From their earliest days, roller coasters have been designed to inspire awe (and an element of fear) among riders. Rob Decker, senior vice president of planning and design at Cedar Fair Entertainment, which operates 14 theme parks in the United States and Canada, tries to make sure that the roller coaster experience continues this tradition, while reinventing how theme parks can continue to attract visitors. “We have a broad group of guests,” Mr. Decker said. “We have roller coaster enthusiasts and our family audience, so we try to balance the two and create a great environment for everyone.”  Following are edited excerpts from a conversation with Mr. Decker.  Q. How did you end up working at Cedar Fair?  A. I’m an architect and urban designer. I was working with architectural firms and had a good friend who said my kind of background would be good for theme and amusement park design. At the time, I said it doesn’t sound like much of a career path. That was 27 years ago. I worked as a consultant for 11 years at Universal, Six Flags and a few other parks. I’ve been at Cedar Fair now for 16 years.  You’ve set out to maintain Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, as a top destination park, working with the design team to build roller coasters like the GateKeeper, which has the tallest inversion of any coaster in the world. What has the feedback been like?  I think GateKeeper was a terrific opportunity to put a roller coaster right at the front gate of the park, just to be able to celebrate and say, “Hey, we are the roller coaster capital of the world.” We were able to create these great towers that have slotted openings of about 100 feet. The ride threads the needle, does a full rotation and then threads the needle again in a vertical position. Cedar Point sits on a peninsula that divides Lake Erie from the [Sandusky] Bay, and I wanted people to get that great sense of arrival when they see the landscape.  Growing up, what was your favorite roller coaster?  My favorite coaster was the Racer at Kings Island [near Cincinnati], which was built in 1972 when the park opened. At the time, the ride seemed really big; it’s 88 feet tall and goes about 53 miles per hour.  What is the most memorable thing a guest has said to you?  There was one particular guest that I would see almost every year, and not just in one park, but several parks. He would always say, “Gee, can’t you build a roller coaster that’s 1,000 feet tall and goes a zillion miles an hour?” I didn’t want to tell him that it just wouldn’t be commercially viable. This year, we opened Fury 325 at Carowinds [located partly in Charlotte, N.C., and partly in Fort Mill, S.C.], and sure enough, he’s there. He said, “You know, you’re getting better at this.”  A few years ago, Cedar Fair expanded their Camp Snoopy and Planet Snoopy children’s ride areas. What have been some of the results?  Our focus more recently has not just been on rides for kids, but rides that parents and grandparents can ride alongside kids. Our goal is to make sure that families are having fun together, instead of parents waiting by the rail for their kids to get off the rides. Your parents are more likely to take you to a place where they had fun as a kid.  Is there an existing non-Cedar Fair roller coaster that you admire?  One ride that has been a really strong influence is Men in Black: Alien Attack at Universal Studios Florida, which opened in 2000. Technically, it’s not a coaster, but a dark ride on a track, and it’s fully immersive in the whole “Men in Black” story.  What advice do you have for kids who see your position as their dream career?  I tell kids three things: education, exploration and experience. I encourage them to study hard in school, particularly in math, science and engineering. We’re a partner with K’nex, and they have a competition where I judge coaster designs, and it’s really rewarding to see so much interest in what we do.  A version of this article appears in print on June 28, 2015, on page TR3 of the New York edition with the headline: Rob Decker Enjoys Being Thrown for a Loop at His Parks. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe
Decker, who works in theme park design for Cedar Fair Entertainment, talks about planning amusement parks and his favorite roller coasters.