The Golden Ticket Awards

[alpengeist04]

Bizarro and MF are literally in my "Top 5 coaster that could burn with SOB".

 

Yea, ok.

 

They're both really boring and not forceful.

 

Are you sure you're not talking about 90% of the B&Ms over the last decade?

[bejackso]

Legit question: who votes in these awards? Amusement Today execs? They should poll all of ACE imo.

[Rollercoaster Rider]

^

ACE'rs who Only go to Cedar Point, Holiday World, and Knoebel's and NOWHERE ELSE!!!!!

[cal1br3tto]

I do wonder what they're looking for in a "well-traveled" enthusiast. While that's an easy term to understand, I think the threshold in terms of park and coaster counts can be pretty arbitrary depending on context and individual opinion.

[David H]

LOL, all hail the great Magnum XL 200.

 

Here is a list of some of the coasters that were ranked behind Magnum XL 200.

 

-Intimidator 305

-Ride Of Steel

-Superman Ride of Steel (Six Flags America)

-Goliath

-Titan

 

I'm going to go ahead and assume that this is all one big joke. Am I the only one that thinks Magnum is really rough and flat out not that great? And even if you do like Magnum... #10??? Really????

 

Well, it's at Cedar Point, which automatically gives it a huge advantage in this poll, as you can see from the rest of the results, for reasons I've already stated several times, as have others.

 

That said, I personally rank Magnum at #33 higher than three of those 5 (all, but the Rides of Steel.) And not just because it's at Cedar Point. And I rank Raptor and Maverick higher, but only because I feel that they deserve it.

 

Here's a list of coasters that ranked better than Magnum:

1. Top Thrill Dragster

2. End of conversation

 

LOL! And agreed.

 

I think it has something to do with the parks where these coasters are. Cedar Point is probably the main destination, so most coaster enthusiasts have been there, whereas other parks are either local or visited for a purpose specific to personal preferences or restricted by money/time constraints. There is also the problem of company competition, and we all know how competitive enthusiasts can be...

 

Exactly. Anything at CP has an automatic advantage in a popularity poll just by the fact that just about everyone on the panel has eben there, unlike just about any other park. Plus, like a handful of other parks (Holiday World, Knoebels, Kennywood and Schlitterbahn), they're particularly beloved among enthusiasts, particularly the old-school enthusiasts who make up a large percentage of this panel. Not only are they more likely to have been to those parks to ride their rides and events, but they're already predisposed to liking anything there.

 

I was a little surprised by the top 5 in the Halloween event category. I've never been to the event at Kennywood or Knobles but I've also heard almost nothing about either of those events before. Horror Nights Orlando and Haunt at Knotts seem to be very popular are high quality events but the absence of Halloscreams at either Busch Gardens or Horror Nights Hollywood seems a bit off.

 

See my above answer to the last quote. Kennywood and Knoebels could probably put up a Vekoma Boomerang, and a certain number of the people on the panel would probably vote for it!

 

But the absence of Universal Hollywood's Horror Nights is a bit surprising. I'd imagine that many of the people who prefer a more high-tech halloween event are already voting for Orlando's Universal or Knott's.

 

Am I the only person happy to see SFOG's Goliath in the top 5? It's definitely a top 5 steelie in my book!

 

Personally, i think it's a great coaster, but nowhere near top 10. it's not even in my top 60. I'm a big fan of B&M's old-school forceful looping coasters, but none of their hyper coasters are forceful enough to be in even my top 50. Intamin has spoiled me with their hypers.

 

Legit question: who votes in these awards? Amusement Today execs? They should poll all of ACE imo.

I do wonder what they're looking for in a "well-traveled" enthusiast. While that's an easy term to understand, I think the threshold in terms of park and coaster counts can be pretty arbitrary depending on context and individual opinion.

 

Basically, AT invites people they know that are well-travelled. A lot of the panel comes from people who have been on the ACE overseas tours, as well as some of the ECC trips. Robb has mentioned here that he submits a list of people who have been on some of TPR's trips who he knows are well-travelled. Otherwise, anyone can e-mail Tim and ask to be on the panel. I know that they go out of their way to try to pick people who haven't just been to Cedar Point, Kings Island, Kennywood, etc. and their home parks.

 

As to what they consider "well-travelled", I know that they want people who have been to other regions besides their own and the popular Ohio/Pennsylvania region. And they prefer people who have been abroad at least one time.

 

This is so rigged...it's sad. Bizarro and MF are literally in my "Top 5 coaster that could burn with SOB". They're both really boring and not forceful. And TTD? Top 10? That's messed up to say the least.

 

Seriously? I mean, I find MF to be mostly forceless. But it's still a fun ride and my #71 steel. I'm happy to ride it when I'm at the park, though I'd never plan a trip there just for it, and I won't queue for over an hour for it.

 

But Bizarro/New England?!? Not forceful? HUH! It killed someone from its literally ejector airtime!

 

And it's precisely it's combination of ejector airtime, laterals and positive G's that puts it so high on my personal list, where I'm not a huge fan of hyper-coasters.

 

You may not like it. Which is obviously your perogative. And it's not perfect. But you absolutely cannot truthfully say that it's not forceful!

[SharkTums]

<>

[Wes]

What's the deal with airline food?

[rollin_n_coastin]

^I'm so glad that someone finally had the courage to ask what we were all thinking.....

[uwgbdork]

Although this is obviously skewed and completly the politics of industry peeps patting themselves on the back, The only real surprise I saw was in the best ride catagory with the little ridden Zippin Pippin (except me on my lunch break, twice on a good day!!). I think the fact that it was even listed on there, I have to give them some props. I would give it a number one ranking in the Value for dollar (quite litteraly a dollar).

 

On the coaster rankings i am baffled by how high ranking Magnum is. I finally made it out there this year for the first time and was completely underwhelmed. I can see that it was great in its day but it still crys out with areas that were just meh and rough. and going into the turnaround was just so.... awkward. Don't get me wrong, i still liked it but it just lacks in comparison to other similar rides ridden.

[XYZ]

I officially won't check the Golden Ticket Awards again... Until 2012.

[coastermaniac]

So I'm still confused as to who votes in these polls. How do they decide on the winners?