About the ECC
About the ECC
We welcome enquiries from the Press.
The European Coaster Club is a not-for-profit organisation that promotes the enjoyment of riding roller- coasters, as well as visiting amusement and theme parks
The Club was formed in 1996, but the First Drop magazine dates back to 1988. We have over 1500 members from around Europe and the world, including corporate members that represent almost every major theme park operator and roller-coaster manufacturer.
The Club was founded by Justin Garvanovic, and has Rich Foster as its Chairman. The Club is UK-based, although run by a World-wide team.
First Drop - the Club MagazineCoaster TripsOffersMerchandiseSocial and Fun
We produce a magazine four times a year, called First Drop. It contains news, articles on new rides and many colour pictures. It is widely respected throughout the theme park industry - John Wardley, Creative director of the Tussauds group says of First Drop "I can learn more from spending a few minutes reading First Drop than I can from spending hours and hours reading trade magazines"
First Drop carries no advertising, which means we can utterly unbiased in our reviews of parks and rides. We can claim a number of exclusives too - recently we were the first announce the new coaster at Tivoli Gardens in Denmark. We also were the first to publish a 3D rendered view of Dragons Fury, the new spinning roller coaster at Chessington World of Adventures in Surrey. Prior to that we have reported exclusively on the design and construction of many major rides, for example, Nemesis at Alton Towers, Megafobia at Oakwood in Wales and Thunder Coaster at Tusenfryd in Norway.
To see the sample articles and contents page listings for the current and previous issues of First Drop, please see the First Drop section on this website.
Many people join simply for First Drop and this is often echoed in the comments from members about the ECC. For example, we often hear that "First Drop (the Clubs magazine), is simply incredible, and is worth the membership alone".
Membership of the Club offers more than just First Drop though
We organise many trips a year to do what we love - ride roller-coasters! Coming on trips is an easy way of being able to visit a number of theme parks in a short space of time, and there's nothing to beat the atmosphere of an ECC trip. In the words of a recently joined member "rides with the ECC seem to last twice as long!" In 2003 we visited France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Spain, as well as visiting all the major UK parks. During our bigger trips, we post 'live' trip reports to the website, these include photos from the day along with comments from trip attendees - this set is from our 2004 Gatecrasher Tour of Scandinavia. As well as these live reports, we also have a Collection of photographs from past years trips.
Trips are very friendly, and the greatest benefit is spending time with like-minded people, all there to have fun, enjoy themselves and ride the best coasters in the world. Typically a trip will feature at least one ERS (Exclusive Ride Session), where we are allowed to take over a ride for a set period of time (usually an hour). Group sizes are small to make sure we all get enough riding, and there is always a terrific fun atmosphere during these sessions. Lunch is generally included in the trip price, as well as unannounced surprises. In the past these have included extra ERS's, behind the scenes tours, and even extra park visits!
"Having a thoroughly good time - just wished I'd lost my trip "virginity" years ago!!!! The ERS's have been amazing, all the parks have treated us like royalty, and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend an ECC trip to anyone who loves coasters."
Every member receives a huge number of offers, providing discounted and/or free entry into many parks. A number of these offers are exclusive to the ECC - they are not available anywhere else! For example, we have negotiated a massive discount on seasons passes with Pleasure Beach Blackpool - worth the price of membership alone!
We also sell ECC branded merchandise so you can show the world that you belong to a coaster Club, as well as being recognised by other members. All our merchandise is great quality and very reasonably priced - as well as having been tested on many great rides!
At the heart of what we do is a great sense of fun, and the
Club has a very friendly and welcoming approach. We have few
restrictions on who can join - enjoying roller-coasters and
amusement parks is the only entry requirement!
Many members find they make a whole new set of friends very
quickly as a result of joining the ECC. We have also seen
romantic relationships form during Club activities - we even
had a couple get married on a trip!
If you have an interest in roller-coasters, amusement parks or theme parks, then why not join? There are over 1500 of us waiting to meet you!