What do your friends & family think to theme parks?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. While we all (presumably) share a common interest in theme parks on here, not everyone is as interested as us, so naturally, other people might not be that into theme parks. With that in mind, I'd be really interested to know; what do your friends and family think to theme parks? Were theme parks a big thing in your family growing up, or did your family not overly like theme parks, with you getting into the hobby away from your family's guidance? And if your family does like theme parks; what are some of their favourite rides and parks?

For me, my entry into theme park enthusiasm was definitely family-driven. We visited Alton Towers every year when I was young, and seeing The Smiler's late stage of construction and riding it later in 2013 was ultimately what made me become a full-fledged enthusiast when I was 10.

In terms of their favourite parks and rides; my whole family seems to really like Universal Orlando, as well as Animal Kingdom and SeaWorld Orlando, and Alton Towers does seem pretty favoured too (although I think the Towers love is waning for my parents with how much we've done it over the years). And favourite rides-wise:

• My mum doesn't like any especially intense rides, but she interestingly shares a favourite coaster, Mako at SeaWorld, with me. She also rates Wicker Man, Thirteen, Expedition Everest and Big Thunder Mountain, amongst others, highly.
• My dad has a higher intensity tolerance than my mum. His favourite coaster is SheiKra at Busch Gardens, and I know that Grand National, Big One, Megafobia, Swarm, Saw, Nemesis and Oblivion, amongst others, also sit among his favourites.
• My older sister has gone off theme parks in recent years (when asked by my parents if she wanted to visit Alton Towers with us, she gave an incredibly disgusted facial expression, and I don't think they even bothered asking her if she wanted to visit Europa Park with us...), but when she still liked them, The Smiler at Alton Towers was easily her favourite coaster, with Icon, Mako, Galactica, Oblivion and Swarm, amongst others, also sitting among her favourites.

In terms of other family members with notable theme park opinions I can think of:

• My one nan actually doesn't mind theme parks, and she will still ride things below a certain intensity level, although overly thrilling rides, or anything that inverts or spins, are a no-no for her nowadays. I've actually been to a fair few theme parks with her (from memory, she's come to Alton Towers, Oakwood, Legoland Windsor, the two Universal Orlando parks and Disney's Animal Kingdom with us), and her favourite rides include the Mummy at Universal Orlando (although I reckon her interest in Ancient Egypt might play a part in that one), Hippogriff at Universal Orlando, Gringotts at Universal Orlando, Simpsons at Universal Orlando, Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom and the Dragon at Legoland Windsor, amongst others. I think I discovered her upper limit, however, when we rode back row Megafobia with her. She wouldn't stop moaning about it after we got off, and my mum said she nearly twisted her ankle trying to keep herself in the seat. Nevertheless, she rode Thirteen when we went to Alton Towers, was gutted that Wicker Man was closed, and couldn't stop raving about the Rollercoaster Restaurant and Alton Towers Hotel!
• My grandad (the above nan's husband) has also been to Orlando with us, although he has a distinctly lower ride tolerance than my nan. The only ride I ever remember riding with him was Flight of the Hippogriff at Islands of Adventure, where he let out the world's loudest f-bomb going down the first drop and got rather hastily reprimanded by my nan for doing so (I seem to remember "DON'T SWEAR IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN!" coming out of her mouth...). I think it's safe to say my grandad isn't a coaster fan...
• My other nan, however, has no taste for theme parks at all. I remember her once saying to me that the lion enclosure at Folly Farm was her "maximum adrenaline limit", and she's never ridden a ride or visited a theme park in her life, as far as I'm aware. I also learnt never to bring up Chessington in front of her, because she gets upset talking about it. She had very happy memories visiting Chessington Zoo when she lived in Kent and thinks that the park's conversion into a theme park was complete sacrilege; she never visited again after seeing "some big aerial thing" being built over the zoo (I assume she was referring to Safari Skyway), and was absolutely horrified when I described to her bit-by-bit what 2010s Chessington was like. She was also horrified when watching the Night at Alton Towers program on Channel 4 last year at what some of the rides at Alton Towers looked like; her first phrase upon seeing me afterwards was "Matthew, those horrible rides at Alton Towers certainly don't look suitable for little boys like you!".
• My other grandad has also never visited a theme park or ridden a ride either, as far as I'm aware, but in spite of this, he had a rather differing opinion to his wife after watching Night at Alton Towers. He thought Alton Towers looked great fun, and that the presenters "were being right babies" (in his words). His exact words were "I don't know why they were so scared. Those rides looked like a piece of cake; that Oblivion one looked amazing, and Rita looked good as well!"
• My 9 year old cousin hit 1.4m in 2020 and took her first trip to Alton Towers last September. My aunt said she initially looked terrified at the size of the coasters, but she seemed to have a fantastic time, from what I can tell! She was very excited to tell me about her trip; her favourite ride was Galactica, which her and her best friend rode 17 times! She even gave me her exhaustive ranking of the big 7 (sans Thirteen, which was closed), which from memory was: Galactica, Smiler, Nemesis, Wicker Man, Rita, Oblivion (Oblivion was "worse than tomatoes", apparently!)

That's all I can think of (although possibly still more than you needed or wanted to know... sorry about that); I hope you find my anecdotes interesting!

But what do your friends & family think to theme parks?

 

[Skyscraper]

Hi guys. While we all (presumably) share a common interest in theme parks on here, not everyone is as interested as us, so naturally, other people might not be that into theme parks. With that in mind, I'd be really interested to know; what do your friends and family think to theme parks? Were theme parks a big thing in your family growing up, or did your family not overly like theme parks, with you getting into the hobby away from your family's guidance? And if your family does like theme parks; what are some of their favourite rides and parks?

For me, my entry into theme park enthusiasm was definitely family-driven. We visited Alton Towers every year when I was young, and seeing The Smiler's late stage of construction and riding it later in 2013 was ultimately what made me become a full-fledged enthusiast when I was 10.

In terms of their favourite parks and rides; my whole family seems to really like Universal Orlando, as well as Animal Kingdom and SeaWorld Orlando, and Alton Towers does seem pretty favoured too (although I think the Towers love is waning for my parents with how much we've done it over the years). And favourite rides-wise:

• My mum doesn't like any especially intense rides, but she interestingly shares a favourite coaster, Mako at SeaWorld, with me. She also rates Wicker Man, Thirteen, Expedition Everest and Big Thunder Mountain, amongst others, highly.
• My dad has a higher intensity tolerance than my mum. His favourite coaster is SheiKra at Busch Gardens, and I know that Grand National, Big One, Megafobia, Swarm, Saw, Nemesis and Oblivion, amongst others, also sit among his favourites.
• My older sister has gone off theme parks in recent years (when asked by my parents if she wanted to visit Alton Towers with us, she gave an incredibly disgusted facial expression, and I don't think they even bothered asking her if she wanted to visit Europa Park with us...), but when she still liked them, The Smiler at Alton Towers was easily her favourite coaster, with Icon, Mako, Galactica, Oblivion and Swarm, amongst others, also sitting among her favourites.

In terms of other family members with notable theme park opinions I can think of:

• My one nan actually doesn't mind theme parks, and she will still ride things below a certain intensity level, although overly thrilling rides, or anything that inverts or spins, are a no-no for her nowadays. I've actually been to a fair few theme parks with her (from memory, she's come to Alton Towers, Oakwood, Legoland Windsor, the two Universal Orlando parks and Disney's Animal Kingdom with us), and her favourite rides include the Mummy at Universal Orlando (although I reckon her interest in Ancient Egypt might play a part in that one), Hippogriff at Universal Orlando, Gringotts at Universal Orlando, Simpsons at Universal Orlando, Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom and the Dragon at Legoland Windsor, amongst others. I think I discovered her upper limit, however, when we rode back row Megafobia with her. She wouldn't stop moaning about it after we got off, and my mum said she nearly twisted her ankle trying to keep herself in the seat. Nevertheless, she rode Thirteen when we went to Alton Towers, was gutted that Wicker Man was closed, and couldn't stop raving about the Rollercoaster Restaurant and Alton Towers Hotel!
• My grandad (the above nan's husband) has also been to Orlando with us, although he has a distinctly lower ride tolerance than my nan. The only ride I ever remember riding with him was Flight of the Hippogriff at Islands of Adventure, where he let out the world's loudest f-bomb going down the first drop and got rather hastily reprimanded by my nan for doing so (I seem to remember "DON'T SWEAR IN FRONT OF THE CHILDREN!" coming out of her mouth...). I think it's safe to say my grandad isn't a coaster fan...
• My other nan, however, has no taste for theme parks at all. I remember her once saying to me that the lion enclosure at Folly Farm was her "maximum adrenaline limit", and she's never ridden a ride or visited a theme park in her life, as far as I'm aware. I also learnt never to bring up Chessington in front of her, because she gets upset talking about it. She had very happy memories visiting Chessington Zoo when she lived in Kent and thinks that the park's conversion into a theme park was complete sacrilege; she never visited again after seeing "some big aerial thing" being built over the zoo (I assume she was referring to Safari Skyway), and was absolutely horrified when I described to her bit-by-bit what 2010s Chessington was like. She was also horrified when watching the Night at Alton Towers program on Channel 4 last year at what some of the rides at Alton Towers looked like; her first phrase upon seeing me afterwards was "Matthew, those horrible rides at Alton Towers certainly don't look suitable for little boys like you!".
• My other grandad has also never visited a theme park or ridden a ride either, as far as I'm aware, but in spite of this, he had a rather differing opinion to his wife after watching Night at Alton Towers. He thought Alton Towers looked great fun, and that the presenters "were being right babies" (in his words). His exact words were "I don't know why they were so scared. Those rides looked like a piece of cake; that Oblivion one looked amazing, and Rita looked good as well!"
• My 9 year old cousin hit 1.4m in 2020 and took her first trip to Alton Towers last September. My aunt said she initially looked terrified at the size of the coasters, but she seemed to have a fantastic time, from what I can tell! She was very excited to tell me about her trip; her favourite ride was Galactica, which her and her best friend rode 17 times! She even gave me her exhaustive ranking of the big 7 (sans Thirteen, which was closed), which from memory was: Galactica, Smiler, Nemesis, Wicker Man, Rita, Oblivion (Oblivion was "worse than tomatoes", apparently!)

That's all I can think of (although possibly still more than you needed or wanted to know... sorry about that); I hope you find my anecdotes interesting!

But what do your friends & family think to theme parks?

Good topic Matt! I'm the only true theme park fan in my family, which obviously makes visiting them quite difficult and I don't get to go as much as I'd like.
I'd love to go to some parks abroad one day, but I'd have to go with a personal assistant or friends.

 

[John_P]

Would usually visit Pleasure Beach early in the season when they had the 50p weekends, then we'd always have a family holiday to Blackpool.

Holiday World/Butlins in Pwheli, North Wales had a Boomerang.

Would usually visit Camelot a few times a year as well. Plus Gullivers World when that opened.

Occasional trips to Southport Pleasure Land. Trips to Rhyl always involved the Sun Centre in the morning, then the fun fair in the evening.

Mostly it would be my dad going on the rides with me and my brother whilst my mum watched the bags (I've learned however when she was young she visited Disney Land, and Knotts Berry Farm), though she was terrified the time she came on Rollercoaster (Nick Streak) with us.

It's definitely were I got the bug for theme parks from, but I remember now looking back as a kid we'd rarely spend a weekend in the house and would be always out doing something as a family.

 

[Benjsh]

Me and my Brother still enjoy parks into our 30's. I don't really know a single other person my age tbh who does.

I even feel a bit embarrassed to admit I still like going to parks as my mates think it's a bit childish.

Doesn't stop me though. I doubt I will ever stop liking coasters and parks. It's just a little bit of escapism I adore.

 

[Matt N]

Me and my Brother still enjoy parks into our 30's. I don't really know a single other person my age tbh who does.

I even feel a bit embarrassed to admit I still like going to parks as my mates think it's a bit childish.

Doesn't stop me though. I doubt I will ever stop liking coasters and parks. It's just a little bit of escapism I adore.

I’ll admit I feel somewhat embarrassed by this hobby too. I’d never give theme parks up for the world, as I simply love them too much, but I’ve always been reluctant to flaunt my theme park enthusiasm too much or tell people outside of my close family. I think I said to 2 people when I joined university that I was into theme parks, and they both gave me somewhat weird looks afterwards, so I never told anyone else after that… the fact I also got mocked in secondary when I picked John Wardley as someone who inspired me suggests that keeping it a relative secret is probably the best way to go.

 

[Benjsh]

I’ll admit I feel somewhat embarrassed by this hobby too. I’d never give theme parks up for the world, as I simply love them too much, but I’ve always been reluctant to flaunt my theme park enthusiasm too much or tell people outside of my close family. I think I said to 2 people when I joined university that I was into theme parks, and they both gave me somewhat weird looks afterwards, so I never told anyone else after that… the fact I also got mocked in secondary when I picked John Wardley as someone who inspired me suggests that keeping it a relative secret is probably the best way to go.

One of the many plus points of being a parent. I have got to share one of my passions with my son and he loves rides, especially coasters.

Hopefully I will still be able to enjoy them as a grandad one day too.

 

[Themeparksandy1981]

My grandparents on my dad’s side use to take my mum and dad to Alton Towers late 60’s/early 70’s and they took us for the 1st time is 1993 and I not missed a year since.
I have been into theme parks/zoos since infant school as my parents would take us to Drayton Manor when the Zoo was the main attraction.
When I became a teenage my mum would drop us off at Drayton Manor with school friends and this continued to I was allowed to get the bus or train to the park. Then I passed my test and drove my college friends and we went for the fireworks event in 2000.
I continued going to Drayton Manor once a year for the night rides and fireworks while having a Tussaud’s pass then a Merlin pass going to all the parks and some midway attractions with my wife who I been together 16 years. We not had a Merlin pass for 10 years as my daughter was born but I been going to Alton Towers every year with the sun free tickets since and the only fireworks event at Drayton Manor I missed was 2 years ago.
My wife can’t be bothered with Theme parks now but I had a Drayton Manor annual pass with my daughter since 2017 and got my son a pass last July and my mum visits once a year and a couple of guys at work take there kids with my £20 vouchers.
I been quite lucky as I been to Florida 5 times in 30 years. 4 of which have been in the past 15 years with my wife and once with my daughter. I had been to Orlando before we visited Alton Towers for the 1st time.

 

[BigShadowtinytree]

I grew up visiting Drayton manor at least once a year either with my grandparents or my mum as it was and still is our nearest park. I didn’t get to Alton Towers until the year 9 school trip but I got to ride Corkscrew. Drayton was always something I looked forward to growing up, it was my favourite place on earth. I remember watching my granddad on the Sky Flyer (must have been in his 50’s at the time) and my nan was always a big fan of the buffalo coaster. She is past the age of visiting theme parks now but when ever I visit I always send her a picture of the ride to show her it’s still going. My family would always go on the family rides like splash canyon, pirate adventure, buffalo and storm force. But things like Klondike (my first inverting coaster, fond memories) and shockwave they avoided if they could, apart from my granddad of course. If my cousins were with us they would always go on the more intense rides.

I visited legoland Windsor on a busy bank holiday and Thorpe Park once. Went to the late American Adventure once too, don’t remember a whole lot about these trips though as I was young, although I do remember only getting on 3 rides at legoland. I remember going to the West Midlands safari park a few times and enjoying the rides there.

My regular trips to Drayton definitely sparked an interest in theme parks. I’ve always found them so interesting, the theming, the engineering, all the ‘behind the scenes’ stuff. I’d say my friends and family ‘like’ theme parks as in they enjoy them for a day out and I was taken fairly regularly as a child to my local so that must count for something. But I don’t think they’re as into it as I am in terms of wanting to know who manufactures different rides or discussing things like whether AT needs more flat rides or not (they clearly do). I think my enthusiasm has rubbed off on my partner though. He watches TPWW videos with me now and despite thinking he didn’t like roller coasters, recently went on nemesis with me and loved it, he’s now considering doing The Smiler. I can chat to him about things like new rides coming to various parks and he’s genuinely interested, so that’s cool that we can share that together.

As parents we’ve taken the kids to a few parks over the years. Drayton Manor of course, Paultons, PortAventura. They went to legoland with their grandparents who are fine doing the more gentle rides and even some coasters, this past weekend we took them to towers for the first time as one of them is finally past the 1.2 mark at 9 years old so it finally seems worth taking them (youngest still got 5cm to go). I really hope I can pass the theme park bug onto them, so far every theme park trip we’ve done as a family has been a success and they’re always excited to hear about the next one. We recently got merlin passes so plan on visiting a lot of parks this year, including AT again next weekend with plans to do chessington and legoland too. Waiting for them to get to the elusive 1.4mark before we tackle Thorpe. Still a couple of years away yet I think, the downsides of both parents being on the shorter side.

Sorry for waffling, the short story is basically; my friends and family enjoy theme parks but aren’t ‘enthusiasts’ as such. My partner is into it and is gaining confidence with attempting big rides, and I hope to get my kids into it too so I can share all these experiences as a family as they get older.

 

[MattyH]

It varies from bit weird to wanting to know more about the bigger coasters I've been on.

 

[Hew878787]

Most think it’s weird.

Saying that, before my dad passed away he’d always let me know when he’d recorded anything he found on Sky that was coaster/towers related for me. (Didn’t have the heart to tell him I’d already seen them - Obviously)

 

[rob666]

My wife has no interest in coasters, neither do my family or (non coaster) friends.
She has been waiting for me to grow out of it for forty years or so.
I buy her beer when I sneak off to the coasters on a work day afternoon, that is her hobby.

 

[pluk]

My wife enjoys themeparks a much as a normal person generally does, is more than happy to visit with me a few times a year which is all I have time for those days anyway. Luckily my daughter seems to love it and has no fear. She's a couple of mm over 1m and did the 1m restricted roles at Paultons last week, which are pretty massive rides for her age, and loved them. She's normally shouting 'Dad, can we go on another one' before her restraint has released. Hopefully I'll have many years of her wanting me to come along with her before spending time with Dad becomes too embarrassing.

My parents just presume everything is unsafe and I'll be killed on one of these contraptions one day. In their late 60s they dont fancy big rides much any more, my Dad loves Nemesis though. They have no strong opinion about my enthusiasm, they did think it was weird meeting up with strangers from the Internet at themeparks when I first did that, but frankly I agree with them. It's not our generation really.

 

[NuttySquirrel]

My dad LOVES theme parks! Used to take me to Disneyland, Legoland, Thorpe Park etc as a child and I think it was as much for his benefit as for mine! I took him to Alton Towers in 2018 and we had a good day although it was very busy as it was in the summer holidays and Rapids was closed which was a shame. He was very excited to learn I had a MAP this year and wants to go to AT again. He also wants to go back to Legoland for 'old times sake'!

My mum's not too bothered although she does enjoy great houses and gardens so she loves all that side of Alton Towers. I think she used to go as a child when it was literally just gardens and a boating lake. She and my dad only live about 10 minutes away so she has been a couple of times recently. She's not into big rides (or even medium ones!) but she did enjoy Battle Galleons! Both my parents were impressed with Lightopia when I took them at Christmas although it was a shame we couldn't walk around the rest of the park.

My husband likes rollercoasters but he's not a huge fan, he'll come to AT or Thorpe or Blackpool or whatever once or twice a year and that's usually enough for him. He likes animal parks more, took him to Paultons last year and he enjoyed that because of all the aviaries etc.

None of my friends (present company excepted) get it at all unfortunately!

 

[Poisson]

My dad doesn't care for them. Has never visited any in my life time but will ask if I've enjoyed my latest trip or whatever. Very good for advice about train geekery nearby.

My mum is a fellow Merlin pass holder, we've both been doing parks since 2009. Ever since she cracked Galactica a couple of years back she's really started doing rides (gone from Mine Train is her limit to nearly doing The Smiler last weekend)

My (non-enthusiast) friends vary from not caring at all to quite interested.

 

[Ils]

I was lucky enough to be taken to Orlando five times growing up from 1988 in onwards. Back on our first trip only MK and Epcot were open but we did visit Busch. As Universal came along and then other Disney parks came later, our Orlando holidays became primarily about theme parks. Both my parents love Disney and came out to DLP with us 4 years ago to share the good times with my lads. However, we never really visited other theme parks in the UK apart from Drayton Manor as a family as it's is local to us. Alton Towers and American Adventure was somewhere we went with our Uncle and Auntie.

Luckily my wife quite likes theme parks, However, due to back issues has to be selective now. Our first holiday together back in 2002 we had a day at Portaventura and then even when we went Vegas a couple of years later we did the Rollercoasters out there.

As for my lads they have had no choice. My youngest went on Scorpion at Busch at 5, my eldest loves rollercoasters and by the end of this year would have cleared a 100 credits just after turning 13. Already I can see it in peoples faces when they ask where we are going in California and my response is mostly theme parks.

 

[coastinginlife]

I’ll admit I feel somewhat embarrassed by this hobby too. I’d never give theme parks up for the world, as I simply love them too much, but I’ve always been reluctant to flaunt my theme park enthusiasm too much or tell people outside of my close family. I think I said to 2 people when I joined university that I was into theme parks, and they both gave me somewhat weird looks afterwards, so I never told anyone else after that… the fact I also got mocked in secondary when I picked John Wardley as someone who inspired me suggests that keeping it a relative secret is probably the best way to go.

This really upsets me, no one should be embarrassed for anything they enjoy. So what if they don't enjoy theme parks or think it's weird. Certainly don't hide it Matt, express your opinions and enthuse about your hobby you never know some who may have believed it weird might be encouraged to try it for themselves and may even enjoy it someday. I'm in my forties and I don't shut up about my enjoyment of theme parks and excitement I get before visiting them. Do my friends and family think I'm weird probably! but do they think any less of me no!

 

[Ils]

This really upsets me, no one should be embarrassed for anything they enjoy. So what if they don't enjoy theme parks or think it's weird. Certainly don't hide it Matt, express your opinions and enthuse about your hobby you never know some who may have believed it weird might be encouraged to try it for themselves and may even enjoy it someday. I'm in my forties and I don't shut up about my enjoyment of theme parks and excitement I get before visiting them. Do my friends and family think I'm weird probably! but do they think any less of me no!

Spot on. No one should be embarrassed to discuss things they enjoy doing. For example, I can not sit by a pool for a week or two and do nothing but eat and read. A few of my friends like to do that and one of them asked me whether they should take the their kids to DLP. Knowing the type of couple they are I asked them what has stopped them from just booking it. They said they don't really like rides and they don't like queuing..I just laughed and said don't bother, stick to what you know you like.

 

[pluk]

Already I can see it in peoples faces when they ask where we are going in California and my response is mostly theme parks.

Yes, that is one area where critical or quizzical comments can creep in from friends and family, travelling all around the world and primarily hitting parks when you get there. I do always try and take in a good amount of non theme park culture in any case, but I do get the confusion by others who think I might as well go to somewhere local as if it's the same thing. It's not the same!

 

[Ils]

Yes, that is one area where critical or quizzical comments can creep in from friends and family, travelling all around the world and primarily hitting parks when you get there. I do always try and take in a good amount of non theme park culture in any case, but I do get the confusion by others who think I might as well go to somewhere local as if it's the same thing. It's not the same!

I think the look doesn't really come if you just mention Disney and Universal. Once you start mentioning the likes of Six Flags, Knotts, Busch, Energylandia, Europa Park etc that's when the look comes and a response follows such like "So similar to Alton Towers then".

 

[Rowe]

Well, it would be very weird for my immediate family not to like theme parks considering we visited the Southern parks fairly often between 1999 - 2006, had Tussauds passes and visited Florida in 2003. And I have extended family up North who pay a visit to Blackpool Pleasure Beach every so often. Most of my friends I met through this forum and on meet ups. My colleagues' opinions range from "Oh no, I could NEVER ride a coaster for [insert reasons here]!" to "You've been on [insert coaster here]? Wow that's wicked, I'd love to do that." But the funniest has been by far from an old work friend who was so curious and kept asking about my interest (and pins on my work lanyard) that she's ended up becoming a theme park enthusiast too. I didn't intend for that to happen, mind!