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How I Became an Enthusiast

 Believe it or not, I am an Enthusiast! While being part of this community for just over a year, from a young age I have had a fondness towards parks and rides, mainly thanks to my mum trying to drag me on anything. While it's difficult to pinpoint the exact point, there are a few moments that I consider pivotal in my journey towards becoming an enthusiast. Hopefully others can resonate or even give these rides a go and get into the community.



Childhood

While most of this is just a blur to me, I do remember and have since been told about family adventures to different parks. The obvious one that we all would guess I would mention is Pleasure Beach and stayed in the Big Blue which is elite and this was key to my childhood in general, let alone becoming an enthusiast. We went near enough every year for 5 or so years in the October half term and it was always so fun. I grew up loving big Dipper with a passion and I do still love it but I also enjoyed Derby Racer, Gold Mine and Steeplechase. One thing I always remember is the interaction between the Gold Mine and River Caves in this lovely cafe and to this day I will hold Wallace accountable for these crimes. 

On top of Blackpool, I was often told of when I was around 4 and had to be carried around Disneyland Paris for a couple of days which must've been fun as well as seeing the Halloween parade which was incredible. We did have a couple of trips to Alton Towers as well and always stayed in Splash Landings each time. The waterpark is where I hold the fondest memories as this was so much fun and the outdoor slide that led to a hot tub and being outdoors in October in a hot tub is a certified vibe. I also remember my Mum going on Nemesis and the rides looking huge to me in my youth. I was also lucky enough to go to a few other parks as a child but they have no memory to me. 

The other important thing to note is back at home in Rotherham there is a little Fun Park with some little rides including a couple of coasters and a nice little boat ride and plane ride. I spent a lot of time there as a child and did have a summer working there once too. 


POVs

Yeah this is a weird one, I spent a lot of nights watching videos of different POVs from across the world, numerous times I've watched the Towers ones as well as Cedar Point, because at the time I just wanted to go on these cool looking rides but was too young to go on my own and could not convince my parents to take to me any. This was my only way of engaging with rides and was before I knew too much about them at all but they looked cool. I remember Incredible Hulk, it blew my mind, one day I will get on it and hopefully I enjoy it but either way this along with Big Dipper are probably the 2 coasters that lead me towards going on more rides and growing into this hobby.



YouTube

What else am I meant to do when I've basically never been on any major rides and all I want to do is go on said rides. I watched other people go to parks and see what the world had to offer and what I could eventually do at some point. There's a lot of channels I watched back in the day and still do now all these years later. To name just a few so it doesn't become an endless list I remember watching Pleasure Beach Experience, Top Thrill Tourists, Coaster Studios and Coaster Bot. This made me grow into an enthusiast as I began to know manufacturers and models but to a limited level, having spent time watching these channels, the urge became very strong to get to parks as I'd felt like I had missed out on so much already.


Annual Blackpool Trip

Me and Austin met back in 2018 and did not hut it off straight away but we went to Blackpool together that year in the summer to 'do coursework' but we instead just had a holiday and an amazing time in general. While the couple of days were special, I personally think I dragged Austin into something that day at the park, I did Icon for the first time and revisited some of my favourites too. We eventually decided to go again in 2019 but spent even more time in the seaside town and of course went to the park again and managed loads as it was September. 2020, while scuffed, actually stopped us staying overnight in Blackpool but we stayed at Austin's instead as we were now uni students and we also added a couple of other parks that year.


2020

Look, this year was awful but from August to October we went to Flamingo Land, Blackpool and Alton Towers and that's when we realised we had to go to more parks and more often and the obsession became a very real thing from that point on. Getting to experience rides such as Nemesis, Smiler and Mumbo Jumbo really opened my eyes to what rides can be. 


Y.M.C.A

In December we set up our Twitter and Instagram to become part of the community and more recently with the blog and YouTube we have expanded to cover more facets of enthusiast lives. I even write these while listening to ride soundtracks as I can't really help myself at this point. We mainly talk about parks whether ones we want to go to, planning upcoming trips or what parks are doing and this certifies us in the enthusiast bracket. This has become a passion for the 2 of us and adding a couple of other friends just for pure vibes is even better as we have proper holidays where we go to parks, pubs and inevitably crazy golf. 




Perhaps a weird journey to this point but it's all about the destination I suppose and I look forward to seeing where this passion and hobby takes me. I definitely won't be losing that eagerness to plan trips and go exploring new and old parks. This is a hobby for everyone, no matter how you got there or what you do, a community is somewhere that respects everyone and for that reason, no matter what, everyone is welcome to this and their opinions are valid. This is a niche thing but people have been so welcoming to us and long may that continue. 


As always, thanks for reading and let me know what ride made you an enthusiast!

Take care and see you in the next post.

Tom ✌






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