This is an article I wrote back in Feb. 2005 when there was a lot of discussion about this topic on a couple of websites I participated on. They are now, sadly, gone, but my article remains.
Coaster Counting- How do you do it?
As you get involved in talking to those within the coaster enthusiast
community, one of the things that you will be asked sooner or later is,
"What's your count? How many coasters have you been on?" It seems like an
innocent enough question, and not a big deal. But it is one of the fun
things about the hobby. One of the first things I did when I really
started my interest was to compose a list of the coasters that I'd experienced,
just to see how many I'd been on. I now keep counts for my kids to.
For some, the count may mean even a bit more than just a fun part of a
hobby. For those "serious" about their coasters, the count says as much
about a person's experiences and how valid their opinions are as anything
else. So whether you count for fun, or you want to get serious about it,
here's my rules and guidelines for counting coasters. Not only have I
mentioned how I maintain and keep my own count, but I also try to include
other methods and opinions if they seem to have a good number of people
that use those methods. So without further ado, here we go:
1. The first thing to determine is, what makes a roller coaster a roller
coaster? Why aren't log flumes and simulators considered roller
coasters? For me at least, the answer to this is right in the name of the
ride- roller coaster. Roller- it has to roll on wheels. And coaster- it
has to coast under the power of gravity. Of course, it can't be just that
simple, not with the variety of rides out there. So let me explain a bit
more.
1a. Roller- It has to be on wheels. Period. No wheels, it's not a
coaster.
Additionally, it must maintain those wheels in relative position to the
track. So if you have wheels on the bottom, you can't shift to another
set of wheels on the back of the car (e.g. freefall drop rides). The
wheels don't always have to roll, or even necessarily be in contact with
the track the entire time (e.g. moments of negative g-forces, or in the
case of a hybrid flume/ coaster), but the track as to stay in one place in
relation to where the wheels are- always on the bottom, top, side, etc.
1b. Coaster- it has to, for at least a portion of the ride, coast solely
under the power of gravity and/or momentum.
I don't care how the ride starts (lift hill, powered launch, elevator
(maintaining the wheel position to track of course!), but somewhere along
the way it has to coast unaided or unhindered by anything mechanical.
Thus powered coasters or dark rides that have a drop don't count, since
they never coast without the power helping to propel them.
Using those guidelines, let me mention a couple of specific rides that
seem to come up in "are they a coaster" conversations, and how I
determined what my own answer is. I'll start with the Journey to Atlantis
rides at Sea World in Orlando and San Diego. They are a mix of flume
rides with portions that include roller coaster track and drops. After
looking at them, I ended up deciding to count the one in San Diego as a
coaster, but not the one in Orlando. Outside of one single coaster drop
on the one in Orlando, there isn't any other portion on it that resembles
a roller coaster. Instead it's almost entirely a flume ride, and the one
small portion wasn't, for me at least, enough to call it a coaster. On
the other hand, the one in San Diego has almost half of it's length as
coaster track, with three drops and some other coaster action, so it did
get counted.
Possibly the biggest coaster to be argued about is Superman: The Escape at
Six Flags Magic Mountain, a ride that launches you at up to 100 mph,
rocketing you straight up a 410 foot tall tower where, after a 6 second
hesitation, you then drop backwards down the way you came and end up back
in the station. For me at least, it's pretty clear that it's a coaster.
The wheels on the car always maintain their position with the track (on
the bottom of the car), and after the launch it's momentum is all that
continues to propel it forward and then up the tower. After that, gravity
takes over and it coasts all the way down the tower and back to the
station, as it's braked to make sure that it stops when it should. It
rolls, and it coasts. Simple. And yet this ride seems to have more
controversy over it than any other out there. I always get a kick to out
of the ones who won't count it, but they'll count impulse coasters (e.g.
Vertical Velocity or Steel Venom) or shuttle loops as coaster, even though
they are incredibly similar.
Ok, that done, back to my list of rules for counting.
2. Each individually operating track on a coaster counts as one.
This means that I will count racing and dueling coasters once for each
side, as each one can operate completely independently of whether or not
the other side is running. This is true for pretty much every coaster
that has 2 sides to choose from, with only 2 known exceptions that I'll
deal with in a minute. In my mind, if that ride can operate independently
on it's own, then it deserves to be counted on it's own. That would mean
that Disney's Matterhorn (or Space Mountain at WDW), SFMM's old Colossus, IOA's
Dueling Dragons, Hershey's Lightning Racers, PKI's John Allen Racer, CP's
Gemini, etc would all count as two coasters. The only exceptions would be
Kennywood's Racer and one coaster in England (and now Twisted Colossus),
which are "mobius" coasters-
both sides are actually one long, continuous track. You leave on one side
and come return to the station on the other. In these cases because each
side can't operate on their own, I would count them as one coaster, and
only once I'd been on both sides.
As a side note, there are a good number
of people who disagree on my general rule here and count coasters as one
per "attraction", viewing the coasters as one ride sharing the same name
and location on the map. The community is probably divided up pretty
evenly on this aspect.
3. "Clones" all count individually
As you travel around, you'll notice that there are some coasters that just
seem to be all over the place- boomerangs, Vekoma suspended looping
coasters (slc's), Batman: The Ride, Galaxi's, and many others. These are
coasters that are built with the same exact kinds of track, layout,
trains, etc and are, except for location, virtually identical. However,
they are still separate coasters, and their locations, scenery, theming,
etc., help to make an impact on the rides as well. Thus, while I have
been on 5 coasters called Batman: the Ride, and they are all virtually
identical, each one is counted once, for a total of 5 on my list. This
also influences my next point:
4. A coaster that has moved from one park to another may be counted again.
There is a lot of disagreement on this point, and that's ok, but here is my view.
I've only had to deal with this once so far that I know of, with the
bobsled coaster that was once at SFMM as Sarajevo Bobsleds and now resides
at SFoT as La Vibora. At the time I rode it the second time, I didn't
have a clue that it was the same coaster (nor did I particularly care to
much at the time) As far as I was concerned, I was riding a ride that was
completely new to me. The change in parks had a drastic difference in how
I perceived the ride, and for me the new location equaled a new coaster.
There are some that would argue against my views here, pointing out that
it's the same machine as I had ridden previously. To which I pointed at
that the clones I'd riden practically were to, but they all counted
individually, even though they were identical rides. Seems to me that the
two are intertwined since they both involve the same ride at different
locations, though getting agreement on that would be a challenge.
5. A coaster that moves to a different location in the same park does NOT
get counted again.
This should seem obvious, but in light of the last two points, I did want
to clarify that. Same park, same ambience, etc. The next point is also
related to this:
6. A coaster that gets rethemed, enclosed, etc., but in the same location
does not get counted again.
This includes most cosmetic changes to a coaster, as even though the
surroundings change, the coaster itself does not. So even though a
coaster that may have been outdoors now has a building around it, it's
still the same coaster in the same location. People aren't going to look
at it and think it's a new ride, thus it doesn't get counted as one.
For me, X2 falls
into this category, being counted as the same as X, because it is essentially the same.
7. Reprofiling or major changes are a case-by-case basis
This is where changes to a coaster's layout, trains, or other major
changes to it come in. If a large portion of a coaster has been
retracked, but the layout is identical, it's not counted again. But if in
that process they made changes to the layout of the coaster, then it
might, depending on how much was changed and how drastic. A couple of
examples- Colossus at SFMM has had it's first drop sequence changed from
when it opened as well has had a double down (one drop after another)
changed to a flat section with a brake on it. While both changes affected
the ride, it is still, essentially the same coaster, so no new count.
However, Phantom's Revenge at Kennywood changed huge portions of that
coaster, removing loops and inversions and changing the course in major
ways. New coaster.
Trains may or may not influence this to, and are an individual decision.
Does riding a coaster sitting down one time, then on a standup train count
twice (there's a coaster in Japan that does this)? For some yes, others
no. Does riding it forwards and backwards count once for each time? For
me, sometimes yes and sometimes no. If the backwards is a unique change
not always offered, I would count it. But if both options are offered
simultaneously, no. As examples I counted the old Colossus at SFMM
backwards as an extra count, but not Superman backwards. I'm still debating on
Mr. Freeze at SFStL. Confusing? You bet! Not a lot hard and fast here.
Which brings me to my last point:
8. Counting is up to the individual doing the counting!
In the end, it's up to you to count what you want to count and to go by
your rules, not someone elses. If you're not sure, feel free to seek
advice. But in the end with so many differences, variances, and changes,
there isn't any way to have solid rules that everyone is going to agree on
about what to count and what not to count. Everyone is going to end up
disagreeing on something or other. That's just part of life. So make
sure it's something you're comfortable with, don't get upset if others
disagree, and be open to other opinions and maybe even changing yours at
some point. That goes for me to, as I'm constantly revising and editing
my own rules. And probably will again once I get feedback from this.
In any case though, remember- it's a hobby and is supposed to be fun. If
it gets serious or offensive because of a disagreement, then someone's
priorities about life are in the wrong place. Don't let that be you!
No comments:
Post a Comment