The Golden Ticket Award – the amusement/theme park industry’s equivalent of the Academy Award – has again gone to Kings Island for the “Best Kids’ Area in the World” category.

Kings Island has now won the “Best Kids Area in the World” Golden Ticket Award for 11 years in a row.

The Planet Snoopy kids’ area at Kings Island features an elaborate collection of PEANUTS-themed rides and attractions for every age, including four children’s roller coasters, a live stage show and daily meet and greet opportunities with PEANUTS characters such as Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus van Pelt, Lucy van Pelt, Sally Brown, Schroeder and Peppermint Patty.

For the third consecutive year, the Beast was ranked as the seventh-best wooden roller coaster in the world. The Beast opened in 1979 and still stands as the longest wooden roller coaster in the world at 7,400 feet.

The Golden Ticket Awards are the result of a detailed survey conducted by Amusement Today, an internationally monthly trade journal for the amusement and water park industries, based in Arlington, Texas. Every year, hundreds of well-traveled theme park enthusiasts from around the world are chosen to share their expertise to determine a winner in each category. A list of all the 2011 Golden Ticket Award winners can be found at www.amusementtoday.com.

Kings Island is closed until September 23, when gates to the underworld open at 7:00pm for the fifth season of Halloween Haunt. Two kid-friendly Halloween events, the all-new Trick-or-Treat with the Dinosaurs and Howl-O-Fest, open October 1.