Amusement Today's 2003 Golden Ticket Awards

Tim Baldwin
Amusement Today

As with any survey, its results are always more informative with a larger number of participants. This year, Amusement Today received its biggest response ever. From its inception in 1998, Golden Ticket Awards surveys are sent to experienced enthusiasts from around the globe. The United States is divided into four geographical regions, and an equal number of surveys sent to each of these regions. International participants make up for the remainder of our well-traveled panel.

New for 2003

The final years of the 1990s and the turn of the millennium produced a huge influx of new coasters. The past two years have seen a slower trend of new major installations, in particular dictated by economic times. However, new great coasters continue to surface. Cedar Point's Top Thrill Dragster makes a charging run at the Top Ten, a feat very difficult for a first-year coaster. Due to some operational difficulties, Dragster's performance might have been slightly hindered. Six Flags Magic Mountain suffered a similar fate when their new X experienced its share of quirks during its debut last year. This year, it saw an increase in the ratings, and Top Thrill Dragster can very well race for the sky in 2004. On the wooden front, the new Ozark Wildcat, at the equally new Celebration City, landed just outside our top 25 standings, but has opened to rave reviews to the participants that have made it back to Branson.

Holiday World's Zinga makes a spectacular debut as this year's top-rated waterpark ride as well.

Rising Stars

The biggest climbers on our coaster charts are a testament to the expertise of our selected panel. Coasters that have made the most significant leaps will be found across the world. Expedition GeForce made a major leap to the number three position, making it the top rated international coaster to appear on our lists. Nemesis and Air at Alton Towers, Grand National at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, Goliath at Six Flags Holland, and Euro-Mir at Europa Park all saw a rise in standings in this year's results. Of course, the most notable climb just might be Superman Ride of Steel at Six Flags New England, making a strong enough push to take Amusement Today's Golden Ticket for Best Steel Coaster for the first time.

Best of the Best

The biggest challenge asked of our survey participants is to narrow their park choices down to a single pick. It should be noted that many parks do (and should!) receive high marks for the jobs they do. Still, voters get one choice in the park and ride categories.

Taking top honors in the park divisions, two long-standing favorites snag their awards for best parks for the sixth year in a row. Cedar Point's huge assortment of rides, resort accommodations, and record-breaking roller coasters easily rated as Best Amusement Park in the 2003 survey. Waterpark afficionados also continue to award Schlitterbahn as the world's Best Waterpark, again for the sixth year. Coming in second in each of the two categories is Islands of Adventure for amusement park and Splashin' Safari for waterpark. England's Blackpool Pleasure Beach, known for an amazing amount of rides and coasters packed into a compact space places third in the amusement park category, and Wildwater Kingdom in Allentown, Pa., rounds out the top three in waterparks.

A common criticism voiced not only on our surveys, but on myriad Internet chatrooms is the inefficiency, or poor attitude of a park's employees. Thankfully, many parks do a superb job of training employees to be friendly to visiting guests. In somewhat of a sweep of this category, Holiday World of Santa Claus, Ind., continues to impress, taking top honors with a whopping 61 percent of the votes. Likewise, their reputation of letting guests see the park just as clean as they depart as when they arrive places them number one in the Cleanest Park category as well. Knoebels and Paramount's Kings Dominion take second and third places respectively for Friendliest Park, while Disneyland and Busch Gardens Williamsburg share the Cleanest Park spotlight in silver and bronze slots.

Fiesta Texas, tucked away down south in San Antonio, manages to maintain its solid reputation of presenting top-notch show entertainment for their guests. Amazing summer presentations such as an updated Lone Star Spectacular and a visually wow version of Chinese acrobats as only Fiesta Texas can do it, compliment the already marvelous live talent performing all season long. Fiesta Texas once again claims Best Shows for the fifth year. Busch Gardens Williamsburg takes second place with a strong line-up of live performers, and third place is shared by sister parks Silver Dollar City and Dollywood, long having a reputation of giving crowd pleasing shows.

Expensive food is a frequent complaint of many parks, but Knoebels in Elysburg, Pa., continues to delight their guests with tasty snacks and great food at accommodating prices for families who visit. Silver Dollar City's wide range of international and down-home cooking rates them as second, and Busch Gardens Williamsburg takes third in the Best Food category.

Best Kids Area once again goes to Paramount's Kings Island. Their collection of water and interactive activities, four junior coasters, and various flat rides just for kids make for a delightful section. Jurrasic Park and Seuss Landing areas for kids earn high marks with our panel, bringing Islands of Adventure into second place. Paramount's Kings Dominion's many kids attractions round out the top three.

Just Add Water

The amusement industry is evidence alone that people enjoy fun in the water. Our two water categories brought forth a list of amazing water attractions to tabulate. New at the top of the charts this year is Blackpool Pleasure Beach's Valhalla as Best Water Ride. As a blend of water attraction and dark ride, Valhalla excels on many levels, and this year jumps into first place. The campy and cartoonish fun of Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls gives second place to Islands of Adventure, as does third place, Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-rat Barges, a wild and rollicking rapids ride.

One of the tightest races ever tabulated by the Golden Ticket survey took place in the Best Waterpark Ride category. As mentioned, Splashin' Safari's new Zinga took top honors as Schlitterbahn's Master Blaster valiantly came in second trailing by hardly a trickle. Zoombabwe, Splashin' Safari's 2002 attraction came in third.

Natural Beauty

Part of the enjoyment of a park visit is enjoying the beauty that is presented throughout the day. Once again, Busch Gardens Williamsburg has impressed our panel, taking first place in Best Landscaping. Likewise, a new category, Most Beautiful Park, was taken by Busch as well. In the landscaping category, Efteling of the Netherlands, makes a strong charge at second place, while third is shared between Bonfante Gardens in Gilroy, Calif., and Alton Towers in England. Efteling also placed second as most beautiful, and Europa Park of Germany rounded out the three.

Rotating Categories

In an effort to always keep the survey fresh, Amusement Today has a selection of categories that will appear in a three-year rotating format. In this year's awards, Best Capacity goes to Cedar Point for keeping their lines moving the best. In second, Disneyland, utilizing their free Fast Pass system, ranked second. The same system helps the Magic Kingdom in Orlando take third.

In the Best Dark Ride category, the Amazing Adventures of Spider-man, a long-running favorite, webs up the top spot. Knoebels' popular Haunted Mansion, demonstrating a quality performance at a traditional park level, takes second place. The elaborate fantasy theming of Efteling's Dream Flight complete the top three.

When it comes to theming, the "big boys" make for tough competition. Islands of Adventure's Universal touch rolls out an elaborate queue house, trains, and station that give it's Dueling Dragons top honors in the category. Disney has a double play for second and third place. California's Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye and Florida's Twilight Zone Tower of Terror garner high marks.

In Best Non-Coaster Ride, our survey participants had a wide open slate to pick their favorite, a broad challenge to be sure. The Giant Drops by Intamin/Ride Trade received the most votes, with specific nods to the new Drop Zone at Paramount's Kings Dominion and the variety of riding positions of Apocalypse at Drayton Manor. The afore-mentioned Spider-man and Indiana Jones score highly in this category as well taking second and third respectively.

Opinions, please

While Amusement Today had an audience, also, we solicited the opinions of our survey panel. As avid collectors and buyers, our voters reported the No. 1 item they buy is T-shirts, followed by refrigerator magnets, and postcards. Pins and caps/hats were next in line.

Everyone's a critic, and when asked their biggest turn-off when visiting a park, our group reported crowds and long lines were the biggest turn-off of their park visits. Not far behind was line jumping, a recurring problem no matter where patrons visit. Equally tied for third were poor employee attitude and low capacity, with a strong disdain for operating coasters with only one train. Trash and a park being unclean followed.

When asked to list their favorite flat rides, a virtual floodgate was opened with practically every ride ever created mentioned. Top picks were carousels, particularly if they were unique or beautiful. Bumper cars and flying scooters tabulated at second and third. Huss' Frisbee placed next followed by inward facing swinging rides such as the Chance/KMG Afterburner, and the Fireball. Of note, if all swinging rotating rides were combined, this sum would have been greater than any other flat ride. It's popular, folks.

The Power of a Vote

Amusement Today wishes to thank its hundreds of participants this year. For anyone who has heard "Every vote is important," they need look no further than some of our close races in the final results to know that each and every survey had weight and value. Our gratitude goes out for sharing your expertise with the industry.