Weak showing for KI at 2020/21 Golden Ticket Awards

[BoddaH1994]

I noted some interesting things. I like how they got recognized for guest experience.

[IndyGuy4KI]

It is going to take some work to get the kids area back to #1. I would say a refresh as Camp Snoopy would need to happen. 

I am surprised about Orion. Having ridden Candimonium this year, I do not put it above Orion.

They need a category for best dispatch times. KI hands everyone their behinds in that category. 

[BoddaH1994]

Orion finishing fifth is really disappointing. You shouldn’t have a $30 million investment and it’s only the fifth best installment. Who knows if it what have you even cracked the top five if the Busch Gardens parks had opened their new coasters. 

[FUN&ONLY!]

I don’t think it is poor showing, and I don’t think it accurately represents the parks. Like how good is Six Flags Great Adventure’s Christmas event that it ranks above Kings Island. How good is Knoebel’s food? I think Orion should have been higher, but this list is not the end all be all. I know Mystic Timbers won the best new attraction of 2017, but it still is subjective. If we looked at these results objectively, it is really sad that Kings Island couldn’t build a better wooden rollercoaster in 2017 than a 1940’s PTC relocated wooden rollercoaster.

[BoddaH1994]

24 minutes ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

I don’t think it is poor showing, and I don’t think it accurately represents the parks. Like how good is Six Flags Great Adventure’s Christmas event that it ranks above Kings Island. How good is Knoebel’s food? I think Orion should have been higher, but this list is not the end all be all. I know Mystic Timbers won the best new attraction of 2017, but it still is subjective. If we looked at these results objectively, it is really sad that Kings Island couldn’t build a better wooden rollercoaster in 2017 than a 1940’s PTC relocated wooden rollercoaster.

The problem is, if you don’t win you can’t market it. “5th best new ride of 2021” doesn’t have a very good ring to it.**
 

**Except for Kentucky Kingdom. They went there.

[coaster sally]

LMAO, you guys are acting like the golden tickets are legitimate.  CF needs to grt with the program and cater to enthusiasts if they want to use the golden tickets for marketing.

[FUN&ONLY!]

18 minutes ago, coaster sally said:

LMAO, you guys are acting like the golden tickets are legitimate.  CF needs to grt with the program and cater to enthusiasts if they want to use the golden tickets for marketing.

Even Steel Vengenace isn’t the best steel coaster according the Golden Ticket Awards! LOL! I think Orion is a great addition, and I think after some initial pushback, the general consensus is that it is an amazing ride. However, I do hope Kings Island steps out of their comfort zone for their next rollercoaster. They haven’t really tried to test the limits since Son of Beast, but it would be cool if they tried something really innovative. Diamondback, Banshee, Mystic Timbers, and Orion are all great rides, but they were not anything truly groundbreaking.

[silver2005]

1 hour ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

 How good is Knoebel’s food?

They deserve best food year after year.  That's probably the most legit thing on these rankings. 

[FUN&ONLY!]

4 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

They deserve best food year after year.  That's probably the most legit thing on these rankings. 

I have actually never heard of their food before. I have never been there, but I never would assume Knoebel’s had the best food. Now I want to try it! LOL! I do think some of the other awards are kind of off-point, though. Some of their rankings are really bizarre.

[MCQ0323]

45 minutes ago, silver2005 said:

They deserve best food year after year.  That's probably the most legit thing on these rankings. 

Knoebels winning best food year after year is as ridiculous as Phoenix as best wood coaster.  Phoenix isn't even the best wood coaster at Knoebels.

 

1 hour ago, coaster sally said:

LMAO, you guys are acting like the golden tickets are legitimate.  CF needs to grt with the program and cater to enthusiasts if they want to use the golden tickets for marketing.

The awards are dubious to put it kindly. Nobody in their right mind thinks Candomonium is the #5 Steel Coaster, it's middle of the pack of B&M hypers. Phoenix as #1 wood is ridiculous as mentioned before.  The voters

[jimlaheyscar]

GG's pre-fab track used on The Racer won innovation of the year.  That's something good.

 

[KIghostguy]

I’m not surprised that Candymonium was ranked above Orion—Hersheypark just hosted an ACE event earlier this year. But it’s very surprising and unfortunate to me that Orion was all the way at fifth on the New Coasters list; that’s the lowest any of Kings Island’s coasters have placed on the New Ride list under Cedar Fair (not counting Firehawk). Orion didn’t even crack the Top 25 Steel Coasters list.

Also, I was really surprised that the 150th Show at Cedar Point was fifth on the Top Show list. I was really surprised by how great that show was, it’s probably the best show I’ve ever seen at an amusement park. Are the shows at Fiesta Texas really that good?

[Shaggy]

10 minutes ago, KIghostguy said:

Are the shows at Fiesta Texas really that good?

Yes

[Hawaiian Coasters 325]

The main thing I was surprised about is that Leviathan, Magnum, Intimidator, and Diamondback made the top 25 and Orion didn't. Is Orion really that disliked by those who vote? And is Diamondback that much more popular than Orion? With Orion being a giga and being much bigger than Diamondback you would think Orion would be ranked higher. Looking at this, I'm starting to wonder if KI and CF are starting to think Orion was a miniature flop. Hope not bc Orion is an excellent ride, but if the whole purpose with Orion was to bring more people in and to make it the main star attraction at Kings Island, and it's not ranking that high in these polls, it makes you wonder if Orion is going to be a success long term or if it'll fall into the "minor flop" category.

[Oldschool75]

3 hours ago, IndyGuy4KI said:

It is going to take some work to get the kids area back to #1. I would say a refresh as Camp Snoopy would need to happen. 

I am surprised about Orion. Having ridden Candimonium this year, I do not put it above Orion.

They need a category for best dispatch times. KI hands everyone their behinds in that category. 

Coastercon was at Hersheypark this year. Connect the dots

[BB1]

The main and brief: Those who vote, are always biased in my opinion. 

I know most (if not 50%) of people here are newer to the whole coaster enthusiast gig; Golden Tickets are ways for parks to get publicity, but the people who vote aren't always the most reliable. Ever since the Flying Turns fiasco taking out what was honestly the best coaster of the year which actually opened (Banshee), and putting in a coaster which had so many issues, so many set backs, that didn't even open but for a brief time if memory serves me right. For people to give the award to something which mind you makes Woodstock Express look like a behemoth, instead of Goliath, instead of Banshee made me turn off the awards and just let it go. If you want to ride around with the following, by all means go for it, I just can't be behind it for a myriad of reasons. 

As for these rankings, it just serves that mentality more. Texas Stingray doesn't even have a lot of following, let alone hype. Even for myself, being someone who ranks Orion behind Diamondback to this day, will call that bull any day. Could it have been better? Yeah, in various ways. Has it been overhyped? Yep, and people probably ranked it in contrast to Fury which in my opinion is a really bad observation. The coaster itself does what it needed to do for the fans, but I think many saw the lack of elements on Fury and Leviathan as a waste of time. 

[disco2000]

38 minutes ago, Hawaiian Coasters 325 said:

The main thing I was surprised about is that Leviathan, Magnum, Intimidator, and Diamondback made the top 25 and Orion didn't. Is Orion really that disliked by those who vote? And is Diamondback that much more popular than Orion? With Orion being a giga and being much bigger than Diamondback you would think Orion would be ranked higher. Looking at this, I'm starting to wonder if KI and CF are starting to think Orion was a miniature flop. Hope not bc Orion is an excellent ride, but if the whole purpose with Orion was to bring more people in and to make it the main star attraction at Kings Island, and it's not ranking that high in these polls, it makes you wonder if Orion is going to be a success long term or if it'll fall into the "minor flop" category.

I know many people that don't even rank Orion as a top 3 coaster within KI itself and most I talk to rank Diamondback above Orion, so this ranking isn't a shock to me...

[FUN&ONLY!]

44 minutes ago, disco2000 said:

I know many people that don't even rank Orion as a top 3 coaster within KI itself and most I talk to rank Diamondback above Orion, so this ranking isn't a shock to me...

There are also apparently many people who think Phoenix is the best wooden rollercoaster and that Candymonium is a top five steel rollercoaster. Opinions like this are very subjective. I think the general consensus is, though, that Orion is still a very good ride and at least better than Candymonium.

Also, Texas Stingray I feel like is barely talked about. More people talk about Mystic Timbers which is now four years old.

[MrSourNinja]

38 minutes ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

There are also apparently many people who think Phoenix is the best wooden rollercoaster and that Candymonium is a top five steel rollercoaster. Opinions like this are very subjective. I think the general consensus is, though, that Orion is still a very good ride and at least better than Candymonium.

Also, Texas Stingray I feel like is barely talked about. More people talk about Mystic Timbers which is now four years old.

Probably because Texas Stingray is just not as good. It's got a less airtime, more old style GCI layouts and that goes away from exactly what Mystic is praised for: pacing, airtime, and rapid transitions.

Just more proof that the Awards are a sham.

[Tr0y]

I’m not shocked by Orion’s rating at all. It’s short in length and ride duration, and in my opinion the only elements that make it stand out in comparison to Diamondback are the first drop and the ejector airtime hill. The rest seemed very Diamondback like. Way to many floater airtime hills and in my opinion, helixes for that matter. The theming is great, but not enough to make up for the coaster itself. 

[JimParker85]

I strongly prefer Orion over Candymonium. Orion on 2021 on full trains was a hoot. Phenomenal first drop and good pacing start to finish IMO. 

[DoomPlague]

I think people need time to

A. Ride Orion more. I didn't like it that much after my first ride

and

B. Time to get over that entitled sense of disappointment.

Also, I thought it was generally accepted that the Golden Ticket awards shouldn't be taken that seriously.

[BoddaH1994]

7 hours ago, DoomPlague said:

I think people need time to

A. Ride Orion more. I didn't like it that much after my first ride

and

B. Time to get over that entitled sense of disappointment.

Also, I thought it was generally accepted that the Golden Ticket awards shouldn't be taken that seriously.

Who is acting entitled? They offer a product. You’re happy with it or you’re not. They’re charging for it. If a band comes out with an album that you don’t like are you entitled too?

22 hours ago, coaster sally said:

LMAO, you guys are acting like the golden tickets are legitimate.  CF needs to grt with the program and cater to enthusiasts if they want to use the golden tickets for marketing.

They’re not legit. Neither is the Readers Digest poll. Won’t stop Kings Island from marketing the sh-t out of it… as they should. That’s all the GTA’s are - a marketing opportunity. Being the best is marketable, 2nd place is not. 

[FUN&ONLY!]

Didn’t Orion win best new attraction of 2020 last year from USA Today? I believe the results included everything else in the top five but Velocicoaster, so that just shows how different these results are. The funny thing is, most people would tell you they enjoyed Orion more this year than last year, but Orion is ranked lower this year.

[coaster sally]

1 minute ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

Didn’t Orion win best new attraction of 2020 last year from USA Today? I believe the results included everything else in the top five but Velocicoaster, so that just shows how different these results are. The funny thing is, most people would tell you they enjoyed Orion more this year than last year, but Orion is ranked lower this year.

that was due to ki fanboys spending days on the computer voting

[FUN&ONLY!]

2 hours ago, coaster sally said:

that was due to ki fanboys spending days on the computer voting

It may have been biased, but the Golden Ticket Awards are also pretty biased. Neither award truly means anything important.

[coaster sally]

16 minutes ago, FUN&ONLY! said:

It may have been biased, but the Golden Ticket Awards are also pretty biased. Neither award truly means anything important.

hence my original post LMAO that you guys are making a big deal out of this.

[super7]

Planet Snoopy is run down.   Hardly and trees.   No quality dark ride. Poorly themed to the same handful of characters    It doesn’t deserve an award.  
 

Orion was built for the 300 ft marketing but they only built 3/4 of a ride.  Not deserving. 
 

Overall it’s not a very nice park.   It feels dated, total lack of shade.   Cedar Fair budget cuts are obvious this year.   It’s sliding back into the Paramount days. 

[FUN&ONLY!]

3 hours ago, super7 said:

Planet Snoopy is run down.   Hardly and trees.   No quality dark ride. Poorly themed to the same handful of characters    It doesn’t deserve an award.  
 

Orion was built for the 300 ft marketing but they only built 3/4 of a ride.  Not deserving. 
 

Overall it’s not a very nice park.   It feels dated, total lack of shade.   Cedar Fair budget cuts are obvious this year.   It’s sliding back into the Paramount days. 

I feel like this is a bad take. Planet Snoopy is out of date for sure, but the rest of the park doesn’t look too bad. What budget cuts are obvious this year at Kings Island? The only ones I can think of are closed games and less shows. I think the park still is pretty good, though, even with the pandemic. I would love if Kings Island invested more into park improvements over the next few years, but there is not much return on investment if they focus on that.

[BeeastFarmer]

6 hours ago, super7 said:

Planet Snoopy is run down.   Hardly and trees.   No quality dark ride. Poorly themed to the same handful of characters    It doesn’t deserve an award.  
 

Orion was built for the 300 ft marketing but they only built 3/4 of a ride.  Not deserving. 
 

Overall it’s not a very nice park.   It feels dated, total lack of shade.   Cedar Fair budget cuts are obvious this year.   It’s sliding back into the Paramount days. 

Wow...Kings Island might not be the place for you, Eeyore.