What have you learned in your years as an enthusiast?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. Some on here have been theme park enthusiasts for a very long time, and over a period of multiple years, you’re bound to learn a thing or two. Whether you’ve learned what you most enjoy or whether you’ve learned how to get the best out of a park or ride, years of visiting parks is bound to have taught you things and shaped your perspectives in some way. I know it certainly has for me! With this in mind, I’d be interested to know; what have you learned in your years as a theme park enthusiast? What have your years of park visiting experience taught you, and what new perspectives have you gained from years of coaster riding and park visiting?

 

I’ll get the ball rolling with some of the things I’ve learned over my years of theme park visiting…

 

Personally, I can currently think of two, off the top of my head:

1. The first thing I can think of is that you can’t always judge a coaster based on only one ride. In my early years of theme park enthusiasm, I often only rode things once and didn’t get what people said about needing multiple rerides to fully appreciate something. I used to think that if I truly loved a coaster, I knew it from the very first ride. The second I first got off The Swarm in July 2014, I instantly knew I loved it and I instantly knew it was my #1. The second I first got off Mako in August 2016, I instantly knew I loved it and I instantly knew it was my #1. The second I got off Icon in August 2018, I instantly knew I loved it and I instantly knew it was right up there with Mako (despite it now only being my #11, it felt like one of the times Mako came closest to being dethroned when I first got off in 2018). But in recent years, I’ve grown increasingly sceptical of my previous theory that you can fully get the measure of a revered coaster based on only one ride. The key formative moment that taught me this was when I went to Florida last year and rode both VelociCoaster and Iron Gwazi, amongst others, for the first time. Both rides were brilliant on the first run… but I wasn’t instantly sold on them being absolutely top tier for me. In both cases, though, the second ride really was the charm; both VelociCoaster and Iron Gwazi were catapulted into that top tier after I took a reride, and it was the second ride that showed me just how great they both were. To some extent, I also experienced this with Hyperia at Thorpe Park recently; I absolutely loved it the first time, but it took the second ride to make me conclusively think that it was absolutely top tier. Now I will say that this mainly applies to hyped up, revered coasters for me; I still feel I can get the true measure of a kiddie coaster, Reverchon spinning wild mouse or Zamperla Volare from one ride without feeling the need to reride. If I actively don’t rate something, it’s unlikely that a second ride will change that. But in those cases where I love something, but I’m not sure if I think it’s truly top tier, I’ve learned that it sometimes takes a second ride to truly determine the full measure of it. Sometimes, of course, my initial opinion won’t change that much or it might possibly even decrease, but in some other glorious cases, everything falls into place with that reride, and the second ride shows me how truly top tier a coaster is when the first ride didn’t quite.
2. The other thing I’ve learned is that intensity isn’t everything, and it’s fun and rerideability that’s truly important to me. In my very early years of riding big coasters, I used to be mildly dismissive of things that weren’t intense. In my early years of big coaster riding at Alton Towers, for example, my mentality was “1.4m height restriction or bust” once I was tall enough to ride the big 1.4m coasters. But over the years, I’ve grown to realise that there can be a point at which intensity is too much, and that the most enjoyable coaster experiences for me are the ones that are just plain fun and really rerideable. Intensity can definitely contribute to a fun and highly enjoyable ride for me, and being fun, thrilling and rerideable are definitely key components of a coaster that ranks highly for me, but I have definitely learned that the coasters that blow your head off with intensity are often not the ones I enjoy the most, and there are some coasters that aren’t particularly intense that I rate very highly. Hagrid’s at Universal is not an overly intense coaster, but it’s just such utterly joyous fun that I enjoyed it immensely and couldn’t not place it in my top 10! Wicker Man at Alton Towers is not an overly intense coaster, but the fun airtime and pacing makes me laugh so much that it can’t not be in my top 10 and 10/10 tier! Rides like these do not necessarily blow your head off with intensity, but are ridiculously good fun, and it’s rides like these that taught me that I truly care most about that combination of fun, thrills and rerideability rather than out-and-out intensity.

Those are just some of the lessons I’ve learned over my years of theme park enthusiasm; if I think of any more, I’ll post them! But I’d be interested to know; what lessons have you learned in your years of coaster riding and theme park visiting? What perspectives have your years of experience unearthed?

[Mark9]

1. I'm a theme park enthusiast. I get far more out of a well themed, story based area then just a ride in a big field. I can enjoy things like Fury 325 and Afterburner but my god, I would much rather be riding Baron 1898 and Nemesis. They send shivers, they make me feel connected in a way that a stat heavy machine never can. I prefer family theme parks to thrill parks and I like the variety and imagination that goes into family rollercoasters.

 

2. Theme Park hotels and staying the night is part of the experience and have become vital to a theme park trip to feel right. Over the years I've stayed at many Disney resorts, Europa Park, Dollywood, Efteling for example and I find them so engaging and immersive.

 

3. I love hitting parks hard in the first few hours and then relaxing and putting my feet up in a beautiful restaurant or in a bar and just reflecting. One of my star memories is at Toverland, sitting outside the Flaming Feather in the beautiful sun and just relaxing with a beer and chicken wings watching the rides go by. A park that doesn't have a lovely restaurant to sit back and chill isn't worth visiting in my opinion.

 

4. Theme Park road trips are hard. Just doing day after day after day of theme parks is exhausting and relaxation days are key to making the most of parks.  

[JoshC.]

• You can judge a coaster by its cover. Vekoma SLC? Yeah, that'll be rubbish. Nu-Vekoma? Yeah, that'll be fun, smooth, possibly slightly over-engineered. Intamin multi-launch? That'll be good. 20+ year old B&M? Will be intense, little head-banging, showing its age, but still fab. It's not a perfect rule, but you will get a good idea of what you're getting just by looking at the coaster.
   
• The less you know, the better. Let me tell you a story. Late 2008. Corkscrew at Alton Towers was about to be removed for a new coaster to open in 2010. A 14 year old JoshC was told that that coaster would have vertical drop track, but keep that secret. Tbf, many people ended up being able to piece that together long before that was revealed in March 2010, but I had known almost 18 months before that official reveal. It was almost 3 years from finding out about Thirteen's secret that I actually rode it. And don't get me wrong, I like Thirteen. But imagine how much more I'd have enjoyed it if I didn't know?
   
• Never say "I won't get there". Moreso when you're younger, it's easy to think "I won't ever get the chance to get to that theme park". Again, I remember thinking that about Phantasialand when I was younger, and watching POVs of (and reading all about) Winjas. And, like Thirteen, I ended up riding it, liking it, but knowing all its secrets beforehand. It would have been so much more cool had I known nothing going in. So yeah, never think you won't go to a park, or won't ride a ride...as long as it's open, there's a chance.
   
• Enthusiasts are great. There's some amazing people who are enthusiastic about coasters, who are just lovely. It's a great community to be a part of.
   
• Enthusiasts suck. For balance. There some awful people who are enthusiastic about coasters, who just grate you and everyone around you. It's a minority, but it's a fact of life.
   
• Roller coaster element names are stupid. I still don't know what a step-up-under-flip actually is, and frankly I don't care. Nor do I know what a dragon roll is. Is there an element called a twisted knot? Who knows. And what the bloody heck is a jo-jo roll? And why is it called a banana roll; it doesn't roll and doesn't look like a banana?!
  (In saying that, Untamed's 270° double inverting corner stall - affectionately the 270° dics - remains my favourite inversion, by on-ride experience and name)
   
• Don't let anyone else tell you how to enjoy your hobby. You want to only visit Merlin parks and lap Mandrill Mayhem for the rest of time because it's your favourite coaster? Cool. You don't count creds? Fine. You only ride thrill rides, and don't bother with kiddie ones? Perfect. There will be people (in some instances, more light-heartedly) who tell you you should do this, should do that, or say "Why do you do that??". But you do you.

[Matt 236]

1/ A great group can make an average park day a great one

I started attending meets on this forum in early 2013 and have had the privilege of attending meet ups at parks around and beyond the U.K.

 

Though some better than others, a great group of enthusiasts on trips can really make a mid-tier visit a great one. Whether it’s game about asking what people’s chosen coaster is, fun banter and excitement or any other reason. The thorpe park ministry of sound nights were certainly a crazy time indeed.

 

2/ There are different types of park enthusiasts 

The depths of this could honestly be endless, but you have so many different factions on this area. The ones who know literally everything about rides, the ones who just ride coasters, the ones who are more about the experience or those that are there mainly for the social element. In large meet-ups such as the European Coaster Club etc., you are naturally going to get others such as the other halves are just the plus one but ok to be there. 

 

3/ Every enthusiast has different expectations and opinions 

To one person Efteling will be the most magical theme park in the world, to another it will be the most mundane thing to exist. To one person Hyperia will be the best coaster in the country (if not the world). To another it will be an underwhelming experience. 
 

Every enthusiast has a different opinion about rides, parks, expectations and everything else and can say I know some from different circles with similar opinions of the above. At the end of the day, being an enthusiast would be a more boring place if we all shared the same opinions there. 

 

4/ A return park can visit can hit different, in the best and worst ways 

Parks and people, 

sometimes we visit parks 6-8 years ago and find ourselves absolutely amazed and blown away by these places, only sometimes to have a more recent visit and whilst still pleasant, those same wow factors from that previous visit seem missing. 
 

I think this is often down to a number of factors, that wow factor from that first visit has just worn off, you are not the person you were when you went before or the park has declined somewhat. The last 5-10 years have certainly been unkind to the park industry.

 

Contrary to that, I’ve also revisited a number of parks and have felt feelings nothing short of joy. Walking through Europa’s entrance one bright sunny day, forgetting just how mesmerising Phantom Manor is or the amazement of everything random and wonderful in Energylandia. Feelings and emotions can be a strange thing. 

 

5/ Your expectations change over time 

we change through our whole lives, so naturally our expectations to being an enthusiast can and will too.

 

Ten years ago, I was that enthusiastic desperate to travel to as many parks in the whole and do everything physically possible, whilst perhaps trying to vlog like one of those famous YouTubers. I physically wanted to do everything in a park. 
 

Over the years I’ve gone through phases of wanting to visit places based on their coasters, dark rides and even landscaping. But today, I like to value a well rounded park. I would rather value a handful of decent rides than lapping one until I’m tired and nauseous. 
 

As more and more parks gradually get ticked off our lists, through time it becomes more valuable with who you visit these parks with, rather than where you go. Some enthusiasts who you can call your mates.