Believe it or not, we are approaching the end of 2021, so that means it is time again to rank the attractions, restaurants, and hotels at the world's top theme parks.
Starting last year, we began using year-end reader surveys to determine the location rankings our on theme park guide pages, as well as to pick the finalists in our annual Theme Park Insider Awards. We send the links to those surveys exclusively to our email newsletter subscribers, so please sign up today if you have not subscribed already. We want to include your voice in our rankings!
The categories in this year's Theme Park Insider Awards will be:
The last three are new categories for us this year. The Halloween and Christmas event categories should be self-evident, but for "Insider of the Year," we will be taking nominations for people connected to the themed entertainment industry who you believe had the biggest effect on or made the best contribution to the industry this year.
In the Best New Attraction category, we will provide a list of eligible attractions and ask you to vote for your favorite. In all other categories, the survey will ask you to submit your picks, in order of your preference. From those submissions, we will determine from two to 10 finalists in each category and put those up for a final, blind vote on the website to pick the Theme Park Insider Award winners.
The surveys will start going out via our email newsletter in mid-November, with final round voting beginning in mid-December. The surveys will each have a unique identifier so that those links cannot be shared, so you must be a newsletter subscriber to participate. So please encourage colleagues, friends, and family to subscribe, too, so we can include their picks in next year's rankings and awards.
We will reveal the Theme Park Insider Award winners and new theme park location rankings on January 1, 2022. Again, here is that link to subscribe to our free email newsletter.
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Sorry Robert and maybe it's just me, but the awards have a distinctly ghostly feel this year. Surely they should be something like Best Theme Park I'm Too Chicken To Go To, Best Attraction That Only Just Reopened, Best Remembered but Unvisited Restaurant, etc.
If this was the Oscars they'd be the Best Movie Whose Release Was Delayed or Best Actor In A Leading Role I Haven't Seen Yet.
Better yet, let's forget the last bloody eighteen months and vote for the of Best Lingering Memories from 2019.
I’m going to say this time that you don’t have to have visited in the past year to vote for something. But you do need to vote for something that was open in the past year. That’s gonna really change up the Best Show category, though.
@James Trexen - I've been saying that for years. Everyone goes crazy for Disney and Universal, but SeaWorld Orlando has what I believe is the perfect collection of Winter Holiday entertainments in the business. Honestly, I don't know if its even fair to include Disney in this category as so much of their Holiday offerings - at least at the Magic Kingdom - are only offered during special evening extra admission events.
I’m rooting for Knott’s for best Halloween event!
For "Insider of the Year" and the person who had the biggest effect on the theme park industry, I'd like to nominate Bob Chapek. It's doesn't have to be a person who made a positive effect, does it?
One Fish, Two Fish,
Red fish, Blue fish....
Ride of the year..... I actually enjoy this ride...
Probably because it is the first ride we go on at IOA.
Given a lack of options, I would probably nominate Josh D'Amaro as "insider of the year". He's had to deal with a multitude of challenges as he elevated into his new position as Chairman of Disney's Parks and Resorts Division. Not all of the moves made by Disney parks have been positive IMHO, but he's done a lot to transform the division during unprecedented times while also trying to maintain Disney's position as one of the best employers in the industry.
To commemorate my nephew's birthday, I purchased 5 tickets and one parking permit. It was a bad day for me I remembered I was looking for a discount but I wasn't found that! my trusted site is https://www.clothingric.com/discount/entertainment-and-arts/online-tickets but was that time I did not find a relevant discount for this park.
On October 24, 2021, we visited Knott's Berry Farm. Due to the weather, all rides were shut down as soon as you entered the park. We had never done something like this before. We spoke with the management and stated that we were not locals. We were not refunded and were promised that we would receive an email the same night with new tickets and a raincheck attached. Nothing was ever sent to us. That day, there were a lot of disgruntled guests attempting to get their money back :(
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If SeaWorld Orlando doesn't win Best Christmas Event, I will make like Oscar the Grouch and flip my lid.