Johnlloyd

The Galaxy Orbiter at Galaxyland in the West Edmonton Mall on Monday! It is a great Gerstlauer Spinning coaster with a lot of spinning!

Yesterday on May 19th, I made my second visit of the 2022 season. Since my first visit of the season nearly three weeks ago, a lot of progress has been made on the new dining facility! With a roof and walls, it looks extremely massive than it had before! The construction crews were hard at work building it yesterday. It will definitely look amazing once it is completed! Be sure to check out some photos I took of it while at the park.

Dragon Fyre at Canada's Wonderland during Opening Day on Saturday, April 30th was the last coaster I rode.

My brother and I made our first visit of the 2022 season to Canada's Wonderland on April 30th, which was Opening Day. Below are some photos of the new facilities that have been built over the off-season, as well as the new large dining facility that is still well under construction, and some other changes around the park. Here is a look at the new dining facility under construction. It will be themed to a mountain lodge and will be able to seat many people when it opens. Here's a side view of the new dining facility. It looks to be massive from the ground and above! Nearby the new dining facility behind Wonder Mountain a new Coca-Cola Refresh station was constructed during the off-season. It is tucked away off the path and looks like it has always been there despite being brand new. In order to make room for the new dining facility behind Wonder Mountain, the Mountainside Bakery (formerly Cookie Café prior to 2016) was demolished. Instead of removing it completely, the park constructed a new building across the path which will be home to the new Cookie Café. Across the Windseeker in Action Zone, a new structure was built across from Windseeker. It replaced an older structure which was home to Fast Lane sales. I believe this new structure will serve the same purpose and possibly more! For the 2022 season, Dairy Queen is no longer at the park. The locations have been replaced with park-ran ice cream shops serving soft-serve ice cream and sundaes. Pictured above is the Swiss Dip shop on International Street. Below is Arthur's Sundaes & Cones in Medieval Faire. Also new this season, The International Marketplace Buffet in Medieval Faire has been retransformed to the All's Well Hall, which it was known as in the 1980s. I love seeing the park continuing to revert rides, attractions, and facilities to their original names over the past few years! Also, the Tim Horton's location in Kidzville has been replaced with Tree Top Café. It will now serve Starbucks. More photos from opening day can be found on my blog, Amusement Views.

Canada's Wonderland does play the Canadian National Anthem around the time the park does open, but it may not always be heard depending on noise and if the speakers at the front gate are working properly. The flags displayed on the entrance represent the 13 provinces and territories in Canada. The other flags at the entrance to the Grande World Exposition of 1890 section off of International Street are replica flags of countries from a long time ago based on the ones that attended World Expositions around that time. Sure, the park could erect an American flag, but they never have in the 41 years of operation despite being owned by American companies throughout its whole existence. Many people know it is and has always been American owned, so having a flag or not having a flag makes no real difference in my opinion.

On Monday, April 4th, Canada's Wonderland announced that all festivals and events are back for the 2022 season including three new food festivals celebrating Portugal, Ireland and The Caribbean! More details about upcoming events can be found on their website!

This is awesome news! I can't believe a Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop will be operating at Niagara Amusement Park! I love it how Gene Staples will be incorporating older, classic rides into the park! Hopefully I'll be able to cross the border once again sometime this year to finally be able to ride not only a Schwarzkopf roller coaster, but a Shuttle Loop coaster! I'm excited about the new future of this park!

A few days ago Canada's Wonderland released their operating calendar for the 2022 season. They have opening day set for Saturday, April 30th! Looking at the months of July and August, it looks like they will be bringing back regular operating hours of 10am to 10pm daily! The calendar can be viewed on the park's website.

A few days ago, Canada's Wonderland announced on their Reservation page that Season Pass Holders will not need to make reservations for Fall daytime visits in September and October starting September 11th. But reservations for Pass Holders wishing to visit during Halloween Haunt at night will be required. This will make visiting the park in the Fall during the daytime a bit easier than it has been this summer!

Yes, it definitely is great that residents of Ontario can finally enjoy Canada's Wonderland again!

After 592 days of waiting, I was finally able to visit Canada's Wonderland once again on July 6th! During my visit, I had noticed many small improvements made throughout the park in addition to the new attractions that were finally able to open this year, along with the rest of the park, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year! Below are some photos of the small improvements made, along with the new attraction in Planet Snoopy, Beagle Brigade Airfield. The Fun Shoppe across from The Bat in Medieval Faire was renamed Jester's Courtyard Toy & Souvenir Marketplace, allowing for this souvenir shop to fit in with the section a bit better than it had in the past. Also the funnel cake shop next door received a new hanging sign. I'll try to get a photo of it next time I visit the park. While the park was closed in 2020, the peeling billboard signage for Backlot Stunt Coaster was removed. Now the trains just "crash" through a metal wall. It looks odd, but much better than the peeling signage that was there. Here is a look at the new for 2021 (originally slated to open in 2020) ride in Planet Snoopy, Beagle Brigade Airfield. It replaced the aging Peanuts Putt Putt mini golf course that closed at the end of the 2019 season. Children visiting the park seemed to be enjoying this new ride! The other new attraction is the Mountain Bay Cliffs in Splash Works. I was unfortunately unable to capture a photo of it as Splash Works does not open until mid-July. One of the major noticeable improvements made on International Street during the extended off-season was the replacement of the shingles on one of the buildings on International Street. It is always great to see the park taking care of its infrastructure! Also within the past year while the park was closed, Riptide received new, bright blue seats! Things like this just help keep rides looking brand new, even when they are over 20 years old like Riptide! Overall, my visit on Tuesday, July 6th was great despite being very hot and humid. I managed to get on 13 rides during my 8 and a half hour visit with the current COVID-19 safety protocols put in place. For more photos of my visit, check them out on my blog.

Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland on July 6th!

The Provincial Government of Ontario released a three-step reopening plan today as the province has been in a stay-at-home order/ lockdown since April 8th, with it ending on June 2nd. In step two of the three-step plan, amusement parks will be able to reopen if 70% of the adult population in Ontario get vaccinated and 20 percent are vaccinated with two doses. I strongly feel this is possible as the role out of vaccines has greatly ramped up over the past few weeks in Ontario. If all goes well, Canada's Wonderland could possibly be reopening by mid-late July by the looks of things! More about Ontario's reopening plan can be found here.

It's great that they retained the original scenery and decided to put it back up and replace the canopy after the ride was hit by an ice storm a few years ago!

It's great to hear that the Sleighride has been refurbished! It looked in rough shape when I visited the park in 2019. It would be nice to see a photo of it as I won't be able to make it down yet again this year due to the ongoing pandemic.

Also within the park update released by the park today, they state to be aiming for an early to mid-summer opening date for the 2021 season. I think this is possible to achieve as the roll out of the vaccine in Ontario is really starting to ramp up. Here's hoping the 2021 season isn't a complete write-off like the 2020 season!

Yesterday, Canada's Wonderland had updated their website, along with other Cedar Fair parks. While browsing through the updated website, there have been two noticeable changes to a dining location and a merchandise location both located in Planet Snoopy. Snoopy's Suppertime was renamed Carrousel Kitchen and Snoopy's Boutique was simply renamed Character House. The renaming of these locations is probably due to the addition of Beagle Brigade Airfield (Zamperla Flying Tigers ride) that replaced Peanuts Putt Putts Mini Golf which closed at the end of the 2019 season. It is always nice to see dining and merchandise locations receive a new name or new look once in a while. I can't wait to see the other changes the park has made since they last operated in 2019 and for their 40th anniversary this year!

The last time I was in the park was for the premiere night of Winterfest held on November 22nd, 2019, which was 434 days ago! Hopefully they are able to keep their opening date as planned and remain open for their 40th anniversary! I need some normalcy in my life again as going that long without amusement parks is quite depressing!

Canada's Wonderland sent emails out to Season Passholders yesterday announcing that they will be opening for the 2021 season on May 14th, 2021! As already known, reservations will be required to visit the park. Here's hoping the May 14th opening date holds true!

While not completely related to the operation of Canada's Wonderland, the park was used in a completely different way earlier this week to keep a tradition alive due to current COVID-19 restrictions in the Greater Toronto Area and the Province of Ontario. Since 1905, the Toronto Santa Claus Parade has drawn many spectators along the downtown streets in the city of Toronto. Due to current restrictions, they had to figure out a way to bring the parade to spectators in a safe manner. Instead of using the traditional street route, they headed north to the City of Vaughan and used Canada's Wonderland as their parade route! Below is a link to an article looking at how the Toronto Santa Claus Parade was able to produce a made for TV parade safely on the grounds of Canada's Wonderland. There are some photos of the park included in the article during the filming of the parade. This year's edition of the Toronto Santa Claus parade is to air on CTV channels on December 5th at 7pm EST. It is nice to see the park come alive even if it isn't open to park visitors or an event created/hosted by the park! Link to article: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/11/17/photos-santa-claus-is-coming-to-your-tv-screen-heres-a-sneak-peek-of-torontos-parade-this-year.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

I agree with those who have said that the Pirate and Sleighride would possibly be the next rides to be removed from Six Flags Darien Lake, as per the announcement of 15 rides being removed from Six Flags Parks. The Pirate hasn't operated since the 2018 season and the Sleighride is in really rough, but operable shape. Now if we were to discuss coasters, I feel the MotoCoaster would be the first to go as it goes down quite a few times a day and is a prototype model, which could affect its overall reliability. It will definitely be interesting to see which 15 rides get removed from Six Flags properties over the off-season!

Thanks Robb! After a bit of exploring, I was also able to find all the topics I have responded to by selecting 'My Activity Streams' followed by 'Content Posted In' under the Activity tab on the menu bar of the forums. It's nice to see there are two ways to find the topics I am most active in on the forums.

Hey Robb, the new forums look great! One feature I liked in the old forums that may be here is the ability to look at a list of topics you (the user) have replied to. Is there such a list feature on the new forums like there was in the old forum? Thanks!

Below is an update to my Favourite Hyper Coaster list that was originally created in December of 2016. Since then, I have been able to ride some great hyper coasters, especially in 2017 and 2018 as I had done a few small roads trips those two summers. The list goes from most favourite to least favourite. 1. Behemoth at Canada's Wonderland 2. Goliath at La Ronde 3. Ride of Steel at Six Flags Darien Lake 4. Nitro at Six Flags Great Aventure 5. Diamondback at Kings Island 6. Steel Force at Dorney Park 7. Superman - The Ride at Six Flags New England Since I was unable to travel this year due to obvious reasons, I hope to ride some more awesome hyper coasters in the near future!

Here's an update to my list from December 2018: Defunct: -Toronto Island Monster at Centreville Amusement Park -Stinger at Dorney Park -Firehawk at Kings Island -Super Manege at La Ronde -Vortex at Kings Island -Crazy Mouse at Fantasy Island (current location/status unknown) -Silver Comet at Fantasy Island (Current status uncertain) Relocated: -SkyRider at Canada's Wonderland