Writing a good Trip Report

[ParkTrips]

Hello there.

 

I have been here for quite a few months now and have written probably half a dozen trip reports. As I see many trip reports get thousands of hits and dozens of replies, mine tend not to grab much more than a page full. What is it that makes people read and better yet enjoy reports? I even made sure people knew there were Goliath pics in there and so far not much response (albeit the pics were for the most part nothing new, just different looks, but I usually get more response just from posting an update to my site ). But it's not just me, I've seen tons of great TR's go without much response and then some of the most random threads get tons of lovin'. WTH?

 

What is it that people are interested in? I always thought some nice park photos and a recount of one's day at the park are pretty good, but what do the people want? How can I improve my reports to make them somewhat interesting? Or am I just wasting my time?

 

- Joe

[ebl]

^ I know how you feel. My own trip reports get little response, so it seems. Now, I don't offer pictures, nor do I get into extreme detail about which seat I sat in, the train/car number, etc. I tend to be brief so I don't bore anyone who might read the report.

 

My guess is that trip reports can be hit or miss.

 

Eric

[Shockwave]

A trip report has gotta be short, punchy, and give all the most important information that people will wanna hear.

 

Also, it's an old cliche, but a picture says a thousand words. And they definetly help to capture the scene.

[socalMAN123]

My take on trip reports: Be as funny as you can! Be creative and don't be super uptight about stuff. Instead of "This is our on-ride pic on Xcelerator." make it something like "Don't we look hot?". Most people enjoy trip reports that are funny and enjoyable. I'm not pointing fingers at anyone (I really enjoy your TRs CoasterCrazy), that's just my opinion.

---Brent

[SharkTums]

Personally, I always read your TR's. I find myself not commenting a lot on them though, and I'm trying to think why that is.

 

One reason I believe is because you cover everything! There's nothing to ask or comment on because it's all there! One negative though, I'm trying to think if your TR's have people in them, I'm thinking not a lot. I can look at pictures of roller coasters and rides pretty much anywhere. I really like seeing what people did at the park and who the cast of characters was that day. Does that make sense?

 

Keep em coming! I love photo TR's!

[Carnage]

Good TRs need to have some fun in them. More then just pics of rides, there should be pics of crazy antics.

 

And there shouldn't be too much writing. I tend to get tired quickly when the TR has huge paragraphs.

 

These are just general comments, as I can't really remember one of your TRs right now.

[ats86]

IMO the key to a good and readable trip report is make it as funny as possible, and put in as many photos as possible as well. Also dont make it to long, and dont go on about the same ride/attraction for to long.

[ScOtT k]

I liked it joe...

 

btw socalman, he's not coastercrazy.

[Erik Johnson]

WIth my PTRs I usually try to feature a few offbeat things that a park offers. (I may include a bird show for example..or people resting in the middle of a parking lot...etc). While I do post a ton of photos (maybe too many) I try not to feature a bunch of the same photographs that other people have already posted. I do enojoy reading other people's TR's myself, but I usually only write out a couple of sentences for mine. I just have the photos and captions tell the story. Though ParkTrips, I think you already do a fine job with your Photo TR's.

[pkdcoaster]

I think that most people are too lazy...there are alot of people who read or download things but never say anything. also Elissa has a good point..if you cover Everything...what is there to ask or comment on?

 

I too wonder the same thing about my videos..like the 6 Flags america one I did last week, I thought it was great and I worked hard on it and so far it has been downloaded over 100 times but nobody said anything about it. and I post IMO a not so good POV and it gets a bunch of responses right away. I honestly make the videos and take pics just for me...I like them and I enjoy watching them and if just one person saves it and keeps it then that is great..happy they liked it too, but I do not spend too much time worrying about it.

 

JEFF

[robbalvey]

Way...WAAAAAY back when at the point the site first started I used to do a full report (or hence "review") of the parks I'd go to, and then a page of photos and captions.

 

I quickly learned that I'd get a few hundred hits on the photos page and about 50 on the actual "review."

 

Let's face it, most people have short attention spans and would rather look at pictures instead of read stuff. Sad, but true. (And I'm guilty of this also!)

 

So over the years I have tried to "tell the story" via photos and a limited amount of text. They say that one photo is worth a thousand words, and in many ways they are right (who ever the hell "they" are).

 

IMO, what makes for a really good trip report is the right amount of photos and the right amount of text. It's a hard thing to balance, and there is no "rulebook" for it. It's just something you have to learn.

 

As far as your TR's in particular Joe, I agree with Elissa, I find them to be very good and very in depth. I will say though that your recent SFOG TR was probably not your best, and I think the reason is there were a lot of photos without captions. That to me is the most important thing, having a caption for just about every photo. It gives the reader something to look at, something to read, and the possibly something to comment on.

 

As an example, here is one of your TR's that I thought was GREAT:

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19688

 

Perfect use of photos and captions, and in turn quite a bit of commentary that followed.

 

Its hard for me to say what people like and don't like, because people do like different things. We have gotten feedback from some people who would rather just have nothing but park and coaster photos and no "antics." But that IMO just isn't as "fun."

 

And while the TR I linked to above didn't actually have any "people" in it, it had funny stuff!

 

The other thing to keep in mind is the subject of your TR's. If your TR is about parks that have either been covered a lot of have not a lot of "hot" interest, don't expect as many views or comments. For example, our Denver update was practically forgotten about. No biggie, at least those photos are out there if someone wants to see them later on.

 

As for your SFOG update, I'm not sure why it didn't get more response. Perhaps there have been a lot of Goliath photos lately? But then again the same could be said for Tatsu. Not sure.

 

I do know this....your *BEST* trip report ever only had one photo, but OMFG, what a photo it was:

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19565

 

LMAO!!!!

 

Sorry, Just had to bring that one up again!

 

--Robb "Ok, I hope that helped!" Alvey

[ParkTrips]

See, I don't feel that one should TRY to make things funny. Either they are or aren't, but I wouldn't make an effort to make funny things just to make people laugh. I prefer natural humor, if you will. Too many people are trying too hard to be funny, in my opinion. Some get it, some don't.

 

I really do think I write TRs that are short and to the point, and I know pics are good. I know that my report from yesterday that I posted here is more apealing than the one I posted to my site, even if there is only a difference of 250 words between the two posts. But are people really THAT into seeing pictures of fat chicks and people eating? I mean I get a kick out of a lot of that stuff but I read for opinions on the park, the rides and how one's day went. Perhaps I'm just "old school" or whatever but I joned this site because I like theme parks!

 

BTW a reason there aren't a lot of photos with people in it is just because I'm not much of a camera whore myself and I pretty much every time I visit the park it's with my girlfriend or close friends, people I see often and don't really need any photos of.

 

edit to respond to Robb who jumped in on me: I know my latest TR wasn't very good, mainly because I didn't do much in the 3 or so hours I was there, and it's my home park so I have a unique perspective/most of the stuff that others would comment about is just "another day at the park" for me. That's why I rarely do TRs for my park, only a couple of times a year.

 

I will try to make them more entertaining if that's how this site rolls, but I agree with Eric in that it's a random "hit or miss" sort of phenomenon that just confuses me.

 

- Joe

[robbalvey]

^ Oh, see, i didn't mean to make things funny when I said "fun." Because I totally agree with you that you can't TRY to make things funny. More often than not the more you try the more it's not funny.

 

"Fun" is very subjective. You could have a "fun" trip report with nothing but park/ride/coaster shots. To answer your question of "people really THAT into seeing pictures of fat chicks and people eating?" I think the real answer is simply "people like to be entertained" and that doesn't mean fat chicks or funny captions all the time, but to find something that is "entertaining."

 

For example, I find our Tatsu updates honestly kind of difficult to do, because it doesn't change that much. And while most of our captions for those updates I think are fairly "normal" I try to keep it entertaining by having the off photo of the "magic levitating truck" or something like that.

 

I guess I'd call it more about "pacing" than anything else.

 

Again, I didn't mean to jump in on you, just trying to give some feedback. And I also agree that the "hit or miss" thing totally applies. We have had several updates that for whatever reason people just weren't interested in. I couldn't tell you why, they just weren't!

 

--Robb

[ParkTrips]

^ Most of my last post wasn't directed towards you Robb. I commented about trying to be funny after reading things like "My take on trip reports: Be as funny as you can! Be creative and don't be super uptight about stuff", "IMO the key to a good and readable trip report is make it as funny as possible" and " there should be pics of crazy antics.". If I don't see crazy antics or funny things (I usually don't see too much along those lines) I'm not going to force the humor into my tr.

 

Of course, I shouldn't have even responded since I'm not Anthony and I doubt whoever that was has even read any of my reports

 

By "jump in on me" I just meant you added a post while I was posting, not an attack in any way!

[Hercules]

Joe... I think that the trip reports that you have done have been beyond excellent, on any site that you have done them and I have read all of them. Your attention to detail is supurb. I find myself loving the reading, and the humor that you throw in. I always used to comment, but have found myself not because it gets boring just saying "Great review"

[robbalvey]

^ Most of my last post wasn't directed towards you Robb. I commented about trying to be funny after reading things like "My take on trip reports: Be as funny as you can! Be creative and don't be super uptight about stuff", "IMO the key to a good and readable trip report is make it as funny as possible" and " there should be pics of crazy antics.". If I don't see crazy antics or funny things (I usually don't see too much along those lines) I'm not going to force the humor into my tr.

 

Of course, I shouldn't have even responded since I'm not Anthony and I doubt whoever that was has even read any of my reports

 

By "jump in on me" I just meant you added a post while I was posting, not an attack in any way!

Cool, cool. I thought as much, but I just try to be sensitive when giving feedback on stuff!

 

--Robb

[USRoadTripper]

I tend to read most, if not all of the TRs posted here, and I find most of them quite enjoyable. I just don't tend to reply to very many because one can only say "Nice TR!" so many times before it gets a little old! I read your latest one and thought that you had a lot of great Goliath pics, but it seemed more like a "Goliath update" than a real TR since there were very few pics from other places in the park.

When I write TRs, I write them for myself, and I put into them the stuff that I want to remember about my day. I tell where I went, where I ate, what I ate, if I bought anything, if anything funny happened...and that's the kind of stuff I like to read about. I like knowing what hotel someone stayed in, or what they ordered for lunch, or if they hit traffic on the way home. It makes it a little more interesting to me.

That's just the way I see it...your mileage may vary, of course! All the pictures I take, and any TRs I write, I do them for myself. If others wanna enjoy it too, great! If not, that's ok too!

 

-Julie