Today we present the 2020 Theme Park Insider Award for Best Attraction, based upon our readers' ratings over the past year. But we're not just giving you one top ride today — we're listing our readers' top 10 from the past year.
2020 Theme Park Insider Awards:
About Theme Park Insider: Theme Park Insider is a consumer's guide to the world's best theme park resorts, reaching more than five million unique readers via its website annually and winning multiple honors for its reporting, including from the Online Journalism Association and the Webby Awards. Winners of the Theme Park Insider Awards are those locations that received the highest average reader rating, with a minimum number of votes, in their categories over the past year.
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I've done 2, 7, 8, and 9.
That's exciting, as I have 6 incredible attractions still left to do on my bucket list. And once I've done them, there will certainly be new, amazing attractions in the meantime.
It's a Mario!
While I don't necessarily agree with everything on this list (especially given what was omitted), I do think all of the above can rightfully be called a top tier theme park attraction. I have experienced five rides on the list, and will be getting to at least one more (and possibly two) at some point in 2020. One thing is for sure...immersive dark rides with some degree of thrill seem to be the most popular among theme park goers, and while screens may be beneficial in some implementations a ride needs more than that to truly be world class.
I'm curious to know what the top couple European attractions are, as nothing from that continent made it on this list despite several world class parks (Disneyland Paris, Efteling, and Europe Park to name a few).
I'm lucky enough to have ridden almost all of these and I'm sorry, Forbidden Journey is still better than almost every ride ahead of it. Flight of Passage is the single most disappointing experience of my theme park life. I'm ok never setting foot into Pandora again and I'm certainly never riding that glorified IMAX again
This is a great list. I have done 1, 4, 7, 9, and 10, and only Flight of Passage doesn't rank in my personal top 5 (though Spider-Man and Potter would not if roller coasters are eligible, as they are for this list). Pirates Shanghai and Mystic Manor are my top two bucket list rides as well. Rise of the Resistance is a deserving #1 and it's difficult to see anything knocking it off the top perch for a long time, unless Mario Kart is blowaway great.
nrainone... my first take-away from this was the complete opposite! I've never understood the overwhelming love for Forbidden Journey, but always chalked that up to having no interest myself in Potter - a prerequisite I think for having an emotional engagement with that ride. But I was surprised to see FoP only in 4th. Not my personal favourite (#Spidey4Life) but deserving a place about Journey and Pirates at least, for my money. The fun of differing opinions!
AJ - I'd guess that, given the make-up of visitors to TPI, the top rankings would presumably be a DLP wash-out with perhaps Symolica a token nod to other parks. A shame, because Shambhala would definitely deserve a top 5 spot. And possibly one or two of Alton's entries, and/or Helix. I'm not sure anything at Europa Park would legitimately crack the list, though; the park's strength is more in the fullness of its "cover all bases" line-up.
That said, I don't think there's anything in Europe I'd put above Mystic Manor. So - my own feelings about Forbidden Journey aside - I wouldn't say the rides here have been especially short-changed. Parks here compete with those in the US better on the beauty and intricacies of their environments, rather than brilliance of individual artractions.
But yeah. I too would be interested in seeing what a Euro top 5 at least would have looked like!
I haven't ridden RotR yet (less than 4 weeks away from my chance), but I don't agree with anointing an attraction that has operated for less than a month as the best in the world. I think an attraction should be at least 6-8 months old before it can claim such an honor. Now, everything seems to suggest that RotR is probably one of the best experiences on the planet, but let's allow guests to have a chance to ride it and evaluate it before vaulting it to the top of this list.
I would LOVE to see more stateside clones of the best attractions in the world. Why keep cloning rides that are available in Cali or Florida when you can give people the chance to ride Mystic Manor, Center of the Earth, Hunny Hunt, or Sunken Treasure? Let`s face it, most of us will never get a chance to go halfway around the world to experience those. And they would all be HUGE draws, by the way.
Yes, the stateside parks already have Pirates rides. So what? They also have three Star Wars rides, two Avatar rides, etc.
@Still a fan - Aren't they doing that? Ratatouille is a clone of a popular DSP attraction, while Tron Lightcycle Run is a clone of one of the most popular rides in China.
While it took a while, US parks are finally getting adaptations of the trackless dark rides that have found popularity in overseas parks (MMRR, RotR, and Ratatouille). MMRR and RotR might not be direct clones of Mystic Manor or Pooh, but they implement similar trackless technology. Journey to the Center of the Earth would never work in a US park with RSR in DCA and TestTrack in EPCOT. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney eventually creates a US-based attraction using the Sunken Treasure ride system, but I doubt it will be Pirates themed (might be a good system for a Moana ride or maybe a completely new IP).
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BOOM! Congratulations RotR, the best theme park attraction in the world! Congratulations to Disney Imagineering with 6 of the top 10 attractions listed, and congratulations to IOA with 3 of the top 10 attractions, including The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, a 20-year old attraction still ahead of its time. Very impressive!
Looking forward to this year’s Best Theme Park award announcement.