15 to 15: Celebrating 15 Years of Coaster101

15 years ago today, I started Coaster101.com. I had no intention of it lasting for much longer than the summer of 2005, let alone 15 years. I was only 13 years old at the time. My aspirations were rather limited.

Yet here we are, 15 years later.

The Coaster101 Team at Six Flags Great America in 2019. Not pictured: our newest writers, Shane Joseph and Rachel Hawkins.

But I couldn’t have made it 15 years without the hard work and dedication of the entire Coaster101 Team. The breadth of content they’ve written for the website — from articles detailing roller coaster design calculations to interviews with theme park culinary experts — far surpasses anything that I could have ever imagined writing (or having the time to write). And they’ve all become some of my best friends.

I joke that Coaster101 is like a child to me. I (and the team) have helped it grow and become the website it is today through countless hours of hard work. We’re nowhere near the biggest or the best, and quite frankly we don’t strive to be. We love what we do, and we’re grateful if one person or 1,000 enjoy the words we write.

The work we put into Coaster101 would not be worth it without you, the reader. Whether you’ve been with us since our humble beginnings in 2005 (you’re a real trooper) or if this is your first time on the website, we’re all incredibly grateful for your time and support.

And we love to hear from you. Our door is always open — feel free to contact us anytime to let us know what you’d like to see, to express interest in joining the team or just to say hi.

Coaster101 Through the Years

Coaster101 has evolved not only in the types of content we offer but also how that content is displayed. Just as web design trends have changed over the last 15 years, so has the look and feel of Coaster101. The gallery below features a sampling of those designs.

Over the last 15 days, we’ve highlighted some of our favorite content from the last 15 years:

1. Counting Down to Coaster101’s 15th Birthday
2. Q&A With Our Newest Writer, Rachel Hawkins
3. 15 Rides from TV and Film That We’d Like To Ride
4. Our 15 Favorite Coasters of the Coaster101 Era
5. 15 Favorite Lists and Rankings
6. Our 15 Favorite Experiences at the Parks
7. 15 of Our Favorite Non-Coaster Rides in North America
8. Our 15 Most Memorable First Ride Events
9. Our 15 Favorite Food Posts
10. Our 15 Favorite Coaster Construction Tours
11. 15 Roller Coasters We Haven’t Ridden…Yet
12. Our 15 Favorite Educational Articles
13. Our 15 Favorite Interviews
14. Our 15 Most-Read Posts of All Time

Compiling these lists brought back a lot of great memories and reminded us of what all we’ve done in these 15 years.

How to support Coaster101 and the organizations we love:

Nothing puts smiles on our faces like seeing Coaster101 gear at the parks. To help get the word out (and rep some awesome designs by our graphic designer, Kyle Lindner!), buy a shirt or even a face mask from our TeePublic store.

Over the last 15 years, we’ve been fortunate to be able to give back to several organizations. We’re donating 100% of our proceeds from face masks to Give Kids The World Village and Feeding America.

Coaster101 15 to 15 Giveaway #15

For our final “15 to 15” giveaway, we’re giving away one $50 Amazon e-gift card and a Coaster101 Prize Pack.

You can enter now through 11:59 p.m. ET tonight.

Giveaway Rules

• The entry period for this giveaway will run until 11:59 p.m. ET tonight. We’ll email the winner tomorrow.
• To remain eligible for your prize pack, you will need to respond with your name and mailing address within 24 hours of receiving the email notification.
• One entry per person.
• Unfortunately, we are unable to ship Prize Packs outside of the U.S.

You can enter up to three times using the methods listed below:

1. Follow @Coaster101 on Twitter and retweet this tweet:

We're 15 years old today! 🥳🎉 To celebrate, we're giving away a $50 Amazon gift card and a Coaster101 Prize Pack. Follow us and retweet this for a chance to win. As always, thank you for your support of the site! More info and ways to enter here: https://t.co/qZ06f2IoxW pic.twitter.com/dbiz0Lr9DK

— Coaster101.com (@Coaster101) June 15, 2020

Note: you must follow Coaster101 on Twitter to be eligible to win.

2. Follow @Coaster101 on Instagram and like this post:

To enter on Instagram, follow us and tag at least two friends in the comments section.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBcUJxVBT9q/

Note: you must follow Coaster101 on Instagram to be eligible to win.

3. Comment on this blog post:

Let us know what type of content you’d like to see more of on Coaster101 or just give us a happy birthday wish in the comments section below. Be sure to use your real email address so that we can contact you for additional information if you win.

Again, we owe much of our longevity to you. Without your support, this website simply would not be in existence today.

While we don’t know what the next 15 years will hold for Coaster101, we’re working on some exciting projects and have plenty of new content in the pipeline.

So sit down, pull down your restraint and enjoy the next 15 years with us.

And as always, thank you.

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