Best place for theme park enthusiasts?

[davidm]

England is very good considering the density of our theme parks in relation to the size of the country.

I think that this is possibly the most (only?) sensible post TP Rich has ever made. :shock:

--

So, taking that and running with it a bit...

According to Wikipedia, the square mileage of the USA is 3,794,101 and according to RCDB there are 646 roller coasters. Making a roller coaster every 5,873 square miles.

The UK on the other hand is 94,060 sq miles, and 166 coasters = a coaster every 566 square miles.

UK > USA then? ;-)

Clearly not a fair comparison, vast amounts of the USA are sparsely populated so its fairly unreasonable to keep up a coaster/sqare mile ratio when there aren't any peeps to ride 'em.

So lets look at some of the real USA candidates...

California, 163,696 sq miles and 78 coasters = one per 2,098 sq miles - CA is a BIG STATE,

Florida then, the people's favourite... 65,755 sq miles and 43 coasters = one per 1,529 sq miles - thats more like it, but still 3 times that of the UK. Go UK!

What about the other coaster-concentrations in the US?

Ohio - the roller coaster state? - 44,825 and 36 coasters= one per 1,245 (getting better)

Pennsylvania - lots of old parks there - 46,055 and 48 coasters = one per 980 (have to think that the state is still too big to get good results....)

New Jersey, seaside fun anyone? 8,721 and 47 = 1 per 185 square miles - do we have a winner?

:?:

Only we don't.

Lets head back to the old world.

UK was 566, what about just England? 50,346 and 141 rides = one per 357 (thats devolution for you)

Germany... 137,847 and 133 rides = one per 1,036 (not so impressive now then!)


Size counts, so lets try some smaller European countries;

Denmark, 16,641 and 33 = one per 504 (good work the Danes!)

Belgium, 11,787 and 26 = one per 453 (better than the UK)

Netherlands, 16,039 and 43 = one per 373 (still not getting near New Jersey though...)


OK lets go to extremes now, what about those city-states out East (the Vatican. Monaco etc don't seem to have any coasters)

Hong Kong, 426 square miles and 5 coasters = one per 85 (taking the lead from New Jersey!)

But Singapore, at 276 square miles and 4 coasters clocks in at one per 68 - and thats the best I can find.

Phew.


--

Japan comes in at 145,925 and 213 = 685 (not bad)

and you have to feel for the Russians, 6,592,800 and a paltry 49 = one every 134,546 square miles. Poor Putin.

(Not double-checked any stats so feel free to correct 'em / derive some more)

 

[davidm]

Yeah, in reality I'd say the East coast of the US wins (not NJ particularily), but that whole eastern seaboard where the main US population expansion happened and the early 20th century parks sprung up is where its all at.

Taking density alone, Singapore wins, which clearly makes no sense...
...the CA number was interesting I thought though.

 

[davidm]

Texas : 268,581 sqare miles, 38 coasters = 1 per 7068 -

Hmmm that CA number doesn't look right does it : EDIT required - should be 2000 odd not 7000 - whodathought I have a Maths degree - d'oh.

 

[TP Rich]

UK > USA then? ;-)

Nah. Quality > Quanitity! Don't get me wrong, the UK has some excellent theme parks, but the USA has more excellent parks, even when you consider the density.

 

[furie]

Nah. Quality > Quanitity!

It's what I've been telling Taylor for years!

I suppose I just like the freedom of a car over public transportation.

I agree. I don't know if it's just being a driver though. I know Ben said "UK is an hour away from Germany". It's true, but it doesn't include travelling to the airport (either driving or by train) and then the 2 hour wait for your flight (though isn't it less now for inter-Europe flights?).

Though it IS much the same from most places in the UK to get to an airport and fly in roughly the same time as it would take to drive to a relatively distant UK park (as Jake says).

It's just that the difference between "Leave house, enter car, drive three hours, exit car, ride" and "leave house, get bus/taxi to train station, wait for train, get train to airport, wait for plane, fly to country, get public transport to park (either direct from the airport, or reverse leaving the country procedure" is massive in terms of hassle. Especially taking into account the ball ache of security checks, etc.

However... It's well worth the effort when you look at the parks that come into reach with just a little extra hassle.

I suspect your attitude may well come down to if you're a driver/experienced flier or not.

 

[gavin]

Yeah, whichever way you swing it, the North-Eastern USA is basically it.

I'm just going to throw Tokyo into the mix though. There are not many places where you can just casually go for a quick ride on one of the world's tallest coasters (Thunder Dolphin) on your way home from work, or pop in for a few beers at a pirate-themed bar, complete with full scale swinging ship, and have a casual ride on an Intamin launched looper while you're waiting.

In and around the city itself, you've got:

Tokyo Disneyland - Excellent park
Tokyo DisneySea - AMAZING
Tokyo Dome City - Thunder Dolphin
Aqua Stadium - Galaxy Express 999 (launched Intamin looper)
Toshimaen - nothing major, but a nice little park
Sega Joypolis - crap coaster, but fun place
Yomiuriland - Bandit (basically a hyper) and a bunch of other coasters
Tobu Zoo - Megalite and Intamin woodie
Hanayashiki - quirky little park
Sea Paradise - Surf Coaster and Blue Fall
Cosmoworld - Diving Coaster Vanish (not brilliant, but "different") and others
Seibuen Yuenchi - aka Hello Kitty Land

Then slightly further out out you've got Fuji Q and Nasu Highlands, not to mention a bunch of smaller parks.

 

[TP Rich]

^ That's Tokyo on my list of places to go before I die!

 

[Symaxius]

Not sure if I understood the question 100% but - we love enthusiasts. We happen to believe you guys are the lifeblood of our industry.

As such - you will always be warmly welcomed to Lightwater Valley.


Kind Regards,

Simon

 

[kimahri]

^ That's Tokyo on my list of places to go before I die!

Weeaboo.

 

[gavin]

Are the coasters any good, though? It seems half of what they have are those odd helix-based things.

Yeah, it's definitely a case of quantity over quality. Having said that, in the Tokyo area the coasters I'd consider as very good - excellent:

Thunder Dolphin, though mostly for the first drop and location
Bandit
Kawasemi
Fujiyama - Vastly underrated in my opinion
Dodonpa
Big Boom - AMAZING first drop
Galaxy Express 999 - Epically long WTF preshow, and great "opening" to an otherwise crap coaster.

I'm sure I'd be including Eejanaika if I'd actually gotten to ride it.

Then obviously Disneyland and DisneySea. Clearly not about the coasters, but both fantastic parks.

 

[furie]

^ That's Tokyo on my list of places to go before I die!

Weeaboo.

We've already started the whip-round

UC, I see what you mean. I wasn't clear (misposted) really. I meant it really depends on if you're a driver or use public transport. I don't think Ben drives, so for him America is pretty hopeless compared to the UK. It's just the way you approach it really.

Having said that, maybe public transport in the US is better than I've been led to believe.

 

[nealbie]

Not sure if I understood the question 100% but - we love enthusiasts. We happen to believe you guys are the lifeblood of our industry.

As such - you will always be warmly welcomed to Lightwater Valley.


Kind Regards,

Simon

Simon says.... Therefore it must be true!

I miss Simon (come to Thorpe for the Swarm Live next weekend if you can get the day off )

 

[Mysterious Sue]

Not sure if I understood the question 100% but - we love enthusiasts. We happen to believe you guys are the lifeblood of our industry.

As such - you will always be warmly welcomed to Lightwater Valley.


Kind Regards,

Simon

Simon says.... Therefore it must be true!

I miss Simon (come to Thorpe for the Swarm Live next weekend if you can get the day off )

Yeah we never know where we're going now we don't have an umbrella too guide us!

 

[SaiyanHajime]

Depends on your age.

If you're too young to drive, the UK. Preferably south east.

If you can drive, east coast USA.

I think Orlando doesn't have the right mix of rides to keep the average coaster enthusiast amused for years.

Sent from my HTC Wildfire S A510e using Tapatalk

 

[Ben]

Oh yeah, the East Coast of America is the best, no doubt. My point was just that the UK shouldn't be dismissed as crap out of hand, I'd say it's easily the second best.

Plus, you don't have to live in America.

Although their food is better.

 

[Gazza]

^Well, I think my next question was going to be is there anyone with experience in both?

I have almost no experience in U.S. public trans, as I drive everywhere...the few times I've had to use it, it's been alright, but I've such a small sample size...and since I've never truly relied on it, I'm probably not as prone to when it fails.

European transportation is fantastic though...I just wonder how much of that is me having no experience with it here, and how much is truly better? I personally lean to it just being flat out better, since it seems to be relied upon much, much more.

Of all the parks I've visited in the US, I've been to all of them at some point on PT.

It's not as easy as in the UK or Aus, but at the same time its not impossible, it just requires a bit more legwork in terms of planning your trip (You cant just "turn up and go" or rely on bus/rail connections to be co-ordinated)
Orlando is probably easiest without a car I've found.
LA parks (Apart from Universal) often require some walking or taxi-ing for the last bit of your journey (I've found it easier to walk the 3km from Anaheim Amtrak to Disneyland, or the 3.5km from the Santa Clarita bus interchange to SFMM.

 

[Jake]

OK, following the random statistics out there I've made a list, which according to RCDB, are countries who have never had any known permanent coasters. Obviously, it's probably just because nobody has seen any and told RCDB, but it's still quite interesting. Also, some of the countries are too small or unpopulated to sustain a park, such as Vatican City or some of the small islands.

Oh, this list only contains fully sovereign states. Disputed or dependant territories such as Greenland, Bermuda, Western Sahara, Gibraltar, Falklands etc are not included.

Also, advanced search wouldn't let me 'sort by' country, so countries which used to have credits but no longer do are not included. I know of a couple of countries which only had one credit and got rid of it, but using tree view on RCDB these are ignored. I'll try and do an 'operating' one when I can be bothered.

So yeah, these countries have NEVER had creds apparently...


Africa

Angola
Benin
Botswana
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Congo
Ivory Coast
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Djibouti
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Gabon
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Kenya
Lesoto
Liberia
Libya
Madagascar
Malawi
Mali
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mozambique
Namibia
Niger
Rwanda
Sao Tome and Principale
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Sudan
Swaziland
Togo
Uganda
Zambia
Zimbabwe

Asia

Afghanistan
Bhutan
Laos
Maldives


Europe

Andorra
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Iceland
Kosovo
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Macedonia (FYR)
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
San Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Vatican City

North America

Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Dominica
Grenada
Haiti
Honduras
Nicaragua
Panama
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Trinidad and Tobago

South America

Bolivia
Guyana
Paraguay

Oceania

Fiji
Kiribati
Marshall Islands
Micronesia
Nauru
Palau
Papa New Guinea
Samoa
Solomon Islands
Tonga
Tuvalu
Vanuatu


Like I said earlier, I'm sure some (or a lot of) these countries do have creds, but we don't know about them either way.

 

[furie]

The Pope has definitely got his own private Mini-Apple cred!

 

[Jake]

^ He's already had his own park!

http://rcdb.com/4931.htm


Oh, wait...

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

The clear answer here is Canada. Two or three major parks throughout the entirety of the country.. How can you go wrong?! :lol:

I'd say England is phenomenal. Soo many parks in such a small space and everything is very easily accessible because the public transportation there is amazing.