Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World.
Tower of Terror upset the tournament's top seed, The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man at Universal's Islands of Adventure theme park. Voting was intense all day, with Tower of Terror jumping out to an early lead. In the late afternoon, Spider-Man closed the gap and pulled ahead, but in the end, Tower of Terror elicited enough votes to recapture the lead and win the title.
"We are very excited that the readers of Theme Park Insider share our enthusiasm and enjoyment of The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios," Eric Jacobson, Senior Vice President, Walt Disney Imagineering wrote to TPI in a statement Monday evening. "Disney Imagineers add special effects, change timing sequences and incorporate new story elements in ways that create a new thrill with each experience. This ability, combined with a unique storyline that is equally flexible, enables us to continually reinvent the ride experience and ensures this timeless attraction remains a must-see for many years to come."
That flexibility appears to have been the deciding factor in the tournament's final match-up. Fans cited Tower of Terror's addictive random drop sequences, which reward repeat riders with unique experiences, something that Spider-Man could not match.
Not that readers had anything negative to say about Spider-Man, a four-time winner of the Theme Park Insider Award for world's best attraction. Fans raved about the ride's cutting-edge technology, immersive effects and strong story-telling.
Tower of Terror and Spider-Man were judged the top two rides in the country in a three-week-long tournament, pitting 64 of the country's most popular rides against each other in a series of single-elimination online polls. Rides were selected and seeded based upon their average rating by readers of ThemeParkInsider.com over the past year.
Before the tournament, Theme Park Insider readers were invited to submit their guesses at to what the top four rides would be, as well as their pick as the winner. No one correctly picked the top four, but reader Ryley Hoffman came closest, picking three of the top four, with his fourth pick losing in the quarterfinals. As a result, he is the winner of the $100 prize.
Watch in July for the announcement of the Seventh Annual Theme Park Insider Awards, which will again honor fans' picks for the best theme park, new attraction, theme park restaurant and theme park hotel. In addition, if you've enjoyed voting in the tournament polls, watch Friday for the return of Theme Park Insider's weekly "Vote of the Week."
Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's tournament. We look forward to doing this again next year, with many of this summer's crop of new theme park attractions participating!
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Congrats!
(And if anyone wants to help keep up the pace on the front page blog, please keep your eyes open for theme park stories, either in the news or through the grapevine your local parks, and submit a few words about them using the "Submit News" link on the front page. I love it when others submit, so I'm not having to do every story on the front page. Thanks, as always.)
Congrats to ToT! I was rooting for Spidey, but they're all winners.
When's the next contest!?
Best wooden roller coaster?
Best Six Flags park?
Best inverted, floorless coaster??
Congrats to TOT, personally I wanted Spidey to win but I can definetely see the merits in TOT. A deserving winner.
Congrats Robert, hope you are not too worn out from the tornoument, somebody needs to run this site! (And I ain't volunteering!)
Cool it, Jake. Alright, Cedar Point is sweet. But yo - it gets much less attendance than other parks. I mean, there really isn't much to do in Sandusky other than the Point. It's just another dull small town America type place. And I'd take Magnum XL-200 over most of the coasters on this site. But still, man, there are other fish in the sea.
However there should be no debate that TPI is hands down and without question the best theme park website on the internet. Period!
Congratulations to Robert on the success of the tournament. Congratulations to Walt Disney Imagineering and Universal Creative for their remarkable achievements in the design and construction of these (and other) great theme park attractions.
As for the contest: congrats, ToT. I've never ridden Spiderman, so I can't say which ride was more deserving, but I do love ToT.
Then, links came back up on at least one Disney site, and ToT pulled back, swapping the lead with Spider-Man for about an hour, then moving firmly back into the lead. (The vote total just exploded in the last three hours, too, from about 700 to more than 1,200.)
Given that ToT held the lead by a significant margin for most of the day, before everyone starting linking to the contest, I'm comfortable with it as the winner. Heck, I'd have been comfortable with just about any of the final eight. These are all great, great rides.
Get out to a theme park, folks! ;-)
This was a great tourney! Let's do it again!!!
And Disney did prevail
As I mentioned before, I agree with those questioning the pattern of votes and again respectfully suggest maybe NOT posting the vote percentages until after the polls close, to avoid having artificial skewing of the results. Just something to maybe consider for next year!
Whew, I guess March Madness is over for THIS year. As Robert said, let's get to the parks!
It may be time to stop. You are ruining the good name of Cedar Point and its fans.
On behalf of the greatest amusement park on the planet, I apologize for Jake's childish comments.
Congrats to TOT and Walt Disney.
But hey, different strokes for different folks. While Mr. Rivers is wagging his middle fingers in the air on a coaster, I'll be enjoying my time taking in the atmosphere of both WDW and Universal. Stop and smell the roses much?
Congrats to ToT for winning. Too bad the Anaheim version pales in comparison. And for Spidey to take second is definitely not a negative! I agree that the flexibility of ToT is what helped me choose.
Great Job Robert...definetely the highlights of my day with this competition.
PS. I totally enjoyed ToT on my visit to FLA and am as juvenile as any pubescent youth.
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Thanks for the tournament, Robert. The last few weeks have been a blast.