It’s been quite a few years since logging in but I remember there use to be a March Madness type tournament in the from of best theme park rides. Is this still a thing or did the contest go away?
Thanks
Ryan
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Hi Robert, thanks for the update and explanation. I really enjoyed the tournaments you use to put on and looked forward to them. I understand the points you noted. Maybe we can have one next year just for fun.
Ryan
You're welcome Ryan.
Again, for everyone out there, I am eager to run contests, tournaments, and anything else that gets people engaged with the site. It's just that I could use some fresh energy with new ideas on how best to do that, in ways that don't just copy everything else on the Internet.
I think that people appreciate fresh ideas, so that's what I want to give everyone.
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Yes, thanks for asking!
We ran our first annual tournament back in March 2008 and continued them for four years after that.
But everyone and their dog climbed on that bandwagon over time, so the whole thing started to feel really cliche to me. Plus, with all the other tournaments out there, it just didn't drive much attention anymore.
I brought back a tournament in 2018, but didn't see enough engagement to justify trying it again. In general, the winners in these things tend to be the parks that use their social media to stuff the ballot box and flood the surveys during the tournament, which doesn't excite me. Yeah, a flood of traffic can be great for the site, but a tournament winner should be a real winner, right?
And to that end, I don't want to do anything that conflicts with our year-end Theme Park Insider Awards, either.
That said, I always am open to reader ideas and would be happy to put on a tournament if someone offered a fresh suggestion for a tournament would be meaningful, fun, useful and stand out from the crowd.