Canada's Wonderland - July 23, 34

The two days we set aside for Canada's Wonderland ended up being overshadowed by what could have been, multiple re-rides on Leviathan Monday evening. The park wasn't busy Monday due to the heat and was starting to clear out even more when a rain storm came along and closed the rides. We tried to wait it out ($7 for a Labbat bottle?) but Leviathan never reopened and my visions of having a dozen rides became the reality of only getting two. The second day we arrived just before the gates opened and the traffic was backed up outside of the park. My lovely and understanding wife let me out and parked while I went in to get some rides on Leviathan which by the time I got there had an overflowing queue. It probably took her 30 minutes to park!

Leviathan - Exceptional ride that breaks the B&M mold for hyper coasters not only by moving up to giga status, but by kicking ass. The only bad part of the ride is that it ends way too soon and with a wimpier. First ride we waited 15 minutes for, second ride we waited 45 minutes with a full queue.

Behemoth - At most a 20 minute wait Tuesday. Standard issue B&M hyper coaster. Really fun. Lots of floaty air no matter where you sit. Rode this 6 times I think.

The Fly - Great mouse ride that ran with more gusto than most others.

Stunt Track thing-a-ma-bob - A once cool ride decimated by the lack of maintenance. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Canadian Minebuster - Serviceable woody. No rough spots, no squealing and even a little airtime.

Time Warp - Terrible ride but had to try it.

Vortex - One of the best Arrow suspended coasters but past its prime.

Wilde Beast - Taer it down.

Thunder Run - Silly ride but the people goofing off and cheering made it really fun.

Canada's Wonderland - Nice park that you can tell tried to be something it couldn't. Their staff was some of the best I've seen outside of Disney and they did a great job keeping capacity on their marquee rides up. A few kids went out of their way to initiate small talk with us when they didn't have to and those who found out thought it was hilarious that we came all that way from the US. I also loved that they kept the coaster stations clear and only let so many in at a time. I guess they do that for Fast Lane, but it has the added benefit of reducing stress in the station.

Fast Lane - Didn't need it either day but it would have been nice. I would guess that Leviathan's Fast Lane line was 15 minutes while the queue was 45 and overflowing. They did a good job distributing the two queues.

The area of Vaughn - It's a traffic nightmare and strip mall hell. The restaurant selection is not very good and there isn't a single good beer to be found. As a city planning nerd I found it cool that after Vaughn there is literally nothing but farms for miles. Seems they have some good land use policies in place. Also in addition to the public transit options to Toronto from the area there were also carpooling lots off of every exit to encourage drivers to get together and share rides into Toronto.

All in all it was a fun trip but I am not looking to go back to Canada's Wonderland any time soon. We also spent two nights in Toronto in case anyone was wondering. Great city!