electric eel: in-depth review!!

Thanks Kenny for taking the time to post this...

I will say you went a bit over the top with too many adjectives....
You did a decent job but tried a little too hard to oversell this coaster.

i was given tickets to head down there and check it out, i gotta sell it some way haha

Good review (in fact, I'd say better than the one you did for HangTime), but I'm confused about something: If you gave this 92/100 and you gave HangTime 96/100, how is this #6 on your list and HangTime #7? I'm actually surprised how highly you rank this one...I personally found it to be good but not a top tier coaster and rank it below many of So Cal's other major coasters (including Manta at the same park and the semi-similar Full Throttle at SFMM).

the psychical number score i gave it is a general perception review, meaning how the ride is overall, and how much i recommend that you come give it a try. hangtime obviously is a more impressive draw stats and uniqueness, hence why it receives a higher score, however, i personally enjoyed electric eel more (even if it is less impressive and less of a crowd magnet), hence why it is ranked higher in my top 10

Your rating rationale doesn't make any sense, but to each his own...

i'll try and simplify it, the scores and ratings are two separate things. scores are based on a general preceptive of the ride, regarding the overall ride experience (the stats, the operations/capacity, the theming, and how far i'd travel to ride). my ranking is my personal opinions of which rides i like the most. hangtime for example has more impressive stats, better capacity, arguably better theming, and most people would drive further to ride hangtime than they would electric eel, hence why it receives a higher score than electric eel. however, despite all those things, i personally enjoyed electric eel more than hangtime, hence why it is psychically ranked higher

and thank you both for your feedback, i'll be sure to redesign the ranking/scores before i do any more reviews

Yeah, that's not how it comes across in the videos. If you're reviewing a ride, score it based solely on your enjoyment of it compared to other rides, not based on stats, operations, travel-worthiness, etc. It's certainly fine to mention your opinions on these topics, but it's extremely difficult to quantify them in a way that makes sense without creating a uniform rubric applied to all rides. You also want to avoid anything potentially contradictory, as that is a good way to diminish your credibility.

Nothing like the comment section of an internet post to remind you that nothing can be done without criticism. Holy hell people.

It's always surprising to me why people like to quantify how they judge a ride by numbers ... almost mathmatical in many instances. As we've seen many times, we can all go on the same 10 rides and we will all put those 10 rides in a different order. That's why we are deemed to be roller coaster enthusiasts. For me it's how I feel when I'm on the ride, and then when I get off it. If I have to go straight back round and ride it again then I'm going to consider it a "good" ride. Nice and simple .... :)
For instance ... will I be the only one on this site who's been on both Steel Vengeance and Fury 325, and who thinks Fury 325 is much better than SV?

Preferences are always going to be different, and roller coasters can change depending upon your frame of mind and seat selection. I like to ride coasters at least 3 times (usually front, back, and middle) before giving it a full evaluation (where possible). And even then, how I compare it to other coasters may vary depending upon how recently I rode my other top coasters. Absence tends to make the heart grow fonder, and some coasters tend to float up my top coaster list simply because I haven't ridden them in a long time and have forgotten their flaws (Phoenix being one for me), while others may drop down my list simply because I haven't been on them in a long time and have forgotten what made them great (Thunderhead for me).

I do think it's odd though to personally rank a coaster and then score it based on what other people "should" think about it. Simply quantifying your own opinion of an attraction is hard enough, let along trying to consider what others might think. The notion of whether others will drive further to get to a ride should not factor into your own personal coaster ratings. Perhaps you could consider the similarity of other coasters nearby and the uniqueness of the coaster in the local area (for instance a coaster like Joker's Jinx at Six Flags America gets knocked down a peg or two because there's an identical clone - Flight of Fear - at Kings Dominion that is not only inside, but has superior themeing, even after the Outer Limits IP was stripped away).

As it stands, I have not ridden Electric Eel (have ridden Tempesto though) nor Hangtime (Mystery Mine would be the closest comp that I've ridden), but I have a hard time believing that a medium-sized stock coaster would ever rate higher than a custom installation. To me it would be like rating/ranking Wicked Twister or another Intamin inverted impulse higher than Volcano or any Vekoma SLC (Mind Eraser) higher than a custom B&M invert (even a boring one like Great Bear). That's not to say that all custom coasters are superior to stock models, but that tends to be the case, and if you're going to go against conventional wisdom, you should be able to articulate some reasons why.