Your favorite ride is the worst.
It doesn’t matter if Steel Vengeance is your No. 1, if you love VelociCoaster, or if you’re a Disney fan who thinks Expedition Everest is the best of the best; your favorite ride is the worst.
And you know what? My favorite ride is the worst.
But how could that be true? How could I say such a thing? The speed, the airtime, the G-forces, the theming—what’s not to love about your favorite ride?
And you’d be right. You are absolutely welcome to think one ride is better than another in your opinion and proudly hold a single attraction as your favorite. Make that stand-out attraction your entire personality for all I care. You are free to be happy and enjoy the things that make you smile.
In case it wasn’t obvious, I’ll backtrack a bit and clarify that I don’t actually think your favorite ride is the worst. I’m just trying to make the point that your favorite ride might be someone else’s least favorite. That said, your favorite ride is the best—to you. But that also means that your favorite ride is the worst—to another theme park fan.
That’s the beauty of theme parks—that there’s something for everyone out there. If you love airtime, there’s the perfect ride out there for you; if you love theming, there’s the perfect ride out there for you, and every kind of ride in between exists.
Part of the fun of theme parks is that there is no clear-cut No. 1. That’s why theme parks have so much variety—with wooden coasters, launched coasters, inverted coasters, dark rides, water rides, and well, you get the point.
With so many options and so many styles, how could there be a true, objectively correct No. 1?
It’s time to stop thinking that way, and it’s definitely time to stop talking that way.
If you think a ride is bad, that’s fine, but don’t state it as an absolute fact. It’s your opinion, just like someone else might think that same ride that you hate is their favorite. Why would their opinion be any less valid than yours?
I’d love to have more discussions and fewer arguments about all the wonderful attractions out there.
Would you really want to live in a world where everyone agreed about what the best ride is? There’d be no variety in a world like that. But in a world that has a melting pot of preferences, there’s something for everyone, and we get to enjoy well-rounded theme parks that have every type of ride imaginable.
It’s the same reason why we have such diverse options for food. It’s why we have plenty of movie genres.
Our upbringings, backgrounds, and exposure have a great deal to do with why we love what we love. It all plays into how we emotionally respond to a certain experience.
There are endless factors as to why we love what we love: our personal observations, our memories, where we live, the people we spend time with, and so on and so on.
If you grew up going to Disney, there’s a good chance your favorite ride has lovable animatronics and a memorable story. If you grew up going to a park like Cedar Point, you likely have a soft spot for record-breaking coasters that most people wouldn’t dare to ride.
Neither personality is wrong or incorrect. Please have a favorite ride. Enjoy it. Love it. Obsess over it, and don’t let anyone tell you anything differently—even me.
“How could Millennium Force be your No. 1? More like Millennium Forceless. It’s not even top 10. It doesn’t even crack my top 25.”
If this is you, stop it. Please.
Don’t try to convince someone else that your favorite ride should be their No. 1 as well. Don’t berate someone for loving an attraction you think is bad. Let them have their own opinion. Let them enjoy the rides they love.
So, get out there and have more conversations and fewer arguments about the best ride on the planet.
Theme parks are supposed to be fun, right? Don’t make them not fun. Simply, enjoy theme parks.
Rank your coasters and have fun with it! Go enjoy your favorite attraction and appreciate the many, many top-tier rides, coasters, and creations this world has to offer.
Your favorite ride is the best to you. No one can take that away.
