Do you rate wooden and steel coasters?

I know a lot of people rate their top 10 steel, and wooden coasters. I know what my top few favorites are, but I don't really rank them from 1 to whatever.

I know my favorite steel coaster is SROS at SFNE, and my 2nd favorite is MF at Cedar Point, but I have a hard time even trying to rank them beyond that. There are so many different types of Steel coasters that I'd almost have to rank them by the ride type or category they fit into.

Wooden coasters are easier, but I still don't have a set list of my favorites. I know I love the Phoenix. Boulderdash ranks up there. El Toro is sweet, and any GCI coaster especially with Millennium Flyer trains are great rides. I still haven't made it to Holiday World yet to experience those coasters that are highly ranked by many of you.

My question is for those that do rank your favorites how do you come up with a rating for each ride? How do you rate your favorite steel coasters? It's obvious by type of ride. With new coasters like Maverick it's tough to place that in a set category as you can with others. I guess since it has inversions it falls into that category, but it does a lot more then a tradition steel coaster with inversions.

I AM NOT POSTING THIS FOR IT TO TURN INTO A MY COASTER IS BETTER THEN YOUR COASTER DEBATE, OR YOU ARE PRO CEDAR FAIR AND I AM PRO SIX FLAGS. NONE OF THAT NONSENSE. I JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW PEOPLE COME UP WITH THEIR RANKINGS FOR THEIR FAVORITE COASTERS!

Rankings are like a-holes and opinions. Everyone has one, and they all stink. :)

-Tambo

I don't rate, rank, poll, or even keep a list. Where do I turn in my enthusiast card?

Some people group them in ranks. For example, then five coasters are all in my top tier, another 20 are below it, and so forth.

I do rate all of my coasters individually by going down my track record and asking myself "would I rather ride A or B?"

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I do rate all of my coasters individually by going down my track record and asking myself "would I rather ride A or B?"

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I was going to say the exact same thing.

It should be as simple as picking any two coasters you've ridden and asking yourself which you'd rather ride.

Do that enough times and you suddenly have a list of your favorites and none of the weirdness involved with thinking about coaster types, designs or construction material. :)

In other words, it's not about a rating of the rides you've been on, but rather a ranking of the rides you've been on.

Geeze guys! Can't you just enjoy each coaster for what it is and what makes it unique?

Now that's that out of the way, I have my prefences and coasters that are special to me, but seeing as I haven't ridden nearly as many coasters as you guys have (only about 30 or so), I can't rreally rank my rides too well.

For example, I will always enjoy the Yankee Cannonball at Canobie because it was the first BIG coaster I ever rode.

Magnum is a fav becuase I got my mom on it and scared the living tar outta her.

You know, I have absolutely no problem with special personal experiences influencing one's like or dislike of a ride. The coaster experience is just that - an experience. There are countless variables that factor into that.

And for the record (trying to save some face here :) ) - the only reason I have discernable list is because I started doing Micth's polls a few years back.

That's how I feel about it too, but some of the enthusiasts that I have talked to seem to have a bunch of different ways for ranking them.

The title of the thread should have been DO YOU RANK WOODEN AND STEEL COASTERS? :)

I do two types of rankings. One is whether the ride is great, good, or bad, and the other is in order. For great, I just list all the coasters I think are in that category, and so on for the other ones. I think that Ninja at SFOG is bad, Corkscrew at CP is good, and La Vibora at SFOT is great.

For the best coaster, I just think what is the best roller coaster out there. It's pretty easy. It's the ride I want to go on the most. I only go up to my favorite 15 for the ordered type.

I also sort flats out the same way. The real reason I sort them out is so I know what rides I like, and don't like. I just went to CP this year, and I probably won't be back for another 4 years or so. There are a lot of parks I like. Would I rather go to park that has 10 good rides, or 6 great rides? I rather choose the park with more great rides. *** Edited 10/29/2007 7:24:30 PM UTC by Spinout***

OK, I'll fess up. I do rate coasters. Although the list is very short. In fact, it only has two spots.

1.) Do not hurt when riding

2.) Do hurt when riding

:)

-Tambo

I don't know why everyone doesn't do it the way I do... ;)

LOL, I have in my mind's eye an "imaginary midway" where I have all my favorite wooden coasters, all with NO line. Then it's simplay a matter of "where do I go first?"

To my highest ranked ride... :)

Mixing the two lists is where I have trouble figuring it all out....they're apples and oranges, IMO.

I don't rank. I find my woodie list very difficult because the experience on many (most) can change so much from seat to seat, hour to hour, day to day, year to year, etc. A steel list is hard because there's so much variety. Also I struggle to rank coasters I've ridden this year against coasters I haven't ridden in ten years.

I attempt to do two lists for Mitch's poll but I'm never happy with what I come up with, ultimately.

Now my list of favorite 2007 albums will probably be culled from about 150 choices...that's another matter. ;)

I have to ditto Gonch's first post.

Dammit...I also have to ditto Gonch's second post. All of it. Like, Mitch's poll is exactly why I have a ranked list of coasters. I even take my rankings with a grain of salt.

See, this is why I post so little anymore. With very few exceptions, Gonch always seems to type precisely whatever goes through my mind on any given topic. Maybe we should combine accounts and post as one person. Lord Vater...? Has a nice ring to it. :)

Coasterfantom, I see where you're going with this. Sometimes I wonder how an enthusiast has a 31st best coaster.

I guess everyone here has a point. You can imagine a coaster utopia where all your favorite rides are. Which one first?

Kind of like when you go to a park, where do you go first? Even though this isn't practical (for you who know the layout), when I go to BGA I immediately shoot for Kumba. Then Gwazi. Then Montu. Then Sheikra. Then Scorpion.

I find it hard to rank, as well, especially when it comes to steel. I used to have a top ten list for wood, a top ten list for steel, and a top five list for parks. I would even maintain ranks for the coasters in each list.

Then, I got tired of trying to rank them, plus there are a lot more steel coasters than wood. So now, I expanded the steel list to 15, expanded the parks list to 10, and I no longer rank my coasters on the list.

I can say, though, that I do kinda have a top 3 wood (in my mind)--those would be Voyage, el Toro, & Phoenix. But, most everything else is unranked.

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rablat5 said:
and a top five list for parks.

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Now THIS is fun for me for some reason.

I do it by the tier method like other people do it with coasters, and I go by ride quality, ride quantity, "uniqueness" (i.e. does this park have something I can't get anywhere else) and overall atmosphere (including environment, friendliness, food selection, theming, etc.)

So Tier 1s for me would be Cedar Point, Dollywood, Disneyland, Epcot, BGW, Knoebels for sure. Very, very close to Tier 1 would be Holiday World, Hershey, BGT, IOA etc. Tier 2 would still be really fantastic parks, tier 3 would be parks I enjoy readily, tier 4 would be just ok parks, etc.

^How is Herschend going to get WA from Tier 6 to Tier 1? :)

Can't wait to find out! Definitely should be good news for Cheetah...even if it involves a wrecking ball... ;)

Some coasters, sadly, are too easy to rate..."rank" coasters indeed!

Don't wreck Cheetah before I have a chance to suffer through it. :(

I gave up trying to rank past #1 in both wood and steel, and I'm not even sure what the #1 steel is and I haven't ridden my favorite wooden coaster since 1999 so for me it is kind of pointless. Hell, one of my all time favorite coasters was The Bat at KI and I rode that 25 years ago, so how the heck would that fit in? At this stage of the game with my daughter just 1 millimeter short of 48" next year my coaster riding should start to get back to where it was pre-children. It's been a killer since we still go to parks but haven't been able to ride the newer coasters due to kids. How's this: Phantom's Revenge, TTD, Maverick, Dominator, X-Flight Steel Venom and Storm Runner. I have been to the parks where those are at and been unable to ride, so rankings don't really work for me anymore since my coaster riding is way down, but hey, I could give a good spin and puke top 10! :)

Tom

How about going by the company that designs them?

Top 10 B&M, Intamin, GCI, Vekoma, Gravity Group, etc.

What are each groups best creations. And then go into sub-genres within the companies. If so enclined.