Matt N
CF Legend
Hi guys. Often, when picking your favourite coaster selection, you can be spurred towards picking a park with a huge quantity of credits as your favourite; the more creds on offer, the better, right? But sometimes, parks can defy this logic. Sometimes, a park can have tons of credits on offer, but you’re not overly enamoured by many (or any) of them, and on the other side of the coin, a park can sometimes have relatively few credits, but still feel like it has a really strong coaster selection due to just how many of those credits you really like. So my question to you today is; what parks have you visited that defy the expected rule of “higher quantity of credits = stronger coaster selection” in either of the ways I specified above?
In terms of my own answers for this; I might struggle with this, as I’ll admit that this isn’t something I often think about (and I’m also yet to visit a park with a phenomenally huge coaster selection; my current highest number of ridden creds at a park is 10).
For quantity over quality; I’m going to throw in a slightly controversial choice and go with Blackpool Pleasure Beach as my nominee for this. Don’t get me wrong, I fully appreciate and admire the history of Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s coaster lineup, but for my personal tastes and what I personally enjoy in a coaster; I have to say that I think BPB’s selection, while big and varied, would be a vastly less compelling proposition for me if it didn’t have Icon. My current average rating out of 10 for the 10 Blackpool credits I’ve ridden (I’ve only done one side of Steeplechase) is 4.6/10, and that includes the 10/10 rated Icon. I’ll admit that’s possibly a harsher metric to assess Blackpool’s coaster selection by than how I actually feel about it, but for me, too many of the rides there are either incredibly rough or just not really my type of coaster for the park’s coaster selection to sit super highly for me. That’s not to say that Blackpool’s coaster selection is bad by any means, but given the park has 10 coaster credits that I’ve ridden, there’s not too much there that I truly love, or that sits highly in my coaster rankings.
For quality over quantity; I’ll admit I struggled a little more with this one, so this might look like a slightly out-there choice to some, but I’m actually going to go with Paultons Park for this one. You might think I’m insane, but hear me out for a second. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing at Paultons that sits super, super highly for me; no top 10 candidates or anything. But for what the park aims to be (a family park aiming to provide fun for everyone), and given the size of their selection, I think they have a pretty solid coaster selection, personally; I wouldn’t say there are any real weak links within Paultons’ lineup. All 4 of their bigger coasters, while nothing earth-shattering in the sphere of thrill rides, are really good, solid, fun rides that just about anyone can enjoy, in my opinion; even including the somewhat smaller and less interesting Cat-O-Pillar, which I rated a definite peg lower than the other 4, my 5 ridden Paultons coasters have an average rating of 6/10 (although I did not ride Dino Chase, and I am also missing the new for 2022 Farmyard Flyer), which is surprisingly my 2nd highest average coaster rating for any park in the UK (highest is Alton Towers, with its 10 ridden credits scoring an average of 6.8/10). Do I think Paultons has the 2nd strongest UK coaster selection overall? No, and the stat I just gave above does show the flaws of using average rating out of 10 as a way of assessing the quality of a park’s coaster selection. Do I think Paultons has a really high-quality selection of coasters given the selection’s size and general target demographic, however? Definitely! They have a very strong selection of all-round family fun coasters, in my opinion; while nothing there is earth-shatteringly thrilling by any means, all of their coasters are good fun, in my opinion, and certainly put a smile on my face!
I can’t technically count this, as I haven’t ridden the two new coasters that are making me include this, but I were to revisit now they’ve added the two Intamins, I dare say that Islands of Adventure might also qualify for “quality over quantity”. Based on my 2014 & 2016 visits, across which I’ve accumulated Hulk, the two Dragon Challenge coasters (now defunct), and Hippogriff, the selection’s current average score for me is 5.5/10, but if I removed the two defunct DC coasters from the equation and assumed a rating of 10/10 for both of the new Intamins (I’ll be generous here, as they both look stunning and are rated highly on the whole!), the selection’s average score would go up to 8/10! And even if I left in the two defunct DC coasters, it would still be 7/10, which is still among the higher average scores I have! I also feel that for a park with only 5 coasters, Islands of Adventure now looks to have a pretty well-rounded selection in terms of demographics catered for; you have Pteranodon for the smallest guests, Hippogriff as a step-up from Pteranodon, Hagrid’s as a step-up from Hippogriff, and then you have VelociCoaster and Incredible Hulk in the top thrill band! When I last went, there was very little middle-ground between Hippogriff and Dragon Challenge/Hulk. While this is of course conjecture on my part as I haven’t done VelociCoaster and Hagrid’s and I’m also missing Pteranodon (although I’m not sure I ever intend on getting that one), IOA looks like it would certainly be in with a fair shout for “quality over quantity” if I were to revisit!
But what parks would you say defy the “more credits = stronger coaster selection” rule for you?
In terms of my own answers for this; I might struggle with this, as I’ll admit that this isn’t something I often think about (and I’m also yet to visit a park with a phenomenally huge coaster selection; my current highest number of ridden creds at a park is 10).
For quantity over quality; I’m going to throw in a slightly controversial choice and go with Blackpool Pleasure Beach as my nominee for this. Don’t get me wrong, I fully appreciate and admire the history of Blackpool Pleasure Beach’s coaster lineup, but for my personal tastes and what I personally enjoy in a coaster; I have to say that I think BPB’s selection, while big and varied, would be a vastly less compelling proposition for me if it didn’t have Icon. My current average rating out of 10 for the 10 Blackpool credits I’ve ridden (I’ve only done one side of Steeplechase) is 4.6/10, and that includes the 10/10 rated Icon. I’ll admit that’s possibly a harsher metric to assess Blackpool’s coaster selection by than how I actually feel about it, but for me, too many of the rides there are either incredibly rough or just not really my type of coaster for the park’s coaster selection to sit super highly for me. That’s not to say that Blackpool’s coaster selection is bad by any means, but given the park has 10 coaster credits that I’ve ridden, there’s not too much there that I truly love, or that sits highly in my coaster rankings.
For quality over quantity; I’ll admit I struggled a little more with this one, so this might look like a slightly out-there choice to some, but I’m actually going to go with Paultons Park for this one. You might think I’m insane, but hear me out for a second. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing at Paultons that sits super, super highly for me; no top 10 candidates or anything. But for what the park aims to be (a family park aiming to provide fun for everyone), and given the size of their selection, I think they have a pretty solid coaster selection, personally; I wouldn’t say there are any real weak links within Paultons’ lineup. All 4 of their bigger coasters, while nothing earth-shattering in the sphere of thrill rides, are really good, solid, fun rides that just about anyone can enjoy, in my opinion; even including the somewhat smaller and less interesting Cat-O-Pillar, which I rated a definite peg lower than the other 4, my 5 ridden Paultons coasters have an average rating of 6/10 (although I did not ride Dino Chase, and I am also missing the new for 2022 Farmyard Flyer), which is surprisingly my 2nd highest average coaster rating for any park in the UK (highest is Alton Towers, with its 10 ridden credits scoring an average of 6.8/10). Do I think Paultons has the 2nd strongest UK coaster selection overall? No, and the stat I just gave above does show the flaws of using average rating out of 10 as a way of assessing the quality of a park’s coaster selection. Do I think Paultons has a really high-quality selection of coasters given the selection’s size and general target demographic, however? Definitely! They have a very strong selection of all-round family fun coasters, in my opinion; while nothing there is earth-shatteringly thrilling by any means, all of their coasters are good fun, in my opinion, and certainly put a smile on my face!
I can’t technically count this, as I haven’t ridden the two new coasters that are making me include this, but I were to revisit now they’ve added the two Intamins, I dare say that Islands of Adventure might also qualify for “quality over quantity”. Based on my 2014 & 2016 visits, across which I’ve accumulated Hulk, the two Dragon Challenge coasters (now defunct), and Hippogriff, the selection’s current average score for me is 5.5/10, but if I removed the two defunct DC coasters from the equation and assumed a rating of 10/10 for both of the new Intamins (I’ll be generous here, as they both look stunning and are rated highly on the whole!), the selection’s average score would go up to 8/10! And even if I left in the two defunct DC coasters, it would still be 7/10, which is still among the higher average scores I have! I also feel that for a park with only 5 coasters, Islands of Adventure now looks to have a pretty well-rounded selection in terms of demographics catered for; you have Pteranodon for the smallest guests, Hippogriff as a step-up from Pteranodon, Hagrid’s as a step-up from Hippogriff, and then you have VelociCoaster and Incredible Hulk in the top thrill band! When I last went, there was very little middle-ground between Hippogriff and Dragon Challenge/Hulk. While this is of course conjecture on my part as I haven’t done VelociCoaster and Hagrid’s and I’m also missing Pteranodon (although I’m not sure I ever intend on getting that one), IOA looks like it would certainly be in with a fair shout for “quality over quantity” if I were to revisit!
But what parks would you say defy the “more credits = stronger coaster selection” rule for you?
