Name: Tom Hurst
Age: 20
What is your roller coaster count? 107
What is your home park? Worlds of Fun
What is the nearest big city? Topeka or Kansas City, depends on definition of big city
What is your occupation? Meat Dept employee and host at restaurant
About how many times a year do you visit a park (including your home park)? 15-20
About how many times a year do you travel to a park that is not your home park? 5-10
When you travel do you go primarily to amusement parks or do you also try and hit other sites? Other sites
What is the farthest you’ve traveled to go to an amusement park? While living in California, Ohio
Does roller coaster time get in the way of family time? (Do you choose to miss your children’s or family’s sporting events, holidays, birthdays, etc…) No, normally it is one in the same
Do you have any other major hobbies? Music, movies, sports
Do you get feelings of sadness in the offseason? Do you even have an offseason? Do you travel during the offseason? 1. Somewhat 2. Yes 3. No
Do you consider yourself friends with someone you met who works at an amusement park? (Or reverse it, if you work or worked and an amusement park have you made friends with enthusiasts?) Yes
Would it bother you to go to an amusement park by yourself? No
Have you gone to an amusement park by yourself? If so have you ever ran into another enthusiast and tagged along with them? Yes
Do you find it easy to make friends with other enthusiasts? Yes
How do you get your coaster news? Screamscape, RCPro, TPR, Amusement Insider, Coasterforce
How many different forum sites do you regularly post on? 3-4
If there was a poll that asked a large pool of enthusiasts what their favorite roller coaster is, what do you think would be the top 3 responses be for wood? And for steel? Wood: Voyage, El Toro, Boulder Dash Steel: Millennium Force, Diamondback, Bizarro (SFNE)
Same scenario but for amusement parks, what would be the top 3? Cedar Point, Holiday World, Six Flags Magic Mountain
Have you ever “stole a kid” to get a credit on a kiddie coaster? No
Do you cut other categories out of your budget to make trips to parks? (Entertainment, fast food, holidays, tobacco or alcohol, etc…) Yes
Before you visit a new park do you research the park finding the best way to navigate the park, get the best deals, or what days to go? Always
Do you feel the roller coaster enthusiast community is a warm and accepting community, or a negative and discouraging community? A mixture, normally warm and accepting, but certain percentage is negative
Do you like to talk about your hobby with people who are not roller coaster enthusiasts? Yes, unless I can tell they are getting annoyed, then I stop