My story starts rather differently to most enthusiasts. With many people, the story starts around the age of 13, when they went on their first upside-down roller coaster. For me, it starts when I was around 6, and I went to my first significant theme park when my parents bought our family Merlin passes. I wasn't tall enough for any big roller coasters, so, when we went to Alton Towers, I could only go on Th13teen and some other smaller rides, but, it was still a great trip that i loved so much! We also visited Chessington and Legoland that year, but because it was a while ago, I don't remember much. I went on Vampire at Chessington which still holds up on my credit list as one of my favourite coasters. In October, we also visited Blackpool to do the Merlin midway attractions there (Sealife, Madame Tussauds etc) We didn't go in the Pleasure Beach as we decided it was too expensive considering i wasn't tall enough for most of the rides. I really loved my first year having Merlin passes, and my parents agreed that once me and my older sister were 1.4m tall, we would buy them again so we could go on all the big rides and Alton Towers and Thorpe Park.
The next year, when I was 7, we visited France, where we spent a day at Parc Asterix. I have very little memory of this trip, but i know i went on my first inverting roller coaster, OzIris, a B&M invert. Then the year after, we visited Belgium and spent a day in Efteling, just across the border where I went on Python, Vliegende Hollander and Joris En De Draak.
The next year, we finally bought Merlin passes again. I went to Alton Towers again and Thorpe Park for the first time and went on all the big roller coasters there. My first big roller coaster at Towers was The Smiler, and my first coaster at Thorpe was Colossus. Both are very important to me as they are big parts of me becoming an enthusiast. Colossus was my first 1.4m roller coaster, although it wasn't the best place to start considering how rough it can be but i am still happy i did it because it helps me to appreciate the coaster. That year, we also went on a trip in the summer to the U.A.E. We visited Ferrari World one day and Yas Waterworld the next day, both home to coasters. Most of these out of the country trips were not because i liked coasters, but because we liked travelling and my family enjoyed theme parks so if there was one near where we were going we would visit. It was not until I was 11 when we did a trip just to go to theme parks. Ferrari World was home to 3 coasters at the time of visiting: Formula Rossa, Flying Aces and Turbo Track. My favourite of these was Formula Rossa, which is now my 2nd favourite coaster.
We bought Merlin passes again when I was 10, and also visited Denmark and visited Tivoli Gardens, Bakken and Legoland Billund. I remember this trip better than most others, specifically Legoland Billund and their new coaster, Flying Eagle. It was a family coaster, but I remember really liking it. We went on Wicker Man for the first time that year, which was one of the most heavily themed coasters I had ever seen. Towards the end of that year, me and my family started planning a trip that would change me into an enthusiast forever (even though that trip still hasn't happened yet). We had always owned a small campervan, and dreamed of hiring a bigger one we could all sleep in comfortably and driving all the way to Italy. We planned a 3 week theme park road trip (all parks chosen by me) visiting Walibi Belgium, Phantasialand, Europa Park, Holiday Park, Gardaland and Mirabilandia. I spent weeks planning and researching parks and how long to stay at each but unfortunately, the year after, we had to postpone it to 2020 due to brexit and being unable able to hire a van where we wanted to. Again, we had to postpone it due to Coronavirus. I now don't know wheher we will be able to do this trip, and if so when, but we have it planned for whenever we are able to. At the end of 2018, I started to discover a world on the internet of new theme parks and people who loved visiting them as much as I did. I could tell that this was my place, and that one day I wanted to be like that, spending all my free time as an adult visiting park. Around this time I started to truly become and enthusiast.
We bought merlin passes again in 2019 and 2020 as well as visiting Portaventura in the summer of 2019. This was my first purely theme park holiday I had ever had, spending a week at Portaventura and Ferrari Land, which was my favourite trip I have ever been on. In 2020, due to our Europe road trip being cancelled, we did a UK road trip visiting Oakwood, Drayton Manor, Flamingo Land, Blackpool Pleasure Beach and Adventure Island as well as the Merlin Parks. In 2021, I hope to either visit Energylandia, or do a mini European road trip visiting Plopsaland, Bobbejaanland, Toverland, Efteling, Movie Park Germany, Walibi Belguim and Phantasialand.
At the start of 2019, I joined RCCGB (Roller Coaster Club Of Great Britain) i have now been on 2 club trips: Blackpool Bash and Woodathon both in 2019. This helped me meet new people who enjoyed this hobby as much as I do which was great!
I've now been an enthusiast over 2 years and have been on 99 different coasters across the UK, Europe and Asia. I am so grateful for finding the theme park community because they have taught me so much and helped me find a hobby I love!
Cleo
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