Which park got you into rides?

[Coaster]

When talking about theme parks, most people have one park which got them into rides before they started visiting more parks.

 

For me, my first park was Paulton's, however I started to get into slightly bigger rides at Funland, Hayling Island (where they had a Pinfari Zyklon coaster which I thought was amazing   ), however BPB really turned me into a theme/amusement park fan when I first visited the park in 2004.

 

Which was your first theme park, or the one that started your enjoyment of rides?

[JoshC.]

I first visited Thorpe when I was 6 weeks old, and have been making regular visits all my life.  I'd visited a few other parks when I was younger, namely Chessington, Legoland and DLRP, but it was visiting Thorpe that got me interested in rides, before discovering online forums and eventually finding out about other parks.

 

So yeah, Thorpe.

[pognoi]

Didney.

 

Visiting legoland used to be an annual event for me and my fam when we were little,

but after visiting disney and seeing everything I have wanted to go to theme parks everywhere all the time ever since.

[paige]

Adventure Island. I was proper keen for it when I was younger, but let's not go into that.

[Kerfuffle]

Bit of a mix really. My first theme park was Legoland, which is obviously anything but a big deal. But then my first major park was DLP and the attractions there are so well detailed that I didn't recognise them as rides (I kid you not)! However, My first visit to Thorpe in 2003 changed everything. This was full of heavyweight rides and attractions, and when I first saw Colossus, that was basically me seeing a generic sitdown coaster for the first time...but it was seeing the trains on Inferno that really blew my mind! Since then, I would go to that place so much, thus eventually leading to my first time on Inferno at age 8. From there, I was a coaster fanatic.

 

Thank you...Thorpe Park!

[MachoMachine]

I was into Theme Parks when I was younger (Drayton, Legoland, Disney) but not so much the rides as I was too small to go on (there's many a picture of me crying by a height measure thing). I think it would have to be Thorpe park just because it had the biggest impact on me and I remember every time I've been, and I remember my first time on each coaster and how much I loved them!

[Benin]

Towers really got me into the deeper world of rides, I visited the southern trio (and Disney Paris) a fair few times when younger, but it was a trip to Towers in 2001 where it all just clicked together...

 

Also aided was that the RCCGB were also there on that visit, which took me further down the rabbit hole...

[GladiatorFanKyle]

The one that got me truly into rides was Thorpe!!! I remember it was 2005 and I remember seeing Stealth being built and it was so exciting I remember seeing Nemesis Inferno and I kept sitting in the test seat because I really wanted to ride it but couldn't! 

[Matt 236]

My love of themepark's began back at Thorpe during it's early magical days.

My first trip was probably 1995(as I remember going as a child) and absolutely loving all the charming rides that existed there including the now removed Thunder River, Octopus Garden, a Caroulsel Kingdom, Farm & Flying a Fish (mk1).

Oakwood themepark & Legoland also greatly helped this out too, the former being one of main elements of a family holiday in 1998 (at just 5) which I strongly remember and whilst unfortunately being just about too little for Megafobia, I still enjoyed many rides including the Treetops coaster, Snake a River Falls (which has gained the nick name of the wet bum slide) and the now defunct Nutty Jake's Goldmine.

Legoland mainly occurred due to my interest in Lego which still exists to this very day!

It was these stepping stones that lead to all future trip progressions where many mile stones have been reached including my first world class park (Alton Towers), first woodie (Megafobia) and first big park outside the UK (Disneyland Paris) and more to come.MC16

[OldFarmerDean]

Alton Towers... That's why I find it so difficult to say Thorpe is my favourite park.

I used to go pretty much every year as a kid with my parents, and I remember being lucky enough to ride black hole, and although terrified progressed onto the corkscrew... And then my first big 1.4m ride was nemesis when I was 10... After having a big domestic with my dad in the middle of forbidden valley crying my eyes out because I was too scared to do it, but eventually gave in, so after stuffing my shoes with napkins from the McDonald's to make sure I was tall enough, rode Nemesis and I absolutely loved it! So from there knowing my enjoyment of theme parks my parents took me to Florida for my 11th birthday, and it is still the best holiday of my life ( possibly until California next year ).

And then I properly started being interested in theme parks following the closing news for corkscrew, adverts for saw the ride, with 2009 being my first visit there, and then watching Shawn sanbrooke videos for the construction of 13, and then joining forums into the lead up of the swarm and the smiler construction... And well from there it's rare now I don't visit a theme park every weekend aha!

[Mark9]

Chessington in 1998 was the park that threw me into the throes of enthusiast culture, particularly the old Vampire trains falling from the second lift hill into Transylvania and Dragon River boats going into the dragon mouth. I'd visited the park a couple of times previously and at that time had fond memories of Fifth Dimension, Runaway Mine Train and Jumbos in Circus World so knew that I loved the place. But 1998 was when I truly fell in love with the escapism and whimsy of a theme park. That time was particularly special with the introduction of Rattlesnake and then Samurai in 1999.

[Benin]

Chessington in 1998 was the park that threw me into the throes of enthusiast culture, particularly the old Vampire trains falling from the second lift hill into Transylvania and Dragon River boats going into the dragon mouth. I'd visited the park a couple of times previously and at that time had fond memories of Fifth Dimension, Runaway Mine Train and Jumbos in Circus World so knew that I loved the place. But 1998 was when I truly fell in love with the escapism and whimsy of a theme park. That time was particularly special with the introduction of Rattlesnake and then Samurai in 1999.

 

I have such distinct memories of the TV ads for Samurai when it first opened, hell even Submission had a fantastic advert back then... Then there's Oblivion's which is probably one of the single best UK ride based adverts ever...

 

True advertising machines in the 90s... Full of magic and relative whimsy in very quick snippets which caught the attention a lot more than today's adverts... Though that's possibly because a lot of the newer adverts seem to have to portray every single aspect of it (see also, modern film trailers)...

[Liam T]

Alton Towers.

 

Fun story for you all, back in 2009, at school we had to do a project about Alton Towers (creating a new dark ride) which ended in a trip to Alton Towers, during this time my research about the park made me fall in love with it, reading about the history and discovering the fan sites just made something click, and when it came to my trip... it just solidified that it's an enthusiast life for me!

[Ian-S]

Bembom Brothers White Knuckle Theme Park (aka Dreamland Margate), went there for a friends 10th birthday, they took us at out of school for the day (shock horror!) and nobody was there, we rode the Scenic Railway & Looping Star continuously for about 4 hours.

Went to Thorpe once or twice too when it was still own by RMC, (my Dad was an RMC contractor and used to bring home free tickets lol) but in those days Thorpe was no match for the lure of Bembom, we bunked off school a few times to take the train down, my mum never did find out lol.

Life took me away until last year when my son suddenly announced he wanted to ride the log flume at Hayling Island much to everyone's surprise while we were there, he loved it so later in the week we went to Paultons and he hasn't looked back.

[stretchy]

Towers and particularly Nemesis back in 94. Before that I was like, "meh, theme parks are a fun distraction" but I can take them or leave them. Nemesis made it personal.

[JoshuaA]

My first big ride was Furius baco at PA, back then I thought it was going to be tame.

then I when on it, and god did it shock me.

[Graw]

adventure island. so much love for that park

[Mitchada04]

Was a mix. Thorpe Park got me interested in roller coasters at first as I remember watching Colossus being built and peeping through the construction walls. Then the next year my dad going on it and wanting to but being far too small. Odd thing with this, I remember pre Colossus area and its construction but never remember Inferno appearing or being built, to me that's always been there and as a kid I thought it came before Colossus.

 

Islands of Adventure properly got me into theme parks though. Riding Spiderman when I was only 5/6 was amazing and astounded me. To this day I still love that ride and the full experience it provides. I did Disney in the same trip but that didn't stand out to me. Then having Hulk as my first major coaster with inversions and stuff in 2005 it just really helped. So definitely Islands of Adventure.

[Whiteknuckle]

Going upside down for the first time on Indiana Jones at DLP got me hooked.

[Kerfuffle]

Going upside down for the first time on Indiana Jones at DLP got me hooked.

Exactly my case on my first time on Inferno! I'll never forget that moment I flipped upside down for the first time!

[RobF]

Day trip to towers when I was about 10-12ish, I was a wimp for half the day and then I was talked into nemesis and I was hooked on thrill rides. I did regularly visit Thorpe and lego when I was younger but nemesis was my first 'big' ride.

[Inferno Nemesis]

The park that got me into rides was probably Thorpe Park when I first rode Stealth and Swarm

[Cal]

Used to visit Legoland and Chessington yearly from a very young age, and visited DLP twice which I can't really remember. Always really enjoyed visiting them, and I remember stuffing tissues in my shoes so I was tall enough for rattlesnake 

 

I visited Thorpe for the first time in 2011 and loved it, and ended up getting my first MAP in 2012, so I'd say Thorpe was the main park which really got me into rides, although Chessington did from a young age.

[Ian-S]

We used rolled up socks once

[pluk]

I think my very first nugget of interest came from Joyland at Great Yarmouth; I was smitten with the Snails from the moment I laid eyes on them, and there was this little red plane called the Red Barron that was operated with a 10p (like the rides you get outside Sainsburys) which was on a little scissor lift and sent you off what seemed to a three year old to be impossibly high into a tree. I think it actually was pretty damn high, I'm sure it wouldn't be allowed today! At the same time I remember being fascinated by the watershute in the main Pleasure Beach; too young to ride I'd watch the wooden boats with the shark faces painted on sending waves up against the glass viewing screens in a never ending conveyor of fun.

 

Shortly after that our annual holidays for a few years centered around two places; Butlins and Gunton Hall. Butlins had a good sized fun fair, notably a Spinning Penny and the 'Knightrider' being a Waltzer in the dark. Gunton Hall was (is?) on the same site as Pleasurewood Hills and included unlimited entry during your stay, with a trioca, death slide and a tame coaster. I'd disappear off and spend my whole day going round and round the same few things, seeming to never tire of them.

 

Those things definitely laid the foundations of interest in rides and thrills, and I know that theme parks and fairs were constant requests of mine from a young age, but there was one place that turned that into an obsession, and that was Chessington. The Fifth Dimension, Vampire, Bubbleworks, Runaway Train, Dragon River and Black Buccaneer took it from an enjoyable thrill I'd has elsewhere to a place of fantasy and escapism that was well beyond just being spun about for a bit. The place back then was very very special, the atmosphere was like nothing else I'd ever experienced. Looking back that was driven by the completeness of what was offered, it was a truly joyous place to be. One specific visit, on a Halloween with spectacular lighting and smoke effects, roaming actors and proper dark time riding, was as perfect a time I've ever spent at a themepark, and will probably never be beaten in my memory.