Doppel Looping

The new CF slogan: we’re not happy until Bill is not happy.

Assuming they are allowed to open mat 14 i am not sure if there is a pass holder preview day but either way i am just glad they found a way to be permitted to open. i am thinking i may buy a meal plan just to support them since i have already paid for my pass. at this point as much as i would love to ride some rollercoasters i would like to support them as they reopen.

Speaking of typos, they did spell Mack wrong too

I was planning to go in april with the craft brewing conference which was since cancelled. i emailed the contact us on the website, and they promptly responded: Good Morning Doug, Your Platinum Pass will get you into Schlitterbahn. Parking is free here, please let me know if you have any further questions. They did not indicate any issues with showing your pass and coming in, like every other park in the chain. Since parking is free anyway, if you had any trouble you could surely speak to guest relations. Obviously with the post covid situation, it might be smart to email ahead of time.

I would take a 6 flags ride-op for president at this point.

I was planning to be in san antonio mid april for the craft brewers conference which has since been cancelled. To take advantage of the christmas specials, I signed up for a six flags membership for fiesta texas thinking i would go 2 or 3 times and then drive to dallas and go to sfot before flying home. I figured i would come out ahead with a pass. If i got a chance to go to chicago montreal or darien lake this year it would be a bonus. It made sense at the time but it looks unlikely i will be able to go, or at least be unwise to. I understand that you need to go to your “home” park the first visit to activate your membership so i may wait for the dust to settle before i see what i can do. I live in toronto so it is not exactly easy to get there. Having time to think about it i may not try to cancel and keep paying for the membership to support 6 flags. They probably need the money and support right now. I Think of it as a hundred dollar donation towards keeping them afloat. I already have a CF platinum pass. Rather than be worried about asking for a refund if your park delays opening a month or maybe two, wait it out and go back when they open and even buy stuff to help them stay in business.

I have been to the last several years passholder night. It is a fun atmosphere and everyone seems happy to be back at wonderland for another season. People are understanding that rides which have not run for 6 months have a bit of downtime. Many of the staff are new and not on their midseason form. Foodservice which is pretty bad on a good day is even slower with lots of things running out. On paper it is a textbook shitshow but people are thrilled to be back so it winds up being a nice night out.

I also like back of the bus on Leviathan! Check out 4 th train second row on Behemoth. You get nice floater air over all of the hills, it is great! Back of bus is nice too especially for the turnaround. Same for Vortex. Since you seem to like Fury, how would you compare fury to Leviathan?

^wow, i learn new things daily. i am not sure i have been on guardian this year at all. I went on sunday for my last behemoth ERT of the year and last day to do splashworks... It was kinda cool and overcast with almost no lines, if you kept walking up to each slide, you stayed warm. Considering the weather, there was a surprising number of people there. I went on Klockwerks and noticed that the swinging time seemed much less and that it took a long long time to slow down. i don't know if there is a braking mechanism to stop it that was not working, but it was strange. Among other things, we rode Wilde Beast and something was badly wrong. I know people complain about it and minebuster, but after the new track they had installed in the last few years, parts were getting better. Sunday when we rode, it seemed to shake violently laterally from the first drop on. My wife banged her head on my shoulder several times. I don't know if this was a problem with the train (blue one) or the track, but it was much worse than usual. Anybody know anything about this?

^^ The park opens it's gates 30 min before opening time. They will let you go through security and walk around the fountain area. They have rope drop points to all the areas, and if you go to the left of the mountain, there is a rope drop down the hill near yukon. When i went with guests, we went to that and had a short line to yukon. I went to the single rider line and managed to get on the second train of the day, as it did not occur to any rope drop people to go for the single rider. They will let you use your bonus fl pass whenever you want. On the day you want to use it go to the booth to the left of the main gates to redeem it (outside of the park entrance). They scan your bar code and check your account and give you your pass. Guardian is worth doing, at least once, pick a time when there is not much of a line. The lineup is inside the mountain and you can't tell from outside how long it will be or how many switchbacks are open. It also does not come up on the wait times, so you have to guess... Leviathan at twilight is a really neat experience, check it out if you can.

CPU = computer person underneath.

Do they still serve freerange pandas at panda express?

powdered flavoured coffee substitute..... ouch

Whatever you decide to call it, you could get a B&M rattle to play with!

Wonder mountain guardian is worth doing, especially if CW is not your home park and you don't get the chance to ride it often. It's lineup is inside the mountain so you cannot tell how busy it is until you are in the lineup. You can also plan to go in mid day when it is hot and you want to get out of the sun for a while. not sure if you can take food in the line but you cannot take bags with you, so they have to either be in a fluffy bunny or stashed in the bushes. I might be more inclined to spend my precious ropedrop time on some coasters.

Like a guillotine?

Good timing would be to get to the 401/ airport area after 9:30am. By then the early morning rush hour would be less. (it is a busy highway and has traffic no matter when). This would get you to wonderland around the 10:00AM opening time. google maps says it takes 3:24 to get from ambassador bridge to YYZ so It might mean leaving at a stupid early time of day. I might be inclined to buy a fastpass for an extra 2 hours of sleep... Otherwise use your favourite map app and ask for no tolls and see what it says. HWY 407, sometimes called ETR Electronic Toll Road is the one to avoid.

cross detroit to windsor get on hwy 401 ignore signs for hwy 407 toll road. pass pearson airport on left get on Hwy 400 N (works from either express or collector lanes) exit rutherford rd. leads to wonderland driveway. avoid rush hour (ha)

sorry, was having fun with the minimalist review. (and can't type well on a phone...) I got there part way into passholder ERT to find what seemed like a barely full queue house. then i noticed a back section that was completely full which accounted for a 40 minute wait. No complaints on a brand new coaster on it's second day open to the public. The station is well done with way more themeing than we typically see at a cedar fair/ wonderland ride. They had lots of stuff related to the "Striker mining company" to look at. Non Canadians may not get all of the significance, but the themeing originally planned in the 1980s was done by/with Pierre Berton, one of Canadas prominent historians/ authors. (Studs Terkel or maybe Ken Burns today is a comparable US author.) Berton was born in the Yukon and wrote about canada's north and the national railway, and helped Canadians understand and celebrate their history. He lived for 50 years in nearby Kleinburg. It is really nice to see the commitment to reviving this work they have put into the ride. It really looks like this meant a lot to wonderland and they really tried to honour it. The station has good flow and as you exit the que you get separated into separate stairs for front row, rest of train and single rider. From the top of the stairs, I was quickly ushered into row 3. I don't tend to bring crap along with me when i ride, so i did not get to try the fancy fluffy bunny conveyor. It is kind of weird, but you put your stuff into these cubbies and they go up over the train to the other side where the unload platform is. The empty containers follow the same course so there is lots of activity in the station. We waited as the previous train had a more generously proportioned rider who they were strapping in with some kind of auxillary restraints clamped to the hooks on the back of his seat. I spotted red seatbelts and chose to sit where there was one to avoid extra grief. It fit with tons of room. There was a lady next to me who needed the ops to work hard to close her restraint. The vests were fine/ comfortable enough that i did not notice anything about them. I have been on Skyrush, Banshee, Valravyn and never noticed any problem either. I think that people who complain about them profusely could maybe consider a different hobby... It took them a while to get everybody in and loaded. It feels like they are taking extra care with the new ride which will sort itself out as they get experience. The floor came down, the gates opened and we were on our way. There was a little kink at the bottom of the dip before we made our way up the lift hill. The hill went fast and at the top gave a great view of the park. This coaster is set in the middle of the back of the park. it is great how it fits in with the mountain, the lake and the other rides nearby. I must admit I don't love heights, and have avoided drop coasters until i could get the nerve up to ride them. This did not seem as bad for me as there was stuff to look at. We got lowered over the top, but not as far as i would have thought (which is fine with me). when we let go, the back row was treated to a brief airtime pop which i liked. The drop through the tunnel was awesome. you could feel the wind resistance through the tunnel, as it does not seem any larger than it needs to be. It was really cool heading down towards the lake below. The pullout and immelmann was awesome. Truth be told, i am more of a loops and helixes guy anyway. I have never been on an immelmann as large as this and it was awesome to fly effortlessly in a giant arc and see the park unfold beneath us. It does not pull hard G's and is a nice smooth flowing inversion. After a dip across lake vortexx we come to a dive loop that leads us into a loop, and then a turnaround through a bit of a trench and into the MCBR. It all happens so quickly and smoothly it is difficult to keep up with what is happening. We flew into the MCBR with a bit of a pop and slowed a bit before cresting the drop with an airtime pop and drop before pulling out into the final helix. It feels like the loop and helix are a shoutout to skyrider, and are really nice. Before you know it you are flying into the final brake course to think about what just happened. I think this is a really nice reridable coaster. It is not as intense as some but really soars through the course for an enjoyable ride. The complete package with station themeing, massive drop, First Loop on a dive coaster and location over top of the new plaza at the back of the park make it a geally great ride. Get a Pierre Berton book to read on the airplane and come on up and ride this thing!

Rode Yukon Stryker today. It was fun.

If you are coming to Toronto, you should consider going to Centreville on the island http://www.centreisland.ca/. It is a small family oriented park, but is really cool. You have to take a ferryboad to the island, a City park with lots of greenspace, old growth shade trees, surrounded by waterways where people go to picnic, bike, rollerblade or canoe in the summer. It also has a great view of the city from across the harbour, and a free frisbee golf course. Centreville is a small family run park that has been going since late 1960's. It has a flume ride, an old haunted barrel ride, skyride, scramber, antique cars, bumper cars and vintage merry go round. They also have a steam train that goes through the park. I believe there are or were kids rollercoasters, but no real ones. No extreme rides, but a really nice place to go. Also: La Ronde is basically 6 flags run by the french, with frustratingly slow operations, but it is still worth visiting. It is almost so bad it's good... It is on an island in the St lawrence river, on the grounds of what was Expo '67. It is worth spending most of a day at, and then heading back to montreal for dinner/ nightlife. It deserves some criticism but not to be crapped on as severely and thoroughly as has been done here. You can get in with your 6 flags season pass. You can take the subway to the island and a shuttle bus to the park gates. While in montreal, check out St Laurent street and Schwarzes deli for smoked meat sandwiches, and 1 or both of the main Bagel shops: St Urbain or fairview, where they bake them in wood fired ovens. (Avoid F1 race weekend unless you are coming to see it) Check out one of the many summer festivals: just for laughs / Jazz etc, montreal is a great city to visit. and: Wonderland pro tip: if you have platinum pass you can come 9:00am Sunday for early ride time. The area rotates each weekend. I usually go for the hour, then maybe an hour and a half of regular riding as the park fills up with real guests, then either hit the water park or go home for lunch. You could time your weekend with one where Yukon is the ERT area and have less lineups, then spend the afternoon on the island or touring around. Take your second day at Wonderland on the Monday and it will probably be less crowded.

I went to Passholder preview day yesterday. It was a bit chilly and damp, but it did not stop die hard wonderland fans from showing up. I think people realize that the rides have all been sitting for 6 months outside in the winter elements, and don't seem to mind that coasters and rides need a bit of a break in to get running reliably. Passholders seem grateful that they get invited to a preview, and are excited just to be back at the park. The park was well staffed, and everyone i saw was friendly and seemed excited to be there. It was a funny canadian thing that just before dropping the rope where i was, the security guard asked people please not to run, and they complied and behaved themselves.... I went to get an early ride on Leviathan, hoping that people would all be waiting for yukon, which proved to be true with abut 2 trains of people waiting, but they were still sending water dummies around. Instead i went on Wilde Beast. They Have put some new track in, but it is still bumpy in parts. It flew around the track with the wet rails. If you can't tolerate bumpy wooden coasters, don't ride it, but i had fun. The ride ops were inviting people to reride if their seats were available, so i did it twice. I got a ride in on NIghtmares and then Leviathan was opened. Got a great back row ride. Maybe it was wheel heaters, or the 'snow tires', but the ride ran great, and booked it around the cold track. I got an almost walk on ride on Vortexx before passing by the new ride. It did not start testing until around 6:30 and started taking passengers close to 7pm. Thousands of keeners eagerly waited in the damp cold for a chance to ride on the first public day. The lineup filled the station queues, spilled through the plaza, across the bridge, up the hill, past the diner, past windseeker, past the games and to the carousell. Good on them, but I will wait a few weeks and come back on a quiet day. The station building is really nice, themed to the Striker mining company. It also has a plaza nearby where you can stand under the final helix and watch the trains come overhead. The track interracts with the walking paths, and offers great views of the coaster. This is the second train to depart. They seemed to be taking a long time to dispatch trains. it felt like 10 minutes, but looking at the times on some pictures it was closer to 7 min. There were lots of staff to talk to people in the line, and pass out new park maps. They said that if people were in line, they would stay open until they all got to ride. At that rate, they would be there the next morning so i don't know how it worked out. Good luck! rip orbiter

Passholder prieview night tends to be a bit of a shitshow. In past years even without any new coasters it was really packed with new staff not up to full speed and running out of all food. Apart from that it is great! I will probably go and check the place out and maybe do a few rides. I will watch ‘striker go around the track but dont like lining up for hours for anything. In a few weeks i will skip off work on an early weekday where i can walk on.

Sounds great, hope we can meet up when i am there. If you find yourself coming to toronto for some reason, we can go to wonderland. i have a platinum pass and can get bring a friend tickets.

I am going to the craft brewers conference in Denver in early april, and am going to go to Lagoon on the way home April 13. i checked and Lagoon will be open weekends then. some questions: What is the public transit like in Salt lake city: is it possible to get from the airport into town, and from town to Lagoon by public transit? google maps seems to think so. Is there a good area to stay in salt lake city? i am flying in on the friday and out on the saturday. ideally i would get a hotel where i could walk to some nice places to eat and drink without worrying about driving. And: Are there any fellow coaster nerds that want to meet up at Lagoon? I am happy to go alone, but it is fun to meet others too. I am pretty easy going, and a huge Schwarzkopf fan. I of course want to ride Colossus and Jetstar, and anything else is a bonus. I heard they had a 2 rider per seat policy on jetstar? If so, i presume they may group single riders? I am not sure how far along they are on the new coaster, but since i have never been before, they are all new to me...