I literally do not remember my first coaster ride. I rode a coaster many, many times before I was born, when my mom was five months pregnant.

I also was riding an adult wooden coaster when I was two. The coaster was newer than I was.

Height limits? Unheard of. The only question was "Tickets, please?"

It was a different time. It was a simpler time.

While I will not force anyone onto a ride, I will razz on you to no end, lol. That approach worked well with the wife and she thanks me for it.

Not forcing my daughter has worked out in our favor because she tries a new ride every trip. Loves every one of them at the end.

Glad to read everything went well with your friend, and glad to hear he wants to get more adventurous on his next visit. I built up similarly, lots of rides on AE and Flight Deck before I finally wanted to join my friends on King Cobra and Racer on a school field trip. Stuck to those until a few years later, when my friend finally managed to persuade me to ride Vortex - he didn't force me, just spent a bit talking me into it and telling me that if I didn't like it, he wouldn't bug me about it anymore. From that point on, I've been in love with coasters. It sounds like your friend will work his way up at his own pace, and that seems to be a good fit for him. Let us know how his next trip goes!

Put them on FOF and tell them it's a slow ride with no inverted points, and it just goes really fast at the beginning...

I'll give my $.02. I'd first like to say that I'm pleased to hear that CharleytheDinosaur's friend had a good time and is eager to try more coasters. When talking about how riders passed through coaster milestones at KI, I progressed through these as such: Beastie (Woodstock Express), then forwards Racer, then Top Gun (Flight Deck)/Adventure Express (this was roughly around the same time), then Son of Beast (with loop) and finally Flight of Fear (Reptar/Flying Ace and backwards Racer were somewhere in there as those were my first invert and my first backwards coaster, respectively)*. By the time I'd conquered Flight of Fear, I thought I could handle anything (the first Vortex ride didn't even seem like a big deal!). Finally, for everyone out there; do NOT force people to ride rides. Showing them coasters and trying to get people to go on them is fun, but forcing someone to go on something they don't want to (or having a possible rider fear that someone will force them on a ride they don't want to go on- trust me, I know!) is never a good idea!

*I wrote the old names as the rides were named this way when I first rode them. Also, Volcano (at Kings Dominion) was my first launched coaster (occurred after Son of Beast) but I didn't include this in the list because it's not at Kings Island.

EDIT: There's one more milestone I left out... Firehawk was my first flying coaster.

Simply out of curiosity, what about the gray area between letting someone go at their own pace and forcing them? By that, I mean offering them a bribe to get them to ride something they won't ride on their own. The bribe would vary depending on the person involved; examples might be a stuffed Snoopy from the gift shop for a preschooler, a "coupon" to stay up past bedtime one night next week for a preteen, some cash for an older teenager or adult, or whatever else makes sense and is appealing to the reluctant rider.

I think it would be fine as long as they are given free choice to accept or refuse, without the same rejected bribe being "pushed" on them continuously (though I don't think it would be a problem to up the bribe occasionally the next time you walk past the ride, or even let them negotiate).

P.S. I'm just asking out of curiosity. I don't actually have anyone I'm planning to do this to.

If a person says no to riding, I believe that no means no. To me it is unacceptable to try to bribe them into riding-we have got to stop this notion that everyone can be "converted" into loving coasters-if someone doesn't want to ride, why don't we simply accept and respect their feelings?

My sister now hates roller coasters.

A few friends took her to Cedar Point and "forced" her onto everything. She kept her eyes closed and hated every second of it.

Not being mean, but how could you live with yourself if you forced a dear friend onto a ride she didn't want to ride and midway through she became very, very quiet, then slumped? Back at the station, she is unresponsive. At the hospital, they can't revive her. The autopsy? Heart attack.

How could you live with yourself?

It could happen.

No one should be forced onto any ride. Ever.

Bribes don't work. Jokingly tried them with my daughter in the past. Not even a $100 Bill was accepted, lol. Thankfully I do not try them now because I would be out some cash.

Non monetary bribes from females can persuade males to do almost anything. Too far? I hope not.

^True story bro

Simply out of curiosity, what about the gray area between letting someone go at their own pace and forcing them? By that, I mean offering them a bribe to get them to ride something they won't ride on their own. The bribe would vary depending on the person involved; examples might be a stuffed Snoopy from the gift shop for a preschooler, a "coupon" to stay up past bedtime one night next week for a preteen, some cash for an older teenager or adult, or whatever else makes sense and is appealing to the reluctant rider.

I think it would be fine as long as they are given free choice to accept or refuse, without the same rejected bribe being "pushed" on them continuously (though I don't think it would be a problem to up the bribe occasionally the next time you walk past the ride, or even let them negotiate).

P.S. I'm just asking out of curiosity. I don't actually have anyone I'm planning to do this to.

jc,

I get the impression you don't have kids, but from someone that does, I'm not above using bribes. Bribes typically include "get thru church w/ no timeouts and you we'll get XYZ (restaurant of his choice) for dinner/lunch, do this, and we'll read an extra book before nap/bed time, stay (and walk) w/ me thru Krogers and we'll spend 5 minutes in the toy area so you can play w/ the cars before checking out, etc.... so I see no problems w/ someone bribing someone or a kid to get on a ride that they are otherwise healthy enough to ride. I don't think teasing is a good way to get that accomplished, especially from a parent (I guess a little light teasing isn't too bad, but parents should know where to draw the line and stop short) but I understand why a group of 13 year olds would push beyond the limits to get their friends on something.

The question for me, is what age to start something like that. With our 5 year old, there was never any need to get him to jump on a ride he was tall enough. Viking ship & Woodstock express a week prior to his 3rd birthday, he loved it (though the back seat on Viking Fury got him a little nervous that summer). Boo Blasters on his first trip, it became a "must ride" on every trip, often first. Drop Zone, Vortex, The Beast at night at 5? He loved every minute of it. Honestly, at that age, if I had to bribe him to get on something, it wouldn't be worth it. But at age 8? I'd probably offer up something, but not until they were more than grown into the ride. One of my biggest fears getting him on The Racers a few weeks back was that he was so small that he'd potentially bounce his head off the lap bar or something. Hands up thru the 1st three hills, then I think gravity took over and he started holding on. He still came a little too close to the lap bar for my comfort, so I kind of braced him over the last couple of bunny hills until he got used to it, but now that he's a few rides into it, I think he's prepared for the ride and knows when and how to brace himself. I don' think I'd have the same fear w/ an equally tall 7 year old, I know I didn't when I took my niece on her first beast and Vortex rides a few years ago at 7.

To Terps question, had my son fallen out or experienced some kind of ill fate, I'm not sure how I would have handled it; devasted obviously. Even though he was eager to go, heck he'd hop on Diamondback tomorrow if he was allowed, I'd feel terrible, even if it was someone I wasn't related to, much less my own son. Life is full of risk, and while they should be minimized, you certainly can't provide everything. Physically forcing someone on something they don't want to do, probably not a good idea. Pursuading someone to try a new experience when there is no reason to believe they are in danger is part of life.

Correct, I don't have kids. I think your last sentence neatly sums up what I was thinking, that "[persuading] someone to try a new experience when there is no reason to believe they are in danger is part of life". I'm of the belief that you can't know whether you like something or not until you try it, but sometimes somebody's not willing to try a coaster on their own and needs a little extra incentive to give it a spin.

If they do give it a shot and decide they truly don't like it, I would take my cue from that and not try to push that one anymore, at least until the next season. But if they do discover that they like it, then they just might loosen up a bit and be willing to give other coasters a shot without needing any more bribes, and a new coaster enthusiast may be born that day. Either way, they've actually tried it and know whether or not they like it, which is something they didn't know before, and so they've learned a little bit about themselves. And that in my mind is a good thing regardless of the outcome.

When I reached 48" tall, my first "big kid rides" were the Rainbow and enterprise. I loved rainbow and although I was terrified of the enterprise I did it and ended up enjoying it, you don't know if you don't like something unless you try it

Oh, I don't know about that. I know I wouldn't like smoking cigarettes. And I'm not going to try it just to see.

Bribes don't work. Jokingly tried them with my daughter in the past. Not even a $100 Bill was accepted, lol. Thankfully I do not try them now because I would be out some cash.

If you gave me $100 I might actually go through Madame Fatales...

Bribes don't work. Jokingly tried them with my daughter in the past. Not even a $100 Bill was accepted, lol. Thankfully I do not try them now because I would be out some cash.

If you gave me $100 I might actually go through Madame Fatales...

We just might hold you to that.