Canada's Wonderland Discussion Thread

[Shut It Down]

I think this looks great as I was a big fan of Valravyn when I went to Cedar Point back in June! Does anyone think B&M will ever go beyond vertical with one of their dive machines?

[Honorarius]

Another new thing announced is the gold pass which will include Halloween Haunt and Winterfest. From reading the benefits, looks like they are taking things away from the regular season pass. Early entry will be for Gold and Platinum pass holders now. Its about time they offered more things for higher level pass holders

 

According to the CW website, Regular Season Pass holders will still get ERT...

[robbalvey]

Times have changed. Dive Coasters seem to be the *thing to have* right now...

There will have been a total of FOUR B&M Dive Coasters built in North America between 2004 - 2019. (16 seasons) I'm not sure you can really call that a trend.

 

Just like Inverts were a while back.

In comparison, there were 18 B&M inverts built in North America within that same time frame.

 

I don't think this is a good comparison.

Edited August 15, 2018 by robbalvey

[Stealth1]

They offer a gold pass now but you wouldn't know it. When you click on the ticket link on their site only the season pass is talked about. You almost have to look for the Gold Pass link.

 

They offer Haunt and Winterfest for Gold pass and higher but really don't advertise it. You would think that they want more people to buy the Gold pass.

[MiABeta]

Oh my what a ride! I really think the layout is pretty good but tbh I think the MCBR won’t be too functional, I think the drop after will be fun, but it will only mildly increase capacity. Love the first half of the layout though! I can’t remember if I heard it might have a vertical loop or if I dreamt it, but I swear I’ve thought about it for this ride before! Seems sweet and the layout looks a lot better than Valravn.

 

I will say that after riding SheiKra I wish Valravn and Yukon Striker would have the old restraints, but I’ll love the ride none the less. Plus I think enthusiasts focus too much on the small things like the tiny bit of layout after the MCBR or the restraints, enjoy the ride for what it is!

[RCjunkie]

Curious to see how this Winterfest works out for them. A natural fit for my home park VF, but even VF is north of CW so maybe not.

 

As far as the new dive coaster goes it probably already has a B&M rattle so it won't be worth riding at all.

 

Actually, after looking at the layout of the new coaster it reminds to go find my passport.

[3Mutts]

Very nice, the drop looks amazing and I LOVE that this Dive Coaster has a very unique layout compared to the others. Also I like the name, way better than Ziz or whatever it was.

[KIJester]

Anyone know if CF/CW put a construction cam up for this new DM?

We here in the south are still patiently waiting for the new Carowinds coaster cam to go live. Prolly after the 8/30 announcement as the placeholder still seems to exist.

[Philrad71]

I just texted the link to my sister and she is STOKED because Valravn is her favorite coaster.

 

Yeah, I really can't see how anyone would not be excited about this, but I think it looks awesome and I love the colors, new elements, the dive into the tunnel, the newly themed area as well as the addition of Winterfest. So yeah...I love everything about this announcement!

 

Also glad that I had the patience to do the right thing and actually wait for the official announcement - it was well worth it (not that I would EVER be tempted to check leaked news). Loved Robb's comparison to leaking info about a couple announcing a baby - well stated, Robb.

 

I had not previously been a huge fan of CW's coaster line-up other than Behemoth and Leviathan, but this coaster will definitely get me back up to Toronto next year.

 

Huge props to them and congrats to our Canadian friends for getting another killer coaster!

[Doppel Looping]

So i went to the public announcement today, it was pretty low key in a good way. No real fanfare, just come on over and talk to us about our new project. It makes sense that they couldn't invite large groups of public onto an active construction site, so they pulled the fence aside so people could see what is going on. All in all a pretty chill way to tell your customers we are spending over $30 million on our newest attraction. All they needed was a box of doughnuts which is the canadian sign for We are doing a project.

 

They opened up the fence by the construction area and put a sample piece of the track out in front. There were Wonderland staff with nametags standing around talking to people. I saw a well meaning coaster enthusiast trying to convince what looked like the main guy that they should be building an RMC. He patiently explained "Just because you like RMC doesn't mean that the rest of our guests will" and "we will see when we go to do a new coaster if they are still in fashion". He politely all but said no wfay. (wait there is no f in way...) it was funny to see, but cudos to the enthusiast for being persistent. He kept coming back to the question hoping for a different answer. It was a cautionary tale not to be such a knob while out in public.

 

I spoke to a guy who was the digital media person. He was a super nice guy. Without prompting, he mentioned the world records and suggested they were helpful in marketing the park. And also politely explained that they don't really see la ronde as their direct competitor.

 

I asked him whether they planned to open rides for holiday in the park. He didn't think that coasters would be possible but that they were looking at getting some of the flat rides going. He also said that platinum passholders would be allowed to attend, but not regular season passholders. (well they can go, but they have to pay...)

 

Earlier this season i saw what i now think may be wheel heaters in Leviathan's station, whether they are to make late season operation work better or make holiday in the park possible, i don't know.

 

I spoke to some guys in work shirts as well. He said that the footers and groundwork was mostly complete, and they were starting to put the track up "like LEGO". He thought it would go pretty quickly from now on in, and though they might even get the lift hill started today.

 

Soon after 10:00am, they closed up the fence and everyone went on their way.

 

 

I got some pictures including the track staging area.

 

Front gate display

stats

a piece of track and a rock

the transfer track/ station with loading platform stow away mechanism

new coaster going here

sunrise over lake behemoth. Somewhere in that lake is a set of my car keys, but that is another story for another day.

tunnel exit, no wider than it needs to be

staging area

stuff

start of the lift hill

more stuff

and more stuff with neat view of behemoth

[Mrlittle]

^ That tunnel

[joelwee]

^^ Thanks for the pics. I have yet to ride a dive machine with a tunnel, so I'm really digging that head-chopper tunnel.

[coasterbill]

Great update!

 

So an enthusiast went up to a park representative on the day they announced an amazing dive coaster that they’ve been working on for years and told them that they should be building something else instead and was incredibly “persistent” about it?

 

Sounds about right... I hate people.

[CoasterAuditor]

Great update!

 

So an enthusiast went up to a park representative on the day they announced an amazing dive coaster that they’ve been working on for years and told them that they should be building something else instead and was incredibly “persistent” about it?

 

Sounds about right... I hate people.

 

The amount of coaster dorks I've seen on forums that throw a fit whenever an RMC is not built is depressing. I saw people on another unmentioned forum saying how the new BGW coaster needs to "contrast I305, and Fury 325" and I'm over here like "I just hope it's fun."

[A.J.]

I saw a well meaning coaster enthusiast trying to convince what looked like the main guy that they should be building an RMC. He patiently explained "Just because you like RMC doesn't mean that the rest of our guests will"

S A V A G E

 

Is Yukon Striker a perfect fit for Canada's Wonderland? Maybe, maybe not. But it looks exciting and will likely work incredibly well as an anchor attraction for their new land, and I feel like that's what matters. Is there really that much negative feedback about it? I haven't seen much of anything other than reactions ranging from "this looks fine" to "this is awesome".

[Arthur_Seaton]

Wow, that tunnel clearance looks unnervingly tight!

 

I'm a big fan of Valravn, so I'm happy to see more of these rides emerging. I'm not a fan of some of B&M's past gimmicks (flyers and standups, mainly), but love their megas or gigas or whatever they're called. These dive coasters offer smooth rides that do a fine job of balancing thrills with fun, and their visual spectacle seems like it would make them even more appealing a park. Nice choice, Canada's Wonderland, and thanks for the coverage, Doppel Looping (good name!)

[boldikus]

Is there really that much negative feedback about it? I haven't seen much of anything other than reactions ranging from "this looks fine" to "this is awesome".

As with any park related announcement, there are tons of dumb/negative comments, though the overall reaction seems to be positive. I'd normally retract these peoples names but eff that, they deserve to be publicly shamed.

 

And then of course the randos that are only aware of one other dive coaster and therefore assume this is the same thing.

 

[Doppel Looping]

^To be fair, i may have caught the enthusiast guy out of context and it may be only one of many topics their conversation had, but i moved on.

 

I had been hoping for a modern looping coaster, and so finding out that it had the first dive coaster with a loop was a nice bonus for me. ( huge Werner Stengel fan surprise surprise) For a coaster nerd, i don't really like heights or hanging at the top of drops, so i have needed to work my way up to dive coasters. I joke that once you get past the drop on Valravyn, the Immelmann is spectacular. I am glad we are getting Canada's largest immelmann as well. (don't know if that will make the t-shirt)

[9Armgeddon4]

I've had this park on my bucket list for a while but this just might be the kicker that's finally going to make me plan a trip here. I don't think it'll be next year but probably 2020. Now if only RMC could give us a coaster with a vertical loop.

[robbalvey]

As with any park related announcement, there are tons of dumb/negative comments, though the overall reaction seems to be positive. I'd normally retract these peoples names but eff that, they deserve to be publicly shamed.

I will tell you that this is one of the reasons the parks love TPR! No matter what awful crap we get on our socials the parks always seem to get it worse, but we will at least tell people to go straight to hell where the parks really cannot do that on their pages.

 

I can't tell you how many times a park will tell me "Robb, we love your socials. You say the things we are all thinking but aren't allowed to post!"

 

And for that we will continue to keep doing what we do!

[Yeild4Pokes]

Never been but have wanted to go for years. Think it'll finally happen now.

[CoasterAuditor]

Is there really that much negative feedback about it? I haven't seen much of anything other than reactions ranging from "this looks fine" to "this is awesome".

As with any park related announcement, there are tons of dumb/negative comments, though the overall reaction seems to be positive. I'd normally retract these peoples names but eff that, they deserve to be publicly shamed.

 

Negative facebook comments on new ride announcements are just awful. Nobody is ever happy with the new attraction. I always love the comments like "what about people who DONT like roller coasters?" I recall when Fury 325 was announced I saw a woman say "another huge coaster that parents can't ride with their little kids! SHAME ON YOU CAROWINDS" like really? Shame? What?

[Truth Hurts]

People are funny. You just can't please them all.

[robbalvey]

People are funny. You just can't please them all.

 

More people need to understand why this is funny...

[twitter]

[/twitter] Edited August 15, 2018 by robbalvey

[SharkTums]

It goes back to a problem people have nowadays online...if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything! No one is forcing you to go to the park. No one is forcing you to ride the new coaster. No one is forcing you to go to the parks Facebook page. You're not paying for the new coaster?!!? You don't have the right to be all bitchy about this thing that really doesn't affect you at all!

 

This applies to so much in life...much more than just coasters!