Your 2015 Golden Tickets

[PhantomTheater]

We all have our own opinions on amusement parks, so now here is your chance to hand out your own awards.  Here are the Actual categories, but feel to make up your own!

 

Best New Attraction (Amusement Park):

Best New Ride (Water Park):

Best Park:

Best Water Park:

Best Children's Park:

Best Marine Life Park:

Best Seaside Park:

Best Kids' Area:

Cleanest Park:

Friendliest Park:

Best Shows:

Best Outdoor Show Production:

Best Landscaping:

Best Food:

Best Carousel:

Best Water Ride (Park):

Best Water Park Ride:

Best Indoor Water Park:

Best Indoor Roller Coaster:

Best Funhouse/Walk-Through:

Best Halloween Event:

Best Christmas Event:

#1 Steel Roller Coaster:

#1 Wood Coaster:

 

Some creative categories:

Best Flatride:
Best New to you Ride (any ride you have not ridden until this year is eligible):

Best Park Rail Road:
Best Operations:

Best Observation Tower:

 

Any Category you think of is acceptable, and remember this is all for fun!

 

 

[jcgoble3]

Where would be an appropriate place to post my PayPal address so that parks can buy awards from me?

 

On a more serious note, I'll see what I can come up with, but not before I get back to Kentucky Kingdom, because Thunderbird needs some serious competition in the Best New Ride category and I haven't ridden T3 yet.

[malem]

I'm not nearly well-travelled enough to make most amusement park "best in the world/country" claims. Neither are most who vote in the real polls, though. Hence, the inherit bias.

 

Best new-to-me ride for 2015 might be Fury 325, Verbolten, Volcano, or Thunder Road.

[MDMC01]

This is a great idea, PhantomTheater.  I really like the "New-to-me" category because at least 21 rides fit into this category! In fact, I'll think some of these awards will be best "New to me ____".

 

My awards are as follows:

 

Best "new" invert: Great Bear at Hersheypark

Best "new-to-me" night ride: WindSeeker at Kings Island, runner up: Comet at Hersheypark

Best "new" launch coaster: Storm Runner at Hersheypark

Best "icon" coaster (Edge of the Millennium ride): Lightning Racer at Hersheypark

Best "new" flat: Meteor at Dorney Park, runner up: Woodstock's Glider's at Kings Island

Best "new" Wild Mouse: Wild Mouse at Hersheypark

Best Food (new): Chickie and Pete's, Dorney Park

Best "new" old-school wooden coaster: Comet at Hersheypark

 

Now for some not-so-new existing awards:

Most Improved ride experience: Flight of Fear, Kings Island

The Nostalgia Award: The Bat at Kings Island

Best show: Cirque Imagine at Kings Island

Best Waterslide: Pineapple Pipeline, Kings Island, runner up: Snake Pit- Dorney Park

Most-anticipated-for-2016 award: Switchback at ZTD's, runner-up: Superman is back at Six Flags New England

The "Don't believe the hype" award: Skyrush, Hersheypark

Best park: Hersheypark, runner-up: Kings Island

[dtk1378]

Well my post will be very Kings Island-centric as I am not a well traveled enthusiast but thought this was a fun idea either way as I posted in the other Golden Tickets thread, and since I am not as well traveled the categories will be open to any "park"...

 

Best New Attraction (Amusement Park): Woodstock Gliders

Best New Ride (Water Park): Um... the removal of Snoopy's Splash Dance? lol

Best Park: Kings Island of course

Best Water Park: Soak City

Best Children's Park: Planet Snoopy

Best Marine Life Park: Newport Aquarium

Best Seaside Park: N/A

Best Kids' Area: Planet Snoopy

Cleanest Park: Kings Island

Friendliest Park: Coney Island (Cin)

Best Shows: Kings Island

Best Outdoor Show Production: Kings Island

Best Landscaping: Cincinnati Zoo

Best Food: Cincinnati Museum Center

Best Carousel: Cincinnati Zoo

Best Water Ride (Park): White Water Canyon

Best Water Park Ride: Rendezvous Run

Best Indoor Water Park: N/A

Best Indoor Roller Coaster: N/A

Best Funhouse/Walk-Through: N/A

Best Halloween Event: Halloween Haunt

Best Christmas Event: Festival of Lights

#1 Steel Roller Coaster: Diamondback

#1 Wood Coaster: Beast

 

Some creative categories:

Best Flatride: Delirium
Best New to you Ride (any ride you have not ridden until this year is eligible): Tempest (Coney Island CI)

Best Park Rail Road: Cincinnati Zoo
Best Operations: Coney Island (CI)

Best Observation Tower: Kings Island

 

Most Improved ride experience: Shake Rattle & Roll

The Nostalgia Award: The Bat

Best show: Cirque Imagine

Most-anticipated-for-2016 award: Tropical Plunge

The "Don't believe the hype" award: Vortex's demise

 

Best Pool: Coney Island

Best Employee: Don't know her name, but one of the girls that did the Cirque Imagine show seating people, she was always full of energy and very engaging with guests

Best Musical Revue Show: Off the Charts

Scariest Ride: Firehawk

Best Scrambler: Coney Island

Best Kids Ride: Surf Dog

Most potential: Adventure Express / Boo Blasters on Boo Hill (tie)

[stashua123]

For some reason it is black...... your good though! 
 

Im not well traveled as I have only been to four parks in my life, so I really dont have anything new except that I visited Busch Gardens this year.

[gad198]

My categories are:

 

Best Park - Busch Gardens Tampa.  I like the Williamsburg version but BGT has a lot more fun non-coaster activities.  Honorable mention to Cedar Point.

 

Best "Wow, I totally didn't see that coming!" Park - Sea Breeze in Rochester, NY.  It's a nice small park anyway, and the views of Lake Ontario add an excellent dimension.  Honorable mention to Story Land. 

 

Best "Wow, I totally didn't see that coming!" Ride - Roar-o-Saurus at Story Land.  It's the best coaster under 75' tall in the US.

 

Best Park Food - the poutine at Canada's Wonderland.  Honorable mention to the cinnamon bread at Dollywood.

 

Nicest Park Employees - Six Flags Great Adventure.  Yes, you're reading that right.  I've had nothing but great experiences with everyone there the last few years.  Dollywood and Holiday World's employees are good but the atmosphere at both of those parks is becoming more corporate each year. 

 

Best Random Moment (amusement park edition) -  Fury 325 ride ops granting a re-ride on the last train at the end of the night.  Great way to end the day.

 

Best New Ride - Fury 325.  I had a chance to ride this, Wicked Cyclone and Thunderbird. 

 

The "if all they did was clone this ride at Kings Island I'd be thrilled" Ride - Fury 325.

 

Most Memorable Coaster Ride in 2015 - Front row rides on Fury 325.  Most fun I've had on a coaster in a long time.

 

Best Steel Coaster - Fury 325.  B&M really outdid themselves with this one.

 

Best Wood Coaster - Boulder Dash.

 

Ride I'm Looking Forward to Most in 2016 - Mako at Sea World.  Sea World has been in the news recently for all the wrong reasons (Blackfish, CEO being released, layoffs, general apathy about their Antarctica project).  The fact that they decided to build a coaster of this magnitude at this particular time tells you all you need to know about what parks think about B&M coasters - and particularly their mega coasters - and their impact on parks that install them.  I think that Lightning Rod at Dollywood will probably be a better ride, but the Mako story as a whole is more compelling to me.