Trip Advice Needed: Canada's Wonderland, Darien Lake

[pianojohn]

I will be going home to Ohio for my college reunion in a few weeks, and I (of course) will be adding as many coaster credits as possible. Here is my game plan:

 

Wednesday June 20th: Fly Orlando to Cleveland, pick up rental car, drive to Cedar Point to get Maxx Pass processed. Hopefully get the Maverick credit. Head back to Cleveland and see The Click Five at House of Blues! Woo hoo!

 

Thursday June 21st: get up at the a$$ crack of dawn and drive to Toronto! Get all the Canada's Wonderland credits that I didn't get when I went to the park in 1982 (I am that old!) Hopefully, get them all, stop at Martin' Fantasy Island on the way back. Spend the night in Buffalo, NY.

 

Friday June 22nd: Hit Darien Lake, get credits that I didn't get in 1984 (I stopped there before the ACE Coaster Con that year and rode Viper 'cuz that was all they had!!). Head back to Ohio but stop off at Waldameer for more credits!

 

Saturday June 2 3rd: 20th College Reunion

 

Sunday June 24th: Cedar Point again

 

Monday June 25th: Fly back to Orlando

 

Sooooooooooooo......

 

Any advice on hitting these parks? I should have enough time to do everything, but I would like to know what coasters have the longest lines, etc. I assume Tomb Raider: The Ride has low capacity with the small cars, and of course, the Boomerangs only have one train each.

 

Any strategy for getting it and out of the parks as quickly as possible would be much appreciated! And if any TPR members are around those days, let me know!

 

Thanks!

[FeelTheFORCE]

By the looks of it, you're just going to CP on June 20th for a little bit solely to ride Maverick and get your pass processed, so this probably won't affect you that much, but I'll let you know anyway. I was looking at CP's calender and it's girl scout day. So it might be slightly more crowded than a normal Wednesday in June. Just giving you a heads-up!

[pianojohn]

Thanks! Yes, I am mainly going to get my pass processed so I can use it at Canada's Wonderland. I am also coming back to Ohio in July for another day at the Point.

 

Any Canadians or Buffalonians out there? Any advice would be most appreciated!

[Carnage]

Well you could skip Cedar Point when you first arrive and go straight to Canadas Wonderland. Then just get your Maxx pass there. It's just as good as Cedar Points, except it's only $100 Canadian. Alot cheaper then Cedar Points.

 

That's an option at least.

 

Other then that I see nothing wrong with your plan.

[niiicolaaah]

PCW: make sure to hit the lowest capacity coasters first: Fly (Mack mouse), Bat (Vekoma boomerang), and Tomb Raider (Zamperla Volare). Top Gun (the vekoma SLC) always seems to have a line as well.

 

DL: I'm not sure if Predator will be open for you, it was closed for some rehab work. You will have no problems getting all the credits; in fact, it's kind of pointless to plan a whole day there unless you're planning on spending time in the water park. You may want to consider hitting Seabreeze on the same day. Seabreeze is a small park in Rochester on Lake Ontario that has 3 credits (4 if you have a kid with you or will steal one). I think it's like 45 minutes away from DL.

 

Martin's is a good after-5 pm stop cause it's only like $12 to get in. Go to the Crazy Mouse at the back of the park first, cause that one has terrible capacity. Then go ride Silver Comet until the park closes... it's a great ride!

[Tanks4me05]

^ Predator just opened less than a week ago.

 

I never went to Canada's Wonderland, but I have tips for DL (most of the parks in upstate New York, actually)

 

I suggest riding Predator in either the second row, first car, or first row second car, which I heard was the smoothest when it was last opened. I also suggest to ride in the back of Ride of Steel. I don't care if that ride was rattling a lot, it had a much better sense of speed on the straight sections, and the ride still has amazing airtime in the back. Viper is actually pretty smooth, and so is Boomerang, even in the back, and once you realize that the G's on Boomerangs reach 5.2, you will probably appreciate them more. Mind Eraser and Tin Lizzy's are the only rides in the park with lines over 20 minutes on a regular basis, with lines at about 40 minutes or longer. You could spend the whole day there if you want (but I usually ride the coasters and most flat rides multiple times) but you could still ride all the major stuff in a few hours.

[Carnage]

and Tomb Raider (Zamperla Volare). Top Gun (the vekoma SLC) always seems to have a line as well.

 

Everyone flocks to Top Gun at opening for some reason.

 

If you want to ride Tomb Raider, go there first. You can get on it quickly that way. When we were there a couple weeks ago we rode it right at opening, and by the time we got off the line had grown about 4x the amount we waited.

[ginzo]

Darien Lake: bring a neck brace and a bottle of Oxycontin. You're going to need it. Predator was open when we went on Memorial Day weekend. But the track work did nothing. The ride still blows.

 

The only advice I have is to not skip Waldameer. It's such a cute little park. Also, be aware that they sometimes close before the posted closing time. I think they closed 90 minutes early when we went.

[Darien Laker]

Viper will most likely be running two trains and not have a wait. You've already ridden it, but it's better than most of the new credits you'll be getting.

 

ROS and Mind Eraser could have long lines if they run one train, but maybe you'll get lucky and catch them on a two-train day. ROS is obviously the only reason to come to this park. Mind Eraser hurts the ears a bit.

 

If Predator does have wait, it moves slow because it takes forever to load/unload. I haven't ridden it yet this year but it's always been the worst coaster ever

 

Boomerang might have a short wait. It's pretty smooth for a Boomerang.

 

Ride Twister if it's open too. The only really good flat in the park.

[pianojohn]

Thanks for all the great advice. I am hoping to get Canada's Wonderland done with enough time to stop by Martin's Fantasy Island on the way to Buffalo to get my two credits there.

 

The reason I am hitting Cedar Point is to get my pass activated. I already purchased it online. In retrospect, I should have just bought a Geauga Lake one since it is closer to my Mom's home in Ohio, but I wanted to have the Cedar Point logo. Yeah, that's dumb!

 

Any recommendations for hotels in or around Darien Lake? I have checked online but they all seem pretty shady.

 

And if any TPR members are in the parks on those days, drop me a PM so so we can meet up! This is definitely a whirlwind tour for me, but sometimes you just gotta seize the moment!

 

I also plan to stop at Waldameer on the drive back to Cleveland. I am skipping Seabreeze since the only new coaster is the spinning one, and I don't need the credit that bad.

 

Thanks again, and look for my photo TR in a few weeks!

[niiicolaaah]

^Didn't realize you had been to Seabreeze before. Have fun! I'd come with, but I'm trying to save up money for another trip...

 

 

...ROS is obviously the only reason to come to this park...

 

Funny, cause my last rides on ROS made me drop it 10 spots in my ranking. That thing really sucked at the beginning of this year.