02:22:52
Speaker
They, so right, they were already editing it. Like they had already announced the, uh, the premiere night somewhere in California and all this stuff. And it was about, I would say just like a week or so before they debuted it. And I get this email from Nick, who was one of the people that did that documentary. And he's like, dude, I just saw that you have footage of, um, steel Phantom and you have X testing for the, like the, you know, really early X test stuff.
02:23:18
Speaker
And a couple other things. Is there any way you can send me that footage? So I sent them all and they do it in the documentary like at the last time or like the last minute, like the big bad wolf footage and stuff. That's all stuff I sent like the last minute and they put it in there. I was amazed. They got that thing together that quick.
02:23:36
Speaker
that's great they were able to use that resource because I mean it's it's not always like ACE is the best for utilizing things like that you're right but they've been trying to improve a lot on a lot of that stuff and a lot of that's gonna change when they get different people you know but
02:23:57
Speaker
Yeah, it's just crazy how they can edit. I did this talk about nerve-wracking. I did this play-by-play, like reverse POV on top of little Dragster for National Geographic during CoasterCon. Like, Dragster did open for CoasterCon for like a half an hour, not during ERT or whatever, and then it went down again. And
02:24:18
Speaker
They couldn't they didn't have enough time to rig a camera up. So I had to go back to the park where the same clothes I was wearing for the interview and Ride it for the reverse POV and then the park had to hand me the DV tape I had to run it back down to Columbus and I had to overnight it to the producers of that National Geographic show because the show aired the next night and
02:24:44
Speaker
And they had to end it. Oh, yeah.
Old Show Nostalgia
02:24:47
Speaker
Or maybe the night after. I mean, it was a day, maybe a day and a half. And they were like, we really need that tape, dude. And I mailed it to them or, you know, overnighted it to them and they put it in the show. It was like the beginning of the show. Oh, shit. I got to go find that on YouTube. I have it. I'll put it in. I think I have it. Let me let me look real quick and God, I don't even know what it would be called. Let me see. I guess I love watching those old shows now.
02:25:14
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sure it's even more fun for you, like watching them and you're in them. To be honest, I don't watch a lot of the stuff I'm in when it comes to that because you're always going to be your worst critic, I guess.
02:25:33
Speaker
Every once in a while, maybe I'll bust that out to show someone, but like, I forget that I did that stuff until usually people start asking me about it. And I mean, it was a huge part of my history and I'm honored as hell that parks would even consider me to be part of any of that stuff. But at the same time, it's like, you know, my history is part of there. One of the biggest things I started my channel for was because I wanted
Coaster Video Excitement
02:26:01
Speaker
Uh, for people to use this stuff, they'd be able to tell their own story. You know, I want people to tell their own story with this stuff. Well, I suppose, yeah, my, my frame of reference is obviously a little bit different. I remember watching this shit is like, uh, you know, 13 year old kid being like coasters are cool. Yep. And I found it. Um, they then you're, you're on there like talking about the beast or whatever. And I'm just like, that's pretty cool.
02:26:30
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, it's kind of weird that like, um, ACE is nickname for me back when I was PR was the face of ACE. And I'm like, I don't know if, if, if you, uh, want me to be the face of ACE, but you know, thank you for considering me, you know, uh, it just weird. I, I still have a strange time, like absorb, I'm still absorbing all that stuff. You know what I mean? Like it's still.
02:27:01
Speaker
Not real to me. There we go. It's in the chat. Oh, I got to see this. I'm excited now. I'll watch it with you. OK, here we go. Oh, I love I love how dramatic with the the like staging. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. This reporter dude was really cool. I walked around the park with him the whole day. Well, there's Ray right there. You see Ray on Millennium Force?
Behind-the-Scenes Filming
02:27:28
Speaker
Oh, yeah, there he is. Yeah.
02:27:30
Speaker
Um, this, this, this, this, the reporter guy, um, had a great time walking around with him, but watch what he does when I get off a dragster. It's kind of creepy. He gives me like this kind of slight head massage. Yeah. Yikes. So, so one of the people that's in prison for doing bad stuff that we were talking about earlier is standing next to me in the station for dragster in this. Oh boy. Yeah. Yeah. We've, uh,
02:28:00
Speaker
We've heard a couple of stories about that person. Uh, probably from one of the people we were just talking about. Yeah. Um, yeah. Okay. Oh, he he's in there. God, look at God. I was so young. Uh, mean streak. All right. Oh, there you go. Oh, look at that stylish ass ace polo. That was the 25th anniversary polo.
02:28:28
Speaker
As you can see, I talk a lot with my hands. That, that is a getting some pussy shirt for sure. Not, not, not in that park. There might be some other familiar faces you see in here. I have to remember. Oh, my buddy Matt, I'm on the train with him. Yeah. I went to Japan with him.
02:28:49
Speaker
This was odd because like we walked from like Magnum to Mean Street and I had a camera on me the whole time. And when we would take breaks, that is weird. Yeah. Everybody would be like, oh, are you a celebrity? Like, are you like a rock star? I'm like, do I look like a fucking rock star? Really? I mean, back in the 90s, I had hair almost down to my waist. Others ray again. You should have just pointed to the fucking shirt, man. Yeah. AC me, bitch.
02:29:16
Speaker
When I when I met up with Ray at Cedar Point in 2012, I was shooting a video with him and I'm like, hey, it's the guy from the Millennium Force promo video. Oh, yeah. Oh, there he is. I was like, do the face of the spoiler on the dragster train. Yeah. Yep. That's before the tiger flew off. Oh, shit. That guy looks like a fucking
Community Connections
02:29:40
Speaker
creep. Yeah, he was. And I mean, we did so many trips with that guy and we had no idea, man.
02:29:46
Speaker
No idea. I mean, now you see like red flags, you know, like, Oh, I wish I would have noticed that. What's my cheeks when, uh, when, uh, when, when we're on the down section on top of the direction, my cheeks are just fully pushed back because the force is in the wind. Now watch what happens when I get off the ride. Yeah. He like weirdly padded. Yeah. It's like, what?
02:30:14
Speaker
I'm so glad you make it back safely. So the black guy that they're talking to was a, uh, a ride operator on lakesides, uh, cyclone. Which, uh, which like lakeside Denver. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. ACE had an ERT and he was on the intercom the whole time. ERT was a blast. And then when he was at Cedar Point, I'm like, dude, you're an enthusiast too. Oh yeah. That was it. Oh dope. That was awesome.
02:30:42
Speaker
Okay. So there you go. That's a, that's a special sneak preview of what we'll do for a video commentary. That would be, that would be fucking awesome. I would totally do that. Yeah, absolutely. I've got so many of those on my channel. I, I, um, what's the playlist? It's a vintage amusement park videos and stuff. Uh, there's so many of those old programs. I just uploaded like five or six of them just during COVID old stuff, the stuff that I wasn't in, but I did, uh, upload a video of me doing an interview at Superman's media day at great America too. Yeah.
02:31:12
Speaker
So part of my history, man, that's like I usually and another reason I started my channel is to have a digital Time stamp of my life just to have that so I could look back like for reference and stuff Yeah, man, that's that's great that you do have that.
Documenting Coaster Experiences
02:31:27
Speaker
I don't know. I started like taking detailed notes of all my park visits Like when I got back into the hobby just cuz like
02:31:36
Speaker
I want to remember this, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've had people I'd say, well, you should write a book sometime. And I'm like, no, I have my video, you know, video to me is better than a book. I mean, as far as getting to the point of the story. So I just, I kind of big video guy. So always been started editing when I was 12.
02:31:56
Speaker
on tape. Yeah, I started editing on tape when I was 12. Well, you pick, um, you pick, you make a reel or if you have something edited. Yeah, I got, I got it. It's the big one. It's the, it's like an hour and a half long coaster 99, but it perfect. There's so many people that Rob's in there. Um, a lot of people that you guys would know are in there. Oh, this is perfect. Ben, doesn't this sound perfect? Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I'll definitely send it to you. I'll try to get it to you guys here in the next day or two.
02:32:25
Speaker
Cool. Just so if you if you choose to watch it before you do it, please do, you know, just just check it out. Yeah, totally. I mean, one of the Rob ones we did, I watched it before and tried to like write out a couple jokes just so I had a couple things ready.
02:32:43
Speaker
Well, um, I, I put Easter eggs and I like to hide stuff in my videos too. So I did. That was the first time I do digitally edited anything that was back in 99. Maybe it would be more fun to just, uh, going with fresh eyes. Yeah. Well, awesome. We'll get that scheduled up for sure. All right.
02:33:02
Speaker
Cause that, that'll be a blast. And all right. Yeah. Get the, get the plugin for your YouTube channel again.
Sean Fleary's YouTube Channel
02:33:09
Speaker
It's just, uh, it's just my name, Sean Fleary and just go to youtube.com slash Sean Fleary, which is S E A N F L A H A R T Y. And, uh, if you need to contact me, go to the about tab and just send me an email. Love to hear from you and put some comments down there. I'll respond to them.
02:33:26
Speaker
And if you're pitching for a podcast, make sure it's a good pitch. Yeah. There you go. Definitely go check out Sean on YouTube. He has a fucking phenomenal wealth of awesome coaster footage, a lot of which has him. Thank you.
02:33:45
Speaker
Yeah, totally. No, I appreciate that you have all that shit up there as otherwise, you know, it might not be around. Right. Right. And then, you know, the last couple of years, all the old stuff, I definitely been rendering at 60 FPS to give it a really smooth and and preserve the quality even a little bit better.
02:34:03
Speaker
I mean, I'll be honest, like my archives are running a bit thin because I've just uploaded stuff. So I'm going to go another pass, do everything to see if I missed anything really important. Like one of the next videos I want to upload here next week or so as well is going to be the Six Flags Ohio media day. That'll be fun.
02:34:20
Speaker
Oh, that would be nice to see. Yeah, because they they they took me underneath the Batman knife like to see the floors from believe. I mean, do you guys know the folks that do all the computer programming for a lot of the rides now? The Andre. Yeah, I've heard of that company. Yeah, like Brian Andre. He's been doing that for I mean, he was one of the RC guys and.
02:34:43
Speaker
He took me all around the rides and showed me how things work and all that stuff. A lot of that's in that video. So I can't wait to upload that because that was a lot of fun. Oh, that sounds dope. Yeah. Yeah. Get over to Sean's YouTube channel. Click subscribe because he's got to have more shit coming up, as he just said. Yeah. And even if he doesn't, I'm sure you have just hours and hours.
02:35:08
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I yeah, it's just I don't have like I mean, I have a lot of coaster stuff on there But at the same time it wouldn't hurt me if I did like guitar cover like I get I do guitar covers and stuff, you know It's not strictly. I mean, it's 90% of its coaster related but that's why I do vlogs now because
02:35:30
Speaker
I want to show that there's more to coasters, you know, uh, I think that's important to kind of remind people that every once in a while without shoving anything down their throats. Um, I mean, Jesus, the last law guy uploaded, uh, what two months ago, maybe a month ago was two hours and 11 minutes long. That the file size was 45 gig. Damn. Yeah. But I mean, it was all 4k, you know, stuff, but, um, yeah, please check me out.
02:35:58
Speaker
Definitely. And I'm going to run through our annoying shit real quick. No worries. It's like two thirty here. I can't believe it's awesome. No, I mean, shit, I appreciate you hanging for this long. And no worries. Tell us all these stories. This has been the most fun I've had on a podcast, I think, ever. Just so chill. Thank you. Thank you, guys, for just providing such a great vibe tonight, man.
02:36:26
Speaker
Well, we certainly appreciate you coming on and it's an honor to hear that, you know?
02:36:33
Speaker
Um, all right. Yeah. We got to get to the annoying shit. Give us five star rating, uh, or like button, but whatever you can do to interact with however you listen to the show, do that thing. Make sure you rate us highly. I don't know. Leave us a comment. Tell us what your favorite video that has Sean Flaherty in it. We'll read the best comments. So you let us know, but it's got to be five star rating or like button, whatever.
02:37:03
Speaker
interact with the content. Give us a follow on on the socials. We are everywhere, unlike Sean. We're on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr. Still don't know why we're there, but hey, who cares? You can email us at your favorite coaster sucks at gmail.com or call us, leave a voicemail or text at 312-572-9552. Don't be afraid, but we will play it on the show.
02:37:29
Speaker
Uh, we have a discord server now, got the link in the show notes or the description so you can find it there. If you want to chat, we both pop in there every once in a while. Uh, but of course the easiest way to get ahold of us is on our website, your favorite coaster sucks.com or roller coaster podcast.com. That's right. I swipe that shit up. Hello SEO. All right.
02:37:53
Speaker
We want to send a huge thank you, for real, for real, to everyone over on our Patreon. You guys got us to our first ever monetary goal there.
Patreon Milestone Celebration
02:38:05
Speaker
And so now we're live streaming our recordings. Congratulations. You have reached, you have pushed us to reach a new level of terrifying with producing content.
02:38:17
Speaker
I can't say it's bad. We appreciate it. You guys are the fucking best. So real quick, we got to put an ad in for that. It started just a buck a month. We do our monthly Patreon Zoom meetings. Hey, Sean, would you ever be interested with hanging out with a couple of us just on a Zoom call? Yeah, hell yeah. All right. So we might have a special guest of Sean Flaherty.
02:38:43
Speaker
So we got exclusive show notes and bonus episodes, and we'll give you a shout out on the show just like this. Ben, go right ahead.
02:38:57
Speaker
So here's our list of people who have paid for our friendship. We got Nathan Slater, Brian Lewis, Joshua Knight, Lou Anne Lewis, Scott Levine, Mikey Mayo, Michael Muldoon, Tristan Cox, Dominic B, Stefan Feinberg, Daniel Puckett, Nathan Hart, Jonathan Hawkins, Jared Mullen, Brandon Carter, Ryan Schumacher. The name's in it many times and I still get them wrong.
02:39:24
Speaker
Uh, and also, uh, or extra thanks to Logan and check out his podcast at Prairie coasting. Yeah, he's our executive producer. So big thanks to him. And thanks to all of our patrons. Uh, sorry, Ben folks up your name. That's okay. We'll make it right during the zoom call. It wouldn't be fun if you didn't, you know, um,
02:39:50
Speaker
Thanks so much for being on with us, Sean. No, you got it, brother. And for hanging for so long. I had nothing going on, man, and this is perfect timing. I think this is the longest. It's definitely the longest one I've ever done. I mean, we're approaching five hours now.
02:40:06
Speaker
Yeah, we had one where we recorded with like basically everybody else who has a roller coaster podcast. And that was fun. And that went for about this long. But I think this is the longest like single guest episode we've had. Wow. Wow. And it's definitely fitting because we covered like a lot of ground. Yeah. Yeah, we did.
02:40:26
Speaker
But holy shit on now. Now we have some great ideas for some upcoming episodes. So we'll have Sean on again, because obviously he's a great guest and now a great friend of the show. Yep. Thank you. So we'll be sharing some great old footage and we'll get you and Ray on. Oh, my God. That's a nice group. That's sweet. That has to happen. You know, I'll try to reach out to Keith, you know, I'll talk to him, see if that's something he would be up for.
02:40:50
Speaker
Yeah. And if you think of anybody else on the show, you know, the type of people that, you know, we would vibe with. So we'll take any recommendations. Well, I'll tell you who has who's very direct. And I don't know if you guys are a fan of them. Dan from Midway Mayhem, man. Would you guys ever have her considered that or is that something kind of off limits for you?
02:41:13
Speaker
I have nothing against him. Yeah, I'd be down to talk to him. We're going to have Sarah on in a couple of weeks. Okay. So, I mean, I know they're pretty close. I mean, I don't know if like who you all asked, like that I hung out with or anything, but I'm sure there's people I know that would be up for doing it, you know.
02:41:37
Speaker
Some played people would not be up for it, but you know, Hey, and that's fine. We know we're not for everybody and that's cool with us. Yeah. But you know, we, we're happy to talk to anyone real actually, we're happy to talk to anyone who's happy to talk to us really.
02:41:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you guys have, you know, a very similar history to me as far as being in it for a long while. And I think that's important. I think that's why we were vibing so well. You know, if this was somebody that just got into the hobby like yesterday, I wouldn't be as special.
02:42:09
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, there's a certain camaraderie amongst people who have been around the hobby, especially in the like darker internet days. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, in all honesty, you know, I got in touch with Rob. He said he'd do the podcast, but then he never emailed me back. Oh, really? Wow. That's that's I think he would give you a good show if he ever comes on.
02:42:34
Speaker
I'll be honest, I would love to talk to him and we wouldn't pull any bullshit, Rob, if you're listening or having one of your spies listen. We won't pull any bullshit. We're straightforward. Yeah. And plus, you know, there's nothing to be lost. We're a dumbass. We're the worst roller coaster park guests on the internet.
02:42:56
Speaker
We are super glad we got a friend in Sean Flaherty now. Oh, thank you guys both. Seriously. Thank you. I can't wait to like ride a coaster with you in real life someday. Hopefully not. Hopefully before like 2022. But yeah. Yeah, I would hope so as well. Next year. We'll make it work next year. Definitely. Definitely. Figure out maybe hopefully Hollywood nights.
02:43:20
Speaker
Oh, totally. I mean, that's the must event for me to go to. So I will be there for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So hopefully we'll be able to pull that off for next year. All right. Thanks a bunch for joining us. And until next time.