BGW Wins "World’s Most Beautiful Amusement Park" Again
- Thread starter Nicole
- Start date
Awarding mediocrity only perpetuates it.
“When the preferable is not available, the available becomes preferable!” ― Israelmore Ayivor
“When the preferable is not available, the available becomes preferable!” ― Israelmore Ayivor
BGW still has a massive landscape advantage... Most parks are just flat fields with rides. "Most Beautiful" can encompass more than just flower beds.
^True. They could always just add another huge-ass red coke bottle somewhere to spruce things up, too.;-P
To be nitpicky/math police:
Wouldn't that make it 28 years, 1990 - 2017? The first award was delivered in 1990, this one delivered in 2017, that's 28 awards. FWIW, last year they called it the 26th. I don't know "new math", but they should have 28 certificates on the wall with this newest one just announced.
Wouldn't that make it 28 years, 1990 - 2017? The first award was delivered in 1990, this one delivered in 2017, that's 28 awards. FWIW, last year they called it the 26th. I don't know "new math", but they should have 28 certificates on the wall with this newest one just announced.
Don't confuse my thread title with the park's press release.
I was implying that perhaps they won it because they always do, not necessarily because they objectively deserve it.
I was implying that perhaps they won it because they always do, not necessarily because they objectively deserve it.
whanna said:
It's 27 years, this award is for the 2016 season. The awards are given the summer after the season they were awarded for, ie 2014's award was given August 2015; 1999's award was given August 2000, etc etc.
Interesting....I always considered BGW to be a 'theme' park. (who wins in the 'theme' park category?)
Nicole said:
This!
I hade the same thought. Its not just their above average landscape Busch has on its side, but also a 26 (and now 27) year streak. How impressively landscaped and themed would an amusement park have to be to deserve to take the title from from a park that's won 26 consecutive times?
On the flip side, Busch is the most beautiful theme park of the few I've visited, and I'm sure it outshines many others.
And that's what I thought it may be, but they received an award in 1990, based on the admittedly tiny research I did. That means it would have been for 1989 performance.Shane said:
It doesn't really matter, it's my favorite park (and I drive past Hersheypark twice a day). Just one of those things.
Not to be negative or mean...but I really don't think it deserves it this year. Landscaping looks really bad. Not even close to how it use to look.
I feel like this topic of conversation comes up every year when the Golden Tickets or the NAPHA awards are presented in relation to how a category's legacy winners are always the winner.
The big problem with the NAPHA Awards is that the pool of survey participants is stagnant and many participants have not been to the parks they are casting a ballot for in many years. This isn't just a problem for the Beautiful Park category, but really all of the categories. It is not only is an problem with the NAPHA Awards, but also Amusement Today's Golden Tickets and really any of the other top Amusement Industry polls.
The issue is really that the candidates are spread across the globe, and it is virtually impossible for the respondent to experience all of the nominees in a category every year. Now I am not saying that the Oscars and awards or their caliber don't have their own problems, that is a whole other topic for debate, but unlike the Oscars or Golden Globes where you can basically be stationary and experience all of the contenders over a comparably shorter period of time, it's not plausible that all poll participants will have the time and financial resources to travel the globe and experience every park in every category every year.
I can't remember which of the two (Amusement Today or NAPHA), but I know in recent years they have attempted to diversify the voting pool, but I really don't think it has or will make that much of a difference. The only way we are going to see another park take this award from Busch Gardens Williamsburg is for a prospective park to not only surpass BGW in "beauty" but to do so in a really big way that may even require a specialized marketing campaign focused on this theoretical park's landscaping and beauty. That is what allows some of the other categories to change from time to time. A park can draw a lot of attention when they open a big, huge new ride, and the perceived change is noticed immediately. Something like landscaping is much more gradual and not readily apparent to the infrequent visitor as it's not something that a poll respondent would except to change very much or at all.
The big problem with the NAPHA Awards is that the pool of survey participants is stagnant and many participants have not been to the parks they are casting a ballot for in many years. This isn't just a problem for the Beautiful Park category, but really all of the categories. It is not only is an problem with the NAPHA Awards, but also Amusement Today's Golden Tickets and really any of the other top Amusement Industry polls.
The issue is really that the candidates are spread across the globe, and it is virtually impossible for the respondent to experience all of the nominees in a category every year. Now I am not saying that the Oscars and awards or their caliber don't have their own problems, that is a whole other topic for debate, but unlike the Oscars or Golden Globes where you can basically be stationary and experience all of the contenders over a comparably shorter period of time, it's not plausible that all poll participants will have the time and financial resources to travel the globe and experience every park in every category every year.
I can't remember which of the two (Amusement Today or NAPHA), but I know in recent years they have attempted to diversify the voting pool, but I really don't think it has or will make that much of a difference. The only way we are going to see another park take this award from Busch Gardens Williamsburg is for a prospective park to not only surpass BGW in "beauty" but to do so in a really big way that may even require a specialized marketing campaign focused on this theoretical park's landscaping and beauty. That is what allows some of the other categories to change from time to time. A park can draw a lot of attention when they open a big, huge new ride, and the perceived change is noticed immediately. Something like landscaping is much more gradual and not readily apparent to the infrequent visitor as it's not something that a poll respondent would except to change very much or at all.
Ehh I've gone to quite a few theme parks the past few years and the only parks I can think of that are as pretty as BGW are Legoland FL (which is attached to a historic garden from the start) and Epcot (probably the closest park to BGW in terms of landscaping and theming in Orlando).
netdvn said:
I have to agree that Epcot is similar to BGW (obviously) but my god. The theming! It's so beautiful! If Busch had Disney money I can't even imagine what BGW park would look like. If only...
Srsly Epcot is gorgeous.
According to the announcer on the train, it was declared most beautiful park by the National Park Service.
