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Golden Ticket Awards 2017


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Perhaps due to a slight bias toward coasters, Mystic Timbers handily beat Flight of Passage for best new ride.

I'll bet if you asked most of the people who voted in the Golden Tickets they wouldn't even know what Flight of Passage is. They probably would think it's some B&M Wing Rider at a Happy Valley park. We really need a new "Mitch Hawker" style poll so we don't have to rely on a "best of" list that is a complete fucking joke.

 

 

I rode both this summer and Mystic Timbers is a much better ride.

 

Seriously? I rode both this year as well. Flight of Passage was amazing! Definitely deserved best new ride over a GCI wooden coaster that is similar to several others. I mean, Mystic Timbers is great, but nothing special and not best new ride of the year.

I think it's as someone already said, how are they evaluating what should be considered for best ride? As AJ said, they gave priority to coasters. Flight of Passage is mind-blowing new technology and thrill but by no means a roller coaster. Mystic Timbers was a great classic-style wooden coaster but nothing groundbreaking. For roller coasters (at least in the States), MT was a highlight this year. The two just can't be compared.

 

I liked Robb's breakdown of this. It would honestly be a no contest if Disney parks were truly considered for every award. No one else would have a chance. I don't know anyone who would honestly argue that Kings Island is a better place to bring their young kids than Disney World and Fantasyland, but when you compare Kings Island to Six Flags parks or even others in the chain, their kids area does stand out.

 

Disney is no place for crazy thrilling coasters and airtime machines. When you look at places that have crazy roller coasters and have the award in question, it makes sense that Dollywood got best shows (where else can you ride an RMC and see a great show in the same day?) and Knoebel's got best food (Epcot is great but it doesn't have a Phoenix).

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I rode both this summer and Mystic Timbers is a much better ride.

 

Seriously? I rode both this year as well. Flight of Passage was amazing! Definitely deserved best new ride over a GCI wooden coaster that is similar to several others. I mean, Mystic Timbers is great, but nothing special and not best new ride of the year.

Exactly my point. While someone may prefer a coaster to a simulator (I know I do) you cannot deny that Flight of Passage is groundbreaking and does something that no other simulator does. It has not been since Spider-Man originally opened that I heard this much talk over a screen based ride.

 

But the award went to a GCI coaster that is similar to many other GCI coasters. Makes sense.

 

Don't get me wrong, I really liked Mystic Timbers, but I'm not sure it was THAT much different from the first GCI I rode 21 years ago.

 

I've *NEVER* been on anything quite like Flight of Passage before.

 

We just need to have our own awards.

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We just need to have our own awards.

 

DO IT.

 

 

Seriously you guys are the premier theme park review site on the internet. I hadn't thought of it until your post, but why aren't there annual TPR awards?

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We just need to have our own awards.

 

DO IT.

 

 

Seriously you guys are the premier theme park review site on the internet. I hadn't thought of it until your post, but why aren't there annual TPR awards?

I'd love to see it happen too!

 

I'd love it if even just the mods got together and gave some "awards" for the year. Even better if they're "less than ideal" awards.

 

How about:

 

"Most disappointing ride of 2017"

"Worst theme park food"

"Worst place to bring children"

"Dirtiest theme park of the year"

"Stupidest shows"

"Most hateful employees"

 

Spoiler alert: Magic Mountain takes the most awards

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We just need to have our own awards.

 

DO IT.

 

 

Seriously you guys are the premier theme park review site on the internet. I hadn't thought of it until your post, but why aren't there annual TPR awards?

 

I second this. It would obviously be a lot of extra work that you probably have no interest in taking on, but I love the idea. As an added bonus, the site name (which I think implies that it's more of a review site than it really is despite the excellent park index) would be fitting for a site that puts out a major theme park rankings poll.

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"Most disappointing ride of 2017"

"Worst theme park food"

"Worst place to bring children"

"Dirtiest theme park of the year"

"Stupidest shows"

"Most hateful employees"

 

Spoiler alert: Magic Mountain takes the most awards

Lmfao! You read my mind with the Magic Mountain comment.

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"Most disappointing ride of 2017"

"Worst theme park food"

"Worst place to bring children"

"Dirtiest theme park of the year"

"Stupidest shows"

"Most hateful employees"

 

Spoiler alert: Magic Mountain takes the most awards

Lmfao! You read my mind with the Magic Mountain comment.

 

You guys better be careful...you're going to stir them up again!

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Seriously though, the only way I would do it is if someone presented me with something that was closer to the Mitch Hawker poll. Most of you probably know I *HATE* polls and awards because most of the time they are just popularity contests from poorly weighted data. There would need to be some sort of algorithm that would help determine results based on actual real ridership and experience. And that's why I liked Mitch's poll and embraced it.

 

I just don't have the time to produce it myself, but if there was someone who had the knowledge and the time, I'd be willing to help promote it and take it under our banner.

 

There. Now the challenge is out there!

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It has been an idea of mine ever since Mitch stopped running his poll. I always had two issues with putting in the work to make it happen; figuring out the best way to tabulate the votes and make a fair list, and the massive amount of free time needed to complete such a task.

 

Here is an excerpt from Mitch regarding how he came up with final results:

 

Each coaster is compared one at a time to every other coaster to see whether

more people who have ridden both of them preferred one or the other.

A coaster is given a "Win" for each coaster that more mutual riders ranked

behind it, given a "Loss" for each coaster that more mutual riders ranked ahead

of it, and given a "Tie" for each coaster that the same number of mutual riders

ranked above it and below it.

 

Coasters are ranked by their overall winning percentage (where ties count as

half of a win and half of a loss). In the event that two coasters end up with

identical winning percentages, the tie is broken (if possible) by determining

which of the two won the mutual rider comparison between those two coasters.

 

It was actually a relatively simple system. Where I would find issue is how to factor in ridership. For example, two people might have a relatively rare credit somewhere in Asia that they both view as their #1. Meanwhile 84 of 86 people have El Toro as their #1 coaster. The 2 voters who didn't have El Toro as their top coaster are the two who had that rare Asian coaster as their favorite. In that scenario, that coaster would have a perfect winning % and would have beaten El Toro in the head-to-head. Does that justify listing it as #1 despite the massively disproportionate ridership numbers?

 

That brings us back to the point that these lists are arbitrary and can easily be manipulated by voters and the system itself. That, in turn, ends up just pissing people off.

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Where I would find issue is how to factor in ridership. For example, two people might have a relatively rare credit somewhere in Asia that they both view as their #1. Meanwhile 84 of 86 people have El Toro as their #1 coaster. The 2 voters who didn't have El Toro as their top coaster are the two who had that rare Asian coaster as their favorite. In that scenario, that coaster would have a perfect winning % and would have beaten El Toro in the head-to-head. Does that justify listing it as #1 despite the massively disproportionate ridership numbers?

Remember that Mitch required a minimum number of riders of a coaster to have it even be included in the final results. I forget what the number was but I want to say it was around 10. So that would basically help eliminate the scenario you just mentioned.

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Where I would find issue is how to factor in ridership. For example, two people might have a relatively rare credit somewhere in Asia that they both view as their #1. Meanwhile 84 of 86 people have El Toro as their #1 coaster. The 2 voters who didn't have El Toro as their top coaster are the two who had that rare Asian coaster as their favorite. In that scenario, that coaster would have a perfect winning % and would have beaten El Toro in the head-to-head. Does that justify listing it as #1 despite the massively disproportionate ridership numbers?

Remember that Mitch required a minimum number of riders of a coaster to have it even be included in the final results. I forget what the number was but I want to say it was around 10. So that would basically help eliminate the scenario you just mentioned.

 

Ah, didn't see that, thanks for clearing that up.

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Three coasters had too few riders to have any valid comparisons this year:

 

* Cyclone Nicco Park IN 1 0 0 0 0.0000

* Animal Coaster Jawa Timur Park 2 ID 1 0 0 0 0.0000

* Montezum Hopi Hari BR 1 0 0 0 0.0000

 

An asterisk indicates coasters that appeared on fewer than 2 % of ballots.

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Best Amusement Park – Europa Park - agree. That place looks amazing.

 

Best Landscaping – Busch Gardens Williamsburg - agree

 

Best Christmas Event – Smoky Mountain Christmas, Dollywood -disagree. Christmastown at Williamsburg is much better. Music that you can hear everywhere in the park. Music and lighting schemes that change in every themed section. High quality entertainment and talent.

 

Best Shows – Dollywood - Definitely disagree. Their shows are hokey and horrible. They may have more shows, but they are low quality and almost painful to watch. Busch Williamsburg, some Cedar Fair parks (Kings Island, Kings Dominion) and even Hershey's shows are light years above Dollywood.

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If these awards really meant anything wouldn't Walt Disney World be able to win every single award theoretically?

 

Friendliest Park – Oh, no way Dollywood. Not after those HORRIBLE and rude operations we saw on Lightning Rod!
Oh Al, he was a mean man. Cant push down on the restraint.

 

Best Shows – Disney's Animal Kingdom. Finding Nemo, Lion King. Both of these are top notch Broadway caliber shows.
Lion King is hands down one of the best shows there is.

 

 

You also know that these awards are a joke when Steel Force is the 44th best steel coaster in the world.....

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So it looks like GTA released their Top 50's for each so Here is a fun challenge to take - How many have you ridden?

 

*Obviously GTA is extremely inaccurate at ranking the "Best" roller coasters in the world, I think it's fun to see how many you've been on!

 

For full reference:

 

http://goldenticketawards.com/top-50-wooden-coasters/

 

http://goldenticketawards.com/top-50-steel-coasters/

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^I was going to ask if they'd actually sliced the lists down to 25 for Reasons, or if the full lists just hadn't come out yet, but that was a question too nerdy (even for me) for something I care so little about. I remember there were maybe a couple years where I felt outspoken in being more interested in these awards than other enthusiasts, but even five years ago I understood why they were meaningless for us.

 

Compared to Mitch's Poll, any other coaster poll comes off as massively pointless and uninteresting.

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