Happy new year! As we welcome 2025, let's give one final honor to 2024 by announcing the winners of the 24th annual Theme Park Insider Awards.
Voted on by Theme Park Insider readers, these are the best of the best in the global theme park industry.
Europa-Park's new Mack Rides Stryker Coaster, Voltron Nevera Powered by Rimac wins this year's honor, narrowing beating Anna and Elsa's Frozen Journey at Tokyo DisneySea. You can see our reviews and coverage of dozens of other major attractions that debuted last year on our New Theme Park Attractions in 2024 page.
Voltron Nevera won a lot of support this year, but could not unseat the defending champion in our roller coaster poll, Jurassic World VelociCoaster at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure. The Intamin coaster wins for the fourth year in a row - every year since its 2021 debut.
Voltron Nevera came fourth in its first year in the poll, trailing Hagrid's Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure at IOA and Cedar Point's Steel Vengeance. You can see our complete list at themeparkinsider.com/rollercoasters.
We have another successful defense in our Best Attraction category, where Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance won again, capturing its sixth consecutive honor since opening in 2019 in Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World. The ride then opened the following January at Disneyland.
You can see the rest of our readers' Top 25 list at themeparkinsider.com/attractions.
Boosted by the successful debut of its new Fantasy Springs expansion, Tokyo DisneySea recaptures our Best Theme Park honor this year. Last year's champ, Universal's Islands of Adventure, came second, as the two parks swap positions again. This is DisneySea's eighth time winning our Best Park award.
You can read more about the park on our updated Visitors Guide to Tokyo DisneySea.
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I agree with Kan. Perhaps a separate "Theme Park" vs "Amusement Park" category? Though I know that is a blurry line.
DisneySea looks so spectacular. I wish the WDW parks would receive that level of budget and care. I still love them and they are great, but you can just tell the difference with the Tokyo parks.
Common DisneySea W
I certainly cannot complain about the results of this year's awards. Voltron is a masterpiece of design that will be anchored in top 10 coaster lists for years to come. I know some here will complain about Ride to Happiness being omitted from the top coaster list, but I just don't think enough people have had a chance to experience it. In general, I don't have any issues with the top coaster list, though I think Guardians probably doesn't deserve to be among the top 30 coasters in the world, and I think while El Toro is one of the best woodies in the world, it ran extremely rough in 2024 and the past tracking issues have knocked it down a few spots on my list.
I can see RotR lingering as the world's top attraction, but I do think as more people experience it in its current form will come to see how its failing effects and features make it a shadow of its former self. I would anticipate that both of the headline dark rides at Epic Universe (Monsters Unchained and Ministry of Magic) will best Rise in the 2025 rankings.
As far as discounting Disney/Universal parks from the rankings or creating categories that eliminate big-budget parks, I don't think that's really necessary. Efteling has won Best Theme park previously, and there are plenty of non-Disney/Universal attractions that have won awards in the past. I think striking balance across the industry is what Theme Park Insider does so well, but trying to artificially tip the scales would be unfair to everyone. While Disney and Universal are always going to drive clicks and eyeballs because of their popularity, TPI has always done a great job highlighting great parks and attractions from around the world, but ultimately there's a reason why Disney and Universal are industry leaders and regularly deserve recognition.
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Maybe one year you could include a separate best theme park award that exempts the Disney/Universal Parks…it would be interesting to see how the other parks rank.