Which UK coaster lineup is your favourite?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. The UK has a surprising amount of parks for a relatively small country in terms of landmass, and this naturally means that the UK has quite a number of coaster lineups. These vary in quantity and variety, but there are a surprising amount of coasters in the UK nonetheless. After witnessing a furious debate in TowersStreet Talk's Blackpool Pleasure Beach topic yesterday regarding its coaster lineup vs Alton Towers' (amongst other things), it got me thinking about my favourite UK coaster lineups. As such, my question to you today is; which coaster lineup in the UK is your favourite?

Personally, I would vote for the coaster lineup of Alton Towers as a gut instinct answer. Their top coaster for me (Wicker Man) is one of my favourite coasters in the UK and sits firmly in my top 10, Oblivion isn't at all far behind (it's at #11 and the very top of my 9/10 tier, in fact!), and overall, the park has a number of very solid headliners, in my view!

However, I'd be interested to work out the answer to this statistically based on my coaster rankings and ratings from my spreadsheet...
My UK parks ranked by measures of central tendency of all ridden coasters
Mean Rating

Ranking	Park	Mean Rating out of 10 (to 1dp)	Number of Ridden Coasters
1	Alton Towers	6.5	10
2	Paultons Park	6	5
3	Thorpe Park	5.7	7
4	Oakwood Theme Park	5.3	4
5	Drayton Manor	4.8	4
6	Blackpool Pleasure Beach	4.5	10
7	Legoland Windsor	4	1
8	Chessington World of Adventures	4	4
9	West Midlands Safari Park	3	2
10	South Pier Blackpool	2	1

Median Rating

Ranking	Park	Median Rating out of 10 (to 1dp)	Number of Ridden Coasters
1	Alton Towers	6.5	10
2	Paultons Park	6	5
3	Thorpe Park	5	7
4	Oakwood Theme Park	5	4
5	Drayton Manor	4.5	4
6	Blackpool Pleasure Beach	4	10
7	Legoland Windsor	4	1
8	Chessington World of Adventures	4	4
9	West Midlands Safari Park	3	2
10	South Pier Blackpool	2	1

Mean Ranking

Ranking	Park	Mean Ranking out of 99 Ranked/Rated Coasters (to 1dp)	Number of Ridden Coasters
1	Alton Towers	39.4	10
2	Paultons Park	45.4	5
3	Thorpe Park	47.1	7
4	Oakwood Theme Park	51	4
5	Drayton Manor	60.5	4
6	Blackpool Pleasure Beach	61.8	10
7	Legoland Windsor	67	1
8	Chessington World of Adventures	69.3	4
9	West Midlands Safari Park	78.5	2
10	South Pier Blackpool	93	1

Median Ranking

Ranking	Park	Median Ranking out of 99 Ranked/Rated Coasters (to 1dp)	Number of Ridden Coasters
1	Alton Towers	33	10
2	Paultons Park	40	5
3	Thorpe Park	47	7
4	Oakwood Theme Park	49	4
5	Drayton Manor	61.5	4
6	Blackpool Pleasure Beach	65.5	10
7	Legoland Windsor	67	1
8	Chessington World of Adventures	71.5	4
9	West Midlands Safari Park	78.5	2
10	South Pier Blackpool	93	1

By the measures of central tendency for all UK parks, Alton Towers wins for me by mean and median rankings and ratings, with Paultons Park and Thorpe Park coming 2nd and 3rd in all measures respectively.

However, I would say that measures of central tendency across a whole lineup are not necessarily an accurate indicator of how much I or anyone else likes a park's lineup, as for me (and I'm sure this is the case for many others), I can look past some slightly weaker links if the park's top few coasters are really good. Measures of central tendency for the whole lineup doesn't take the top-ranking coasters into account, purely considering what things look like at the centre of the park's ranking. They are quite good for determining how consistently strong a lineup is, but perhaps not for how much one personally likes a park's lineup. For instance, all of these measures have Paultons Park as my 2nd favourite coaster lineup in the UK. Would I personally say that was the case if asked? No, I wouldn't. This isn't a slight against Paultons by any means, but I'd say that its lineup lacks a few thrill headliners compared to some of my personal favourite parks in the UK.

With this in mind, I'll try this out looking solely at the parks' top 3 coasters...
My UK parks ranked by measures of central tendency of the top 3 ridden coasters
Mean Rating of Top 3

Ranking	Park	Mean Rating out of 10 (to 1dp)	Top 3 Coasters and their Ratings
1	Alton Towers	9.3	Wicker Man (10/10) Oblivion (9/10) Rita (9/10)
2	Thorpe Park	8	Nemesis Inferno (9/10) Stealth (8/10) The Swarm (7/10)
3	Blackpool Pleasure Beach	7.7	Icon (10/10) Avalanche (7/10) Nickelodeon Streak (6/10)
4	Paultons Park	6.7	Flight of the Pterosaur (7/10) Storm Chaser (7/10) Cobra (6/10)
5	Oakwood Theme Park	6	Megafobia (8/10) Speed (5/10) Treetops (5/10)
6	Drayton Manor	5	Accelerator (6/10) Troublesome Trucks (5/10) Shockwave (4/10)
7	Chessington World of Adventures	4.7	Dragon's Fury (6/10) Vampire (4/10) Scorpion Express (4/10)
8	Legoland Windsor	4	Dragon (4/10)
9	West Midlands Safari Park	3	Rhino Coaster (4/10) Monkey Mayhem (2/10)
10	South Pier Blackpool	2	Crazy Coaster (2/10)

Median Rating of Top 3

Ranking	Park	Median Rating out of 10 (to 1dp)	Top 3 Coasters and their Ratings
1	Alton Towers	9	Wicker Man (10/10) Oblivion (9/10) Rita (9/10)
2	Thorpe Park	8	Nemesis Inferno (9/10) Stealth (8/10) The Swarm (7/10)
3	Blackpool Pleasure Beach	7	Icon (10/10) Avalanche (7/10) Nickelodeon Streak (6/10)
4	Paultons Park	7	Flight of the Pterosaur (7/10) Storm Chaser (7/10) Cobra (6/10)
5	Oakwood Theme Park	5	Megafobia (8/10) Speed (5/10) Treetops (5/10)
6	Drayton Manor	5	Accelerator (6/10) Troublesome Trucks (5/10) Shockwave (4/10)
7	Chessington World of Adventures	4	Dragon's Fury (6/10) Vampire (4/10) Scorpion Express (4/10)
8	Legoland Windsor	4	Dragon (4/10)
9	West Midlands Safari Park	3	Rhino Coaster (4/10) Monkey Mayhem (2/10)
10	South Pier Blackpool	2	Crazy Coaster (2/10)

Mean Ranking of Top 3

Ranking	Park	Mean Ranking out of 99 Ranked/Rated Coasters (to 1dp)	Top 3 Coasters and their Rankings
1	Alton Towers	13	Wicker Man (#10) Oblivion (#11) Rita (#18)
2	Thorpe Park	21.3	Nemesis Inferno (#17) Stealth (#19) The Swarm (#28)
3	Blackpool Pleasure Beach	28.7	Icon (#8) Avalanche (#32) Nickelodeon Streak (#46)
4	Paultons Park	36.3	Flight of the Pterosaur (#34) Storm Chaser (#35) Cobra (#40)
5	Oakwood Theme Park	40.7	Megafobia (#24) Speed (#48) Treetops (#50)
6	Drayton Manor	55.7	Accelerator (#44) Troublesome Trucks (#59) Shockwave (#64)
7	Chessington World of Adventures	62	Dragon's Fury (#43) Vampire (#69) Scorpion Express (#74)
8	Legoland Windsor	67	Dragon (#67)
9	West Midlands Safari Park	78.5	Rhino Coaster (#61) Monkey Mayhem (#96)
10	South Pier Blackpool	93	Crazy Coaster (#93)

Median Ranking

Ranking	Park	Median Ranking out of 99 Ranked/Rated Coasters (to 1dp)	Top 3 Coasters and their Rankings
1	Alton Towers	11	Wicker Man (#10) Oblivion (#11) Rita (#18)
2	Thorpe Park	19	Nemesis Inferno (#17) Stealth (#19) The Swarm (#28)
3	Blackpool Pleasure Beach	32	Icon (#8) Avalanche (#32) Nickelodeon Streak (#46)
4	Paultons Park	35	Flight of the Pterosaur (#34) Storm Chaser (#35) Cobra (#40)
5	Oakwood Theme Park	48	Megafobia (#24) Speed (#48) Treetops (#50)
6	Drayton Manor	59	Accelerator (#44) Troublesome Trucks (#59) Shockwave (#64)
7	Legoland Windsor	67	Dragon (#67)
8	Chessington World of Adventures	69	Dragon's Fury (#43) Vampire (#69) Scorpion Express (#74)
9	West Midlands Safari Park	78.5	Rhino Coaster (#61) Monkey Mayhem (#96)
10	South Pier Blackpool	93	Crazy Coaster (#93)

So by the measures of central tendency for the top 3, Alton Towers won those too, closely followed by Thorpe Park and Blackpool Pleasure Beach in 2nd and 3rd place respectively.

So overall then, I think I can conclude that Alton Towers is definitely my favourite coaster lineup in the UK! I apologise for the long and likely somewhat uninteresting statistical detour, but I thought that it might be interesting to delve through my rankings and see empirically how the UK's lineups stack up with each other. But I'd be keen to know; what is your favourite coaster lineup in the UK?

 

[Hixee]

I would have said:
2022 - Alton Towers (Nemesis, Oblivion, Wicker Man, RMT, Rita and the other ****e).
2023 - Thorpe Park (Stealth, Nemesis Inferno, Swarm, and then the rest).
2024 - Gonna be tough to call, I reckon. Depending on how good Exodus is, it could swing into Thorpe's end, even with Nemesis reopening. If Exodus ends up being a bit mediocre, Nemesis may be enough to let Alton keep it.

It's Nemesis and Exodus battling it out, I think.

Nothing else in the country even comes close, in my opinion.

 

[RevolutionRuleZ]

BPB for me, 3 wooden coasters.

Nothing more to say on the matter.

 

[Sandman]

1. Alton Towers
2. Thorpe Park

[decent gap]

3. Pleasure Beach

[decent gap]

There's not really any other competition after that, although Paultons could certainly climb to 3rd given a decade or 2 (if they pull a Toverland).

 

[Rob Coasters]

The facts

Alton Towers (average ranking of 35; Octonauts not ridden)
Chessington World of Adventures (average ranking of 52, Mandrill Mayhem not ridden)
Blackpool Pleasure Beach (average ranking of 53, yellow side of Steeplechase not ridden)
Thorpe Park (averange ranking of 63)
Fantasy Island (average ranking of 81, Jellikins not ridden)
Flamingo Land (average ranking of 82, Go Gator not ridden)
Drayton Manor (average ranking of 84)
Paultons Park (averange ranking of 86)
Oakwood Theme Park (average ranking of 94)
Adventure Island (average ranking of 101)

The analysis

Oakwood has been severely let down by Creepy Crawler and Crocodile Coaster, despite Megafobia's #4 placement and Speed's #17 placement. Flamingo Land is let down by the kiddie coasters, and Chessington's high ranking amounts to its lack of a properly 'bad' roller coaster even if the lineup only has one special (to me) ride.
Blackpool would probably be above Towers if I had Octonauts under my belt.

The personal opinion

My personal opinion: my top 3 UK coaster lineups is #1 Blackpool Pleasure Beach, #2 Alton Towers and #3 Thorpe Park

 

[Matt N]

If I were to rank them based on gut feeling, I'd agree a lot more with my ranking of their top 3s by measures of central tendency than I would with my ranking of their whole selections by measures of central tendency. Doing measures of central tendency for the whole selection will always negatively impact a park with one or two lowly ranked coasters even if the top few are relatively strong. It also negatively impacts parks where you've ridden all of the coasters compared to parks where you've only ridden a select few of the top draws.

As I can never resist a ranking, I'll rank the UK coaster selections I've done by gut feeling and explain my reasoning for each placement:

1. Alton Towers - This is definitely top dog for me. Wicker Man is right up there in my top 10, Oblivion isn't far behind, Rita closes out the top 3 nicely, Nemesis is great, Thirteen is good fun... the park has a lot of excellent draws, and to be honest, there's not much that's overly low-ranking. 7 of the 10 coasters I've ridden in the park are in my top 50%, which is no mean feat!
2. Thorpe Park - Thorpe has a really good, solid coaster selection; Stealth, Nemesis Inferno and Swarm all make my top 30, and 4 out of 7 of the coasters I've ridden at the park make my top 50%. However, there aren't quite as many coasters as at Alton, and unlike Alton, I think they lack a 10/10 tier draw for me at present, if I'm being really pedantic. I'm optimistic that Exodus could end up being that draw, and if it is, it will make Thorpe and Alton a slightly closer match for me. At present, though, the slightly lower quantity of coasters compared to Alton and the fact that the park lacks a 10/10 tier draw for me does put its coaster selection below Alton, in my opinion. Colossus in particular also ranks pretty lowly for me.
3. Blackpool Pleasure Beach - Blackpool starts off really well, with Icon being my top coaster in the UK and firmly placed within my top 10 and 10/10 tier overall, and the breadth, variety and uniqueness of the selection is undeniable. However, if I'm talking honestly from the standpoint of my personal preferences, I'd argue that the park's coaster selection is a bit of a one-hit wonder, with Icon being the only coaster of Blackpool's that I rate overly highly. It's the only coaster at the park that makes my top 10%, my top 25% or my top 30, and only 3 of the park's 10 coasters make my top 50%. It's a somewhat weak selection overall given the size of it for me (joint with Alton for the most ridden coasters of any UK park, at 10), and there are a few coasters that rank pretty lowly in my list, but I think that is more down to my personal preferences, as the park undeniably has some impressive rides. I'm probably being overly harsh, so I'm sorry for that.
4. Paultons Park - Paultons sits lower than the other 3 by virtue of it lacking thrilling headliners that make my top 10%, top 25% or top 30. Nonetheless, the park has a very solid, fun selection of family rides and nothing that ranks overly lowly, so I think it does a great job given the target demographic. Pterosaur and Storm Chaser are a very solid one-two punch of family thrill headliners, sitting just outside my top 30, and Cobra and Velociraptor aren't half bad, either; 4 out of the 5 coasters I've ridden at the park make my top 50%.
5. Oakwood Theme Park - For a park of its calibre, I've always felt that Oakwood has some impressive coaster hardware. Megafobia is a great headliner, sitting solidly in my top 25% and top 30, and Speed (and possibly Treetops depending on whether I consider 49 or 50 to be the cutoff) also makes my top 50%. However, you still cannot get past the fact that the park does not have many coasters, and that Megafobia is the only coaster there that I rate particularly highly, which will inhibit it compared to the others.
6. Drayton Manor - I'd say that there's quite a notable drop off here. If I'm being honest, I would have said that Drayton Manor's coaster selection was one of its weak links, and I think my deserted day there last June brought this to the fore for me; when I had no queues at Drayton, the lack of a great, rerideable headline coaster did stand out. The park's main thrill coaster, Shockwave, is not a ride that I personally rate, and beyond that, you have a family boomerang, a junior coaster and a relatively weak powered coaster. None of the park's 4 coasters make my top 10%, top 25% or top 30, and only 1 of the park's coasters makes my top 50%. I'm very conscious of the fact that Drayton Manor is not aimed at my age group, so I'm probably being far too harsh, but I would say that I've ridden numerous coasters for the family thrill demographic that I would rate notably higher than any of Drayton's coasters, and I've also been to parks that have what I would consider to be superior selections of family and family thrill coasters. Time will tell whether the new-for-2024 coaster improves Drayton's selection, but personally, I would have said that Drayton had a relatively weak coaster selection, if I'm being completely honest. Admittedly, the park does have a coaster in my top 50%, and there's nothing there that rates overly lowly for me, but there's also nothing there that rates especially highly for me either, and as I said, only one of the park's 4 coasters is even in the top half of my rankings.
7. Chessington World of Adventures - I admittedly haven't been to Chessington for 9 years, but I remember my overriding feeling towards Chessington's coaster selection being very similar to my overriding feeling towards Drayton Manor's, except for the fact that Chessington has a very lowly ranking coaster for me in Rattlesnake. Granted, I will reserve judgement on Mandrill Mayhem until September, but I don't remember Chessington's coaster selection being one that I overly rated; none of the park's coasters are in my top 10%, top 25% or top 30, and only 1 of the 4 coasters I've ridden there is in my top 50%. I'm probably being overly harsh on Chessington given it's a family-focused park, but even for the demographic, I would say that I've been to parks with stronger coaster selections and ridden higher-rating family thrill coasters than any of Chessington's.
8. West Midlands Safari Park - This park has a perfectly adequate junior coaster and a Reverchon spinner, a ride type that I rate very lowly. There's not much more to say than that, really.
9. Legoland Windsor - I've only ridden Dragon of the coasters here, and I wouldn't have said it was an overly exceptional family coaster. There's not much more to say than that, really.
10. South Pier Blackpool - Like with Legoland, I have only ridden one coaster here, and it's a Reverchon spinner that I rate very lowly. There's not much more to say than that, really.

 

[RevolutionRuleZ]

Whilst I am sticking with my answer of BPB as far as this topic goes, I do seem to be the only person in the world who is less than blown away by Icon, i just don't get the hype.

 

[James F]

1: Alton Towers
While there are other coasters from other parks I rate slightly higher than Nemesis, Alton Towers has the best overall line up and is the only major UK park I can think of that doesn't have a "bad" coaster. It's a solid and varied line up, with Nemesis, The Smiler and Wickerman being some of the most unique coaster experiences out there.

2: Thorpe Park
An Intamin Accelerator and 2 custom B&Ms are not a bad top 3. Stealth is my 2nd favourite coaster in the country and Inferno and The Swarm are also solid coasters. Saw and Colossus aren't the best, but they fill out the gaps quite nicely.

3: Blackpool Pleasure Beach
Largely held on the shoulders of Icon, which is my favourite UK coaster. Blackpool has two other "good, but not great" coasters in Revolution and The Big Dipper (if you can get a rainy back row ride on the latter it can be one of the best in Britain) unfortunately after that the rest of the line up is mediocre to complete trash.

4: Flamingo Land
I used to be a defender of this park, but in recent years it's getting harder to do so, still the addition of Sik (hate that name) the park had a solid standout coaster. I am also a bit of a fan of Kumali despite it not tracking as smoothly these days. Mumbo Jumbo and Velocity are also fun. Hero looks awful and the other family coasters don't inspire much.

5: Oakwood
I haven't been to this park in a long time and I have actually only ever been once. I remember liking Megafobia although not as much as I had hoped, but I do also remember loving Speed much more than I expected. Granted this was back in 2009 so I am guessing it won't be riding as well. The other coasters just simply exist, but credits are credits.

 

[LiveForTheLaunch]

Based on cred variety and quality alone, I'd probably have to say Alton Towers, followed by Blackpool and then Thorpe. Alton has a bit more of a mixed bag, and even though I find B&Ms mostly a bit samesies these days, I did find the ones at Alton a bit more unique and enjoyable, disregarding any theming or anything. If we were to go for overall atmosphere including the coasters, it would be Blackpool because I love the vintage charm of their coasters, but I don't want that to factor into my decision. Blackpool does has more unique coasters than Thorpe, especially when it had Wild Mouse, so I'm gonna say that gives it the edge. Despite Thorpe having fairly high quality rides, I'd seen those ride experience all before at other parks so they didn't particularly excite me.

This is also based on my visits in the early 2010s, so take it with a grain of salt. My taste has completely changed now.