A.J.

Yes it is. Moved to the original thread.

Keep your social media feeds in check, folks - there's another accident hoax going around... www.orlandosentinel.com/features/gone-viral/os-universal-roller-coaster-crash-hoax,0,3515244.post

Reveal more info now or this thread gets locked.

I can't help but wonder how much more or less accurate (?) the poll would be if it was just restricted to US parks and attractions, having the winners crowned as "best in the US". If very few people are going to vote for the international attractions, why even include them on the poll in the first place?

My goodness that's an outstandingly large plan. If the highlighted area is just the Phase 1 construction...

Leviathan's been generally well-received by enthusiasts too. It placed thirteenth in the Hawker poll, it's not like Intimidator 232 that barely scraped the top 50.

Speaking of Europa Park, I'm surprised that the Arthur ride is nowhere to be seen. Wasn't that supposed to end up being one of the best dark rides ever or something?

I'm guessing that it technically counts as a steel coaster. Revenge of the Mummy wasn't in the best dark ride category either. Gringotts would have gone in the best indoor roller coaster category but it didn't even place.

That's a possible factor, another one could be that they finally built it after seven years. It seems as though the Golden Ticket panel appreciates attractions with historical significance more than others. Flying Turns is wicked fun but I feel like Escape from Gringotts and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train are both pushing theme parks forward into the future (in different ways).

I know how much we just LOVE to discuss these, so, here they are in one thread! Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Award Winners 2014 Click here for the full results - www.goldenticketawards.com/# Best Park - Europa Park Best Seaside Park - Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Best Children's Park - IdleWild & SoakZone Best Marine Life Park - SeaWorld Orlando Cleanest Park - Holiday World Friendliest Park - Dollywood Best Landscaping - Busch Gardens Williamsburg Best Food - Dollywood Best Dark Ride - Harry Potter & The Forbidden Journey at Islands of Adventure Best Indoor Roller Coaster - Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios Orlando Best Fun House / Walkthrough - Noah's Ark at Kennywood Best Carousel - Grand Carousel at Knoebels Best Water Ride in an Amusement Park - Dudley Do-Right at Islands of Adventure Best New Attraction at an Amusement Park - Flying Turns at Knoebels Best Kids Area - Planet Snoopy at Kings Island Best Waterpark - Schlitterbahn New Braunfels Best Indoor Waterpark - Schlitterbahn Galveston Island Best Ride in a Water Park - Wildebeest at Splashin' Safari Best New Attraction at a Waterpark - Verrückt at Schlitterbahn Kansas City Best Shows - Dollywood Best Outdoor Show Production - IllumiNations at EPCOT Best Halloween Event - Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Orlando Best Christmas Event - Smoky Mountain Christmas at Dollywood Best Wooden Coasters: #1 - Boulder Dash at Lake Compounce #2 - El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure #3 - Voyage at Holiday World #4 - Phoenix at Knoebels #5 - Thunderhead at Dollywood #6 - Ravine Flyer II at Waldameer #7 - Gold Striker at California's Great America #8 - Beast at Kings Island #9 - Outlaw Run at Silver Dollar City #10 - Balder at Liseberg Best Steel Coasters: #1 - Millennium Force at Cedar Point #2 - Bizarro at Six Flags New England #3 - Expedition GeForce at Holiday Park #4 - Diamondback at Kings Island #5 - Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure #6 - Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland #7 - Apollo's Chariot at Busch Gardens Williamsburg #8 - New Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas #9 - Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia #10 - Intimidator [232] at Carowinds --- Yeah, this one's a doozy. Let's see here - Flying Turns won the best new attraction handily - Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts placed fourth behind it, Banshee and Goliath. Parks such as Islands of Adventure, Magic Kingdom and Tokyo DisneySea placed behind Disneyland and Knoebels in the Best Park category. Blackfish who? The amusement press continues to support SeaWorld Orlando, with it taking more than half of the vote for best marine life park. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey took home the best dark ride award again. Haunted Mansion at Knoebels and the Amazing Adventures of Spider Man tied this year, and both placed behind Radiator Springs Racers. Does that even really count as a dark ride? Notable wooden coasters absent from the Top 10 list are: Dauling Dragon, Fireball, Goliath, T-Express, Troy, and Wood Coaster (Knight Valley). I'm surprised of how low Outlaw Run placed considering all the praise it's got, and also that Goliath didn't place on the list at all. Notable steel coasters absent from the Top 10 list are: Bizarro, Intimidator 305, Iron Rattler, Katun, Maverick, Medusa Steel Coaster, any of the Mega Lites, Nemesis, Shambhala and Skyrush. Diamondback snuck its way up to fourth place out of complete nowhere, and Intimidator 232 actually placed in the top 10 - above Intimidator 305! How does that even work?!? Again, here's the site with the full results - www.goldenticketawards.com/#

As much as I should be okay with this being a Knoebels fan, I will absolutely agree that Flying Turns shouldn't have gotten that award. It really should have gone to Escape From Gringotts, that ride is an absolute technical marvel.

Theme Park World is the "official name" but the game was called Sim Theme Park in the U.S. and Brazil. Theme Park World = Sim Theme Park, and Theme Park Inc = SimCoaster.

I agree, I really don't care what the ride operators think - I paid the money to get into the park / ride the coasters so I'm allowed to go through the queue and ride my favorite coaster as many times as I want in a day. East Coast Bash 2011, thirteen times on Lightning Racer. Phall Phunfest 2011 (from the time I got there to the time I left), twenty times on Phoenix. Summer 2013 at Waldameer, thirteen times on Ravine Flyer II.

What's next, earning golden tickets and golden keys? I don't want to play Sim Theme Park, I want to play RollerCoaster Tycoon!

Really? I rode it a few weeks ago and even though it wasn't silky smooth I didn't find it rough. I do think that the trains could receive some new foam for the seats and restraints, but the coaster itself is still really freaking smooth.

I was referring more toward the path structure and placement of shops and flat rides. I feel like that would explain the differences between the video teaser and the released screenshots.

Maybe I'm still being too optimistic here, but what if there's a "beginner" construction system that follows the grid and also an "advanced" system that doesn't?

They have to completely dismantle a coaster to relocate it, so they have to take apart every single track and support piece anyway.

Yeah, I wish that I could have had Theme Park World / Sim Theme Park's spline-based coaster building system in RollerCoaster Tycoon. The next best thing was Ultimate Ride but everything was just too stylistic.

That's why I like how FastPass works - you're still waiting an hour just not in the standby queue, and you can't get another FastPass until a certain timeframe after you received your first one.

I very much agree with this! Theme park culture is very different between Europe and the US - most small parks in the states appear to be built in dense, forested areas and the Mega Lite layout (as well as the Lightning Run layout) is kind of large. Super-compact coasters are in style for small parks - Wooden Warrior, Untamed and Roar-O-Saurus are some recent examples. Knoebels' Impulse might also be a good example too but it's larger than those other ones I mentioned. I feel like a Mega Lite would be successful in the US if it were offered with six-car trains instead of four. Fahrenheit shares the same theoretical hourly capacity as the Mega Lites - and just look at the consistent queue length that Fahrenheit has on a daily basis! It moves so slowly all the time too!

I've had nothing but fantastic rides on Phoenix for years. the double-up is better in the front while the double-down is better in the back.

Here's Brain Drain at Elitch Gardens. It doesn't really look as "portable" as the carnival Rings of Fire and Fire Balls but Elitch Gardens kind of just plopped it down there... Looping Dragon looks like it will be a bit more integrated into its surrounding environment than Brain Drain.

Even though my views on the rolls have already been stated, Wicked Cyclone looks better to me than Twisted Colossus. It really is only a matter of time before Twisted Colossus turns into Dragon Challenge the sequel.

No, that was done by an independent group of people called VR-Coaster. http://www.vr-coaster.com EDIT: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=68879