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2023 Golden Ticket Award winners announced

Matt N

Matt N

TS Member
Favourite Ride
Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
Another September can only mean one thing; the return of the Golden Ticket Awards! The ceremony was hosted at Dollywood over the weekend, and there were some interesting changes this year, including a pretty big one to the winner of Best Park!

The winners this year were as follows:
  • Best Park: Dollywood (#2 Europa Park, #3 Universal’s Islands of Adventure, #4 Phantasialand, #5 Kings Island)
  • Best Water Park: Schlitterbahn New Braunfels (#2 Splashin’ Safari, #3 Volcano Bay, #4 Hyland Hills Water World, #5 Aquatica Orlando)
  • Best Family Park: Dutch Wonderland (#2 Santa’s Village, #3 Story Land, #4 Paultons Park, #5 Legoland Florida)
  • Best Family Coaster: Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood (#2 Slinky Dog Dash at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, #3 Freedom Flyer at Fun Spot Orlando, #4 Wooden Warrior at Quassy, #5 Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland Paris)
  • Breakout Family Entertainment Centre: Fun Land of Fredericksburg (#2 Meow Wolf: The Real Unreal, #3 Scene75 Chicagoland, #4 Bolder, #5 Malibu Jack’s Lafayette)
  • Most Beautiful Park: Busch Gardens Williamsburg (#2 Dollywood, #3 Europa Park, #4 Tokyo DisneySea, #5 Efteling)
  • Best Water Ride: Valhalla at Blackpool Pleasure Beach (#2 Dudley Do-Right’s Ripsaw Falls at Universal’s Islands of Adventure, #3 Chiapas at Phnatasialand, #4 Timber Mountain Log Ride at Knott’s Berry Farm, #5 Aquaman Power Wave at Six Flags Over Texas)
  • Best Kids Area: Dollywood (#2 Kings Island, #3 Canada’s Wonderland, #4 Universal’s Islands of Adventure, #5 Carowinds)
  • Best Halloween Event: Universal Studios Florida (#2 Knott’s Berry Farm, #3 Universal Studios Hollywood, #4 Six Flags Fiesta Texas, #5 Europa Park)
  • Best New Show: Le Mime et l’Etoile at Puy de Fou France (#2 Summerbration at Cedar Point, #3 El Misterio de Sorbaces at Puy de Fou España)
  • Best New Rollercoaster: Wildcat’s Revenge at Hersheypark (#2 ArieForce One at Fun Spot Atlanta, #3 Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood, #4 Toutatis at Parc Asterix, #5 Zambezi Zinger at Worlds of Fun)
  • Best New Family Attraction: Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge at Universal Studios Hollywood (#2 Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway at Disneyland, #3 Draken Falls at Adventureland, #4 Yuta Falls at Lost Island Theme Park, #5 Treasure Hunt: The Ride in Monterey, California)
  • Best New Water Park Ride: Rocket Blast at Waldameer & Water World (#2 Riptide Racer at Water Country USA, #3 Vikingløp at Rulantica, #4 Turtle Coaster at Land of Legends, #5 Lightspeed Shuttle at Studio City Water Park)
  • Best New Attraction Installation: ArieForce One at Fun Spot Atlanta (#2 Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge at Universal Studios Hollywood, #3 Toutatis at Parc Asterix, #4 Leviathan at Sea World Australia, #5 Big Bear Mountain at Dollywood)
  • Best Guest Experience: Dollywood (#2 Knoebels, #3 Holiday World, #4 Europa Park, #5 Silver Dollar City)
  • Best Dark Ride: Rise of the Resistance at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (#2 Haunted Mansion at Knoebels, #3 Volkanu: Quest for the Golden at Lost Island, #4 Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout at Disney’s California Adventure, #5 Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts at Universal Studios Florida)
  • Best Water Park Ride: Mammoth at Splashin’ Safari (#2 Wildebeest at Splashin’ Safari, #3 Krakatau Aqua Coaster at Volcano Bay, #4 Lost River of the Pharaohs at Hyland Hills Water World, #5 Cheetah Chase at Splashin’ Safari)
  • Best Food: Knoebels (#2 Dollywood, #3 Silver Dollar City, #4 Epcot, #5 Europa Park)
  • Best Christmas Event: Dollywood (#2 Silver Dollar City, #3 Magic Kingdom, #4 Kings Dominion, #5 Busch Gardens Williamsburg and Europa Park (tied))
The Top 25 Steel Roller Coasters of 2023 were as follows:
  1. Fury 325 - Carowinds
  2. Millennium Force - Cedar Point
  3. Jurassic World VelociCoaster - Universal’s Islands of Adventure
  4. Steel Vengeance - Cedar Point
  5. Iron Gwazi - Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
  6. Expedition GeForce - Holiday Park
  7. Superman the Ride - Six Flags New England
  8. Taron - Phantasialand
  9. Intimidator 305 - Kings Dominion
  10. Maverick - Cedar Point
  11. Apollo’s Chariot - Busch Gardens Williamsburg
  12. Phantom’s Revenge - Kennywood
  13. Leviathan - Canada’s Wonderland
  14. Lightning Rod - Dollywood
  15. Intimidator - Carowinds
  16. Iron Rattler - Six Flags Fiesta Texas
  17. Mako - SeaWorld Orlando
  18. Helix - Liseberg
  19. Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure - Universal’s Islands of Adventure
  20. Nitro - Six Flags Great Adventure
  21. X2 - Six Flags Magic Mountain
  22. Time Traveler - Silver Dollar City
  23. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind - Epcot
  24. Candymonium - Hersheypark
  25. ArieForce One - Fun Spot Atlanta
The Top 25 Wooden Roller Coasters of 2023 were as follows:
  1. Phoenix - Knoebels
  2. Voyage - Holiday World
  3. El Toro - Six Flags Great Adventure
  4. Thunderhead - Dollywood
  5. Boulder Dash - Lake Compounce
  6. Beast - Kings Island
  7. Mystic Timbers - Kings Island
  8. Ravine Flyer II - Waldameer
  9. GhostRider - Knott’s Berry Farm
  10. Outlaw Run - Silver Dollar City
  11. Balder - Liseberg
  12. Gold Striker - California’s Great America
  13. Wildfire - Kolmarden
  14. Wodan - Europa Park
  15. Jack Rabbit - Kennywood
  16. Cyclone - Luna Park
  17. Shivering Timbers - Michigan’s Adventure
  18. Thunderbolt - Kennywood
  19. Troy - Toverland
  20. Rutschebanan - Tivoli Gardens
  21. Legend - Holiday World
  22. Lightning Racer - Hersheypark
  23. Flying Turns - Knoebels
  24. Prowler - Worlds of Fun
  25. Comet - Six Flags Great Escape
So, those are the GTA winners of 2023! What do you guys think of this year’s winners?
 
The imbalance towards the USA has always been the case with these awards. You just look at those coaster rankings and laugh at them.

It's no surprise that in the year the Vekoma replace Mack as a lead sponsor for the event, and in the year that the event is hosted by Dollywood, that Dollywood wins the award for best park as well as a host of other awards.

Also Freedom Flyer, a standard Vekoma SFC, as the third best family coaster in the world! 🤣
 
These things are a load of crap. They're WAY too American-Centric and they always vote for the same thing every year. I refuse to believe that stuff like EGF being the best coaster outside of the US or Thunderbird being the 4th best wooden coaster?! Also I recall they nominated Oscar's Wacky Taxi instead of DC Rivals for the 2018 edition (Aussie coasters are eligible for the next year because they open so late)
 
These are awful, and always have been.
 
To be fair to the organisers they have made a few big efforts to diversify the geography of the voters so it’s not so USA centric. If you think it’s biased and are not on their voters list apply.
 
So how many people are in the judging panel? And what actually qualifies them to be on that panel?

The reason I asked is because a few years ago, I came across an enthusiast’s Instagram profile where it said in her bio that she was on the Golden Ticket panel, and underneath that it listed her coaster count as 117.

Now I know that 117 is a fairly respectable coaster count for most enthusiasts, but for someone who’s on a panel where they’re supposed to be objectively considering all the coasters in the world and putting them fairly and evenly against each other, I’d expect them to have somewhat more experience than that.
 
Seems like every industry has their own version of the Grammys: a promotional event masquerading as an objective awards show, designed to make the people in the companies involved happy and fans confused and sad
 
Enter Valhalla said:
So how many people are in the judging panel? And what actually qualifies them to be on that panel?

The reason I asked is because a few years ago, I came across an enthusiast’s Instagram profile where it said in her bio that she was on the Golden Ticket panel, and underneath that it listed her coaster count as 117.

Now I know that 117 is a fairly respectable coaster count for most enthusiasts, but for someone who’s on a panel where they’re supposed to be objectively considering all the coasters in the world and putting them fairly and evenly against each other, I’d expect them to have somewhat more experience than that.
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Hundreds I think (I get a ballot).

It’s not so much a panel, rather a ballot goes out to everyone on their list. It’s not exactly something so exclusive as to brag about on a social media profile.
 
I always like seeing the Golden Tickets to see what comes up, but with the exception of the head to head style polls (like the old Mitch Hawker poll) I think Coaster or Theme Park polls are always fundamentally flawed. Unlike films, music, or anything else you'd do a poll for Theme Parks are super biased based on where the the voters are from. And I don't think it's fair to say only people with the time and money to travel the world are eligible to vote. That makes the outcome biased in an elitist way instead.
I've only ridden 100+ coasters, but I feel I have enough experience that my opinions should count. However I'd much rather do a poll that I only have to vote on the rides I have ridden to avoide an unfair judgment. Hence why head to head polls appeal more.
 
Matt N said:
The Top 25 Steel Roller Coasters of 2023 were as follows:
  1. Fury 325 - Carowinds
  2. Millennium Force - Cedar Point
  3. Jurassic World VelociCoaster - Universal’s Islands of Adventure
  4. Steel Vengeance - Cedar Point
  5. Iron Gwazi - Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
  6. Expedition GeForce - Holiday Park
  7. Superman the Ride - Six Flags New England
  8. Taron - Phantasialand
  9. Intimidator 305 - Kings Dominion
  10. Maverick - Cedar Point
  11. Apollo’s Chariot - Busch Gardens Williamsburg
  12. Phantom’s Revenge - Kennywood
  13. Leviathan - Canada’s Wonderland
  14. Lightning Rod - Dollywood
  15. Intimidator - Carowinds
  16. Iron Rattler - Six Flags Fiesta Texas
  17. Mako - SeaWorld Orlando
  18. Helix - Liseberg
  19. Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure - Universal’s Islands of Adventure
  20. Nitro - Six Flags Great Adventure
  21. X2 - Six Flags Magic Mountain
  22. Time Traveler - Silver Dollar City
  23. Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind - Epcot
  24. Candymonium - Hersheypark
  25. ArieForce One - Fun Spot Atlanta
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This is without doubt one of the worst rankings I have ever seen. Who votes in these awards because I'm seeing clear biased here. Who actually thinks Fury and millennium are better than vengeance, gwazi, velocicoaster. Not to mention that Ride to happiness isn't even in the 25 which is abysmal. RTH is top 5 in the world so these voters can't have ridden it
 
Ethan said:
This is without doubt one of the worst rankings I have ever seen. Who votes in these awards because I'm seeing clear biased here. Who actually thinks Fury and millennium are better than vengeance, gwazi, velocicoaster. Not to mention that Ride to happiness isn't even in the 25 which is abysmal. RTH is top 5 in the world so these voters can't have ridden it
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Despite the fact I agree that the rankings from these awards always have and always will be questionable to say the least, you then go and state that Ride to Happiness is top 5 in the world like it’s a fact.

I trust that you have ridden coasters across all continents to be able to make such a claim?

For the record, I love Ride to Happiness and it’s in my top 10.
 
Rob said:
Despite the fact I agree that the rankings from these awards always have and always will be questionable to say the least, you then go and state that Ride to Happiness is top 5 in the world like it’s a fact.

I trust that you have ridden coasters across all continents to be able to make such a claim?

For the record, I love Ride to Happiness and it’s in my top 10.
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I haven't ridden the rides on the list but you can tell how good a ride is based on the reviews by majority. I've heard nothing but really good reviews for RTH and it's rated really highly among the community. Therefore, to not even have it in the top 25 makes no sense
 
I would counter that view. RTH is very good but imo not elite. I have it for a variety of reasons around 17th on my list. Not everybody likes the same things, but yes there is a USA bias. Of the two I have done on there, both are better than RTH (EGF and Taron)
 
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