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What do you consider a “good” ride count at a theme park?

Matt N

TS Member
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Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
Hi guys. Often, many enthusiasts use ride count as an indicator of how successful their day at a theme park has been. However, I’ve noticed from past comments on some of my trip reports that some have a vastly different definition of a good ride count to what I do, so my question to you is; what do you consider a “good” ride count? At what point are you satisfied with the number of rides you’ve ridden?


For me, I think it depends on the park to a degree. I expect to have a lower ride count at places that aren’t as ride-driven compared to places that are more ride-driven. To be honest, though, I’d say I’m grateful for getting on any rides at all or even getting into the park, as technically speaking, the parks’ T&C’s often state that they reserve the right to refuse you entry or not open any rides.


In actuality, however, I’d say that 5 rides is a good ride count, in my eyes. I’ve kind of accepted as a given that I won’t be able to ride every attraction of note in one visit, and re-rides on things are mostly out the window, so I’d say 5 rides in a day is a brilliant tally, personally, as it usually gets you onto at least half of the major attractions in most parks.


But what do you personally consider a good ride count?
 
5, Matt? Christ. At a lot of parks I've been to I've done 5 rides within the first hour or so. You must have an extremely laid back approach, arrive later than the park's opening time and head for some of the longest waits to consider 5 rides to be a "brilliant tally".

However, there are days at parks in which I do naturally take much slower with no rush. Let's take Thorpe Park last weekend for instance. There wasn't much sense of urgency within the group, we took a good few hours out of the day to have drinks and food, yet without realising still ended up on 11 rides, including all coasters. At somewhere like Europa-Park, 25+ rides in a day isn't unheard of at all.
 
5, Matt? Christ. At a lot of parks I've been to I've done 5 rides within the first hour or so. You must have an extremely laid back approach, arrive later than the park's opening time and head for some of the longest waits to consider 5 rides to be a "brilliant tally".
I should point out that we rarely, if ever, spend the full day on park. My parents don’t like full theme park days, so if we arrive for opening time, we’re usually out of the park by around 4:30, or if we’re staying late, we usually don’t arrive until later, like early afternoon or so. I’ve learnt some strategies (for instance, we’ve headed to Dark Forest first on many of our recent Towers trips, upon arrival at 10am or so), but on my park visits, we usually end up encountering long waits anyway, so it doesn’t really make too much difference.

For reference, my last park visit was to Thorpe. We arrived at 10am, and left at 3:30pm, and got on 6 rides; I was immensely pleased with that tally given how long we spent at the park!

I’d probably be able to get on more if I stayed the whole day (if I could, I would), but as I said, I just accept that I’m not going to get on everything, and pick the things I want to go on. I’ve also accepted that re-rides are off the table in most cases.
 
I should point out that we rarely, if ever, spend the full day on park. My parents don’t like full theme park days, so if we arrive for opening time, we’re usually out by around 4:30, or if we’re staying late, we usually don’t arrive until early afternoon.
You've been to Florida a couple of times though, correct? Do you go there expecting to only get on half of the rides you want to because you know you'll not rock up until gone midday, or do you have a different approach when on holiday?
 
You've been to Florida a couple of times though, correct? Do you go there expecting to only get on half of the rides you want to because you know you'll not rock up until gone midday, or do you have a different approach when on holiday?
Yes, I have indeed been to Florida.

To be honest, our approach was mostly relatively similar over in Florida. From browsing my trip report from my last trip in 2019 (to the WDW parks), most of my park visits only entailed between 4 & 6 rides; the most I got on in 1 day was 7, on our first day at Magic Kingdom.

Take a read for yourself, if you’re interested: https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/matt-ns-florida-adventure-9th-19th-april-2019.5067/

It’s worth remembering that my family are not theme park enthusiasts, so don’t share anywhere near my level of excitement or urgency to get on things. I get the impression that park days tire them out a bit. As much as I love the idea of staying from ride opening until ride close, I need to be considerate of my family’s wants & needs.

As I say, though; as much as I’d like to get on everything, I know it isn’t possible, so I’m grateful if I can get on anything at all or even into the park.
 
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Interesting topic, for me it definitely depends on the park. For Alton I like to get at least 7 or 8 rides in. I think the average across all parks is about 10 rides. Sometimes of course you can take it at a lower pace or vies versa. It really depends how I feel on the day. Like @Matt N i leave earlier on most days however if we haven’t got on something we want too we stay longer. We like to get out early particularly at towers as it avoided traffic, monorail queue and car park exit queue.
 
If you don’t mind @Burbs, may I ask you a quick question?

How on Earth do you go about getting on 25 rides in a huge theme park like Europa? Surely every major ride has a queue of 1hr+, and even many of the less major ones have queues of at least 30-45 minutes? You must either have the slickest strategy, or you must literally sprint from ride to ride!

Even when I went to the very compact Blackpool Pleasure Beach, where attractions are virtually right next to each other, I only got 11 rides in! Well, I’d consider 11 an astonishing count, personally, but it’s low relative to some of the suggested amounts (e.g. 25 for Europa).
 
Anything below 10 is poor, even if I'm having a laid back day.

Average for me at Towers would be about 15. Significantly lower elsewhere in the UK though.

I have struggled for more than five at Legoland
 
Anything below 10 is poor, even if I'm having a laid back day.

Average for me at Towers would be about 15. Significantly lower elsewhere in the UK though.

I have struggled for more than five at Legoland
How do you get on 15 rides at Towers? The most I’ve ever managed is I think 8?

Do you stay for the entire day? Or do you literally sprint from ride to ride, or have a very slick strategy?
P.S. Sorry for double posting; I’m just scratching my head somewhat at how some people manage such astonishingly high ride counts! Maybe staying for the whole day makes more difference than I thought… I’d love to try it one day!
 
Anything below 10 is poor, even if I'm having a laid back day.

Average for me at Towers would be about 15. Significantly lower elsewhere in the UK though.

I have struggled for more than five at Legoland
That is a pretty incredible day. 15 rides is crazy at towers on even a relatively normal day. Do you buy fast track?
 
Oh Matt.
Surely every major ride has a queue of 1hr+, and even many of the less major ones have queues of at least 30-45 minutes?
Far from it, even on the busiest days only a very small number of rides will have over an hour's wait, such as Wodan, maybe Atlantica Supersplash, Poseidon, Fjord Rafting, and CanCan Coaster. The throughput at Europa is, as I'm sure you're aware, hammered across the park. Last year we waited no more than 20 minutes for Silverstar, when the queue was out the entrance and routed around a staff area. Even if you just did the major rides, you'd be unfortunate not to get on every one of them in a day, and then you've got to remember the sheer number of filler attractions, dark rides, family flat rides and tracked rides around the park, which will never really get a substantial wait.

We went to BPB the other week and got 24 rides in on one of the 11-5 days, although admittedly the place was dead, with the only rides having significant waits being PMBO and Icon, which incidentally we rode twice and thrice respectively.

As for Towers, if visiting with non-geeks or those that don't go very often, I can easily get 15-20 rides in, just by doing pretty much everything bar CBeebies Land. My record at Towers is 34 rides in a day, and could have got more if I wasn't tired/bored, although this is some years back now!

Take a look at my ridecount profile if you'd like to see the amount of rides I've done at different parks at different times of year. :)
 
Thinking about it my earlier post was a bit inaccurate as I usually get about 9 rides in a towers sometimes above 10. However if it is a busier day I am happy to only get 8 in. I prefer more if possible. I am not sure what my record is however it is probably about 15-18. So to be fair I get considerably more done than I thought on a good day!
 
Oh Matt.

Far from it, even on the busiest days only a very small number of rides will have over an hour's wait, such as Wodan, maybe Atlantica Supersplash, Poseidon, Fjord Rafting, and CanCan Coaster. The throughput at Europa is, as I'm sure you're aware, hammered across the park. Last year we waited no more than 20 minutes for Silverstar, when the queue was out the entrance and routed around a staff area. Even if you just did the major rides, you'd be unfortunate not to get on every one of them in a day, and then you've got to remember the sheer number of filler attractions, dark rides, family flat rides and tracked rides around the park, which will never really get a substantial wait.

We went to BPB the other week and got 24 rides in on one of the 11-5 days, although admittedly the place was dead, with the only rides having significant waits being PMBO and Icon, which incidentally we rode twice and thrice respectively.

As for Towers, if visiting with non-geeks or those that don't go very often, I can easily get 15-20 rides in, just by doing pretty much everything bar CBeebies Land. My record at Towers is 34 rides in a day, and could have got more if I wasn't tired/bored, although this is some years back now!

Take a look at my ridecount profile if you'd like to see the amount of rides I've done at different parks at different times of year. :)
Wow! Some of those ride counts are astounding; I’m still slightly dumbfounded as to how you manage it!

As for Europa; I’m hoping to make my first visit there in 2022, so I’m hoping to reap the results of their infamous efficiency first-hand! I’m certainly no stranger to German efficiency; if Europa’s ops are anything like those of some of the coasters at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, where they quite literally almost throw you into the train, push the bar down as quickly as possible and then send virtually straight away, then I imagine those queues move at breakneck speed! Olympia in particular had an astounding throughput, with trains of 28 riders flying out at what seemed like ballistic pace; there was well under a minute between each, and the queue almost felt more like a constant walking shuffle toward the station! I think I got on 7 rides in that evening at Winter Wonderland, and I found that astounding given we only spent a couple of hours there!

I’ll admit I’m still slightly stumped as to how such high ride counts are even possible at the Merlin parks. Even when I do everything everyone says (arrive early, go to Dark Forest first), the most I’ve ever gotten in at Towers is 8 rides. In terms of “early”, we usually tend to arrive on Towers’ property at around 9:45am, and are in the park for just after 10am; it’s a good 2.5 hour drive from where I live, so any earlier is probably not feasible. I think I once got a staggering 12 rides in at Thorpe, but the park was surprisingly deserted that day (https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/thorpe-park-2nd-august-2019.5172/).
 
f Europa’s ops are anything like those of some of the coasters at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, where they quite literally almost throw you into the train, push the bar down as quickly as possible and then send virtually straight away
This is because they are being paid per ride and so the more people they get through the more money they make.
s for Europa; I’m hoping to make my first visit there in 2022, so I’m hoping to reap the results of their infamous efficiency first-hand!
As for europa I have never been and to be honest it doesn't interest me that much I will probably get there one day however its not at the top of my list. However I think this video shows there operations are pretty insane:
 
Highest I've ever gotten is 55 (Botton's PB in Skegness, 11 hours opening)

I've also gotten 48 at Blackpool PB, 42 at Towers and 39 at Thorpe Park.

Assuming I've gone for a full day at a park, 15 to 20 for a relaxedish day, however I've done 1 or 2 before if the trip was more social or cred based.
 
If I had a single digit ride count for anywhere near a full day at a park I'd be majorly peed off!

Without trying particularly hard but with a bit of a sensible approach and some planning you should easily be able to hit a couple of rides an hour on average at an absolute minimum.
 
My two times at Towers this year my count has been 20 and 16. I’d be pretty disappointed with 5 @Matt N, I’d probably be disappointed with double that to be honestI like to set the bar at 15, so I’m pretty happy I’ve achieved it both times this year - on a 10-7 and 10-5:30pm. My Towers record is actually 27 though on a Scarefest Saturday.
 
@Matt N Only 5 rides? You are so easily pleased. If I travel 8 hours round trip to ride a measly 5 rides, I would be very peeved off. When I go to an attraction, I expect to have a least one ride of all the rides that I want to ride. I always ride all the big rollercoasters as well as the dark rides and water rides. I usually get in a few repeat rides. These are not just on the quiet days, but also on the busy Fireworks weekend. However I can't say what it is like visiting a theme park during the pandemic as I've avoided theme parks since covid struck. Getting in early and staying till the last hour when the queues are at their shortest is the key. If there is a long queue, I will walk pass the ride and return later when it is quieter. There is no point in wasting your time queueing if you can utilise the time to get on a ride with little or no queue. I always ride the most popular ride either first thing, get to the park really early to ensure that you get on the first ride, I rather queue for an hour outside the turn style and get on the first ride quick than wasting my time queuing inside the park. And I leave any other popular ride till last when the queues either have died down, or in the case of Merlin parks, join the queue just before they close the queue line as it's the queue line that close not the ride at the advertised close time, also the queues move quicker once they close the queue line as there is no RAP and Fast track joining the queue plus the ride ops want to get home, so the ride through put seems to speed up. It's about utilising your day as appose to follow the crowds by joining the most popular ride with the longest queue line.
 
I reckon I could do 5 rides within 30 mins at Towers. Galactica, Nemesis, Blade, Nemesis, Duel possibly, or more likely Galactica, Nemesis x 3, Blade. Pick your rides and it's easily done. I've even done Wicker Man 5 times in an hour before.
 
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