Canada's Wonderland Discussion Thread

[Toro#1]

sorry to double post, but just got back, hell of a day! Fast Pass was worth every penny it was PACKED today, Behemoth definitely edged Leviathan, although Leviathan was also fantastic, lovely park, got on 15 out of 16 coasters in the days time, solid, thanks again for the suggestions everyone!

[kunpc1]

Glad you had a great day! It never ceases to amaze me that Canada's Wonderland is so busy on a daily basis! FastLane has finally made it possible to go on a summer day and actually have a good time at the park.

[k_reiber1]

Hey, so I am going to hit up Wonderland on Monday, and I'm just wondering what wait times could be like for Behemoth and Leviathon? I'm unfortunately not getting the fast pass :/ So, I'm stuck in the regular lines. And when would the best times to be in line for Leviathon? Thanks for your help.

[Cyber.Fiber]

Hit up behemoth (action zone) first thing in the morning. Everyone will be at Leviathan (medieval fair.

 

Make your way over towards Leviathan (medieval fair) around 11:30-12:30 as the waterpark opens (brining people past action zone) and most people will be breaking for lunch during these hours. The rest of the park should be fairly decent all day.

[DougMJr]

^^ What he said, but Leviathan is a people eater. It can go through a full queue pretty quick. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[k_reiber1]

Sweet, thanks! I'm so stoked to go! It's been two years since I've last been, so Windseeker will be a first for me!

[coasternut]

I've never been there before. I'll be there next week for a few days, as long as I don't need to fly home to prepare for hurricane Isaac hitting the Miami area. Hopefully it'll miss, and head to the gulf coast.

 

I've been reading this thread and I'm ready. I won't buy the Fast Lane on general principles. I've paid enough for the platinum season pass, so I'll be waiting in the queue lines when I'm there. I like all you people using / recommending Fast Lane since I'm a stock holder in Cedar Fair, and that's a huge money maker for the corporation!

[PAL]

Behemoth is unexpectedly closed today. Anyone know why, or whether it should reopen on Friday? I hear it operated yesterday.

[PAL]

I'll answer my own question. We spotted a crane and a mess of mechanics gathered around the base of the lift and presumably the lift motor. Hopefully Behemoth will be up on Friday, but I strongly suspect this issue will take some time.

[Rai Fox]

NOOOOOoooooo..... >.<

 

I reallyreallyREALLY hope they have it up Sunday. I'm heading up to Canada for a long weekend and Behemoth is one of the big reasons for my trip, I've wanted to get on that one since it opened.

[PAL]

Behemoth was still closed today, Friday. I was very sorry to miss it. Between B&M's towering monument to monsters and the amazing variety of not-commonly-found-in-the-US flats, we still found the visit rewarding. My son proclaimed it his favorite of the former Paramount parks. Fewer cloned rides. It is a beautiful park.

 

Thanks to Fast Lane and Passholder Early Entry, we managed about 15 laps on Leviathan. Love it! Given the praise heaped on Behemoth, if it's so much better than the hot new flavor, it's a flat out kicking ride.

 

As for Leviathan, the forces it dished out weren't the most intense, but the air was among the longest in duration I've experienced. I was out of the seat the entire first drop - it goes on and on. Then there's that low airtime hill - the train twists right while your butt is still out of the seat. The top of the third hill delivers an arched flight into the heavens and back to earth. The trim on the final big hill was firing (oh well), but the train still shoots for the sky.

 

Like virtually everyone else, we wondered at the length and elevation of the extended brake run. Guess the engineers couldn't or didn't want to fit one last up and down. It is a minor flaw in an otherwise fine ride, one I enjoyed far more than Millenium Force and even (gasp!) i305 (the drop underwhelms, then there's all those positive gees we're already bored with on the west coast). Don't get me wrong; Leviathan is no Skyrush, my no doubt new steel favorite.

 

One more note - this park gets packed early. Minus Fast Lane, we would have had trouble hitting all the credits. Rerides would have been scarce. It was worth every Canadian cent of the $60 or so each (with tax) we paid.

[coasternut]

Behemoth was still closed today, Friday. I was very sorry to miss it. Between B&M's towering monument to monsters and the amazing variety of not-commonly-found-in-the-US flats, we still found the visit rewarding. My son proclaimed it his favorite of the former Paramount parks. Fewer cloned rides. It is a beautiful park.

 

Thanks to Fast Lane and Passholder Early Entry, we managed about 15 laps on Leviathan. Love it! Given the praise heaped on Behemoth, if it's so much better than the hot new flavor, it's a flat out kicking ride.

 

As for Leviathan, the forces it dished out weren't the most intense, but the air was among the longest in duration I've experienced. I was out of the seat the entire first drop - it goes on and on. Then there's that low airtime hill - the train twists right while your butt is still out of the seat. The top of the third hill delivers an arched flight into the heavens and back to earth. The trim on the final big hill was firing (oh well), but the train still shoots for the sky.

 

Like virtually everyone else, we wondered at the length and elevation of the extended brake run. Guess the engineers couldn't or didn't want to fit one last up and down. It is a minor flaw in an otherwise fine ride, one I enjoyed far more than Millenium Force and even (gasp!) i305 (the drop underwhelms, then there's all those positive gees we're already bored with on the west coast). Don't get me wrong; Leviathan is no Skyrush, my no doubt new steel favorite.

 

One more note - this park gets packed early. Minus Fast Lane, we would have had trouble hitting all the credits. Rerides would have been scarce. It was worth every Canadian cent of the $60 or so each (with tax) we paid.

 

Hey Pal, thanks for the update. I'll be at the park for the first time Tuesday -- Thursday. I hope the lift motor is up and going by then. I'm looking forward to my visit. I've not been there before. I'm a big B&M fan, so I know I'll have a great time.

[PAL]

^I hope Behemoth is back up for you Ed. I'd like to hear more about what we missed. Leviathan alone is worth the trip. What til you get a load of the crazy flats. You should have a great time either way.

[Dom497]

Just as an FYI to all you...Behemoth has been open since Friday late afternoon. It was working and remained open all evening that I was the park on Friday.

[CorkscrewFoley]

Good to hear Behemoth is back up, I have a friend up in St Kit's who might be getting frequent visits...a fast lane/ Behemoth mix would be orgasmic...

[coasternut]

^^ Yea, thanks for the B - update. I'm looking forward to my visit there later this week....

[mightypotato]

I was at the park yesterday evening and Behemoth is indeed up and running. Hurrah.

 

Also, I now remember why I don't go to the park on weekends. The place was packed and remained so right until closing. On a positive, I did finally see Starlight Spectacular. The person who put that together better have gotten a raise. It was fantastic.

[Rai Fox]

Yep, got there myself yesterday, was so happy to see Behemoth running. Unfortunately hurt my finger making typing a bit difficult, so I'll put up a report later when it's not going to take me forever to type ^^ (Short version - -great- day, really good park, Leviathan is amazing)

[coasternut]

My first trip to Canada's Wonderland was tonight. I was only there for 3 hours and had 2 weather delays. My first ride was on Leviathan, and I love the speed and first drop. I'm amazed no mid-course break. I preferred Behemoth over Leviathan. It's a lot longer, and a lot more airtime. I'm a B&M airtime junkie.

 

The evening show was quite interesting. I was amazed at the mountain at the end of the fountains as you enter. The closing show projects images on that mountain, and it's done quite well - eh!

[AndrewRnR]

I'm flying up to check out the park this weekend and was hoping someone with knowledge on the park can help me out. I have a platinum pass but it seems they have removed all 2012 pass benefit information from their website. They mention ERT... is that daily? Bring a friend days... are any this weekend? If not they talk about ticket discount... what would that be?

 

Thanks! I tried contacting the park but didn't get a response.

[asimowalk]

I'm flying up to check out the park this weekend and was hoping someone with knowledge on the park can help me out. I have a platinum pass but it seems they have removed all 2012 pass benefit information from their website. They mention ERT... is that daily? Bring a friend days... are any this weekend? If not they talk about ticket discount... what would that be?

 

Thanks! I tried contacting the park but didn't get a response.

Season pass benefits are here:

http://www.canadaswonderland.com/season-passes/season-pass-benefits

 

Early ride times are here. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like your visit will have an ERT session as they finish on the 31st for the year.:

http://www.canadaswonderland.com/season-passes/season-pass-early-ride-times

 

I'm not aware of any bring-a-friend deals this weekend and I wouldn't count on it. The last one was the weekend of August 11-12.

 

"Discounted" Tickets are here. These tickets are cheaper compared to what you would pay at the gate.:

http://www.canadaswonderland.com/tickets/

 

One more thing worth mentioning, there are fireworks on Sunday for labour day which may bring in the crowds... (Fast Lane?)

[mightypotato]

^

It's a long weekend. The park will be even more crowded than normal. Fast Lane would be a must.

[kunpc1]

I went by the park yesterday (Tuesday) and the weather was nice (a bit windy but still warm enough). It was PACKED. The Fastlane line for Leviathan was down the stairs, under the station to the elevator. Behemoth's Fastlane line was down the stairs on to the midway beneath the station. Both regular lines were full, spilling out on to the midways.

 

If you're planning to go this week/weekend, Fastlane is the only way to get through the park without waiting 1-1.5 hours for the major attractions.

 

And if anyone is planning to see Cirque Ambiente before it closes for the season on Labor Day, be sure to get the the theatre about 45 minutes prior to show start. Almost every show is hitting capacity. The 7:30 show last night filled up by 7:10ish. It still had a long line of people waiting outside the theatre around that time hoping there would be some open seats (I don't think very many of them ended up getting in).

[Rai Fox]

I was hoping to be able to put up a good photo rip report, but unfortunately the friend I was visiting the park with doesn't really stop moving for long enough for pictures to have been much of an option, if I didn't want to find myself left behind.

 

It couldn't have been a much better day at the park though. Weather was beautiful, crowds were fairly moderate compared to what I gather is usual for the park; heavy but not painfully so. We did pick up fastlane passes though, so they rarely slowed us down much anyway. We hit all of the major rides and most of the smaller ones, a few of them several times.

 

We headed into the park and swung a left, figuring most crowds would be headed right for Leviathan. First stop, Flight Deck. I wanted the credit, so I was prepared for the pain, but it never really came. It wasn't -smooth- by any means, but it was no worse than any other SLC I've been on, and better than some. Time Warp next, which again was better than I expected, given the ride's reputation. No top ten coaster by any means, but fun while it lasted, and never really painful like I've been told.

 

We hit a couple flats on the way - Sledgehammer (rather disappointing after so many years of wanting to get on it, not very exciting at all despite its size), and Psyclone (would have loved it last year, but after riding Black Widow, it just doesn't compare), but then we put the mediocre rides behind us. Behemoth was straight ahead.

 

It may not be the biggest or fastest coaster at the park anymore this year, but it's still amazing. Great airtime, I'd say the best of the B&M Hypers I've been on, smooth, and fast. I love that hammerhead turn after the first stretch. I think I might like Nitro's layout just a bit better overall, but Behemoth is a great ride.

 

Resisting the urge to go for re-rides now, since we didn't know what crowds would be like elsewhere and wanted to be sure we got everything, we headed on, stopping

for a quick ride on Backlot Stunt Coaster next. The same as at King's Dominion, except without any of the special effects working this time. A fun little family coaster with some surprisingly potent forces in the first helix and a few of the bunny hops, though there's not really all that much to it.

 

Now I was excited - Orbiter was next. I had high hopes, since the original Enterprise is still one of my favorite flat rides, and this was a big deal for me. I'd been crushed when the ride was closed a few years back, killing off my chance at getting on a Skylab, and ecstatic when Cedar Fair put it back into action. Now I was finally getting on it...unfortunately, it didn't come close to living up to what I hoped it would be. It isn't anything special at all- it doesn't even go all the way to vertical, and as soon as it hits its maximum angle it starts back down. Actually a far inferior ride to an Enterprise. At least I can say I got on it, though.

 

Disappointed by that, we headed on to Vortex next. This one was anything but a disappointment. While it's not -quite- up to Big Bad Wolf's standards for suspended coasters, it's close. It lacks the themeing and beautiful location the Wolf had, but it makes up for it in sheer speed. Once it hits the bottom of the lift hill, it just doesn't slow down until the brake run. It feels wild and entirely out of control the entire time, and I absolutely loved it.

 

Next up, the Mighty Canadian Minebuster. My friend insisted that this was one of the best coasters she'd been on, and a world-class woodie. One ride convinced me that I -really- need to get her down to my area to ride Boulder Dash. Minebuster moves quick enough, and it's reasonably smooth, but it doesn't -do- anything. No air time, no forces until the final helix, just a straight run out and back with a few entirely inconsequential hills. Not -bad-, just blah.

 

This is when my friend told me that Skyrider was one of her favorites in the park and we had to hit that next. Skyrider, close relative of my old nemesis Shockwave at PKD. My head began to hurt just thinking about it. The whole point of the trip was to make sure she had the best weekend possible though, so I wasn't about to tell her no, as much as I dreaded it. Fortunately my fears were unfounded. Skyrider ran far smoother than the best ride I can remember ever having on Shockwave, and as long as I braced myself a bit for the worst parts, it was even fun. A very pleasant surprise. The high speed bunny hills at the end were an unexpected little giggle inducer, too. It's not a ride I'd go to the park for on its own, but it's enjoyable.

 

I convinced my friend to do White Water Canyon next, despite her not really wanting to get wet. She finally agreed, saying that it's very rare anyone actually gets very wet on that ride. This was the longest wait of the day for us, at about a half hour. It's an okay raft ride, but pretty basic, and it was true, at least on our raft, that most people barely even got damp. One person did manage to get thoroughly soaked though; my friend who hadn't wanted to get wet, naturally enough. She laughed it off, and we continued on, though she pretended she didn't hear me when I tried to get her on Timberwolf Falls after. >.>

 

We cut through the kids/family area just to have a look, then made our way around to the Bat. For her, with a lot less park and coaster experience than me, it's still a very fun and unique ride; for me, it's still a credit, so on we went. It's...well, it's a Boomerang. Not the smoothest I've been on, not the roughest. Just a boomerang. Not much more to say. Credit acquired. On to Shockwave.

 

Shockwave was another flat that I'd been very much looking forward to, but by now I was starting to get used to being disappointed by the unique flats. Not the case here. Shockwave is insane, very reminiscent of Knoebels' Power Surge to me, but more unpredictable and disorienting. It took about fifteen seconds on the ride to completely lose track of little details like gravity. So much fun.

 

We took a snack break; I got a big cup of Poutine fries, nice and hot, with a really tasty gravy. I'm not enough of a gourmet to know if the cheese curds were real, or just cheese, but they were good on the fries either way. Not Potato Patch fries, but not far off!

 

Klockwerks was fun enough, I think slightly faster than Apollo at Dorney, but run on a much shorter cycle.

 

Dragon Fire was next; another coaster that my friend thought was amazing, and more proof that I need to get her on more coasters. It's good by old Arrow standards, certainly - very smooth, second only to Loch Ness Monster in that regard, I think - but the simplistic layout suffers compared to newer rides. Decent, though, especially for it's age.

 

We hit riptide next, where I got a bit of a surprise. I'm used to Top Spin style rides that tease riders with fountains that cut off at the last moment, but I've never actually gotten wet on one before. Riptide got my friend and I absolutely drenched; a welcome addition to the ride on a hot day. Other than the water, it's a pretty average ride, but enjoyable enough.

 

Spinovator was the first Calypso ride I've gotten on. Very fast, though I still prefer a good old Scramber myself, or a Huss Breakdance. The Calypso just feels a bit bland overall.

 

Nightmares was the last of the flats I'd been waiting to get on, the first Huss UFO I've been able to get to, and it didn't disappoint. The open cages feel very exposed, making the ride a lot more interesting, and the near vertical angle it gets to gives it a nice lead over an everyday Round-Up. It suffers a bit from CW's tendency toward short ride cycles, but it's still good stuff.

 

We'd planned to save Leviathan for last, so we avoided getting close enough to be lured in for now and headed over to Wild Beast. A credit down, and a coaster I have little interest in getting on again. I didn't expect to dislike it so much, since I love PKD's Grizzly, but Wild Beast loses a lot to Grizzly for being plopped down in an open field instead of built into the woods, and falls behind far more for being much rougher than Grizzly was at its worst, nevermind now that Grizzly is running well again. Wild Beast just doesn't really have anything to it to make up for the pain.

 

A quick stop on the drop tower, which was...well, it's a moderately tall drop tower. It's like every other drop tower, except taller than some and shorter than a lot of others. Nothing outstandingly good or bad about it.

 

And that put us in front of the queue for Leviathan. The monstrous queue, snaking back and forth around the back and side of the queue. Oh, wait...fastlane. I definitely felt more than a bit guilty cutting that line, but we walked right on into the station, waited about five minutes, and got in the front row. Operations on this coaster were fantastic. All of the coasters so far had been good, but this crew could have put the average Knoebels' ride crew to shame. The gates opened, I ran through to leave my glasses in the bin on the other side, jumped back into my seat, pulled the harness down just as the attendant was coming up to check it, and we were gone, it felt like fifteen seconds since the gates opened.

 

I'm not enough of a writer to try to describe Leviathan. It's not actually the fastest coaster I've been on, but it -feels- it. The speed and the sensation of it along the first stretch of track is incredible. I'm not sure why it feels significantly taller and faster than Intimidator 305 to me, when it only has one foot over it, but it did. It does very different things with its speed after the first drop than I305, it doesn't have the wild, gray-out inducing forces, but it just feels far faster and more graceful, quickly reminding me why I love B&M coasters so much. I absolutely love the low hill after the first drop, the way it just lets you enjoy the speed for a bit before any bigger climbs bleed off the speed. The coaster reminds me almost of a steel Boulder Dash, the way it just holds its pace so well. The only downside is how quickly it's over. Even a mile of track doesn't last long as those speeds. It seems like a matter of seconds before you're on the infamous brake run, grinning like a maniac. (Really. The on-ride photo from that one would have been enough to get my friend and I admitted to an asylum.)

 

I'm not sure if I can say it's my favorite steel coaster or not, but if it isn't, it's very close to it. Worth the trip to Canada just for that alone.

 

Of course, we did fail at getting on Leviathan last; we realized after we'd missed the Fly and Thunder Run. We ended up skipping Thunder Run since it had no fastlane line and a long normal line, and we decided we'd be better off using the time to get on several other rides again. Since I don't count powered coasters as a credit, I wasn't missing anything there, anyway. We did hit the Fly (decent for a Wild Mouse, painfully hard brakes), credit whored on Ghoster Coaster, but forgot about Silver Streak, costing me one valuable credit. We grabbed dinner; I ordered a veal sandwich at the Backlot Cafe, was mistakenly given a pulled pork sandwich instead, but it was good enough that I saw no reason to bring it back or complain - my friend got a massive sausage, brought it back to the cafe, and asked if they could put chili and cheese on it; the girl working there was happy to give her both if she wanted, but suggested she stick to the cheese, "the chili isn't very good." Honestly very much appreciated. Then it was time for re-rides. By the end of the day, we got back on Leviathan once more, another ride on Vortex, two more on Shockwave, two more on Skyrider, and then four more in a row on Behemoth, with virtually no wait; twice we got off one train, ran around, and got back on the next one, once even in the front car.

 

Unfortunately that brought us to closing, and we headed out to watch the Starlight Spectacular. One of the best theme park shows I've ever seen, if short, just absolutely amazing, Disney-quality effects. The videos I've seen online don't do it justice since they only show the mountain, not the effects in the pool and around it, which are so much a part of the show. I wish I could find a video that did show it all.

 

Only real downside at the end of the day, I never did get my Strawberry Nutella Crepe. I saw a stand selling them near Windseeker (No, I didn't go on it. No thank you. maybe someday. Not likely.) early in the day, came back later for one, only to be told that they'd run out of batter, but they would be open until closing and I could come back later. By 9 or so I desperately wanted one, but when I went back again, I was told the strawberries had been out too long, so they couldn't give me one. Grr. Now I'm back in the US and still craving one, so I'm going to have to make them myself =P

 

Of course, there's more to the park then just the rides. The overall experience there was far better than just the rides would suggest. CW is a beautiful park, immaculately maintained and kept up. The grounds are attractive and clean, there's rarely a flake of paint missing or a burned out light bulb in the park, the staff is friendly, and operations and amazingly efficient. On the last two, the park very nearly gave Knoebels a run for its money, something I never expected from a big "chain" park. Given that I experienced just about the same pleasant surprise at Dorney Park earlier this summer, I think Cedar Fair is doing something right. Food at CW ranged from average to fairly good, but quite pricey. The crowds would have been an issue without Fastpass, and we certainly would have been a lot more rushed without them, likely not getting in any re-rides either, but I think we still would have had fun - the park staff handled the numbers very well.

 

In the end, I wouldn't say it's my -favorite- park - a lot of the rides are just very average, though there are a few truly amazing, world-class ones - but it's one of the better ones. Certainly one of the "nicest" big parks I've been to. With a couple changes - personally, I'd love to see Wild Beast replaced with a really good wooden coaster, and a few more efficient, high capacity flats to help spread out crowds some - it could be a real gem. As is, I'm very much looking forward to the next chance I can get to go back there.

[coasternut]

I was at the Wonderland for several days this past week. I've never seen a park soooo busy and I travel all over. The only good ride time I got was the early entry for season pass holders on Thursday. I got 11 rides on Behemoth. I was visiting from American and I found it very strange that with all the flags at the entrance -- no American Flag! Are these Canadian Provincial flags? It's owned by an American Company -- Cedar Fair. No US flag anywhere in the park even in the International Expo area. WOW...