vistaway

I remember Blauer Enzian, but always loved Thunder Run. I wish it would get some love to bring it back to original operating condition. The waterfalls, much of the lighting, fog, and heartbeat subwoofer have been gone for ages. IIRC, there was a Blauer Enzian thet Conklin brought to the CNE as well - with above-ground swimming pools acting as the 'anchors' between one or more of the helices. Thanks for posting that...memories...

I did, and it was excellent. Great race - very well organized, especially for what could have been a 'gimmick' event. We did the 5k, and it was almost entirely within the park. Lots of great views of off-season maintenance, but I was pacing my 10-year old to a hoped-for top-3 finish so couldn't linger much for pictures. Here are a few photos of the park on Sunday, though... Rougarou Good Time Theatre Santa Hustle - Andy

Last day of operation, and it was a snowy one! Note the real snow atop Wonder Mountain: The park staff did a great job of trying to get all the coasters running. None of the woodies opened, though, although I did see Wild Beast try a test run or two. Once Behemoth opened (with one train), our group was ready for the weather: Here is the current state of SkyRider. The parts are all neatly arranged in the parking lot, ready to be shipped overseas: All in all, a great day - walk-ons for everything other than the two B&Ms (due to one-train operation) and Guardian (due to capacity and the fact that it was the warmest ride in the park on a very cold day!). So ends a great year at the park!

Busy fall day at the park today! Wilde Beast and Vortex's queues were right out on to the pathways. Not what I am used to at this time of year, but the perfect weather brought the crowds. Season Pass processing was quite busy as well, so it would appear plenty of people are taking advantage of the 2015 offers. I stayed for 2.5 hours, but given how busy it was, I will come back in a few weeks when the weather turns and the crowds disappear (I hope).

As with any park, if you can be there before opening time, you will be much better off. I would say Guardian is worth it. Remember that Leviathan and (to a lesser extent) Behemoth are people-eaters that can move a queue pretty fast, so I wouldn't worry too much about crazy long waits for either.

The bridge is much simpler, as you're simply exiting I-75 and following the ramp right onto it. On the Windsor side, you end up on a wide local road that should somehow lead you to your friend's place. You're not driving through Detroit at all that way.

Yes and no - Thunder Run used to be located outside as Blauer Enzian and was closed (then moved and rebuilt).

I loved this ride as well, but mostly for sentimental reasons. I remember riding in spring 1985 and proudly wearing my SkyRider painters cap (with flaps!) that summer. The fireworks will lose a great setting now. A few years ago, I had asked Raffi about renovations or expansion to Splash Works, and he said at the time, they couldn't make the economics on that work. Maybe that has changed now? That part of that park is looking pretty dated. A proper water playground a la Hersheypark, plus a new slide tower (maybe like Dorney's Snake Pit) would be welcome. Interestingly, at the same event, he also made comments about what a pain the arse it was keeping old rare rides like SkyRider in operation...

I did this event as well with the family and we all loved it. The park did an amazing job. I will be a dissenting voice here and say that the 2am haunt promo wasn't the best idea given the family audience. While we were able to keep our kids sleeping throughout, not all parents were as lucky, and I did see quite a few kids that were pretty shaken the morning after. Good idea in concept, and it didn't keep us from loving the event, but I doubt they would do it again the same way (the haunt part, that is). The scariest part for me was overhearing the nearby camper who was telling a friend that he almost grabbed his gun that he had under his pillow. He sounded very serious. That, to me, is a hell of a lot scarier than being woken up by a scareactor shaking my tent! Kudos to CP for putting on a well-organized and phenomenally-generous event. Hopefully it speaks to some other CF parks!

As a coaster-enthusiast park, it's definitely lacking. But as a family (i.e. the target market) park, I would say it's Cedar Fair's best. The attendance numbers seem to bear this out. I am sure the revenue numbers are healthy as well. Now if they could only improve the speed/efficiency of their ride loading...

FWIW, I popped over the park last night on a whim. Got there at 6pm and stayed to 10. No lines for anything other than Guardian (and that was to the base of the stairs). Walk-ons even for slow-loaders like The Fly, The Bat and Boo Blasters! Lots of empty seats on the big coasters. There was a passing thunderstorm earlier in the day, but I was still shocked at how quiet the park was. Oh, and saw the new Cirque Dimensions show and definitely recommend it. Not quite as high energy as the one they moved to KI, but still impressive.

"...in a bid to land a coveted spot in the Wonder Mountain’s Guardian Hall of Fame." Are these guys intentionally trying to come up with the most awkward names ever??

Anyone else catch the fireworks on Sunday? I was truly blown away by the amount of fireworks, length of the show, and especially the quality of the choreography. I have seen a LOT of fireworks shows - nearly every Disney show around the world - and this actually ranks up there among them. Granted, movie soundtracks aren't going to generate the same emotional response that a Disney show does, and the large shells weren't "as large" as Disney ones, but the CW show was just as impressive. Hell of a sound system they installed for it as well. It was quite a step up from back in the day when they set off a bunch of shells in seemingly-random order, and would imagine they set the bar for any of the Cedar Fair parks' shows.

Today was definitely a shorts day! Yet the park wasn't busy at all. The kids' areas were, but Behemoth was a walk-on, as were most of the coasters (5 min waits, max). We spent three hours there and were able to hit all of the major coasters, plus Windseeker and Drop Tower. Mother's Day must have kept the crowds away.

This is turning out to be a great year of improvements, some big and some small. I am impressed and glad I got a pass again (after taking last year off). Cedar Fair is really turning a corner and making some smart investments. I think I am in the sweet spot as far as target market goes (two school-aged kids) and the fact that we decided to drop the $600 to get passes this year (including some Platinums) means their strategy has worked on us.

And just like that the capacity has doubled from 12 people and hour to 24! Nice to see, though. I recall Raffi saying that ride was a huge pain a few years back due to the pathetic capacity. This should help.

Thanks for posting the photos - looking great, but lots of work left! I like the way they intertwined it with Vortex. The other parks that get this ride won't have the advantage of integrating it into an existing mountain, so it will be interesting to see what they do... Diamondback has seatbelts now? I was on it last week and I didn't notice them at all...

Let's hope it's got the capacity to keep those lines moving. Being built in such a popular park, in the dead center, highly-visible, and hopefully with a decent height requirement that allows families to ride, this is going to be one busy ride! It's looking great so far. Although Wonder Mountain is looking rough...it could use a good refurb.

Nope, it was just the one I saw.

Look what I passed on the way into work this morning! There were three track pieces on the truck - two large hills and a smaller flat section. WMG Track

Loved this show at Canada's Wonderland. Very surprised and impressed by the skill of the performers and the production quality. On those crazy-busy summer days, seeing this and hitting perhaps one coaster was enough for us (as passholders).

The food looks fantastic. They have certainly upped their game since the late-90s, if only in presentation (although the portions are certainly smaller than they were back then).

Waited in a 30 minute queue today- to park! They need Fast Lane for that. I noticed that they now stopped advertising the price for Fast Lane after increasing it so many times this year.

Great TR! I've never seen Blue Mountain without snow...can't believe how different it looks.

I finally got out to the park this past Sunday. It was a perfect warm sunny day, and the crowds started very light owing to it being Mother's Day (it seemed to get busier as the day went on, but not bad). We waited 20 minutes for Leviathan - and that was the front row. Can't complain about that. I have to say I was very, very impressed with the state of the park. Virtually every surface has been repainted in the off season (and painted properly...not just another layer on top). No burnt out light bulbs and nothing out of order (well, other than Windseeker, Sledge Hammer, Time Warp and the last car of each train on Stunt Coaster). The park was in tip-top shape on par with a park like BGW. New (to me) Cast costumes looked good, and the quality of service was generally quite solid. I'm impressed, and with all the improvements they've made in recent years, it's nice to see they haven't stopped. Here's my artsy shot of the visit: