vistaway

If I can find it, perhaps. First I need to find it among the ACE shirts and horridly-dated Canada's Wonderland painters caps (with back flaps!).

Hey, I think I still have one of those shirts. They sold them to attendees of Coaster Mania that year.

Here's a shot showing how dead the park was on Saturday around noon: The trash cans easily outnumbered the guests. It's nice having the park open so late in the season, but somehow I doubt Cedar Fair will do it again. They did do a great job and had a surprising amount of F&B and game concessions open (almost all of them!), but there's no way it was cost-effective.

Here are a few more shots from the weekend. The park was dead (everything was a walk-on), but to be expected considering it was cold out, and this is the latest I can ever recall the park being opened during regular season. That's one big freakin' crane. Just look at the excavator next to it!

I don't know where I would be without my Blunnies! They're the only shoes I bring on trips these days. Well worth the cost.

This side of the park is getting all the lovin' lately. Poor Medieval Faire...

Shame they got rid of all that cool stuff (punching bags, rope climb, zip lines, etc.) in the old 'kids world' tent years ago...

No question the ride selection has gone way downhill since the 80s, when it was named the "Mile and a Half Midway" and lived up to the billing. To think that we (at one time) have had two Schwarzkopf's (Doppel Looping and a Jet Star), the famous Flyer, and a bunch of decent wild mice. This year, just one non-kiddie coaster and it's that spinning mouse. Future years should be better though. The Ex is tendering the midway contract this year, and from what I hear, the current op (North American Midway) is on the way out. Hopefully whoever comes in can bring some big stuff with them to justify the high prices. I still love the Ex for the 'fair' atmosphere, but certainly not the rides. Great TR, OP, by the way.

Wow - great pics, great park. Your pics will help me convince the wife that the park will be perfect to bring our three year to next year. Thanks!

Thanks for your help everyone! I am guessing it's La Ronde as well. Andy

The Bat's been the same black and red since opening day (I was there...it broke down a lot). I found Boomerang at La Ronde as a possibility (it's since been repainted and I can't find a more-detailed image, but the colors look right):

Ahh, thanks. My mistake - it's a boomerang for sure. Any ideas which one? Definitely not in Ontario.

So I am trying to ID this coaster for work. I realize this is likely a stock shot from Corbis, but I can't figure out where it is. I know it's not in Ontario, as the ad indicates (we only have two Arrows and one Boomerang, and none are white). So, can anyone help narrow down where this is? Thanks! Andy

As I recall, in Epcot, we had a security sweep that took place a certain number of hours (1?) past park closing. They came into every restaurant or open building, since most of those don't lock at night. Then they escorted any guests out of the park. After that, you could, if so inclined, enter a number of buildings and certainly walk around the park. Security would likely stop you at some point, but with ID and an excuse you were usually okay. But I was rarely in the park more two or three hours past park closing. I loved that they often kept the Fountain of Nations running well after park closing. You could have a private viewing!

Thanks for the update regarding construction! Fingers crossed. That area is perfect for a new coaster, although somewhat hidden from view (from the park side), it would certainly be dramatic to see from the 400. It would be neat for them to use Kingswood as part of a new ride (queue, themed area, etc.). It's pretty useless these days, and it's in a great location for a ride entrance. I have only been once this year, and that was a quickie to get our Maxx Passes processed. Haven't found the time since then unfortunately. As you mentioned, the weekends are just too crowded. Back in the late-80s I would be there at least twice a week. These days, I would be lucky to get there twice a summer! A new (good) coaster could up those numbers, mind you.

We just got back from Williamsburg last night (11 hour drive!). We hit the park Monday from opening to close. It was a perfect day in every way - warm, sunny, everything operating great, and nice light crowds. Griffon was a one-train wait when we rode, although it was down at least a handful of times that we saw. All the other coasters were pretty much walk-ons (DarKastle was deserted - no one in the queue, no one on the ride - when I went on). Great photos OP, by the way!

I'm thinking that Splash Works will be pretty quiet, given the weather forecast. Sunday will likely be the busiest day in the park, since that is the only day there are fireworks.

I think the show is due for a refresh, so it's nice to see it coming (hopefully) this year. I would imagine that they learned their lesson from the Illuminations 25 (version 1) debacle and won't screw with the format too much.

Thanks! That makes it easier. We're going to stop in to KD for an hour or so before heading down to Busch.

Great TR, Carnage. Were you able to use your Maxx Pass at the turnstiles, or did you need to go to guest services? I will be there this weekend...

Yeah - I did think it looked different! That's a small but nice improvement, for sure. There's still a small booth of sorts up there, but not that big old shed structure they had, thankfully. I miss the days when there were at least 10 separate waterfalls running down the mountain. Even running all three on the front would be nice to have back.

We went yesterday mainly to get our MAXX passes processed. Thankfully we were there shortly after 9 and didn't wait more than five minutes. Our trip around the park was mainly to the kids areas, where there were few changes beyond the trash cans (although I did find one that predated even Paramount with the great old Wonder Mountain logo!). The one big annoying change I noticed were the orange seat belts everywhere! They put them on the kids train ride, of all places...and then yelled at me for taking a photo on it (which was never a problem in the past, given that it moves <5mph). Oh well. Other than the seat belts, I did notice that they replaced all the ride guide/safety signs, kicked New York Fries out, and didn't do much in the way of repainting (less than last season I would say). Didn't notice fewer trees, although hard to say as the leaves were just opening on most. Managers appeared to have all received new costumes, very few standard hourly people did. Did anyone else notice the chunk missing from the base of the Wonder Mountain waterfall - patched with what looked like brown plastic and a piece of ABS drain pipe? Good show! The buffet looks great on the outside - nicely themed and fills a void. Curious to see what pricing will be like at at park that charges $10 for a fries n' drink combo. Oh, and I was very happy, but not surprised, to see that they got rid of the stupid season pass 'preferred' parking lots! Dumb idea - they filled up in an hour, were ugly as hell, and hard to 'police'. Coupled with getting the space back from the stunt show, it should make parking a bit better.

Nice TR - thanks. I am looking forward to opening weekend (although the preview night doesn't do it for me anymore - too busy - I can wait for the Sunday). I really like One's - you never know what you'll find there, and it's decent quality. Looks like the Wonderland Maxx pass is different than the KI one? For some reason, I had it in my head that they would all look the same this year.

Agreed. Although I liked what they did to the Panasonic Theatre in Toronto. It was funky, industrial, raw, etc., which matched the show very well. But I guess Central Florida audiences really won't be all that demanding as compared to Chicago, NY, London or Toronto.

Thanks niiicolaaah - I love Buffalo too. One of the most underrated cities out there, (along with Cleveland)! Not just for shopping, of course...