CONTENT CREATOR OF THE WEEK:CJ AND POPS

If you’ve ever met them in person at a park you’ll know they’re really fun and approachable, and well worth a follow. Theme Park Daily caught up with CJ and Pops for a chat…

TPD: You seem to be all over every enthusiasts ‘for you’ page right now, but for anyone who somehow doesn’t know you tell us a bit about yourself.

‘We’re CJ & Pops, a dad and son with a frankly ridiculous shared love of theme parks and roller coasters!

It started when CJ said, “Dad, I want to start a YouTube channel.” Pops asked what content he was going to create. His answer? “I dunno… just random stuff.”

As a responsible dad, the thought of CJ going rogue on YouTube wasn't particularly appealing, so Pops suggested we do it together. Theme parks were the obvious choice. We're both completely obsessed with them and, more importantly, CJ isn't just Pops' son, he's his best friend too.

When we started in July, we were theme park enthusiasts, not content creators, and knew absolutely nobody in the community. Just over three months later, we've made incredible memories and met so many brilliant people, from fellow enthusiasts and creators to the amazing staff at our home park, Thorpe, who we now consider friends.

This community really is something special. Somehow, two newcomers with a camera and a pair of flip flops were welcomed with open arms.

We genuinely can't believe what CJ & Pops has become in just over three months. It started with our shared love of theme parks and wanting to capture the memories we make together, but along the way we've discovered that we absolutely love creating content and sharing those experiences with everyone else too. We're still learning as we go, but we're loving every minute of it.

And if you do somehow still have no idea who we are, we're usually the two wandering around a theme park in flip flops saying “CJ & Pops, at the park in our flops!” followed by Pops' now obligatory point at the camera saying “SEE YA LATER!” ‘

TPD: You are so consistent with content and post all the time, how do you manage it all?

‘Lots of late nights!

We normally review our footage together the day after a trip when we're fresh. Theme park days can be exhausting, especially at Pops' age! Once we've decided what stays, Pops normally starts editing after CJ has gone to bed. There's also a business to run, so evenings and weekends when we're not at a park are when the magic happens.

We've become much quicker at editing, although nothing prepares you for an editing platform crashing after you've finally got the perfect cut. That's genuinely soul destroying! We never give up though.

We don't really have a rigid content strategy. Sometimes something happens and we both immediately go, “That's epic, we need to post this NOW!”

We're starting to plan our content more, but we never want to lose the authenticity of where we started. Seeing the fun we've had in the footage is what inspires us. If we can transfer some of that fun into something other people enjoy watching, that's pretty epic too.

And yes, we're still ridiculously nervous every time we press Post! ‘

TPD:We love how you’ve really embraced the thoosie community, is there anyone who’s really helped you along the way?

‘How long have you got?!

We could probably turn this answer into a who's who of the theme park community. So many people have helped us and they know who they are. If we start dropping names, we'll inevitably miss somebody, and we'd hate to do that.

In just three months we've been invited onto live streams, given completely unexpected shout outs, included in other creators' content, offered advice and introduced to people we now consider genuine friends.

But the best part has simply been spending time with everyone. We're both very sociable and absolutely love meeting people, whether that's riding together, chatting in queues, filming something, joining a live or just standing around talking theme parks for far longer than we probably intended!

One thing we do deliberately is keep CJ & Pops positive. That's how we live our lives too. Theme parks are supposed to be fun, and we'd much rather be celebrating than deliberating. People seem to connect with that, which means a lot to us.

So rather than name a few people, our answer is genuinely everyone. To every person who's supported us, welcomed us, spent time with us, stopped for a chat, shared a ride or simply said something kind, thank you.

We arrived knowing nobody. Just over three months later, we feel like we're surrounded by friends. That's pretty special.’

TPD:If you could ride any coaster in the world right now what would it be?

‘Finally, something we disagree on!

For Pops, it's VelociCoaster at Universal Islands of Adventure. The launches, the airtime, that zero g stall and the absolutely ridiculous Mosasaurus Roll over the lagoon put it firmly at the top of his bucket list. It just looks like a masterclass in how to build a modern coaster.

CJ, on the other hand, is desperate to get on Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. A 206 foot, 91 degree drop at 76 mph followed by the sort of relentless airtime and inversions that RMC seems to specialise in? That's very CJ!

The good news is we're planning to take CJ & Pops to the US next year, so hopefully we'll get to settle this properly.

Although knowing us, we'll probably come home arguing about which one was better! ‘

TPD: If you could pick any kind of coaster to open in the UK what would it be?

‘We're divided again!

For Pops, go BIG. He'd love to see the UK get a proper 300+ foot giga coaster. Not just something chasing a height record either. Give it a huge first drop, sustained speed, massive sweeping elements, loads of airtime and, most importantly, a really long layout. Hyperia is currently his favourite UK coaster, but he'd love to see somebody take things to another level.

CJ has a very different brief. He thinks the UK is crying out for a world class Intamin Blitz. Multiple launches, punchy airtime, rapid transitions, inversions and a layout that simply doesn't let up.

His technical specification is considerably easier to explain:

“Maverick on steroids.”

Theme park developers of the UK, you're welcome. We'll await the planning application.’

TPD: And finally, is there any exciting content coming from you that we should look out for?

‘Loads! We're definitely not slowing down just because the season is coming to an end!

We've got more Thorpe Park and Fright Nights content coming, we're heading to LEGOLAND for Passholder Day on 8th November, we're hoping to get to Pleasure Beach and we'll be tackling some more scare events too. We've also still got some great content to come from recent trips, including Chessington's Howl'o'ween Rehearsal Night.

And then there's Hyperia...

Before the season ends, we're going to attempt to break our record for the most rides we've managed in a single day. We do have a target.

And no, we're not telling you what it is yet!

We're constantly learning and our content will inevitably evolve and get better, but one thing will never change: CJ & Pops will always be a father and son theme park duo having adventures together.

And 2027?

All we're saying for now is...

CJ & Pops are planning a European and US tour. 🌍🎢🇺🇸See ya later! 👉’

A huge thank you from Theme Park Daily for getting involved. Readers go follow them at @cjandpops on TikTok. Thanks for reading.