Embarrassed of parks...

[outbackjack]

Is anyone else like me....I am obsessed with parks, rides, this site, etc.

 

But other than my wife and kids, I can't share my fascination with anyone.

 

All of my close friends are basically the infamous "general public"....and we have lots in common, just not my love for parks.

 

Don't get me wrong, they like going, we go to SFOG each year with friends, but I would never share my love as they a. wouldn't understand it and b. think it's nerdy.

 

Many of you guys are friends through this site, but are there others like me who love this site, love parks, but your normal friends don't get it?

[Schotcher]

I agree. My family takes it down a notch lololol.

[Chroniq]

"I'm only embarrassed of the things I was afraid to do and the thought's I was afraid to speak" - Chris Connolly.

 

 

There are A LOT of worse things to be embarrassed about then your love of theme parks.. If you think your friends or colleagues would think less of you because you like something as trivial (and awesome) as roller coasters, I'd find new friends and colleagues.

 

 

Chris "The More you know "Connolly

[BaMiTsPaT]

^I agree, I love sharing my theme park knowledge with my friends because it A) makes us coaster enthusiasts unique, and we should embrace this uniqueness, as should our friends.

B) can be beneficial to your friends by sparking their theme park enthusiasm, giving you even more to share as common interests.

[FeelTheFORCE]

I'm not. All of my friends and family know I like parks. Most of them even go out of their way to ask me if I want to tag along with them when they do go because they know how much I like them.

[RAWKIN_coaster38]

^^I agree with Chroniq and BaMiTsPat

 

I'm not embarrassed to talk about it with my friends and family, but I KNOW it goes wayyy over their heads a lot of the time. I think I've explained the concept of X2/4th dimensional coasters like 100 times to my friends and family, and I'm pretty sure they still don't get it.

 

When I took a coaster road trip to the Eastern US with my dad a few years ago, even after my babbling on and on about certain coasters, we'd be in line for said coaster and he'd say, "So what coaster is this, and why is it important?"

 

I just hope that the more I talk about it with them the more they'll start to understand my babbling a little and will share my joy or frustration when something new happens in the amusement park industry. Otherwise, there's no hope for us at all.

[John Peck]

When I was in my early 20's I would name off all the stats and figures and fortunately, noticed "bored" reactions around me and rolling eyes. At one time, it was all about rides and coasters, but now I'm interested in the business model.

 

I rarely discuss them with my wife, though she'll go with me to parks, we hardly spend full days there anymore.

I'll still talk about them to others, but only if the conversation is relevant.

 

Nowadays, I'll talk cars and politics. Again, only when it's relevant.

[jzoole]

I have no problem talking about it to other people. Most people think it's an interesting hobby.

[Godwyn]

My co-workers are constantly coming up to me and asking me about our trips, where we have gone, what we have planed for our next trip, etc. I don't know if it is because the closest park to us is 2 hours away, but they don't think its nerdy (or I don't think they do ). I tell them about the TPR trips we have taken and they all tell me that its sounds like a blast, but they just can't handle the coasters like us.

[cooksta77]

I usually don't mention it unless they bring it up and occasionally they'll poke fun but that's friends they understand it's like any other hobby. Heck I even took my best friend to WCB and he had a blast to a point where he's not an enthusiast but he knows who Intamin is and how to distinguish rides.

-Cookie

[ginzo]

If you're ever embarrassed about this hobby, watch this video:

 

[Andrewoplis]

I agree, the only people I can really talk about it is my family, and even THEY don't get it sometimes. My friend sort of gets it because is the only one I know who will ride anything with me, be even he is still kind of GP.

[Angry_Gumball]

^^Wow...I haven't seen that in a long time! My friends and I used to joke around about that and 'throw lightning bolts' at each other while saying "Lightning Bolt!" Yup, gotta love LARPers. I remember seeing some on Operation Repo...was funny!

 

Back on topic, I used to be 'embarrassed' somewhat of my obsession...mainly when I was in high school. I often didn't wear any coaster t-shirts to school as I wasn't sure what people would think. After graduating high school, I no longer cared as I had no one to really judge me. Today, at work, everyone knows I'm a roller coaster fanatic. Often, fellow coworkers will ask me "what park is that/what coaster is that" when testing/playing back customer's home videos we transferred to DVDs.

 

I had a similar feeling when I was doing yoyo back in the day. I thought it was too 'nerdy' to really publicize but today, I could care less what people think. I think part of it is the fact of growing up and realizing it doesn't matter what people think of what I like, as long as I'm happy and not causing any harm.

[Evanaj15]

I honestly think that i'm the only enthusiast in all of my school. To be honest, i have this fantasy of Robb Alvey coming to our school, and doing an assembly about being drug free. During the assembly, he has a coaster trivia contest just for fun, and i beat everyone in the school.

 

Anyway, i live in a totally GP family. But, i admire them for putting up with me.

[ABW]

I totally have this same issue. My family is understanding, but my friends... not so much. Unless we're talking about the ever so little amount of enthusiast friends that I have.

[jzoole]

I got really super lucky in high school. I just happened to meet two other enthusiasts who have now been my best friends for years. I wouldn't have discovered these other enthusiasts in my midst if I hadn't been geeky enough to start talking about roller coaster trivia in front of one of them. It was so exciting to find out I wasn't alone!

[funkeymon]

Lets just say that if people are going on a trip near a park, they come to me.

[nhman93]

I do understand where the original poster is coming from thou. I don't really mention roller coasters or theme parks to my friends not because I am embarrassed but because it's not really something they take interest in. But whenever im at a park with my friends I cant help but mention things like the history of the rides or how they work and whatnot. when I was at Seabreeze a few days ago in line for the bobsleds i explained how it used to be a wooden coaster and how they added the second deck years ago , my friends actually though that was pretty cool and asked me a couple other questions as the day went on. It was actually a really good feeling knowing my friends took instrest and got to enjoy a small part of why I love the hobby so much.

[WFChris]

My boyfriend thinks its weird that I can chronicle my life by what year coasters opened at SFMM. Other than that, my friends definitely take advantage of my knowledge and don't give me any negative feedback. Look, most of us on this planet are nerds in some way or another; harness the nerdiness and make the best of it! I consider myself 'cool' and I love theme parks and my favorite sport is disc golf.

[robman]

There is only a few family members that know about my obsession for coasters and parks. When ever I try to explain something to friends of mine they never seem to understand. Heck I have one friend who thinks CGA is still owned my Marriotts and that they own a bunch of amusement parks. When I told him the company was Cedar Fair he didn't believe me.

[Ibztone]

I'm glad that someone mentioned this. I often don't know where to stop with ride/park info when non-enthusiasts ask me a question about a park or ride. Lately I just give a really short answer so that I can get back to whatever I was doing and not feel that I'm boring them with info that they could care less about.

[WFChris]

^Hey, I bet your friends nerd out about something THEY are familiar with. Maybe basketball? Baseball? Cars? I know if I say 'put it in 4th gear or whatever,' my car junkie friends spare no time in explaining what each and every gear does. Just because what we love is not popular does not mean you need to be ashamed of it. I think my friends enjoy it when I fix 'twisty loop-de-loop' with 'immelman.'

[Ibztone]

Yeah I know what you mean, but do you ever give your car friends a blank stare when they talk about gear ratios or other car stuff? I guess I just want them to understand what I'm talking about and not just have it be a one way conversation or worse have them be polite and let me continue to talk until they have absolutely no idea what the original question was.

[WFChris]

Of course I do! I really have no idea what most of what the gear heads are saying. But in the meantime, I think if you project confidence in your hobby, they will appreciate your appreciation for it, regardless of how much they actually care. If you are embarrassed by it and project that embarrassment, they can sniff that out and will just give you sh*t for it. Have some pride!!!

[harper83087]

I don't really think about it too much. I look at my obsession with coasters and thrill rides in general as a hobby. When I'm at a park, whether its with one person or 15, I'm going to do what I do which is spit out pointless facts that amuse me. Some people know everything there is to know about model planes, or windmills, or cars, etc. My knowledge lies in two areas, music and coasters. I'll rant and I'll ramble to anyone I can and most of the time they're impressed or at least amused with my knowledge of anything on rails with a chain lift. I've even managed to turn a few friends into semi enthusiasts. We all have our trigger words that sends us off into a mess of words and facts some people just don't really catch on to and ours is coasters.