Doppel Looping

Just south of Wonderland is the Vaughn Mills mall. On it's south side, there are a few hotels including Aloft and Novotel. To get to Wonderland from there is just a drive across the parking lot and along Canadas Wonderland Drive. I wouldn't want to walk it but one could. It would also depend on what else you want to do while in (or near : ) Toronto, but maybe it is as good a place to stay as any. There are a few suburban chain restaurants nearby. For trips to the city you could drive to the subway, or just drive to where you want to go. From that area, rush hour traffic drives in to town in the morning and back out to Booneyville in the evening.

Sorry but no. Doppel looping was the last big coaster there.

Sad to see the Orbiter, or the Enterprise go. It is one of my all time favourite flat rides. I thought when they painted it last year they were going to keep it a while longer, but who knows, they may have found a major problem and chose to retire it rather than spend more to repair it. I'm not sure it was new in 1981 when the park opened, so 37+ years of operation for such a machine is not too bad. I have always been fascinated with how it works, with the centrifugal force pulling the gondolas outward while the arm lifts up until they go upside down. (some dork will tell me it's centripetal force, don't care) The Giant Enterprise is the biggest of all of the Enterprise variants, and has an extra hydraulic ram to start the lift. I build working lego amusement park rides as a hobby, and won first place at brickworld chicago in 2016. It was challenging to make in lego without having the thing fly apart. During testing, the pneumatic cylinder went too fast and it would launch the thing off the table! I built mine with 16 gondolas rather than 15 because geometry, and it was close to a meter in diameter. LEGO Huss giant enterprise My Dippin dots insider told me that Werner Stengel designed the first Enterprise for Schwarzkopf, and that HUSS engineers saw designs while visiting their office, and copied the idea. If you look at Schwarzkopf Enterprises, the pivot for the arm is raised up off of the platform rather than below the arm, so that when it comes back down, gravity does all the work rather than the hydraulic ram pulling you back at the top. The gondolas are also pivoted lower down so they swung out better. To get in and out, the roof and side bars would pivot upwards which prevented it from accidentally opening during operation, whereas the huss bars would pull back after unlatching. Heinz Fahtz also made a version which i have never seen. If you were not careful when riding it, you could really get messed up. Some people are more susceptible to spinny rides, so this is not for them. If you keep your head back and look straight ahead you should be ok. It was fun to see the horizon flip upside down as you went around. Orbiter opened later at 11:00am, so i had to stay later to get one last ride before going home to avoid the crowds. HUSS Maschinenfabrik aus Bremen so long and thanks for all of the great rides!

Some friendly tips for people coming to ride Yukon Striker: Wonderland is a pretty good park with an improving collection of coasters and some diverse flat rides. It's water park is not bad either. Early season weekdays before school lets out before ~late june, are the best time to go to Wonderland to avoid lines. It gets crazy busy from then on to september. If you have a season pass or platinum pass, you can get ERT Sunday mornings 9:00am to 10:00am when the park opens to everybody else. I usually go for ERT and the first hour or two, and then go home as the park gets busier. I can get lots of rides in 2.5 hrs and then have the rest of the day to do other things. Each week they rotate the ERT area between Behemoth, Leviathan, and up til now Vortex area. On the website they have a calendar of what areas have ERT on a given weekend, though clearly i am not very good at reading websites. They also have Slashworks ERT where passholders get in an hour early there too (it opens later than the main gates). Toronto has an international airport which has direct flights to lots of cities as it is one of Canada's big hub airports. Flying to US from here, you actually clear US customs on this side, so when you land in US it is treated like a domestic flight (factor in extra time to clear customs on the ride home). Lots of rental car options there. Or you can drive here, our roads connect you yours via buffalo, detroit and the thousand islands. We have our own currency which you can get from bank machines, or rely on lousy exchange rates at places that take us cash. You pretty much need a car to get to Wonderland. Technically there is a bus that takes you there but is a pain in the arse and takes a long time. Wonderland is north of the city, and in good traffic i can get there in 30 min from downtown, it can take much longer during rush hour depending on where you are coming from. Toronto is a great city with lots to do. Public transit in the city is not bad and you can get to theatre, restaurants, bars, breweries pretty easily. I own Junction Craft Brewing which is a 20 min drive straight south of Wonderland (in good traffic). Tell them you are one of Doug's rollercoaster friends and you will be looked after. (or message me) We have an island in our harbour that is a city park with a small amusement park, Centerville. They have an old log flume, some antique cars, an indoor scrambler, the Haunted barrel works and a steam train that takes you around the island. No extreme thrill rides, but a nice park. bring a picnic, it is fun, and has great views of the city. You need to take a Ferry boat over. Open weekends in may to september. http://www.centreisland.ca/

Marking my calendar as a snowstorm brings the city to a standstill. I looked at the website under the early ride times section and the 3 main areas are: leviathan, behemoth and lumberjack/ vortex. Do you think they have forgotten to update the site with yukon striker or is it not going to be part of the ERT schedule this year? to answer my own question, it has pictures of the above 3 areas with the text: "From 9:00am - 10:00am on Sundays during our 2019 season, Season Passholders and Gold Passholders get special early access to some of our most popular attractions including Leviathan, Behemoth, and our all-new rides world recording breaking dive coaster, Yukon Striker!"

hey, cool they have a hexentanz in behind it! any idea of what happened to the mall of america one?

http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/files/thumb_4a7299fa-1ab8-4807-9997-7a764a7c2355.jpeg looks like it says pigpenis. is that a new character? Coming in 2019?

For what it is worth, there were plenty of rides open for the amount of people in the park when i was there. I don't think i waited more than a ride cycle on anything. The ride ops moved quickly even though it was not busy. I have been to a lot of parks and Wonderland is among the best for ride operations and cleanliness. The food is unacceptably bad, but the rides are great.

Went to wonderland for the last time this year. It was cool and wet but there were a few die hards who came out. They had many rides closed, probably expecting low attendance. Despite that it was a good day to go. I did not have to wait for anything. Nobody seemed bothered by the weather, they just dressed for it and went about their day like nothing happened. Pro tip: use the washroom in the mountain, as it is heated! It was nice to see the fall colours in the park, you realize there are a lot of trees. Winterfest will be weird with all of the leaves you take for granted gone. The placement of yukon stryker is ideal for being able to see it all over the park, it will be nice to see trains on it. They have part of the immelmann up so far, and have almost finished the walkways at the top of the lift hill. It will be a cold place to work soon, but i guess they wanted to wait until splash works closed to start so they could block the area off and not have to worry about pedestrians. Leviathan had it's trains in the shed with water dummies in the front rows. It started cycling as i was leaving. I finished off the season with 3 back to back rides on Behemoth and said goodby for a few months. New skyline from parking lot with yukon lift hill below windseeker fall descends on wonder mountain spot the new lift hill from the plaza Haunt has left it's laundry out. Dragon Fyre train rests in siding collecting a bit of snow. Leviatahan closed with all trains in shed as ride ops huddle for warmth. You don't get pay people to go in a coffin when they will do it for free. Wild beast taking a rest this morning. the fly Klockwerks doing it's thing. Vortex frames yukon drop. You can see snow on the track. nice view of partially completed immelmann from vortex platform Boring timbers was open but the ride op said they needed 10 people to run a cycle and needed 9 more. Goodby wonderland 2018. it's been a slice.

Last day at wonderland

Maybe it was tired.

The "fancy red lights" are wheel heaters which explains why it's hauling A$$. I'd like to think this is a good sign for the ride operating at Winterfest but it's Cedar Fair so... lol. My "SARCASM" sign was in the shop.

Nice photo. From windseeker? This sounds funny but the thing I dont like about drop coasters is the first drop where they put the brakes on and hang you by the ankles before letting you go. After that is an amazing immelmann and a nice clothoid loop that are like a prize for putting up with the drop. People tell me it is odd to be a coaster enthusiast who does not like heights but there you go.

Went to the park Sunday. Cold weather kept crowds down, but with jacket and gloves it was a nice day to ride. Biggest lineup was at the Tim Hortons. Leviathan was lined up to the bottom of the stairs. They had these fancy red lights shining on the wheels in the station. Once on the track, the coaster hauled arse, ignoring the cold weather. Must have the snow tires on? The new coaster's lift hill and first drop is up, just waiting on some of the railings. It can be seen from all over the park, and will be awesome. You can see it from the highway as you arrive. Also had a nice ride on Vortex with a full lake below. Lake Behemoth had been drained though. Did not see my old car keys. festive red wheel lighting changing the skyline everywhere in the park more or less like the photo from minebuster exit ramp

Dispense with the unnecessary, lets get us some airtime! In haiku format: I love Behemoth Themeing unnecessary Airtime is its thing

^^ Nice advertising copy. Canadas wonderland: Now with better themeing than darien lake.

tunnel fuzz: it's a toronto subway thing

Without checking rcdb, i presume the ys drop is higher. This would mean more speed and a longer pullout. It would require a deeper tunnel if you started pullout after entering it. If the tunnel is deeper than 60’ it would be considered a subway and be subject to service cuts, short turns, broken air conditioning and “tunnel fuzz”. Hope that helps.

Then it should do a flythrough of the factory tour so you can see the workers packing the fudge.

In the category of not being very helpful... When they declare the official height of a rollercoaster, is the convention from the base of the lift hill to the top of the highest piece of track? If the yukon striker station is further up the embankment of lake vortex than windseeker?.... ahh nevermind.

No problem. I was not sure how high windseeker is.

No problem. I was not sure how high windseeker is.

yes: so they have most of the lift hill up. Looking at the pictures, it goes a bit higher before leveling off, turning a corner and dropping. As it comes together, we realize, it is going to be huge and take over the back of the park. The first photo is from the other side of vortex. It will sprawl over lake vortex, into the trees and back for the final bunny hill and helix over the Splashworks pathway after it's MCBR. I think it will give a nice adrenaline rush before hitting the final brakes and i like how it shouts out to it's retired cousin skyrider with the loop and final 90 degree banked helix. Maybe a nice lateral klunk for old times sake? (hope not) It can easily be seen from Behemoth's stairs. It should be a similar height to Windseeker. (if i were keen i could look it up, but i am sure someone on the internet will correct me). I am not a big fan of heights, and tend to get a bit freaked out when the bungee ride passes us on the way up. i can only imagine having the drop coaster go by will only add to this. It can also be seen from Leviathan's station. You can see it towering beside Wonder Mountain. This will definitely change the look of the whole park. It is going to be awesome.

It should come as no surprise that i am an old school Schwarzkopf fan. Growing up we had a Jumbo Jet at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto. I can still hear the sounds of the anti rollback ratchets from across the midway. They used to startle the crap out of me and define the thrill of being at the ‘Ex. As i got old enough, I got to ride on it a few times to the distress of my mother before it got dismantled and taken away. There was something that drew me to it. Wether it was the radar tower on top, or the spiral lift hill or that you could stand at the foot of the first drop and watch the coaster scream down the hill directly at you before breaking into a steeply banked high speed curve at ground level and heading back up the tower. and those ratchets… Thanks to the magic of the internet and the need to divert attention from responsible productive activities, i stumbled upon a blog, “the lost coaster” dedicated to the cedar point jumbo jet. https://thelostcoaster.wordpress.com/ The author had been drawn to it in the same way and had gone about finding out what happened to it. It was here I learned about a still running Jumbo Jet at a seaside park called Amigoland in the south of France which i filed away for future reference. It is one of the few remaining of the 7 that once graced Coney Island, Morreys Piers, the Ex, Cedar point and Walibi Belgium. There is still one in Mexico operating, and maybe one in Belarus. France seemed my best bet since i almost speak a version of the language and the food is good there too. Since my wife and I are not traveling to the US unless absolutely necessary these days, she suggested the south of France for our summer vacation. I said, “Sure, and since we are going there anyway, do you think we could stop off and see something cool?” It seemed perfectly reasonable… Amigoland is a small seaside fair, open only for July and August in a resort area called le Grau de Roi. It is an hour or so west of Marseilles, with a long beach on a peninsula that goes on for miles into the Mediterranean and lots of motels and vacation attractions that you would expect to find at such a place. And Amigoland. And one of the worlds few remaining Jumbo Jets! Having said all of that, they don’t make it too easy to find out about it either in french or english. There is a vague facebook page with few details, and a few random tripadvisor reports. The park is only open during july and august, so we chose the last week of august to start our trip. (despite the fact that one does not go to France in august since they are all on holiday then.) We were staying in Aix en Provence which is a cool little town we chose as our home base. If/ when we go back i would stay at one of the hotels on the beach so we can enjoy it there and don’t have to travel so far. The park opens late, at 8:30pm, so we were waiting for it to open with a 1.5 hr drive home to look forward to afterward. We were curious about what kind of food they would have at a french fair. Would there be a Chien Chaud au mais (corn dog?) hey had hot dogs in a steamer jar. they also had baguettes with meat and cheese that they would grill fresh for you. It turns out that the french word for cotton candy is Barba pappa. Who knew? Surprisingly they had a few stands selling Churros. There were a few odd mexico references as well. Maybe the name Amigoland is related but there is no explanation to confirm or deny this. So, as it turns out, amigoland is a mid sized fair with a decent selection of modern flat rides, a whacky worm, some kids rides, a semi permanent flume fide, a giant ferris wheel and of course, a jumbo jet. Everything looks to be well maintained and in good shape. tomorrow i will post a review of the jumbo jet and try to explain why i am so obsessed with the coaster. Approaching the park you see the flume, and something off on the horizon... splashdown don't know what this was but it was extra extra large. the bottom spins around and the seats flip as the arm swings around and you lose your chien chaud Les petits churros de ma pere? steamie hot dogs here is barba pappa! mexico? what's going on amigo? here we are! Not sure why they have olympic rings, but they seemed to like to abuse copyrights everywhere. good selection of kids rides too. washrooms conveniently behind so you can ride umber one after going number 2 big wheel with nice lighting package. break dance more copyright fun boy in the bubble Safety first, no cellphones, no smoking, no pregnant women, no children under 2 yrs sunset over amigoland le simulateur that's showbiz for ya! kraschen wagon flipper did not ride the wacky worm not sure of the mexico connection? the jumbo jet is always on the horizon lots of casinos and ways to lose money this was a bizarre little gambling den. it looked seedy but you can win an air compressor. so there's that...

Good thing we have professionals to design our coasters.