Stacey Remembers The Start Of Her Roller Coaster Obsession

I remember going to Six Flags for the very first time when I was six years old.

I stood in front of "Batman The Ride" in awe. I'd never seen anything like it before.

The only coaster I'd ever seen before was a single loop shuttle coaster at Fun Spot in Angola, Indiana.

Next to "Batman" that was small potatoes!

Soon, my family became consistent guests of Cedar Point. Even though I was tall enough to ride these mammoth coasters, I just didn't have the courage.

I'd become obsessed with roller coasters as the years passed on. I could rattle off facts that no normal nine year old would know.

"The Raptor has six inversions, Corkscrew started operating in 1976, and the Magnum XL-200 is 205 feet tall."

The latter had become a bit of an obsession of mine. Before the Millenium Force came along the Magnum was the big daddy of the park. I remember looking up at it's first drop and thinking, "I wish I were brave."

The summer after I turned thirteen I was coaxed into riding the Cedar Creek Mine Ride by my older brother and his friends. Believe it or not, as I was walking down the exit ramp, I turned to my brother and said, "let's do it again!"

By the end of that particular trip to Cedar Point I was onto my ultimate coaster. I was nothing but a ball of bravery walking up to the Magnum. It felt so good to finally be conquering my fears.

Do you remember your first roller coaster experience? Do you remember what it felt like to be going up the first lift hill and seeing the park from high above?

I'd like to hear about YOUR first time. Please feel free to share your story with everyone on the forum.

Talk about it in the CoasterRadio.com Forums.

Do Parks Need a "Sonar Perimeter Fence"?

There's been a lot of talk this week about the horrible incident that happened at Six Flags Over Georgia.

A teenage kid and his buddy hopped over two six-foot tall security fences and entered the restricted area of "Batman: The Ride."

It's not entirely clear why they did this, but in the end it doesn't really matter. One of the kids paid for this mistake with his life.

It's been interesting to read the various reactions to this. In fact, there's a good conversation going on in the CoasterRadio.com forums.

Most sane people blame the kid for an obvious lapse of judgement. He chose to ignore the signs warning him of the danger involved with trespassing in that area. It's not like he accidentally wandered into this obviously dangerous place.

But amazingly, some commentators (and lawyers) have said that Six Flags needed to do more to discourage people from entering this restricted zone. Somehow, they have shifted the blame for this onto the park itself!

The simple rule of theme parks is this: If a guest stays on the paths, behaves on the rides and follows the park rules, odds are they're going to survive the day.

But what does Six Flags have to do, invent a Sonar Perimeter Fence that the one we saw on "Lost?"

(Scratch that idea, the lawyers would definitely have a problem with that.)

When we're kids, we think we're invincible. We think we can outrun danger, dodge bullets and in this case, dodge a 50mph roller coaster.

This is a terrible situation, but it serves as a reminder to us all that even though we may feel invincible.... we need to follow the rules.