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POLL COMPARISON
The following comparison is intended to highlight the differences between the Internet
Roller Coaster Polls and normal polls that use less sophisticated methods such as favorite-only
polls and total points polls. The respective 2003 Polls are used in this comparison, but all of the
conclusions still apply.
Polls in which voters only indicate their favorite will obviously skew towards the coasters
that have been ridden by the most voters.
Polls in which the voters indicate their top ten and then total points are accumulated for each
coaster will have the same bias. As an example, here is what the Top 50 of the 2003 Internet
Wood Coaster Poll would have been using a top 10 total points method
(10 points for a 1st place vote...1 point for a 10th place vote):
RANK COASTER PARK LOC Total Points
1 Raven Holiday World IN 843
2 Phoenix Knoebel's PA 835
3 Boulder Dash Lake Compounce CT 724
4 Shivering Timbers Michigan's Adventure MI 713
5 The Legend Holiday World IN 707
6 GhostRider Knott's Berry Farm CA 618
7 The Beast Kings Island OH 468
8 Lightning Racer - L Hersheypark PA 422
9 Cornball Express Indiana Beach IN 410
10 Viper SFGAm IL 397
11 Lightning Racer - T Hersheypark PA 395
12 The Villain Worlds of Adventure OH 314
13 Twister Knoebel's PA 313
14 Comet Great Escape NY 309
15 Blue Streak Cedar Point OH 299
16 Tremors Silverwood ID 285
17 Georgia Cyclone SFoG GA 272
18 Tonnerre de Zeus Parc Asterix FR 272
19 Cyclone Astroland NY 236
20 Rampage Visionland AL 221
21 Texas Giant SFoT TX 218
22 Thunderbolt Kennywood PA 218
23 Colossos Heide Park DE 216
24 Gwazi-Tiger Busch Gardens-Tampa FL 211
25 Gwazi-Lion Busch Gardens-Tampa FL 206
26 Grand National Blackpool UK 200
27 The Boss Six Flags St Louis MO 199
28 Son of Beast Kings Island OH 197
29 Wildcat Hersheypark PA 193
30 Jack Rabbit Kennywood PA 173
31 Balder Liseberg SE 167
32 Thunder Run Kentucky Kingdom KY 167
33 Timber Terror Silverwood ID 161
34 Wild One SF America MD 160
35 Megafobia Oakwood UK 159
36 Mean Streak Cedar Point OH 157
37 Riverside Cyclone SF New England MA 154
38 Roar SF America MD 153
39 The Grizzly Kings Dominion VA 151
40 Thunderhawk Dorney Park PA 145
41 Roar Marine World CA 144
42 Big Dipper Worlds of Adventure OH 138
43 Giant Dipper Santa Cruz Bch Bdwk CA 138
44 Coaster Playland BC 136
45 Racer Kings Island OH 134
46 Comet Hersheypark PA 130
47 American Eagle SFGAm IL 124
48 Loup Garou SF Belgium BE 117
49 Colossus S.F. Magic Mountain CA 112
50 Racer Kennywood PA 110
The ordering and totals are quite similar to the 2003 Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards
which used the Total Points Method.
The top eight coasters are the same eight with #2 & #4 switched as well as #7 and #8 switched.
Total Points of the AT Top 50=11,455 vs. 13,941 here, so the total number of ballots received is
probably also similar (the internet poll's 22 percent greater total could be explained by
internet poll ballots that used the grouping method).
What is wrong with the Top 50 above?
Better rides that fewer people have ridden often rank below lesser rides that more people have
ridden. As an example, the much ridden Beast and little ridden Tremors rank 7th and 16th respectively
via the total points vs. 51st and 2nd respectively via the mutual rider comparison method.
Why should Tremors be rated ahead of The Beast?
Because 35 of the mutual riders (voters who had ridden them both) preferred
Tremors and only 5 preferred The Beast! (1 mutual rider rated them as equal)
That's right, the total points polling method ranked Beast 7th and Tremors 16th despite the fact that 7 out of
every 8 people who had ridden them both preferred Tremors!
Here are the Top 50 using the Internet Roller Coaster Poll's mutual rider comparison method:
RANK COASTER PARK LOC
1 Balder Liseberg SE
2 Tremors Silverwood ID
3 Shivering Timbers Michigan's Adventure MI
4 Boulder Dash Lake Compounce CT
5 Raven Holiday World IN
6 Phoenix Knoebel's PA
7 Aska Nara Dreamland JP
8 Rampage Visionland AL
9 Ozark Wildcat Celebration City MO
10 Comet Great Escape NY
11 Colossos Heide Park DE
11 GhostRider Knott's Berry Farm CA
11 The Legend Holiday World IN
14 Coaster Playland BC
15 Megafobia Oakwood UK
16 Cornball Express Indiana Beach IN
17 Tonnerre de Zeus Parc Asterix FR
18 Timber Terror Silverwood ID
19 Grand National Blackpool UK
20 Georgia Cyclone SFoG GA
21 Cyclone Astroland NY
22 Thundercoaster Tusenfryd NO
23 Lightning Racer - L Hersheypark PA
24 Texas Giant SFoT TX
25 Lightning Racer - T Hersheypark PA
26 Viper SFGAm IL
27 New Mexico Rattler Cliff's NM
28 Loup Garou SF Belgium BE
29 Serpiente de Fuego La Feria MX
30 Screechin' Eagle(S) LeSourdsville Lake OH
31 Dania Bch Hurricane Dania Beach FL
32 Mega Zeph SF New Orleans LA
33 Twister Knoebel's PA
34 Cyclops Big Chief WI
35 Excalibur Funtown USA ME
36 Comet (SBNO) Lincoln Park MA
37 Stampida Port Aventura ES
38 Wild One SF America MD
39 Giant Dipper Santa Cruz Bch Bdwk CA
40 Silver Comet Martin's Fantasy Is. NY
41 Thunder Run Kentucky Kingdom KY
42 The Boss Six Flags St Louis MO
43 The Villain Worlds of Adventure OH
44 Gwazi-Tiger Busch Gardens-Tampa FL
45 White Cyclone Nagashima Spaland JP
46 Cyclone Lakeside CO
47 Zeus Big Chief WI
48 Thunderbolt Kennywood PA
49 Robin Hood Six Flags Holland NL
50 Gwazi-Lion Busch Gardens-Tampa FL
51 The Beast Kings Island OH
Of the coasters in either of the above Top 50's, the following would GAIN the most
positions if the total points method were used instead of the mutual rider method
(note the generally HIGH ridership numbers):
COASTER PARK LOC RIDERS MR RNK TP RNK GAIN
Mean Streak Cedar Point OH 200 167 36 131
Son of Beast Kings Island OH 142 148 28 120
Colossus S.F. Magic Mountain CA 123 139 49 90
American Eagle SFGAm IL 138 123 47 76
Comet Hersheypark PA 145 102 46 56
Racer Kings Island OH 159 92 45 47
Blue Streak Cedar Point OH 199 60 15 45
The Beast Kings Island OH 159 51 7 44
Big Dipper Worlds of Adventure OH 159 79 42 37
Thunderhawk Dorney Park PA 145 77 40 37
Jack Rabbit Kennywood PA 144 64 30 34
Riverside Cyclone SF New England MA 117 71 37 34
Racer Kennywood PA 147 82 50 32
The Villain Worlds of Adventure OH 156 43 12 31
Wildcat Hersheypark PA 145 58 29 29
Thunderbolt Kennywood PA 138 48 22 26
Gwazi-Lion Busch Gardens-Tampa FL 120 50 25 25
Gwazi-Tiger Busch Gardens-Tampa FL 120 44 24 20
The Grizzly Kings Dominion VA 134 59 39 20
Twister Knoebel's PA 138 33 13 20
Roar SF America MD 113 55 38 17
Viper SFGAm IL 135 26 10 16
Lightning Racer - L Hersheypark PA 129 23 8 15
The Boss Six Flags St Louis MO 87 42 27 15
Lightning Racer - T Hersheypark PA 130 25 11 14
Roar Marine World CA 61 52 41 11
Thunder Run Kentucky Kingdom KY 127 41 32 9
Cornball Express Indiana Beach IN 99 16 9 7
The Legend Holiday World IN 133 11 5 6
GhostRider Knott's Berry Farm CA 118 11 6 5
Phoenix Knoebel's PA 142 6 2 4
Raven Holiday World IN 140 5 1 4
Wild One SF America MD 120 38 34 4
Georgia Cyclone SFoG GA 95 20 17 3
Texas Giant SFoT TX 87 24 21 3
Of the coasters in either of the above Top 50's, the following would LOSE the most
positions if the total points method were used instead of the mutual rider method
(note the generally LOW ridership numbers):
COASTER PARK LOC RIDERS MR RNK TP RNK LOSS
Aska Nara Dreamland JP 3 7 149 -142
Comet (SBNO) Lincoln Park MA 8 36 157 -121
Serpiente de Fuego La Feria MX 13 29 147 -118
White Cyclone Nagashima Spaland JP 5 45 151 -106
Thundercoaster Tusenfryd NO 16 22 105 -83
Ozark Wildcat Celebration City MO 15 9 76 -67
New Mexico Rattler Cliff's NM 19 27 91 -64
Cyclone Lakeside CO 49 46 98 -52
Mega Zeph SF New Orleans LA 38 32 74 -42
Silver Comet Martin's Fantasy Is. NY 51 40 81 -41
Screechin' Eagle(S) LeSourdsville Lake OH 57 30 66 -36
Zeus Big Chief WI 58 47 80 -33
Balder Liseberg SE 20 1 31 -30
Coaster Playland BC 47 14 44 -30
Stampida Port Aventura ES 26 37 67 -30
Dania Bch Hurricane Dania Beach FL 45 31 60 -29
Excalibur Funtown USA ME 51 35 59 -24
Cyclops Big Chief WI 59 34 57 -23
Loup Garou SF Belgium BE 50 28 48 -20
Megafobia Oakwood UK 54 15 35 -20
Timber Terror Silverwood ID 50 18 33 -15
Tremors Silverwood ID 46 2 16 -14
Colossos Heide Park DE 49 11 23 -12
Rampage Visionland AL 55 8 20 -12
Grand National Blackpool UK 66 19 26 -7
Comet Great Escape NY 80 10 14 -4
Giant Dipper Santa Cruz Bch Bdwk CA 76 39 43 -4
Robin Hood Six Flags Holland NL 51 49 53 -4
As shown by the Tremors v. Beast example and the gain and loss lists, total points polls
are biased towards the roller coasters that more voters have ridden regardless of whether
those rides are better or not.
It should be noted that the Amusement Today poll mentioned above is able to lessen the
bias slightly by selecting their participants from well-traveled enthusiasts.
For a full explanation of the tabulation algorithm and much more about this
poll, visit the website BestRollerCoasterPoll.com