Canadas Wonderland: Sneak Preview Night

Anyone familiar with this. Is this their first time having one or is it a regular shin dig every beginning of the season.

I do have or more notable question though. I was down in a Charlotte a week ago went to Carowinds and purchased my platinum pass. I'm aware of all perks that come with it. But how about them honoring a pass for this sneak preview on Friday night ?. Should be legit I would think either way. The only thing that would make me think otherwise is that it maybe specifically for CW season pass and Platinum Pass's purchased at CW.

I've been trying to contact the park offices to ask but maybe they close early in the day, I haven't reached anyone yet, but I wanted to send out the call on here if anyone might have an idea. *** Edited 4/24/2008 2:17:06 AM UTC by SFDLdan***

CW has had the season pass preview at least since the Italian Job 2005. That was the first year I had a season pass so not sure about before that. It's actually very busy and season pass purchasing and processing times can be well over an hour. We went up and processed our passes yesterday to avoid the line up on Friday.

Last season a friend used a platinum pass from another park for the preview night so shouldn't be a problem this year.

I posted a negative experience with food service last year on the Passover thread. So heads up as things can be a bit sketchy as park operations, specifically food service hadn't quite hit their stride yet.

The Platinum Pass benefit guide says the event is open to all Platinum Pass holders regardless of which park you purchased from.

DOWNLOAD THE PLATINUM PASS BENEFITS GUIDE FOR ALL CEDAR FAIR PARKS!

Season Pass Preview is an old tradition, something they've done since the early 90's. It will be very busy, in many cases busier than opening day. Especially with $59 passes and a huge new coaster, this year will likely be the busiest of all.

At least Wonderland will be busy, and with a solid Canadian economy to keep them profitable all year, Cedar Fair can have something to look forward to!

Thanks guys. Well it looks like I'll be leaving work early and coming up for a couple hours then:)

I plan on driving up from Ohio. My pass is from Cedar Point. You may have trouble with parking though, based on my KI experience on Opening Day. I was assured though, that I would get a cash refund if I got charged, and I left my name with the park.

PCWCoasterBoy,

I am not too thrilled about reading what you posted. How busy has it been in previous years? Also, if you are up in Canada, do you know where I can buy some Loonies at par? Looks like the exchange rate is only slightly in my favor, meaning 96 or 97 cents on the dollar.

Also, aside from Wal-Mart, do you know of anywhere in Canada where Discover Card is accepted? That is the only card I usually carry, and they don't charge a Foreign Transaction Fee, which many cards now charge (I learned that the hard way).

Thanks,

Sam

So did you receive your refund?. I would think that shouldn't even be an issue as its clearly stated as one of the perks of having the P-Pass, No room for discussion there.

But it would be absolutely dumb if every time you enter the parking lot of which ever CF park you visit you have to pay them the $10 and then be refunded at the main gate or where ever.

Yes, I got my money back at KI. I also called Canada's Wonderland to try to make sure it doesn't happen again there.

I should have just put my car in park and asked for a full time manager, while cars lined up behind me, but I guess I'm not mean enough.

-Sam

I don't remember them ever charging for parking at the preview night so shouldn't be an issue. It's very busy and would expect to wait a minimum of an hour for the new ride.

Hardly anyone takes Discover so don't plan on using it. Aside from Wally and Sears I can't think of anyone that takes it. Friends from the US had issues trying to use a Discover so again don't plan on using it. The effort it took trying to find a place that took it to save the 1-3% charge wasn't worth the headache. Most Capital One cards don't charge the conversion fee if you have one give em a call to check.

Best exchange rate would be at a bank. Or use an ATM to take out cash and you'll get the exchange rate at the time of the transaction. If you have a Bank of America account you can use Scotia Bank ATMs in Canada without any fees on either end.

^^Or you can swing by one of your many lovely casino's for an exchange!!

The Season Preview is ALWAYS PACKED. Always.

I do not remember a pass preview, where the line for a new roller coaster was less than 2 hours long. I actually waited 3 hours for Top Gun(old name) when it opened up!

Do not expect to get more than 2 rides on Behemothh. Hell, you'll be lucky if you get 2.

You are probably not going to find any places that give at par. We used to have a GST rebate for US Tourists, where you get a GST refund. I do not know if that is still around or not. *** Edited 4/24/2008 1:53:18 PM UTC by El Gato Coastro***

Anyone know if the ride is going to have a single rider lane?

Was at the park today for Media Preview. I rode Behemoth and it was amazing. Very little trimming was happening, and the airtime was out of this world. It's a little rougher than most B and M's, but it was cooler today and the trains weren't full, so hopefully things will even out with that. It truly is an incredible ride, and you'll be flying out of your seat the entire time. Yes, that's right, killer ejector air pretty much through the entire ride. Come on up to CW and ride this!

Avalanche sam,

Parking is always free on Season Pass Preview night, so you shouldn't have any issues with that. They have actually been advertising the preview night pretty heavily and I would expect it to be packed. The advantage for you might be that EVERYONE will race for Behemoth, and you can probably walk on anything else in the park for the first hour or so.

Also, Sledgehammer is down for a few weeks. Waiting for a part from Huss before it can get up and going this year. Otherwise the parks looks great!

Also, don't expect to get US/CDN at par anywhere. The US dollar isn't worth much here, and you'll find a negative exchange rate at most retail stores. Sucks to be American right now.

There is no single rider entrance for Behemoth.

Kind of unrelated, but there are testing videos of Behemoth online for a while now -
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3588621132650081529&ei=GGERSIOhEpXCqAOEnP2nAg&hl=en
Looks like the ride has a good dose of airtime (I hope they don't slow things down too much in further test runs).
Looks like a pretty fun coaster if you ask me!
:)
(even if it just looks like a subtle variation on a cookie-cutter concept)

*** Edited 4/25/2008 9:15:25 AM UTC by superman***

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PCWCoasterBoy said:
Was at the park today for Media Preview. I rode Behemoth and it was amazing. Very little trimming was happening, and the airtime was out of this world. It's a little rougher than most B and M's, but it was cooler today and the trains weren't full, so hopefully things will even out with that. It truly is an incredible ride, and you'll be flying out of your seat the entire time. Yes, that's right, killer ejector air pretty much through the entire ride. Come on up to CW and ride this!

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So now, do you think CF will slowly start adding more trims to it?? Because we all know how CF wants every ride to be one tamed POS (which is why they'll never install an Intamin pre-fab)

I ask b/c I'm currently not planning on heading up to CW until the Cubs/Jays series in mid-ish June, and if more trims will be used then I might ditch CP's opening weekend for Wonderland instead.

But thanks for the update and good to know Behemoth appears to [so far] be off to a good start!!

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tigellinus said:

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PCWCoasterBoy said:
Was at the park today for Media Preview. I rode Behemoth and it was amazing. Very little trimming was happening, and the airtime was out of this world. It's a little rougher than most B and M's, but it was cooler today and the trains weren't full, so hopefully things will even out with that. It truly is an incredible ride, and you'll be flying out of your seat the entire time. Yes, that's right, killer ejector air pretty much through the entire ride. Come on up to CW and ride this!

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So now, do you think CF will slowly start adding more trims to it?? Because we all know how CF wants every ride to be one tamed POS (which is why they'll never install an Intamin pre-fab)

I ask b/c I'm currently not planning on heading up to CW until the Cubs/Jays series in mid-ish June, and if more trims will be used then I might ditch CP's opening weekend for Wonderland instead.

But thanks for the update and good to know Behemoth appears to [so far] be off to a good start!!

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I doubt it. On one of our rides we heard the trim on the first return hill kick in, but it barely did anything to slow the train down and didn't affect the ride at all. The MCBR has a set of Mag-breaks first and then the squeeze-breaks after that. The train gracefully slows on the mag's but you didn't even feel the squeeze at the block.

It's likely that when the hot weather and full trains start to make the ride run faster, the trims may take a bit more off, but considering the rides we've had on it already, I don't expect it to have much impact at all.

I posted this for news, but it's not up yet. We've posted tons of pics from media day, a 360 degree video of the midway, and interview with the park at: www.cwmania.com

I saw a well shot on-ride video of the ride today, and I know it's really hard to get a good feel for how a coaster performs based on a video. That being said, I still think Nitro's got the edge.

In the video I saw, there are no other riders (or they're being really quiet:) ). Most of the hills seemed to have more of a float to them rather than ejector air.

Maybe not having four riders in a row makes things better as well. I might make it to Canada and find out I'm dead wrong about the floating airtime. It's not likely this year, but it could happen.

On a side note, I thought there was no irony in a Huss ride needing a part that'll take several weeks to arrive.

Got one ride in tonight at the preview and it's an excellent coaster. They had 3 train operations and were doing a great job of getting the trains out, but had an assigned seating set up and we got stuck in the 4th car. Even in the middle there was full blown ejector are throughout the ride.

They did not load the last car of any of the trains, and not sure why. But I can't wait to ride again closer to the front or back of the train. This was full blown "wow I hope my lapbar doesn't fail because I'd surely be thrown to my death" on ejector..and in the middle of the train! The unique seating arrangement does just what they set out for, makes for excellent visuals. The ride is a total winner!

Cropsey mentioned something about assigned seating for Behemoth during the Preview. Does this mean that the park will not allow you to choose your own row all year? I always hate when parks do not let you choose your own seat, and it seems to be an increasing trend... Does that mean there is not a longer cue line for the front or back?

Someone else said that it was "rougher" than most B&Ms. Does this mean the coaster has the nasty vibration or shimmy of say Hydra The Revenge at Dorney (which shakes so much that the ride is almost ruined....). Just wondering how smooth the ride is compared to say Nitro, which still runs really well many years later.... *** Edited 4/26/2008 6:09:05 AM UTC by Mikewhy***

There were some people lined up for thr front seat so if you asked the attendant if you could wait for the front I assume they would have let you. One of my friends had to get back to Toronto to start a bartending shift and we were cutting it really close so just took first available seat. The attendant that was grouping the bull pen was probably just there prevent folks waiting for the front from clogging up entrance to the station and fill up the rows.

The two hour wait was a huge (the guy that kept saying "This line is a Behemoth!!!" got really annoying after about the 7th time) but almost constantly moving line and probably an hour of that was due to ride downtime. CW was showing off the smoothest and most efficient ride operations I'd ever seen at the there.

As far as roughness my ride was silky smooth. Sometimes the shimmy and vibration stuff can vary from train to train. Overall I think this was just a bit more intense than Nito from what I remember of it. A friend who loves coasters mentioned that it was so intense he felt uncomfortable putting his hands up.