As theme park enthusiasts I'd say we're a fairly unashamed folk. We know our hobby is a little bit on the weirder side but we've never let that stop us getting stuck in and brazenly doing what we love. That said, there are certain aspects of coaster enthusiasm that we know we all do but kind of just let float by, unmentioned, unacknowledged. But no more! No, today I'm going to be talking hidden, guilty pleasures we all secretly do as coaster enthusiasts but don't usually talk about.
Disclaimer - this is intended as a silly satire piece and there's every chance that the things I'm about to discuss don't apply to you, or you might not consider them a guilty pleasure yourself. And that's cool! Let me know in the comments if you disagree or if there's a guilty pleasure I've missed. Now, strap in and prepare to cringe!
I'm sure you're all verrryyy familiar with the rhetoric around silly non-enthusiasts - adding superfluous 'thes' to the beginning of coaster names, bragging how they got stuck upside down on attractions that don't even have inversions and generally just not being as knowledgeable. It's something we're all well versed in. But the part we don't talk about is that delightful smugness we feel when we know it's called Space Mountain, not THE Space Mountain, the coaster goes 85mph, not 100mph and oh god, don't get me started on the overwhelming sense of self-satisfied glee when a theme park related question comes up on a quiz show. It's OK, we've all relished in it one time or another and it's OK to admit that sometimes it feels pretty good to acknowledge that you're the most knowledgeable person in a room on this specific subject. Own it.
We know that between the park tickets, travel expenses and general costs associated with a day out that theme park enthusiasm isn't exactly a cheap hobby, but it's an expense we're willing to write off because the joy it provides is proportionate. But there's one part of this hobby we don't tend to disclose just how much we spend on, hell we might not even know ourselves the actual total cost because it's too excruciate to face. I speak of course, of our theme park 'stuff' collections. Whether you're a pin badge buff or a vintage coaster t-shirt connoisseur, we all that have one item we simply cannot resist purchasing with every theme park visit, sometimes to the detriment of our storage space at home. I can't be the only one who's gotten to the point where I can't even close my kitchen cupboards anymore for theme park mugs! It's when you have to start sneaking in your latest purchase and hiding it from your significant other that you know you have real issues, but you're in too deep now to stop...
We all have our guilty pleasure music choices. Whether you love nothing more than to howl along to Abba or perform embarrassing air guitar solos in your room to Metallica, there's a closeted cringey music fan in all of us. But I know I'm not alone when I admit to cranking up the IMAscore and...'singing'(?) along at the top of my voice when I find myself alone in the house every once in a while. Or even in the car, there's something very freeing about hurtling down some motorway, usually on the way to a theme park, blaring the Klugheim soundtrack with my windows down. I may have even head-banged to a track or two. But I know you have too so shut up and stop judging me!
When you watch a film over and over or listen to a song over and over it's only natural that eventually you know all the words to every verse or scene, and the same can be said of theme park attractions - visit enough and you'll become familiar with every cue and line of dialogue. What we're not so keen to face is that every time we're in said attractions we have to fight an overwhelming urge not to quote along, save spoiling it for others (don't be that guy!), and have even been known to act out the scenes ourselves at home or with friends. Maybe you even have that particular piece of attraction dialogue on a Spotify playlist somewhere that occasionally like to embarrassingly interrupt and otherwise fairly normal listening session. It's OK. We're all in this together.
Whilst the likes of Dollywood and Silver Dollar City are doing their darnedest to put to bed the myth that theme park food is generally not that great, there's still the nasty burgers and limp hotdogs of the world to contest with. Theme park food doesn't have the greatest reputation for sure. BUT, if you were asked to list your top five restaurants in the world there's a pretty good chance that at least one theme park restaurant would make the final cut, and sometimes on days you're not visiting a park you've found yourself contemplating driving down there just to dine in your favourite establishment. It's not trendy or classy but there's just something about it that brings you joy, even though you wouldn't soon admit that to just anyone...
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If there's one thing I love about this hobby it's all the silly little corners of it we find joy in. Some of it is a little bit awkward and cringe to admit, and personally I've never loved the phrase 'guilty pleasure' because it implies we should be ashamed of things we enjoy because they're not considered the norm. But I'm here to tell you today that I promise you there is more than one person reading this and nodding along agreeing, so you're certainly not alone. Either that or I've just publicly admitted what a truly unusual individual I really am.
What's a theme park guilty pleasure you secretly enjoy that doesn't usually get discussed? Let me know in the comments, I'd love to have a chat!
Talk later xoxo,
2 comments
Oh yeah, I can relate to many of these points. I also love walking around in a theme park wearing my B&M or Schwarzkopf T-shirt (Redbubble) and being addressed by other enthusiasts - on the other hand, I also watch out to spot some enthusiasts by their clothes :D
ReplyDeleteMy music collection has many theme park soundtracks - so it consists of various genres - besides many orchestral pieces there is also EDM (e.g. Speed of Sound - "Buckle up, it's a thrill ride!") or rock music (e.g. Limit at Heide Park, which actually has a pretty cool rock soundtrack - perfect to headbang to :D)
Greetings from Germany!
I always listen to theme park music whilst I'm working, it puts me in a good mood haha!
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