2015 Golden Ticket Awards Results

The 2015 Golden Ticket Awards were held last night at Luna Park/Coney Island in New York City, and once again, the results are very interesting, at least by coaster enthusiast standards.

Best New Attraction for 2015 (Amusement Park)
Fury 325 Carowinds 27%
Wicked Cyclone Six Flags New England 14%
Twisted Colossus Six Flags Magic Mountain 13%
Cu Chulainn Tayto Park 10%
Thunderbird Holiday World 9.5%

Best New Ride for 2015 (Water Park)
Dive Bomber Six Flags White Water 15%
Slidezilla Elitch Gardens 14%
Aqua Rocket Raging Water San Dimas 13% (tie)
Slideboarding Wet ???n??? Wild Las Vegas 13% (tie)
Anaconda Kalahari Resorts ??? Poconos 10%

Best Park
Europa-Park Rust, Germany 24%
Cedar Point Sandusky, Ohio 14%
Knoebels Amusement Resort Elysburg, Pa. 11%
Dollywood Pigeon Forge, Tenn. 9%
Disneyland Anaheim, Calif. 7%
Blackpool Pleasure Beach Blackpool, England 5% (tie)
Busch Gardens Williamsburg Williamsburg, Va. 5% (tie)
Universal???s Islands of Adventure Orlando, Fla. 4.5%
Alton Towers Straffordshire, England 4% (tie)
Holiday World Santa Claus, Ind. 4% (tie)
Magic Kingdom Orlando, Fla. 4% (tie)
Toyko Disney Sea Toyko, Japan 4% (tie)

Best Water Park
Schlitterbahn New Braunfels, Texas 52%
Splashin??? Safari Santa Claus, Ind. 19%
Dollywood???s Splash Country Pigeon Forge, Tenn. 6%
Aquatica Orlando, Fla. 5%
Typhoon Lagoon Orlando, Fla. 4%

Best Children???s Park
Idlewild & SoakZone Ligonier, Pa. 21%
Storybook Land Egg Harbor Twp., N.J. 20%
Story Land Glen, N.H. 9%
Legoland Windsor Windsor, England 8%
Legoland California Carlsbad, Calif. 7% (tie)
Legoland Florida Winterhaven, Fla. 7% (tie)

Best Marine Life Park
SeaWorld Orlando Orlando, Fla. 55%
SeaWorld San Diego San Diego, Calif. 10%
Discovery Cove Orlando, Fla. 9%
SeaWorld San Antonio San Antonio, Texas 8%
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Vallejo, Calif. 7%

Best Seaside Park
Morey???s Piers Wildwood, N.J. 27%
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Santa Cruz, Calif. 26.5%
Blackpool Pleasure Beach Blackpool, England 26%
Gr??na Lund Stockhom, Sweden 12%

Best Kids??? Area
Kings Island Mason, Ohio 27%
Efteling Kaatsheuvel, Netherlands 10%
Universal???s Islands of Adventure Orlando, Fla. 9.5%
Kings Dominion Doswell, Va. 8%
Blackpool Pleasure Beach Blackpool, England 6% (tie)
Nockelodeon Universe Bloomington, Minn. 6% (tie)

Cleanest Park
Holiday World Santa Claus, Ind. 25%
Dollywood Pigeon Forge, Tenn. 14%
Busch Gardens Williamsburg Williamsburg, Va. 11%
Europa-Park Rust, Germany 9%
Disneyland Anaheim, Calif. 8%

Friendliest Park
Dollywood Pigeon Forge, Tenn. 35%
Holiday World Santa Claus, Ind. 18%
Knoebel???s Amusement Resort Elysburg, Pa. 12%
Adventure Island Southend-on-Sea, England 9%
Silver Dollar City Branson, Mo. 8%

Best Shows
Dollywood Pigeon Forge, Tenn. 42%
Six Flags Fiesta Texas San Antonio, Texas 11%
Silver Dollar City Branson, Mo. 8%
Europa-Park Rust, Germany 7%
Disney California Adventure Anaheim, Calif 6%

Best Outdoor Show Production
Illuminations Epcot 24%
World of Color Disney California Adventure 15%
Fantasmic! Disney???s Hollywood Studios 12%
Fantasmic! Disneyland 11%
Lone Star Nights Six Flags Fiesta Texas 9%

Best Landscaping
Busch Gardens Williamsburg Williamsburg Va. 29%
Gilroy Gardens Gilroy, Calif. 17%
Efteling Kaatsheuvel, Netherlands 11%
Alton Towers Staffordshire, England 9%
Dollywood Pigeon Forge, Tenn. 7%

Best Food
Knoebel???s Amusement Resort Elysburg, Pa. 23%
Dollywood Pigeon Forge, Tenn. 20%
Epcot Orlando, Fla. 16%
Silver Dollar City Branson, Mo. 9%
Europa-Park Rust, Germany 7%

Best Carousel
Knoebels Amusement Resort Elysburg, Pa. 40%
Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Santa Cruz, Calif. 10%
Six Flags Great America Gurnee, Ill. 6%
Efteling Kaatsheuvel, the Netherlands 5% (tie)
Six Flags Over Georgia Austell, Ga. 5% (tie)

Best Water Ride (Park)
Valhalla Blackpool Pleasure Beach 28%
Dudley Do-Right???s Ripsaw Falls Universal???s Islands of Adventure 19%
Splash Mountain Disneyland 9%
Mountain Slidewinder Dollywood 7%
Timber Mountain Log Ride Knott???s Berry Farm 6%

Best Water Park Ride
Wildebeest Splashin??? Safari 25%
Mammoth Splashin??? Safari 18%
Master Blaster Schlitterbahn 14%
The Falls Schlitterbahn 9%
Verr??ckt Schlitterbahn, Kansas City 8%

Best Dark Ride
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey Universal???s Islands of Adventure 13%
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror Disney???s Hollywood Studios 12%
Harry Potter / Escape from Gingotts Universal Studios Orlando 9%
The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man Universal???s Islands of Adventure 8.5%
Haunted Mansion Knoebels Amusement Resort 7%

Best Indoor Water Park
Schlitterbahn Galveston Island Galveston, Texas 28%
Kalahari Resort Sandusky, Ohio 17%
Kalahari Resort Wisconsin Dells, Wis. 12%
World Waterpark Edmonton, Alberta, Canada 11%
Splash Landings Staffordshire, England 6%

Best Indoor Roller Coaster
Revenge of the Mummy Universal Studios Orlando 23%
Space Mountain Disneyland 12%
Winjas Phantasialand 11%
Black Diamond Knoebels Amusement Resort 10%
Mindbender Galaxyland 7% (tie)
Rock ???n??? Roller Coaster Disney???s Hollywood Studios 7% (tie)

Best Funhouse/Walk-Through
Noah???s Ark Kennywood 27%
Ghost Ship Morey???s Piers 23%
Gasten Ghost Hotel Liseberg 12%
Frankenstein???s Castle Indiana Beach 10%
Lustiga Huset Gr??na Lund 8%

Best Halloween Event
Universal Studios Orlando Orlando, Fla. 28%
Knott???s Berry Farm Buena Park, Calif. 18%
Knoebels Amusement Resort Elysburg, Pa. 11%
Kennywood West Mifflin, Pa. 8%
Busch Gardens Tampa Tampa, Fla. 6%

Best Christmas Event
Dollywood Pigeon Forge, Tenn. 40%
Disneyland Anaheim, Calif. 10%
Silver Dollar City Branson, Mo. 9%
Magic Kingdom Orlando, Fla. 6%
Europa-Park Rust, Germany 5.5%

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PDF results: http://goldenticketawards.com/wp-conten ... -LoRes.pdf

[TTD03]

Thanks for posting this! I was thinking about doing it myself!

[Paradox]

Hahaha Boulder Dash beat El Toro again.

^well Boulder Dash is a great ride it should win

[TTD03]

I've heard Boulder Dash is like the Voyage. If that's the case, no way in hell is Boulder Dash better than El Toro.

As someone who as ridden both, Its really hard to choose between them. Boulder Dash is relentless, keeps its speed the whole time, tons of lats and airtime while El Toro is all about a few moments of OMFG airtime then looses its steam towards the end. In the end, El toro has the ride, while boulder dash has the better design, So I rank Toro slightly higher.

[Paradox]

TTD03 wrote:

I've heard Boulder Dash is like the Voyage.

You heard wrong.

Toro is also on flat land while BD runs along a mountain and through trees.

The Golden Ticket is comedic. Any poll where I305, Maverick, and Skyrush are not even in the top 10, but there are way too many B&M hypers in the top 10, is pretty irrelevant. Also, the RMC's are missing too. Only NTG? Where are the other (better IMO) RMC's? Why is Intimidator ahead of Leviathan? Mitch's poll is far superior, if only he still did it.

Another thing I hate about this poll is that either MF or S:TR is always #1.

Yeah, these results really are quite ridiculous. Even though Millennium Force happens to be my favorite coaster at the moment, I'm sure there are better coasters out there. Also, as much as I love The Beast, I'm not so sure that it's better than rides like Outlaw Run and Gold Striker.

A little home park bias here, but how does Renegade not even make the Top 50?

[Paradox]

VF15 wrote:

A little home park bias here, but how does Renegade not even make the Top 50?

Because GCI

It seems like all they rate the steel coasters on is speed and airtime. I think I'd agree with the park ratings though

Without Millennium Force, we wouldn't see Fury 325 ranked there!

I've done Boulder Dash and El Toro and I still prefer the latter as well *shrug*. I agree it's difficult to compare the two, although I don't feel that El Toro really lets up much at the end. I like the contrast between the super straightforward crazy ejector air in the opening/final huge air moment and the lats and decent positives in the twister. Boulder Dash is my #2 woodie though. Can't beat the location.

[Paradox]

I love El Toro too, but I feel that Intamins and RMC's are a different type of wooden coaster.

^They technically are. There's traditional wooden coasters, and then there's the Prefabs and RMC's. Among traditional coasters Boulder Dash is definitely the best if not top 3 depending on your opinion

Traditional woodies by Intamin, they are "slightly" painful rides, I guess, from my experience.