Golden Ticket Award for Best New Ride

The Golden Ticket Award for Best New Ride is presented by Amusement Today to the best new attraction in the water park industry. The award was presented for best new attraction in both water parks and amusement parks since its inception in 2005 until 2018.

History
The Golden Ticket Awards have been presenting awards since 1998 acknowledging amusement and water parks for their achievement in different categories. The Best New Ride award was introduced in the form of two different awards to acknowledge the best in amusement and water parks. The award has been presented since 2005 and has been featured on the Discovery Channel and the Travel Channel. In 2019, the amusement park award was split into three categories. The overall award was renamed to Best New Attraction Installation of 2019, with "industry suppliers and parks hav[ing] direct involvement with nominations". The Best New Family Attraction and Best New Roller Coaster categories were also introduced.

Best New Amusement Park Ride
From 2005 to 2018, the fourteen winners were only produced by twelve different theme parks. The parks to introduce the most winners in this timespan were Cedar Point and Dollywood with two rides each. With five awards, Cedar Fair is the company that produced the most best new rides.

Best New Water Park Ride
The award for the Best New Water Park Ride has been presented for 16 years and is given to the ride that has been voted for by industry professionals. A total of seven different water parks have had the honor of receiving this award and the park that has received it the most is Holiday World & Splashin' Safari in Indiana, with total of five. There is also a Golden Ticket Award that recognizes the Best Water Park and Best Water Park Ride as voted on by the same industry leaders, however this is without the handicap of being anew ride for a specific year.

While water park attractions are built to be as safe as possible, unfortunately accidents due occur. In 2016, the winner of the Best New Water Park Ride in 2014, Verrückt, was involved in a fatal accident where a 10-year-old boy, named Caleb Schwab, was tragically decapitated along with serious injury to the other two riders. The ride never reopened, was demolished in 2018, and remains as one of the most tragic accidents in the Amusement Park industry. Verrückt remains the only water park ride on this list to have closed.

The Schlitterbahn Water Park chain finds its way on this list multiple times. The Falls at Schlitterbahn in Texas is the World's Longest Water park ride at 3,600 feet. The ride simulates a tame whitewater river rafting experience that is perfect for all ages to enjoy. It includes sudden drops and rough waters to keep the entire family entertained.

Medusa's SlideWheel at Mt. Olympus Water & Theme park is the United States' first rotating waterslide, and also the winner of the Golden Ticket for Best New Water Park Ride in 2022. This type of slide has riders enter one end of the slide as the whole structure rotates, causing the riders to have "pendulum movement" as they slide through the intricate tubing.