So, Ant was working up in Derby on Friday and I chose to go & have a day at Towers. It was something that I feel I almost craved to do to help build upon my confidence as a person. So, here’s how it went for my fellow anxious souls who are wondering!
A Mission:
I appointed myself to head into the park with a mission rather than a free-flow attitude. As I feel as if I left my brain empty with no plan of attack it could have made me 100x more apprehensive. So, my mission was to finish all of the Big 7 rollercoasters ahead of Ant finishing work at 1ish, all of which was achieved except Galactica. With this in mind, it just allowed me to keep distracted from overthinking.
Riding Alone:
This was an unusual one. This is more or less when I felt most uneasy. Rides such as Wickerman & Thirteen were the two times I felt my anxiety creeping in. Other than that every other ride wasn’t too bad at all. Of course, as a single rider, you do tend to get rides done much quicker. When other guests spot you alone in the queue they tend to let you fill up those empty seats and the fact that The Smiler more precisely has the possibility of the single rider queue just helps out a ton. The majority of the time there’ll be at least one group of 3 on each train. It’s not frequent you see otherwise.
The Fun Parts:
The fun parts are the fact that you manage to get on everything at a brisk speed. I find when you are alone you manage to look around more and have more time to take in everything around you. When you are with someone you are chatting away and it does divert you from what’s around. I noticed a lot of things across the park that I haven’t noticed previously. Taking things in your stride and not worrying about spoiling anyone else’s day or having that dispute about what is next.
The Downside:
I missed the company. Yes, I overcame my anxiety on Friday but goodness me I missed having a natter about each ride after coming off. I’m someone who can speak for days about rides and the experiences they deliver, so I did find that tough. I also found pre-show rooms like Wickerman pretty uncomfortable. I did have a lot of people barging into me or standing on me with the feedback of “oh I didn’t see you there”. I am 5ft 3 I’m not THAT small. You do tend to get quite odd looks as a female by herself within this environment. A lot of the strange looks came from men as well. Something I didn’t enjoy was the individual males who I kept finding myself sharing a sky ride with all of which continuously stared at me the entire duration. That kind of behaviour makes me unnerved in all honesty.
Overall Thoughts & Would I Do It Again?
I would visit alone again. It’s not something that I feel put me off by any means. Perhaps I wouldn’t actively go out of my way to go alone until I pass my driving test then it’ll be something that I contemplate. But if Ant is working up that way again I’ll, by all means, visit alone. It was sharp to prove to myself that I am brave enough to confront my anxiety head and that alone gave me such a confidence boost. I did appreciate my day and although there were a few slight negatives it was fun nevertheless. However, if you are visiting alone or in a group and spot an alone person please don’t be that person to glare at. It doesn’t help anyone.
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Have you ever visited alone and if so how did you find your experience? I’d love to hear all about it! If there’s anything which I have missed that you’d like me to discuss, please let me know!
Thanks so much for reading & thank you to all of my lovely followers for being so incredibly supportive I honestly admire you all so much!
Well done! I wish I had the bottle to do that!