Canada's Wonderland: First time since CF takeover

So on Sunday (July 30) I went up to a cottage a couple hours past Toronto for a few days and on the way home we decided to hit Wonderland. My friend and I got there yesterday (Aug 1) around 11am. We already had our tickets which I got through CAA at a discounted price. This was my first visit to the park since 2004. We were very surprised to see huge huge huge lines just to get into the park. There were at least 10 lanes open with probably 100 people in each line. As we got closer to the turnstiles I noticed the reason for the huge lines was because security searches every bag that enters the park. That was new to me. Not only do you get your bag searched, but you pass through a metal detector.

When we got in it didn't seem overly busy. When I got out of my car the temperature was a toasty and sticky 97 degrees. First we headed to Tomb Raider. It's a Zamperla flying coaster. While we were in line a kid passed out so they shut down the ride. After a short delay it re-opened. For those of you who aren't familiar with this ride, the car carries 4 people across. It arrives in the station vertically and you climb on while it is in motion towards the front of the station. The ride host buckles you in and as you leave the station the car is moved into its horizontal flight position. When you return to the station you are brought back to the vertical position and have to jump out while it is in motion. Jumping on and off the car while it's in motion didn't seem like the best idea to me. It isn't moving that fast, but it's quick enough for someone to fall off or get knocked down if they aren't paying attention. Anyway, after about 30 minutes we got our ride and I wasn't that impressed. It was very jerky and lacked intensity and overall fun.

After that we went to the Italian Job. The line was reasonable. We waited about 20 minutes. The ride was okay I guess. There really isn't anything to say about it. The theming looks shabby in areas. If I had the choice, I'd ride Wildcat at CP over Italian Job.

**Disclaimer** I'm not implying that the Italian Job and Wildcat are the same type of ride, I'm just stating that I find Wildcat more intense and enjoyable.

Next we got in line for the Mighty Canadian Minebuster but about 5 minutes later it went down for mechanical problems. We left the line because my friend wasn't feeling great so we sat down and had a bag of chips and Poweraid. After our break the Minebuster was still down so we went over to Vortex. Vortex is a suspended Arrow coaster. It's one of the better coasters at Wonderland, and it's much better than Iron Dragon. We waited about 20 minutes. One thing I noticed while waiting in line is that as the train running the course arrives back in the braking area it stops so hard that is violently shakes the entire braking area as well as the station. This is probably a direct result of stacking caused by the addition of seatbelts. They added the type that have the "male" end mounted on the OTSR and the retractable "female" end mounted on the seat. Looking back though, I doubt the new seatbelts cause the stacking, the crew didn't even check them.

After that I went and rode Wilde Beast, a PTC wooden coaster designed by Curtis Summers, the man who brought us Mean Streak. Wilde Beast is the same design as the old Coney Island Wildcat. It was a near walk on. It's a decent coaster. I rate it above Mean Streak but below Blue Streak. It ran a nice course but could use a bit more airtime.

After that I went back to see if Minebuster had reopened, and it had. The lineup was only in the station, about a 7 train wait. Like Wilde Beast, the Mighty Canadian Minebuster is a PTC wooden coaster designed by Curtis Summers. And also like Wilde Beast, I rate Minebuster above Mean Streak but below Blue Streak. The Minebuster runs out along the water park and from there I saw how absolutely packed it was.

My final ride of the day was Sledge Hammer. It's a Giant Jump 2 by Huss. I had never ridden one before and it looked like fun. I walked right on. The ride ran its cycle and as we slowly returned to the ground we abruptly dropped 15 feet. It didn't feel natural but I didn't think anything of it. After that we began to slowly rotate back to our starting position when we suddenly made a quick 90 degree rotation. It didn't feel natural either. Shortly after that a ride op announced that Sledge Hammer was down for mechanical reasons. We were still about 10 feet off the ground and sitting in a slanted position. After about 5 minutes we slowly returned to the ground and ride ops and mechanics came around and manually released our harnesses. In conclusion to that, I will say that Sledge Hammer looks more fun than it is. After that we left for home.

To wrap up this trip report I want to comment on a few things. The way rides are operated at Wonderland looks so amateur compared CP. Wilde Beast and Minebuster only run 2 trains each and still stack. The ride ops don't communicate all that well. They took forever to check all of the harnesses (on all of the rides I rode, not just the two listed above) and didn't do as thorough of a job. Overall, CP's ride ops just seem to act more responsible.

Wonderland also seems to have a rather large construction project in the works. Rumour has it that it may be a B&M, more specifically a Dive Machine. I hope it is because aside from a new attraction in 2008, I have no desire to return to that park.
*** Edited 8/3/2007 12:09:27 AM UTC by Vince982***

As a Canadian who lives exactly the same distance from CWL and CP, I agree and don't ever return to CWL.

Other than Vortex being a much better Arrow suspended coaster than Iron Dragon, there isn't much of a draw to CWL.

In all fairness, (although it may be different now), I think CWL has for the most part catered to a younger audience than CP traditionally does.

Oh come on, everyone...my family and I are going to Canada's Wonderland on Sunday and Monday (Aug. 5 & 6). We've never been there before. Is it really that bad?

I think all parks have things people like and dislike about them. I also thing every park has something unique and good about them.

I don't necessarily look for things at amusement parks that "draw" me; if I lived 5 hours away from Cedar Point, I wouldn't just go there because of Top Thrill Dragster.

I thought Canada's Wonderland was a pretty nice park. I went up there in June, and I think it is a great park. I think the coasters are decent, and the park really has a lot to offer. Yes, I think it needs a new signature ride, but based on Kinzel's impression of the park, and its high attendance (doesn't it pull in about 3 million people?), I wouldn't be surprised to see a nice new coaster sometime in the next couple of years.

If Dominator ever gets removed from Geauga Lake, my vote is to have it go to Canada's Wonderland!

But the best thing about the park are the unique rides. The Jump 2, the Top Scan, the Togo Standup (my first and only so far)!

-Sam

I would agree that it caters to a younger crowd. No doubt about it, Wonderland it a nice park but very different from Cedar Point. Had it not been so hot yesterday I'm sure I would have had a much better time but between the humidity and my friend feeling sick and not up for riding anything after Vortex it put a damper on the day. I wish we would have hit the water park too, but after being away at the cottage for a few days we were just ready to go home. Next year I'd like to visit the water park and check out whatever it is they're building. I'd like to hit the park on a Monday or Tuesday in June before school gets out.

VillianLover, the park is very nice and I'm sure you'll have a great time. One thing I have noticed is that some things are set up wierdly, ride placement wise. Most of them are kind of set back with their queue lines being at the midway path and the rides being further back. It seems they created their midways with attractions close together when they originally built the park and didn't leave room for new rides so they put them behind things and have their queue stretch far.

[url][url]As said by many before, don't compare CP to anything else. CWL is a great park, but it will never even closely rival CP. CWL is in a position to serve its marketing area well.

VillainLover, you'll have fun at CWL, once you get through the traffic getting there!! Allow an extra hour driving (at least) and be prepared to pay $$$ if you get on the 407.

Darien Lake could be on your way home also.

Just like pizza & other things, there is no such thing as bad amusement parks!
*** Edited 8/3/2007 3:21:11 AM UTC by acrossthelake***

I'm double posting because I had a couple of other things I wanted to add in regards to what Avalanche Sam said about attendance. Wonderland draws from mainly the GTA, which is over 3 million alone. And aside from that, Wonderland is the only full scale amusement park in Ontario and one of the only ones in Canada. No matter what day you go in the summer that park is busy. The thing that surprised me though was the short length of the queues. Tomb Raider and Italian Job are the two newest coasters and they don't even really have a queue area like the coasters at CP. They just have the path leading from the Midway to the station without the zig zag 'collector' areas, if you will.

The park is nice, but I live near Buffalo, N.Y. and I've only been there once and I do agree that the Vortex is the only decent ride there.

I wasn't suggesting that CWL was bad, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it a great park.

Like mentioned, CWL fills a different market than CP. Attendance figures will always be strong because of the 5 million people in the GTA and the lack of any "real" competitor. With such high attendance there probably isn't a lot of incentive to spend the big money for a "CP" level collection of coasters.

CWL does have a variety of non-coaster rides, but if you're looking to ride a collection of modern coasters or ride a real classic type coaster you will be disappointed.

Usually I enjoy some part of most coasters. but I didn't find anything enjoyable about The Bat, Skyrider, or Dragon Fire. Maybe if I had never been to a park with newer/better coasters I might think different but I think the best thrills at CWL are the thrill rides, not the coasters.

(Although, if the 2008 coaster being built is a dive machine, might be worth a visit next year.) *** Edited 8/4/2007 11:57:11 PM UTC by Headrush69***

Unfortunately, almost every other park has ride ops which seem much more amateur than Cedar Point's. Let's home they can spread some enthusiasm for having good ride crews to the new parks.

Funny that Vortex has seatbelts. So does Top Gun at KI, yet Iron Dragon does not. I guess this is because the tubs are different sizes? Or because the forces exceed a certain "safe" threshold?

I think they've always searched every bag as you enter. The difference at KI was that this year there was only one person who was running each metal detector as well as searching bags. In the past I believe bag search was done by specific individuals who did not run the detectors.

Chuck Wagon said:
Funny that Vortex has seatbelts. So does Top Gun at KI, yet Iron Dragon does not. I guess this is because the tubs are different sizes? Or because the forces exceed a certain "safe" threshold?

Vortex swings a lot more than ID.
At spots you can feel the shock absorbers extended to their limits.

I am going to have to make a trip up there after they put in the new coaster.

Isn't Vortex a clone of "Top Gun" at KI?

I go to Wonderland quite frequently and agree with most of what is posted here. The rider operators at Cedar Point are far more professional and charismatic then the ones at Wonderland. I like how at Cedar Point they tell you things about the coaster to get you pumped for the ride.. at wonderland it is simply like "move along little doggy".

The only rides that offer an experience that would give riders a thrill after being to Cedar Point are: Minebuster, Wild Beast and Vortex. My friends and I all agreed that the Wooden Coasters at wonderland are all more thrilling then any of the ones at Cedar Point (although we did not get on Gemini. Mean Streak was quite simply the tamest wooden roller coaster I've ever been on, blue streak didn't seem very creative either. Vortex is also better than Iron Dragon. Tomb Raider offers a "flying" experience, although not a great one. The thing is Wonderland has nothing to compare to the TTD, maverick, MF or Magnum which is why the park might seem like a let down to those who have been to Cedar Point.

Hopefully the new coaster will raise the bar a little.

Blue Streak puts up a decent fight againse Wilde Beast and Minebuster, but Mean Streak doesn't stand a chance. Vortex is excellent compared to Iron Dragon, but a little bit on the short side. Tomb Raider was just an all around let down. I'd always wanted to try a flying coaster, hopefully B&M offers a better experience. As for Wonderland not having anything to compare to the CP coasters, that should change in 2008 with the arrival of a new B&M. I can't wait until tomorrow morning for the announcement.

Villainboi said:
Isn't Vortex a clone of "Top Gun" at KI?

I didn't think so but can't say for sure as the terrain is so different between the two they both have a different feel.

Although its been a while seen I rode either of them, I remember the entire train having much more "swing" on Vortex than Top Gun also.
(Literally when you hit the final brakes you aren't far from a horizontal swing.)
I reserve the right to be wrong if trim brakes have been added since I rode it. :-)

The swing in the final brake run on Vortex is intense. It shakes the entire braking section as well as the station. You hit the brakes so hard it's almost uncomfortable.

Vince982,

Tombraider at CW is a let down???? How do you figure? My family and I thought it was a great coaster.

Vortex was nothing to write home about. I actually dragged my husband on that ride, swearing that it looked to be better than Iron Dragon, and after the ride, I was embarrassed that I said that!!!

Tombraider was uncomfortable and uneventful. The restraints were uncomfortable because your arms were pretty much locked into the one position and you couldn't move them around. The track layout was cramped and basically just a bunch of small dips with small turn arounds. It's a coaster that I rode once to say I did, but won't ride it again unless it's a walk on.

Vortex was good, better than Iron Dragon because it was quicker and took more intense turns. I like Iron Dragon more because it lasts longer, but that's probably because of the second lift hill.

Wonderland has announced Behemoth, Canada's tallest and fastest coaster! B&M strikes again with a 230 foot 77mph coaster with 5,318 feet of beautiful orange and yellow track! Can't wait till May 08!