2011 Golden Ticket Awards

Today Holiday World was host to the GTA and they streamed it live, here are the winners!

Best park-Cedar Point
Best Marinelife park- Seaworld Fla.
Best Waterpark- Schlitterbahn Texas
Best New ride-Texas Giant, SFOT
Best Steel Coaster-MF at CP
Best Wooden coaster-Voyage HW
Best Dark Ride-Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure
Best Food-Knoebels Grove
Best Waterpark ride-The Falls at Schlitterbahn
Cleanest Park-Holiday World
Best landscaping- Busch Gardens Va
Friendliest Staff-Holiday World
Best Shows- Dollywood
Best Carousel- Knoebels
Best Indoor coaster- Revenge of the Mummy -Universal
Best Indoor waterpark-Schlitterbahn, Gavelston texas
Best Childrens park-Idlewild park
Best Seaside park-SantaCruz Boardwalk Ca.
Best Xmas Event-Dollywood
Best Halloween Event-Universal studios Fla.
Best water ride in a park- Dudley Do rights Buzzsaw falls UIA
Best waterpark ride -Widebeast HW
Best kids Area-Kings Island
Best Walk through Fun House-Noahs Ark Kennywood
Best outdoor night show- Epcot WDW
Publishers pick- Park of the year 2011- Tivoli Grona Lund, Supplier of the year- Chance, Lengend series- Richard Kinszel
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/holidayworld

What a load.

Let's see, Noah's Ark is missing the ending and still is the best walk through?

The Falls at Schlitterbahn only opened a few months ago and still wins an award?

Voyage at HW for best wood? Sorry to say but Voyage is not running worth a darn IMO this season.

I know that these awards are all bought and paid for with advertising but some of these go beyond plausibility.

They could save a lot of time by only giving out awards that aren't the same as the year before. Yawn.

The Falls at Schlitterbahn won "Best New Waterpark Ride". A very appropriate win. DaveStroem- maybe you should go check it out before you denounce it.

Golden Tickets doesn't require voters to base their votes on what they experienced only this year. The condition of The Voyage is relevant for a rider today or this year, but not someone who rode a couple of years ago. It's impossible for everyone to visit every park each year.

I'm happy to see Millennium Force beat Bizarro.

It's funny, I don't even need to read these any more. I can guess them. Every single one of them.

Congrats to the winners!

MF isn't anywhere near as good as Texas Giant.

Considering the low number of voters that would have likely ridden it this year, I'm shocked it ended up so high on the list.

Weren't the ACERS there for convention this summer? Seems to be there would be quite a few in attendance who would likely be voters too. At any rate, it's a great ride and I'm not the least bit surprised at that one.

Everyone knows my feeling about an editorial operation giving awards to entities that then turn around and give them money for advertising, but I suppose that's a tired subject.

Every year I stop and wonder how anyone could possibly think any park has better food than Epcot. No disrespect to Knobels, but really? Pick any restaurant there, it's better. You don't need to be a foodie to appreciate that.

The tribute to Dick Kinzel made me uncomfortable. On one hand, it gave him a great deal of credit that he's absolutely due, as there's no denying that the company did grow immensely on his watch. On the other hand, that seems so overshadowed by the mess that Cedar Fair has been really since the purchase of Paramount Parks. I wonder what he'll really be remembered for in the long run.

One of the things you really could appreciate having the awards at HW is just how family oriented the park is. It really has a soul the way most parks do not.

I loved eating my way thru Knoebels. Having said that...it's park/fair food. Which is good! Don't get me wrong. But Dollywood, Busch Williamsburg, EPCOT? All better.

I think that's the distinction. Just because an amusement or theme park serves food within its boundaries doesn't make it 'park' food. I haven't been to many sit-down places at MK or Epcot, but it seems to me that most of what they serve there isn't in the same category as what you would expect at most parks. It'd be like comparing...um, say, carmel apples and lemon-baked orange roughy.

Every year I wonder how the "best park in the world" (Cedar Point) can really be the best when they don't even place in the top five of any other category like friendliest, cleanest, best shows, best food, etc. It's kind of like a Best Picture winner that wasn't nominated for writing, directing, acting, or anything else. While the park apparently doesn't excel at any one thing, whatever it does just happens to add up to the "best" somehow.

TimChat2 said:
While the park apparently doesn't excel at any one thing, whatever it does just happens to add up to the "best" somehow.

I think that makes perfect sense.

It's not uncommon at all for something (movie, sports team, theme park, anything that can be measured in different categories) to be among the best in several facets, but not the best in any one and maintaining an overall higher level of quality because of it.

With that said, I think the point of the Golden Tickets is to make sure that everyone across the board gets a nod. It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to make happy. :)

What Gonch said. It's all about bragging rights. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a park advertise in a big way that they are the best at whatever according to the Golden Ticket Awards, complete with the Golden Ticket logo.

Well i vote in it every year and when im making my pic for best food i dont just go by the quality of the food, i go by the service and price of the food as well. I do agree that there are other parks that have better food but if the service is slow and the price is much higher than other parks, they dont get my vote.

Jeff said: One of the things you really could appreciate having the awards at HW is just how family oriented the park is. It really has a soul the way most parks do not.

Thanks very much, Jeff. Great to see you on Saturday!

Paula

LostKause said:
What Gonch said. It's all about bragging rights. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a park advertise in a big way that they are the best at whatever according to the Golden Ticket Awards, complete with the Golden Ticket logo.

Or NOT. six flags Great America is still "the cleanest theme park in the world!" Blasted on loudspeakers all day long, at the entrance.

Anyone can claim anything about themselves. I am the greatest rock vocalist ever (as told to me by my best friend in twelfth grade, the guy who recorded my last band, and a group of teenagers at a Make-A-Wish fundraiser). Doesn't mean that it's true. It just means that the entity that bestowed the title upon me was freekin' nuts. :)

Ensign Smith said:
I think that's the distinction. Just because an amusement or theme park serves food within its boundaries doesn't make it 'park' food. I haven't been to many sit-down places at MK or Epcot, but it seems to me that most of what they serve there isn't in the same category as what you would expect at most parks. It'd be like comparing...um, say, carmel apples and lemon-baked orange roughy.

I agree. I think the best food is more in regards to the traditional sense...who makes the best funnel cakes, fries, pizza, hamburgers etc. I've never been to Knoebels...would people agree that they have the best of traditional amusement park food?

Also, to those saying that these awards are all bought through advertising...would you guys say that the parks on the list are generally the cream of the crop (I haven't experienced most of the parks), or are the awards something to dismiss entirely?

These awards are a joke!

And I am sorry, but Knoebels food is extremely "meh". Like Jeff said above, Epcot is hands down the best park food I had eaten. Dollywood, Disney, Busch Parks, etc... So many better choices if you actually enjoy real food. I had quite a few items at Knoebels the few visits I had been there. Nothing was ever really special about any of it. It all felt cheap to me.

Who actually votes for all these? Do they do a poll at some point? Just curious because I never remember seeing them, but I also never look either. It is always the same exact stuff.