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Mekado Murphy grew up in Shawnee, Okla., a city that was far away from any major theme parks.
So, when he was 10 years old, he created his own.
He named it Fun World, dreamed up a founder — H.G. Fun — and drew up a map populated with dozens of rides, among them the Clown Hat, a spinning ride; Logger+, a log flume; and the Space Tunnel, an indoor roller coaster.
“I also drew the lines to get on the rides, because that’s how you knew the ride was popular,” said Mr. Murphy, who, in his day job, is the assistant film editor for The New York Times. But during his off hours, he moonlights as The Times’s unofficial roller coaster correspondent.
Over the past 15 years, since he wrote an article for The Times in 2010 about a curious wooden coaster built into the side of a mountain in Bristol, Conn., Mr. Murphy has published more than a dozen stories, ridden at least 360 coasters (he tracks them on the website Coaster-Count) — and thrown up zero times.
In an interview, Mr. Murphy, who most recently took the new Epic Universe theme park in Orlando for a test drive, shared what he looks for in a coaster, how he got started writing about them and the scariest one he’s ever ridden. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
What was your first roller coaster?
It was the Mini Mine Train at Six Flags Over Texas, in Arlington, when I was 6. It was all I felt I could handle at the time. I was terrified of riding the Runaway Mine Train, which I had heard went partly underground. My older sisters ultimately convinced me to ride it a few years later, and I ended up loving it. Riding that, having the ability to do something so intense and thrilling, set me on the journey of wanting to pursue coasters.
How did you get started writing about them?
A web producer I worked with at The Times, Alice DuBois, had written a piece about taking a roller coaster vacation with a friend, and I just thought that story was so cool: the idea that you could go on vacation and just ride roller coasters.
There used to be a section of the paper called Escapes that was about day trips in the New York City area, and I had heard about this coaster in Connecticut that was built into the side of a mountain. I’d ridden a lot of wooden coasters, but I hadn’t ridden one that was built into a mountain.
Describe your perfect coaster.
It would have a lot of airtime moments when your stomach drops. And it would take you on a journey. I love coasters that feel like they’re going somewhere. A lot of coasters are built in parking lots or on flat, concrete surfaces, and you can see everything. With a great coaster, you can’t tell where you’re going.
Tell me about your reporting approach to a day at the park.
I ride a coaster, then open up a voice memo on my phone and spout out initial reactions. Then I’ll ride a couple more times to get the beats and the understanding of it, then think about what it’s making me feel and how I can convey that to a reader who isn’t a coaster enthusiast.
Riding a dozen or more coasters in a day is intense. How do you avoid getting sick?
As long as I haven’t had some giant funnel cake, I’m typically fine.
Do you buy a skip-the-line pass if it’s an option?
Sometimes, because I want to make sure I’m getting on everything I need to. It can obviously be pretty expensive to buy skip-the-line passes for everyone in a family. If I buy a pass, I can expense it. But when I’m doing these pieces, I’m also thinking, “What does a person who goes to this park have access to?”
Have you ever gotten stuck on a ride?
A few times, they’ve had to come out and take us off the coaster and walk us down. It’s fine, as long as the stairs are right there next to you.
What’s the most coasters you’ve ridden in a day?
Probably 15. Most parks don’t have that many, but Six Flags Magic Mountain in California, and Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, do. If you get a skip-the-line pass, you can do it.
What’s the scariest coaster you’ve ever been on?
Steel Vengeance, which is a hybrid coaster — a ride that combines elements of wooden and steel coasters — at Cedar Point. It has a mammoth first drop, and it feels like there are no brakes. If you ride some coasters long enough, you can kind of predict what they do, but I’ve ridden this multiple times, and I can’t figure out what’s coming next.
Time for a lightning round!
I’m ready.
Woodie or steel?
Steel.
Vertical loop or corkscrew?
Vertical.
Backward or darkness?
Darkness.
Tunnel or water feature?
Water feature.
Standing or lying down?
I don’t like either, but if I had to pick one, it’d be standing.
Sarah Bahr writes about culture and style for The Times.
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