Married a Canadian

I sincerely hope it isn't creepy to have your pictures taken with the Frozen princess's as I did exactly the same thing last year! Looking forward to going on the Magic next year again. We haven't been on it since they upgraded to the Tangled theme so that looks like a lot of fun.

YYZ closed yesterday due to the winds. I was wondering what effect they would have at CW!

If they name the coaster "Ziz" does that change any of the parameters in those equations? I only ask because some people seem to think that the name will affect the ride itself and yet your formulas don't take that into account?

I'd love to sit with the Alveys on a Disney cruise, PG 13 would be too boring, although my son would be pestering you to name all your favourite roller coasters you have been on (might take the whole cruise methinks!) We have always been lucky so far, and I agree with you that Disney seems to be good at finding "matching" families.....although I don't know how they do it with us (how do you match a Brit and a Canadian plus a 9 year old). Thankyou for your response.

Particularly enjoying this trip report as we are big Disney cruisers (it is the only cruise line we have done), and I enjoy seeing your comparisons to other ships and also the things we have missed (I will point out the sorcerers hat to my wife next year....can't believe we missed that one...too busy looking for hidden Mickeys). We also love the fish extender, and I fully agree with you that it does show the good side of people. Did you get assigned your own table at dinner or did you get seated with another family? If you did is that something that you enjoy? Will look forward to reading more updates.

Much appreciated, thankyou! We have only ever cruised Disney with my son, and it is nice to get a comparison from you. We liked the look of your "Adventures by Disney" European river trip last year, and have put that on the bucket list.

Kristen, How did the kids activities compare for you on the Disney cruise you just did against the other cruise lines you have done (I think Royal Caribbean is one if I read correctly). Would you say there has been a good mix on all the cruises you have been on? What has been your favourite cruise itinerary so far (on any cruiseline). Thankyou.

Obviously I am slightly biased as Canada's Wonderland is my home park, and it would be great if you were able to visit. I will just say that driving to Toronto (like many US cities) is very much a "right time of day" thing as traffic is pretty brutal in and out of the city, and a visit to CW would have to take this into account (ie staying in Toronto for a night would be a good plan). Rush hour traffic is among the worst in North America (according to the news...which is always believable eh!) The drive from Niagara to Toronto in "good traffic" is about an hour and 20 mins. This would also have to take into account your bridge border crossing times (I would presume you would cross either in Ft Erie or Niagara?). It is not an unreasonable trip to make, but does make for a logistical challenge for you, especially with so much to do and see in the Niagara area. Second all the comments about the Skylon tower. I wouldn't worry about not doing it, and the restaurant at the top is SO overpriced anyway. If you want a nice meal with a view of the falls, then I would recommend the "Keg" steakhouse restaurant in the Embassy Suites by Hilton hotel. It is located right over the falls. A little bit pricier than a normal chain, but you are paying for the view and a not half bad "prime rib". If you want to not have to eat for the entire holiday after one meal, then we as a family love going to "CopaCabana" on the Canadian side, which is one of those Brazillian steakhouse restaurants where they bring meat on a skewer and carve it up at your table. We digest for DAYS after that place! Second all the "cheesy" comments about Clifton hill. They are just finishing up building a sort of SuperMario Kart go kart track at the top for spring (at least that is how they sort of advertise it) just to add to the cultural flair of the place! Once you get out of Niagara itself and onwards down the gorge, it does become very picturesque. If you are into your wines, then there are some top notch vineyards in the area, which have been accepted by even the french themselves (seriously they love saying that!). I will drop you a line and see if we can meet up. If you decide to come up to Toronto that will be easy to meet, and I can get my Leviathan fix for spring. I agree with people that the Arrow suspended (Vortex) is also top notch ride. Good luck with your planning

Confusing being the operative word! Layout was all over the place.

We have been a couple of times as a family, my two cents (for what they are worth) is that it is OK but nothing spectacular. It certainly isn't a waste of a day although the Niagara falls area has SO much to do that I wouldn't' put it high on my list ( living in Toronto now I am spoiled with the closeness of the area). I personally wouldn't do the aquarium when you are visiting (there are LOTS of better ones in the US of A, and a Ripleys in Toronto). The Cave of the Winds, Maid of the Mist (US side), Hornblower (Canadian side), Journey behind the falls, white water walk (WELL Worth it!) and the whirlpool aero car would be the events that I would consider "must do" as a tourist. They have opened one of those tree top rope course type thingys next to the whirlpool, and the view is pretty spectacular if you are able to get to the top! I can also recommend the "Whirlpool jetboat tours" which go from the Canadian side, especially as a coaster fan, they do some fun spins and turns (and dump a s*** load of water on you). Hope you have a great time, we go to Niagara all the time (we are heading this weekend) as it is the number one place that my stream of British friends want to visit when over from Blighty. If we are down in May then I will drop you a PM and see if you are around (especially as I missed you in San Antonio at Fiesta Texas). . Again I wonder what British blood you have in your system.

Would you be driving up? Or flying up and renting a car (there are direct flights to Toronto from Cincinnati). That would determine which order you want to do things in and get a better indication of timing.

Love that the wave pool in splashworks is filled with snow! Pretty sure that could be turned into an attraction!!

Put me down on the list for "would like a flyer". Something like that "Starry Sky ripper" or whatever it is called in China. The Theme park review team seemed to like that one on the videos.....definitely seems to have a bit of the insanity factor in there. My wife and I are big flyer fans, and still say "Tats uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!" in our bored moments, CoasterBill.....let us know when you are coming up to Canada. You have deadpan sarcasm down pat extremely well, there must be some British blood in there. I'd share a bevvy or two discussing it with you.

Thankyou to Cedar Fair1 for the photo updates. Exciting news is definitely on the horizon, and the guessing game is good fun (and probably part of the tease!). I also echo the earlier sentiments of people not getting their hopes up to the extent that they have some 10000ft, 50 inversioned, launched wingcoaster with flyer elements and a new prototyppe RMC/ B and M track in their minds! Because once the announcement is made of what we are getting, there will be the usual chorus of "lame" or "why didn't they build x, y and z"!!, rather than appreciate what Cedar Fair has done for the park in general. I've always tried to be consistent with my appraisal of Canada's Wonderland as my home park. Pretty sure a lot us on this thread remember back to the days of Paramount and before! The park is unrecognisable now compared to then, and even if the "enthusiasts" don't like a particular ride or attraction, you can't argue with the investment or the attendance figures! You can't even say they are neglecting certain areas when they have added coasters, flat rides, water park improvements and a shoot em up coaster (Guardian), that although divides opinion is still better than nothing at all (ps I like the ride). I trust whatever Cedar Fair have planned for the park, and think they deserve the benefit of any doubt that even the most ARDENT enthusiast could have.After all, it ain't the enthusiast spending $X million on upgrades!!

Not sure why people don't like the idea of the name "Ziz". Whether it sounds right or not, it is the name that makes the most sense in the completion of the set for "Leviathan and Behemoth". We have the kings of the land and sea, Ziz, if it is so named, will be the king of the air and complete the trio. Why else would you name the first two as such to leave out the last?

Your mention of the ride dispatch times on Iron rattler makes me smile, because I found that to be the same the same day you and I were there 3 weeks ago. It seemed to me that the "quieter" the ride was, the more time it took for them to load and dispatch the train. I wouldn't have minded quite so much if it weren't for the fact that on most of the dispatches, personal conversations between the ride attendants took priority over the ride itself. Ho hum!

For sure, I couldn't believe how quiet it was to start with. It was definitely filling up though when we left (which was around 730pm). There were a few points around the park where they were trying to sell the 2018 Seasons Pass...not sure if that also included the dining that you spoke of? At present it isn't worth it for me to have a Six Flags Season ticket..as the closest one to me is "La Ronde", and I fall into the category of "would rather go to Montreal because it is Montreal", not to visit Coasterbill's favourite park in North America. I have a sneaking suspicion that we will be down again, so will let you know.

We visited Seaworld as part of our trip to Texas, and were fortunate enough to go during the christmas light festival. We loved the park, and thought they had done a really good job with the festive theming (8 million lights will do that for you!). Although I am a "coaster" fan, I will always give thumbs up when the whole family can enjoy the day out, and SeaWorld San Antonio CERTAINLY did that for us, and we came away with a great impression. The coasters. Thank you "Wavebreaker"!!, you are now my sons FAVOURITE roller coaster. It was a great, fun family ride, with just enough in it for adults to enjoy also. I loved it, mostly because my son loved it...but also because the two launches add a bit of spice, and the turns are pretty quick in places. The starting tunnel with the rescue scenario is a nice touch. Steel Eel. Better than I thought it would be (I preferred it Magnum XL200...is that OK?) and a lot smoother than expected. I was smiling when I got off which is a good sign. Great White. Fun.....preferred it to Goliath at Fiesta (which I rode the following day). I don't know how to "rate" B and M inverts. This one goes down as the "expected", which for me is still good. Sesame St area was standard kid area stuff (my son enjoyed it), but I thought the "Shamu express" kid coaster was rather lame. The one in Orlando is a way better starter for kids (in my opinion), this was just an "in and out" oval with a couple of bumps. Ho hum! The shows were not as good as Florida (personal opinion only) but still not bad. We just felt the dolphin/beluga display lacked some of the creativity, and having seen Shamu before, the "wow" factor is not quite the same as a first viewing. However being there for the christmas theme was amazing. My wife and I could not get over how many lights they had!, but also how they used them to theme different areas, like Blue and white for Shamu, multicoloured for candy lane, or a totally non commercial red and white "Coke" land. The christmas shops, markets and santa displays added to the theme, and of course I had never heard christmas songs done in Country/Western/Hoedown style! We even had a chuckle as they made it "snow" in Texas....thanks guys but we left that behind in Canada! Had a great day, and will look forward to returning in the future.

So we are halfway through our first visit to Texas, and were able to visit the park at the weekend (same day as Bert425 actually). You can count me in the official "colour me impressed" category. We had a great day, and were VERY pleasantly surprised at the low crowd level (it was walk on everywhere!!), and the general feel of the park. The quarry makes for a nice backdrop. The Christmas theming was excellent, but "unfortunately" we had been to Seaworld and their "8 million lights" the day before, so Fiesta "almost" felt underwhelming in comparison. Funny really...as their displays were just as good......just not as many of them! Anyway....the rides? Iron Rattler. LOVED it....really fun coaster (and my first RMC). I would put it in my top 6 for sure. Rode it 4 times...and managed to go round the barrel roll once with my hands up!! The smoothness was great...and the tunnel was pitch black at night (no lights!). We loved it. This had been on my bucket list, so happy that expectation was met. Superman Krypton Coaster. Pleasantly surprised, I thought it would be "meh"...but got off it realising that there were afew more forces than expected! Plus the quarry wall is an awesome backdrop. The first loop is great! Batman. Good fun. Comfortable.....was ready to have the crown jewels squashed in ways they shouldn't be (which is what happened on the Green lantern at Magic Mountain) but this did not come to pass. The restraints were well designed. Short ride cycle though!! Goliath. "Standard" B and M invert stuff. Good fun, but I had been on Great White the day before at Seaworld, and preferred that one instead. Sorry! Pandemonium. This was WAY more fun than I thought it would be and also super smooth. Outside of the Rattler, I think I had the biggest smile on my face after getting off of this, as I really wasn't expecting much. GREAT family ride. Road Runner Express. Hurt the old back a little bit more than it probably should have.....pretty rough!! My son enjoyed the family areas and we did some old favourites like "Scooby Doo" (I suck at these blaster games!!), Bumper cars and "Spinsanity". Never got around to doing "Poltergeist" due to timing issues, will save it for another trip. As has already been stated on this thread, Wonderwoman is being built pretty quickly, and looks like it will be a solid FUN ride. It adds to an already impressive collection. Were there any complaints as an "outsider"? Not really...minor theme park stuff . I thought the food was expensive even for a theme park, and the ride ops, even for walk on, were "amusing" to say the least. The Rattler started backing up a couple of times because the ops attendants were more interested in talking to each other about "stuff" than sending the trains....which is fine in light traffic, but hopefully not a habit they do in busy season? All in all we had a great day, and thankyou to people for their tips and suggestions earlier in this thread. We very much enjoyed San Antonio (Seaworld was great, which I shall post in that thread) and the Texas BBQ has been spot on so far. Can I also ask that you send BUC EEES up north please!!! That place is AWESOME!!

. You either have deadpan sarcasm downpat (which is impressive if you do!) or you are being a little bit "limited" in what you want or expect from CW and Cedar Fair. If I am reading you right...they make enough money, and have enough visitors...so they don't need to do anything that might be considered an improvement, and also because you can't put a hotel in a car park!.........ermmmmmmm Ok!! I'm glad Disney didn't get that memo!

I appreciate the advice from people. Thank you. We are looking forward to the trip, hoping to take in SeaWorld also (my son is intrigued by the new jet ski rescue coaster), and then when we get to Galveston, have a look at the pier. I will assume this is because that some rides don't open if the winds are too strong?? If so, that is fair enough. I'll decide on Flash pass on the day we arrive.

We have a trip to Texas planned for December (San-Antonio, Galveston ((cruise) and Houston). Part of the attraction of going to San Antonio obviously is going to Six Flags Fiesta. Given that I am one of those Northern types that isn't used to a park being open year round, I have a couple of questions and also looking for any good advice for the time of year. I am looking at the first weekend of December, and the first thing that struck me was the park hours....opening in the afternoon. I was curious as to the reason why they don't open in the morning....is it a temperature thing, amount of daylight, festivals in December? Anyway...whatever the reason, is the park considered "busy" at this time of year. I normally always include Flash pass as part of my budgeting, but would this be a time of year to wait and see on arrival or would it be best to be buy in advance? I am hoping that it is not a downtime for a ton of ride maintenance (especially as I would like to try the Rattler, Batman and Superman), but what will be will be. I won't be renting a car whilst in San Antonio, I have checked online and it seems that public transport is reliable out to the park, but I would appreciate if anyone on this forum could confirm that. Apart from that, if anyone could tell me where they think the best BBQ is in San Antonio. Thanking you.

Always love the temperature differentials......I come from Scotland, and now live in Canada, so my version of cold is a little bit different than Florida in February. 60 degrees is tropical....just perfect for this pasty Brit! We had a chuckle a couple of years ago when there was the big snowstorm that dumped on New York, Boston, Toronto et al.....you could hear all the North East accents telling the locals that "this isn't cold!!" I'm more worried that Volcano Bay won't have figured out things like the Tapu Tapu. I'm "hopeful" because the online reviews surely must be drawing attention to Universal Brass that there are some "issues". We'll see.....I can only judge if we go as a family.

Definite: WDW Florida Universal Orlando ("might" give Volcano Bay a try if they have worked out the bugs by Feb 2018!!!!!) Canada's Wonderland (Home park). Maybe Cedar Point. Will depend on family weddings back in the UK and their timings. We have a couple of Disney cruises booked for 2018. Trying a Halloween Cruise on the Fantasy, which methinks will be quite good fun.

. I have a sneaking suspicion that they will build a slide that uses maple syrup instead of water and then call it Niagara falls. Nice couple of additions for 2018. You will never please everyone. I have always said that I trust Cedar Fair in how they run this park, and I think some people tend to forget the last days of Paramount and how "little" was added to the park in that time. If you list all the additions since Cedar Fair took over (including Behemoth, Leviathan and WMG) it isn't a short list.