Disney, Six Flags to battle for best new theme park attraction

May 18, 2006, 8:33 AM · The best new theme park attraction for 2006 award figures to be a highly competitive one, with a certain new ride at Walt Disney World facing strong reviews for Magic Mountain's newest coaster. And folks in the U.K. seem partial to Thorpe Park's newest thrill ride, too.

To be eligible in this category, a theme park ride or show must have debuted between June 1, 2005 and May 31, 2006. It must not be a reinstallation or a "clone" of a previously opened attraction. (And we define a clone as an attraction with the same name, manufacturer, concept and theme as another attraction.)

Here are the major new attractions that have debuted since June 1, 2005. *Please* let me know if I have forgotten one, but remember, attractions that debuted in May 2005 (and that was a lot) are no longer eligible:

For those of you new to the site, here's how the awards work: click on the Browse Parks and Find Hotels links at the top of the page and browse to the attractions, restaurants and hotels you've been to in the past year. Submit your rating and review for each. We'll tally the ratings and the places with the highest average rating for the year win the awards. For parks, we take the highest cumulative rating for all the attractions and restaurants at the park.

Replies (5)

May 18, 2006 at 2:39 PM · I know you said clones have to have the same name as the original, Robert, but given Stealth is just a smaller version of Kingda Ka, can we disqualify it? *Please*??? You know it'll make me happy. Seriously, if you banned USH's Mummy because of USF, then this so deserves to go down.
May 18, 2006 at 2:57 PM · Strong point, Ben.

I don't want to campaign too much on behalf of or against any one location (which is the sort of thing one says before one does just that), but I can't see the readers of this site suddenly deciding this year to start endorsing unthemed, single-element roller coasters for awards.

It's just not been our style, has it?

May 18, 2006 at 2:59 PM · I swear, if Fear Factor wins I'll personally go there, rip that sign down and stick it in the pontoon.
May 18, 2006 at 9:56 PM · Not to cheer for the coasters too much, but don't forget The Voyage at Holiday World. I don't imagine too many people here will actually get to ride it by voting time, but I think it belongs. From the looks of it and the on ride video, it's probably better than most of the attractions on that list.
May 19, 2006 at 8:23 AM · I agree that it would be awful if Fear Factor won. Some attraction!

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