Thrill rating system

[johnrose]

Would it be logistically impossible to duplicate the Intensity/Excitement/Vomit ratings from RCT in real life?

 

Building on Elissa's quest to convince her mum to go Mummy (and me, inadvertantly) it would make things much simpler to be able to guage the level of a thrill ride... especially dark rides, where you can't see the major thrill moments from outside of the attraction...

 

Pardon my ignorance if this topic has previously been explored... I'm not from around here...

[maeryk]

I think it is too subjective, unfortunately.

 

I have never been on a Vekoma I like, or a B&M I didn't like.. but Robb really doesnt like my "favorite" coaster.. and I probably wouldnt be a huge fan of his, as having the blood drained out of my face and pooled in my feet is not my idea of a good time.

 

Plus, each person has individual "triggers" that make them happy.. if you like the wind whipping you so hard you cannot see, I may not.. hence something that is a ***** in your book may be a 1/2* in mine..

 

but hey.. it would be fun to try! Just do an averaged system.. set out a rating of 1-5 for things like "speed" "smoothness" "restraint comfort" ( you can leave that off the Vekomas.. ), "theming" whatever.. and average it. I'm sure theres many sites out there that already do that, though.

 

Maeryk

[What Now]

Some parks (at least Knott's) have a rating system for how intense rides are. For example, the Stagecoach has a one Diamond rating while some of their roller coasters get five diamonds.

[johnrose]

I think it is too subjective, unfortunately.

 

I have never been on a Vekoma I like, or a B&M I didn't like.. but Robb really doesnt like my "favorite" coaster.. and I probably wouldnt be a huge fan of his, as having the blood drained out of my face and pooled in my feet is not my idea of a good time.

 

Plus, each person has individual "triggers" that make them happy.. if you like the wind whipping you so hard you cannot see, I may not.. hence something that is a ***** in your book may be a 1/2* in mine..

 

but hey.. it would be fun to try! Just do an averaged system.. set out a rating of 1-5 for things like "speed" "smoothness" "restraint comfort" ( you can leave that off the Vekomas.. ), "theming" whatever.. and average it. I'm sure theres many sites out there that already do that, though.

 

Maeryk

 

That's a great idea! I've seen a couple of bulletin board sites that have generic ride ratings, but none get specific. Listing those categories would be a fantastic way to provide context for "nervous flyers" without hitting them with spoilers...

[maeryk]

so, things like: headbanging (short) or (tall) (thats an important one.. my wife is 5'4, I'm 6'3.. theres an AMAZING dichotomy between our ride experiences.. ), "airtime" "g's" "negative G's" "element rating"..

 

Don't know how one would set the poll up though.. what other things can people think of?

 

Maeryk

[PKDFreak]

PKD has a rating system..i think its on a STAR system or something of that sort and beside it it says what intensity it is! There about right too!

[CoasterFanatic]

I have been through all of these different types of rating lists and without resorting to the "pythagorus" type formula that Mitch Hawker uses, I just do 1-10 in my rating system.

[DarienLaker]

Would it be logistically impossible to duplicate the Intensity/Excitement/Vomit ratings from RCT in real life?

 

I say would be possible in someway to duplicate the Intensity and Excitement ratings from RCT, but as for the Vomit rating that all depends on the rider's discretion weather or not the ride makes them barf!

[yay101]

...but as for the Vomit rating that all depends on the rider's discretion weather or not the ride makes them barf!

 

The nausea rating would be the same. Each person can tolerate certain amounts of nausea from a ride. I think it would be possible, although I think RCT3 is way more tolerant in terms of intensity and nausea rating than in real life. The only ride I can think of that would be "Very High" in intensity and actually rate greater than 8.00 is Intimidator 305 and that's it. RCT and RCT2's ratings are in my opinion about equal to what the rating will be in real life.

 

Interesting that this thread is bumped, haha! But it's good to think about, especially since there have been many intense roller coasters like I305 that have obviously been built after 2005.

[johnrose]

Thanks for bumping! As I get older I find my inner ear is less tolerant to Gs than even five years ago, so a formalized rating system would be extremely helpful.

[Tanks4me05]

Like wine tasting, rating coasters is a highly opinion-based metric, so any attempt to make a standardized rating system would be pretty moot. And this becomes increasingly more difficult the more coasters you ride. I've been on almost 250 myself, and I've given up on even the placement ranking like what the Mitch Hawker polls do. Instead, I have a tier system:

 

Tier 4 is a pile of cat turds. This is actually my smallest tier, as I like even most "crap" coasters. They flat out suck, but even then I will still probably give these rides one try every visit to the park to give them another chance. (With the exception of the Fly O Plane at Lake Winnie. I couldn't make it flip, so I stayed on the outside the whole ride; combining the uncomfortably high negative G's with the horrendous restraints, I was screaming in pain. I won't ride that thing again unless someone pays me at least $20.) The only ones in this category are SFA's Mind Eraser, CW's Hurler, and the Coney Island Cyclone (though once restoration on it is complete I can guarantee it will be at least a tier 2 ride, it has potential.)

 

Tier 3 is "meh." They're alright, either just "fun" or more on the boring side. I'll ride them for the credit, and maybe again if there isn't much else to do at the park, but they're usually a "one and done" for each visit. Some examples here are Steel Force, most mine trains and kiddie coasters, and Wild Eagle.

 

Tier 2 is really good. These are the solidly awesome attractions that I have a lot of fun on and try to ride multiple times each visit. Some examples in here are Loch Ness Monster, Kumba, Hulk, and Lightning Racer.

 

Tier 1 are the world class attractions. This is occupied by rides like RoS, Bizarro, Thunderhead, etc.

 

Then I have my absolute favorites, which are currently I305, Skyrush, Boulder Dash and El Toro.

 

Each tier is also subdivided into "upper, middle, and lower." For example, I call Cedar Creek Mine Ride a lower Tier 3, Griffon a middle Tier 2, and Thunderhead is a lower Tier 1.

[simon8899]

Some like speeds, some heights and some others the sensation of falling.

 

So - as others said - an objective thrill rating system is IMO not really possible.

[arby]

^^Mine is similar to that. I used to track all of them, but then so many just ran together as average coasters so I stopped trying to track the less than stellar ones or average ones.