Here are some random thoughts on the poll and its winners:
First off, It's completely understandable that certain awards are pretty
much a lock for the same parks year in and year out. It's not like those
parks are usually dramatically improving or failing at things. If most
enthusiasts think that Cedar Point is the best amusement park and
Schlitterbahn is the best water park in the world, what's really going to
change those opinions? Anyone who's bet against either park winning this
poll (or just about any poll for best overall parks) is a fool. With the
exception of IOA when it was fresh and new, there's never been any
competition in either category, and it's fair to say that the VAST majority
of enthusiasts would agree with them. Even if Schlitterbahn didn't put
together probably the most incredible events in the industry!
It's also interesting to see that a bunch more people filled out the
ballots this year. I know that hey added a bunch of new people to the
panel. And maybe more people bothered to fill it out this year? While it
didn't seem to change most of the categories, it definitely affected the
coaster categories. Interestingly, in the other categories, it seemed to
mostly solidify the positions of the top two vote-getters, as most of them
gained anywhere from 2-20%, while the lower ranked parks and rides seemed
to drop even lower in percentages this year. However, they also had a few
more nominees preselected in most categories, which did spread out some of
the percentages.
Best new rides weren't even close, as expected. Even if enthusiasts were
stupid enough to go to Florida in the Summer, Cheetah Hunt was never gonna
have a chance against the amazing new Texas Giant. The only new coaster
even coming close in quality was Grona Lund's Twister, but not enough
enthusiasts have even to Sweden to give it a fighting chance. (I'd imagine
that most of the 5% of the votes it got were people on the ACE Scandinavia
trip.) And can anyone even think about competing with Schlitterbahn,
besides Holiday World and Splashin' Safari? (Mainly because Splashin'
Safari is one of the only water parks that many enthusiasts have been to,
thanks to Holi-Wood Nights and other events there!) I just wish that The
Falls had opened in tome for my visit in June!
I'm still amazed that Idlewild wins every year for best kid's park. Sure
it's nice, but nice enough to get 2 out of every 5 votes? Here's where
you're seeing heavy old-school ACEr influence in this poll.
While Sea World in Orlando has always been a lock for the best marine life
park Can anyone out there think of any better place?), I was surprised to
see Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk just squeak out a win after years of
dominating the category. it lost 8% this year, which put it only 1% above
Blackpool Pleasure Beach (which I honestly think deserves it.)
Knoebels for best food again? They probably should name this "best
traditional park food", which I'd agree with. But can anyone even think
about competing with Tivoli Gardens for best gourmet (and super expensive!)
food? I mean, many people actually pay the huge park admission charge just
to eat at their restaurants! Then again, since the restaurants are outside
vendors, maybe that's not a fair comparison. (Then again, you could also
say the same thing for Epcot, which is another contender for truly great
food.) My vote perennially goes to Busch Gardens Williamsburg, who still
have some of my favorite ribs anywhere!
Will anyone ever beat Dudley Do-Right? It's just such a perfect
combination of silly whimsy and solid overall ride. The only current ride
that is better will never win, since it's in the UK. it's testament to
Valhalla's quality that it comes as close as it does, given its huge
handicap. After all, probably just about everyone on the panel has been on
Dudley at least once.
Wildebeest has established itself as the best water park ride just in time
to probably be unseated by its newer brother next year! Or will they split
the vote, allowing Master Blaster to regain the title? Which is what
happens now, with Schlitterbahn's three rides combined getting nearly half
of the votes overall.
And the only park to beat IOA for best dark ride is... IOA! Even
splitting the IOA vote, no one else even comes close. It will be
interesting to see if Spidey's hi-def overhaul allows it to reclaim the top
spot for Harry Potter next year.
Illuminations is untouchable, even if World of Color has dramatically
increased the park's attendance. Poor Fiesta got hit with a fireworks
ban, during ACE's convention add-on day, which surely would have otherwise
gotten them a bunch more votes!
I really wish that they'd split the walk-through attraction into haunted
and funhouse categories. They're so very, very different. Either way, all
of the contenders in my mind are in Europe and Japan. Not even the
excellent Frankenstein's Castle comes close. I voted for Grona Lund's
amazing Lustiga Huset.
As for the coasters, it's interesting to see how the influence of the new
people they've added to the poll has altered the top coasters. I'd imagine
that a lot of them are old-school ACEr types, considering how the rankings
changed. Not that that's a bad thing, but they have certain biases, which
can been seen in the results. As always, the major ACE events and overseas
trips by both ACE and the ECC will also affect the rankings, especially for
overseas rides.
It's pretty clear that Six Flags really messed up with their remake of
Superman into Bizarro. A lot of enthusiasts I know feel that it's really
lost its charm, either due to the blasting soundtrack or the restrictive
restraints. (And I'm sure that it doesn't help that taller people can't
ride at all, either!) It has always been neck and neck with Millennium
Force, swapping first place rankings. That a coaster in Massachusetts can
even compete with the top coaster at the most popular coaster park in the
world is testament to an incredible coaster design. But now, as more
enthusiasts get back to the park and experience the new trains, it's not
even close, with MF getting over 25% more points. Then again, Bizarro is
really handicapped, when you consider that it had less than 2/3 of the
riders as MF did on Mitch's poll.
Interestingly, those two coasters and Expedition GeForce are the only
coasters in the top 10 on both the Golden Tickets and Mitch's poll.
Could someone please explain the appeal of Nitro to me? Sure, it's fast
and fun. And it certainly has more forces than MF, which I'll never
understand either. But surely there are at least a half dozen
hypercoasters (and I'd argue more than a dozen) that are better than it.
Maybe it's just that none of them have had as many riders as the older
Nitro at a well-attended park in a coaster-rich area?
I figures that New Texas Giant was a lock for best new coaster, but to make
#6 in it's debut year? Surely, this was helped by both a TPR event there
AND the ACE Convention this year. But it's still damn impressive. Imagine
once the masses have all ridden it? This could be a contender for #1 in a
few years. It will be interesting to see where it ranks on Mitch's poll,
which doesn't require a lot of riders to win.
I'm sure that some will complain about Intimidator 305 only ranking at #13.
But that makes a lot of sense to me. For one thing, a lot of people
haven't ridden it yet. For another thing, a lot of people rode it with
painful restraints or with brakes or both (as I did.) Even without that,
it's certainly a polarizing coaster. I really wanted to like it, but I
only ranked it #42. (And it should drop a few more notches as a few new to
me coasters knock it down.)
And Phantom's Revenge is a great coaster, but if it were anywhere but
Kennywood, would it even rank in the top 20?
You can see the effect of the ACE Convention in Texas, their trip to
Scandinavia and the ECC trip to Germany in a bunch of the results on both
the steel and wood lists with big jumps for Titan, Piraten, Blue Fire,
Superman Krypton Coaster, Olympia Looping, Lisebergbanan, Balder, Boardwalk
Bullet (which jumped from 38 to 17, with nearly 5 times as many points as
last year!), Troy, and Rutschebanen, many of which actually debuted in the
top 50 this year.
Strangely, despite the ECC Germany trip, Heide Park's Colossos - the
world's first Intamin plug and play -- dropped from 18 to 29 and even lose
a handful of points, despite there being more voters this year. What
happened? Is it running badly now? Admittedly, you can't take much form
the lower ends of the poll, where it can take only a few votes to
dramatically move a coaster. But still, it's one of the few coasters on
the poll to lose points.
On another international note, T Express finally joined the top 50 woodies
at #39. Nothing like it's tied for #1 showing on Mitch's poll, but quite
good for a coaster in North Korea, where so few enthusiasts have visited.
As for wood, Voyage dominates, as expected, with nearly 20% more votes than
either Phoenix or El Toro, which had a very tight fight for second. (So
tight that one more #1 vote and a #4 vote for El Toro would have put it
ahead of Phoenix.)
In fact, the wood poll is where I think that the old-school enthusiast
influence of a lot of the new voters on the panel shows. Both Phoenix and
Twister got a ton of new votes, enough to push Phoenix just above El Toro
and to propel Twister up from #32 to #20 with over two and a half times as
many points as last year! As much as I love Phoenix, it will never be a
top 20 coaster for me. but old school fans absolutely LOVE it. It's
probably the ultimate classic coaster. I suspect that El Toro's drop isn't
to be attributed to any drop to it's quality as to a slight shift in the
poll panel's demographic.
Beast used to be great. But since the brakes, and since they've built so
many more great woodies, is it even remotely a top 10 coaster any more?
Apparently a ton of people still think so. I don't think is just
nostalgia. So many enthusiasts simply love it. Ask them, not me, why!
Raven and Lightning Racer finally drop out of the top 10. Raven hasn't run
as well as it used to in years. And it's still a short ride. And let's be
honest, it's been completely overshadowed by Voyage. And I've never
understood Lightning Racer's perennial place in the top 10 here. Sure,
like Phoenix, it's probably one of the most purely FUN coasters out there.
(Or should I say TWO of them?) But top 10? Hardly!
Their drop allows Shivering Timbers and Prowler to jump back into the top
10. Is Timbers running better, or is it just that many of the new people
on the panel remember it from when it was great? But Prowler may not be in
my top 20 (just), but it's my favorite GCI.
Apparently, I'm not the only one who thinks that Hellcat in the Dells
hasn't aged well, since it dropped from #19 to #30 and is another one of
the few coasters to lose points with more voters in this year's panel.
Could someone please do a major event at Alabama Adventure? Robb, are you
listening? ;-) Maybe along with next year's Deep South Bash? Rampage may
not be a #1 coaster, but it's far better than #32. At least on Mitch's
poll it's #15, which is better, but nowhere near as good as my personal
ranking of #5.