What constitutes a coaster credit when it comes to water rides/water coasters?

[Matt N]

Hi guys. With my current planning of a Europa trip this year, I was reminding myself of what coasters are at the park, and when I came across Atlantica SuperSplash, it got me thinking; how come this is on RCDB? It doesn’t look overly coaster-y, and rides that arguably have an equal or greater degree of coasting aren’t on there. I notice that only some of the Mack SuperSplash rides are on there; the SuperSplash models at Plopsaland and Cinecitta World are notably absent from RCDB, as well as things like Fuga de Atlantide at Gardaland.

And that brings me back to a debate I was having with my dad when we were on our Florida trip in 2016; my dad insisted that Dudley Do-Right at IOA should be classed as a roller coaster, because it had the coaster track for the main drops, as well as “a really fast drop and turn indoors” (I’ve never actually ridden Dudley Do-Right for reasons that I can’t remember). Even though I said that RCDB doesn’t class it as a coaster, my dad disputed this, as he said that Dudley had more grounds to be considered a coaster than Journey to Atlantis at SeaWorld Orlando, which had the brief curving drop at the end to get itself coaster classification . Personally, even though JtA’s coaster section is very short, I think it does feel “coaster-y”, but my dad disagreed; he said that if Dudley couldn’t be a coaster, then JtA wasn’t one either.

So my question to you today is; what actually constitutes a roller coaster credit when it comes to water rides with water coaster-style ride systems? When does a ride cross over into water coaster territory as opposed to simply being a log flume, shoot the chutes ride or whatever? I’ll admit it is confusing me a bit…

 

[Skyye]

From what I can tell, if it has some sort of dip before the main splash drop, then its on RCDB, which is why Atlantica SuperSplash and similar rides are on RCDB, while Cinecitta World's doesn't seem to feature a dip before the drop. As for Plopsaland, I'm not sure why it isn't on RCDB. I can't really talk about European coasters since I haven't been outside the US, but that's what I think happens.

It may also have something to do with seating arrangement. I think Dudley's is single car, single file seating arrangement, but I'm not sure.

 

[CanobieFan]

Plopsaland ride *was* on RCDB for a while until he defined what the site counts and doesn't count. Something along the lines on, if it has a drop not part of the main drop, it counts. So since Plopsaland just does the lift into the main drop, it doesn't count but the ride at Europa has the drop (and rise) not associated with the main drop, it counts. The Gardaland ride just runs on coaster track but fails to have coaster...parts (it just has a drop, but no rise/hill)

There are lots of flumes with bunny hills and such, not counted, just like how Dudley isnt. Like all the Splash Mountains.

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

So my question to you today is; what actually constitutes a roller coaster credit when it comes to water rides with water coaster-style ride systems? When does a ride cross over into water coaster territory as opposed to simply being a log flume, shoot the chutes ride or whatever? I’ll admit it is confusing me a bit…

Like so many other aspects of coaster counting, there is no official rule. It's best to develop your own best answer to the question as you ride more and more of the different grey area examples.

I think the clearest emphasis comes from the manufacturer in the example of Atlantis vs Dudley and it's an easy comparison from that perspective, both being sold by Mack. One is sold as a water coaster, one is sold as a log flume.

 

[JoshC.]

Like so many other aspects of coaster counting, there is no official rule. It's best to develop your own best answer to the question as you ride more and more of the different grey area examples.

This is the right answer, in lieu of there being no right answer!

My personal method that I try and stick by asks two questions:
1. Does it feel like a coaster?
2. Does it 'coast' upwards?

I think the first one is self explanatory enough (and also covers, broadly speaking, powered coasters for example), but should be noted that I'm talking about the whole ride, not just a specific section.
So if the answer is "Yes", I count it as a cred.
If the answer is "No", I don't.
BUT, you can also get grey areas as to whether something feels like a coaster - for example, Supersplash at Plopsaland. It feels like a coaster, but what it does is no different to what some log flumes do, just on a bigger scale. And the majority of the ride is a slow boat ride.

This is where, for me, the second question comes in. If it's coasting upwards, that means its (probably) on some sort of track. And it's got a coaster-like element as a result. And because it 'kind of' feels like a coaster, I count it.

So, Supersplash at Plospaland for example, it "kind of" feels like a coaster as a whole package, and it coasters upwards, so I count it.
Dudley's might have a 'coasting upwards on track' section, but the ride as a whole doesn't feel like a coaster, so I wouldn't count it.


I use this as a way to say why I don't count Diskos as creds, since it doesn't "feel like" a coaster.
(NB: I came up with this way of defining how to count creds when I was trying to figure out a way of justifying to myself that Droomvulcht at Efteling is not cred, despite me realllllly wanting to count it because of the ending haha)

 

[Gazza]

If you were counting water ride creds, flat ride creds, water slide creds, coaster creds, which one would it go to. You cant count twice.

For all these rides, no, having a drop and hill is common as muck on water rides, so they're not all coasters.