{"id":8573,"date":"2021-06-26T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2021-06-26T08:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/?p=8573"},"modified":"2025-06-12T20:04:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T20:04:57","slug":"5-things-being-a-theme-park-enthusiast-has-made-me-grateful-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/?p=8573","title":{"rendered":"What Being A Theme Park Enthusiast Has Made Me Grateful For&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m not entirely sure the title makes sense and I know this is quite random and different to what I usually share. However, I&#8217;ve been classing myself within this category for around 6 years now and I was having one of those soppy moments the other day and came to realise how much this hobby has brought into my life. As much as I simply love rollercoasters and themed attractions there is so much more to what I&#8217;ve gained personally that perhaps doesn&#8217;t get spoken about enough. Therefore I thought I&#8217;d write this little post and share it with you guys, sorry to those who follow me purely for themed attraction related content only but I hope you enjoy it.<\/p>\n<h2>Friends:<\/h2>\n<p>One of the last things I ever expected to gain from this hobby was friends I class as a family but that&#8217;s exactly what it has brought me. I&#8217;ve met so many incredible people over the years some of which I&#8217;ve lost touch with or don&#8217;t speak to anymore yet they were also a huge part of my journey and I&#8217;ll forever be grateful. But I have some incredible people in my life that I have met purely through the passion we share for theme parks and beer (looking at you Springy Tales &amp; John)! I adore so many people that I have met over the years and I feel so lucky to call them my friends.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8741\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8741\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8741\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/EE0DA684-CBC4-4661-9CE0-A054F420A4FD.jpeg?resize=300%2C200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/EE0DA684-CBC4-4661-9CE0-A054F420A4FD.jpeg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/EE0DA684-CBC4-4661-9CE0-A054F420A4FD.jpeg?resize=1024%2C682&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/EE0DA684-CBC4-4661-9CE0-A054F420A4FD.jpeg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/EE0DA684-CBC4-4661-9CE0-A054F420A4FD.jpeg?resize=1536%2C1023&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/EE0DA684-CBC4-4661-9CE0-A054F420A4FD.jpeg?resize=450%2C300&amp;ssl=1 450w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/EE0DA684-CBC4-4661-9CE0-A054F420A4FD.jpeg?resize=90%2C60&amp;ssl=1 90w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/EE0DA684-CBC4-4661-9CE0-A054F420A4FD.jpeg?w=2048&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/EE0DA684-CBC4-4661-9CE0-A054F420A4FD.jpeg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8741\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#x1f4f8;: Springy Tales<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Opportunities:<\/h2>\n<p>Genuinely the last thing I ever expected was to be invited to events, becoming a merlin annual pass collaborator, featuring on Drayton Manor&#8217;s guest blogger of the month, interviewing ride manufacturers and theme parks. It all feels so bizarre to me and I can&#8217;t begin to express how humbled and grateful I am for even being considered for any of the things I have\/am a part of. I never planned on blogging until 3 years after accepting this as a hobby and even then I was an anxious mess when sharing my first post and never expected 1 person to read my posts yet here I am 3 years later and feeling incredibly lucky and honoured for all I have experienced. So, thank you to each of you that&#8217;s helped me come so far and every single park that has given me a chance!<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-8645\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/D4F5DA89-D947-458A-B925-3210CDAA17F3.jpeg?resize=270%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"270\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/D4F5DA89-D947-458A-B925-3210CDAA17F3-scaled.jpeg?resize=270%2C300&amp;ssl=1 270w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/D4F5DA89-D947-458A-B925-3210CDAA17F3-scaled.jpeg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Memories:<\/h2>\n<p>Honestly, I could sit and waffle on about all the memories that have been made purely through this hobby. I have so many photo albums under our bed filled with memories. It&#8217;s so nice to escape to theme parks with our families too and create memories with them that we will cherish for a lifetime.<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-7066\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/F71DC23D-2456-42F1-87B6-59C28C6ED73C.jpeg?resize=300%2C170&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"170\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/F71DC23D-2456-42F1-87B6-59C28C6ED73C.jpeg?resize=300%2C170&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/F71DC23D-2456-42F1-87B6-59C28C6ED73C.jpeg?resize=87%2C49&amp;ssl=1 87w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/F71DC23D-2456-42F1-87B6-59C28C6ED73C.jpeg?w=750&amp;ssl=1 750w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Understanding Myself and My Mental Health:<\/h2>\n<p>I really began to understand myself through this hobby. I came to realise who I was and what I truly loved after years of not really knowing who I was. It has helped me grow in confidence and take leaps into directions I never thought would be possible. Finding people who also suffer the same as me has really helped me figure out my struggles with mental health. I&#8217;ll never forget the moment it really sunk in about what I was struggling from and it all came from John&#8217;s video (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=EbU9TkkxFu4\">LINK HERE<\/a>) a few years back and I was just listening and it was all hitting home on how I also struggle. After that moment I went to the doctors and got diagnosed and gained one of my closest friends from it too. <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-8617\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/62C2CA2A-026B-4592-8331-604534A2A903.jpeg?resize=225%2C300&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/62C2CA2A-026B-4592-8331-604534A2A903-scaled.jpeg?resize=225%2C300&amp;ssl=1 225w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/62C2CA2A-026B-4592-8331-604534A2A903-scaled.jpeg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Travelling:<\/h2>\n<p>Acknowledging my love for theme parks also sparked a love for travelling too. It has opened my eyes to there is more to life than the same old places as nice as they are. We now have a closed season planned for sightseeing across the UK (assume COVID doesn&#8217;t have other plans). I&#8217;m very excited to see more sights that the UK has to offer. I have also had the chance to see some of the places I never had much interest in visiting beforehand and really have a new appreciation for non-theme park places to visit too. <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-8682\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/7B18154D-9B3D-4C13-B877-D6A6675810F7.jpg?resize=300%2C225&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/7B18154D-9B3D-4C13-B877-D6A6675810F7.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/7B18154D-9B3D-4C13-B877-D6A6675810F7.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/7B18154D-9B3D-4C13-B877-D6A6675810F7.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/7B18154D-9B3D-4C13-B877-D6A6675810F7.jpg?resize=1536%2C1152&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/7B18154D-9B3D-4C13-B877-D6A6675810F7.jpg?resize=80%2C60&amp;ssl=1 80w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/7B18154D-9B3D-4C13-B877-D6A6675810F7.jpg?w=2048&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/7B18154D-9B3D-4C13-B877-D6A6675810F7.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">&#8212;&#8212;&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>I could spend the entire day writing all the things I am grateful for thanks to this hobby of mine. But I won&#8217;t lie this post would turn into a book. I&#8217;d love to hear what your grateful for becoming an enthusiast in the comments or across our socials.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Thank you for reading&#8230;<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-8193 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/4C81DF8B-578C-4D16-89C8-F9DE86FFBDFC.png?resize=600%2C200&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/4C81DF8B-578C-4D16-89C8-F9DE86FFBDFC.png?w=600&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/4C81DF8B-578C-4D16-89C8-F9DE86FFBDFC.png?resize=300%2C100&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m not entirely sure the title makes sense and I know this is quite random and different to what I usually share. However, I&#8217;ve been classing myself within this category for around 6 years now and I was having one of those soppy moments the other day and came to realise how much this hobby has brought into my life. As much as I simply love rollercoasters and themed attractions there is so much more to what I&#8217;ve gained personally that perhaps doesn&#8217;t get spoken about enough. Therefore I thought I&#8217;d write this little post and share it with you guys, sorry to those who follow me purely for themed attraction related content only but I hope you enjoy it. Friends: One of the last things I ever expected to gain from this hobby was friends I class as a family but that&#8217;s exactly what it has brought me. I&#8217;ve met so many incredible people over the years some of which I&#8217;ve lost touch with or don&#8217;t speak to anymore yet they were also a huge part of my journey and I&#8217;ll forever be grateful. But I have some incredible people in my life that I have met purely through the passion we share for theme parks and beer (looking at you Springy Tales &amp; John)! I adore so many people that I have met over the years and I feel so lucky to call them my friends. Opportunities: Genuinely the last thing I ever expected was to be invited to events, becoming a merlin annual pass collaborator, featuring on Drayton Manor&#8217;s guest blogger of the month, interviewing ride manufacturers and theme parks. It all feels so bizarre to me and I can&#8217;t begin to express how humbled and grateful I am for even being considered for any of the things I have\/am a part of. I never planned on blogging until 3 years after accepting this as a hobby and even then I was an anxious mess when sharing my first post and never expected 1 person to read my posts yet here I am 3 years later and feeling incredibly lucky and honoured for all I have experienced. So, thank you to each of you that&#8217;s helped me come so far and every single park that has given me a chance! Memories: Honestly, I could sit and waffle on about all the memories that have been made purely through this hobby. I have so many photo albums under our bed filled with memories. It&#8217;s so nice to escape to theme parks with our families too and create memories with them that we will cherish for a lifetime. Understanding Myself and My Mental Health: I really began to understand myself through this hobby. I came to realise who I was and what I truly loved after years of not really knowing who I was. It has helped me grow in confidence and take leaps into directions I never thought would be possible. Finding people who also suffer the same as me has really helped me figure out my struggles with mental health. I&#8217;ll never forget the moment it really sunk in about what I was struggling from and it all came from John&#8217;s video (LINK HERE) a few years back and I was just listening and it was all hitting home on how I also struggle. After that moment I went to the doctors and got diagnosed and gained one of my closest friends from it too. Travelling: Acknowledging my love for theme parks also sparked a love for travelling too. It has opened my eyes to there is more to life than the same old places as nice as they are. We now have a closed season planned for sightseeing across the UK (assume COVID doesn&#8217;t have other plans). I&#8217;m very excited to see more sights that the UK has to offer. I have also had the chance to see some of the places I never had much interest in visiting beforehand and really have a new appreciation for non-theme park places to visit too. &#8212;&#8212;&#8211; I could spend the entire day writing all the things I am grateful for thanks to this hobby of mine. But I won&#8217;t lie this post would turn into a book. I&#8217;d love to hear what your grateful for becoming an enthusiast in the comments or across our socials. Thank you for reading&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5053,5054],"tags":[1253,1255,942,1092,3317,3318,993,1201,2426,1248,1286,2032],"class_list":["post-8573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theme-parks","category-themed-attractions","tag-appreciation","tag-blogger","tag-blogger-girl","tag-friends","tag-grateful","tag-honest","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-health-chat","tag-theme-park-gal","tag-theme-park-girl","tag-travel","tag-uk-theme-park-blogger"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/62C2CA2A-026B-4592-8331-604534A2A903-scaled.jpeg?fit=1920%2C2560&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pb4qDv-2eh","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8573"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8743,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8573\/revisions\/8743"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.coastersonthecoast.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}