Mitch's coaster poll

Tekwardo said:
And that's because people have to be loyal to the master, or heavens forbid they may have their account deactivated.

So people quit drinking HW's kool-aid and started drinking Robb's?

Ugh. Be careful what you wish for, I guess. ;)

Not surprised at at Voyage's placement. In it's final PTC year, I found it had gotten much rougher than before, so much so that during nighttime ERT, I gave up after just a few rides. It's opening year I could easily marathon on it. Hopefully the new trains help!

rollergator said:
Thinking that this is where the "minimum number of riders" question starts getting raised.

I would have brought that up, but I think people are tired of me doing so. :)

I thought it was smoother at Fall Affair this year, compared to previous years. The thing is, that doesn't mean it isn't still crazy intense.

Damn, too bad I don't have a passport - or the willingness to spend thousands to travel across seas to ride another Intamin plug n play hybrid woodie (not a big fan of El Toro myself). O well. Strange results - but I always remember we can each have our own little happy list, and our own little happy (individual) opinions.

Seems Mitch's site is so overwhelmed, it's not currently loading.

Odd results, mostly w.r.t. The Voyage. I guess either (a) the ride was dramatically worse this season on average or (b) the poll respondents were significantly different this year (assuming the average opinion changes slowly). I went to HW very early season in 2010 and found The Voyage to be as good as ever, so I have a good reason to doubt (a). However, the enthusiast community is small, so (b) seems unlikely as well. I can't load Mitch's page, but I hope he sheds some light on this dramatic shift. It makes very little sense to me, unless the ranking differences between 1-6 are negligibly small.

I'm unsurprised that T Express tied El Toro, as the newer model looks like a superior ride overall. I haven't been on either one, though...

^Another thing is that when you vote, you can check if you rode your top rated rides "this year." I'm assuming perhaps people may have done that too, to try to get their favorite coaster(s) rated higher.

You're always supposed to note the rides that you have ridden "this year". That is nothing new.

I'm not sure what the final number of respondents was. But, early indications were that it was about 1/2 as many as previous years.

It's interesting how different these two lists are, as far as wooden coasters are concerned.

CoasterBuzz top ten wood:
1. Voyage
2. El Torro
3. Boulder Dash
4. Phoenix
5. Ravine Flyer II
6. Thunderhead
7. Raven
8. Shivering Timbers
9. Lightning Racer
10. Comet (Great Escape)

Mitch's Poll:
1. (Tie) El Toro - SFGAd
1. (Tie) T Express - Everland
3. Boulder Dash - Lake Compounce
4. Phoenix - Knoebel's
5. Ravine Flyer II - Waldameer
6. The Voyage - Holiday World
7. Balder - Liseberg
8. Colossos - Heide Park
9. Aska (S) - Nara Dreamland
10. Fireball - Happy Valley Song

Honestly, since I don't leave the U.S. regularly for coaster-related trips, CoasterBuzz's top coaster list means more to me than Mitch's poll, which is more global. I'll admit that his poll has it's place in the coaster-loving world, but just not in my coaster-loving world.

I find that I care less and less about this every year. And every year I'm surprised, because I didn't think I could care less than I did the year before...

I didn't even vote this year as the poll has been hijacked. Not that they don't have their view, But their kids who aint even tall enough to ride. Have one!

Have one what?

A kid who aint even tall enough to ride, silly.

One interesting factor in the poll now is the european vote. The European Coaster Club did an Asia trip in 2009 and it included South Korea, so that's a more diverse experience right there. Lot more european votes and that explain why a brand new woodie in the Netherlands got over 60 voters when it opened in july 2010!

The european vote also affect the US coasters. Nearly every european coaster enthusiasts dream of visiting SFGADV, CP and SFMM (and trying to do so on the same two week vacation) and those riders are easily impressed by El Toro.

LostKause said:
It's interesting how different these two lists are, as far as wooden coasters are concerned.

The CB one skews American, so if you take out the foreign rides, the top 5 of each look like this:

CoasterBuzz:
1. Voyage
2. El Toro
3. Boulder Dash
4. Phoenix
5. Ravine Flyer II

Mitch's Poll:
1. El Toro
2. Boulder Dash
3. Phoenix
4. Ravine Flyer II
5. Voyage

The same coasters, and 4 of them in the same order. I haven't been on Voyage, but is having it in a different part of the top 5 out of hundreds of coasters such a calamity?

Seems that the two lists pretty much prove each other right.

All the more reason I think that the labor intensive ranking and crazy algorithm add almost no value, especially with a small sample size.

I hate when someone says what I wanted to say, but got to the thread before me. :)

It's the same old, same old. All of the polls have the same coasters in the same general spots. The details (1st as opposed to 5th) are irrelevant. The best coasters are at the top, the worst at the bottom of any of the polls and we all know what they are and can rattle them off to anyone willing to listen without a list telling us what they are.

kpjb said:
Seems that the two lists pretty much prove each other right.

OTOH, I was intrigued by the fact that only The Voyage moved more than one spot from one poll to the other...

Calamity? Far from it...but the parks find the rankings useful marketing tools, apparently...

Well slap me twice and call me darlin'! I am the biggest Toro cheerleader, but usurping it's way to #1?!?! I think I will have 3 shots of patron at the club tonite in it's honor.

Toro! Toro! Toro!

OK, I'm done. :)

Maybe it's because that weekend was only the 2nd time I had been to an amusement park in 2010, but I really loved Toro.

There's something to be said about not visiting parks regularly. It REALLY brings the fun back.