Golden Ticket Awards: How Cedar Point can improve

Shawn Meyer said:

My idea would be to update Rougarou yet another time.

Not trying to be a jerk here... but I don't think that the headbanging on Rougarou is the thing that's holding CP back from winning a made-up award from a "sponsored" publication.

Also they did make available this season the disposable glasses for drinks, my husband and I literally carry nothing but our phones, we love not having to think about lockers.

This year’s Golden Ticket Awards were a no show for CP, Having lost Best Park years ago to Europa, they still claimed Best Park in North America... until Dolly took it away this year. (If they could just get the free shuttles to run on time. )
At least CF bought a park that was Best in class recognized this year.

... and yet despite bringing home any major awards, losing the best kids area, the best park category, etc. the chain is experiencing record results.

I mean, no doubt the Golden Ticket awards are super suspect to begin with (like, seriously… Magnum beats Taron? Are you insane?). Knoebels for food? Um… They obviously have not been out much, whomever is deciding these ‘winners’.

But the one thing I do agree with… Europa being top park. It is the perfect mix of Universal meets Disney meets something like Cedar Point. Incredible resorts, fantastic food, dark rides, the coasters are solid, atmosphere, etc… I was really blown away by the place. Not sure a park is more well-rounded as Europa. Even two days hardly felt like enough time to really take in the place.

Again, staying up late does not help your thinking. Nothing Cedar Fair can do can do to improve but buy another park.. I blame the lack of recognition due the heavy traffic on perimeter road. That road is going to put the park out of business! By the way nothing is free...

For those who think they know how the GTA process works, can you shed more light on it? If the do base the awards off of how much Cedar Fair pays GTA, why pay enough for 3rd and not 2nd?

^ if you have been to Europa, you would see that they won fair and square. I’m starting to not buy the whole “pay your way” Golden Ticket Award argument anymore.

If CP were to re-think their atrocious rain policy so that people who show up at the park when it drizzles have a chance to ride anything other than Scrambler, it would be interesting to see what the GTAs are like in a couple years. Honestly the thing the park fails at the most, IMO.

But CF is doing well financially, so who cares, right? 🙃

Maverick00 said:

For those who think they know how the GTA process works, can you shed more light on it?

I know how exactly how GTA works. You find a car you like and walk up to it, then you press the top button on your controller to take it and start driving off. You may get a wanted star for doing that, but drive into an alley until your wanted stars go away.

Drive to the nearest auto paint garage and get the car painted. Your wanted star goes away immediately.

CPVet said:

If CP were to re-think their atrocious rain policy so that people who show up at the park when it drizzles have a chance to ride anything other than Scrambler, it would be interesting to see what the GTAs are like in a couple years. Honestly the thing the park fails at the most, IMO.

But CF is doing well financially, so who cares, right? 🙃

To an extent, I agree, but most newer coasters can run in rain (albeit usually with one train removed.) Some must go down to one in any rain or if the rain gets heavier.

In other words, while it might seem like most coasters will close upon rain, a lot of them may reopen after doing some transferring, or if it's going to be a short burst of rain, they might just wait it out (especially if the ride's transfer process takes a while.)

I've worked maXair and Wicked Twister before, and both of those rides usually won't bat an eye at a little rain. And from observing larger coasters, quite a few rides will run with reduced units in rain.

I've had people tell me CP used to be even stricter than they are now, even prior to the Magnum incident. Not sure how true that is, though.

I recall in the past most rides didn't change operations in a light rain. Gemini would run all 6 even in light rain. I remember getting called over to test ride Raptor with 3 trains in a steady May rain just to get it open on time (thought that was insane). Dragster might have been first one to really close in any rain, but that was more because of the pain it would cause not braking issues.

Current policy seems to be; Coasters with drive wheels to control trains pull 1 off (2 for Maverick). Coasters that use friction brakes and gravity to control trains will go down to 1 (CCMR/ Magnum/ Blue Streak/ etc). Gemini closes as that is a pain to transfer then re-test I'd imagine (though if they see an all day drizzle on radar why not run 1 on each side?)

It’s not so much about getting wet. It’s about your face stinging from raindrops hitting you at 70mph

Before the Magnum incident even moderate, steady rain would not change operations. Now, 15-20 seconds of the lightest possible rain will shut down everything but the B&Ms. In a steady, light rain everything will go to one train.

This is CP specific, as last year I rode everything at Carowinds in steady, heavy rain with all trains still running. The CP rain policy is beyond frustrating and destroys the guest experience.

I may have said this in the original scope of this thread, but Golden Tickets mean exactly nothing. They're a cute marketing footnote to leverage, and that's all. The awards exist for Amusement Today to sell an issue worth of ads. Look at the Golden Ticket issue... it's filled with ads from parks and manufacturers congratulating each other. As a non-practicing journalist, I find the whole thing offensive.

I saw a clip online from a Cleveland TV station, saying about how they'd fallen to third... Reading the comments the general consensus is:

1... They allow too many people in...

2... They charge too much...

3... They need to add new rides more often...

So the solution is for the park to spend more money while letting in less people for a lower price :P

The "Golden Ticket" awards is nothing but bragging rights for a park.

If you get a golden ticket award, the first thing the parks do is promote the heck out of it.

Case in point, Steel Vengeance, as soon as Steel Vengeance won best new ride in 2018, Cedar Point put a very BIG sign over the entrance queue for all to see.

How can a coaster like Phoenix win best wooden coaster, but in years prior it didn't. It doesn't make sense, standard logic tells you to dethrone a ride a new ride needs to be built that outperforms the current number one.

Don't get me wrong, Phoenix is a great ride, classic top 10, but the awards make no sense.

Brag brag brag brag brag brag brag.

Cedar Point does need to start adding rides.

Flat rides, coasters, kiddie rides, log flumes etc........

There is no reason for this park not to get a new ride every year.

It may be a great big circle jerk, but the Golden Ticket awards do serve a purpose, as noted above. There’s no such thing as bad (or weird, or purchased) publicity.
The curious thing to me is how things are decided. I get the voting process, I have voted in the past. And it explains why the winners are predominantly from the U.S., because you gotta visit and ride and eat in order to know, right? But then you have the occasional anomalies like Europa and Shanghai Pirates. I find it hard to believe that the majority of the subscribership has tried both places, but there they are. And not to say that they don’t deserve it- Europa is my overall favorite amusement park. I’ve only taken YouTube rides in Shanghai, and was blown away, but does that count?
As for Phoenix, I may be in agreement. If nothing else, it’s one of the coasters that truly represents the heart and soul of authentic, original wooden rides in a sea of newer GCI, Gravity Group, and RMC rides springing up everywhere. I also know that there’s a huge enthusiast event there every year (which is one of the few I attend) and the rule of thumb is “where enthusiasts go, votes will follow. What I disagree with is the notion that awards should be reserved for the biggest and latest thing- I’m not sure why that should ever be so. At any rate, Dick and Crew certainly seem more than satisfied with their win, and even showed up this year with costume-ish outfits.
Even more curious is this year’s Publisher’s Pick, their Turnstile Award (which seems so made-up to me) going to Silverwood Park which (coincidentally?) happened to host this year’s award ceremony. Ok, maybe it’s a big fat thank you to the park that agreed to host and entertain such a large group. I’ve never been to the park, I hear it’s nice, has great rides, blah blah blah. But is it worthy of this merit badge?