Results:
What are the Coasters' Choice™ Awards?
For the people, by the people... these are the awards chosen by John Q. Coaster Enthusiast. The nominees were chosen by over a thousand nominations made from the CoasterBuzz databases. These databases include over 1000 coasters and 350 amusement parks. The five nominees in each category with the most nominations are chosen for the final award vote. The nomination process takes place in February while final voting happens in March.
What makes these awards different from the other surveys out there?
CoasterBuzz is one of the most visited coaster sites on the Internet, delivering daily news to thousands of enthusiasts every day. The members range from teen to retired, poor college student to six figure professional, a dozen coasters to 200 coasters. It's a diverse group spread throughout the world. We believe that the Coasters' Choice Awards speak for this diverse group.
What rides and parks were eligible in each category?
Coaster of The Year is open to any new coaster, while Park of The Year is open to any park. The Best New Wood and Steel Coaster awards are open to any coaster that opened in 2004. Best Wood and Steel (that is, not new) are open to any coasters that opened before 2004. The park categories were open to all parks.
The Coaster Site of The Year nominees are chosen by the editors and moderators of CoasterBuzz.
My favorite coaster isn't a nominee. What's up with that?
With hundreds of coasters out there, we couldn't possibly choose a clear winner with votes spread out over so many rides. Think of the nomination process as a primary election of sorts in the American election system. Once we have the nominations, we can vote from a more limited pool of parks and coasters.
What was the criteria for choosing Coaster Site of The Year nominees?
We were looking for sites that had frequent updates, stellar content, something we've never seen before or just plain thorough coverage of some aspect of roller coasters or amusement parks.
Can I vote more than once?
No. We do have several mechanisms that look for duplicate votes, but given the nature of the technology, it isn't difficult to get around these checks. You are largely on the honor system, and we appreciate your cooperation.
Could voters skip a category?
Yes, all they had to do is not choose a nominee before clicking the vote button.
Are the results skewed to any particular region?
Yes, but the results don't reflect it. Ohio and Michigan traffic accounts for only 11% of all traffic. SoCal accounts for about 8%, Chicago is about 5%, and the area from Baltimore down to the Carolinas accounts for more than 25% of traffic. In other words, the poll is not heavily skewed to Ohio.
How many votes were collected?
About 20,000 votes are collected annually.