Canada's Wonderland Discussion Thread

[Zeppelinfreak]

^I agree 100%.

[beatle11]

As stupid as it may seem, putting in a giga after a hyper works. At least with me (and I have a feeling I'm not the only one) . Indeed, this park already attracted me before (never been there) but the fact I can ride a giga as a "bonus" won't hurt. Maybe I would have left this park behind while planning a personal road trip, but I would include it WITHOUT A DOUBT NOW. Of course, I would ALSO have prefered an Intamin (not just because X is better than Y or Y is better than X) but just for the sake of variety. Some people would like to own a Ferrari and a Lamborghini, some people would prefer 2 Ferraris, some 2 Lambo's...

 

Hit the nail on the head. They could have put in something like a GCI Woodie, or that rumored B&M floorless, and that would have been great. But that would not have attracted people worldwide as much as a Giga would, even if it's kinda similar to Behemoth. Robb and Elissa are basing a possible trip next year off it. They probably would not have considered it for something smaller.

[taytig]

I am dreading ...I mean heading....to the park tomorrow. If there is anything interesting happening, I'll try and post a few pictures. I don't mind the park, but it is a little on the boring side after being a season pass holder in the past. I also don't like the hour waits for rides that are just - MEH! Once my kids are just 1 inch taller, and can ride almost everything, it will make a difference I'm sure.

 

As for Leviathan - I really was hoping for an Intamin as well. I prefer their rides over B&M, but variety is nice. Ttwo big B&M scream machines just seems excessive and I think people would have clearly noted differences if they were made by different manufacturers.

[rollin_n_coastin]

It is definitely interesting reading comments to the tune of a new attraction being "excessive", or that it isn't "deserved" so soon or that people just don't 'get it'. It's enough to make management ride a padded yellow bus to the hospital. What is it that will make enthusiasts happy?

 

I'm the first to eat a huge helping of humble pie and tasty crow for all my predictions being completely wrong because look how "badly" it turned out? It's only "another" B&M mega that is "exactly" the same as Behemoth. So yah the track record: Intamin? Nope. Dragon? Nope. Launch? Nope. Dive Machine? GG Woody? Nope. I could go on. Good job me.

 

I'm of the camp that this is as similar to Behemoth as having more than one wooden coaster in the park, which are also always 'exactly' the same and don't loop. In all honesty, I really thought that the trains would differentiate it even more from Behemoth than it already is. But then, would I sacrifice the awesomeness of having only a lap bar for something over-the-shoulders that would be on a wing rider train or floorless train on this layout? I'm not so sure.

 

Also keep in mind that Leviathan was designed as a speed machine first and foremost. So basically, if you love Millennium Force, you will most likely love this ride! I promise that I'll be done being facetious after this, but it's a good thing that we have the exact same coaster, called Behemoth, on the other side of the park for those looking for a bit of variety in terms of great airtime.

 

A cadillac of a looper, flyer or launched would have been amazing, but we already have those too and I don't think the GP would differentiate between them any more than they would between Behemoth and Leviathan.

[Wood Dragon 1988]

Honestly, I'm very excited for this ride. I think I've finally given up complaining about every little detail of recently announced coasters. I mean, it's a 300 foot cosater for a park who's best coaster 5 years ago was an Arrow. I just think CW is a different park. It's so darn big and gets so much attendance I'm sure it can support lines for two amazing coasters which are very similar. And imagine a GP (or enthusiast for that matter) going to the park, riding Behemoth and then getting even more excited for Leviathon.

 

And personally, I HATE statistics and am not the biggest B&M fan, but I think it is awesome that they finally went over 300. This is easily my most anticipated B&M coaster in the last 10 years. Just when we were all starting to complain about B&M megas being similar, they give us this. I think its awesome...

 

I mean, personally I'd rather go to CW and ride both of these beasts in the same day, paying the one admission, compared to going to Carowinds and SFOG to ride two even more similar rides, paying for 2 park admissions, gas, etc. Just one way to look at it.

[cal1br3tto]

Like many who posted earlier, I love the name and logo. As far as the coaster itself, all I care to say now is that I'm looking forward to riding it. These big non-loopers (both hyper and giga) tend to have a lot of what I'm looking for in a coaster. If this has at least a couple good airtime spots to go with its height and speed, I'm sure I'll regard it well.

[avadakedavra]

I just made this account because after reading all these comments I really want to post. I'm really dumbfounded by all the negative comments towards this ride. Being from Toronto, I'm totally excited that we're getting another ride. Yes it seems similar to Behemoth, but I'm more shocked that we're actually getting another amazing coaster so quickly! For years when it was under Paramount, all we would get would be another new ride like Sledgehammer, or Shockwave, other flat rides. The newest coasters being Italian Job and Tomb Raider were less than stellar. Both were fun rides, but compared to Cedar Point or other US parks, we had nothing that was mind blowing or incredibly tall.

 

It sounds like most people that are complaining about it being too similar aren't even from the Toronto area and are more just jealous that their local park didn't get it. What's all the nonsense about other parks meant to get it like Knotts but instead they gave it to Wonderland? CW has the highest attendance of any seasonal park in North America, even more than Cedar Point. Plus the Canadian economy is much better than the US's right now, just look at the dollar difference. It's a little insulting when people act like giving it to Wonderland was an afterthought. It's very clearly designed for CW, going out into the parking lot and all. Even if it was designed for another park and for some reason that fell through, wouldn't it make more sense to say "oh let's give it to XYZ park as we really need to boost attendance there?" versus "Oh lets give it to Wonderland which already has our highest attendance of any park?"

 

You also have to realize that 99% of the people on this forum are coaster enthusiasts. To most people, they don't even know what B&M or Intamin are. At work we found out about this because they keep talking about it on the radio with the season pass advertisements. Everyone was freaking out watching the videos of it when we found the site. Not one person complained or said it looks like Behemoth or that they were disappointed, but instead couldn't wait until next year when it's done and were excited that we were getting another huge coaster so soon.

 

It's also VERY easy for people here to say "Oh they should have went with Intamin" or "they could have spend that $28 million doing this this and this". You need to stop and realize that business doesn't really work like that. I'm sure they went to Intamin and got quotes as well, but maybe it was $30 million for the same coaster. You can't compare the pricing to others in the USA, as this is a different country so there may not be the same laws or supplier relations here.

 

Any coaster is better than no coaster. Sure I would have liked to see something different, like maybe a flying coaster that's even bigger than Tatsu, something different but I'm not going to complain as Wonderland is finally starting to become a really killer park.

[A.J.]

Yes, that is a very nice, thorough post...

 

...but that still won't stop me from making fun of the monotonous brake run.

 

IN THE WORLD.

[atem122]

^I dunno, man, Wild Eagle and Leviathan are going to have to battle it out for that honor!

[avadakedavra]

...but that still won't stop me from making fun of the monotonous brake run.

 

IN THE WORLD.

 

Just out of curiosity though, how many of the average people that go to a theme park even notice or comment on the brakes on a ride? (Aside from the people that are scared to go on and worry the brakes will fail etc etc).

 

My point was just that the people on this site are roller coaster fanatics. When looking at the new ride from an average visitors point of view, the comments that most people put here dissing the ride pretty much mean nothing. Most average visitors don't even know who the manufacturer of rides are.

[Synshine]

I do not see long brake runs as new thing..because they aren't. Are people just too accustomed to seeing really short ones?

[ImmelMatt]

I do not see long brake runs as new thing..because they aren't. Are people just too accustomed to seeing really short ones?

 

Long break runs on Intamins are not new. Long break runs on B&Ms most definitely are.... especially when they're a good 50-100 ft in the air.

[Carnage]

My point was just that the people on this site are roller coaster fanatics. When looking at the new ride from an average visitors point of view, the comments that most people put here dissing the ride pretty much mean nothing. Most average visitors don't even know who the manufacturer of rides are.

 

The comments for the most part have not been negative. More like confused.

 

It's great that we're getting a new awesome ride. But at the same time lots of people are kind of scratching their heads wonder the reasons behind it.

[A.J.]

Just out of curiosity though, how many of the average people that go to a theme park even notice or comment on the brakes on a ride? (Aside from the people that are scared to go on and worry the brakes will fail etc etc).

 

My point was just that the people on this site are roller coaster fanatics. When looking at the new ride from an average visitors point of view, the comments that most people put here dissing the ride pretty much mean nothing. Most average visitors don't even know who the manufacturer of rides are.

 

Ahem.

 

...but that still won't stop me from making fun of the monotonous brake run.

 

IN THE WORLD.

[XYZ]

In 2012, riding Dragon Fire should be spectacular since it will run through Leviathan, though we're talking about an Arrow Looper.

[avadakedavra]

Maybe I'm missing something but what on earth difference does it make how long the final brake run is? Confused...

[DJeXeL]

Maybe it'll be divided into 2 blocks. It is a little long in my opinion but then again my opinion really doesn't matter because I would assume that with 84 coasters under their belt, B&M's engineering team would know what they are doing.

 

Better too long than too short......Just saying......

Edited September 6, 2011 by DJeXeL

[niiicolaaah]

Personally, I would love a coaster that goes lift, drop, turn, BRAKE RUN. The brake run awesomeness is where it's at.

[atem122]

Better too long than too short......Just saying......

True, but in this case, it's too long vs. an appropriate length!

[DJeXeL]

Pretty sure the engineers decide what's an appropriate length...........

In all honesty it's a little long but I believe it's probably going to be divided up into 2 blocks. All other B&Ms with 3 trains have 5 blocks.

So in this case Leviathan's block setup is most likely Station, Lift, Block Brake (1st section of brake run), Safety/Main Brake (2nd section of brake run), transfer (just before right hand turn), station approach.

[asimowalk]

Not sure if it's already been mentioned, but the Haunt site is now up: http://haunt.canadaswonderland.com

It's kind of interesting how boring it is without the background music and other features from the flash site.

 

Another thing to note is they have a discounted ticket for Friday and Sunday nights which is a very good idea with my past experiences with overcrowded Haunts.

 

Does anyone have any information on The Hanging show? It would be cool if it's something like Knott's, but it doesn't look that way from the description:

Join the citizens of Halloween Haunt at The Hanging of Molly McIvor for crimes of witchcraft and devil worship.

[Dark Luke]

As CW is my home park, this coaster, along with Behemoth, totally surprised me. Let alone any continuous circuit, non-inverted coaster that's taller than 30 m...

 

Honestly, I'm very excited for this ride. I think I've finally given up complaining about every little detail of recently announced coasters. I mean, it's a 300 foot cosater for a park who's best coaster 5 years ago was an Arrow. I just think CW is a different park. It's so darn big and gets so much attendance I'm sure it can support lines for two amazing coasters which are very similar. And imagine a GP (or enthusiast for that matter) going to the park, riding Behemoth and then getting even more excited for Leviathon.

 

And personally, I HATE statistics and am not the biggest B&M fan, but I think it is awesome that they finally went over 300. This is easily my most anticipated B&M coaster in the last 10 years. Just when we were all starting to complain about B&M megas being similar, they give us this. I think its awesome...

 

Absolutely.

 

Not everyone in Canada have a Canadian citizenship, and these people require a visa to enter USA. So these people are stuck with Wonderland as their only available amusement park, and the Greater Toronto Area is an extremely highly populated area.

 

Back in the Paramount days I felt like this park is a big ripoff for money. Not only are entrance fees expensive (maybe except Fairchild TV discounts), add a 1.5 hour lineup for a Vekoma SLCs / Boomerangs, Togo stand-ups, and 40 minute lineups for everything else that's don't even break the 30m height mark.

 

Height of roller coasters in Wonderland sorted by height:

1. Leviathan: 93 m

2. Behemoth: 70 m

3. Vekoma Boomerang: 36 m (Yes, Wonderland's 3rd tallest coaster is a Vekoma Boomerang after Leviathan is built)

4. Vekoma SLC: 33 m

5. Vortex: 28 m

6. Mindbuster: 27 m

7. Togo standup: 27 m

8. Wild Beast: 25 m

9. Dragon Fire: 24 m

10. The Fly: 16 m

11. Zampela Volare: 15 m

12. Vekoma Junior Inverted: 15 m

13. Backlot stunt coaster: 14 m

14. Ghoster coaster: 13 m

15. Thunder Run: 10 m

 

The difference in height between Wonderland's 2nd and 3rd tallest coasters (Behemoth vs. Boomerang) is higher than height of every coaster in Paramount's era, excluding the SLC.

 

Leviathan is more than triple the height of every coaster in Paramount's era, excluding the SLC.

Edited September 10, 2011 by Dark Luke

[XYZ]

There was 2 things that are interesting about CW's coasters:

 

1. Most of the coasters are short

 

2. Canada's Wonderland NEVER removed a coaster (Unlike CGA )

 

^The Togo Stand-Up is SkyRider

[coasterbear30]

Personally, I would love a coaster that goes lift, drop, turn, BRAKE RUN. The brake run awesomeness is where it's at.

 

That coaster has already been built...it is called Oblivion.

[PKI Jizzman]

Cedar Fair needs bigger brake runs to stack more trains duhhh