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Amusement Today

magazine

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 24, 2026
Entity authorityQ697540
Source-derived summary

Amusement Today is a monthly periodical that features articles, news, pictures, and reviews about all things relating to the amusement park industry, including parks, rides, and ride manufacturers. The trade newspaper, which is based in Arlington, Texas, United States, was founded in January 1997 by Gary Slade, Virgil E. Moore III and Rick Tidrow.

In 1997, Amusement Today won the Impact Award in the services category for "Best New Product" from the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA). A year later, in 1998, the magazine founded the Golden Ticket Awards, for which it has become best known throughout the amusement park industry. On January 2, 2001, Slade bought out his two partners, giving him sole ownership of the paper. The paper has two full-time and two part-time staff members at its Arlington office, along with two full-time writers and several freelance writers in various parts of the world.

Golden Ticket Awards

Every year, Amusement Today gives out awards to the best in the amusement park industry in a ceremony known as the Golden Ticket Awards. The awards are handed out based on surveys of experienced, well-traveled amusement park enthusiasts from around the world. The awards, first presented in 1998, have been featured on the Discovery Channel and the Travel Channel.

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Publisher's Picks

Host venues

From 1998 to 2000, there was no Host Park; the awards were announced from Amusement Today's Arlington, Texas, office instead.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Amusement Today” as magazine. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Amusement, Today and magazine.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1997, 1998, 2001, 2026—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Amusement, Today and magazine providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Amusement Today”, the useful work is to connect “magazine” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q697540. The first chronological checks are 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2026.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Amusement Today”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Amusement Today primary sources, Amusement Today archive and Amusement research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Amusement Today”?
  2. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
  3. Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Amusement Today” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.