GTA came and went and nobody noticed….

There was a time when the GTA’s were newsworthy, relevant and generated some good discussion and debate. But funny how his most recent event didn't even get a blip in this forum.

Same parks winning the same awards…blah blah blah. And as most of us realized years ago, it’s just a glorified advertising sales campaign to generate a revenue boost for AT.

Yawn….

And you've just given them some thoroughly undeserved attention :)

Once I realized how incestuous the affair was, I stopped posting it as news. I strongly believe that buying ads in an issue where you can be recognized is quid pro quo and ethically anti-journalism. Most B2B trade rags do it, but it doesn't make it right to me.

It’s good marketing for parks and encourages them to do better so they can advertise as being the best. There’s nothing more to it than that and I think that’s perfectly OK. It’s not an election or anything of actual importance.

I initially thought this thread was about Grand Theft Auto.

I still don't know what it's about. LOL

Really, I know what we are talking about because of the context. I just can't remember the name of the magazine that has the awards.

Rather than guessing, I think I'll just Google it.

Edit-

Amusement Today magazine. Okay. Got it! Soooo... What does GTA stand for?

Drum roll please...

Golden Ticket Awards. Now I remember. Seems kind of arrogant for them to name them with an acronym now. Especially when GTA means Grand Theft Auto to so many people these days.

That’s because Jeff hasn’t elected to publish the Coasterbuzz awards in magazine form. After all, as we all know, the opinion of jaded old enthusiasts is really the only opinion that matters.

We hate everything, so we might as well just stay home.

CoasterBuzz: We Hate Fun

I'm currently actively petitioning to get several classic coasters torn down.

Never forget.

Lord Gonchar:

I'm currently actively petitioning to get several classic coasters torn down.

You probably stop at the store to buy sunscreen on the way to Holiday World.

Sunscreen? Bro doesn't even use a seatbelt. 😆

PhantomTails:

It’s good marketing for parks and encourages them to do better so they can advertise as being the best. There’s nothing more to it than that and I think that’s perfectly OK. It’s not an election or anything of actual importance.

Honestly, my main objection to them is the fact that they claim to be international.

They give 80% of their vote to the four regions of the US, and perhaps unsurprisingly the only international parks and rides that appear – generally one or two out of fifty awards – are where ACE events have been to recently.

Call them what they are – American – and I'll stop complaining about them :)

ACE had an international trip to Europe in the summer and a bunch of parks and coasters that never made waves suddenly showed up in the awards. How's that? (/s)

Back in the 90s and early 00s, I paid particularly close attention to the Golden Ticket Awards because their voter base had a much longer track record than I ever hoped to achieve. I figured, if they had the time and money to visit so many parks, whatever coaster they named as the best had to be it. And of course, there was some bias in that. My home park was Cedar Point and Magnum and Millennium Force dominated many of those years.

But after a while, it just became obvious that the voter base was honoring their favorite coasters instead of the best coasters. Newer, more exciting coasters could make it on the list, but would rarely take the top spot. Part of that is the voter base while the other part is the polling methodology.

Nowadays, I'm more of a fan of Vote Coasters, which uses a similar methodology as Mitch Hawker's polls. It gives good, but maybe not popular coasters, a shot to be ranked higher. Their voter base is also more international. Even the ranking here at CoasterBuzz seems to keep up with the times a bit more since it's based on a star rating instead of what I assume is first past the post.

It would be cool to have one big, grand celebration of coasters every year. But the Golden Ticket Awards probably ain't it, sis.