March Madness: Top theme park rides face off in e-tourney

March Madness may be dominating the college basketball world, but the season-ending NCAA tournament isn’t the only game in town.

Theme Park Insider is hosting a three-week Best Rides in America competition that pits the top U.S. theme park rides and attractions in a single-elimination online voting bracket format not unlike that of the NCAA tourney. Theme Park Insider readers who rate each ride set the field of 64.

Round 1 continues through Monday, March 24, with four matchups daily. Round 2 starts March 25, with the third round beginning March 31. The quarterfinals (April 2) and Final 4 (April 3-4) lead to a culminating championship vote on April 7.

The top seed: Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man from Universal Orlando’s Islands of Adventure (which easily advanced in Round 1).

Today’s marquee matchup is a Disneyland throwdown: Splash Mountain vs. It’s a Small World.

In the biggest surprise of the opening round, Disneyland’s Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride convincingly beat Six Flags Magic Mountain’s Tatsu flying coaster, 54% to 45%.

“I thought Toad would give Tatsu a fight but never thought it would win,” wrote Theme Park Insider’s Robert Niles.

In another opening-round upset, Soarin’ Over California destroyed the new Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, 84% to 15%, in a rare win for Disney’s California Adventure over Disneyland.

The biggest blowout of the first round pitted a pair of Disneyland dark ride classics, with Haunted Mansion (96%) besting Snow White’s Scary Adventures (3%).

Notable first-round losers:
Roger Rabbit’s Car-Toon Spin (Disneyland)
Goliath (Six Flags Magic Mountain)
Star Tours (Disney’s Hollywood Studios)

Find the latest amusement and theme park news at the
Los Angeles Times Funland blog: www.latimes.com/funland.

— Brady MacDonald / Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

[Image: Universal Orlando]

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This entry was posted on Friday, March 21, 2008 at 12:34 pm by Brady MacDonald and is filed under Disney's California Adventure, Disneyland, Family & Kids, Islands of Adventure, Los Angeles, Magic Mountain, San Diego. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.