Galveston Pleasure Pier ranked among world's 5 best seaside parks

Tilman Fertitta's yacht Boardwalk motors along the Galveston beachfront near the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier Saturday, Aug. 31, 2013, in Galveston. Tilman Fertitta's yacht Boardwalk motors along the Galveston beachfront near the Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier Saturday, Aug. 31, 2013, in Galveston. Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle Photo: James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 74 Caption Close Galveston Pleasure Pier ranked among world's 5 best seaside parks 1 / 74 Back to Gallery

Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier is one of the five best seaside parks in the world, according to Amusement Today, a trade publication that each year hands out its Golden Ticket Awards.

The other four on the list are: Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, Santa Cruz, Calif.; Pleasure Beach, Blackpool, England; Morey's Piers, Wildwood, N.J.; and Gröna Lund, Stockholm, Sweden.

The Best Seaside Parks was one of 10 categories in the group's Golden Ticket Awards for 2013, presented earlier this month at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

Winners are picked by an international panel of amusement park enthusiasts, according to the Amusement Today website.

Rebuilt by entrepreneur Tilman Fertitta at a cost of $60 million, the Galveston Pleasure Pier at 25th Street and Seawall Boulevard opened for Memorial Day weekend in 2012.

"We are honored to be recognized as one of the top seaside parks in the world," Fertitta said in a statement on the pier's Facebook page. "To win this award after being open for just over a year further validates the planning and hard work that went into this project."

Fertitta, who grew up in Galveston and lives in Houston, is the sole owner, chairman and chief executive officer of Landry's, Inc.

Landry's owns more than 400 properties, including restaurants, hotels and the Kemah Boardwalk.

The new Pleasure Pier's 16 rides include the Iron Shark Steel Roller Coaster, a 100-foot-tall structure with a drop that the park's website describes as "beyond-vertical;" the Texas Star Flyer, which swings riders over the water 230 feet above the Gulf; and a 100-foot-tall Ferris wheel called Galaxy Wheel that boasts a "spectacular" LED light show.

The pier also has midway games, retail shops and a selection of food venues, including the state's first Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.

Fertitta rebuilt the park where the original Pleasure Pier stood from 1943 until Hurricane Carla destroyed it in 1961.

It's the same spot where the over-the-water Flagship Hotel stood from 1965 until it was demolished in 2011, following Hurricane Ike's damage in 2008.