Do you ever regret becoming a theme park enthusiast? Are there cons to this hobby?

[Matt N]

Disclaimer: This post is much longer than I’d anticipated, so I apologise in advance for that!
Hi guys. As we’re all on this forum together, I’m assuming we all have a similarly in-depth interest in theme parks; the thing uniting us is that we’re all theme park enthusiasts. But have you ever had moments where you wish that you weren’t a theme park enthusiast? Do you think there are any notable cons to this hobby? Have you ever felt like you’ve gotten bored of theme parks?

Personally, I’m undecided. So, I’ll split this post into why I don’t regret becoming a theme park enthusiast, and why I perhaps do through a certain lens.

Why I don’t regret becoming a theme park enthusiast
If I’m talking from an entirely personal standpoint, and talking only about myself and my own wants & desires; I’ve never not wanted to be a theme park enthusiast. I can’t think of anything else that interests me and makes me happy anywhere near as much as theme parks do, and in the nearly 8 years I’ve actively been an enthusiast for, I have never once gotten bored of being a theme park enthusiast and I have never once wanted to give it up. I love going to the theme parks themselves and riding the rides themselves, but I also love thinking about & talking about my experiences in a more in-depth way, and I relish learning new things about theme parks, and the way they’re put together & run, and interesting facts & figures about the rides and parks. As much as I’d like to think I know a fair amount about theme parks, I imagine there’s literally so much about theme parks that I don’t know, and I can’t wait to discover those facts!

I also relish some of the other interesting side elements of this hobby; I’ll make the slightly geeky admission that I’ve grown to love a good spreadsheet, as I have certainly made many! Also, I have a real passion for Planet Coaster, as a means of channeling my own theme park ideas, channeling my more creative side (something I seldom get to do, having taken STEM-based subjects in school in recent years), and making my wildest theme park fantasies come to fruition.

And to be honest, I also absolutely love hearing other people’s opinions on different theme parks & rides (this is part of what makes the forums so great for me!), whether they agree with me or not; I’m so interested in hearing what makes other enthusiasts click compared to me, and even if someone’s opinions are the polar opposite of mine, I accept their opinion, and I love hearing why they have it!

I should also say that I really appreciate these forums, and the fact that I’ve found so many like-minded people who won’t push me away or shut me up if I talk about theme parks too enthusiastically is one of the things I truly relish about being a theme park enthusiast! As much as I’m not the most outgoing or confident of people by nature, I’ve always felt comfortable talking honestly on these forums, as I know you guys will all understand me, and many people have shared very similar experiences to me, from what they’ve said in the past. So I guess through that lens; thank you all for being so welcoming towards me, in spite of the fact I often have controversial (or even plain wrong, in the eyes of some) opinions! I do really appreciate it!

There’s genuinely so much I love to get stuck into in this hobby, and I probably haven’t even exhausted all of them in the paragraphs above!

When I discovered theme parks as a hobby, I honestly think they captivated me so much that I didn’t want to invest myself into anything else in quite the same way (don’t get me wrong, I have other interests, but theme parks are my most prominent interest by a considerable margin), and I frankly love being an enthusiast. When I discovered theme park enthusiasm, I feel like I discovered my passion, the thing I was truly interested in, and thus far, I have not once had the slightest desire to give up theme parks in favour of something else.

Why I do regret becoming a theme park enthusiast
As much as I said above about me never regretting becoming a theme park enthusiast through my own personal lens, the world doesn’t revolve around me, and I know there are other people around me who are somewhat judgmental of the hobby, especially certain elements of it.

One of the main things that makes me regret becoming a theme park enthusiast is that I have in the past had people judge me for it or express disapproval about elements of the hobby. I’ll admit I’m rather embarrassed about being a theme park enthusiast, and it’s something I’ve mostly kept secret outside of my own family for fear of being judged or made fun of about it. Well, you could probably infer that I’m into theme parks if you looked hard enough at my liked pages on Facebook, but I’ve never really told anyone about the hobby outside of my own family.

If I’m being very candid, there are numerous experiences where I’ve been judged or questioned about this hobby that do really stick out to me. I could name a fair few, but I’ll stick to some of the main ones:

• Back in Year 7, when I’d just joined secondary school, we were asked to do a PowerPoint presentation about a person who inspired us. Everyone else did well-known celebrities, and many of the other boys all seemed to do well-known football players (people like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi etc.), but being a budding theme park enthusiast, I did my presentation on none other than John Wardley (given everything he did for the UK theme park industry, as well as his general principles of design, he certainly does inspire me!). Another boy came up to me and asked who I was doing. When I said, he seemed aghast that I wasn’t doing a football player, pop star or some other well-known celebrity, and said to me something along the lines of (paraphrased to avoid swearing) “Who [on Earth] is that? Why [on Earth] does that old nobody inspire you more than a proper celebrity?”. He then gave me a rather judgmental look that seemed to convey disapproval of my choice and walked away.
• Many of the places theme park enthusiasm leads to you are often a bit taboo, or seen as a bit weird, in non-enthusiast circles. For instance, I can sense I’d get vilified if I ever expressed support for SeaWorld, in spite of them doing some amazing conservation work. Some of the places I’ve wanted to visit as a result of being a theme park enthusiast have also led to judgement from my family; for instance, I remember that all of my relatives seemed to shudder in horror whenever I expressed desire to visit Blackpool, in spite of it having one of the country’s most prominent & loved amusement parks. Personally, Blackpool Pleasure Beach is one of my very favourite UK theme parks, and I think the Blackpool seafront itself has been absolutely lovely whenever I’ve visited, but it often garnered judgement from my relatives whenever I said I wanted to go. Similarly, in spite of Paultons being the home of the UK investment I’ve been most excited for for a good couple of years, the fact I’m visiting for the first time seems to have garnered a lot of questions from my relatives; their response is usually something along the lines of “Why are you visiting Peppa Pig World? Are you regressing back to childhood or something?”. Personally, I can’t wait to visit Paultons for the first time, but I’m a bit embarrassed about the fact I’m going, as no one outside of enthusiast circles (and my parents, as they know about my excitement for Tornado Springs) seems to understand why I want to go.
• In general, I get the impression that people view theme park enthusiasm as a bit of a childish hobby, and I’ve had people in my family ask me things like “when are you going to grow out of this phase?”. I remember my Nan once saw me watching a TPW video, and she said to me “when are you going to grow out of this, and join the real world along with the rest of us?”. She also expressed disapproval of Shawn himself, saying “That man needs to grow up, get a proper 9-5 job instead of flying to theme parks all the time, and join the real world along with the rest of us”. I’ve also had other people tell me I need to “have a couple of years’ hiatus from theme parks, and try to grow out of it and get into something else”. For that reason, I’ve always felt a bit ashamed of the fact I’m a theme park enthusiast, and I’ve never really told anyone outside of my family.

The other thing that kind of makes me regret becoming a theme park enthusiast is that at times, I do feel that the community, although always welcoming from my experience, can sometimes feel a little bit “clique-y”, for lack of a better word.

As much as this community has always been very welcoming to me whenever I’ve engaged, and you guys and all the other enthusiasts I’ve engaged with have been lovely, lovely people, I do at times find it hard to “pick a side”, if you like; there seems to be certain little “battles” within the theme park community that I’ve never really understood, and there are groups of enthusiasts who almost automatically don’t like certain other enthusiasts for whatever reason. For instance, TPR and its fanbase seem to be against everyone else, the fan bases of different theme park YouTube channels seem to be divided against each other, and different coaster clubs seem almost like they’re against each other in many ways. In some parts of the community, you’ll seemingly get vilified if you speak positively about an “enemy page” or whatever.

Thankfully, none of the forums I’m on (CoasterForce & TowersStreet) seem to be like this, and I’ve largely steered clear of this side of the community due to not being an overly active social media user, but I’ll admit it does surprise me and make me a little bit sad that there’s parts of the community that are so divided against each other. In fairness, I guess a bit of rivalry is probably human nature, but it does make me a little sad that we can’t all just get along, as we’re all united by the same hobby (and a pretty niche hobby, at that).

Phew, that was a long post! I’m sorry if this post comes across as a little self-indulgent, but I just felt like I wanted to be honest about some of my personal cons of being an enthusiast, and also to gush a bit about what I love about the hobby and being part of this community.

So basically, my question is; do you ever regret becoming an enthusiast, or have you ever gotten bored of the theme park community? Are there cons to this hobby that have ever made you regret doing it?

 

[Boodangy]

I don't really regret becoming an enthusiast, of course some people made fun of me when I was younger but that happens to anyone with any kind of interest. However I have made the conscious effort to become less of an enthusiast because of one big con I've noticed among enthusiasts.

It seems to me that a lot of enthusiasts don't find coasters that fun anymore. Some content creators seem to enjoy it still after years of constant coaster riding, but a lot of enthusiasts across the board seem to ride as many rides and go to as many parks as they can because big number go up, and they can't seem to enjoy the simple things anymore. I whiffed a bit of this a couple years ago when I went abroad and rode Kärnan, Colossos etc. in Germany, came back and rode a Skyrocket II which after that felt like nothing, and it wasn't thrilling anymore to me. After that, I haven't anymore dreamt of going to parks all the time, because I imagine coasters will just become stale to me.

Like when I see people critique minutiae of every park and ride or express boredom at a B&M wing coaster and I'm just like... It seems like for a lot of people they've just lost the fun of it by going to parks too much.

 

[Matt N]

I don't really regret becoming an enthusiast, of course some people made fun of me when I was younger but that happens to anyone with any kind of interest. However I have made the conscious effort to become less of an enthusiast because of one big con I've noticed among enthusiasts.

It seems to me that a lot of enthusiasts don't find coasters that fun anymore. Some content creators seem to enjoy it still after years of constant coaster riding, but a lot of enthusiasts across the board seem to ride as many rides and go to as many parks as they can because big number go up, and they can't seem to enjoy the simple things anymore. I whiffed a bit of this a couple years ago when I went abroad and rode Kärnan, Colossos etc. in Germany, came back and rode a Skyrocket II which after that felt like nothing, and it wasn't thrilling anymore to me. After that, I haven't anymore dreamt of going to parks all the time, because I imagine coasters will just become stale to me.

Like when I see people critique minutiae of every park and ride or express boredom at a B&M wing coaster and I'm just like... It seems like for a lot of people they've just lost the fun of it by going to parks too much.

I totally get what you mean. As much as I often wish I could go more, I do also worry that going more might make parks lose their touch for me.

 

[Heth]

I regret it right now whilst I can't go to the international parks. I've spoilt my opinion of the parks nearer by going to better ones further away. Now I cant go to those further ones!

 

[Nitefly]

No regrets whatsoever. Anyone who thinks my hobby is lame *** *** ** ** prize-winning marrow. It’s always far better to be defined by what you do like than what you don’t.

@Matt N - you could be the worlds tastiest strawberry…. and some people will just always ****ing hate strawberries I understand the need and want to be considered ‘normal’ and ‘welcome’ but I really do think you need to dial down your ‘care dial’ in all senses.

 

[FistedColossus]

I've grown up around a very 'lads lads lads' culture, and it's still the case now in my group of friends. We are the sort of berks you see in the pub shouting and swearing at each other. It's a constant caveman dick swinging contest.

I very rarely mention my enthusiasm for parks and coasters unless I've been away on a big trip to the US or whatever. I've no problem defending myself because I'd much rather ride coasters than sit around watching Love Island.

So no I don't regret it, it's a great excuse to travel to some unique places around the world whilst enjoying good food and beers. It's just not something I make a song and dance about and I quite enjoy the fact it's unique to me (and Mrs Fisted). Having said that I'd like to meet up with some like minded people some time soon.

One thing about the pandemic is that it's almost made me hungry for more and realised just how much I ****ing love that adrenaline rush. I'm desperate to get back on Steel Vengeance or Skyrush. The coasters over here just don't do it for me.

 

[emoo]

No.

If you want an easy win in life talk about 'local sports team' or whatever gob****e was on the telly last night. But if you are not into it whats the point? People do learn there are multiple points of interest as/if they grow, even if they don't care about yours. And vise versa - how much do you genuinely care about theirs? I don't demand people are into my hobbies while trying not to care about the infinite hours wasted on the off side rule.

Its very cost prohibitive for many to start going outside their catchment area and not the typical sunny beach holiday. Few will drift into it beyond
internet memes like "who would ever right this nightmare!?0=?!?!".* Enough people to justify the multi million dollar upfront development and construction I presume.

But there are so many other potential interests. The affectionately branded 'GP' can just skim our hobby, have a great time then go off to focus on their own geeky route of choice.

Takes a while to realise theses things though, when I was in your situation to do a presentation of my choice I chose the moon . Should have said how tall Top Thrill Dragster was. At least you stuck to your passion.

Annoyances:

• Not always being able to go anywhere anytime on a whim with an army of friends re-riding everything.
• Parks that build something huge after you make a one off special visit.
• Closed attractions you were looking forward to on your trip, attractions from before your time that looked cool and the ones you kept saving for another day but went away.
• Much of the year may be spent doing little to briefly do much. Counting past and future numbers is one of the few related & productive things to do when not travelling.
• Its easier in casual settings to have a more common shared interest.
• The cost.
• It is a shame when people don't know what you are talking about if you chime in on an otherwise relatively basic conversation.
• Not every park realises they can have good food.
• All the SLC's. At least you got that joke right? Worth it.

..I'd much rather ride coasters than sit around watching Love Island..


...One thing about the pandemic is that it's almost made me hungry for more...

Yup. If anything travel restrictions have reinforced my desire to travel. So pleased I have memory's to carry me through it and I didn't break character by watching daytime TV.

 

[Matt N]

I’d just like to clear something up; from a personal perspective, I’m not losing any enthusiasm for the hobby, and it’s not because of any of you or anything; the forums & theme parks are one of the things that keep me going, so thank you all so much for that! In the 8 years I’ve been an active theme park enthusiast for, I’ve never once contemplated giving up on theme park enthusiasm or even taking a break, as I genuinely can’t imagine my life without it!

The thing is, I’ve always been quite self-conscious about the hobby, because as much as it’s my absolute passion and I can’t imagine my life without it, my family and those who know about my “special subject” are sometimes judgmental about certain elements of it, and I kind of worry that that judgement will lead to certain preconceptions about me that will make people think more lowly of me.

My opening post probably sounded quite dramatic, but nothing’s happened recently to make me make this topic; it was actually spurred by a YouTube video by someone else on the same topic, and I simply thought it would make for an interesting discussion!

I know it sounds like I’m being overly sensitive about what people say to me, but I just get worried because I worry that being on the autism spectrum, along with the quirks that often come with that, kind of makes me look weird enough and opens me up to plenty of jibes as it is, and being too public with another thing that might make me look even weirder (in-depth theme park enthusiasm) would kind of dig myself into a deeper hole.

For me, personally, though, excluding everybody else’s thoughts; I assure you I’m losing no enthusiasm for theme parks, and in the 8 years I’ve been an active enthusiast for, I’ve never once contemplated giving up on theme park enthusiasm or even taking a break, because I simply can’t imagine my life without theme parks or without the enthusiast comminity! I’ll reiterate what I said above; the forums & theme parks are genuinely one of the main things that keep me going, so thank you so much for that and being so nice to me!

 

[solarfall]

Answer is no for me. It can be a little awkward to go to theme parks in groups, but most of my friends understand I'm into rollercoasters more than they are and we're able to meet in the middle.

Honestly with any nerdy hobby, if you talk to people about it confidently enough and don't annoy them about it, then it won't seem all that nerdy to them. Everyone's got quirky stuff they like these days. Just own it dude.

Also if anyone gives you crap about going to a SeaWorld park, just tell them there's no such thing as ethical consumption under a capitalist system and move on.

 

[Pokemaniac]

If anything, this hobby collides a bit with my general reluctantly to travel - which in effect means that I'm not exercising the hobby all that much. I'm enthusiastic about coasters and amusement parks, but I can go years between each time I actually visit them. My last park visit was in September 2019. I think that was the only park trip I had that year.

 

[Eyebrows]

Also if anyone gives you crap about going to a SeaWorld park, just tell them there's no such thing as ethical consumption under a capitalist system and move on.

Based.

To answer the question, my answer is no. I’ve found my passion here, and as someone who has a hard time truly getting into things, I really need it. Beyond that, it’s an excuse to get out and go somewhere, and all my non-enthusiast friends are super receptive whenever I nerd out about a park they’re going to. The people here are really great too, especially now that I have real life enthusiast friends, and I’ve found too much good here to ever think about giving it up.

 

[RcTmix]

being too public with another thing that might make me look even weirder (in-depth theme park enthusiasm) would kind of dig myself into a deeper hole.

Feeling judged isn't fun, and I totally get the desire to protect yourself. At the same time try not to waste too much energy "blending in," or hiding something that you love just to satisfy some other person's expectations. You'll be much happier with people who accept you just as you are (I know this sounds horrendously cliche, but it's also true). Some people will be jerks. Screw those people. Most people won't be. Don't let anyone make you feel bad about something you love.

Also, if you don't tell people you're an enthusiast, you might miss out on connecting with someone who shares your interest. I have a goon friend who I've worked with for about 8 years. For the first 5 years we worked together neither of us knew about the others enthusiasm just because it had never come up. Once it finally did we wished we'd talked about it much sooner. Not saying that happens all the time, but it did happen to me...

As for your question, I don't regret it at all. I do wish it was less expensive, but I wouldn't change it.

The other thing that kind of makes me regret becoming a theme park enthusiast is that at times, I do feel that the community, although always welcoming from my experience, can sometimes feel a little bit “clique-y”, for lack of a better word.

Yeah this is annoying. But again, screw those people. They don't get to ruin it for the rest of us.

 

[Rock_N_RollBob]

For me, I love everything about it. The up time, down time, travel time, planning time, riding time...even waiting in line some of the time. That feeling of putting everything in the locker and it's go time. It just can't be beat in my view, anyways.

 

[CanobieFan]

Long rambling post!

For as into this as I am, especially online, I'm actually really private about it in person unless I'm around other enthusiasts and even then I'm pretty shy and awkward about it. If people ask me, I'll talk about it... but I rarely bring it up. I remember after being on Bert the Conqueror someone I worked with happened to catch it, and it was game over in my workplace environment and pretty embarrassing for me? I didn't really wanna do the show but Travel begged me, via text/email/AIM (when that was a thing) and even found my profiles on sites like Last.FM to try and contact me, haha but I hadn't told annyyyone about it and suddenly it was like, everyone knew, outed! As a coaster fan. ((and working for Disney you think everyone would be a coaster or at least park fan... but they're not, ha))

Parks that build something huge after you make a one off special visit.

Maannn, the number of times this happened to me. the #worst. my friend Rob who normally travels with me always jokes about whatever park we're at is gonna get next year because it seems to be every-time.

Closed attractions you were looking forward to on your trip, attractions from before your time that looked cool and the ones you kept saving for another day but went away

Closed rides on bigger / more unique trips is a massive bummer. It's funny you also mentioned having to ride SLC's because at the same time I was honestly bummed the SLC at Southport was closed on my visit....and the park closed forever a few months later (and while the ride lives on, I still haven't been on it) and as I posted in that 'worst spite' topic, traveling literally half way around the world to Uni Singapore from Orlando and finding half of Battlestar Galactica closed was pretty...Heart-wrenching.


Back on topic!! As far as regrets go, nah.
Sometimes I might think of how much money goes into this fandom if you really do go after everything/anything but having been able to travel the country and the world 100% makes it worth it and I'd never regret being able to have some of these experiences along the way!
Since I like to do other things *but* parks, I don't see it as that wasteful. I enjoy going into the cities near the parks, the Zoo if they have one, I try to visit the State House/Capitol Buildings if possible and I'm always done for hiking trails or beach days or museum visits. I've also made some -amazing- friends over the years because of this hobby and to this day still travel with and go visit friends I made from Roller Coaster / Amusement Park forums, 20 years ago.

And for like... burn-out, maybe that's what to call it? I get not being excited for yet another Boomerang or Miler kiddie... but doing it for the credit... but there is always that chance the park might have some epic dark ride or a rare flat or something else that makes the visit worthwhile, more than saying I've now ridden every Boomerang (including the variants) in the US!!! (because its all about bragging rights, right?) I've still had the chance to visit some way out of the way places I probably, most definitely wouldn't have seen else wise.

 

[cocoa]

when I was growing up through my early twenties, I didn't really talk about theme parks or RCT very much to my friends, and even girlfriends and other closer people outside my family, because I was embarassed about it. Eventually though I settled into a group of friends who are all passionate and weird about all manner of things and are as actively supportive of my weird hobbies as you could ever want. Now, one of my friends always manages to bring up my RCT competition wins whenever we meet new people, which is honestly a good icebreaker. I know its a tired trope, but I genuinely believe you can sell anything as cool and fun if you are confident and passionate (and maybe a good small-talker/flirter...). So on a social level, I have no qualms about my enthusiasm, and actually quite enjoy it as a funny piece of my identity.

On a practicality level, while I have plenty of other hobbies to do from home, this one is a bit of an asshole. You've got to go way out of your way on big foreign trips, spend way too much money on admission and food, wait in line for ages for maybe 15 x 3 minutes of thrills over the course of the day, and of course, you become a bit jaded towards rides, as people mentioned above. It's frankly a stupid hobby, although there's plenty stupider (waiting in line 8 hours for a photo with indiana jones mickey mouse at disneysea?) I suspect my parents always thought I'd grow out of it for these reasons and perhaps I did put it on the backburner for a while, but for whatever reason, I still have the bug, despite it all. I think there's maybe two deeper reasons for it, other than, of course, the fact that my three-year-old days were practically spent playing with trains 24/7 and so my brain is forever moulded in a particular way.

1. no one is 'too cool' for a thrilling coaster. what I mean is, it's almost like a big equalizer. a very sort of 'pure' adrenaline rush that is imposing for everyone, even your laddiest douchebag. I think jacob geller sums it up well in his RCT video essay in the section when he focuses on thunderhead and the imposing mass of engineering that is so raw and honest about itself. There is no tricks up a giant coaster's sleeves you don't know about beforehand, but that's exactly why its so exciting.
2. this is something I'd like to explore more fully one day in a sort of art-theory context, but I genuinely think the 'theme park ride' may be the purest and most immersive form of narrative storytelling. No other medium is so engrossing, and I think the act of physically moving your body around a designated track is an extremely powerful and underappreciated emotive device--- it is the true 'giving in' to a storyline or fantasy worldbuilding, that movies or books or video games only capture a different portion of, respectively. I've not seen much art theory about theme park design, partly because I don't read much art theory and partly because I think its considered kitsch and a purely profit-driven enterprise (both of which are of, course, true). So this is a pseudo-regret then, that I don't believe I will ever see the truly immersive, art-minded 'theme park experience' that I really long for. Places like Disneysea get close, but I can imagine better---which is mostly why I play RCT so much.

So in that sense I'm jaded because the potential wonder of this kind of theme park is probably gone for me--- I know all the parks and all the rides which are the most immersive, and I've been to a good proportion of them already. Probably the new star wars lands are the only? remaining ones in this category I have yet to see, and I'm not even such a proficient goon...

off track a bit but enjoy the rambling

 

[Gavin]

Yeah, coaster enthusiasts are so oppressed. We need a parade or something.

For actual f**k's sake.

 

[Matt N]

Yeah, coaster enthusiasts are so oppressed. We need a parade or something.

For actual f**k's sake.

Sorry… I never meant to infer that. From where in my post did you get that idea?

I merely meant to talk openly about the judgement I’ve received from some about this hobby, which could be one of the perceived cons of the hobby.

 

[The Undead Creature]

• In general, I get the impression that people view theme park enthusiasm as a bit of a childish hobby, and I’ve had people in my family ask me things like “when are you going to grow out of this phase?”. I remember my Nan once saw me watching a TPW video, and she said to me “when are you going to grow out of this, and join the real world along with the rest of us?”. She also expressed disapproval of Shawn himself, saying “That man needs to grow up, get a proper 9-5 job instead of flying to theme parks all the time, and join the real world along with the rest of us”. I’ve also had other people tell me I need to “have a couple of years’ hiatus from theme parks, and try to grow out of it and get into something else”. For that reason, I’ve always felt a bit ashamed of the fact I’m a theme park enthusiast, and I’ve never really told anyone outside of my family.

I've lost count how many times over the years friends and family have asked me "when you getting a proper job?" Which is kind of ironic considering my "childish job" pays not only my own bills, but also some of the bills of those "friends" who like to criticise.

Try not to let it get to you because it doesn't matter what your hobbies are, someone somewhere will have something negative to say about it.

 

[Tonkso]

I don't regret it, and some of the best memories me and my wife have created together are our park trips.
There are things I don't like, I find myself getting ever increasingly frustrated with Thorpe Park as I've not had a trip there in years now where park ops have gone horrendously wrong (seriously), when I might not care as much otherwise?

I REALLY don't like how the community seems to attract far more than its fair share of paedophiles, it really grosses me out to be honest and puts me off signing up for an enthusiasts meet, even though I know most of the community is decent and equally disgusted and every enthusiast I've ever met (bar one, yup, nonce) has been lovely.

 

[Hyde]

I mean we could all be doing other boring hobbies like stamp collecting or crocheting.

My only regret is not being able to go in deeper at times, as I genuinely love the people and passion behind *gestures a waving hand in the air* all of this. But some similar passions for hiking, kayaking, other travel (oh, and a job) unfortunately get in the way of eeking out that next coaster cred.