Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure
Disney's strategists are rightfully reverential about the company's iconic attractions. While cast members plus rides regularly, everyone involved understands that a considerable overhaul would be heresy. The same rule doesn’t apply to new parks, though.
When Disney announced plans for a second theme park in China, they indicated that Imagineers would modernize some attractions. Chief among them is Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure. It combines longstanding elements of Pirates of the Caribbean, Walt Disney’s last attraction, with breathtaking new features.
After all, Pirates of the Caribbean is a boat ride. You’d never expect to submerge on this attraction, right? I mean, people who don’t know how to swim could die.
But, like the most celebrated Disney rides, Battle for the Sunken Treasure is full of surprises. It takes guests underwater for a time, jeopardizing them as they face The Kraken and The Flying Dutchman. The immersive, innovative attraction has won the title of Best Dark Ride, ending a three-year run of dominance by Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.
The Steel Curtain
Kennywood resides in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, 12.5 miles away from Heinz Field, the NFL stadium for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The connection between the popular amusement park and its favorite sports team has always been apparent through various sponsorships and commercial tie-ins.
In July of 2019, Kennywood took the next step in its fandom. It unveiled the Best New Roller Coaster, The Steel Curtain. As the name implies, its theming connects it to vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers defenses of the 1970s and on. Expect a fast, rugged ride that would make Mean Joe Greene proud.
An especially lovely touch about The Steel Curtain is its coloring. The tracks mirror the black colors on Pittsburgh Steelers uniforms while everything else is yellow. The entire time that you're racing through this coaster, you're surrounded by Steelers team colors.
Wildebeest
While the Cutback Water Coaster embodies a new era of water park thrill rides, it's not the best in the industry. On the contrary, Holiday World & Splashin’ Safari has locked down the title of Best Water Park Ride.
The signature attraction here, Wildebeest, has won the award for nine years running. Based on recent history, Wildebeest is so dominant that it’ll retire the category with one more win. The last attraction to do that was Revenge of the Mummy for Best Indoor Roller Coaster. Yes, Wildebeest is about to become a Golden Ticket Awards Legend. If that doesn’t pique your curiosity about the attraction, I’m not sure what will.
Comments
Wow, I enjoyed reading about these top pics in various ride categories. One thing that would have made the article better would be to list the location of each park for those of us not familiar with them, just to save me a little Googling. But a very fun article nonetheless!