Most popular ride?

On the newest CP.com blog entry, they said these rides gave the most rides in 2004:

Michael writes, “What are the 5 most popular rides?”

T&T: Michael, according to our turnstile numbers, Raptor gave the most rides in 2004, followed by Magnum, Gemini, Iron Dragon, and the Sky Ride.

I could understand Dragster not being on there because of down time, but how does a ride such as Iron Dragon beat MF, WT, Mantis etc. ? Am I missing something?

Capacity. People are more likely to ride a coaster if they see a short line and they're more likely to ride it more than once.

Also, MF and WT like to go down at the worst possible times.

I saw that too. I'm not surprised Magnum got up there, great capacity and short lines, the Sky Ride is just like the Railroad, people use it for transportation. Gemini surprises me a little, although running two trains occasionally might help.

As far as ID goes, I have actually seen the Iron Dragon line stretching out on the midway past those steel bars they have set up, because it's a lot of little kids' first "big" coaster, and it gets good capacity. I personally ride it because it's a great walk on way to check the TTD line also ;)

I personally wouldn't know, but it seems like Dragster probably gets some unbelievable capacity, with 18 riders every 30 seconds or so, it's just down so often that it gets screwed out of the top spot.

^30 seconds, haha.

Sky Ride surprises me. That ride is down due to weather more than TTD is down from mechanical reasons. Though it also cycles through people like crazy.

TTD may do well for 2005. Top 10 at least.

Yeah, now that's its running well, I think it will be up there in the "#of rides for the 05 season" list.

has dragster EVER launched at 30 second intervals?? i don't even think that's possible to do. according to the article published in the news section, it takes longer than that to check the ride to make sure its ok to launch.

I counted 40-50 second intervals last time I went.

Sky Ride has 1000+ hours on each side. Skyride is a major people eater. I've heard they've had 24,000 rider days.

Sky Ride rules. :)

It's hard to argue with those numbers. :)
SR provides great views and a nice breeze. Or at least on most days it does.

Er... did I say 30 seconds? I meant 50-60... hehe *rolls eyes*

Yeah mistype. Although I did see it going 40-45 last time, that was pretty cool.

Another funny thing to notice about the SR is how the "south" station queue is filled in the morning, and somewhat into the afternoon and empty at the "north" station. And in the evening the order is reversed. Of course the explanation of why it does this is obvious so I won't have to explain it.

Sky Ride is deffinetly my favourite non-coaster ride at the park. Great views, great breeze, relaxing, and an overall fun ride.

What's really funny about the Sky Ride queue (Actually its not south - It's East and West - East being closest to the Main Gate.) is how it will fill right up after a show from Centennial Theater lets out.

Also, MF and WT like to go down at the worst possible times.

Like almost everytime I get in line.

What is one interval for Dragster? Do you start counting right at the end of the launch of when it crosses finish line...what?

I ride Sky Ride to check out the Raptor queue lines.

I was surprised not to see the CP LE railroad was not one of the top most ridden rides. Usually, it has the highest capacity number.

Maybe the railroad isn't getting the numbers because they have been using only one train for most of the season. July 15th was my trip number seven and is the first time that I saw Jenny K out and running along with Myron.

It was my understanding that Jenny needed boiler work and we all know that they don't like to use the big & heavy George R out on the rails except for special occasions.

If what I'm saying is true, and I'm not saying with absolute certainty that it is, then that would explain why the CP&LE RR is down in ridership.

Z-man, I count it when each set of trains go into launch position(s).

So after the two trains launch, I count the time it takes for the next set of trains to get in the launch/waiting position. That's just my way of doing it. There are different ways to count a Dragster interval.

*** Edited 7/16/2005 6:44:58 PM UTC by TTD 120mph***

Wouldn't an "interval" be timed from launch to launch? There has to be a constant in order forit to be accurate. Even then, you'd need to keep track for quite a few launches in order to get an average. Just because it spit out a couple 45 second turns, doesn't mean that's what it's pulling off all day.

Yeah, I think the interval would time between launches. I counted around 45 seconds between launches on my trip.