Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Awards 2013

[A.J.]

While the Mitch Hawker poll is one million and seventy-six percent better for ranking coasters - unfortunately, it's not what the public sees. Golden Ticket awards are plastered all over the attractions they're given to, like on Bizarro at Six Flags New England. Yet, to my knowledge, I've never seen a park advertise the fact that they've placed high on the Mitch Hawker poll.

[David H]

^ Actually, I was pleasantly surprised to see Holiday Park promoting Expedition GeForce's win in Mitch's poll this year. I think they just called it an internet poll or something.

[robbalvey]

Here's another reason why I don't encourage anyone to take the GTA's seriously....

 

Best Waterpark:

Schlitterbahn New Braunfels, Texas 45%

Splashin’ Safari Santa Claus, Ind. 17%

Aquatica Orlando, Fla. 6%

Dollywood’s Splash Country Pigeon Forge, Tenn. (tie) 5%

Noah’s Ark Wisconsin Dells, Wis. (tie) 5%

 

Yes, it makes PERFECT SENSE that neither of the Disney water parks are on this list and the one Orlando park that made it is Aquatica.

 

Not saying that any of these parks aren't good, but when Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon are missing, you simply know these awards are a joke.

 

--Robb

Edited September 9, 2013 by robbalvey

[PKI Jizzman]

Cedar Point is great for the rides, and it does have a fun pseudo beach setting; but I still take themed rides and parks over non themed rides any day. It's why I love Mystery Mine and Scooby Doo's Spooky Coaster so much!

 

Sure Scooby Doo may only be a custom Mack coaster, but it's a longgggg ride and it's packed full of surprises and it's decorated wall to wall which makes it just as good if not better than Maverick, Voyage, Goliath, Millennium in my book.

 

I get that special feeling walking into Disney parks. I also do with Cedar Point, but it's not close to Disney It's just the sight of all these amazing Intamin rides is like woooowwww!

[gisco]

I agree with Robb on this one. This poll can't be taken seriously. It is a popularity contest mostly. How can anyone truly vote on the best coaster when they haven't ridden coaster all around the world or for that matter all around the US. This is the major reason for me why Mitch's poll is so much better.

 

It would be interest to have the break down of this poll by state and how many votes each state cast.

[alwaysairtime14]

MF and Bizarro take the top 2 once again...

[djboss302]

Geese I don't pay attention to these things anyway.

[smallpox]

Some how my home park's hyper(I232) is better than an Intamin Giga! Well, this IS the GTAs.....

 

yeah uhhhhh

[cfc]

I agree with Robb on this one. This poll can't be taken seriously. It is a popularity contest mostly. How can anyone truly vote on the best coaster when they haven't ridden coaster all around the world or for that matter all around the US. This is the major reason for me why Mitch's poll is so much better.

 

It would be interest to have the break down of this poll by state and how many votes each state cast.

 

I didn't even think about the silly awards this year until someone mentioned the results were in.

[robbalvey]

You're going to hate me for this Robb, but hear me out.

 

If I had to vote between Cedar Point and Tokyo DisneySea, I'd probably give my vote to Cedar Point

I stopped reading after this because there is no point. I would have zero respect for anything else you would say following that statement.

 

The problem with the Golden Tickets is you have a bunch of roller coaster weirdos voting on "theme parks" that cannot separate the fact that "Top Thrill Dragster" doesn't make a "theme park", and Amusement Today is either too stupid or too scared to have two different categories. There is simply no other explanation for such an obvious flaw in the awards.

 

Tokyo DisneySea and Europa Park should *NOT* be in the same category as Cedar Point or Knoebel's.

Edited September 9, 2013 by robbalvey

[_koppen]

Yet, to my knowledge, I've never seen a park advertise the fact that they've placed high on the Mitch Hawker poll.

 

Both Holiday Park and Djurs Sommerland promotes pretty heavy about the Mitch Hawkers poll for Piraten and Expedition Geforce.

[ernierocker]

Geese I don't pay attention to these things anyway.

[SharkTums]

These awards still exist? Meh, they don't matter to me and 99.99999% of the population!

 

And opinion or not, anyone who ranks Cedar Point above DisneySea I never need to talk to again.

[mightypotato]

Out of random curiosity, if you could break up the parks into two categories (amusement park/theme park), what would you put at the top?

[Jew]

These awards remind me a lot of the Golden Globes in that a small group of random people determine what is best for an entire industry and the industry plays along because it is good for their business.

[robbalvey]

Out of random curiosity, if you could break up the parks into two categories (amusement park/theme park), what would you put at the top?

The categories should be "theme parks" and "amusement parks"

 

Theme parks would be parks that carry a specific theme or themes throughout and rely heavily on theming or themed attractions as part of their core product - Disney, Universal, SeaWorld, Dollywood, SDC, Europa, Phantasialand, Efteling, Busch, Alton Towers, etc.

 

Amusement Parks would be parks that depend less on theming and more on "rides" - some being off-the-shelf, some may have theming, but the theming taken away from most attractions wouldn't make much of a difference* - Six Flags, Cedar Fair, Knoebel's, Hersheypark, Blackpool, Thorpe Park, Walibi World, Fuji-Q, etc.

 

*Example - Lex Luthor: Drop of Doom has a very nice themed queue area. But remove that queue and the ride would operate or feel exactly the same. Turn off the "show" on Disney's Tower of Terror, and you have a completely different feel to the ride.

 

Make sense?

[Rollercoaster Rider]

I wish Mitch Hawker also did an Amusement Park poll. Now that would be interesting.

 

 

I want to meet the person who votes Knoebel's in a Halloween Event.

Want to know why International rarely wins? Cause 80% of the polling are US with 20% for International. Go to page 13 if you don't believe me.

Ghost Rider above Zippin Pippin and Viper at SFGAm. LAME!!!! I'd even pick Colossus at SFMM over Ghost Rider

[Meteornotes]

Geese I don't pay attention to these things anyway.

 

I would be far more interested in these awards if we could actually vote on our favorite park geese.

 

And opinion or not, anyone who ranks Cedar Point above DisneySea I never need to talk to again.

 

This.

 

dt

[Hilltopper39]

I just woke and read these awards, am I dreaming or is it still 2007?

[robbalvey]

I want to meet the person who votes Knoebel's in a Halloween Event.

Exactly! Knoebel's doesn't even have a "Halloween Event." The have a really fun one-night halloween-themed event for roller coaster weirdos that probably don't even know events like "Halloween Horror Nights" or "Halloween Haunt" even exist!

 

Again, more just OBVIOUS flaws in the awards. Knoebel's even being listed just takes away any legitimacy the awards might possibly have.

 

Really, what they should do is unless the category is specifically about 'themed attractions' or 'theme' parks, they should just completely throw out any theme parks and stick to amusement parks, after all, it is "Amusement" today hosting the awards.

 

I give them that when they have categories like "best dark ride" the outcome makes more sense because not many roller coaster parks have stand-out dark rides so they are forced to actually vote correctly. (I feel this is purely by accident, though out of lack of any other choices or experience.)

 

But when you see "Best Food" go to Dollywood or Knoebel's over Epcot? WHAT?!?!? Sure, Knoebel's has great food for an "Amusement" park, and Dollywood should be up there as a "theme" park, but are they trying to tell me that the skillets of Dollywood (as much as I personally love them) are better than restaurants like Le Cellier, Monsieur Paul, Via Napoli, Teppan Edo, or many of the other offerings at Epcot? Not even counting the Food & Wine festival?!?! Sorry, Dollywood and Knoebels, I love your food, but you guys even have admit you don't hold a candle to anything Epcot serves.

 

And I don't even think it's fair to put Dollywood and Knoebel's in the same category. So much of Dollywood's food sticks to that old west "theme" while Knoebels just focuses on being the best in what they do.

 

Ugh, the whole awards are just so stupid and annoying that it hurts the brain. Joey said it best, really...

These awards remind me a lot of the Golden Globes in that a small group of random people determine what is best for an entire industry and the industry plays along because it is good for their business.

Edited September 9, 2013 by robbalvey

[arby]

Despite my age, I'm newer enthusiast so I shouldn't even be commenting compared to some of you with all your knowledge and experience. I wanted to put in my 2 cents, though.

 

We really liked Cedar Point, but we loved WDW, Univsersal, and Busch Gardens for completely different reasons. I have never understood how to compare an amusement park like Cedar Point to a theme park like Walt Disney World, for example. It's like comparing apples to oranges. Once you get past the point that they are both fruits, everything else is so uniquely different.

[robbalvey]

We really liked Cedar Point, but we loved WDW, Univsersal, and Busch Gardens for completely different reasons. I have never understood how to compare an amusement park like Cedar Point to a theme park like Walt Disney World, for example. It's like comparing apples to oranges. Once you get past the point that they are both fruits, everything else is so uniquely different.

And with this one post you just proved you're smarter than anyone that writes for Amusement Today!

[yankeeman311]

^^100% this.

 

I honestly have a hard time ranking parks. It's hard enough for me to rank CP, Hershey and GAdv but when you're trying to put WDW and Uni in that list, you just make a difficult task practically impossible. There are very little things you can honestly compare between CP and WDW so I would 100% support the seperation of amusement parks and theme parks into different categories because both are great but in so different ways that they really can't be compared. I even think parks like Knoebels and Morey's Piers should have their own category because I love them but have a very hard time comparing those to big amusement parks or theme parks.

[australianalex]

The Golden Ticket Awards are a popularity contest, plain and simple. The fact that Millennium Force is #1 and Nitro is #4 makes this obvious.

I have to say though, I am happy to finally see I305 in the top 10, even if it's still below the B&M Intimidator. It's also good to see GeForce climbing the poll. Though I'll still be sticking to the Mitch Hawker poll as a much, much more accurate indication of quality.

[djboss302]

Amusement Today. All they do is look at pictures and go "That coaster looks good, let's put it in the top 10!" Truns out to be a picture of Predator.