Johnlloyd

I can agree that Darien Lake's landscaping was very well maintained when I had visited last August for the very first time.

I will agree with you that the parking does appear to be confusing by just looking at the map. While there is parking at the back of the park, there is also parking near the toll booths where you enter, just before going under the Jacques Cartier Bridge. So, there are two parking lots available for parking your car at La Ronde. If you do park in the back parking lot, there is a secondary entrance which you enter known as the Village Entrance. So, there is no need for a shuttle to take you to the front entrance from the back parking lot.

Great photos once again of PNE Playland. I really need to travel out there sometime to visit Playland and ride the classic Roller Coaster. It looks like an amazing wooden roller coaster! Also, the ride collection they have there looks phenomenal for the size of the park. By the way, BIA stands for Business Improvement Area.

I greatly enjoy Canada's Wonderland, but I hope next year's roller coaster has a greater name than just "Ziz". A few years ago when the rumours began to swirl, I had no idea what Ziz was. In my opinion, the name does not sound mighty, in comparison to Behemoth and Leviathan. But, whatever the park decides to call next year's coaster, I just hope it provides an amazing ride experience! It is definitely going to be huge based on the amount of land they are using. Below is a photo I had captured of the construction taking place from when I had visited this past Wednesday (June 13th). Photo credit: John Brooks via Amusement Views.

In my opinion, yes. Do you enjoy hot and humid weather?

Hey Jamor, below is a photo I had captured on May 23rd of some of the construction taking place where SkyRider had once operated. A few more photos of construction from previous visits can be found on my blog. I hope this helps. Photo credit: John Brooks via Amusement Views

It would be great to see them add a second train to Ride of Steel again as it's capacity was awful when I had visited Darien Lake for the first time last August. As for Six Flags New England's old Mind Eraser trains, they were recently shipped to La Ronde to potentially be used for spare parts on their Vekoma SLC, Ednor. I saw them sitting in the boneyard at La Ronde during my first visit last weekend while walking up the stairs to ride Vampire. They did not have restraints on the seats.

Goliath at La Ronde! Photo credit: Johnlloyd

Most rides and attractions continue to operate in light and moderate amounts of rain. Rides only close in heavy rain, high winds, or lightning storms.

Hey Larry, I had visited La Ronde for the first time over the past weekend and managed to capture a photo of the new for 2018 ride, Tourbillon. It is a brand Tilt-A-Whirl ride located in the Avenue Adventure section of the park. I hope the photo is okay for use as it does show the signage and some of the ride. Hopefully another member gets a better photo of the ride itself.

I agree with you on this. I had made my first visit to Darien Lake and the other two Western New York amusement parks last August and I found Mind Eraser to be more enjoyable than Flight Deck at my home park, Canada's Wonderland. Keep in mind though that the Mind Eraser at Darien Lake is slightly newer by two years (1997) than Flight Deck (1995) at Canada's Wonderland, so the design of the coasters could have possibly changed slightly to provided a smoother ride within that time. Probably likely that CW's has been run a lot harder than DL's. Factoring in two trains, longer operating schedule... etc. Flight Deck may have given twice as many rides in the same period. That is quite possible as well. I also found it interesting how Mind Eraser's lift hill was quieter than Flight Deck's lift hill, which was nice.

I agree with you on this. I had made my first visit to Darien Lake and the other two Western New York amusement parks last August and I found Mind Eraser to be more enjoyable than Flight Deck at my home park, Canada's Wonderland. Keep in mind though that the Mind Eraser at Darien Lake is slightly newer by two years (1997) than Flight Deck (1995) at Canada's Wonderland, so the design of the coasters could have possibly changed slightly to provided a smoother ride within that time.

This was noted almost a month ago. But, it does make you wonder why it was changed. But, a Tilt-A-Whirl is better than nothing at all!

Yes, I have. My first one was Time Warp at Canada's Wonderland and my second one was Firehawk at Kings Island. Do you enjoy hanging upside down on a ride?

Awesome! You are just a wealth of information. Thanks again. Now where can we submit new ride requests to Wonderland?? You're welcome! As for sending in ride requests, I think just listing them here is a start as I am sure some park officials check out the fours once in a while.

Well that would have been a wise idea, but Jet Scream was starting to wain in popularity by the time of its removal in late 2010. Also, it looped over the top slowly, instead of moving fast often causing pain for most of the riders. Also from what I understand, the PLC was too costly to replace. But since its removal, it was sold to a park in South America (Venezuela I believe), where it has been standing but not operating since. But, I feel Lumberjack will be much better received by park visitors due to the comfortable ride it provides. As for last year's addition, Soaring Timbers, it is the predecessor of the Mondial Top Scan (Shockwave). So, I do agree that it doesn't make much sense as to why they added it to Canada's Wonderland last year. I feel another park in the chain would have benefited better from it. On a side note, prior to coming to Canada's Wonderland, Soaring Timbers had traveled the European midways running on a more intense program. But on a positive note, given the way Canada's Wonderland operates Soaring Timbers, it does fill the gap for a thrilling family ride. I just wish they would be able to load it much faster. Thanks for that info! By your description, it sounds like I would've preferred Jet Scream to stay for the extra inversion time as I don't recall ever experiencing pain on that ride. Lumberjack seems to be identical to the Bonzai ride that is at the CNE every year. I'd love for Wonderland to buy the Mach5 ride that NAME added a few years ago. Has anyone rode it? It's easily one of the best flat rides I've ever been on! The only downside is the slow moving queue due to small load capacity but installing two of them would help that a lot. The restraints on the Intamin Looping Starships can be quite tight for certain passengers, especially once the ride gets going. Yes, Lumberjack is nearly identical to the Bonzai (Fabbri Kamikaze 2) at the CNE, but the Lumberjack ( and all other Zamperla Hawks; both 24 and 48 models) provide a much more comfortable ride due to the snug fitting of the restraints. As for a KMG Speed (Mach 3 or 5 at the CNE), Mondial produces a model that has a much great capacity known as the "Turbine" that can accommodate up to 20 passengers per ride. It operates in a similar fashion and more since it has rotating passenger gondolas. It would be a nice addition to see at Canada's Wonderland in the near future.

Well that would have been a wise idea, but Jet Scream was starting to wain in popularity by the time of its removal in late 2010. Also, it looped over the top slowly, instead of moving fast often causing pain for most of the riders. Also from what I understand, the PLC was too costly to replace. But since its removal, it was sold to a park in South America (Venezuela I believe), where it has been standing but not operating since. But, I feel Lumberjack will be much better received by park visitors due to the comfortable ride it provides. As for last year's addition, Soaring Timbers, it is the predecessor of the Mondial Top Scan (Shockwave). So, I do agree that it doesn't make much sense as to why they added it to Canada's Wonderland last year. I feel another park in the chain would have benefited better from it. On a side note, prior to coming to Canada's Wonderland, Soaring Timbers had traveled the European midways running on a more intense program. But on a positive note, given the way Canada's Wonderland operates Soaring Timbers, it does fill the gap for a thrilling family ride. I just wish they would be able to load it much faster.

Yes, Zamperla did a great job with the theming of Lumberjack! It looks even better in person! The park also did a great job with the placement of the ride and the landscaping surrounding it. I will try to get more photos next time I visit.

Here is an off-ride video of the all-new for 2018 Lumberjack testing during Season Pass Sneak Preview Night at Canada's Wonderland. Lumberjack is a Hawk 48 ride manufactured by Zamperla of Italy. It should be open to the public by Opening Day on Sunday, April 29th, 2018. [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

Hey Larry, here are some photos of the all-new-for 2018 Lumberjack and Flying Canoes at Canada's Wonderland. I had captured these photos during the Season Pass Sneak Preview Night held at the park last night (April 27th, 2018). Lumberjack: Flying Canoes:

Parking is typically complimentary on Season Pass Sneak Preview Night. But even if it isn't this year (for whatever reason), your season parking will work. As for buying a $15.99 bring a friend ticket, that can be purchased online ta Canada's Wonderland's website right now. The ticket is only valid for that night and must be presented with a valid season pass holder when entering the park that night. I hope the information I provided you helps!

I don't think the park opens until the 28th Season Pass Sneak Preview Night is on Friday, April 27th, 2018. The park officially opens for the season on Sunday, April 29th, 2018. Saturday, April 28th is Media Day, in other words the park is closed to the general public that day. For exact operating hours, please check out the calendar on Canada's Wonderland's website. Wasn't Media Day supposed to be today and Preview Night last night? Did things get switched because of the weather or did I read/remember wrong? You had read it wrong as Season Pass Sneak Preview Night has been scheduled for April 27th since it was officially announced by the park earlier this year. But, what was cancelled due to the weather we had received last weekend was the Bank days that were to occur this weekend.

I don't think the park opens until the 28th Season Pass Sneak Preview Night is on Friday, April 27th, 2018. The park officially opens for the season on Sunday, April 29th, 2018. Saturday, April 28th is Media Day, in other words the park is closed to the general public that day. For exact operating hours, please check out the calendar on Canada's Wonderland's website.

While I was unable to visit Knoebels for the first time last year, I was able to visit the amusement parks of Western New York for the first time late last August, which consisted of Seabreeze, Darien Lake, and Fantasy Island. During that time, I had rode the Jack Rabbit at Seabreeze and Silver Comet at Fantasy Island. I opted not to ride the Predator at Darien Lake as it looked extremely rough! So, as an update, I have now been on nine wooden roller coasters in North America. Below is my updated list of North American wooden coasters I have been on: -Ghoster Coaster at Canada's Wonderland -Wild Beast at Canada's Wonderland -Mighty Canadian Minebuster at Canada's Wonderland -The Racer at Kings Island -Woodstock Express at Kings Island -Thunderhawk at Dorney Park -The Beast at Kings Island -Jack Rabbit at Seabreeze -Silver Comet at Fantasy Island I plan to ride some more this year, as I will be visiting many Six Flags parks for the first time this summer with the Gold Pass I had purchased a couple months ago!

Canada's Wonderland released their downloadable 2018 park map today. Be sure to check it out here!