Married a Canadian

Toronto is not a great city for public transit (which is a real shame!). Getting from the airport to Wonderland would not be straightforward by taking the bus, GO and VIVA are two different regions, so separate tickets would be required, and 1 hour is being generous IF the traffic is OK and they aren't stopping the whole time. With a layover putting you on a timeframe, it would be a bit too much clock watching! Car rental would only be worth it if it was cheap (which from the airport would be unlikely). The one option that might be worth it is UBER as they are now allowed to pick up from YYZ, and of course given that they follow GPS would take you the route that avoids the worst of the traffic. 11 hours will give you "some" flexibility, but unfortunately Toronto got a bit stuck in the 70s when it came to expanding public transit infrastructure. You would think that Canada's Wonderland would be well connected given how popular it is, but unfortunately that would make too much sense!

They've started cranking up the microbrew quotient in the last year, it isn't as bad as it used to be. I agree with people that you can do Wonderland in a day with a Fast lane (plus). I also agree that Niagara is better explored as the Falls AND outside the town (downriver is beautiful). Enjoy your planning.

Great story, and fun to hear. I don't think there is nearly as much of a "rivalry" between CP and CW as is made out to be. In fact a lot of the people we interact with at parks in North America (and the UK) are just theme park enthusiasts who love parks and rides in general and want to share in the fun(what a concept eh!). I was wearing my Iron Rattler t-shirt at the park on Wednesday which was met with the "how was it, we hope to go there soon, have you been on this ride? " type comments. There was none of the "protective" vibe that some people want to project about the home park, or other parks in general.

Flying to Buffalo might end up being a cheaper option? You can then add on Niagara falls in addition to a trip to Wonderland. It is a bone of contention in Canada how expensive airfares are. JetBlue and the like won't touch Toronto with a bargepole because of the high taxes!

Appreciated, and thankyou for the photos. There are some great shots in there. My favourite though is the one you have of Vortex, where the Canadian geese are completely oblivious to all that is going on around them!! I have visions of that Italian model when he got clobbered on "Apollo's Chariot", maybe a true Canadian theme on YS would be get crapped on or hit by a goose! Thanks again for your report today. We heard some excited comments from the GP during our day.

We went to the park today (for reasons Ill describe later) and forgot today was "announcement day"! We arrived at 945 just before park opening. It was great to see "Yukon Striker", and like many others I am pleased that CW is my home park and also think Cedar Fair have done an amazing job since the Paramount days. We are spoiled here in Toronto and don't realise it! We think it looks like an excellent coaster, with fun theming, and ticks the boxes that the GP and enthusiasts should want. Think speed, height, inversions....and most of all FUN! We are very much looking forward to it. Kudos to the park for the announcement and the build. Stinking humid today so I dont envy the workers! Anyway, we went to the park today because just over a month ago we went to Kennywood, and my son (who has autism and medical issues) went on "Phantom's revenge" which was his first BIG coaster. His words leaving Kennywood "I want to do Behemoth". Fast forward a month, and today was his day. We warmed up with Sledgehammer (great ride), Windseeker ( I am not good on those type of rides so he was encouraging me!) and Timewarp ( oh dear oh dear...the days of Paramount!). After this we went over to Behemoth, overcame a slight anxiety attack...and then rode together 3 times! He loved it, and obviously so did I! Proud parents again. As I explained on the Kennywood thread , noone sees the work that goes into something as simple as going on a ride. That is why I find the criticism of "Yukon Striker" amusing, because there are people out there who cant ride even if they want to, and someone else is pi$$ed that it is boring after the MCBR. Perspective! We had a great (hot but great) day at CW. Vortex looks great with the new paint job and the new Canadian themed flat rides were fun. I went on Leviathan, my son promised he would do it next visit (not quite ready today which was fine by me). He also LOVES Yukon Striker already, so CW is fine by him and us. Bring on Winterfest.....I am WAY better in the cold than I am in the heat! Twas a sweaty day! Behemoth was conquered!

Looks like we will be going back to Kennywood sooner rather than later! (which is no bad thing). Great looking ride, and some seriously clever marketing!! They can now allude to the Steelers having a "roller coaster season" whenever they want!!

They are still advertising Marineland on just about every commercial break at the moment "Everyone LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVES Mariiiiineland!!". Once the summer holidays are done and dusted it will be interesting to see what happens. The owners death got a brief mention in the news, but that was it....no speculation....no nothing!

Which means what exactly? There are people on this thread who disagree with you, nothing wrong with differing opinions. There is no right or wrong in this instance, just personal choice. Wonderland made their own decision regarding the days events, so did the people in the area and downtown.

That is much appreciated, thank you, and also for your tips earlier in the thread. My wife and I had a discussion on Weds evening in the hotel (after our day at Kennywood) about medical stuff with our son, but also in relation to theme parks in general and the concept of something as simple as going on a ride. I would be surprised if there was anyone on this entire forum who didn't know someone (medical issues or not) who would not go on something due to fear/anxiety/motion sickness etc. As fun and as great as going to parks and going on rides are, I am more consciously aware now of what going on a thrill ride means, especially when there are some people who would never be able to ride even if they wanted to. I posted on my FB "why" we were such proud parents on Weds, because no one sees the amount of work it took to get my son on the ride. All they see is a picture with a happy kid and think "it is just a roller coaster". Well yes it is.....but the journey it took to get him to ride it was not simple!! In relation to Kennywood, was Thomas Town supposed to be opening for the start of summer season, is it on schedule or delayed? I was surprised that they were still working on it!?

We took a quick picture after his first ride. I don't think the poor teenage ride attendant understood why I shook his hand and was high fiving people afterwards. Sometimes we don't think about how much work goes into something even as simple as "going on a roller coaster". Proud Dad with hypercoaster son.

We got back from our short trip to Pittsburgh a couple of days ago, which included a day at Kennywood. I had problems crossing the US border this time (land crossing) as the left hand (airport) doesn't seem to know what the right hand (land crossing) does. There is never a problem when flying, this time...a bit different! I travel on a Nexus card with a British passport but Canadian residency (confusing eh!). If anyone on this forum has this combination then it might lead to some delays when you cross the US/Canadian border Anyway, thankyou for the advice earlier in the thread, which we put to good use. We thought Kennywood was an excellent park, and was great fun for this family. The staff were friendly, the "VIP coaster tour" which we bought (fast pass for each of the coasters in the park) was great. Given that Skyrocket was down, they allowed us to "substitute" an extra coaster instead, and if there were any that we wanted to "skip" to do another ride again (ie my son did not go on Exterminator) then they allowed another choice. We thought this was very flexible, and everyone was very friendly about it. The only question we had (for those in the know) was although the park opened at 1030 am, hardly any rides started before 11am. This was something we have not seen before at other theme parks. They seemed to do their ride tests between 1030 and 11. It wasn't a problem, more of an observation. Anyway, our rides. Once again thankyou to all for the tips. We didn't go on everything, but did a wide selection. Bayern Kurve: That thing moves way quicker than it looks!! Great fun Whip: They have a child's version at Canada's Wonderland called "Peanuts 500". We like both, although the history behind this one (plus the smell of oil and grease) made it more memorable. Noah's Ark: Nice Funhouse Garfield's nightmare: Felt like a 3D Jackson Pollock painting with some Garfield stuff in there. I kept taking the glasses off to see what the paint really looked like. Definitely memorable because I don't think we have done a ride like it anywhere!! Exterminator: Preferred "Laff Trak" at Hershey park, but that is not to say this isn't a good coaster. It is. The theming is fun, the cars are spacious (there is a lot of sliding around) and the wild mouse elements are as you would expect. My only wish was there is a section where it truly was pitch black and I thought there would be a dip or a spin or something. Nothing happened! Shame because that would have been a great "OH!!" moment. Racer: Great fun. My son is a Harry Potter fan so this ride became "Slytherin vs Gryffindor" (green vs red). We won both times...so happy family all round! Jackrabbit: What a great coaster!! Just reading the history adds to the ride itself. When people earlier in the thread said that Kennywood shows their woodies love and attention.....they aren't lying. Smooth, comfortable, thrilling, speed....and no teeth breaking! The double dips were great! Thunderbolt: Our favourite wood coaster of the park (just beat Jackrabbit). Using the valley is great, and the first drop out of the station is a great and unique selling point. When you look at the ride from the entrance it doesn't look that "exciting" but the reality is totally different. We rank both Thunderbolt and Jackrabbit as two of the better wood coasters we have done anywhere for the sheer history, excitement, design and drops. A credit to the park. Before I get to Phantom's Revenge, I will just give a small bit of background about my son (as it shows why this trip was so special). My son was born 3 months premature and weighed less than 2lbs at birth, which lead to a whole list of medical conditions, which he lives with to this day. He is also autistic and wears hearing aids, and like a lot of children on the "spectrum" has anxiety issues, sensory issues along with his medical stuff (CP, Shunt, pierced liver etc). Obviously we are a theme park family (I wouldn't be on this forum otherwise), but we have had to work a lot with my son over the years to get him comfortable in a stimulating environment, and also find out what he can and can't take "ridewise". Up to this point, we have done some big rides with him over the years (Vortex at Canada's Wonderland, Minebuster CW, Mummy Returns at Universal...that type of size) but never a hyper coaster as he has not been able to overcome his anxiety. For this trip we did our usual education beforehand, what type of rides he might like, watch videos online (thankyou TPR pov videos), building coasters with Knex, building with Minecraft, walks with Daddy when we talk about rides and "G forces", all with the "hope" of him wanting to try a "bigger" ride. For this trip it worked for Thunderbolt, Jackrabbit and Racer which were all rode with vigour and enthusiasm, however Phantom's Revenge was met in the morning with a resounding "NO!" My wife and I went on it in the morning (LOVED it) and were happy not to push as we have found that is never the right way to deal with anxiety. Now in the afternoon after we had been on Jackrabbit twice, we went over to Phantom again to use our "skyrocket credit" on the VIP tour, as we got to the ride my son all of a sudden piped up "I want to ride this!". My wife and I couldn't believe it (232ft hyper coaster!). We managed to get him on the ride as quickly as possible (it is terrifying when you think they might break down as we are being buckled in!) and we were out the station and up the lift hill before he had a chance to think about it. I will say it was BRILLIANT!!! He loved it.....and so did we as a family! What a great coaster....the second drop, the airtime hills, going through Thunderbolt. And the fact that we did it with my son, who like a lot of children is truly special (he was not supposed to live and has had more brain surgeries in life than should be fair!) made this a special coaster and a special day. I never thought that he would go on it, it was already a great coaster in the morning when we went on individually, but in the afternoon it became one that will ALWAYS be a momentous occasion for us as a family...my son's first hyper coaster, and hopefully the next step along (he asked to go on Behemoth at CW as we left Kennywood!). The only coaster he did not go on was Exterminator and that is because he couldn't see what it looked like before hand. So thankyou to Kennywood for giving us a great day. A special park that provided this family with some great memories, and a very happy 10 year old boy. As a PS POTATO PATCH FRIES. Very short background, I am from the North East of Scotland, and grew up near the coast. Fish and Chips is plentiful and of good quality. I now live in Canada...where they are famous for "poutine" (fries, cheese curds and gravy...plus all sorts of other stuff), in other words I have been spoiled with good quality "chip" dishes over the years. We thought the fries themselves were pretty good (I love "skin on") but the toppings did not add to the quality. If you give me those fries with poutine or some decent battered fish...then they are top notch!

Herman! Thankyou. I am not very good at shoot em up type rides, so if indeed it is Herman in WMG, then he has taken me out a fair few times also!

What is the name of the dragon in Thunder Run? I will remember the minute someone tells me!! Maybe the dragons name can be incorporated into the new ride, like "Revenge of X" or "Flight of X" etc etc? No? Ok.....we'll stick with "Ziz".

Two respected contributors on TPR giving me two different bits of advice. Help!! What do I do! We'll probably do that weird thing of giving them try and forming an opinion based off that. Oh well. Thanks for the rest of the advice, we are very much looking forward to our trip. One more thing. It says "Sky Rocket" is closed TFA on the Kennywood website. Is this just a short maintenance thing, or is there something else going on that anyone knows of?

We are coming down to Pittsburgh in July (as a family) and are finally going to get around to visiting Kennywood (missed it the last two times, and infact went to Hersheypark instead 2 years ago....humble apologies!). Anyway, this will be the year, which we are looking forward to as "Phantoms Revenge" is a coaster that has been on the bucket list for a LONG time, and the park seems to get a good write up from all comers and will be great family fun. A couple of questions for those in the know. 1 I do always budget for whatever the Fastlane option is. I see at Kennywood they have a "Coaster VIP tour" type ticket. Would this be something you would buy in advance or would people wait till they are at the park to see the crowd level. We will be there midweek (July 11th) but school will be out, so I am not sure what to expect. If buying in advance is the better option, then that is what I will do 2 How bumpy is "Thunderbolt"? I watched a POV video online and it did seem to be shaking the camera a bit. I don't mind this, neither does my son...but my wife probably won't want to go on a teeth breaker! Would Thunderbolt be considered the best of Kennywoods "wooden" collection, or are their other personal favourites? 3 Outwith "Potato patches", are there any other "must try" food items. Is eating in the park a good option, or would the locals suggest any places in West Mifflin? This trip will be our annual park outside of Florida and Canada's Wonderland, so we are looking forward to it. "Phantoms Revenge" is a coaster that I was aware of even when I lived in the UK, due to the nature of the 2nd drop, and the popularity in the coaster community. It is always exciting to get to try something that has been on the must do list for a while (last year was Fiesta and Iron Rattler). Makes me wonder why we have delayed getting to Kennywood for the last couple of years when we have friends in Pittsburgh (who went to school with me in the North East of Scotland....ah how the world has shrunk!). Anyway, would appreciate any advice. Thanking you.

We were staying at Portofino bay, which is the furthest hotel from the park. The shuttle bus still worked well though, and the early hour was worth it (the Krakatoa ride was walk on at this stage and I have to admit was good fun). My understanding is that "Cabanas" and "Sapphire Falls" are the two closest hotels to Volcano bay (please someone correct me if I am wrong), and that Cabanas backs right into the park itself. Most of the positive reviews on trip advisor come from people staying here. I don't disagree, and we have taken full advantage of the two Disney waterparks and Aquatica on our annual February trips to Florida (always warmer than it is in Toronto!) as crowd levels are low, and the parks are fun. If you are a "fan" of waterparks though, then it is worth going to Volcano bay just to compare for yourself, as there are some things there that are better (in my opinion) than the other parks. I would definitely rank "Krakatoa" as one of the more fun slides we have done, the drop pods are all high quality, the raft slides are all comparable to Disney and the theming is top notch (the volcano is a nice walk through, and if you have young children has some "fantasy" elements). "Tapu Tapu" is the one unknown at the moment for anyone planning a visit, but hopefully, with planning (and early entry) you will get the best of the park. Worst case scenario, it sucks...and you then will know for sure that it sucks!

We went to the park this February, and although I had read the trip advisor reviews, we tried to go with an open mind. We spoke to quite afew staff members on the day, and they admitted to us that Universal was trying to iron out the problems, and were aware that the roll out of Tapu Tapu in particular had not been a success. They had implemented solutions like not having any fast pass options, limiting park capacity on peak days and also trying to allow more "ride now" options on the water slides. Our take at the time (on a medium density crowd day) was the park wasn't too bad, but still had a lot of room for improvement. The pros (for us) were the rides are excellent, The cabanas (if you rent one) were very convenient and make the day feel a lot smoother and more relaxed, the food was good and didn't seem to be the horror stories I had read online, staff were of the universal "high standard" variety, again not what people were saying online, they were a credit to the Universal park name. Theming of the park was excellent, and the volcano is pretty spectacular and had a volcano "god" interaction that seemed to have been missed by a lot of reviewers but turned out to be good fun for my son. Adding a credit card to the Tapu Tapu band was also a good piece of advice I received, and it worked with no problems. The cons. Tapu Tapu still "sketchy" at best. It works fine when the park isn't busy, but when it fills up, the complaints you read online are justified. We were there on a day when 2 slides were on maintenance, and the Krakatoa ride kept breaking down. 3 rides going "tec" meant the line ups got super long, and Tapu Tapu just can't keep up. I also agree with online commenters that waiting to ride for an hour to then join another line when your time arrives is slightly misleading! The design of the bracelets is "poor". Mine came off twice, I had guest services "check" the fastening when I did it the first time as I thought I had done something wrong. It wasn't me, it came off again on the drop pod speed slide. The lazy river and wave pool are both OK, but I wouldn't rank them above Aquatica (Roa Rapids) or Typhoon Lagoon. The advertising of spending time in these while you wait for your ride is fine in principal, but not if this is what you end up doing ALL day. The park is definitely worth visiting if you know it won't be a BUSY day. There is scope for it to be a park that is comparable to Disney or Aquatica, "if" they manage to figure out how to make Tapu Tapu completely fool proof and also take away the idea of only waiting in one line at a time (when the park is busy). The rides are good (compared to Disney and Aquatica), the theming is nice and the staff are friendly. They just messed up on the "queue" system. We didn't think it was a wasted day, and were able to provide some feedback to customer service at the end of the day (we took part in a survey). I have recommended the park to to others, even with the bad reviews. My advice has always been....."less busy" day if you can pick it, rent a cabana if you can spare the expense, stay onsite at Universal as the extra hour really did make a difference here!, keep a look out for the "ride nows" around the park as UNiversal is trying to put more of these into the system so that people don't feel like they are being constrained by the "one ride at a time" limit. Hope this helps.

Colour me in the "Ziz" camp. Lets complete the "trilogy". Having said that, the name of the coaster will have no effect whatsover on the physics, speed, drop, g-force etc, so I really won't get too wound up about whatever they call it.

Are the Go Karts open yet (at the top of Clifton hill)? They advertised them up here as a sort of Supermariokart track (I suppose it is the spiral that does it), and I have to admit it looked pretty fun (we were there in April but it wasn't finished). There has been a lot of building over the last couple of years, they are starting on a huge theatre to be attached to the Hilton Hotel, which will try to take some of the traffic away from the Fallsview Casino. I don't know if you saw when you drove past the whirlpool, they have one of those treetop rope courses overlooking the gorge, that only opened last year, and required some immense stones to do the top level! Glad you had a nice trip (surprised it was the Aussies giving trouble on the tour!, I used to live in Australia and didn't find them like that at all! Must have been a bad couple of days for them!!). Believe it or not, you have even "educated" us locals, I did not know about the clock hands on the floral clock and what they represented. That is a nice thing to know! Hope you can get further north next time (Canada's Wonderland awaits). Great trip report.

Did they have the "No smoking" sign on the hurricane deck this year? Still one of the funniest things I have seen at Niagara if they did!

Enjoying your report a lot as this is just down the road from us, and one of my favourite places in North America. Love this comment, as it is the complete opposite when we go down to Florida in February, and when we were in Texas in December last year. The locals would tells us it is "cold" when it was minus 24C or the like in Toronto. Looking forward to the rest of your report.

Fireworks are done by "Niagara parks". They do a pretty good job, and you get them even in the depths of winter (which is nice when they illuminate all the snow and ice). Glad that you picked a nice weather weekend to come up. It has been warm (for the end of May) up in this neck of the woods! Love the picture at the "Cave of the Winds". Still one of my favourite places at Niagara.

The tour you have booked looks fine and covers pretty much all of your bases. The Cave of the winds will provide you with flip flops that you can keep afterwards. I would suggest not wearing socks that day till after you have done the "get soaked stuff". You will get wetter at the Cave of the Winds than you do on the Maid of the Mist. The whirlpool is downriver from "White Water Walk". I wouldn't call it "unforgettable" but it is still quite a view, and there is a "Spanish Aero Car" that takes you across if you have the stomach for it! The trip downriver is very scenic, and the Niagara parks commission keeps the area looking very beautiful. I will be interested to hear your opinion on it. It is one of our favourite places as a family, and it is always the most requested place to visit by all my British tourist friends. Hope you have a great trip. Will look forward to your report. I won't be able to meet up this time as I am working the next few weekends (downside of shift work!), but if you do find yourself coming up to Toronto for the day then drop me a PM.

Maid of the Mist and Hornblower are interchangeable (both do the same thing). Cave of the winds is one of our favourite attractions at Niagara and the "hurricane deck" is really good fun (you will get SOAKED!). A few years ago there was a "no smoking" sign on the deck, which was truly magnificent! If you stay on the US side for longer, then Maid of the Mist/Cave of the Winds becomes the more logical option, doesn't take up too much time, and can be walked quite easily, or take the trolley bus that runs round the island. On the Canadian side, "journey behind the falls", while fun, is not quite as spectacular. If you get the chance (depending on your timeframe), I strongly suggest "white water walk", which is a short bus ride down from the falls on the Canadian side (the bus network is called "WEGO" and there are numerous ticket options that can get you anywhere you need to be). You can walk across the bridge from the US of A to Canada and vice versa. It is quicker than driving and means you don't have to worry about parking on the other side. Normal border security and customs rules apply, but the wait is never that long (think pedestrians).