Top 5 Ridership 2018

CP released top 5 ridership in 2018 a week ago, and I'm surprised nobody has posted it yet. So here ya go:

5. CP&LE Railroad: 1,326,322

4. Magnum: 1,360,971

3. Millennium Force: 1,422,765

2. Valravn: 1,436,609

1. Gatekeeper: 1,509,464

Some observations:

• Valravn seems to operate quite close to its theoretical capacity of 1200pph, as opposed to Maverick (which in practice does not seem to hit that, maybe 800-900pph?) and SV (which had technical issues that kept it from running at full capacity/interval). MF's downtime seems to have cleared its way to second place. Let the record show that dive coasters are GP magnets. (Side note: Valravn seems to have the most mechanical downtime of the B&Ms, although it also appeared to be the first to come back from weather delays often, just from my observations.)
• Magnum continues to make the list on the eve of its 30th birthday. It's the gift that keeps on giving. It also did this even though it ran 2 trains often, possibly due to staffing.
• The CP&LE RR is on the list for the first time in a while.
• MF performed well despite its high mechanical downtime, times of 2-train operations, and slowed lift in mid-to-late season.

Other news: TTD had a good season - this isn't secret info, I noticed they had a "congratulations for 1 million riders" posted on the control booth window in full guest view. From what I've heard, that's a great year for TTD.

https://www.cedarpoint.com/blog/2018-ridership-leaders

#1, 2, & 3 all early entry which helps, but they probably would be top 5 regardless. MF probably would have been #1 without the down times this season. Steel Vengeance will be top 3 when they figure things out. Props to Magnum for a great showing. Gatekeeper actually surprises me with a #1. Why doesn't Raptor crack the list?

What I think will be interesting is to see Magnum’s number next year if there is some new attraction going where Witches Wheel was. It’s not far away from the two rides above it, the station is often empty and it wouldn’t take much to bump it up a spot or two.

jimmyburke- Raptor seems to send a lot of half empty trains after the early rush. GateKeeper doesn’t surprise me because that crew always hauls some serious a$$. They hustle. I wish crews in other parks moved like them!

Gatekeeper down half a million riders from just a few years ago and still remaining #1. Ouch.

Honestly I was expecting Steel Vengeance or Millennium Force to be #1. They both draw in large amounts of people and can be viewed as the 'stars of the show'. My number two guess would have been the railroad as people want to relax while getting from the front to the back of the park.

I'm not surprised by Gatekeeper at all. As mentioned above, those crews, regardless of what year, time of year, crowds, weather, etc. simply have their act together.

Skyhawk, How could you possibly expect SV to be #1? It ran with only one train for months. It’s ridership ranking, not a popularity contest.

GateKeeper always moves them in and out. Valravn was flying for all 3 of our trips this year, even though it never seems they get a full 24 on any train. Wonder if SV can crack the top 5 next year if its consistent 3 trains. We'll see!

How high was Rougarou in terms of ride numbers?

These numbers are atrocious for CP ridership. 2016 was the beat year for ridership for many rides alone. However, I do understand this wasn’t the best year for attendance.

I'd love to see a total list but I don't think they publish it anymore. Have to think that the combination of early season attendance being off, increased focus on the beach at CP Shores, plus SV and the real in-park focus being on Frontier Town contributed to the top 2 coasters having lower total ridership than in years past.

I think the Railroad made the top 5 because the one station is right by Steel Vengeance. I also think Millennium Force would most certainly be #1 if not for it's mechanical issues with the lift throughout the year.

The CP&LE Railroad has been (and will continue to be) consistently one of the highest attractions in terms of ridership. Everyone loves a trip to Boneville.

^ And also they like relaxing on the way too/from frontier town.

The only ways I see SV getting in the top 5 is by there being no major mechanical issues and they would have to decrease dispatch trains much faster. It was originally advertised at 1,200 pph. To get that, dispatches would need to be 40 seconds faster. We'd need to have too many thing fall into place for that to happen. I'm not sure why they can't get the trains to move in and out of the station, in sync with each other, the same way Skyrush does. Aren't both trains being moved out with drive motors?

Kevinj said:

Everyone loves a trip to Boneville.

Well... depending on your preference...

Magnum in the top 5 surprises me. In a good way.

Honestly just seeing that makes me so happy. I've got a bit of a soft spot for that hyper when it comes to judging coasters.

And people think nobody rides it because there's rarely a line for it This data says otherwise.