Vote of the week: Have you ever dated someone you met in a theme park?

April 25, 2008 at 5:08 PM · I've seen a lot of pretty girls at theme parks, but usually my wife is with me so it hampers my "style."

Besides, don't girls still have cooties?

April 25, 2008 at 6:47 PM · My wife worked at Epcot while I worked at the Magic Kingdom, but we didn't meet until the first day of graduate school.

Other cast members, especially the females, used to joke that we'd probably "dated" tens of thousands of visitors, based upon the number who took pictures of us with them and the stories that they could have made up about us. ("See this is me with my American boyfriend/girlfriend!")

April 26, 2008 at 12:05 AM · Dating someone you met in a theme park and someone you met at work are two different subjects. I think you would find that most park goers have had a park crush or two during their visits. Hard to get to know someone in a queue.

April 26, 2008 at 1:27 AM · Not only met, but also fell in love with and eventually married. My lovely lady and I first met at (no surprise, for those who know us) the dolphin petting pool at Sea World, San Diego. This was back in the mid-to-late 80's, when SWSD was still a fun place to be.

Our common interest in the animals was only the beginning. We found, as our relationship progressed over 10 or so years before we tied the knot, that we had enough in common to make us a good match, yet enough different to keep from getting bored.

We just celebrated our 14th anniversary this last January, and I have absolutely no regrets.

Happy travels.

April 26, 2008 at 2:12 AM · It was the end of the season in 1977 at Six Flags over Georgia. I was performing a magic and juggling act as the pre-show to the Crystal Pistol Music Hall production, "The Land Where the Good Songs Go." A very outgoing season pass guest named "Mary" and I started talking and continued dating through the following year. I joined the music hall cast with my magic act and she lied about her age to get a job at the concession stand in the theatre, allowing her to attend every show. (True Love!) We had a great time doing things together including going to movies, riding water slides and watching the park fireworks floating in the nearby apartment pool. By the end of the year, she wanted to get married. Alas, I wanted to go to college and did not share her certainty about our future, so we dramatically went our separate ways. She showed back up at my parent's house several years later still in love with me. My brother convinced her that it was over and we never heard from her again. I will always remember my first real girlfriend with whom I shared the summer of '78 at Six Flags and hope that she found someone who is everything she wanted in a husband.

April 26, 2008 at 3:03 AM · Now if we are including Renaissance Festivals then I can say that I was working the NY Renaissance Festival in Tuxedo, NY and a friend was going to help me one weekend. She asked if she could bring a friend who just moved to NY. The rest is history. We started dating after that weekend and will celebrate our 26th anniversary this May.

April 26, 2008 at 10:34 PM · Ah...fond memories. The summer of 1988 at Knott's Berry Farm. The operator of the Tampico Tumbler. It was just a summer romance, but the memory still brings a smile to my face.

April 26, 2008 at 11:57 PM · I do not have a happily ever after story about theme park romance, because I met my DH at a supermarket.

But as a guest of theme parks in my teenage years, I was flirtatious to the point of being obnoxious. Sometimes it was other guests, like the "line date", but more often it was employees that I saw regularly. There was a ride operator that I was especially interested in, and he finally got up the nerve to ask for my telephone number about half way through the summer. We dated a few times, but nothing serious.

This thread brings back great memories. It also makes me feel a bit old!

April 27, 2008 at 3:32 AM · I'd met a very cute girl, back during HHN '03. I keep in contact with her now and then, but I never dated her, sadly. Which is a shame, since she's my kinda gal, going to theme parks. ;)

April 27, 2008 at 7:11 AM · Yes. Watch for the forthcoming book.

April 27, 2008 at 11:48 AM · In my teenage years, my friends and I would frequent Kings Island and to a lesser extent Cedar Point. One gets bored waiting in line for a long time. We always had an eye for the ladies, and it almost became a bit of a sport to flirt with and talk to the girls. There always seemed to be at least one cute one in the queue next to us, and most of them had friends along with them. There were (and probably still are) plenty of girls out there that make the same sport out of it as we did. Sometimes it was just a friendly conversation, sometimes they waited for us after they got off of the ride. Neither we nor our companions were ever looking to be serious, and none of the relationships ever lasted longer than the day at the park, so I don't know if I would call it dating someone at the park. Fun times back in the day...

April 28, 2008 at 4:38 AM · I actually met my boyfriend 3 years ago at home in the UK on a night out in a local bar. Turns out, 9 months earlier we'd been holidaying in Orlando at exactly the same time, were on the same flights, went to the same parks on the same days and never saw each other! I guess him being with his girlfriend at the time and me being with my family meant we weren't exactly 'on the lookout'!

We went back for 3 weeks in 2006, and have another 2 weeks planned for September this year. I don't think the novelty will ever wear off for us!