CANADA'S WONDERLAND

My apologies if this goes through more than once - already made 2 attempts to post it and both times got a screen saying that I can't submit an empty post!

The decision to go to Canada’s Wonderland was largely the result of wanting to use frequent flyer miles for a trip I could otherwise not afford. (With airfares to Canada close to $700, it made more sense to use the miles to go there than to any of the parks I wanted to visit in the States.) So off I went.

It was an easy drive from Toronto Pearson and a gorgeous day for a trip to the park. It was also a mob scene. If I thought that the ride queues at my home park, SFGAd, on a Saturday were long, they’re nothing compared with what I encountered at Canada’s Wonderland. When I saw how long the line was to get on Leviathan, I realized that the only way to get much out of this trip was to purchase Fast Lane Plus. So I did. And even with that there was a wait, but usually no longer than 20 minutes (maybe 30 for Behemoth) and sometimes less. My day went as follows:

Leviathan – First 4 rides of the day. Having ridden two Intamin giga coasters, I was curious as to how a B&M giga model would compare, especially as the 2 Intamins use a cable lift and Leviathan of course uses a chain lift. Well, I was surprised at how fast the chain pulled the train up the hill but wasn’t all that surprised by anything else because I knew that Leviathan was going to be good and from start to finish it felt fabulous. I particularly enjoyed the abrupt left turn after the second drop and the point at which the train crosses over the track. Don’t think I’d ever ridden a B&M coaster without a brake run before the end of the ride. Smooth, fast, furious and fun.

Behemoth – I had to wait longer to get on this one than on Leviathan, probably because it seats only two across. For the first ride I was not permitted to choose my seat, as a ride op was pairing single riders, so I ended up in the middle of the train. For the second ride I managed to get the front seat and the hang time over the first drop was absolutely mind-blowing, much more intense than on anything I’d ridden thus far. I thought that Behemoth was first class, with both floater and ejector airtime, and much smoother than Nitro (I tend to compare every B&M hypercoaster with Nitro and was surprised to discover that instead of only a lap bar, the restraints on Behemoth consist of a lap bar and seat belt.) The three consecutive drops after the hammerhead turn were a blast, especially the last one over the lake. At 3 minutes 10 seconds, you get a lot of ride for your money.

Flight Deck – This bore a startling resemblance to Mind Eraser at Six Flags New England, probably the worst coaster I ever rode, but I decided to ride anyway. Bad move. It seems to me that this is in fact the same ride as Mind Eraser (both the stats and element are identical)– brutally rough, especially in this case on the shoulders.

Backlot Stunt Coaster – I ended up on this one by accident, thinking that I was in the queue for Minebuster, lol. It turned out to be a pretty entertaining ride, especially the launch into darkness.

Minebuster – Talk about a bumpy ride! Parts of my anatomy were bouncing up and down and this felt distinctly uncomfortable.

Vortex – I’d never ridden anything with a suspended train so this was a new experience. It was a fun ride with some nice elements – and seemed to be going faster than it actually was – but rough in spots.

Wild Beast – Another rough and tumble woodie, bumpy to the point of being painful.

Dragon Fire – Mercifully short, as I got such an ear-boxing that I would never want to ride it again. I'm not surprised that although it doesn't have a Fast Lane entrance, there wasn't a long line to get on it.

Drop Tower – What fun! But will I be able to handle Zumanjaro, which is almost twice the height?

One thing that impressed me – other than the fact that cast members were unusually friendly and helpful – is that this park actually enforces the no line jumping policy. A couple of security guys arrived at the scene while I was waiting to ride Behemoth because someone had gotten out of line to use the “washroom” and gotten back in at the same spot. An argument ensued when the offender’s friends said that he had been standing in line with them but had to use the facility and the security guys said that he should have used the washroom before getting in line because anyone who got out of line for any reason had to go back to the end of the line. So the guy was out of line in more ways than one. I’ve never seen security at Six Flags do anything to stop line jumping – and I’ve seen plenty of people get out of line, sometimes just to buy a soda, before rejoining their friends.

I never did get to ride Wonder Mountain's Guardian because the line was long and this ride doesn’t have a Fast Lane entrance, and didn’t ride The Bat because I hate boomerangs. So I finished the day the way I started it, on Leviathan, ending up with a total of 7 rides on it. Leviathan was clearly the star of the show.

Canada’s Wonderland is a truly beautiful park and I’m glad I got the opportunity to visit it. And one of the perks is that because they take US dollars, I didn’t have to exchange any currency.

Sounds like it'd be a fun park to check out, but from what I hear it's just ALWAYS crowded.

Bobbie, no flats? Canada's Wonderland is noted for having some awesome flats, many of which are hard to find anywhere else these days.

I suspect that the park is always crowded but probably more so when I went b/c when I contacted them they told me that numerous special events were taking place that day. No, no flats. I did see some which looked pretty amazing but also pretty dizzying. I thought about Windseeker but had ridden Sky Screamer at Six Flags the week before and found it terrifying to be at that altitude on a swing - and Windseeker is the taller of the two. I can ride Kingda Ka without batting an eyelash but when it comes to these swing rides I'm a total wimp.

I'm not surprised it was really crowded, Ontario high schools and public schools across southwestern Ontario are notorious for end of the year class trips, and right now the park is being flooded by students. I usually go the first week or the second week of June the latest, then its usually pretty quiet still. The park will be most likely be packed from now until the end of August when kids are preparing to back to school, and they've already been to wonderland a bizzillion times. September is another amazing time to go too.

Nice TR. We are possibly going to head up there this week. Not sure yet but it's on the short list of possible 3-5 day trips.)

I really enjoy CW and am looking forward to Leviathan, which will be the only new to me coaster. Unless that Wonder Mt thing is a coaster, not sure. My son will get a lot of new credits. (he just hit #200 with Banshee last week!)

Have fun if you go! Wonder Mountain's Guardian is definitely a coaster from what I observed. Had a brief conversation with a girl who had ridden it and she said that it was worth the wait but I just didn't have the time to wait.

Good advice about when to go to CW. I had actually been thinking of going earlier in the season but when I thought about how much colder it is in Vaughan, ON than it is in Philly, I decided that I'd rather go when it was warm enough to wear shorts.

I'm going with dark ride.

I thought it was a dark ride too, to be honest. I didn't look it up on RCDB, but I remember the press releases and stuff saying dark ride.

Bobbie, I don't like swing rides either. Or Ferris wheels. Or basically anything that is high up in the air for extended periods of time and...swing-y. I'm not even a fan of drop towers, although that is slowly changing. I still will likely have a heart attack if I get up the guts to ride Jumanji or whatever it is called. I wussed out of Windseeker at KD a few weeks ago and am not sorry in the slightest. *laugh*

It's a coaster that spends a lot of time in the dark and uses virtually none of it's coaster-potential, aside from a little dip after the lift hill and the Verbolten-esque "surprise!". A coaster can be a dark ride. A dark ride can be a coaster.

And it was a huge letdown.

I would recommend spending your time in line to ride Behemoth (or Leviathan...or the restroom) again. I've ranted enough about this ride, though over on P-Buzz, so I'm out of gas.

Advertised potential, negative outcome.

RCDB has is listed as a coaster. But of course I'll decide for myself when I ride it. I have counted Black Diamond (Knoebels) and even the Dark Rides at Camden and Conneaut Lake. (But boy is that stretching it with the dark rides.) So if it has any sort of free rolling movement on a track...

But I digress, this is a TR about a park, not an "is it or isn't it" thread. Sorry.

And sorry to hear mixed to bad reviews of the new ride. (Sorry Bobbie, but since you got your info second hand from a stranger, I can't take it for too much.)