Amusement Today Golden Ticket Awards

Golden Ticket Awards
Host Park SeaWorld San Diego

Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Awards are annual awards given out based on surveys taken by roller coaster enthusiasts from around the world. They were first handed out in 1998 and continue to this day.

The results shown below are for the 2011 awards, hosted at Holiday World & Splashin' Safari.

Criticism

The Golden Ticket Awards have received substantial criticism for being a simple popularity contest, with most of the voters living in the Midwest United States.[1] In addition, the core group of panel has remained mostly the same, causing the results to be nearly identical year after year.

2014 Golden Ticket Awards

Host Park: SeaWorld San Diego

Category Rank Name Park/Location Vote
Best New Ride (Amusement Park) 1 Flying Turns Knoebels Amusement Resort 27%
2 Banshee Kings Island 19%
3 Goliath Six Flags Great America 11%
4 Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts Universal Studios Florida 10%
5 Lightning Run Kentucky Kingdom 9%

Top 50 Steel Roller Coasters

Rank Name Park Supplier Points
1 Millennium Force Cedar Point Intamin 1,139
2 Bizarro Six Flags New England Intamin 1,049
3 Expedition GeForce Holiday Park Intamin 764
4 Diamondback Kings Island Bolliger & Mabillard 579
5 Nitro Six Flags Great Adventure Bolliger & Mabillard 563
6 Leviathan Canada's Wonderland Bolliger & Mabillard 500
7 Apollo's Chariot Busch Gardens Williamsburg Bolliger & Mabillard 484
8 New Texas Giant Six Flags Over Texas Rocky Mountain Construction 465
9 Goliath Six Flags Over Georgia Bolliger & Mabillard 422
10 Intimidator Carowinds Bolliger & Mabillard 387
11 Phantom's Revenge Kennywood Morgan 384
12 Iron Rattler Six Flags Fiesta Texas Rocky Mountain Construction 367
13 Magnum XL-200 Cedar Point Arrow Dynamics 366
Intimidator 305 Kings Dominion Intamin
15 Behemoth Canada's Wonderland Bolliger & Mabillard 318
16 Banshee Kings Island Bolliger & Mabillard 317
17 Blue Fire Megacoaster Europa-Park Mack Rides 304
18 X2 Six Flags Magic Mountain Arrow Dynamics 292
19 Top Thrill Dragster Cedar Point Intamin 273
20 Mind Bender Six Flags Over Georgia Schwarzkopf 249
21 Nemesis Alton Towers Bolliger & Mabillard 245
22 Montu Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Bolliger & Mabillard 229
23 Alpengeist Busch Gardens Williamsburg Bolliger & Mabillard 220
24 Black Mamba Phantasialand Bolliger & Mabillard 179
25 Lightning Run Kentucky Kingdom Chance Rides 165
26 Goliath La Ronde Bolliger & Mabillard 157
Skyrush Hersheypark Intamin
28 Maverick Cedar Point Intamin 138
Wild Eagle Dollywood Bolliger & Mabillard
30 Helix Liseberg Mack Rides 134
31 Raging Bull Six Flags Great America Bolliger & Mabillard 124
32 GateKeeper Cedar Point Bolliger & Mabillard 117
33 Griffon Busch Gardens Williamburg Bolliger & Mabillard 116
34 Tatsu Six Flags Magic Mountain Bolliger & Mabillard 115
35 Lisebergbanan Liseberg Schwarzkopf 113
36 Kumba Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Bolliger & Mabillard 110
37 Steel Force Dorney Park Morgan 106
38 SheiKra Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Bolliger & Mabillard 101
39 Full Throttle Six Flags Magic Mountain Premier Rides 95
40 Shock Wave Six Flags Over Texas Schwarzkopf 90
41 Manta SeaWorld Orlando Bolliger & Mabillard 87
42 Euro-Mir Europa-Park Mack Rides 81
43 Goliath Six Flags Magic Mountain Giovanola 79
44 Whizzer Six Flags Great America Schwarzkopf 77
45 Kingda Ka Six Flags Great Adventure Intamin 76
46 Piraten Djurs Sommerland Intamin 74
47 Raptor Cedar Point Bolliger & Mabillard 73
48 Cheetah Hunt Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Intamin 71
49 California Screamin' Disney California Adventure Park Intamin 70
Volcano The Blast Coaster Kings Dominion Intamin

Top 50 Wooden Roller coasters of 2014

Rank Name Park Points
1 Boulder Dash Lake Compounce 1480
5
6 Ravine Flyer II Waldameer 719
10
15
20
25 Flying Turns Knoebels Amusement Park 155
30
35
40
45
50 Wood Coaster Knight Valley 68

2013 Golden Ticket Awards

Host Park: Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Best New Ride (Amusement Park)

Winner: Outlaw Run

2012 Golden Ticket Awards

Host Park: Dollywood

Best New Ride (Amusement Park)

Winner: Wild Eagle at Dollywood (30% of votes)

2nd: Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure (15% of votes)

2011 Golden Ticket Awards

Host Park: Holiday World & Splashin' Safari

Category Rank Name Location/Park Vote
Best New Ride (Amusement Park) 1 New Texas Giant Six Flags Over Texas 45%
2 Cheetah Hunt Busch Gardens Tampa 12%
3 Wooden Warrior Quassy Amusement Park 11%
4 Twister Gröna Lund 5%
Zippin Pippin Bay Beach Amusement Park
Best New Ride (Water Park) 1 The Falls Schlitterbahn New Braunfels 45%
2 Vanish Point Water Country USA 15%
3 Bombs Away Raging Waters 8%
Viper NRH2O
Best Amusement Park 1 Cedar Point Sandusky, Ohio 23%
2 Knoebels Amusement Park Elysburg, Pennsylvania 13%
3 Europa-Park Rust, Germany 12%
4 Dollywood Pigeon Forge, Tennessee 8%
5 Disneyland Anaheim, California 7%
Best Water Park 1 Schlitterbahn New Braunfels, Texas 66%
Best Carousel 1 Carousel Knoebels Amusement Park
Best Funhouse/Walk-Through Attraction 1 Noah's Ark Kennywood 24%
2 Frankenstein's Castle Indiana Beach 23%

Top 50 Steel Roller Coasters of 2011

Rank 2011 Recipient Park/Owner Supplier Points
1 Millennium Force Cedar Point Intamin 1,540
2 Bizarro Six Flags New England Intamin 1,201
3 Nitro Six Flags Great Adventure Bolliger & Mabillard 864
4 Goliath Six Flags Over Georgia Bolliger & Mabillard 794
5 Phantom's Revenge Kennywood Morgan/Arrow Dynamics 756
6 New Texas Giant Six Flags Over Texas Rocky Mountain Construction 743
7 Apollo's Chariot Busch Gardens Williamsburg Bolliger & Mabillard 643
Expedition GeForce Holiday Park Intamin
9 Top Thrill Dragster Cedar Point Intamin 627
10 Magnum XL-200 Cedar Point Arrow Dynamics 510
15
20
25 Titan Six Flags Over Texas Giovanola 178
29 Ride of Steel Darien Lake Intamin 148
Volcano, The Blast Coaster Kings Dominion Intamin
31 Kumba Busch Gardens Tampa Bolliger & Mabillard 144
35
40 Goliath Six Flags Magic Mountain Giovanola 97
Superman: Ride of Steel Six Flags America Intamin
45 Manta SeaWorld Orlando Bolliger & Mabillard 84
Olympia Looping R. Barth and Sohn KG. Schwarzkopf
50 Mamba Worlds of Fun Morgan 73

Top 50 Wooden Roller Coasters of 2011

1998 Golden Ticket Awards

Category Rank Name
Best Amusement Park 1 Kennywood
Best Non-coaster Ride 1
2 Space Shot

Best Landscaping

Cleanest Park

Winner: Holiday World (35% of votes).

Friendliest Park

Winner: Holiday World (32% of votes).

Best Food

Best Kids Area

Best Shows

Roller Coaster Awards

Best Wooden Roller Coaster

Best Indoor Roller Coaster

Winner: Revenge of the Mummy at Universal Studios Orlando.

2nd Place: Space Mountain at Disney's Magic Kingdom.

3rd Place: Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at Disney's Hollywood Studios.


References