TAMPA - Emily Rose, a 15-year-old freshman at Blake High School, is a roller coaster tester of sorts. She was the first kid to ride Busch Gardens' Kumba and Montu, and she will be the first kid to ride Gwazi before the dual wooden roller coaster opens to the public June 18.

She's the daughter of Mark Rose, Busch Gardens' vice president for design and engineering, who oversees the construction of Gwazi and all building projects at the theme park in north Tampa.

Emily says riding a new coaster never really scares her, though she always feels a little nervous anticipating the drops, the turns and the other surprises they put her through. She thinks it's cool to be the first kid to ride the big three at Busch.

"It gives me bragging rights," she says lightly.

Rose took Emily and his two other children, Evan, 12, and Willie, 9, on a 17-day, 17-roller coaster-testing tour in 1996. He learned which coasters the kids liked and which ones they didn't and why. That knowledge helped him and the other park decision makers choose the next ride that thousands of kids and kid-hearted adults will climb aboard.

Gwazi, named for a mythical African beast that is part lion and part tiger, is a nine-story framework of pine boards supporting two coasters that will zoom up to 50 mph along intertwining tracks. It was projected to cost $10 million.

Wooden roller coasters present special kicks for the 5,800 members of American Coaster Enthusiasts, people who spend their free time and money sampling the world's thrill rides.

"It's going to be intense," Bill Linkenheimer...