American Coaster Enthusiasts Promote Fun and Preservation Passion, Friendships and Roller Coasters

American Coaster Enthusiasts (ACE) brings a hobby to life for those who love riding roller coasters. Why do they love it? Every member has a different answer – great memories, exhilaration, overcoming fears, the feel of flying. Membership in ACE and riding roller coasters offers something different, but very important in each of their lives. According to Psychology Today, hobbies offer many benefits in our lives – they help structure our time, promote flow, foster new social connections, and make you interesting.

Founded in 1978, ACE is a non-profit organization of more than 5,500 members from 16 countries.

ACE is the world’s largest ride enthusiast organization, and its members are the most educated, dedicated, and passionate amusement park guests. ACE’s activities are extensive and include award-winning publications, action-packed events, and exhaustive preservation efforts.

ACE events offer our members and their guests the opportunity to attend special events at parks across the country almost every weekend of the year. Lasting from one to three days, they are scheduled at amusement and theme parks throughout North America, and smaller more remote destinations are not overlooked. Often two or more parks in an area are visited during a single event. ACE also organizes an annual flagship event known as Coaster Con, held the third week of June. Typically lasting six days, Coaster Con offers hours of roller coasters, presentations, workshops, as well as photo and video contests. We also offer extended tours at parks on other continents, including Europe and Asia. Undoubtedly, the most anticipated activity at an ACE event is ERT (Exclusive Ride Time), a concept pioneered by ACE wherein host parks set aside a few hours, before they open and/or after they close, so that attendees may enjoy the rides without crowds.

As many members quickly discover, ACE is not just about coasters—it is just as much about the people who ride them. Lifelong friendships are born at ACE events, and some ACEers have even found true love, married, and started new generations of coaster enthusiasts.

Although riding is what brings us together, our members hold a strong passion for preservation. While steel roller coasters seem to proliferate and a few new wooden roller coasters are built each year, the classic wooden roller coaster is still somewhat of an endangered species. ACE believes that wooden roller coasters are an integral part of the fabric that is Americana. The organization represents the talents of the most ardent park enthusiasts, amassing a collective historical perspective unmatched by any other group, anywhere. It is ACE’s goal to save or relocate endangered coasters through education, awareness, and promotion.

ACE’s preservation efforts have been instrumental in rescuing classic wooden roller coasters, joining efforts to refurbish the 1925 Giant Dipper in San Diego and Leap-the-Dips, the world’s oldest roller coaster, located at Lakemont Park, in Altoona, Pennsylvania. This 1902 "coaster classic" is the last known example of a sidefriction figure-eight roller coaster in the United States.

Another one of ACE’s projects, closely associated with preservation, is its ambition to develop, build, and operate a comprehensive roller coaster museum. In pursuit of this goal, ACE established a separate organization, the Roller Coaster Museum & Archives. ACE’s own archival collection, consisting of thousands of items, including unique roller coaster cars, will eventually have an appropriate place to be displayed.

American Coaster Enthusiasts aims to promote this hobby with a balance fun and friendships while offering support for the amusement park industry.