I consider Orion to be a Giga coaster as much as Leviathan and Fury 325 are Giga Coasters even though B&M considers them hyper coasters: Because I've always thought drop is more important than height, and Orion does have a 300' drop.
Speed due to drop is the ultimate judge of effective height. But maybe the most important is does it drive the money to make a bigger project so they can make a particular category or record claim... and if the claim is too controversial, no one tries it again, but how often do you want that?
I think it's more useful to rank them on a scale of theme-park-ness. Something like Knoebels or Lake Compounce would be a 0, fully an amusement park (which, as you said, is not a bad thing to be). Any Disney park would be a 10, undeniably a theme park. But there's a lot of space in between. Busch Gardens Williamsburg would be about a 6--in theory it's all themed areas, but sometimes the theming is kind of token--and Hersheypark is a 4 or 5. There's not a huge difference between the experience of the two.
...There's also the weird thing Disney occasionally does where they make an area where the theme *is* that of a non-theme amusement park (Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama, the original Paradise Pier) which really muddies the waters.
...So now I'm thinking about how all the parks I've been to would fit on that scale. The Universal parks would also be 10 on the scale, despite their greater emphasis on thrill rides. The Harry Potter areas alone peg them at maximum theme-park-ness. Kings Dominion, maybe a 3. Canobie Lake Park, I would put further from zero than Compounce--give it a 2, because it actually has multiple themed mini-lands around the periphery, though the largest chunk of the park is just a classic amusement park. Six Flags New England, I'll give a 1: half of it is theoretically themed to DC superheroes but come on, the theming is mostly plywood signs. They don't put a lot of effort into it and the emphasis is thrills. Maybe I could bump it up to 2 for the areas like Crackaxle Canyon and Rockville, but it's kind of hard to tell that you're in them. Story Land (NH) actually ranks way over toward the theme-park side, maybe an 8: it's lower-budget but it's going for immersive fairytale/Mother Goose and international themes, a little less cohesively than Disney.
Hot take but I would consider SFFT an theme park. The park dosent really feel like an amusement park imo. Yes the boardwalk area is bad but the rest of the park has good theming and heck their newer rides get pre shows and really good theme
I wish all parks had good theming to them to make the feel of being in the parks more exciting. For example in this case, I wish Cedar Fair and Six Flags had the same theming and emersion as Phantasialand. That would be awesome.
The rides, all of them. Besides for our own human entertainment and fun experiences what else can these "rides" or contraptions be used for? Is it like humans came so far now they build such things like roller coasters, machines that shoot you over 50 feet off the ground and back. I find it kinda Fascinating what humans can do. Even deeper these rides are some sort of Manufacturering break throughs in technology and with the wheel and what a motor and electricity can do once concentrated. But how can they be used as weapons? I'm pretty sure the government already thought about that before the normalized asument park rides.
100% team theme park. I really enjoy amusement parks but Hersheypark barely cracks my top 10 parks overall and Cedar Point sits just outside my top 10 and Magic Mountain and Kings Island barely crack my top 15 favorite parks. I would take Busch Gardens Williamsburg/Tampa, or Dollywood and Silver Dollar City any day over any of the Cedar Fair or Six Flags parks. And I am definitely a huge Disney and Universal fan (though I really hate the direction Disney has been going in the last decade or so.) I get that not everyone feels that way and I wouldn't tell anyone they are wrong for preferring amusement parks. And I do love coasters quite a bit. Lighting Rod and Steel Vengeance are still my favorite coasters over any more themed coaster. But I'd take my favorite dark rides over every coaster I've ridden.
I consider Orion to be a Giga coaster as much as Leviathan and Fury 325 are Giga Coasters even though B&M considers them hyper coasters: Because I've always thought drop is more important than height, and Orion does have a 300' drop.
Speed due to drop is the ultimate judge of effective height. But maybe the most important is does it drive the money to make a bigger project so they can make a particular category or record claim... and if the claim is too controversial, no one tries it again, but how often do you want that?
I think it's more useful to rank them on a scale of theme-park-ness. Something like Knoebels or Lake Compounce would be a 0, fully an amusement park (which, as you said, is not a bad thing to be). Any Disney park would be a 10, undeniably a theme park. But there's a lot of space in between. Busch Gardens Williamsburg would be about a 6--in theory it's all themed areas, but sometimes the theming is kind of token--and Hersheypark is a 4 or 5. There's not a huge difference between the experience of the two.
...There's also the weird thing Disney occasionally does where they make an area where the theme *is* that of a non-theme amusement park (Chester and Hester's Dino-Rama, the original Paradise Pier) which really muddies the waters.
...So now I'm thinking about how all the parks I've been to would fit on that scale. The Universal parks would also be 10 on the scale, despite their greater emphasis on thrill rides. The Harry Potter areas alone peg them at maximum theme-park-ness. Kings Dominion, maybe a 3. Canobie Lake Park, I would put further from zero than Compounce--give it a 2, because it actually has multiple themed mini-lands around the periphery, though the largest chunk of the park is just a classic amusement park.
Six Flags New England, I'll give a 1: half of it is theoretically themed to DC superheroes but come on, the theming is mostly plywood signs. They don't put a lot of effort into it and the emphasis is thrills. Maybe I could bump it up to 2 for the areas like Crackaxle Canyon and Rockville, but it's kind of hard to tell that you're in them.
Story Land (NH) actually ranks way over toward the theme-park side, maybe an 8: it's lower-budget but it's going for immersive fairytale/Mother Goose and international themes, a little less cohesively than Disney.
Hot take but I would consider SFFT an theme park. The park dosent really feel like an amusement park imo. Yes the boardwalk area is bad but the rest of the park has good theming and heck their newer rides get pre shows and really good theme
Its kind of what im in the mood in.
I wish all parks had good theming to them to make the feel of being in the parks more exciting. For example in this case, I wish Cedar Fair and Six Flags had the same theming and emersion as Phantasialand. That would be awesome.
We need more parks like Phantasialand!
hehehe the debate SHOULD be "Does Orion have a wave turn?" XD
(spoiler, it doesnt)
i'm sticking with yes on orion.
The rides, all of them. Besides for our own human entertainment and fun experiences what else can these "rides" or contraptions be used for? Is it like humans came so far now they build such things like roller coasters, machines that shoot you over 50 feet off the ground and back. I find it kinda Fascinating what humans can do. Even deeper these rides are some sort of Manufacturering break throughs in technology and with the wheel and what a motor and electricity can do once concentrated. But how can they be used as weapons? I'm pretty sure the government already thought about that before the normalized asument park rides.
100% team theme park. I really enjoy amusement parks but Hersheypark barely cracks my top 10 parks overall and Cedar Point sits just outside my top 10 and Magic Mountain and Kings Island barely crack my top 15 favorite parks.
I would take Busch Gardens Williamsburg/Tampa, or Dollywood and Silver Dollar City any day over any of the Cedar Fair or Six Flags parks. And I am definitely a huge Disney and Universal fan (though I really hate the direction Disney has been going in the last decade or so.)
I get that not everyone feels that way and I wouldn't tell anyone they are wrong for preferring amusement parks. And I do love coasters quite a bit. Lighting Rod and Steel Vengeance are still my favorite coasters over any more themed coaster. But I'd take my favorite dark rides over every coaster I've ridden.