Europa-Park took Best Park for the eleventh time, Dollywood took four trophies, and Universal’s Epic Universe won Best Dark Ride again. Disney’s only appearance anywhere on the published results is one coaster at No. 15.
The Golden Ticket Awards handed out 22 categories on Sept. 12.
Disney won none of them.
What are the Golden Ticket Awards?
The industry’s own scorecard, running since 1998 and now in its 29th year.
Amusement Today polls more than 500 people who work in and around the amusement business, then hands out trophies at a host park. This year, roughly 300 industry professionals gathered at COTALand in Austin, Texas, at a park that had not even opened yet.
These are not fan polls, and they are not attendance figures. They are what the people who build and run parks for a living think of each other’s work.
Who won the 2026 Golden Ticket Awards?
The big ones went like this.
Best Park: Europa-Park in Germany, its eleventh win in the last 12 years.
Best Water Park: Splashin’ Safari at Holiday World in Indiana, a first-time winner.
Best Family Park: Santa’s Village in Jefferson, New Hampshire, also a first.
Dollywood had the loudest night of any single park, taking Most Beautiful Park, Best Guest Experience, Best Kids Area for Wildwood Grove, and Best Family Coaster for Big Bear Mountain.
Best Steel Coaster went to Fury 325 at Carowinds for the tenth straight year. Best Wooden Coaster went to The Voyage at Holiday World, its first win since 2011.
And Best Dark Ride went to Monsters Unchained: The Frankenstein Experiment at Universal’s Epic Universe, its second consecutive win.
Where did Disney actually place?
One ranking.
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind sits at No. 15 on the Top 50 Steel Roller Coasters list. That is the whole Disney showing.
No Disney park in any category. No Space Mountain, no Expedition Everest, no Tron, no Big Thunder anywhere in the top 50.
Now put Universal next to it. Jurassic World VelociCoaster ranks No. 2. Stardust Racers at Epic Universe is No. 10. Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure is No. 24. That is three Universal coasters in the same list where Disney has one, plus the Best Dark Ride trophy on top.
The dark ride category is the one that should sting. Disney more or less invented the form. It has now lost that award to Universal two years running.
Does any of this actually matter?
Golden Tickets are voted by enthusiasts and industry people, and that electorate skews hard toward thrill hardware. Disney’s business has never been about having the tallest or fastest anything, and a ballot that rewards launch coasters was never going to reward Fantasyland.
It is also true that the same electorate has handed Europa-Park the Best Park trophy eleven times in 12 years, which tells you the voters have settled opinions.
But Best Guest Experience went to Dollywood. That is not a coaster category. That is a category Disney built its entire reputation on, and it went to a park in the Smokies.
One other Orlando name did make the list. Level 99 in Lake Buena Vista was named Breakout Family Entertainment Center, roughly a ten-minute drive from the Magic Kingdom parking lot.
Article compiled with the help of the Pirates & Princesses newsroom.
Pirates and Princesses is your destination for Disney news, theme park updates, and the pop culture you love. From Disney cruises and travel tips to Disney fashion, food, collectibles, and movie news, PNP covers it all. Visit us at piratesandprincesses.net for daily coverage. Follow PNP on Facebook and Instagram, and listen to the Pirates & Princesses podcast on Apple Podcasts and YouTube.
Hat Tips:
Coaster101, reporting by Andrew Stilwell (Sept. 13, 2026), the complete category-by-category winners list and both Top 50 coaster rankings
Amusement Today (Sept. 2026), the ceremony details, the ballot count, and the official category summary
Holiday World via WBIW (Sept. 14, 2026), the Splashin’ Safari first-place confirmation
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