Canada's Wonderland Discussion Thread

[Carnage]

like skyrider line was out of the queue line .

 

That's probably a good hour or two wait.

 

A station wait for Skyrider is about 30 minutes at least.

[307]

Something is screwed up with Behemoth. Today the ride was CLOSED at around 3pm. No reason was given at the time. Someone at CWMania gave the following comment: "I work as a rides employee,and I can say today was busyy we were running cycles as fast as we could to get lines moving, like skyrider line was out of the queue line . I know why behemoth is down, but I cant say, all I can say is, it won't most likely be running coming weekend, and possibly weekend after that."

I hope this isn't true! I was hoping to get back on it next weekend and give Nikki her first [behemoth] ride!

[clewis4u]

Wow apparently today was a very bad day for the park. A child was almost trampled to death by the crowd running towards Behemoth. A fight outside the front gates. Park opening time extended to 9pm but queues were closed off at 8:15. Behemoth breaks down for the rest of the day and possibly for a few more weeks. Wow, what is going on here? Looks like the park is having problems CONTROLLING people.

[mightypotato]

Man, I really hope that isn't true about Behemoth. I'm glad I got my first ride in on Friday. Even then, there was a bit of chaos in the park. A fight almost broke out at Extreme Skyflier when people tried line jumping. Why someone would line jump for an upcharge attraction is beyond me, but it provided some comedy while waiting. There was also a bit of chaos in the Behemoth line at the start of the day that ended up with security booting some people out of the park.

[clewis4u]

I have a feeling the lift motor is shot... already. Someone said that yesterday the train was CRAWLING up the lift at about 10 feet per minute......

[chemical_echo]

Got to ride Behemoth on Friday after my volunteer work at the park was finished up.

Sat in the very last row and got a great ride. Nice airtime down the first drop and over every hill. Only the first trim was on, and it barely even touched the train. Can't wait for Behemoth Bash to ride it again.

[thecoasterkid]

I could totally see the trample coming. Canadas Wonderland needs to SERIOUSLY re-think the way they do park openings. I was talking to Coaster_Dude2002 about it on our opening day visit. It's impossible to try to control a group that large and have everyone "walk" to the ride all at once. It simply doesn't work. Some people will run ahead, and anger everyone in line who chose to follow the rules. Others can trip and fall, and if a crowd is moving in one large push to the ride (running OR walking) you can't see or stop in time to not step onto the fallen person.

 

IMO they should let people into the park as they show up, and you simply wait in line outside of the queue for the ride you want. I know most parks don't operate in that way, but to me it seems the safest option. Yes you may have people running from the gate to Behemoth, but if they're spaced out no one should get trampeled. Also, if the park TELLS you to walk, and you run and fall, that's your own idiotic fault. Unfortunately insurance liabilities don't work that way...but I'm sure a lawsuit from a child nearly being trampeled to death is much worse then a similar lawsuit for only scraped elbows. It also further heightens the "first come, first served" aspect and it's easier to enforce a walking rule this way.

[thecoasterkid]

Sorry for the double post, but I just read the article that Dan posted and couldn't help but laugh.

 

The writer has more than 700 credits and he ranks Raging Bull in his 2 spot!? Either that's based ENTIRELY on it's ride pre-trims, or he loves a ride that's so smooth you could take a nap on it.

 

Beyond his top 10 list though it was pretty well written and I agree with his opinions on the ride. Behemoth really did WOW me on my first ride and I can't wait to try it again. I'll keep a look out on here to find out when it's up and running again before I take the venture on our wonderful Canadian highways to fight traffic to get there.

[clewis4u]

Yeah I noticed that list too and thought WTF?! As soon as I hear any more info regarding Behemoth I will post it. I really hope this thing is up and running for next weekend. Apparently there were about 3 people walking around the area where the lift motor is held so I'm convinced that it's shot.

[sam06pr]

oh oh. problems already with a B&M???

[Bolliger&Mabillard]

I'm surprised that a Hyper is giving problems. B&M flyers have tons of downtime, but It's usually never anything mechanical. Most B&M problems I've either seen myself or heard about were 95% electrical. (B&M Flyers have prox. switches everywhere, hence the downtime)

I'm surprised none the less. B&M is just about the most reliable ball of metal you can buy, which is why I think every park should have about two.

[dandaman]

coasterkid: Well, I haven't had the chance yet to ask him about that list. He does always list MF as #1, though. Raging Bull strikes me a bit odd of a choice, but that's only based on the glowing reviews I've seen on here.

[Carnage]

I honestly think I might put Raging Bull ahead of Behemoth.

 

Both have similar drops and turnarounds, but I think I had more fun on Bull's second half, then on Behemoth's bunny hills.

 

Though I definetly wouldn't put Raging Bull #2 on my overall list.

 

That being said though I still want to ride Behemoth with full trains when running warm to get an idea of how it should run.

[alpengeist04]

I can't understand why anyone would put any B&M hyper in their top 5, but that's just me. Anyway, hopefully Behemoth will be up and running in no time. You guys waited this long for the coaster to open and now it's down. That definitely stinks.

[thecoasterkid]

^^ I can definitely see someone putting Bull ahead of Behemoth because although they're both hypers they are quite different rides. If you prefer the one style to the other, than your personal preferance wins out and you would rate the one over the other. But also like you, it really seems to me that there are coasters more similar to Raging Bull's style that pull it off much better, and would therefore top it in a list.

[sam06pr]

I can't understand why anyone would put any B&M hyper in their top 5, but that's just me. Anyway, hopefully Behemoth will be up and running in no time. You guys waited this long for the coaster to open and now it's down. That definitely stinks.

 

Why not??? some B&M hypers have a lot of airtime, and are fun. I really like Nitro. I think it had a lot of airtime and it was fun. It's on my top five. it is just the diferent taste that ppl have.

 

Hopefully Behemoth really impresses more people

[clewis4u]

Just saw this on another forum: "Behemoth is shut down temporarly due to a gear on the chain drive being defective. The gear broke and needs to be replaced its unknown when wonderland will be able to get the part, so it maybe shut down for a week or so."

[RinkyDink94]

Where exactly did you here this?

[mightypotato]

Probably CWMania, they usually seem to be up to date on any happenings at CW. That's where I got all my Behemoth info before the announcement and during the off-season.

[clewis4u]

Yeah it was CWMania. It'll suck big time if it's down for this long holiday weekend!

[Philrad71]

Whew! I originally was going to make plans to go to Canada's Wonderland and Toronto this weekend and then decided against it being a holiday weekend in Canada (crowds).

 

I would think that it would not take a very long time for them to order and replace a drive gear and chain, unless this is some custom made special part? But being B & M, I would imagine that they would have spares manufactured specifically for the ride that they could just over-night ship from anywhere in the world...or better yet, fly professional mechanics there to do the job.

 

If this is indeed the problem, I could imagine it only being down for a few days max. My job is dealing with customer complaints and defects for heavy duty diesel engines. I have to ship replacement parts all over the world on a daily basis (including gears). If you pay the premium ship freight, you can pretty much guarantee a shipment across the globe within a couple of days, if not next day air.

 

All the same, I am sooo glad that I decided to go to Kennywood and Pittsburgh this weekend instead...I just hope that Ghostwood Estates doesn't break down!!!

[307]

I honestly think I might put Raging Bull ahead of Behemoth.

 

Both have similar drops and turnarounds, but I think I had more fun on Bull's second half, then on Behemoth's bunny hills.

 

Though I definetly wouldn't put Raging Bull #2 on my overall list.

 

That being said though I still want to ride Behemoth with full trains when running warm to get an idea of how it should run.

I'd probably put Behemoth above Raging Bull, but I really liked both of them. Neither are cracking my top ten list though...

 

Both were worlds better than Apollo's Chariot.

[signal]

I could totally see the trample coming. Canadas Wonderland needs to SERIOUSLY re-think the way they do park openings. I was talking to Coaster_Dude2002 about it on our opening day visit. It's impossible to try to control a group that large and have everyone "walk" to the ride all at once. It simply doesn't work. Some people will run ahead, and anger everyone in line who chose to follow the rules. Others can trip and fall, and if a crowd is moving in one large push to the ride (running OR walking) you can't see or stop in time to not step onto the fallen person.

 

IMO they should let people into the park as they show up, and you simply wait in line outside of the queue for the ride you want. I know most parks don't operate in that way, but to me it seems the safest option. Yes you may have people running from the gate to Behemoth, but if they're spaced out no one should get trampeled. Also, if the park TELLS you to walk, and you run and fall, that's your own idiotic fault. Unfortunately insurance liabilities don't work that way...but I'm sure a lawsuit from a child nearly being trampeled to death is much worse then a similar lawsuit for only scraped elbows. It also further heightens the "first come, first served" aspect and it's easier to enforce a walking rule this way.

 

WARNING: Off topic part

 

You should see Disney World during a holiday. After ERT when Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain opened, it was amazing. Although I will spill the beans on my secret for being at the front. The crowds go through the main area, run past Jungle Cruise and Aladdin and you will (atleast I was) behind security! I eventually got in the crowd of about 300 other people wanting to ride the two rides. I got the first ride on Thunder Mountain though.

 

End of Off-Topic

 

 

Sorry for the off topic part, now, on to the real part.

I'm really surprised that Canada's Wonderland has these problems with the crowds... Also the fact that their new coaster is down until who knows when, especially since it is a B&M, which I've never seen break down so early into a "career" (keep in mind I havn't payed attention to many of them, you guys probably will try to correct me)

[Carnage]

I'm really surprised that Canada's Wonderland has these problems with the crowds...

 

I'm not surprised.

 

They obviously just weren't ready for the buzz this ride was going to cause. They have never had a ride of this caliber before, so they really couldn't guess how the crowds were going to react.

 

Of course everyone is going to rush the ride when it's bigger then anything the park has ever built.

[mightypotato]

^

I do have to give CW credit for how they've been running it though. When I was there, the ride opened with all three trains operating and they were cranking people through at a crazy rate. Never really had to wait longer than 45 minutes all day to get on. And that was with a full queue. At least in that respect, they planned ahead and were prepared.