For the past few weeks we’ve been weeding out who you think should be the “Park of the Year”. Four rounds have gone by, and through that four rounds we have seen some huge surprises, and some great big upsets. Some parks have gotten in on the fun and have encouraged their fans to vote for them through Facebook and Twitter. It made a huge distance. Other parks have relied on their incredibly good reputation to lead them to the top. Sometimes the cream rose to the top, sometimes the cream was beaten down. Now comes the final showdown, but first a look at the top two parks of each region.
Round 1:South East
Winner-Islands of Adventure
Runner up-Sea World Orlando
It was a great year for IOA, not such a great year for SWO. However, mostly everyone still loves Shamu which was enough to propel it past ALL of the Disney parks and sister park BGT. As for IOA, everyone’s wild about Harry.
Round 2: North East
Winner-Busch Gardens Williamsburg
Runner up-Six Flags Great Adventure
Right out the gate BGW was pushing for their park to win on Facebook. They have a lot to be proud of this year with one of the most anticipated expansions in park history plus some really great attendance. SFGADV was too little too late as the fanboys over at GADV.com tried to rally to get their park to pull ahead, but then accused the game of being “rigged” because the park wasn’t winning, in fact it was losing badly. But then Six Flags mentioned it on Facebook at the last minute, it helped but it wasn’t enough to make the fan favorite with the Behemoth Kingda Ka the top of the list. Also a shock Kings Dominion was left behind.
Round 3: Central
Winner-Holiday World
Runner Up-Cedar Point
The current Coaster Capital of the World was the one we here at BTT were pretty sure was going to win. Behold the power of Facebook and Twitter again as Holiday World rocketed past all others in the Central Round. Holiday World’s past CEO, Will Koch, was inducted into IAAPA’s hall of fame this past November, and the park also received a new addition to the park this past year. It has clearly become a fan favorite.
Round 4:West
Winner-Disneyland
Runner up-Six Flags Magic Mountain
No advertising on Facebook or Twitter and still the two parks managed to pull ahead of the massive pack. It became a battle of thrill vs. Themeing and themeing won.
Final Round
In the interest of making things…interesting we’ve decided to take not only the top from each round, but also the runners up in a sort of Wild Card competition. Let’s see if the runners up can rise above the favorites.
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Remember, the best way to get ahead in the poll is for all the fans to know. If you’re a park, Facebook and Twitter is a great tool to let your fans know you’re nominated and that you want their vote!
We’ll have the results on Sunday, along with a wrap up of the best of 2010.
