originally posted on 7/13/2020
ACE members shared some of their most difficult coaster credits to attain. Part 1 of the member stories can be found here.
Want to share yours? Send your story to acenews@aceonline.org, and we will include it in a future article. (Photos are appreciated too!)
Steel Dragon 2000
Photo: Paul Daley. View full-sized image.
My toughest credit was Nagashima Spa Land's Steel Dragon 2000. I never was able to time my Japan visits right for this one. The first two times, in 2003 and 2005, it was standing but not operating in the wake of a major accident. The next two times — the years escape me — it was closed because it was too windy. Finally, on a non-windy day in 2016, I managed to get this credit! It was definitely worth waiting for! It was running beautifully, and the lines were short, so I could ride to my heart's content. Persistence pays off. Yay!
Lisa Scheinin
Redondo Beach, California
Roller Coaster
Photo: Jeffrey Seifert. View full-sized image.
I was very close to riding all the wooden coasters in North America. I lacked one woodie in the United States — which I expected to get on the way to Coaster Con this year — and the very remote Roller Coaster at Upper Clements Park in Nova Scotia.
Following the ACE Summer Conference in 2019, my partner and I decided to put forth the effort to finally visit Upper Clements Park. Following the event in Maine and New Hampshire, we traveled into New Brunswick, which also happened to be a new Canadian province to add to our list.
The most efficient route to get there involved a ferry ride. We were surprised that they didn’t take credit cards and we had very little Canadian money. An ATM saved our necks and we made the voyage, just to ride this short Bill Cobb woodie. The park was practically empty, but we were grateful that the coaster was running. We finally had that elusive credit.
This spring we learned that Upper Clements Park was closing for good. We went to a lot of effort to get there. Had we waited, we wouldn’t have that lingering credit dangling out there, but it was much better that we actually had a chance to experience it.
Tim Baldwin
Grand Prairie, Texas
Cannonball Run
Photo: Elizabeth Ringas Collection. View full-sized image.
On a retreat to Gulf Shores, Alabama, with my company, I did not have a car and was at the mercy of the company for the four-day trip. I did not research the area at all. One afternoon, we were bussed to the beach to enjoy a picnic lunch and an afternoon on the beach. Traveling along, I was staring out the window, when what did I see but a ROLLER COASTER! I immediately started counting blocks because I had no idea where we were in relation to our destination. Could I get back there? I didn't know, but I was going to try!
Ten blocks later, the bus stopped. I was so excited, not to see the beach but to know that I could totally walk that distance! And then I looked at my shoes ... I was not dressed for this trek.
Following lunch, my colleagues ventured off to the beach and bars. After checking the website, I let them know I was going to walk back to ride the roller coaster we passed. I don't think they believed me.
I wonder if anyone has ever been so excited to arrive at the gates of Waterville USA. A bit sweaty, but overly jubilant, I took a few rides on Cannonball Run and started my journey back to the beach. It was well worth my two-mile walk. When I caught up with my colleagues and the vice president of the company, they now truly understood what I meant when I said I was a coaster enthusiast.
Elizabeth Ringas
Glen Allen, Virginia
Matterhorn Bobsleds
Photos: Cheri Armstrong Collection. View full-sized image.
In our very early years with ACE, our first trip to the West Coast was actually with the Coaster Zombies in May 2001. We were just getting our feet wet with much traveling. After spending a few days in the Bay area, we flew to Los Angeles. We had four days in the area, visiting a different park each day. One of the highlights of the trip for us was to ride the Matterhorn Bobsleds at Disneyland, a coaster we had heard so much about. On our day at Disneyland, this coaster did not operate, much to our great disappointment.
Our next trip to Disneyland was a quick weekend trip in November 2006. After riding the new coasters at Knott's Berry Farm and Magic Mountain, we spent an extra day in California to go to Disneyland. When we arrived at Matterhorn, it was closed, with barricades set up around the ride. And, once again, we did not ride the coaster we most wanted to ride in California.
During all our years of riding coasters we have lived in Massachusetts. So, getting to California has always been a special trip, with lots of parks and coasters to ride.
In March 2010, we made our third trip to Disneyland, after spending a day at Six Flags Magic Mountain and a day at Knott's Berry Farm. Finally, on this trip we were able to ride Matterhorn Bobsleds. After all the years of waiting to ride this ride, we were not disappointed and were able to ride both sides. I guess it's true — the third time’s a charm.
Cheri Armstrong
Hatfield, Massachusetts
X
Photo: Ric Turner. View full-sized image.
My most difficult credit to obtain was X (now X2). It might seem strange that a coaster at a park relatively close to me would be difficult to ride, but circumstances dictated differently. My first attempt to ride it was during the star-crossed Con of 2002, when neither X nor the other signature ride of that Con, Xcelerator, operated. I subsequently rode Xcelerator the following Tuesday as I was covering for a doc colleague in north San Diego County, making Knott’s Berry Farm a lot easier to get to later that afternoon. No such luck with Six Flags Magic Mountain, and I didn’t have an opportunity to get there again until the following January. However, until we drove up to the entrance that Friday, it didn’t dawn on me (literally, as we’d awakened at 4:30 to get there by rope drop) that the park had gone to weekends-only hours for the wintertime. So there, right in my face, was X in all its glory, actually running with guests on it for some B-roll footage or special event. I was heartbroken, but my buddy and I turned around and headed to Knott’s Berry Farm, where we got some more rides on Xcelerator. But the third time was the charm, and I finally got to ride X as part of a lucky bunch who were invited for a three-hour session to fill seats for a Japanese TV feature on the ride. They fiddled with the cameras and mounts seemingly forever until the gates finally opened and we could ride. It was definitely worth the wait and X (now X2) remains one of my favorite rides in the park — back seat, left side, on the inside, please.
Of note, the Japanese TV shoot is where I met and became friendly with Steve Berto. So otherwise I probably wouldn’t be assistant regional rep right now!
John Gerard
San Diego, California
@#$%&!
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