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Egg Cream Tradition Continues At Coney Island

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - With the smash of a bottle of egg cream against the Cyclone, the 2012 season at Coney Island's Luna Park official began Sunday.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz said his duties include ribbon cutting and kissing babies, but not riding roller coasters.

"Me personally, no way, but my wife loves it so a member of my family takes care of that," he told WCBS 880's Monica Miller. "For me when I was a kid, I used to wave at my friends. When this starts, I'll wave at them still. Better you than me. God bless."

Miller spoke with several who turned out for the sweet tradition:

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David Zuben of Brooklyn was one of the first people in line for a ride.

"The best part is when you're going all the way up, you're all the way up, and you're about to go to the drop, and it stops for a second, and you're like 'Oh God', and then it drops down and you're going 100 miles an hour," he said.

Eric Knap, who calls himself the original Mister Cyclone, says the ride gets better and better each year.

"It's the antiquity of it. The ride was built in 1927. How many wooden roller coasters are original and still in existence today?" he said.

"Coney Island is the mother of all amusement parks in America. It was the original and still the best. Everyone else followed Coney Island, and Coney Island's best days are really to come yet," Markowitz added.

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