Over the past week I added over a dozen pins to my Pin Collection, with number 400 arriving in the mail today. I had three out for shipment and I was wondering which one would arrive first. Would it be a diamond-shaped Loch Ness Monster button from Busch Gardens Williamsburg (BGW)? Maybe the Tidal Twister pin from Sea World San Diego (SWSD)? Or could it be the defunct Batman the Escape pin from an also defunct, Six Flags Astroworld (SFAW)?
Spoiler, it was the Loch Ness button, which you will see in a couple of the images down below.
To celebrate hitting 400, I decided to do a Five Fun Facts themed covering my collection. My original idea was to do a 10 favorite pins list, but I think I’m going to save that for 500. And no, that won’t be next week.
Fact #1
My First 2 Pins - Great Bear & Lightning Racer
My roller coaster and amusement park pin collection started during a 2017 visit to Hersheypark. I was already collecting pins and wearing them on my work uniform thanks to both Elaina and Jason. Up to that point, my collection was small and mostly consisted of comic book and video game characters. That was until I stepped into a gift shop at Hershey and saw the Great Bear and Lightning Racer above. I had to have them. Both are some of my favorite pins in my collection to this day.
One thing I kick myself in the butt for in hindsight was not buying the Fahrenheit and Comet pins too. Well, not buying them for myself anyhow. I bought the Fahrenheit one for Jason, since it’s a coaster he really enjoys. I’ve never seen it since. I’ve told him a few times I’d buy off off him, or adopt if he ever decided to trim down his own large pin collection. Luckily, I was able to locate the Comet pin in a lot I grabbed on eBay a few years later.
Fact #2
Most Represented Coaster - Loch Ness Monster (10)
It seems kind of fitting that the pin/button that would break the 400 mark would be one for Loch Ness Monster. I have more pins in my collection of BGW’s historic Arrow Looper than any other. A lot of this has to do with BGW, along with all the other Busch Gardens and Sea World parks, having a pin trading program. New series and pins are introduced annually and there always new pins for their major rides.
When it comes to buttons, which I didn’t start out collecting, the large blue button above changed that. I loved its vintage look and soon found others for Loch Ness and even Big Bad Wolf. It usually vintage buttons, or ones for coasters I can never find pins for that end up in my collection.
With four Loch Ness Monster buttons, technically that means I have more buttons of Loch Ness than any other coaster too. I don’t differentiate between buttons and pins, however, so that’s why you just see the combined number of 10 listed above. And as you will see down below, Loch Ness does appear in two other pins from the park, but I did not count them toward the total. Neither are focused on the coaster, or feature a collage of coasters and rides.
Honorable Mentions: El Toro (7), Smiler (7), Oblivion (7), Phoenix (6), Nitro (6), Expedition Everest (6), Apollo’s Chariot (6)
Fact #3
Most Represented Park - Busch Gardens Williamsburg (48)
With 48 pins of my 400 total coming from BGW, that means the park is responsible for 12 percent of my entire collection. I feel like every time I go to the park, check out the Sea World Shop, or login to eBay, I’m finding more BGW pins and buttons. Thankfully I focus my collection around roller coasters, or I could easily have dozens and dozens more. Here is how the BGW pin portion of my collection breaks down:
- Presidential Pins (2)
- General Park Pins (1)
- Calendar Series (1)
- Howl-O-Scream (1)
- Alpengeist (5)*
- Apollo’s Chariot (6)
- Big Bad Wolf (2)
- Drachen Fire (1)
- Gauntlet (1)
- Glissade (1)
- Griffon (5)
- InvadR (3)
- Loch Ness Monster (10)*
- Pantheon (4)
- Tempesto (3)
- Verbolten (3)
* One pin features both Loch Ness Monster and Alpengeist together counted in the listed totals. I did not, however, count the My First Visit or Calendar pins toward those numbers since they feature a collage of rides/attractions.
Honorable Mentions: Kings Island (29), Busch Gardens Tampa (26), Cedar Point (25), Six Flags Great Adventure (22)
Fact #4
The Big Boys
Last year I ordered a “I Surived the SooperDooperLooper” button above from eBay. I didn’t read the description and figured it would be a standard sized button. Boy was I wrong! The button measures 6 inches in diameter (15.24 centimeters). It’s the biggest item in my collection as far as area is concerned.
If you want to know which pin is the longest, that would be the Pantheon one sitting at the base of the Looper button (also in the featured image). When fully opened, it measures 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) in width. It’s only 1.25 inches tall (3.175 centimeters), however. When folded, this is one thick pin, measuring just under 1 inch (2.54 centimeters).
The Apollo’s Chariot front car crest (right) is a recent addition and measures 3 inches (7.62 centimeters) from corner to corner to corner. It certainly has some weight to it too. Elaina, Chris D., Sam, and Greg all got one of these since they’re limited to just 500.
The Hydra The Revenge pin, which came in a jewelry box with a certificate of authenticity (CoA), was my largest pin until late last year. It measures about 2.5 inches (6.35 centimeters) both tall and wide. It is also limited to 500 and has the ride’s opening day listed on the CoA.
Lastly, the blue Loch Ness button was another pin that was bigger than I had anticipated. Once again, I failed to read the description. I’m not complaining though. It measures 4 inches (10.16 centimeters) in diameter.
Fact #5
Defunct, Renamed/Relocated, & SBNO
As someone who appreciates history, I love finding pins of defunct coasters, or ones that have been renamed or relocated. I also try to scoop up pins of coasters that I feel might be in danger of falling into one of the categories above, like Fantasy Island’s Silver Comet.
Not all of the pins are old, however. Some parks, like Kings Island and Kings Dominion, like to release pins of former attractions. Here are a list of my pins that fit under this category.
- Alton Towers – The Beast (1), Corkscrew (1)
- Blackpool Pleasure Beach – Black Hole (1)
- Busch Gardens Tampa – Gwazi (1), Python (1)
- Busch Gardens Williamsburg – Big Bad Wolf (2), Drachen Fire (1), Gauntlet (1), Glissade (1)
- Cedar Point – Mean Streak (1)
- Disneyland Paris – Space Mountain: Mission 2 (1)
- Dutch Wonderland – Sky Princess (1)
- Fantasy Island – Silver Comet (2)
- Kings Dominion – Hurler (2), King Cobra (1), Rebel Yell (1), Shockwave (1), Volcano: The Blast Coaster (3)
- Kings Island – The Bat (1), The Beastie (1), The Screamin Demon (1), Son of Beast (2)
- Six Flags Great Adventure – Viper (1)
- Six Flags Magic Mountain – X (1)
- Six Flags New England (Riverside) – Cyclone (1)
- Six Flags Over Texas – Texas Giant (2)
- Six Flags Power Plant – General (1)
- Universal Islands of Adventure – Dueling Dragons (4)
- Joseph Fells (Artist) – Dueling Dragons (1)
- Wildwood Historical Society – Golden Nugget (1), The Skua (1)
My Pin Wishlist
With two more pins still yet to arrive, my official pin count will soon be 402. That means I have 98 more pins to go until I’m back here again with another blog naming off my favorites. I can’t wait. Until then, here are 10 of my most sought after coaster pins that I’d love to have in my collection (no particular order):
- Skyrush – Hersheypark
- Iron Rattler – Six Flags Fiesta Texas
- Phantom’s Revenge – Kennywood
- Storm Chaser – Kentucky Kingdom
- Lightning Rod – Dollywood
- Iron Gwazi – Busch Gardens Tampa
- Jersey Devil – Six Flags Great Adventure
- Wild One – Six Flags America
- Afterburn – Carowinds
- Python Pit – Go-Karts Plus (not even joking)
