New Entries in the CoasterBuzz Top 100

Both GateKeeper and Cheetah Hunt finally debuted in the Top 100 this week at numbers 22 and 96, repsectively.

Still no Wild Eagle though...

Not sure I'd rank GateKeeper 3rd best at CP, but there it is.

I'd rank it almost first. Millenium is a bit better. I just love the wing coaster idea!

I smell a bias toward new rides except when it's Cheetah Hunt!!!

It's interesting that Wild Eagle hasn't hit the minimum rider threshold (which, remember, isn't just about the number of riders, but the number of experienced riders).

Experienced rider: 80+ roller coasters?

It's difficult to parse the effect of the "newness" of a ride with respect to how one rates it, especially when the ride and the ride type are completely new experiences. If I ask myself whether I'd rather ride Raptor or Gatekeeper as my last ride ever (assuming those were my only two choices), I'd probably go with Gatekeeper since I haven't been desensitized to it, but deep down I think Ratpor is a better ride.

I can't remember, what two rides got bumped, then?

Also, do we know what non-North American coasters are closest to breaking into the 100? How far off are they?

I thought the same way when I rode Afterburn for the first time and was comparing it to Montu. The thing is that I change my ratings as I change my opinions.

I can look at the data and see which rides are close to breaking in, but I won't because I don't want anyone trying to game it. I've seen a number of new accounts with 5 scores for every ride at one park, and 1's for a bunch of other rides. Those don't get counted.

Some peopple have odd obsessions with rides like my dad with Flight of Fear. He has it at number 3 to Millenium Force and Voyage on his list. Sometimes there can be oddities like that. He loves FoF a lot, but it probably doesn't get very many 5 stars. I like how you force a ride to have x amounts of rates so oddities won't be a huge factor. Obviously Flight of Fear wasn't affected by an oddity, but your system prevents an idiot to rate a lame ride that gets very little rides on it a 5 star just to mess the system. You require a lot of votes before it would get on the list.

Hmmmm. My ratings here tend to be on the high side, but that's just how I am. It's accurate, I believe, but with only a few dogs in there. I've never considered the effect it could have on the list, but I can say honestly I'm not playing it. Should I re-do/re-evaluate to avoid skewing results? Let me know, please. I've got all day and all night if I'm not watching the back of my eyelids. :-)

I rate my list 1-95, so I change the order a lot, but the rating is something I don't change unless I feel it really needed.

For example:

Gemini was I ride I thought was really trashy and old when I originally rode it. I put it at the top of the two star list. Then, this year I rode it and got so much air time. It was epic. I then raised it from about 70th on my list to about 25th. It went from 2 to 4 stars.

What? No love for the Yankee Canonball & Untamed?

What I have to do to drag you knuckleheads to NH?

Build a 500ft tall, 200 mph B&M in downtown Manchester?

Couldn't hurt. :)

Just razzing. I know you guys are mostly midwest & west coast. Heck, if I lived within an hour of a major park, I'd be a huge fan too.

Just remember: there are some hiden gems up here (like Excaalibur in Maine).

For the uninitiated (and/or those too lazy to read up on the algorithm), I think only coasters with votes from more than 50% of experienced riders qualify for CBuzz 100. A rider is experienced if he/she is in the top half of the CBuzz population in terms of ride count.

Can I be experienced and lazy at the same time?

That algorithm would seem to be less likely to give many votes to rides that are new and/or out-of-the-way....but as we've discussed ad nauseum (perhaps ad infinitum?)....any methodology will have positives and negatives.

The last couple years haven't been conducive to much traveling - I've yet to get on a Wingrider at all. The new woodies this year have got me going again. Checking into a trip to NorCal, but Branson is on the list for next year's HWN.

You're right, Bill, and that's by design. I'm not going to pretend that I'm some kind of math genius, but I wanted to err on the side of ridiculous statistical relevance. If a ride hasn't been rated by half of the top half of experienced riders, it does not exist. :)

But hey, at least you can see where inviting anyone with an enthusiast card to media day paid off. I haven't seen any new ride appear that quickly in the top 100.

Hopman, Yankee Cannonball got 5 stars from me. It's a start.

Untamed...yeah, that probably doesn't even crack the sirloindude top 100, lol.

ApolloAndy said:

A rider is experienced if he/she is in the top half of the CBuzz population in terms of ride count.

Oh, is there a list somewhere on here that shows the order? I'd be interested to see who the most prolific riders are.