Fairground Rides

I have to admit that I enjoy watching others on fairground rides, far more than I enjoy riding on them myself. Whether it's a travelling fair, seaside attraction or Theme Park, I'm often there to view as opposed to ride.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a few rides that I venture on, but they are what many may refer to as ‘tame’. I’m certainly not a thrillseeker, preferring rides that somehow have a point to them as opposed to just throwing me around and up and down into delirium.

Big kid that I am, I enjoy the gentle boat rides that wind around enchanting little scenes or ‘caverns’, and I really love a ride that involves a bit of competition, such as Tomb Blaster at Chessington. I get really competitive, frantically shooting the targets along our route, aiming (and often succeeding) to get the highest score in our family.

The nearest I get to riding on the more thrilling attractions is the type of ride where you sit in a tub and get thrown around on the ‘rapids’, often getting a good soaking into the bargain – great on a hot day!

As I child, I was often taken to Dreamland in Margate, Kent, Every time we visited I begged my mum to let me go on the roller coaster, but she always fobbed me off, muttering something under her breath about possible accidents. So I resigned myself to riding the swans on the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ track, gently chugging round the Lewis Carroll characters.

I eventually went on said roller coaster in my teens, only to discover I didn’t much enjoy it anyway. The same applied to the other more daring rides that I tried.

As my children came along, I enjoyed the type of rides that we could all go on as a family – although I have to admit, even the little caterpillar roller coaster was a bit much for me!

Thorpe Park used to be great fun before it became home to many of the more ‘dare-devil’ rides as it is today. It was much more my thing to sit on a train that took me on a journey to an island where pirates chucked buckets of water at us (hands up all those that remember this!), as opposed to being blasted by a Tidal Wave.

Today I still visit Theme Parks and fairgrounds on family outings, but with the exception of a few fun rides, you are much more likely to see me there in the role of spectator, as opposed to a keen rider.

Do you enjoy fairground rides?

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