Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Coaster Enthusiast Conversations Ft. Ethan
87 Plays10 days ago
We are officially weekly!! In this Conversations episode, Allison chats with her friend Ethan, who shares stories of a how he got into coasters during college, his time working operations at Cedar Point, a former attempt at vlogging, his love of coaster trivia (inspired by Bryant!), and lots more. And we didn't even get into our trip to Great Adventure for final rides on Kingda Ka!
Ethan's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/boilercoasters/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:00
Speaker
You are listening to the Inverted Creative Podcast. I'm Allison. I'm Brian. And I'm Jen.
00:00:16
Speaker
Welcome, welcome to another Coaster Enthusiast Conversations episode of the Inverted Creative Podcast. And I have a special guest with with me, with us. There's only only two of us here. Special guest with me today. Someone who was on the podcast 11 months ago, I think we saw on episode 11. Welcome,
00:00:37
Speaker
Welcome Ethan. and welcome back ethan Yeah, thanks for having me on. I'm excited to record this episode and, you know, get to speak with you about roller
Ethan's Coaster Enthusiasm Journey
00:00:47
Speaker
coasters. Yeah, and you get to still be a guinea pig for these because I've only done one of these Coaster Enthusiast Conversations episodes.
00:00:54
Speaker
And I don't know what I'm doing yet. so Me neither. Perfect. We will learn as we go together. um Do you want to start with a just intro of yourself, your home park, your count, all that good stuff?
00:01:07
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm Ethan. um I've been a coaster enthusiast since technically 2018, even though it started earlier than that. Like my official when I started counting coasters was 2018.
00:01:23
Speaker
I've lived in a lot of places throughout my lifetime, but as of today, my current home park is America's Rock and Roller Coast, Cedar Point. And I am absolutely blessed that that is my home park because I visit there at least.
00:01:36
Speaker
10 times a year i love that park so much and um and then you said credit count right yeah yeah credit count right now is at 451 which is crazy to believe because less than 10 years ago was like 20 so that's that's hard to believe i'm almost at 500 so yeah that's me so yeah that's me What was your 450? I don't remember if I was there for that. 450? No, this was recent. It was at Carowinds. It was Snoopy's Racing Railway. Okay. I don't remember that i remember that. That was literally like two months ago. I went with my sister in ah December.
00:02:16
Speaker
And yeah, I rode. That was my first art engineering coaster. It was my 450. Yeah, that was that was very recent. That was like... I mean, I saw you last weekend, but before that, I was like, what was it, Winterfest?
00:02:32
Speaker
Something like that, probably. like that. So, yeah, I went to Carowinds after Winterfest. So, it's been since then I got my 450. Okay. okay Yeah, very recent. Yeah. We've shared a few milestones recently. We have. We've we've taken some milestone photos, absolutely. Yeah.
00:02:48
Speaker
I know we both got Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Giant Dipper. Giant Dipper. whichever one that was and then kind of shared milestone on the fireball yeah fireball at uh adventureland yep it wasn't i mean it was it was kind of a meme milestone it was my 420 on fireball which is like perfect timing and what was your 700 something yeah mine was 700 i joined the 700
00:03:14
Speaker
Yeah, so we've taken some, you know, milestone pictures for, what is it two coasters now. So hopefully we'll do more in the future. We'll see what our next milestones are.
00:03:25
Speaker
Well, my next one will be not with anybody else. from Somewhere else. Somewhere in the world that I've never been to. I will just say that. I will not spoil anything.
00:03:36
Speaker
I mean, I'm sure I've talked about it already on the podcast because I'm very excited for that trip. Yep. Yep. Um, how did you get into coasters? I know there's another question we're looking forward to answering because we talked about it last weekend, but we'll get to that one.
Coaster Community and Clubs
00:03:52
Speaker
Yeah, so it's kind of a weird story about how I got into coasters. So basically, don't know, I was like little, I was like eight or nine years old.
00:04:03
Speaker
And there was a show that came up on the travel channel called Extreme Terrorize. Does that sound familiar to you at all? Probably. It was like kind of a documentary show. Basically, there was like different segments and it would go to different theme parks and talk about their roller coaster lineup. And then there would be interviews from like coaster enthusiasts talking about those rides.
00:04:26
Speaker
There was like a segment on Fahrenheit. There was a segment on King of the Ka, segment on Seeker Point, King's Island. um Magic Mountain. Yeah, it was actually there's like the segment on ah Wisconsin Dells, like just like the the super, like the big terror park, whatever that was called. I forget the name of it, but it doesn't. Like could the SCAD Tower thing, right?
00:04:48
Speaker
Yeah, the the one with like the bungee jump and the the fall into the parachute, whatever that park was called. it doesn't exist anymore. I remember that. There were segments on that. It was a it was a fun show.
00:05:01
Speaker
um And from there, I was like intrigued by roller coasters, so i started watching POVs from like Coaster Force and Theme Park Review. so this was 2009, 2010 I guess. Yeah.
00:05:15
Speaker
And around that time, I was also got Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, which I absolutely loved to playing that game growing up. like I didn't like riding roller coasters back then, but absolutely loved you know playing Roller Coaster Tycoon. So now fast forward to junior year of high school.
00:05:33
Speaker
i was starting to look into colleges and you know our family decided to do kind of a road trip. visit some college campuses to see you know which college campuses I fit best in.
00:05:47
Speaker
um And in between two of the colleges we were visiting, I realized that Cedar Point was like kind of on the way. So i I was asking my family like, hey, could we stop at Cedar Point and ride some roller coasters?
00:06:01
Speaker
um you know I kind of want to visit just to see what it's like. And they said yes, and we went there. And I didn't ride any of like the major big coasters, but rode some of the smaller ones, and I really enjoyed it.
00:06:13
Speaker
So from there, i started watching some YouTube videos from like... Maybe like not just POVs, but also like coaster enthusiast channels. Just kind of like learning about all the coasters and what enthusiasts think of. So I'm thinking like Coaster Studios, Coaster Kids, El Toro Ryan, those kinds of channels.
00:06:33
Speaker
And... and then moved to 2018 a year later i was you know at my college orientation and i realized that there was a theme park with five or so roller coasters only 45 minutes from me so i drove to indiana beach um and i wrote cornball express five times absolutely loved it it was like my first experience with like ejector airtime and very unrestrictive restraints called buzz bars, which are incredible.
00:07:07
Speaker
um And, you know, from there, I was like, I love this thing. I want to do this for like a long time. I want to ride these roller coasters. So I realized that my college had a coaster enthusiast club called theme park engineering and design.
00:07:22
Speaker
So I joined that went to a bunch of parks from there and the rest is history pretty much. man I'm jealous that your school had a club like that. I went to a pretty small school and there's actually there's actually a pause there's There's actually a lot of colleges now with theme park clubs, either through TEA, which is Theme Entertainment Association, or Theme Park Engineering Group, or Theme Park Engineering Design. Funny enough, my sister, she goes to a small school in Georgia, and they also have a you know theme their entertainment. Well, they're really big in theme entertainment because they're an art school, so...
00:07:58
Speaker
you know A lot lot of colleges now have are involved with either Theme Entertainment Association or have a theme park related group. So yeah, i'm I'm glad I joined one of those. And you know it really introduced me to roller coasters and enthusiasts.
00:08:15
Speaker
Yeah. i was like so i I didn't know anybody that was into coasters at my school. I just kind of convinced friends to go to Over Georgia with me.
00:08:26
Speaker
Enough that they kind of got into roller coasters, but that's where ah the internet came into play, and I just met a bunch of people on the internet. Yeah, didn't you say you like kind of found out about it on like the Coaster Force forums or something like that?
00:08:41
Speaker
Yeah, I originally got my start with the Coaster community through Coaster Force on the forums. um Those are like my first few Coaster friends. That was how I met Marcus back in like 2007.
00:08:55
Speaker
Met Carl through Coaster Force. Yeah. bunch of people, and that opened my eyes to a lot more friends. Yeah. Because then Coaster Force turned into CFLives, which kind of...
00:09:07
Speaker
became Buzzbars, which is how we met. Yep. that's That's crazy that like a forum ended up becoming like a coaster club that's now been on a bunch of trips, including an international trip last year. it's That's crazy.
Coaster Trivia Passion
00:09:23
Speaker
Celebrating five years this year with Buzzbars? Yeah, at a ah very special event I'm really looking forward to in August. oh I cannot wait for that. When when did we meet?
00:09:35
Speaker
We met at my first... way I just don't remember when. It was my first Buzz Bars event. It was at Goebbelsburg, which was the a Pittsburgh Wobble.
00:09:47
Speaker
um So, funny story of how we actually met. um So, we were there was kind of a group of us, maybe of like 15 people, staying at a Vrbo in Pittsburgh.
00:09:59
Speaker
um And a couple of us went to a Pittsburgh Pirates game. And then after the game, we went back to the Verbo. And then there was you and Mike sitting in a hot tub. And that was my first time meeting you.
00:10:12
Speaker
It was literally in a hot tub. like just it was ah it was ah It was a really good hot tub, though. Let me be honest. It was nice. Beautiful view. Oh, yeah, this does the view from the Verbo of the city.
00:10:22
Speaker
Like, you could see the downtown. You could see the ah the University of Pittsburgh. Like, you could see everything from there. It was a beautiful, beautiful Verbo view. I just remember that night, like, you know, we had ah had a few drinks and we were hanging out in the hot tub. There are way too many of us in that hot tub. Yes. then Like, you walked up and we're all, like, taking pictures of our feet in the air randomly. Yeah. Yep.
00:10:47
Speaker
so Actually, I think that was the night. Yeah, I think that was that you actually introduced me to your favorite brewery. I'm pretty sure you brought like some Urban Artifact. Oh, yeah, probably. And I got to try some of it. So that was my first time trying Urban Artifact, I'm pretty sure.
00:11:02
Speaker
Yeah, I'm sure we bring Urban Artifact to every single event that we can. I didn't know about it before, you know, I joined. And now I go that brewery multiple times a year. so We went literally a few days ago.
00:11:15
Speaker
Literally, yeah, literally this past Sunday I was there with a bunch of friends. So, yeah.
00:11:23
Speaker
Yeah, I got, I love Urban Artifact. Clearly. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Especially considering the next time I go there will be a very special event I'm really looking forward to. yeah Coming up so quick. I know.
00:11:38
Speaker
So since this is a creative, I just said that really weird, creative-centric podcast, do you have any creative endeavors of your own? um Like regarding theme parks or just in general?
00:11:52
Speaker
Why not both? I don't know. I mean, i wouldn't say I really call myself that creative of a person. I kind of just follow instructions and do what I do. But one one creative thing in, you know, related to theme parks that I really love doing is like trivia questions. Mm-hmm.
00:12:12
Speaker
So I got um you know kind of introduced and influenced by Bryant, your co-host. um you know He's made some really good trivia content for Coaster Studios.
00:12:25
Speaker
And I've watched all those videos. And I'm like, hey, I want to do that someday. Not just to come up with creative trivia questions, but also to like present it to people. other enthusiasts and like have them compete because you know i'm a competitor i'm a big competitor myself and i enjoy seeing other enthusiasts you know compete against each other so i kind of brought that to light when i made a trivia uh with my friend scott not don for stumble across pond and on one of our bus rides we got to present the questions to all the teams
00:13:00
Speaker
and know they got they got to compete for after what was the press was like first seat on some ERT during the Yeah I it probably like choice of seat for Hyperia ERT. I think yeah think it was like first choice for Hyperia ERT or something like that what would be what the winners got um and then you know went over the questions and Scott went over on his bus and everyone loved it you know A lot of people, I think, I'm pretty sure we did that trivia on the way to London.
00:13:30
Speaker
Because I remember being on the the boat cruise on the Thames, and a bunch of people came up to me and they were saying, like, oh my god, i love this trivia, Ethan. And they were talking about specific questions and they were saying, like,
00:13:44
Speaker
Like this question really stumped me. Like it was just so fun to like see everyone's like positive reception to my trivia. So from then on, you know, I've been contributing monthly to the Buzzbars newsletter and adding a, you know, trivia question. I've been sending Kelly a trivia question each month, you know, just, just to have, you know, everyone kind of quizzed on it. And hopefully at some point, you know,
00:14:11
Speaker
Buzzbars can have me you know run other contests for everyone in person at an event because I loved doing it last time and i I'd love to do it again. you know like a couple things I remember about your ah trivia across the pond.
00:14:25
Speaker
and I still think me and Mike should have won... On our bus. I think I remember the question. It was like the ERT question, right? Yeah, it was something like there was another or there was an event that was considered BuzzBars that wasn't actually on the answer list or vice versa or something. We had that question right, but we didn't get credit for it or something. Well, I think what happened was I asked you guys to list all ERTs at that point that we had gone in BuzzBars.
00:14:56
Speaker
And I think switchback was something... So I got this answer from Kelly, by the way. Kelly gave me a list of all the ERTs. So... i think i I'm not trying to blame Kelly for this. No, I know. all right um But she gave me the answers for this. And then after the fact, after I mentioned all the...
00:15:17
Speaker
you know, answers that Switchback wasn't ERT. um I think it was Mike, actually. He told me that it was a Coaster Force event, not a BuzzFars official event. Yeah.
00:15:29
Speaker
So that's... so So if you guys... You guys got every single ERT right. So if you guys would have gotten the extra point for getting every single one right, you guys would have won. Or you would have gotten second and gotten the ERT.
00:15:43
Speaker
But instead, I think you went to a tiebreaker and then another one. So... I'm like, it wasn't a big deal. We all had a blast on that ERT. Yeah, I mean, you guys got engaged like the very next day. So it really didn't matter.
00:15:55
Speaker
Yeah. or Right? was it Was it that day or was it the next day? We were engaged before or the day before Thorpe Park. So London was the Chessington day.
00:16:09
Speaker
but it was Stonehenge, right? So the Paltons day you guys got engaged. So yeah, it was the day you guys got engaged the day after we did this trivia. Yeah. Yeah. No, but yeah, i do remember that now you mentioned it.
00:16:21
Speaker
um And I remember the like common bonds questions that you had. Yep. I was clueless on like every single one. Yeah. I think I'm perpetually bad at those.
00:16:33
Speaker
Yeah. So I think a lot of people came up to me. There was like one that was like, you know, i named basically what common bonds is, you know, you can ask Bryant that too. Bryant basically made that up and I kind of,
00:16:47
Speaker
copied him a little bit because I really love the idea. It's basically you're naming four roller coasters or four theme parks. And then you have to say what the common bond is between those four things. But it's not as simple as like, oh they're all wooden coasters or oh, they're all in the US. Like it's something much more specific.
00:17:03
Speaker
Yeah. i'm pretty sure there was one answer For the common bonds that was like all have the names of baseball teams in it. Yeah. And a bunch of people on that Thames River cruise came up to me and said like that baseball question really screwed me up there. I did not. I thought it would be like, oh, they're all just roller coasters. Like they're all just wooden coasters.
00:17:25
Speaker
And then and then we I revealed it's like a baseball-themed question. and i was like, oh, I would have never thought of that until now. So maybe next time I host a competition like that, now they'll understand, like, oh, it's not just, like, about stats or look just, like, where the part the rides are at. Like, it's, like, a lot more detailed than they expected. Yeah, for sure.
00:17:46
Speaker
Yeah. And then I know one of the questions somehow involved me in the podcast, but I don't remember... what and I think you had said something I was like something said on the podcast at some point you know what I think I know why and I'm like I have no idea I don't remember I think I know why I'm pretty sure that question was a question that Bryant mentioned at some point on the podcast and I just repeated it on the yeah the trivia so I was like if you've listened to Inverid Creative maybe you'll know the answer to this question
00:18:18
Speaker
And I was like, I'm a host of inverted creative and I still don't know the answer to this question. Yep.
00:18:26
Speaker
Have i shown you the trivia that I ran at one point? don't think you have. Interesting. I should do that at some point for fun. I themed it. it was a It was just like a Buzzbars one or one I did in the Buzzbars channel, I think maybe.
00:18:39
Speaker
Gotcha. I do remember at some point there was like a Buzzbars Discord event. I think Meg and Mark ran it. Yeah. it was like a little trivia contest. We were all like split up into teams.
00:18:50
Speaker
I think I had a question on that one. Like I was asked to present a question since I was. Yeah, I think i remember maybe you presented one. I think Brian briant's presented one. i don't know. Something like that.
00:19:01
Speaker
I remember. bal Yeah, that was a while ago, though. so I don't really remember much about it. Yeah, I think it was like roller coaster day last year or something. Oh, okay. Yeah. Was that Holiday World?
00:19:13
Speaker
Yeah, I was at Holiday World at that time. Yeah, I was not. I was not there that day. I think I was either at Sierra Point or I was doing nothing. So, yep. Yeah. At one point a few years ago, I did a I hosted trivia um and it was like themed to a college entrance exam. So I had like a math section and an English section and a geography section. People hated me for it. The math section.
00:19:38
Speaker
Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Maybe someday we can, you know, kind of co-host and both run a trivia. Yeah. For like a buzz bars. And I'm sure people will love that. That'd be fun. I'm just so bad at thinking of questions. I'm not as creative as like Bryant in that regard, especially. Well, i kind of I kind of learned from Bryant, like how to be creative with questions. Like literally what I would do is just go to RCDB, just like find like a criteria that fits a roller coaster and then see what other roller coasters fit that criteria. And then boom, there's your question.
00:20:10
Speaker
Yeah. That's kind of my strategy. I had fun with it though. I don't know if I'd be able to do a whole trivia again. but but Well, it's all about having fun, right?
00:20:21
Speaker
For sure.
Creative Coaster Projects
00:20:22
Speaker
Yes. I'm bad at making trivia and I'm bad at answering trivia. It's all good. You guys were very close to winning, so. Yeah.
00:20:32
Speaker
It's all good. I don't know how. A lot of that was probably. i think I think that last question really got you guys close. Because, you know, you guys have been in BuzzFar since beginning, so you pretty much knew everything.
00:20:46
Speaker
Something. Yeah, I think I literally like went through the list of like videos in my head. I'm like, okay, here's all the events. Yeah, that's true. did make all the videos. That's right. Speaking of, actually, that's kind of related to something else that I really like creative wise about, you know, roller coasters. It's not really like something I contribute to, but it's more something that I use in my daily life is syncing music to roller coaster POVs. Yeah.
00:21:14
Speaker
So, um do you know this... Like, I'm just going to give a random example. Do you know this song, I Just Want to Run by the Downtown Fiction? yeah Not off the top of it. I mean, i know you love your 2000s, you know, GarageBand songs.
00:21:30
Speaker
So i have assumed you knew what that was, but... Elder Emo. Yeah, exactly. it's it's It's definitely like an emo rock song. But, um like, that song is about...
00:21:42
Speaker
You know, like the chorus starts with, I just want to run. And I love syncing it to, you know, rollercoaster launches. So I do it to either Velocicoasters or Alpenfuries or something like that.
00:21:54
Speaker
And, you know, I just play it so when the chorus hits, the launch starts. And I just find very satisfying. And just playing music to any rollercoaster POV, I think...
00:22:05
Speaker
Music adds so much to roller coasters. Like, the rides that already have music on it, like Guardians of the Galaxy, I think I ran so far away that's so well with that coaster. I'm not sure if you agree with that.
00:22:19
Speaker
I have not been on Guardians. You've not been? do you even know what the song choices are? Yeah, I do know. but i've I've heard about all the songs. Okay. um Yeah, well, hopefully someday you get to Epcon ride because it's a fantastic roller coaster.
00:22:31
Speaker
Hopefully this year. Yeah, um but like that ride, also like Siren's Curse with like the heavy metal on the layout is incredible.
00:22:42
Speaker
like I think music and roller coasters flow so well together, and I wish more coasters used music, and that's kind of why i use you know YouTube to play music at the same time as POVs. I just think it's something random that I do, um and I really enjoy it I mean, that's how first got into coaster video editing.
00:23:04
Speaker
My very first test video was an on-ride video I took of Batman in the Ride. Which one? Over Georgia. Oh. I don't remember the song.
00:23:18
Speaker
I have it somewhere. it was It was something, you know, relevant to my typical music interest. Yeah. Like Newfound Glory or something like that. Yeah. And that's kind of how I started video editing. And then I've always done all of my timing to music and... have a lot of fun with it.
00:23:39
Speaker
Yeah, so we're kind of similar in that regard, I guess. Do you make reels or anything? a Not really. sounds like something you should do. Maybe. i don't know. I really, like... I really just...
00:23:52
Speaker
Like my posts and stuff like that, don't really do that very often, which kind of contradicts what I'm doing right now my Instagram. But like my Instagram is mostly just like stories of like my coaster adventures. Like don't really make a lot of reels. Like I just kind of watch reels and...
00:24:10
Speaker
you know, see how they tune into music. i don't really make my own because, know, just hasn't really been interest of mine. I just prefer, you know, watching it, you know, privately and just keeping it to myself. But I don't know. that That might just be me.
00:24:26
Speaker
No, get that. You are not required to create content. Yeah. but yes I remember when I was a rollercoaster vlogger and it survived for like...
00:24:38
Speaker
I don't a year, and I stopped doing it because it was too much work. yeah I feel like... I do have some vlogs still up on my Coaster YouTube channel. um I don't... I would highly recommend not watching those because they're kind of embarrassing how bad the quality is of the videos. But no, I'm just kidding. But um it was it was fun. I did a vlog on, like, Kentucky Kingdom, Holiday World, a couple other parks, but I'm not...
00:25:07
Speaker
I'm not the best vlogger. I think you do. youre You're newer to vlogging. You do a better job than I do. That's for sure. I am so not a vlogger. Well, you've done a couple good ones. You've done a couple good ones.
00:25:17
Speaker
I just don't like filming myself. So most of my vlogs are filming other people talking. Yeah. Filming the park day and putting that together in a video. Yeah. Honestly, that was kind of mine. Actually, funny enough, I remember like one shot I took when I was vlogging at some park I went to. Funny enough, I was with Griffin, who was like one of my best friends in BuzzFars. You know, I've been friends with him since college.
00:25:42
Speaker
And we went to Holiday World and Kentucky Kingdom together. and there was like one filming angle. I think it's still in the vlog. And like, you know, I have my phone. I don't have a GoPro or anything. i'm I decided just use my phone to film everything.
00:25:56
Speaker
And, you know, Griffin's talking and the whole time I'm not even filming his face. I'm filming like down. Because i have i have i am I'm walking while i'm also trying to film at the same time. I just can't. I'm just not good with camera work at all. So yeah that's that's how it is. but you know i know like from the Epic Universe blog that I did, I was trying to film like me and Mikhail.
00:26:18
Speaker
But like my arms aren't long enough to get a good viewpoint. So that's why I just turn the camera around and film everything in front of me. Yeah, that that would that that would be a good idea, I guess. Yeah. ah what vote Do you follow other vloggers now?
00:26:35
Speaker
Yeah, I follow good amount. Like I mentioned some of the channels from before, like I watch a lot of Coaster Studios videos. I watch a lot of El Tor Ryan videos. um A channel that I've really started watching a lot more lately is Gary's channel, Coasting with Culture. yeah I think that's on most underrated channels out there, not just because Gary has an amazing, you know, speaker voice or podcasting voice. I'm sure he was on your podcast once, right?
00:27:06
Speaker
Yeah, he was our first guest on the podcast. Yeah, I feel like remember him being on it. He has an iconic podcasting voice, but I love how he combines his coaster riding all over the world with other things to where he's visiting. I've recently been watching his Ireland series because I was there for part of that Ireland series. Did you watch his video he just uploaded yesterday? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so you saw I was in that, exploring around Ireland. And it's like when he speaks, he's basically speaking the experience I had back into existence from over a year ago. It's like I remember every single moment from this trip just because he narrates it so well.
00:27:52
Speaker
I just think, yeah, Gary just has such a great channel. And I think yeah more people need to watch it. maybe Maybe put his channel in the description of your episode or something. could. It's an awesome channel and deserves more recognition for sure.
00:28:06
Speaker
It's always fun watching his videos like after Buzz Bars trips or just like some of the group trips that we do. Yeah, exactly. I think, i don't know. I think he filmed the Kennywood one.
00:28:17
Speaker
And the Seer Point stumbles. So i was and but I was at both of those trips. So I think i do remember those. So yeah. That's always fun. Yeah, I watch our ah Europa Switzerland video a lot. and another trip um Another trip I'm jealous I did not get to go on. um some Someday I'll get to that park.
Travel Dreams and Cultural Interests
00:28:39
Speaker
Someday.
00:28:42
Speaker
So what are some bucket list trips, parks, coasters for you? there's There's so many. There's so many parks um that are on my bucket list. um A few I can think of, like like let's start with North America. Like in the U.S. there's like two really big ones I've never been to.
00:29:02
Speaker
Epic Universe obviously is one of them. Like when you have Stardust Racers, which a lot of people say is like one of their favorite roller coasters, as well as like the Harry Potter Dark Ride and the Dark Universe Dark Ride, which I've still not seen a POV of either of those. I do not want to be spoiled until I visit that place for the first time.
00:29:22
Speaker
Um, like that, that combination of rides alone. And then when you combine like the food, drinks, the incredible foods and drinks that this park has and all the other rides, like I want visit that place so badly. And hmm, maybe later this year, we'll see. I might visit this park later this year. We'll see.
00:29:41
Speaker
We'll see. We'll see about it. Um, and then the other U.S. park I'm very intrigued by I've not been to is Silver Dollar City. Cause, um, I've been there.
00:29:52
Speaker
You've been there? You've never been there? No, I say i keep forgetting you haven't been there. Yeah, I've never... Well, I've been to Missouri once, but I only went to the City Museum in St. Louis. I've never been to any of the amusement parks in Missouri, but that might change this year. We'll see.
00:30:08
Speaker
City Museum is great, too, for what it's worth. Yeah, the City Museum was awesome. I went there as a part of a college trip. It was a blast. back there. Yeah, it's it's so much fun. But...
00:30:19
Speaker
yeah silver dollar city like i love dollywood so much and i'm like people are saying silver dollar city is like a better version of dollywood so and also they have outlaw run time traveler like what can't go wrong with that so yeah those those two parks in the us s um as well as canada's wonderlands like that's probably like the biggest north american park i haven't been to yet Canada's Wonderland just looks absolutely incredible um with Alpenfury now, Leviathan, Behemoth, Yukon Striker, and apparently people are saying are saying Vortex is like one of the most underrated coasters out there, which I could see.
00:31:01
Speaker
My sister's actually ridden Vortex and she loved it, so I'm looking forward to that. And then don't get me started on like other countries in the world, like in Europe and Asia.
00:31:12
Speaker
like Let me just list some parks. Europa Park, Fantasialand, Energielandia, Leesburg, Port Aventura. Disney, Disney Sea, Fuji Q Highlands, like Park Estereaks. It goes on and on. Like there's so many parks I didn't even name that are all my bucket list.
00:31:31
Speaker
Yeah. I really want to visit someday. Um, and then if you just go coasters, like I'm sure lot of coasters you've already ridden that I want to go on someday. Like Voltron, Conda, Helix, Tyga, Hyperion, Zodra,
00:31:47
Speaker
and Even Ejunika, Hakuge, Falcon's Flight now in Saudi Arabia. like There's so many bucket list coasters I haven't gone to ride yet that hopefully someday I can get out to and ride because they all look incredible.
00:32:04
Speaker
No, the UK trip was at your first overseas... for First overseas coaster trip. I have been to Europe once with my family and I went to Disneyland Paris. i went to It was a trip to France, but I went to Disneyland Paris I only rode two coasters there, but that was like before, long before I was a coaster enthusiast. So right this was my first trip to Europe where I was actually like there to ride coasters and it was well worth it.
00:32:31
Speaker
Opened your eyes up to some ah international travel. Yes. Yeah, hopefully. Like, I felt like this was kind of a warm-up trip. I know it was, like, probably my biggest coaster trip I've ever taken. But, like, the next time I go to Europe, it's probably gonna be even bigger. Like, instead of two days spending exploring around Ireland, I'll probably hit up two or three parks.
00:32:52
Speaker
Like, right after I fly 20 hours. but We'll see when that will happen. It could be a year from now. It could be five years from now. I have no idea when I'll hit up Europe next. but hopefully some I know you're going later this year, but for me, hopefully maybe next year, 2027. Yeah, we have some ah some trips penciled in.
00:33:14
Speaker
hopeful Hopefully. i'm I'm hoping for the best. Yeah. So what are what about bucket list countries, not necessarily for coasters, just for for the culture side?
00:33:24
Speaker
and Yeah. So, you know, I do enjoy countries for like their culture. Like I really enjoy the Irish culture and the UK culture. um But something else I really like about traveling isn't just culture, but also like scenery and nature.
00:33:40
Speaker
I'm a very big fan of, like, different landscapes and, you know, mountains and deserts and stuff like that. I've always wanted to explore different biomes, I guess, if we call that.
00:33:54
Speaker
So Scandinavia really pops out to me as a place I want to visit. i was thinking, like, Greece, Italy, Japan. um Also just, like...
00:34:06
Speaker
all over the world there's so many like even like in africa like the desert in africa like just just to see that looks would be cool the pyramids um even like in asia like i've heard i know you know china's like i know people have been to china and they say like there's like a ton coasters there but like there's a lot of cool natural wonders there as well that i've always wanted to see in person so yeah Like those are, those are just a few examples of bucket list countries for me.
00:34:39
Speaker
Also like Australia. i haven't really talked about Australia that much. um You know, that's a country i've always wanted to visit. Spain. Like there's just so many I can think of, but yeah those are ones I can list for now.
00:34:53
Speaker
There's so many places I want to visit just like not for coasters. Yeah, exactly. Trying to plan our honeymoon. was fun in that way because we're like we want to balance obviously we met through coasters it's our thing we want to have coasters on our honeymoon like that's gonna happen yep but we gotta like balance some of the not coaster stuff exactly and that's why you said you're gonna go to the amalfi coast yeah and rome and milan and stuff like that and then you're gonna combine that with uh some energylandia
00:35:24
Speaker
A little bit of culture there, too. but um Oh, yeah yes, yes. yeah But, like, we had talked about doing a Scandinavia trip for that. Because we booked flights and we' we're like, well, what if we just, like, stay in Scandinavia and don't continue on? Like, what would we do? But, like, all the stuff that I would want to do in, like, Norway is so far from everything else.
00:35:46
Speaker
Yeah. um yep Like, in Norway, a Pulpit Rock. I've never heard that. It's so cool looking. Like, it's just so far away from like anywhere else we would have been. I'm like, I don't know if this would be worth it Yeah, that's that's kind of how I feel with like this mountain I'm like very like intrigued by. It's in Iran, which is like kind of a place you don't really want to go to right now. But if world tensions got a little bit better, like I would absolutely visit just to see that mountain. I forget the name of it, but I've seen pictures of it and it looks absolutely stunning.
00:36:23
Speaker
mountain in Iran? There was me in a Switzerland. like There was one mountain near Matterhorn. Well, no. okay well Yes, Matterhorn. But like there's one near Lucerne.
00:36:37
Speaker
Is it Lucerne? Is that where we went? i don't even know. Can you go Lucerne? I think, yeah. yeah i'm like that That city name doesn't sound right. But yeah, there was a mountain near there I wanted to go to. And like they do fondue like in a gondola ride up to the mountain. That sounds very good.
00:36:53
Speaker
Is it Mount Damavand? That sounds familiar. That might be it. I'll just look up a picture of it. I mean, I literally just searched mountain in Iran and that was the the top one. Yeah. the one The one I'm thinking of, like, it literally, like, ah there's, like, I've seen so many pictures of it and, like, there's probably no other mountains that look anything, like, more like a mountain than this one. So if that was, like, a mountain to you, yeah like a stereotypical mountain, then that's probably the one.
00:37:21
Speaker
Interesting. Yeah, i never would have. Oh, yeah, that's definitely the one. Yep. That's the one i want to visit someday. We'll see. Maybe not right now, but. Yeah, probably probably not right now.
00:37:32
Speaker
Yeah. Good. Okay, changing gears a little bit. You worked at Cedar Point at one point, correct?
Working at Cedar Point
00:37:39
Speaker
I did. I worked for two summers. what ah you I know you worked Raptor.
00:37:44
Speaker
I did. Yep. Was it just Raptor? So I'll just kind of go through 2021, my second season there, I worked at Raptor. um all All season. I didn't work on any other ride. That was incredible because I absolutely loved that crew. um And it was like such a good crew that there was like a wait list to join that crew.
00:38:06
Speaker
so like Everyone wanted to be on Raptor crew. And it was it was incredible. We made so many memories on that crew. i missed a lot. And then 2020, also worked in 2020 during the COVID season.
00:38:17
Speaker
My contractor ride was Max Air Dodgem, but because Max Air kept breaking down all season, like every day there was some kind of mechanical breakdown. I got moved to like four or five other rides. So like I was moved to Ocean Motion Carousel. I was moved to the Giant Wheel Triangle.
00:38:35
Speaker
i was moved to Katie Kingdom. i was moved to Blue Streak. um And, you know a couple more different rides in the area. So I kind of worked on, like, almost all the rides in the front half of the park, except for, like, Gatekeeper, Val Raven, Wicked a Twister, Rest in Peace.
00:38:52
Speaker
um But, like, yeah, like, I had gotten experience at almost every single ride in the front half of the park, so. um But 2021 was definitely a better season. One, because there wasn't COVID.
00:39:03
Speaker
And two, because it was with an amazing crew that, like, You know, I still miss this day. Yeah. How was it working like with COVID procedures?
00:39:14
Speaker
ah It was weird. So so your point, when I first joined in 2020, they gave us these like these they gave us masks to wear. They were like the same color as like.
00:39:28
Speaker
you know, kind of like the Cedar Point logo, like the dark blue logo. Those were like by far the most uncomfortable masks. They were like, I think by the time the season ended, my ears were like stretched out to where they were pointing to the side. it was like most uncomfortable masks of all time.
00:39:45
Speaker
And you know how like, you know, Searpoint Rye operators, they wear like the polos and the, and the you know, the khaki shorts and everything. So for some weird reason, 2020, they gave us like these ugly looking gray t-shirts with like Searpoint 150 on it.
00:40:04
Speaker
And it looked nothing like professional at all. It looks like... I don't know, you're going you're going to like fix a car or something like like this is a shirt I'd wear if I was fixing a car, not working as a ride operator at a, you know,
00:40:21
Speaker
one of the best amusement parks of all time. Thankfully, they changed that in 2021. They gave us these beautiful navy blue ah polos to wear, um you know, to see your point every day. It was for the 150th anniversary, and it was it was awesome. So, yeah, 2020 was kind of a weird year.
00:40:41
Speaker
But also, you know, regarding COVID policies, You know, every 30 minutes, we had to go shut the ride down and clean all the seats. So we had, there was like a, you know, a rag and a bottle of cleaning detergent in my, ah you know, ride area and every 30 minutes we would say, hey, we are shutting this ride down for a couple minutes to clean off the seats.
00:41:08
Speaker
And then we'd go around spray. And here's the worst part. So we so Max Air, I'm talking about Max Air specifically. It's a pendulum ride and there's 50 total seats on Max Air, but we only 16 were able to be used let say the because everyone could be three seats apart due to social distancing. right So much.
00:41:29
Speaker
They told us we had to clean every single seat, even the ones that aren't touched by riders. So we had to, we basically made, we had to clean all 50 seats only for 16 of them to be used on every cycle.
00:41:42
Speaker
It was the most annoying thing ever. And every time i would, we would try to get like four cycles in just so we can get more cycles in and get the line through before we had to clean, clean the seats. Cause it took forever to clean all. And it wasn't just like the outsides. We had to get the insides. We had to get the seatbelt, everything. It was, it was so annoying. i yeah um and then you know 21 when those restrictions were lifted i was like oh my god i wish to your point was like this every year which pretty much was except for the one year i decided to work there so but yeah um all your fault all my fault yeah i caused coven 19. you're welcome guys
00:42:28
Speaker
You all hear You're here to hear first. Yep. what stays What stays on the pod... What happens on the podcast stays on the podcast. What happens on the podcast gets broadcast to anybody who listens to it. Oh, yeah. I'm sorry, guys.
00:42:42
Speaker
You can blame me all you want. um Any fun stories from working... Not during COVID. since Yeah. From working Raptor.
00:42:54
Speaker
um Yeah, there were some really funny stories. um So 2021 on Raptor Crew, there was one day where, so I think at the beginning of the season, like Tuesdays and Wednesdays were, you know, down days. So there, we didn't have, you know, operations open.
00:43:12
Speaker
Um, so one Tuesday or Wednesday, a group of us from Raptor crew, you know, asked, you know, Rye Operation Supervision if we could go in to see her point for a day and just record.
00:43:25
Speaker
Because we wanted to film a music video. Oh, awesome. In Raptor's, uh, queue area. Um, not not just the queue area, but like the low zones, on the track, everything.
00:43:38
Speaker
Um, and we... created a music video by you know creative director, my good friend Jack Vance, great guy. um you know He's made a lot of funny videos, but he specifically made ah this song called the Raptor Shuffle.
00:43:56
Speaker
It is a you know a dance. i was I was in it. So it was you know a couple of other crewmates. and You know, all of us had a verse. It was kind of like a rap, but it was also kind of a dance. It was it was a fun time. um And then a couple months later, after the season ended, Jack uploaded to YouTube. I think it's still on there to this day.
00:44:19
Speaker
i need to watch this. And it's pretty iconic. it's a it was It was a good time. it's a I think a lot of people really liked it. So you want to watch it, go give it a watch. I'm going to find that at some point. Yeah, Raptor Shuffle is what it's called.
00:44:36
Speaker
Yeah. yeah You can notice that because I have some ah homework now. Okay. yeah
00:44:44
Speaker
I'm surprised. I've shown it to a couple people in Buzzbars, but I'm surprised I haven't like posted in the Discord. i Probably because it feels like I'm bragging at that point. i really I'm not really a bragger. so Well, now that's just like inviting me to find that link and post it in Discord and be like, hey, guess what Ethan talked about on the podcast today? Yeah, go go for it. I don't care.
00:45:06
Speaker
I'm cool with it. go
Coaster Rankings and Opinions
00:45:08
Speaker
it first. Except this was like young Ethan. did not have facial hair at the time. So yeah, it's I'm going to look a lot different than I do right now. so Six years ago?
00:45:19
Speaker
Something? This was twenty twenty so five years ago. I was not legally allowed to drink. Jeez. Yeah.
00:45:32
Speaker
um kind of looking through my list of things to talk about i'm really bad at segues i'm sorry about that it's all good um what is your current top coasters list slash give us some hot takes Ooh, okay. It's funny you say that because on my Instagram, I'm currently posting over the next 100 days, my top 100 roller coasters.
00:45:58
Speaker
um But to maybe to get people more people listening to listen to podcasts, I'm just going to spoil my top 10 right here. oh i i'm let me load my top 10 list right here real quick. was going to say, what what day are you at today? And what was today's coaster?
00:46:13
Speaker
So I just posted Goliath at Six Flags Great America today. And that is my 51st favorite roller coaster. I'm halfway through. Look at that. Perfect timing. I'm halfway through.
00:46:28
Speaker
um So I'll just go through my top 10 real quick. 10 is Maverick at Zero Point. Nine is Wildcats Revenge at Hershey Park. Eight is Fam's Revenge at Kennywood.
00:46:39
Speaker
Seven, Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa. Six is El Toro at Great Adventure. Five is Airy Force One at Fun Spot Atlanta. Four is Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point.
00:46:50
Speaker
Three is Hyperia at Thor Park. Two is Velocicoaster at Islands of Adventure. And number one is the GOAT. You already know what it is. The Voyage at Holiday World. Nice.
00:47:00
Speaker
So you'll find those top 10 as well as the other 40 coasters I've yet to reveal in the next 50 days or whenever you're hearing this episode. yeah My two thoughts i'm on that list. One, I didn't realize you had a Hyperia that high.
00:47:14
Speaker
I know people had number one after that yeah ERT. That thing is absolutely incredible. Who had it at one? I think Tom almost had it at one. I think he has it at two, right?
00:47:26
Speaker
I don't remember. i don't know. I think some people said it was like their number one coaster. I'm not sure if it was like CNB, like like Coasters and Brews Matt or... Everything's his favorite coaster after he goes on. That's true. He did just do Falcon's Flight and i think that's his favorite now. i don't know.
00:47:44
Speaker
Yeah, um ah i feel like a couple people did say Hyperion. After that ERT, I think a couple people say Hyperion was number one. I'm not sure if that's changed since then, but that ERT was absolutely incredible.
00:47:56
Speaker
It was. yeah It's hard to rank a coaster once you've had ERT on it, especially like the first day you ever rode it, and then suddenly you have like the best ERT session you could ever have. Yeah, that's that's the thing. like All these rankings are so subjective. like yeah For example, I literally just wrote Icon. I ranked Icon just recently my page.
00:48:17
Speaker
And I was like i was like deciding, like should I include the Enso ride or should I just have my normal rides on it? But the thing is, my normal rides were all during ERT, which was like at 9 in the morning when it was really slow.
00:48:32
Speaker
So I kind of just made it a mix of both and kind of just put it in the middle. of where we've been without ENSO and with ENSO. So okay that's why I have it at 52. But yeah, it's it's crazy how much a single ride or multiple rides can affect a coaster ranking. And that's what's like so cool about is like, like everyone has, you know, coasters ranked differently, and they're all for different reasons. Yep.
00:49:00
Speaker
So. I would say every ah every coaster ranking is valid, but some people have some questionable choices. Yes. And then you said you had second comment on my top ten?
00:49:11
Speaker
You have two Revenge coasters right next to each other. that thought that was kind of funny. I do. Phantom, Fanny, and Wildcats Revenge. Yeah. Yeah, and they're both in Pennsylvania. Actually, now thinking about, all three Revenge coasters I can think of are all in ah Pennsylvania.
00:49:31
Speaker
Why can't I think of the third one? Hydra? Oh yeah, i forget that that has a tagline. Oh well, I forgot Revenge of the Mummy but that's little different. And there's other. That's universal. other Revenge coasters.
00:49:45
Speaker
Yeah. It's like there was one day there was one trip we did I think it was our Pennsylvania trip and we called it the ah the Pennsylvania Sky Trinity where we rode Skyliner Skyrocket and Skyrush all on the same day.
00:50:00
Speaker
That's awesome. And aren't Skyrock Skyrush on the opposite sides of the state? a Maybe. Pennywood Hershey Park, they're pretty far from each other.
00:50:12
Speaker
wouldn't call them opposite sides of the state, though. But they're they're still pretty far apart. Yeah. Yeah, we did all three of those in one day. That's crazy. But we missed Leap the Dips. That's the only bummer about Skylake. Oh, that sucks.
00:50:24
Speaker
we've I was hoping to get to Lakemont, but it was it never opened for me whenever I would try to visit. Same for Conneaut Lake. So, yeah, those parks are not far from me, and I never got to visit because they were closed.
00:50:37
Speaker
Yeah. I really hope Leap the Dips reopens. I do, too.
00:50:43
Speaker
So what about Hot Takes? Hot Takes. Ooh, hot takes. ah There's a couple I have in mind off the bat. um One is I think SeaWorld San Antonio has the best one-two punch in all of Texas.
00:51:02
Speaker
Okay. I think Steel Eel and Texas Stingray are the two best coasters in Texas. Better than Iron Rattler, better than Wonder Woman, better than Texas Giant.
00:51:14
Speaker
So I think that's the best one-two punch in in Texas. There is one exception, though, because I have not written Boardwalk Bullet. So that could change if I end riding that someday, because that ride looks incredible as well.
00:51:27
Speaker
And it's gravity group. so see There's no two-punch with that one, necessarily. Exactly. That's the only coaster in Kima Boardwalk, or whatever it's called. Unless you count Iron Shark. Well, that's ah that's ah that's in a different park. Yeah.
00:51:41
Speaker
Can't really count that as a one-two punch. Well, it's like a region of... Houston region one-two punch, I guess. Yeah. if Iron Shark is not going to be as good as... No. Hex of Stingray or Steel Eagle. I'm pretty sure. Is that the one that's a clone of Tantrum?
00:51:56
Speaker
I'm not sure. It's either a clone of Tantrum or clone of the one on the Jersey Boardwalk. I forget. Hydrus? Hydrus. Maybe it's a clone of Hydrus. But I've written Tantrum and yeah, it's a good ride, but it's not as good as the two Custers I mentioned before. Let's see.
00:52:13
Speaker
Iron Shark is a 380... Okay, it is Tantrum. I was wrong. It was a clone of Tantrum. So yeah, I've written that and it's... it's it's It's probably the best ride Darien Lake, but it's not as good as ah Steel Eel or Texas Stingray.
00:52:31
Speaker
um The other hot take I could think of off the rip is something I'm sure you'll probably... not like me for or disagree with me about um because it has to do with one of your cats, unfortunately. oh that's fine. um I think Nemesis Inferno is the better of the two Nemesis coasters. It's the best invert in the UK.
00:52:55
Speaker
um I think Nemesis- It has Nemi in it. It's fine. that is true does have nemi in it um i think nemesis reborn is a great ride it just i think it just fell off on my top 100 um surprisingly there's no alton towers coasters in my top 100 but there is a blackpool coaster and a thor park coaster and multiple emerald park coasters so alton towers is an awesome park but they need a standout coaster at some point yeah um definitely let down by the lineup a little bit yes i agree with that um but going back to nemesis inferno like that ride feels like you know a batman clone but there's like no dead zone in the middle it's like all back to back to back everything hits back to back it's absolutely insane um that's a grown-up
00:53:50
Speaker
I knew that was going to come up at some point in this episode. That's what happens when you say that word around me. That's true. you you are You and Nate, you guys are like the biggest suspects. He's the one that started it. I picked it up for him. Did he start that before he wrote Insane?
00:54:06
Speaker
No, I think he started it when he wrote Insane. Gotcha. Yeah, he went to Grow Alone before. yeah Nate, I know you're going to listen to this episode. Please correct me if I'm wrong. You're more than welcome to do it publicly. I don't care. Okay.
00:54:20
Speaker
Yeah. But back to Nemesis Inferno. um Yeah, I think the theming is a lot better on Reborn, just because it's Alden Towers and station looks incredible.
00:54:33
Speaker
But the layout on Reborn, there's just something about it. I think... Or the layout in Inferno, there's something about it that makes it better than Reborn. I think Reborn has too many dead sections. Like, the loop is really good. There's, like, some good zero-G roll. It's obviously a great terrain coaster.
00:54:50
Speaker
But I just think there's, like, some dead zones that... you know, it goes a bit slow in, you know, and I only rode, I rode Reborn twice, once in the afternoon, and it was still running great. It just, I just thought Inferno was better.
00:55:04
Speaker
And I know there's a certain podcast that I know both people who went on both coasters say that Inferno is better. So I'm not the only one who has that opinion, but i know others who do have that opinion. Yeah. um But yeah, those are the main hot takes I can think of right now.
00:55:23
Speaker
I'm very conflicted on the Nemesis, or the two Nemesi, I guess I'll call them. Nemesi? Nemesis is Nemesi. If you got another cat, instead of Alpian named it Nemesis, you would just call them Nemesi?
00:55:41
Speaker
Like, all of your cats are named Nemesis? I mean, that's just my dumb pluralization of Nemesis. Yeah, like pre-I. Nemesis is. Yeah. But I'm conflicted. like i know Inferno, I don't really remember much of the layout. like Nothing about it stood out for me. And it might have just been... It was like in the middle of the trip.
00:56:06
Speaker
In the middle of everything. i think one of the biggest things I remember about that layout was the pre-lift. It went through the volcano, and it was kind of like a fast pre-lift section right before the lift hill.
00:56:17
Speaker
i don't know if you remember that all, but that was pretty cool. A lot of people seem to come up on that pre-lift section. I remember the queue. Oh, the queue was very long. Yeah, it was it was definitely long, but it was pretty. It was, you know, it's a lot of like foliage in there. Yeah. um And then for Nemesis Reborn, obviously that was like a bucket list coaster for a long, long time. Of course.
00:56:39
Speaker
And seeing them like redo it with the black track was really cool. Oh yeah, the coaster looked stunning. It's gorgeous to watch. Probably really photogenic. Probably besides Hyperia, I would say the most photogenic coaster of the entire yeah UK trip.
00:56:53
Speaker
Oh yeah. That thing was beautiful. One of my photos from Nemesis as my lock screen for a good while after the trip. yeah Yeah, it's it's an iconic coaster. I've been you know interested in Nemesis ever since I started watching coaster POVs.
00:57:10
Speaker
Yeah. i I've always wanted to ride it and I'm glad I finally did. Yeah, I didn't think it was a bad ride. It was definitely slow in the morning. Yes, it was. I picked up speed during the day, but I didn't dislike it at all. It was good.
00:57:24
Speaker
i don't know. I didn't... Okay. I should say I wasn't as underwhelmed by it as a lot of other people seem to be. i will I wouldn't say i was underwhelmed by it either. It was still a great layout. I just thought I liked Inferno more.
00:57:36
Speaker
And there was nothing wrong with that opinion. So, yeah. You're just making fun of my cat. It's fine. Your cat named Nemesis. I can say Inferno and also being your cat. so But then we also have an Alpengeist now. so That is true. Alpengeist is better than both the Nemesis coasters. yeah I will say that.
00:57:58
Speaker
Let's see. I know we're coming up on an hour already. That's crazy.
Life Beyond Coasters
00:58:03
Speaker
ah What are some of your other hobbies outside of coasters? Because I know we're not just into coasters. Yeah. Yes.
00:58:10
Speaker
um I'm into, like I mentioned before, I'm into like nature and I kind got into hiking pretty recently a couple of years ago. It kind of started with like going to the Smoky Mountains with my, you know, college friends for spring break one year.
00:58:26
Speaker
And we went on one of the cool trails. We went, kind of drove around the national park and it was really nice. And then since then, I've gone hiking a lot Ohio.
00:58:37
Speaker
hiked up the tallest mountain in Georgia. I actually pretty recently with my dad. That was really fun. And now i'm hoping to do the same thing when I visit, you know, Dollywood in April. Go to, ah go up the tallest mountain in Tennessee, I think it is.
00:58:51
Speaker
know we're doing that hike during the like... half marathon that I'm doing. I'm pretty sure. Yeah, I think it's like that Sunday. yeah so while you're running the half marathon, I'll be climbing up to the highest point in Tennessee. So I forget the name of it already, but I'm I'm looking forward to that. um You know, I'm not I'm not as crazy as some people who went hiked up a volcano in Guatemala a couple months ago. That was crazy. I really like slept on somewhere. Yes, hoed on the volcano. Like, absolutely not. Like, that's
00:59:23
Speaker
That's like over 10,000 feet in the air. like i I don't know if I could do that right now. um you know You lose a lot of oxygen the higher you get up. so you know i'm not I'm not that crazy, but I all by really like nature.
00:59:37
Speaker
i also am a big sports guy. I like watching a lot of sports. I wouldn't say I really have like teams in specific besides like you know college. That's like the team i really am like a fan of but like for professional teams i don't really have like an allegiance towards any specific team like by by that i mean i root for teams but i don't have like an intense fandom towards a team like i do for college so right um i did really enjoy my fc cincinnati experience i had a great time there
01:00:10
Speaker
um once in a while root for cleveland teams if they do well at all because there's not really much to cheer for in cleveland yeah it's ask marcus sorry buddy um but yeah sports is another thing i really love to watch football baseball basketball auto racing in general just sports in general really uh and then i also just like driving like I know it's not really a hobby because like, you know, we drive every day, but like, I'm just, I just enjoy driving like once in a while, instead of just driving my normal routes, I'll just take a scenic path and kind of see what's, what's around.
01:00:49
Speaker
Enjoy, enjoy the nature around me. So. I'm very opposite. I, I hate driving. Yeah. I think, I think Mike does a lot of lot of the driving. oh he does.
01:01:00
Speaker
Yeah. will actively avoid driving whenever I can. Yeah, no, i I love driving. Ever since I got my Subaru, I've always enjoyed driving around. I'm almost at 50,000 miles on my car and I got it like four years ago now. So yeah, I love my car a lot.
01:01:18
Speaker
but Yeah, that's that's that's all my hobbies, I would say, besides roller coasters. Do you have any advice that you would give to younger enthusiasts getting into the hobby?
01:01:31
Speaker
Ooh, that's a really good question. um i would say, like li like, I'd say I have two pieces of advice. ah One is, like, you can visit, you know, the big parks, like your Universals, your Six Flags, your Disney, your SeaWorld, whatever you have.
01:01:52
Speaker
But also try to visit smaller parks. Like, I'm thinking, like, Cliffs Amusement Park, Lost Island, Rye Playland, Quasi, Wonderland in Texas, wherever whatever it's called. like those Those small parks that don't really get as much attention, I know they don't have the best rides, but the more people who learn about these parks and visit them, the more likely it will be that maybe in the future they will get a you know another coaster or something that may want you to you know go back. So, you know...
01:02:24
Speaker
you know I know i know the the bigger chain parks have the better coasters, obviously, but maybe give these smaller parks a know ah ah a good chance, and maybe they'll get something better in the future. You never know.
01:02:36
Speaker
Yeah, a family kingdom getting that. Yeah, they're getting a raptor, right? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I forgot about family kingdom. That's like, I might have to visit that. I have family, like...
01:02:48
Speaker
four hours from there i might have to visit that park at some point once they get that raptor because they also have that old wooden coaster there right yeah with the buzz bars on fox romp fox yeah they they have a they're they're starting to get a pretty good lineup there so you know i'll have to visit at some point um but then my other piece of advice for enthusiasts this more like not park re related or coast related but just more you yourself as an enthusiast um Don't be afraid to, you know, meet other enthusiasts. Like, literally, how I got interested in, like, theme parks was by, like, meeting other enthusiasts just out of random at Cedar Point and other parks.
01:03:26
Speaker
And, you know, when I spoke with them, like, we literally spoke for hours about roller coasters. And, you know, we were able to, you know, become friends from there. And then...
01:03:37
Speaker
you know The more we talk about coasters, the more you know it could extend to other conversations, like just general life stuff or other hobbies we have. um and then i would also you know you know try join a coaster club um if i was being biased i would say join buzz bars because that's about there but you know join a club that you know you feel like you can fit into you can feel like you can meet other members and become friends with because you know ever since i joined buzz bars i feel like i've really been joining a part of a community
01:04:10
Speaker
And, ah you know, I've made some great lifelong friends ever since I joined. So, yeah, yeah that's my that's my best recommendation for sure. Yeah, definitely go to events for different clubs, meet people from different clubs because every club has their own vibe.
01:04:26
Speaker
Exactly, yeah. And you want to find the one that works best for you. Buzzbars may not be for you and we are cool with that. Yeah, 100%. I mean, we're biased, but we're cool with Yeah.
01:04:39
Speaker
No, I 100% agree with that.
01:04:43
Speaker
yep Yeah, I know. like I'm an ace, too, and I've been to a bunch of ace events. And like it was good getting into the hobby, but it's just it wasn't for me. It didn't fit my personality as well.
01:04:55
Speaker
I agree. i mean, i've not I've never joined Ace and I've never been to Ace events, but I have seen like videos and stuff like that and I've met multiple people who are in Ace.
01:05:05
Speaker
And I just feel like I don't really fit in there as well as I do in Buzz Bars. so yeah But that's just me. I'm sure there's plenty of enthusiasts who fit way better into Ace than they would ever into Buzz Bars or any other coaster club. Yeah.
01:05:18
Speaker
I'm not trying to say ace is bad or anything. like I just think you know each club has their different has a different vibe. And you it's up to you to decide you know which club best fits you.
01:05:30
Speaker
I wouldn't be where I am in this hobby without Ace. Yeah, that's very true. i I probably still would because I never joined through Ace. But still... um you know still Like when I was in high school and dating a coaster enthusiast who was part of Ace and I asked him to go to my prom with me and he was going to an Ace event that day instead. and so I skipped my senior prom and go to the Ace event. and Oh no. And changed everything for me. It was great.
01:06:00
Speaker
Yeah. That was my first experience with ERT on Goliath. Which one? Over Georgia. Sorry. Oh, okay. Nice. that's that's a good That's a good Goliath for sure.
01:06:13
Speaker
It's okay. Probably my second favorite. I like the Great America one more. I agree. i very much agree. But also, I guess I got jaded having Goliath as my home park for 20 years almost.
01:06:27
Speaker
Yeah. I got over it very quickly. like Now you have King's Island. I do. And I love King's Island. It's such an upgrade. Me too. For home park.
01:06:38
Speaker
It's like going from Indiana Beach to Sea of Point for me. Yeah, that's true.
Coaster Game Challenge
01:06:42
Speaker
Yep. Now, have I told you about this little coaster game that I have?
01:06:50
Speaker
i that i I don't know if I included it when I sent you stuff. um It's basically my one little game that I'm going to try to do on a lot of these episodes until I think of other games, which trivia man, maybe you can help me come up with other games in the future.
01:07:05
Speaker
Maybe. Yeah. Yeah. But basically describing coasters using only one syllable words. Like you can form sentences, but you can only use one syllable words to try to get the other person to guess a specific roller coaster you're thinking of.
01:07:21
Speaker
Hmm. My sample that I used last week with Alex, I said a tall ride in South of States with theme of sharks. So Mako? Yep.
01:07:32
Speaker
Yep. but Okay, I see. So basically, one syllable words you can say as many words as you can, but they all have to be one syllable yeah to describe ah a roller coaster. Yes, and it is harder than people think.
01:07:45
Speaker
Yeah, I'd imagine so. I'm sure all screw up at some point and multiple syllable words. alex did Alex kept saying under a lot. under that's the word let me Let me think of one real quick. I don't remember what ones I used last time.
01:08:02
Speaker
yeah Let me think of one real quick. ah Wood.
01:08:11
Speaker
Goat. Voyage. black Yeah, Voyage. voyage Like, all I i'll have to say was, I mentioned it earlier, it was a goat. Yeah, that's why.
01:08:23
Speaker
Like, i could I could probably give that away words, it was my number one, so. Yeah. I'm RCDBing until I... ah
01:08:35
Speaker
get something notable.
01:08:40
Speaker
And there's nothing notable coming out. Let me see if I can do RCDB as well.
01:08:47
Speaker
um And I'm not going to do these random Chinese coasters. I'm going to find something notable.
01:08:55
Speaker
ah It's going take a while. nothing Nothing I've written is coming up on me right now. Oh, never mind. Here we go. um
01:09:07
Speaker
Green bird.
01:09:12
Speaker
ghost Yeah, raptor. but You can do like sentences too, in a way. Yeah, except that's... That might be harder than just a few words.
01:09:25
Speaker
Like, is the goal getting as few words as possible, or... No, just to think outside the box for coming up with, um...
01:09:36
Speaker
I see. here's one. Um...
01:09:42
Speaker
South... Of...
01:09:50
Speaker
can't do two syllable words. um Croc. Iron Gawzi? Yeah. I just had to say croc. And south.
01:10:01
Speaker
Okay. This one's an obscure one, but it's one that we've both been on. Okay. um Road on trip last year. Okay.
01:10:19
Speaker
empty Okay, so we were in 2025. Yes. ah um' There's a very specific detail that I'm trying to figure out how to describe it. with With one syllable words? Yes.
01:10:37
Speaker
On far side of sea. On that trip.
01:10:44
Speaker
Icon? Hmm? Icon? No. No. Oh. Same park. Sit in line. Far side of sea. Well, a Blackpool, then.
01:10:56
Speaker
Yeah. Same park. Sit in line.
01:11:02
Speaker
Revolution? Avalanche? There we go. Avalanche. What have do with far side of sea? I was trying to think of, like, how to say across the ocean. could have said, like, snow.
01:11:15
Speaker
That could have given it away. Well, I was trying to get to, like, UK first. Yeah, well, you said Far Side of Sea. Yeah, and I couldn't think of a better way to say it. Maybe, like, Over Pond or something like that.
01:11:27
Speaker
Can't say over. Aw, dang it! I forgot it. um Yeah, I see what you're saying. Yeah, wonderful words. Alright, I'm still looking on RCDB to see if I can find anything else that I've... Okay, here we go.
01:11:48
Speaker
Cat 2.
01:11:53
Speaker
White. Ski. Alpengeist. Yeah. Cat 2. I was going to say your second cat. That's two syllables. Yeah.
01:12:07
Speaker
Your new cat. Yeah, i that works too. I still have like not had any good coasters come up. Funny enough, Raptor's load twice for me. larry i already did that one. I guess this was i guess i guess RCB tracks what i talk about because I talked about Raptor on this episode.
01:12:27
Speaker
Oh, here we go. Here's one I haven't written, but we can get um Snake, Air,
01:12:41
Speaker
Snake's on a plane. Snake, air, steel, tall. Steel? No, that's not a snake.
01:12:55
Speaker
I've not written this, but you have. um Fast. Black mamba.
01:13:06
Speaker
loops.
01:13:09
Speaker
Mamba? No. um
01:13:19
Speaker
Side of sea I don't live on.
01:13:27
Speaker
um Somewhere in Europe. Yes. Yeah, Kanda. Nice.
01:13:35
Speaker
I don't know. What could i have done to come up with Kanda in a better way? I don't know. That worked. Yeah. It takes a while to get there sometimes. but Yeah, it's tough. yeah um Yeah, maybe you can work this game into your trivia somehow.
01:13:53
Speaker
That's going to be pretty tough. Yeah. I don't know people like that as much as my other. Yeah, you're you're probably right. I need to think of some other games for here, but it's at least something different.
01:14:05
Speaker
Yeah, that's pretty fun.
Social Media and Online Presence
01:14:07
Speaker
Well, before we wrap up, because I think that's enough of the one syllable. Yeah. um Do you want to drop your socials or anything like that?
01:14:15
Speaker
Yeah. So I mainly just use Instagram. It's at Boiler Coasters. Yeah. Yeah, I don't really, i mean, I'm posting a lot right now because I'm doing my top 100, but after that's over, like, I barely post unless it's, like, a trip recap or something like that.
01:14:31
Speaker
But I do post a lot on my story, mainly when I'm going on coaster trips or just, like, commenting on news. So if you want follow it, feel free to follow it Boiler Coasters. Yeah, and I do some, like, live videos, too, after trips, right?
01:14:47
Speaker
Oh, like on your like channel? Or no, like you'll go like live on Instagram. Sometimes, yeah. I don't do it that often, but like sometimes after a trip, I'll kind of do like a long trip recap on video. I've done it for the Europe trip. I did it for couple other trips I took. But yeah, once a while, I'll go live. um I'm not like one of those, you know, podcasting channels that like goes live and has like stuff in the background. I'm not advanced enough in video editing to do that. So, um but yeah, I, I do go live on my Instagram and either post fun challenges or just post live recaps of, you know, park trips I went on. So yeah. Yeah.
01:15:31
Speaker
Any other ah last words? That sounds ominous. parting word Any last words? Any last words? um No, just thanks for having me on again.
Closing Thoughts and Future Plans
01:15:44
Speaker
i really enjoyed this episode and I'm you know looking forward to seeing this podcast grow a lot more over the next couple years. Well, thank you. you know this i cannot I cannot wait for more park trips this year. we're gonna have there There are some good ones. Stay tuned. yeah Yep.
01:16:01
Speaker
For both of us. For both of us, yeah. A lot of it is check out the Buzz Bar schedule for this year. Well, not not fully for you because you have a full Europe trip. so Yeah, and um there's Buzz Bars events I'm not doing this year.
01:16:15
Speaker
Yep, so. But yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Yeah. Well, thank you for joining me for this coaster enthusiast conversation. Yes, thank you for having We'll have you on again at some point, too.
01:16:30
Speaker
maybe Maybe next March, probably. Yeah. feel like it's once a year at this point. Yep, every 11 months. Yep, there we go. Maybe what, next January. Next January, let's do it.
01:16:41
Speaker
Well, until then, everybody keep hashtag thinking inverted. And we'll see you next time.