Golden Ticket Award for Best New Ride


The Golden Ticket Award for Best New Ride is presented by Amusement Today to the best new attraction in the water park industry. The award was presented for best new attraction in both water parks and amusement parks since its inception in 2005 until 2018.

History

The Golden Ticket Awards have been presenting awards since 1998 acknowledging amusement and water parks for their achievement in different categories. The Best New Ride award was introduced in the form of two different awards to acknowledge the best in amusement and water parks. The award has been presented since 2005 and has been featured on the Discovery Channel and the Travel Channel.
In 2019, the amusement park award was split into three categories. The overall award was renamed to Best New Attraction Installation of 2019, with "industry suppliers and parks hav direct involvement with nominations". The Best New Family Attraction and Best New Roller Coaster categories were also introduced.

Amusement park ride recipients

Best New Amusement Ride

From 2005 to 2018, the fourteen winners were only produced by twelve different theme parks. The parks to introduce the most winners in this timespan were Cedar Point and Dollywood with two rides each. With 5 awards, Cedar Fair is the company that produced the most best new rides.
YearWinnerParkOther candidates
2005Hades Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park
2006The Voyage Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
  • Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom
  • El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure
  • Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia
  • Kentucky Rumbler at Beech Bend Park
    • 2007Maverick Cedar Point
  • Mystery Mine at Dollywood
  • Griffon at Busch Gardens Europe
  • Renegade at Valleyfair
  • Troy at Toverland
    • 2008Ravine Flyer II Waldameer Park
  • Boardwalk Bullet at Kemah Boardwalk
  • Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland
  • Led Zeppelin - The Ride at Hard Rock Park
  • Evel Knievel at Six Flags St. Louis
    • 2009Prowler Worlds of Fun
  • Diamondback at Kings Island
  • Manta at SeaWorld Orlando
  • ' at Six Flags Magic Mountain
  • Monster Mansion at Six Flags Over Georgia
  • Pilgrims Plunge at Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
    • 2010Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey Islands of Adventure
  • Intimidator 305 at Kings Dominion
  • Sky Rocket at Kennywood
  • Intimidator at Carowinds
  • Ghost Ship at Morey's Piers
  • Joris en de Draak at Efteling
    • 2011New Texas Giant Six Flags Over Texas
  • Cheetah Hunt at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay
  • Wooden Warrior at Quassy Amusement Park
  • Twister at Gröna Lund
  • Zippin Pippin at Bay Beach Amusement Park
    • 2012Wild Eagle Dollywood
  • Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure
  • Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland
  • Verbolten at Busch Gardens Williamsburg
  • OzIris at Parc Astérix
  • Skyrush at Hersheypark
    • 2013Outlaw Run Silver Dollar City
  • Iron Rattler at Six Flags Fiesta Texas
  • GateKeeper at Cedar Point
  • Gold Striker at California's Great America
  • ' at Universal Studios Florida
    • 2014Flying Turns Knoebels
  • Banshee at Kings Island
  • Goliath at Six Flags Great America
  • Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts at Universal Studios Florida
  • Lightning Run at Kentucky Kingdom
    • 2015Fury 325 Carowinds
  • Wicked Cyclone at Six Flags New England
  • Twisted Colossus at Six Flags Magic Mountain
  • Cú Chulainn Coaster at Tayto Park
  • Thunderbird at Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
    • 2016Lightning Rod Dollywood
  • Storm Chaser at Kentucky Kingdom
  • Mako at SeaWorld Orlando
  • Valravn at Cedar Point
  • Switchback at ZDT's Amusement Park
    • 2017Mystic Timbers Kings Island
  • Flight of Passage at Disney's Animal Kingdom
  • Mine Blower at Fun Spot America
  • InvadR at Busch Gardens Williamsburg
  • at SeaWorld San Antonio
    • 2018Steel Vengeance Cedar Point
  • Time Traveler at Silver Dollar City
  • Twisted Timbers at Kings Dominion
  • Oscar's Wacky Taxi at Sesame Place
  • Wicker Man at Alton Towers

    • Water park slide recipients

    Winners of the Best New Water Slide has only been produced by seven different water parks out of the 13 slides that have been rewarded. The park to introduced the most exciting new water slide is Holiday World & Splashin' Safari with four slides, yet Schlitterbahn the company as a whole has released five across its properties.
    Due to an incident in 2016 in which a ten-year-old boy was decapitated, Verrückt became the first ride that had won an award from Amusement Today for Best New Ride to be removed. Verrückt operated for 2 and a half seasons before closing indefinitely on August 7, 2016. The Kansas City Schlitterbahn water slide is not the first award recipient to have a fatality incident as so did the New Texas Giant back in 2013, yet the roller coaster still operates today after an intensive investigation that was done on the ride.
    YearWinnerParkOther candidates
    2005Black Anaconda Noah's Ark Water Park
    2006Bahari River Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
  • Time Warp at Noah's Ark Water Park
  • Tornado at Six Flags Great America
  • Fire Tower Falls at Dollywood's Splash Country
    • 2007Bakuli Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
  • Deluge at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom
  • Brainwash at Wet 'n Wild Orlando
  • East Coast Waterworks at Hersheypark
  • Poseidon's Rage at Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park
    • 2008Dragon's Revenge Schlitterbahn
  • Dolphin's Plunge at Aquatica Orlando
  • Black Hole: The Next Generation at Wet 'n Wild Orlando
  • Rock & Roll Island at Water Country USA
  • Taumata Racer at Aquatica Orlando
    • 2009Congo River Expedition Schlitterbahn
  • Wahoo Racer at Six Flags St. Louis
  • UpSurge! at Alabama Adventure
  • Maximum Velocity at Wet'n' Wild Phoenix
  • Dr. Von Dark's Tunnel of Terror at Splish Splash
    • 2010Wildebeest Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
    2011The Falls Schlitterbahn
    2012Mammoth Holiday World & Splashin' Safari
    2013River Rush Dollywood's Splash Country
    2014Verrückt Schlitterbahn Kansas City
  • Colossal Curl at Water Country USA
  • Bahama Blasters at Six Flags Fiesta Texas
  • Deep Water Dive at Kentucky Kingdom
  • Snake Pit at Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom
    • 2015Dive Bomber Six Flags White Water
  • SlideZilla at Elitch Gardens Theme Park
  • Aqua Rocket at Raging Waters San Dimas
  • Slideboarding at Wet'n'Wild Las Vegas
  • Anaconda at Kalahari Resorts Pocono Mts.
    • 2016Massiv Schlitterbahn, Galveston
  • Blackbeard’s Revenge at Carowinds
  • Cyclone Saucers at Beach Bend
  • Tropical Plunge at Kings Island
  • Wonambi at Raging Waters, Illinois
    • 2017Thunder Rapids Six Flags Fiesta Texas
  • Krakatau Aqua Coaster at Volcano Bay
  • Point Plummet at Cedar Point Shores
  • Miss Adventure Falls at Typhoon Lagoon
  • Ko'okiri Body Plunge at Volcano Bay
    • 2018Ray Rush Aquatica Orlando
  • Breaker's Edge at Hersheypark
  • Rock Wheel at Chimelong Waterpark
  • Whitecap Racer at Hersheypark
  • Raja at Noah's Ark Water Park
    • 2019Cutback Water Coaster Water Country USA
  • Lava Drifting at Shanghai Haichang Ocean Waterpark
  • Daredevil's Peak at Little Stirrup Cay
  • Infinity Racers at Schlitterbahn Galveston
  • Rapid Remix at Soundwaves Water Park