California fares poorly in amusement park awards
Three California theme parks garnered top honors in the 10th annual international Golden Ticket Awards presented by Amusement Today, an industry trade newspaper.

For the 10th year in a row, the top award for best park went to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. Disneyland picked up Top 5 nods in the best park category as well as in categories including cleanest park, friendliest park, nighttime production (Fantasmic), indoor coaster (Space Mountain) and dark ride (Indiana Jones and Pirates of the Caribbean).

Disappointingly, no California park placed a wooden or steel coaster in the Top 10. Magic Mountain did the best with three steel coasters in the Top 50 (X, Goliath and Tatsu). Knotts placed two coasters in the Top 25 — Xcelerator (steel) and GhostRider (wooden).

The Golden Tickets, the self-proclaimed Oscars of the industry, are selected by several hundred amusement park aficionados.

Los Angeles Times