Top 50 Parks

It's 117, jack ass... I had to look to be sure myself. :-)

Carrie J. said:

Not only do I not give a crap what others think about the coasters they've ridden, I don't expect others to give a crap about what I think.

I don't give a crap about what any one of you think about the coasters you've ridden.

But what we all think collectively can be interesting, if not a tad predictable.

I honestly just don't find that interesting, either.

Even putting the subjectivity aside, at what point is this a valid list? Are people really updating their rankings regularly? I would guess it would be a "do it once and forget about it" kind of thing for many. I don't know.

On the contrary, I've had wicked insomnia lately, and I think I've just come to realize that I'd be sleeping soundly if I knew how Carrie's 117 coasters were ranked.

I think ranking them is a waste of time, but rating them is pretty simple and doesn't take long.

Excuse me... "are people really updating their ratings regularly?"

For example, the first time I rode The Voyage, I loved it. Went back a couple of years later and had a miserable experience on it with the tracking issues. Would I have thought to come back and change my rating accordingly? Probably not. If others do, however, I'm happy to be wrong about that.

Lord Gonchar said:

But what we all think collectively can be interesting, if not a tad predictable.

You're such a socialist.

Carrie J. said:

I honestly just don't find that interesting, either.

Well, then you just hate America.

No, Americans. Let's keep it straight. Especially of the baby variety.

I'm Afraid Of Americans

Carrie J. said:

It's 117, jack ass... I had to look to be sure myself. :-)

I just verified that 2 of them are racing coasters. It's a moot point.

I haven't decided yet whether I'd dread or enjoy the inevitable pages of bitching about how could people rate (insert park name) so high or low.

I dunno, I expected that about the coasters, and it never materialized.

I don't rank coasters except once a year for Mitch's poll, and even then I do it hastily and from scratch every year. Even at around 120 coasters in my record, I just find it futile to differentiate between what was my 49th favorite steel coaster and my 50th that seriously.

Just for kicks, I keep a record of parks I've been to and "tier" them which, come to think of it, would translate perfectly over to ranking them the way CBuzz does for the coaster poll.

Basically, I consider a Tier 1 park to be any park I would make a special trip for no matter its location. What I usually think about the most is ride quantity / quality (in other words, how many good rides there are), ride uniqueness (so, can I ride this anywhere else in the world?) and general atmosphere (food, charm, operations, niceness, etc).

I know my two absolute favorite parks of all time are Disneyland and EPCOT. For the record my other Tier 1s are Cedar Point, Dollywood, Kennywood, Knoebels, and BGW.

When I do Mitch's, I try to actually differentiate between coasters that could conceivably end up in the top 20 or in which my opinion differs pretty strongly from "general enthusiast sentiment" (for instance, I don't like most GCI's nearly as much as other folks do). I end up having about 25-30 entries on each of my ballots. I don't care enough to weigh in on whether Medusa East or Medusa West or Kraken is a better coaster.

Comparing Traditional Parks to Theme Parks is like comparing Apples to Oranges.

Here are my Favorite Parks:

Traditional Parks

1. Blackpool Pleasure Beach

2. Kennywood

3 Knoebals

4. Indiana Beach

5. Rye Playland

Disney Theme Parks

1. EPCOT

2. Disneyland

3. Magic Kingdom

4. Animal Kingdom

5. Hollywood Studios

Non-Disney Theme Parks

1. Holy Land Experience

2. Six Flags over Texas

3. Kings Island

4. Busch Gardens Tampa

5. Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Hybrid Parks (Traditional Parks that have "Evolved" to have Theme-Park Characturistics)

1. Holiday World

2. Cedar Point

3. Hersheypark

4. Dorney Park

5. Lagoon

Regulus said:

Comparing Traditional Parks to Theme Parks is like comparing Apples to Oranges.

Which in turn, is quite easy. I like Oranges much more than I like Apples.

Yeah, I don't know why people insist on pretending you can't like one over the other. I love Cedar Point as much as the next Northeast Ohioan, but I'll take any of the Disney or Universal parks in Florida first any day.

I'd say a really good apple vs. a really good orange or tangerine, the citrus wins hands down. But I don't think I've ever had an orange that could top a perfect honey crisp picked fresh in the fall. It's just much more delicious and evocative for me.

This would be a good time for a Fruit of the Looms pop-up.