CdnbMatt

You bring up a good point that I didn't think of. I sat on the front seat of Wild Beast this time which I never do, and it was smooth, on the back...bumpy.. that probably explains it right there. I am going to try Minebuster on the front next time to see if there is any difference.

I think after all these years it might look a tad bare in Future World. Personally I didn't have too much of a problem with the wand. Thet being said, I'm not upset the wand is coming down.

I agree that is a great location. Looks like they are finally putting it to good use. A lot of people comment that there is no room at Wonderland anymore for improvements, however, if you really look at it they still have plenty of room for new attractions. There is the space we have been talking about...that empty area is about the size of a third of the developed area of the park. They could easy build a coaster or boardwalk over the lake/pond. While I wouldn't want a parking lot coaster, the section of parking lot just south of Kingswood is fairly large. There is some space still by Dragon Fire. There is also that large area of land north of Major Mackenzie that Wonderland owns....you circle it when exiting the north side of the parking lot....the problem with that though is that it is so far removed from the rest of the park that it would be a challenge to get guests to and from that area.

I once saw Drachen Fyre on a return trip from Florida. I don't remember what Highway or even what state...probably Virginia... I loved Drachen Fyre.

I have to agree with you....with Minbuster especially.. it is very day to day. Mean Streak is another example, day 1 of a two day trip was rough, day 2 was smooth.

HAHA I knew I'd hear something about that. I may be the minority but something about the colour works for me. At least it matches the restraints.

Right off the bat I have to apologize for the lack of photos. I intended to have some but forgot my camera that day . If you are anything like me, I greatly prefer the TR's with photos...moving on.. I decided to visit Wonderland on July 2nd. the day after Canada Day. Normally I would never consider visiting this park on a long weekend as even on the quietest of days at this place you tend to feel like a sardine packed into a can filled with too many sardines. Seriously, I have never in my life visited a park with such consistently long lines. That being said, I try to plan my visits to other parks during the off seasons. On this day, I figured it was the morning after fireworks so perhaps it may not be too busy. I was pleasantly suprised. This also happens to be my first visit since it became a Cedar Fair park (I don't really count last year) We drove past the "Paramount" Canada's Wonderland sign into the parking lot around 9:30am. I wanted to get there early to process my Maxx Pass. Suprisingly the lot was relatively empty. Season Pass processing took all of 3 minutes, much much better than last years 1.5 hours. One of the first changes I noticed was the photoless season passes. They still take your picture, but it doesn't show up on your card. They make you print your name on the back of the card and this is really the only way to tell one pass from another. I can foresee some problems once the penned in names rub off. We were still a bit early so we had to wait to get into the Medieval Faire area. This was fine with me as we got take a moment to enjoy Wonderland's International Street.....which in my opinion is one of the nicest areas of any park anywhere. Take away the Magic Kingdom, and I really don't think there is a nicer entrance area to a park. Once the rides opened we booted it over to The Bat... I know..I know it's a Boomerang, but I happen to have a soft spot for these coasters and have always liked them. It also helps to be on the first ride of the day and have a 0 minute queue. After the Bat we headed over to Wild Beast......or Wilde Beaste as it was formally called and IMO a better name. I am happy to report that contrary to what I have heard, this Beaste was running far better than I can ever remember. It was smooth and comfortable. Too bad I can't say the same for Wonderland's other woodie. Next up was Drop Zone, which had re-opened since the accident in Kentucky. It was typically fun like Intamin towers usually are. After we headed over to the bumper cars or Kratchenwagen. Here is a tip.... if the ride operator says your kids are too small to ride....THEY ARE TOO SMALL TO RIDE.....don't argue with them.....it is for the safety of you and everyone else....don't hold up the line arguing.... these are bumper cars with a good chance of injury if you are too small and get thrown around. That is all I really have to say about that. Shockwave seemed to be running a more intense program than I can recently remember. This pleased me as this has always been one of my favorite flat rides and this made it better. Sledgehammer, on the other hand, seemed to be running a tamer (is that a word) program than last year....that is one ride that has the potential to be great if they would up the intensity a few notches. Next up was Vortex. For all you Arrow Suspended haters out there, I ask you to give this one a try. Personally, I never been on a better suspended coaster, and that includes Big Bad Wolf and Ninja. Truthfully, this one eats the faces off those other coasters. It's over quick, but it's fast and fun. I have to say that I feel sorry for the Mighty Canadian Minebuster. I really want and try hard to love it, but it is getting harder and harder to do so. Even after what seems like yearly improvements to the track...it's still so terribly rough. This year is the absolute worst I have ever experienced....it hurt so much that I wanted to get off and that rarely if ever happens. It looks like over the winter they rebuilt the very westernly portion of the track, but that really wasn't the area that needed it. The whole section after the first drop needs to be rebuilt. I predict that within ten years, this ride will be gone OR a major overhaul. We tried out the new Coasters restaurant. For those who don't know, it's a 50's diner themed burger place. While a tad pricey, the burgers were actually really good. I have always been a fan of original restaurants in parks....who wants the same old stuff you can get everywhere. The only downside was that this didn't seem like a new place on the inside. I already noticed peeling paint and dirty areas. Nothing that can't be fixed, but a little disappointing. Last but not least in my long winded trip report is 2008 progress. Most of us have heard about a possible B&M Hyper or Dive Machine. While I really have no idea what they are putting in, if early construction is any indication, it's going to be BIG. If you take a look between Italian Job and Sledgehammer you can see construction already beginning with some kind of footers in place.. In my history of visiting this place, I have never seen construction for the following year begin so early. Upon closer inspection the construction area spans all the way from Kingswood Music Theatre to behind Splash Works...if you are familiar with the area you'll know that is A LOT of space....this is making me lean more towards the Hyper side of the rumors...which would be absolutely fantastic. I'll try to get some pictures taken of the area to show where I mean. To conclude....we started right at 10am....did about 10 rides in the first 2 hours......2 rides in the last 2 as it started to get really really busy...so we left. I am happy to see some of the changes CF has done to the place...however the parks seems in need of some TLC. Paramount was always really good at the upkeep of the park and tended to slap a new coat of paint on most things in the off season. I'd like Cedar Fair to remember that and keep it beautiful.....It is still early in CF's reign....and I am confident that once they get their feet under them they will take good care of the park. THANKS FOR READING! P.S.....I like Dragon Fire's new paint job.

I am curious to see now what CF's next step will be. Do they ignore Kings Island, Wonderland, Geagua Lake and Michigan's Adventure while continuing to pump money into Cedar Point? OR, do they evenly try to improve all the surrounding parks. Regardless, they are not going to want any of their parks to suffer because competition from within. On the other hand, every park could and probably will see a drop in new additions because...really...aside from a few parks....what competition do they have?

I 100% agree that this park needs nothing more to be successful. Cedar Fair could add nothing for 15 years and still have a profitable park on their hands. For the people living in the Toronto area, we are victims of circumstance in that we have nothing other than Wonderland within a 6 hour radius. We don't have the luxury of three or more parks in state. If I made the decisions at CF I wouldn't put in 20+ million dollar coaster, from a financial point of view it is unnecessary. The whole point of the thread was a ficticious plea from someone in the area of Wonderland who has no choice but to put up with dated coasters.

Dear Cedar Fair, Firstly, welcome to Canada. We know you are going to love it here. Secondly, we need your help. As you no doubt know, the little park you acquired from Paramount, Canada’s Wonderland has just set a record. For the second year in a row we have been the SEASONAL park with the highest attendance levels in all of North America. We feel this is quite a feat, not even matched by your giant in Ohio. The good folks at Theme Park Attendance Report back this claim. So needless to say, we will make you some money. So what do we have to show for it? In 2005, we had the highest attendance level; in 2006 we got a kids parade. In 2006, we again had the highest attendance level; in 2007 we are getting a restaurant. We feel we deserve more. To many this may sound like whining, but please consider that the last “major” coaster we received was a Vekoma SLC and that was in 1995. Since then we have received Tomb Raider and The Italian Job, which have been nice additions but we feel we are past due for something over 50’. We have waited patiently for “the big one” that never seems to arrive. We’ve sat and watched Cedar Point top 200’, then 300’, now 400’ while we wait to rise above 116’. We have even seen other Paramount Parks get unique rides like Volcano, but still no love for Wonderland. The thing that has kept us patient has been the fact that every spring a brand new sparkling ride has been waiting for us, which is more than can be said for many parks and for that we are thankful. However, even the new rides seem to have dried up. There are rumours floating around that something big is on the way for the 2008 season. Forgive us if we don’t get over excited as we have heard this before. We can only wait and hope that this one is true. So please Cedar Fair, we have been loyal and provided you with one of the most successful parks in North America., PLEASE give us something to be proud of soon…..maybe something with rows of 4 seats……perhaps something reaching speeds over 80km/h (or 50mph as you like it)……heck…even something with an original layout not from a stockpile of cookie cutters…… even a world class woodie…a taste of what can be found at the Point or Knott’s……. ANYTHING AT ALL. Seeing Cedar Fair attached to Canada’s Wonderland fills us with hope. We know if any company can elevate us, it is you. We have done our part…..HELP! Sincerely, Your Friends to the North. BTW, this was not actually sent to Cedar Fair...but I am sure most of you knew that already....it's more to comment on the state of things up north. Take a look at Robb & Elissa's photo's from Wonderland, you'll see what I am talking about. Watching doughnuts being made is right up there on the excitement bar. We do have a beautiful park in Toronto, but it's time for some world class rides.

Something I could never figure out was......If I am not mistaken, Ellen's show is run by Disney, then WHY does she do so many shows on location at Universal Studios? She has her own ride at Disney for god's sake..

So, I'm going to be hitting SoCal for my first time on the 23rd (thanks to everyone who answered my question about the rental car) and I had a question about Magic Mountain. I wanted to go on a weekday to avoid crowds, but was sad to see it is only open from 10:30 - 6pm. However, the hours are longer on weekends. Assuming this is the "off" season for the park, would it be crazy of me to try to go on a weekend in late April early May, or should I suck up the reduced hours and still go on a weekday? Oh, and I'll have one day at the park to try (I hope) to get on most of the rides. Thanks

Thanks a lot guys....and gal. I've actually reserved a car at both Deluxe and Enterprise, the latter being a bit more expensive. If the first one seems too sketchy, then I'll head over to enterprise....oh and it's an 11:30am arrival, so it should be open, thanks for the tip.

Hey Everyone, I am flying into Los Angeles on the 23rd of this month. I am currently in the process of booking a rental car. I came across Deluxe rent a car operating out of LAX. I have never heard of this company before, but they seem of offer good rates for good cars. Does anyone have any experience with this company? I've been burned by rental companies before and it is kind of a sensitive spot with me. Any feedback would help. Thanks - Matt