Hi guys. Many of us keep tabs of our count of unique coasters ridden and unique parks visited (myself included), but after a post
@Hixee made in the top 10 thread showing off his huge spreadsheet logging his total lifetime ride count and his total lifetime park visit count, I was inspired to calculate something similar regarding my own theme park enthusiasm journey. As such, I went through the surprisingly difficult task of trying to work out the coasters I have ridden most and the parks I have visited most since I became an enthusiast. So my question to you today is; what are your most ridden coasters and most visited parks, if you keep such stats?
I’ll get the ball rolling with my own findings.
To get things started, I should preface this by saying that my unique coaster count is
74 and my unique park count is
18. Also, instead of doing this over my whole lifetime, I started from
28th September 2013, which is where I started my coaster & park counts from. This may seem like a somewhat arbitrary date, but it’s significant to me because it was the date of my first Alton Towers visit where I was able to ride all of the big rides, and it’s also the first theme park visit I’d had since I’d say I was properly “into” theme parks. I know my “enthusiasm start date” is something that many have mocked me for in the past, and it probably seems strange that I don’t count what I’ve done over my entire lifespan, but data from before I got into theme parks is somewhat spotty (I’m not entirely sure what I rode pre-enthusiast, and when I visited certain places), and the potential number of creds I’d gain from using such a strategy is extremely small, if any.
Anyway, I’ll get to my stats without rambling too much more!
Overall, since September 2013, I have had
222 roller coaster rides, and I have had
60 theme park days in total.
In terms of my most ridden roller coasters of all time; the top 10 is as follows (there are 3 rides joint in 2nd, so the actual top 10 only takes up 8 places):
- Nemesis at Alton Towers (21 rides, first ridden 28th September 2013)
- Thirteen, RMT and Oblivion at Alton Towers (joint 2nd) (15 rides, first ridden 28th September 2013)
- Galactica at Alton Towers (5th) (13 rides, first ridden 28th September 2013)
- The Swarm at Thorpe Park (6th) (12 rides, first ridden 27th July 2014)
- The Smiler at Alton Towers (7th) (11 rides, first ridden 29th September 2013)
- Rita at Alton Towers (8th) (10 rides, first ridden 28th September 2013)
- Wicker Man at Alton Towers (9th) (9 rides, first ridden 25th March 2018)
- Spinball Whizzer at Alton Towers (10th) (8 rides, first ridden 28th September 2013)
In terms of my most visited theme parks (in terms of days spent at them), the top 5 is as follows (two are joint 3rd and two are joint 5th, so the top 5 only takes up 4 places). It’s worth remembering that my total number of theme park days is
60:
- Alton Towers (22 days, first visited 28th September 2013)
- Thorpe Park (7 days, first visited 27th July 2014)
- Universal’s Islands of Adventure & Universal Studios Florida (joint 3rd) (4 days, first visited 17th August 2014 (IOA) & 19th August 2014 (USF))
- Disney’s Animal Kingdom & SeaWorld Orlando (joint 5th) (3 days, first visited 23rd August 2014 (DAK) & 23rd August 2016 (SWO))
In terms of other interesting data; I also have the top 5 parks where I’ve had the most coaster rides since September 2013. It’s worth remembering that my total tally of coaster rides is currently
222:
- Alton Towers (103 rides, 22 days, first visited 28th September 2013)
- Thorpe Park (32 rides, 7 days, first visited 27th July 2014)
- Blackpool Pleasure Beach (18 rides, 2 days, first visited 14th August 2018)
- Oakwood Theme Park (11 rides, 2 days, first visited 18th July 2016)
- Universal’s Islands of Adventure (9 rides, 4 days, first visited 17th August 2014)
Here’s my full spreadsheet, if you’re interested to examine my data:
docs.google.com
So, what can I infer from my data?
Well for starters, I think I can infer that my theme park visiting habits are very Alton Towers-centric; the park is where approximately
37% of my theme park days have been since September 2013, and it’s where approximately
46% of my coaster rides have taken place! In terms of the 2nd place park; it was a fair way behind Alton Towers, and it was Thorpe Park, where I’ve had approximately
12% of my theme park days and
14% of my coaster rides. Between them, the two most thrilling UK Merlin parks (arguably) are where approximately
49% of my theme park days and
61% of my coaster rides have been!
I can also infer that my coaster rides are limited to a very select few rides and my park days are limited to a very select few parks (building on the above), for the most part; on average, I have ridden a coaster in my count of 74
3 times, and I have spent approximately
3.3 days on average at a park in my count of 18.
Quite shockingly, I have ridden
40 coasters, or about
54% of my coaster count, only once, and the amount of coasters I have ridden 3 times or more (so basically, average or above) is
22, or just under
30% of my count. If you extend that to “coasters I’ve ridden an above average number of times”, or 4 times or more, it decreases even further to
15, or about
20% of my count.
In terms of parks; of the 18 I’ve visited, I have visited
8 of them, or approximately
44% of my park count, only once. In terms of parks I’ve spent an above average number of days at (so, 4 or above; I couldn’t extend to 3, as that was technically below average); that number sits at
4, or approximately
22% of my park count.
So, those are some of my nerdy stats!
But what are some of your most ridden coasters and most visited parks?