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Going to Your First Event

 In exciting news and a long time away, the blog is back! No promises on how regular it will be but hopefully this will be more consistent again. Now despite sitting on a lot of ideas and posts that are already written, I wanted to talk about events in the enthusiast community. As you may be aware, we went on our first event last weekend and to put it short, we had an amazing time. I thought it may be useful to write up my thoughts on events now the metaphorical dust has settled.


Making the Leap

I will admit, I was hesitant of going on an event for a while. After enough of seeing people have fun and not

being involved we decided to try and get on an event. I booked on to the Pleasure Beach Experience September Event and after some convincing Austin booked on for the first day as well. This was nerve wracking, mainly due to the fact we are awkward people and I'm really anxious, especially meeting new people. Ultimately, it is somewhat of a leap of faith, you book on to that first event hoping to just fit in and make some friends. Worse case scenario is you get a couple of days at a theme park and get some really cool experiences as well. 

Whether its mental health, not knowing anyone or anything, these events can be intimidating but the biggest step is booking on. Just remember, no one is there to judge you, nor is it an exclusive club. We all have our own personal hurdles and I can guarantee everyone is nervous on that first event. 


How it Works

Well, to be honest, I can only speak from experience of one event but from everyone I've spoke to, it is usually as fun and welcoming on every event. We arrived and straight away were chatting with people and meeting people, some we spoke to on Twitter while others we had never spoke to before but it all comes together really well. You can typically expect a couple of ERTs (Exclusive Ride Time) where you essentially lap a ride as many times as possible in a set amount of time. Other things will typically happen ranging from ride takeovers, behind the scenes tours and exclusive talks. These are all really cool parts of the day where you have a crowd of nerds all together and you get to see what an event is all about. 

We ended up wandering around both days with a decent sized group. On the second day, I was on my own but stuck around the same people anyway and made some great memories. Once you're there at the event, people will speak to you and you'll find your way just fine. It's difficult to explain but it just seems to work out? Like no one is left behind, everyone is smiling and having a blast. A really wholesome sight. 


Don't be Put Off

Now one thing I think most people will have seen is that social media can be very toxic at the best of times. Do not let that be the reason you don't go to an event. The people at events are all lovely and friendly, meeting people shows you how great this hobby is and how nice people are. Social media, especially Twitter, can make it seem like a minefield to navigate but once you meet people, you see the community for what it is and you'll be so thankful for it. On these apps, the people who shout loudest are often heard the most and that is not necessarily a good thing, but have faith in humanity and join the next event to see for yourself. 


Final Thoughts

It has been a week since this event, a great experience. I regret not doing an event earlier in all honesty, I look back and feel kinda silly for not getting on one sooner. The last thing I want is for other people to put it off for a multitude of reasons and miss out on making friends and having a lit weekend. We all have a lot that goes on in our lives and theme parks offer escapism and these events drag you even more into the fun and that can only be a good thing. 



This perhaps was not as fun as I try to be, hopefully the posts will be consistent on here from now on and the typical posts will return. I originally was going to write about the event and what happened but I thought enough people will cover that (including ourselves on YouTube) and this I think was a more important topic to cover. 



As always, thanks for reading and make sure to book on to the next event!

Take care and see you in the next post.

Tom ✌

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