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Fury 325 and The Voyage top Amusement Today's 2026 Golden Ticket Awards

· By Theme Park Spot

A train climbs the lift hill of The Voyage, the wooden roller coaster at Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana.
The Voyage at Holiday World, voted Best Wooden Roller Coaster.

Amusement Today presented its 2026 Golden Ticket Awards on September 12 at COTALand, on the campus of Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Fury 325 at Carowinds was named Best Steel Roller Coaster for the tenth time, and The Voyage at Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana, won Best Wooden Roller Coaster. The Voyage had taken that title five times before, but not in more than a decade.

The coaster rankings

The steel top five continued with Jurassic World VelociCoaster at Universal Islands of Adventure, Steel Vengeance at Cedar Point, Iron Gwazi at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and Ride to Happiness at Plopsaland De Panne in Belgium. Behind The Voyage on the wooden list came Phoenix at Knoebels Amusement Resort, El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure, and The Beast and Mystic Timbers, both at Kings Island.

Holiday World also won Best Water Park for Splashin' Safari, the first time that park took the category, and Best Water Park Ride for Mammoth. Dollywood collected the most awards of the night, four: Best Guest Experience, Most Beautiful Park, Best Kids' Area for Wildwood Grove and Best Family Coaster for Big Bear Mountain.

Europa-Park in Germany won Best Park for the eleventh time, ahead of Dollywood, Universal Epic Universe and Knoebels, which was also named Park of the Year. Falcons Flight at Six Flags Qiddiya City in Saudi Arabia won Best New Roller Coaster, followed by Tormenta Rampaging Run at Six Flags Over Texas and Quantum Accelerator at Six Flags New England. Other US winners included Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment at Universal Epic Universe for Best Dark Ride, Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare at Kings Island for Best New Family Attraction, and Santa's Village in Jefferson, New Hampshire, for Best Family Park.

Most of the awards come from an international poll of more than 500 ballots sent to people in the industry; a few honors, such as Park of the Year, are picked by Amusement Today's staff.

In this story

Sources

  • goldenticketawards.com/2026-gta-winners (Organizer's official 2026 winners list: every category winner (Best Park Europa-Park, Best Water Park Splashin' Safari, Best Family Park Santa's Village, Jefferson, N.H., Best Family Coaster Big Bear Mountain, Best Water Park Ride Mammoth, Best Wooden Coaster The Voyage, Best Steel Coaster Fury 325, Best Kids' Area / Best Guest Experience / Most Beautiful Park Dollywood, Best Dark Ride Monsters Unchained at Epic Universe, Best New Roller Coaster Falcons Flight, Best New Family Attraction Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare, Park of the Year Knoebels) and the top 50 steel and wooden coaster lists (top 5 as given in the story))
  • goldenticketawards.com (Organizer's results article 'The 2026 Golden Ticket Awards honor 28 amusement industry winners': ceremony September 12, 2026 at COTALand, Circuit of the Americas, Austin; Fury 325 'for the tenth time'; The Voyage had won five times before but not in more than a decade; Splashin' Safari first Best Water Park win; Europa-Park's eleventh Best Park; Dollywood most awards (four); poll of more than 500 ballots plus staff-selected Publisher's Picks)
  • amusementtoday.com/issues/2026/gta2026/index.html (Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Awards issue with the charts: Best Park top 5 (Europa-Park, Dollywood, Universal Epic Universe, Knoebels, Tokyo DisneySea), Best New Roller Coaster top 5 (Falcons Flight, Tormenta Rampaging Run, Quantum Accelerator, Colossus, GalactiCoaster), Best Kids' Area No. 1 Wildwood Grove (Dollywood), steel and wooden top 10s)
  • sixflags.com/blog/six-flags-sweeps-the-2026-golden-ticket-aw... (Six Flags' release confirming Steel Vengeance No. 3 steel, El Toro No. 3, The Beast No. 4 and Mystic Timbers No. 5 wood, Tormenta No. 2 and Quantum Accelerator No. 3 Best New Roller Coaster, Phantom Theater No. 1 Best New Family Attraction)
  • wbtv.com/2026/09/14/carowinds-ride-named-worlds-best-steel-r... (Local news confirming Fury 325's tenth win, presented Saturday, Sept. 12 in Austin, Texas)

Written by Theme Park Spot from the announcement listed under Sources. Plans and opening dates can change; check the park's own website for the latest.