Matt N
CF Legend
Hi guys. With 2023 having recently started and 2022 having recently ended, there have been a lot of "2022 year in review" type threads around the internet for us to be able to talk about how good 2022 was for us. However, that might not reflect your most successful year as an enthusiast, so I'd be keen to know; of all the years you've been a theme park enthusiast, which would you say was your most successful? What year would you say you were most pleased with in terms of things you accomplished, or the number of new creds you rode, or the number of park days you had?
I'll get the ball rolling with my answer.
I could answer this question from the heart and talk about my own opinion of which year was most successful, but I thought it would be far more fun to try and answer it using various different statistics! There are so many different metrics by which you could determine a "successful" year, so I thought I'd try and explore a number of different coaster and park related statistics from my own enthusiast journey to see which years were best for me through different metrics...
Most New Coasters Ridden
Let's start with an obvious one; the number of new coasters I rode in a year! The top 3 years where I rode the most new coasters are as follows:
So by that metric, 2014 and 2018 are joint highest as my most successful year for new coasters, with a solid +17 being gained in both years! 2014 was a higher proportional gain to the count, as my 2013 count was vastly smaller than my 2017 count, but the raw gain is the same.
Most New Parks Visited
I might as well examine how many new parks I visited in each year too! The top 3 years where I visited the most new parks were as follows:
By that metric, 2014 and 2019 are joint highest as my most successful year for new parks, with a +5 being added to the park count in both years! As above, 2014 was a higher proportional gain due to my park count being smaller back then, but the raw gain is the same as it was in 2019.
Number of Coaster Rides
Riding new coasters is brilliant, but I'd argue that overall coaster rides could also be used as a success metric in itself! The top 3 years where I had the most coaster rides were as follows:
Interestingly, 2022, with 91 coaster rides having been taken, won the coaster ride stakes by an absolute landslide, beating out the 2nd place year by over 50%! Given that 2021 came second and 2019 came third, I'm clearly getting gradually better at riding lots of coasters in a year!
Number of Theme Park Days
It's not all about the coaster rides, so you could also use your total theme park days as a success metric! The top 3 years where I had the most theme park days were as follows:
2019 was the year with the highest number of theme park days for me, with 2 weeks having been spent in theme parks in total that year!
Number of Unique Coasters Ridden
Having lots of coaster rides in a year is all well and good, but if loads of those are just you lapping a few rides over and over, that doesn't offer a lot of variety, does it? With that in mind, I reckon the number of unique coasters ridden could be another good success metric! The top 3 years where I rode the most unique coasters were as follows:
2019 was the year where I rode the most different coasters, with 32 different coasters having been ridden in total!
Number of Unique Parks Visited
Spending loads of days at theme parks is all well and good, but if 90% of those days are just you visiting Alton Towers over and over again, that's not a very diverse visitation range. As such, I think that the number of unique parks visited could be a good success metric! The top 3 years where I visited the most unique parks were as follows:
2019 was the year where I visited the most different theme parks, with 10 different theme parks having been visited in total!
So overall, I think I can ascertain that 2019 has probably been my most successful year so far, seeing as it topped many of the success metrics and appeared in the top 3 for the vast majority of them! There are all kinds of ways you could measure success, but of the ones I used, 2019 seems to come out on top.
But which year has been your most successful since you became an enthusiast? Whether you answer from the heart or take a more statistical route like I did, I'd be really keen to know!
I'll get the ball rolling with my answer.
I could answer this question from the heart and talk about my own opinion of which year was most successful, but I thought it would be far more fun to try and answer it using various different statistics! There are so many different metrics by which you could determine a "successful" year, so I thought I'd try and explore a number of different coaster and park related statistics from my own enthusiast journey to see which years were best for me through different metrics...
Most New Coasters Ridden
Let's start with an obvious one; the number of new coasters I rode in a year! The top 3 years where I rode the most new coasters are as follows:
| Ranking | Year | New Coasters Ridden |
| 1 | 2014 and 2018 | 17 |
| 2 | 2016 | 13 |
| 3 | 2022 | 12 |
Most New Parks Visited
I might as well examine how many new parks I visited in each year too! The top 3 years where I visited the most new parks were as follows:
| Ranking | Year | New Parks Visited |
| 1 | 2014 and 2019 | 5 |
| 2 | 2016 | 3 |
| 3 | 2018 | 2 |
Number of Coaster Rides
Riding new coasters is brilliant, but I'd argue that overall coaster rides could also be used as a success metric in itself! The top 3 years where I had the most coaster rides were as follows:
| Ranking | Year | Overall Coaster Rides |
| 1 | 2022 | 91 |
| 2 | 2021 | 60 |
| 3 | 2019 | 46 |
Number of Theme Park Days
It's not all about the coaster rides, so you could also use your total theme park days as a success metric! The top 3 years where I had the most theme park days were as follows:
| Ranking | Year | Overall Theme Park Days |
| 1 | 2019 | 14 |
| 2 | 2016 | 11 |
| 3 | 2014 and 2022 | 9 |
Number of Unique Coasters Ridden
Having lots of coaster rides in a year is all well and good, but if loads of those are just you lapping a few rides over and over, that doesn't offer a lot of variety, does it? With that in mind, I reckon the number of unique coasters ridden could be another good success metric! The top 3 years where I rode the most unique coasters were as follows:
| Ranking | Year | Unique Coasters Ridden |
| 1 | 2019 | 32 |
| 2 | 2022 | 29 |
| 3 | 2016 | 26 |
Number of Unique Parks Visited
Spending loads of days at theme parks is all well and good, but if 90% of those days are just you visiting Alton Towers over and over again, that's not a very diverse visitation range. As such, I think that the number of unique parks visited could be a good success metric! The top 3 years where I visited the most unique parks were as follows:
| Ranking | Year | Unique Parks Visited |
| 1 | 2019 | 10 |
| 2 | 2014 and 2016 | 6 |
| 3 | 2018, 2021 and 2022 | 4 |
So overall, I think I can ascertain that 2019 has probably been my most successful year so far, seeing as it topped many of the success metrics and appeared in the top 3 for the vast majority of them! There are all kinds of ways you could measure success, but of the ones I used, 2019 seems to come out on top.
But which year has been your most successful since you became an enthusiast? Whether you answer from the heart or take a more statistical route like I did, I'd be really keen to know!
