kunpc1

So the middle yellow "balloon" on the google map (along the long stretch of trees) has 2 markers. One has C21 on it and another about 20 feet over has C113. The marker in that little "island" has C71 on it. This coaster could actually go that far. C21 being for the track/course going out towards the front gate area, C71 being the middle/turn-around section and C113 being the return track/course back towards the station. Don't worry, I'll definitely keep you guys posted with more HIGH QUALITY pictures as this progresses! (Canadian) Nick

So I love my TPR Family too much to make you wait until I post stuff in the morning. So here's the update from Monday August 15 - HD PICTURES! The construction area is slowly starting towards the front gate. Could this monster of a coaster actually make it that far??? Full gallery with all pictures: http://www.cwmania.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=242&page=1&sort=dd A lot of dirt has been removed from the area around Dragon Fire's corkscrews... And moved here. Overview of the employee parking lot area under construction. A trench is being dug and those large concrete slabs that are piled up in the parking lot are being placed in it. A lot more stakes have been placed along the grassy hill that runs along the parking lot. This shot was taken facing North towards the employee lot. There's two stakes in this picture. One up close and the other just the tip is visible behind the fence. One is numbered C21. The other is numbered C113. The random stake out by the flag pole near the main gate entrance is C71... Could this coaster really be going that far out? Low "C" number for the course/track out that way and the high "C" number for the track/course returning back??? Noted. General construction area near Speed City Raceway. Another general look at the construction area facing Dragon Fire. Track (okay, so it's the same track I had pictures of before). More track (not really more, just the same old track but different pictures). You can see the support column is a darker blue than the aqua track. Now it's time for bed. G'nite all! (Canadian) Nick

As much as I would love our home park to add huge attractions each year, the real question is "why"? The park can add nothing and attendance numbers will increase. I don't think Wonderland has ever "stagnated". Paramount added new attractions every year. Just because they didn't add things the coaster enthusiast crowd would love doesn't mean they weren't excellent additions. The non-coaster enthusiast guests to the park (typically called "GP") are excited about any new attraction. 99% of the people that go to Wonderland go crazy over everything. People STILL tell me how much they LOVE Flight Deck. They don't know any better. Maybe the park went a little far in advertising WindSeeker as being a great thrill ride (it's quite tame actually) but to be honest, it's another great family ride. I've seen kids to elderly seniors on the ride. It's another good "filler" addition between Cedar Fair putting in large attractions. It's these small-medium sized attractions that made Canada's Wonderland a HUGE success. We're lucky that Cedar is continuing to put in large coasters as they definitely don't need to do so to keep the attendance (and revenue) coming in. To demonstrate how few people that attend Wonderland travel to other parks, let me quickly mention the Platinum Passes. The first year the passes were introduced, Cedar Fair created 10,000 Platinum Passes for Canada's Wonderland. We're STILL using up that original batch! That's why we still have the old design and every other park has the new design. People don't buy them here because most of them just come to Wonderland. Cedar Fair is spending money all around the park. There have been some really good general park improvements that have happened over the past few years. Some are obvious (top 2 waterfalls on Wonder Mountain working again) and some not so obvious (new electrical lines placed throughout the park for future expansion).

King's Dominion mentioned last year that this was a big thing that Canada's Wonderland brought forwards to the former Paramount and now Cedar Fair parks. Wonderland has always used paver stones throughout the park instead of asphalt. It's a large up-front cost but over the long term it's much cheaper. If one paver breaks, it can be replaced. If something happens to asphalt, a large area must be dug up and redone. It's also MUCH cooler during those hot, sunny months. So look for more Cedar Fair parks to go this route when designing new midways.

The track on site is for the turnaround from the station to the lift.

Agreed. I can't wait for the plans to be released to everyone in just 5 days!

I can't say I'm bummed one bit! With everything else our park has, we're LUCKY to get another B&M. Behemoth is one of the most air-filled hyper coasters I've ridden. If this next addition is as good as Behemoth, I'll be ecstatic. What's to be bummed about having a ride that will open on time, not need to be modified/reconstructed, have little down-time and have great capacity (which Wonderland DESPERATELY needs!)? I have love for Intamin as well... I think a lot of their coasters are AMAZING. Bizarro/Superman is crazy (minus the horrible new restraint system). I have lots of love for Millennium Force and their impulse coasters as well. Perhaps our next addition will vary the coaster brands in our park. I just think for anyone to be disappointed before even know what type of B&M coaster this is going to be is a little premature.

Hey all, here's some HD pictures of the track on site. The last 2 shots make it pretty evident that this is standard-sized B&M track. More pictures can be found at CWMania: http://www.cwmania.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=242&page=1&sort=dd

Track! HD pictures later this afternoon.

It's definitely going to be tall and/or have some strong forces with footers that size! It's definitely exciting! I'll be up to the park as often as I can to keep everyone up to date. ^Those are some amazing pictures!

There's one set of supports in the employee parking lot and one set right beside the main construction area beside Speed City Raceway. The column supports are located in the second site.

NP! It's my pleasure heading up to get them. I'm so excited to have another huge project in my backyard! The super-zoom lens works well

Photo update from today (Thursday August 11): Everything you're going to see in today's update has been posted/mentioned for the most part over the past day or two. They're still going crazy with pouring more footers and the construction site is slowly sprawling out into the employee parking area. As promised, here's some highlights: Full gallery located at CWMania: http://www.cwmania.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=242&page=1&sort=dd Former bus loop area in the employee parking lot. Supports with more temporary fencing (more shipments coming soon???) Lots more rebar cages in the employee lot. 4 footers equals one BIG square footer... 3 footers equals one BIG triangular footer... More really big individual footers. Construction zone spreading into the employee lot. Lift??? LOTS of footers poured and capped near Speed City Raceway. Support columns!

I'm not sure if those are new or old. I'll stop by that area of the park today when I stop by for pictures and check them out.

Most definitely! I agree that a lot of people are whiners... Oh well. I'm heading up the park again today so I'll be sure to upload more pictures here as well as CWMania. Just one week to go!

Having visited the park over 30 times this season, I can definitely tell you I consistently heard negative comments towards the park in regards to WindSeeker. I've also spoken with Reps from the park that echoed that statement of negative comments towards the delayed opening. This includes other media (other than Facebook) such as the Toronto Star and other publications. Of course everyone wants to ride a safe ride. But they also see it sitting there, testing, etc and expect it to open when the rest of the park opens (especially when that's the precedent set by previous attractions). I understand things happen, especially with prototypes. I have a season pass to go over and over again but a lot of people make one trip a year and are understandably disappointed. Whatever it is Wonderland builds for next year needs to have excellent operations and excellent capacity to keep up with the busiest seasonal park in North America.

Except if a new ride is built, the general public expect it to be open. Telling them to go ride the rest of the rides just isn't acceptable. Do you not remember the public backlash about WindSeeker not opening on time? When you look at Canada's Wonderland's track record, they've opened almost every single ride on time. I can't remember a single instance where there was such an extensive delay as WindSeeker. I guess we're just spoiled up here... Although very few attractions have been built that would justify a delayed construction time-frame.

The haunt maze in your picture above is The Asylum. Terror in London will be located in a different part of the park. Jason, you're more than welcome to stay at my place when you come to ride Project 2012!

Yes, there are aqua-blue supports on site in the employee parking lot. They're similar in colour to Wicked Twister's supports. They appear to be station/transfer track supports as they are I-Beams. They have the X-Works sticker on them that other B&M coasters have had recently.

At first glance the supports looked like Intamin. However, once I saw the X-Works sticker and checked out Behemoth's storage/transfer area again, it looks like it's another B&M. Steve, if you make it up here, we'll have to set something up! Would love to meet up with my TPR folks again!

We had to sit in the brake run until the air compressor turned on, filled and we then slowly inched into the station. We thought we had broke it when we took the first ride as well... It was actually a great credit! And the pizza tour and cannolis were awesome! I was so stuffed for the bus ride back to the hotel...

If you all wait 4 weeks for an announcement, you'll miss it

Based on everything I've heard as of late, Dragon Fire isn't slated to go anywhere. It's low maintenance and still pulls good crowds (the entire entrance ramp was full the other day when I stopped by). Construction is really moving quickly so I'd be surprised if we don't see supports/track within the next couple weeks.

Footers are being poured under & around the mid-course brakes of Dragon Fire. Construction is really picking up! Hopefully we'll start seeing supports/track soon!

HUGE photo update with HIGH QUALITY pictures from the park today. Lots of rebar and a couple footers have already been poured. Pictures of them in the process of pouring one of them. Full set of photos can be found here: http://www.cwmania.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=242&page=1&sort=dd Markers on the fence near Dragon Fire's second loop. Two dirt piles under/near Dragon Fire's corkscrews. Dirt close-up. Cement truck ready to pour some footers! More stakes and workers trucks. Rebar cages near Dragon Fire's mid-course brakes. Rebar, auger and potties! Pouring one of the first footers. Each rebar cage has a tag. Some of the lettering on the tags match up with the red stakes around the massive site. This is the tag on the largest rebar cage. It's almost 3 feet in diameter and probably about 15-20 feet long. This is the largest rebar cage along with the MANY smaller cages in the background. Overall shot of the construction site. Lots of rebar, a couple poured footers and coloured pipes.