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Are coaster enthusiasts being frowned upon?


Coaster Hipster
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Sometimes when I tell friends and family about my interest in coasters, I get the feeling my hobby is dismissed as low-brow, childish stuff. Not eveyone reacts like that of course, in fact, many other friends or family seem geniunely warm and supportive about my enthusiasm. I was curious to know your experience on how friends and social circles perceive being a coasterfan. Is the hobby seen in a stereotypical, "nerdy" and even obsessive unhealthy light, or treated in a more favourable and respectable way?

Also, do parks in Australia (or wherever you live) acknowledge the coasterfan community and gives some it winks from time to time?


Just wanted to ask those meta questions out of curiosity!


 

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Are {any niche subculture} being frowned upon?

By some people, yes, by some people, no. 

15 minutes ago, Coaster Hipster said:

Also, do parks in Australia (or wherever you live) acknowledge the coasterfan community and gives some it winks from time to time?

Have you not read Parkz before? 

Edited by Reanimated35
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I'm just a low-grade enthusiast.  I love the parks, and the rides, and by just hanging around here, feel like I'm slightly more in-the-know , but I don't really care for the technical specifications at all.  There's other interest groups I'd spend similar amounts of time looking at, relating to beauty, or renovations, or music, etc.  

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1 hour ago, Slick said:

US theme parks do regular Extended Ride Time (ERT) Events, behind the scenes walkthroughs designed specifically for our sort of crowd, do Q&A's with their design teams & most important of all, work with the key influencers/sites to ensure the right message has been delivered and the best possible content is being made to build their followings. That is where we should be in Australia in 2017.

I mean, MW did introduce the Backstage tour in 2017 and when Mark managed Adventure World he personally joined these forums and took feedback from people on these forums and resolved the problems that people here raised.

The top execs at most of our parks also lurk around these forums.

There is slightly more interaction between the parks and the Parkz users as of 2017, but we don't get as much as the US; simply because we are a tiny community when compared to the US which is noticeably much larger. The American Coaster Enthusiasts, for one, has over 5,000 members; by comparison there are only about 100 regular posters on this board, however that number has grown in recent years. 

We're not getting ERT events any time soon; not until our community grows large enough to warrant such things.

For starters, VRTP should stop their tradition of closing rides for maintenance and subsequently shutting them down permanently. They are the only theme park company that closes rides in this manner; and they have already proven they can close rides permanently ahead of time with Batman Adventure, so why don't they do this to any future attractions as well. They've closed Bermuda, Vikings, Corkscrew and Looney Tunes in this manner. I don't want to see another ride fall to this trap.

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I'd just like to add to this thread. I find most of these replies highly relatable. When I talk about coasters/rides and parks around the world in general, some of my mates get quite frustrated and think I'm obsessed. I'll admit I am. I do have a few mates that are actually supportive and are also enthusiasts themselves. Its really ineteresting to come on Parkz and catch up with theme park news of AUS & Overseas. I really love Parkz because of the construction threads, they always give me something to look forward to and for once, enjoy reading.

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I wouldn't call myself a "Roller Coaster Enthusiast", probably more so a "Park Enthusiast".

I'm up at the Gold Coast for work and said to my boss "I might stop by the parks whilst I'm up there" and I got the same response I get from most people "Really? Those parks are for kids!". I hate that response with a passion.

Thankfully my family, friends and partner are all incredibly supportive of my stupidly expensive hobby of travelling the world visiting parks.

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5 hours ago, CaptainLazerGuns said:

I'm up at the Gold Coast for work and said to my boss "I might stop by the parks whilst I'm up there" and I got the same response I get from most people "Really? Those parks are for kids!". I hate that response with a passion.
 

Whenever I get this response, I normally mention that there's a 200ft tall coaster about to open and their opinion of the parks change pretty quickly.

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