GOLDEN TICKET AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED AT INDUSTRY EVENT HOSTED BY BUSCH GARDENS WILLIAMSBURG
ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL POLL REVEALS THE “BEST OF THE BEST” IN AMUSEMENT INDUSTRY
ARLINGTON, Texas, Sept. 11, 2010 – The envelope, please … and the Golden Ticket Award goes to … In an awards’ show hosted this evening by Busch Gardens Williamsburg in Virginia, Amusement Today announced the winners of its prestigious 2010 Golden Ticket Awards, which are presented to the “Best of the Best” in the amusement industry.
Calculated from an international poll conducted by Amusement Today, the Golden Ticket Awards are the results of a detailed survey that is sent to a database of experienced and well-traveled amusement park fans around the world – in balanced geographical regions – asking them to rate the “bests” in 25 categories such as “amusement parks,” “roller coasters,” “shows,” “landscaping” and “water rides.” The 2010 winners are …
Ok, well were do I start.... These awards are the biggest BS. Millenium Force the #1 steel? No way. Ive never even heard of Idlewild, and how the hell did Phoenix get #3 wooden? Next thing ya know Flying Turns will be in there...
What are your thoughts?
Top 5: 1) El Toro. 2) Maverick. 3) Millenium Force. 4) Diamondback. 5) X2. Coaster Count: 167 (41 Wood, 125 Steel) @Coaster_Cole on Twitter
You do know its all about the bidding war right? Now I'm not just saying that because Bizarro lost. Its just obvious. Holiday World winning all those. Cedar Point ect. We know Six Flags is going tight on money so they didn't spend any money to have any of they're coasters win. So yes you're right it is BS.
in my opinion I305 should have won but Cedar Fair couldn't give up they're flag ship coaster. Millennium Forceless is overrated and so isn't Bizarro to a point.
It is all the same parks winning the same things this year. Usually Fiesta Texas wins best shows. I believe this is the first year they haven't. Six Flags is BARELY mentioned on there. I doubt its a coincidence.
Bizzaro Badger wrote:It is really sad to see that I305 isnt even IN the top 10! And how is Nitro #3? Its pretty good but not great. Maverick should be in this too.
Its the OSTRs, a coaster with OSTRs will probably never be seen in the top 10. And people just love Nitro.
no money changes hands for golden tickets, just the same people get ballots repeatedly, so there's rarely much change, that and there are to many CP fanboys out there. The top 10 steel I voted for was:
1. Expedition Ge Force Holiday Park 2. Olympia Looping P. Barth 3. Mind Bender SFOG 4. Diamondback Kings Island 5. Nitro SFGAdv 6. Phantom’s Revenge KennyWood 7. X2 Six Flags Magic Mountain 8. Titan Six Flags Over Texas 9. Goliath LaRonde 10. Whizzer SFGAm (at least that's what I put on the ballot, give it a little nod, last year it made top 50)
And Great Americas carousel is nothing special at all, it's slow, the animals are entirely fiberglass, it has relatively little unique character, nothing special about it (there are other double decker carousels in other places around the world), and there is nothing even remotely historical about it.
Last edited by FParker185 on September 11th, 2010, 9:58 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
ACE has nothing to do with the balloting process, and there are no real qualifications, just preferably you've ridden a decent sampling of coasters in order to compare. I started getting them about 10 years ago, I forget who got me on the list though.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
No legitimate proof that I can actually show you but its pretty obvious. And I'm sure they do take the votes into consideration but a small portion maybe.
-Same winners all the time -Al Weber/Reid-Anderson obviously not caring about it so they didn't bid on the number one spot for Bizarro and gave it to MF, saved some easy money there. -CF spent a lot of money this year on getting they're stuff high up and "thanking" Amusement Today which is good publicity
The parks just use the Golden Ticket awards for publicity. They mean nothing. Everyone knows Millennium Force has lost its charm. How can Magnum still be in the top ten?
Notice how it was just all the same parks mentioned this year? IOA, Universal, CF, Dollywood, and Holiday World?
Mitch Hawker is better because its not like Amusement Today and Paul Ruben where the parks use it for publicity.
There is something seriously wrong with this. I love Nitro aand think its top 10, but #3 in the world?!?! Nitro is Gadv's 2nd best coaster, but up against Expedition GeForce, Bizarro, I-305, X2 and the rest of the amazing coasters all over the world I wouldn't even put it there. And I-305 at #11?? One of the best and SURELY better than MF.
I would do ot this way(in order): Steel: Bizarro Expedition GeForce I-305 X2 Nitro Goliath Diamondback Apollo's Chariot
And Potter finishes behind the Haunted mansion at Knobels. So the ride that has taken people away from WDW in droves, is the most advanced dark ride and is beyond popular looses to paper mache.
Apparently a coaster that will never run again and has not ran in 4 years (Aska) is better than 120 plus other wooden coasters including Blue Streak at Cedar point.
And how does Knobels win best food over anything Disney or Sea World parks? Cheap does not mean good.
BEST CAROUSEL? Ours OWNS compared to that! And, for some reason, I keep hoping American Eagle gets in their somewhere. BTW, it goes WAY faster right before closing
one other thing, all the parks that have highly raked rides have one thing in common, CP, HW especially, and Knoebels they all have major, very well attended enthusiast events that are not club specific, and they all bend over backwards to make sure everyone has an awesome time, and people remember that every June when the ballot shows up in the mail. Also the highly ranked foreign coasters have had major trips visit them with american clubs.
Also I dont see how SF supposedly "didnt spend the money" to be ranked highly, 3 out of the top 5 steel coasters are at Six Flags parks, and SF is known for generally having terrible traditional wood coasters, SFGAm not withstanding, and they have the #2 woodie on the chart.
As much fun as a good old fashioned conspiracy theory is, this one just doesn't hold any water. It just boils down to a flawed voting system (10 pts for #1 and 1 pt for #10) and fanboys of certain parks knowing this and skewing the vote.
Favorite Wood Coasters: The Voyage, Ravine Flyer II, Thunderhead, Balder Favorite Steel: Voltron Nevera, Steel Vengeance, Expedition GeForce, Olympia Looping Parks visited: 232, Coasters Ridden: Steel: 894, Wood: 179, Total: 1073
FParker185 wrote:Also I dont see how SF supposedly "didnt spend the money" to be ranked highly, 3 out of the top 5 steel coasters are at Six Flags parks, and SF is known for generally having terrible traditional wood coasters, SFGAm not withstanding, and they have the #2 woodie on the chart.
Did you also notice that the parks with these positions were only Six Flags GAdv and Six Flags Fiesta Texas? -_-
And another comment on your post. What do you mean SF offers classic woodies with supposedly "not good rides" or something like that? What about El Toro, American Eagle, Viper, The Wild One, even Little Dipper, etc.? BTW Little Dipper is really smooth and actually does have some airtime in the back seat. Not a lot, but some.
The reason you have high rankings for rides in which you wouldn't think are great as because what people have said previous - They are skewed to certain parks. Knoebels has FREE admission (probably free parking), and you just pay for a ride, and it's a traditional park in which enthusiasts love those types of park - especially free admission. For Holiday World, enthusiasts love that they can get "free" soda (You are really paying for that with a higher gate price, but oh well), free parking, and free suntan. I don't know if Sky Rocket is good or not, but it's Kennywood (another traditional historic park), and sure that ride makes the top 50.
I find it amazing that Mindbender at Six Flags Over Georgia just because it goes over water is so much better according to these people than Shockwave at Six Flags Over Texas. It's #14 compared to Shockwave #37. You are telling me that Mindbender is a top 20 coaster. Are you kidding me? It's a great ride to me, but not in the top 20. And Mummy is the best dark ride coaster compared to Space Mountain. And Dudley is better than Splash Mountain.
I think the reason why Disney doesn't win much is because a lot of enthusiasts are more Universal people than Disney people. Think of the majority of Disney people that go to the park, and who are they. You probably would have some 85% of families at Disney, and they aren't going to vote on this stuff. And the reason why Magnum and Millenium Force are so high up there is because of those were the first of those heights, and you have a lot of Cedar Point enthusiasts because they have the most roller coasters on the planet, so what do you think is going to happen?
Enthusiast-wise, this stuff makes sense to me why things are the way they are. And the thing is that enthusiasts don't count for much of the population because Disney is beating up every park in the US at least, and they barely get mentioned. Does Knoebels even get 1 million a year? And why isn't I-305 the top ride? Well, I haven't ridden it, but I heard from enthusiasts that the park doesn't really have an outstanding superior roller coaster before that (I don't know what to think with that.), and thus how many enthusiasts really go to Kings Domion if they never had one that was so great? Also, are people mad about the straps for the coaster. I guess it's the same reason why Batman the Ride is never going to be on this list. How many are there? 10 of them, and do enthusiasts really like clones. Batman the Ride or Goliath (at Fiesta Texas) are probably the most ridden inverted coasters by non-enthusiasts!!
"I've been staring at the world, waiting. All the trouble and all the pain we're facing. Too much light to be livin' in the dark. Why waste time? We only got one life. Together we can be the CHANGE. So go and let your heart burn bright"
So, summarized, the Golden Ticket Awards really dont mean the ride is Golden. Why not call it like the Overrated Ticket Awards. Then Millenium Force can win all it wants
Last Visit, American Eagle BACKWARDS 5 times in a row right before the park closed. I cannot WAIT to go back for Fright Fest!
