The Coaster101 Podcast

This week Andrew, Shane, and Eric are chatting defunct coasters. For all kinds of reasons roller coasters get closed down. Sometimes that's tragic, sometimes that's great, and sometimes we don't care at all. We talk about coasters we miss, coasters we wish we'd had a chance to ride, and coasters that we don't miss at all (or wouldn't mind seeing get removed).

Send your feedback to and ask us questions at podcast@coaster101...

This week Andrew and Eric are joined by Coaster101 founder John Stevenson. While our normal hosts have been stuck in lockdown and haven't been to any parks this summer, John's been to a bunch! So he's joining us to recap his visits to Dollywood, Kings Island, Kentucky Kingdom, and Six Flags St. Louis. We get some comparison of the parks safety procedures and crowds, and get into some ride talk (so it's not all bad)...

This week on the Coaster101 Podcast we kickoff what we hope will be an ongoing series featuring close looks at the home parks of the Coaster101 team. We're starting with our resident Carowinds expert, Andrew Stilwell. We get into a bit of Carowinds history, as well as Andrew favorite rides, favorite foods, and tips for first time visitors...

This week on the Coaster101 podcast, we're joined by Jefferson Richardson of Kentucky Kingdom and Chris Foshee of Worlds of Fun, two of the most prolific theme park tweeters in the game. Learn more about how they got their starts in the industry, what goes through their mind when creating content like the world's first Strata Waterslide or a video completely comprised of Stock Video footage to sell a theme park, and their upcoming (we think?) rap album...

This week we embarrass ourselves by revealing our biggest theme park blind spots. This includes both parks that we really should have visited by now but haven't as well as specific coasters we haven't checked off yet (for one reason or another).

Let us know what your biggest amusement industry blind spots are, or tell us how ashamed of us you are! Email podcast@coaster101.com, or find us on social media @Coaster101...

Earlier this summer Coaster101's Nick Weisenberger wrote an extensive article about the history of Millennium Force to celebrate the iconic roller coaster's 20th anniversary. Today on the podcast, Nick joins Eric to go into some of that history, explaining how the decision to build the ride came about, what company almost built it, and the key technological innovations of the ride...

Universal officially announced the least unexpected new attraction ever, the Velocicoaster at Islands of Adventure. We discuss the new teaser and what we're excited about on the new ride (officially the Jurassic World VelociCoaster). Check out the full announcement details here: https://c101.co/2EFgQ5B

We also get into a brief bit of bonus news discussion, chatting about the new patent filed by B&M for an updated stand-up coaster restraint system (see https://c101...

We're going hyper regional on the podcast this week! Shane recently visited Quassy Amusement Park up in his neck of the woods, so on this episode Andrew gets a rundown of what Quassy is all about. We also answer a few listener questions.

If you're a Quassy fan let us know your favorite things about the park. And let us know what other small regional parks you want us to talk about more on the podcast! Email us at podcast@coaster101...

Coaster101 founder John Stevenson just got back from a 4 day trip to Walt Disney World, the first time any of us have been to the resort since it reopened. So this week John joins us to talk about his experience at the four parks. We get into what was good, what was less good, and how to cope with failing to get a Rise of the Resistance Boarding group (Eric and Andrew tried not to rub it in too much that they have both ridden Rise of the Resistance)...

This week on the podcast we're joined by a very special guest: Theme Park journalist extraordinaire Carlye Wisel! Carlye has written about theme parks for publications as wide ranging as Travel & Leisure, Eater, and SyFy, and this past summer started her own podcast called Very Amusing with Carlye Wisel. If you've ever wanted to learn all kinds of things about how Disney and Universal theme parks work, it's the show for you...