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Canada's Wonderland Discussion Thread

p. 433: AlpenFury launched coaster announced for 2025!

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Nice visit to the park today in an overcast and chilly ish Toronto. Got my son on Leviathan for the first time which was another "wow" moment for us. It was seriously quick today (more than the summer it seemed), and lets just say the wind was on the cooler side.....even for this polar bear.

"Wild Beast" seemed to break even more teeth than usual! The older I get, the rougher it seems!

 

Yukon Striker is coming along nicely. The first drop has taken shape, and there is a lot of work going on in the station area. Lots of enthusiastic comments from the public today which is good to hear. CW has a winner on their hands, whether the enthusiasts like it or not!

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View of the first drop. Apologies for the overcast weather!

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First drop entering and exiting lake.

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^ for an AMUSEMENT park, Canada’s Wonderland has some pretty great theming. Midevil Faire immediately comes to mind. The shops and what not all have that old English towne feel to them, which is modernized and emphasized with Leviathan’s station. The simple yet effective Canadiana theming is also evident through out the new Frontier Canada, and action zone definitely feels like action zone with how things are set up and organized. Just because it’s not Disney Quality does not mean it’s non-existent. Canada’s Wonderland is one of the most beautiful parks I’ve been to and I give some of that credit to its colorful and intracate nature. Even international street, it’s a phenomenal front entrance to the park! Darien Lake has a big ole alley of asphalt with two food stands and a gift shop that lead towards a small fountain and another gift shop. Canada’s wonderland probably has more stores and theming in its entry plaza than Darien Lake has in its entirety - and Darien Lake is technically referred to as “Darien Lake Theme Park Resort”, where wonderland is “Canada’s Premiere Amusement Park”. They know they aren’t about theming but they do it anyways!

 

What entry plaza? Never mind, i'm not in the mood to debate this. Just tell me one thing. What theming is on Behemoth?

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^ for an AMUSEMENT park, Canada’s Wonderland has some pretty great theming. Midevil Faire immediately comes to mind. The shops and what not all have that old English towne feel to them, which is modernized and emphasized with Leviathan’s station. The simple yet effective Canadiana theming is also evident through out the new Frontier Canada, and action zone definitely feels like action zone with how things are set up and organized. Just because it’s not Disney Quality does not mean it’s non-existent. Canada’s Wonderland is one of the most beautiful parks I’ve been to and I give some of that credit to its colorful and intracate nature. Even international street, it’s a phenomenal front entrance to the park! Darien Lake has a big ole alley of asphalt with two food stands and a gift shop that lead towards a small fountain and another gift shop. Canada’s wonderland probably has more stores and theming in its entry plaza than Darien Lake has in its entirety - and Darien Lake is technically referred to as “Darien Lake Theme Park Resort”, where wonderland is “Canada’s Premiere Amusement Park”. They know they aren’t about theming but they do it anyways!

 

What entry plaza? Never mind, i'm not in the mood to debate this. Just tell me one thing. What theming is on Behemoth?

 

Action Zone has a style of its own, I never said theming. The flat rides in the area share a similar entryway arch and Behemoth fits not only the colour scheme but also the nature of attractions over there. The reds, yellows blacks and behemoth’s blues all work out nicely in one area. And that’s the main point of action zone to me, it all balances happily and looks like it was designed to look as such. Which, shocker - it was.

 

As for my comment about being better than Darien Lake, and being one of the more beautiful parks I’ve visited, I’m including in that, the Disney World parks as well as BGW. There’s a certain charm to CW that’s hard to emulate in other parks, I personally love the look and feel of the CW atmosphere - especially that awesome centerpiece, Wonder Mountain. There is theming around the park, way more than needed (because again, as an AMUSEMENT park they don’t really need to add any theming at all). Coasters like Flight Deck, Backlot Stunt Coaster and arguably Time Warp all have some theming elements, there are 4 zones that come to mind as being themed as well - international street, medeval faire, frontier Canada, 1929 World Expo. Whether the theming is extensive or subtle, it’s there. I’m also a fan of how the majority of the parks pathways are either laid brick or cement. Coming from a home park where the majority of the pathways are Blacktop, and also considering that’s what Cedar Point was for the longest time (mainly in the back half of the park - frontier trail, Gemini midway etc) that’s a nice change to see in a regional theme park. I believe Kings Island is similar, probably because it was also a Paramount park at one time.

 

The main point in all of this is that there is theming at wonderland. If you would like to discuss parks with little to no theming, Darien Lake, Cedar Point, Fantasy Island, Seabreeze, Knoebels and Dorney Park would love to have a word with you. And those are just the few off of my head that I could think of at this moment.

 

One final thing though, and this is important - A park does NOT have to be themed to be successful. Sure it helps add to the experience but it is NOT a requirement.

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^ for an AMUSEMENT park, Canada’s Wonderland has some pretty great theming. Midevil Faire immediately comes to mind. The shops and what not all have that old English towne feel to them, which is modernized and emphasized with Leviathan’s station. The simple yet effective Canadiana theming is also evident through out the new Frontier Canada, and action zone definitely feels like action zone with how things are set up and organized. Just because it’s not Disney Quality does not mean it’s non-existent. Canada’s Wonderland is one of the most beautiful parks I’ve been to and I give some of that credit to its colorful and intracate nature. Even international street, it’s a phenomenal front entrance to the park! Darien Lake has a big ole alley of asphalt with two food stands and a gift shop that lead towards a small fountain and another gift shop. Canada’s wonderland probably has more stores and theming in its entry plaza than Darien Lake has in its entirety - and Darien Lake is technically referred to as “Darien Lake Theme Park Resort”, where wonderland is “Canada’s Premiere Amusement Park”. They know they aren’t about theming but they do it anyways!

 

What entry plaza? Never mind, i'm not in the mood to debate this. Just tell me one thing. What theming is on Behemoth?

 

Action Zone has a style of its own, I never said theming. The flat rides in the area share a similar entryway arch and Behemoth fits not only the colour scheme but also the nature of attractions over there. The reds, yellows blacks and behemoth’s blues all work out nicely in one area. And that’s the main point of action zone to me, it all balances happily and looks like it was designed to look as such. Which, shocker - it was.

 

As for my comment about being better than Darien Lake, and being one of the more beautiful parks I’ve visited, I’m including in that, the Disney World parks as well as BGW. There’s a certain charm to CW that’s hard to emulate in other parks, I personally love the look and feel of the CW atmosphere - especially that awesome centerpiece, Wonder Mountain. There is theming around the park, way more than needed (because again, as an AMUSEMENT park they don’t really need to add any theming at all). Coasters like Flight Deck, Backlot Stunt Coaster and arguably Time Warp all have some theming elements, there are 4 zones that come to mind as being themed as well - international street, medeval faire, frontier Canada, 1929 World Expo. Whether the theming is extensive or subtle, it’s there. I’m also a fan of how the majority of the parks pathways are either laid brick or cement. Coming from a home park where the majority of the pathways are Blacktop, and also considering that’s what Cedar Point was for the longest time (mainly in the back half of the park - frontier trail, Gemini midway etc) that’s a nice change to see in a regional theme park. I believe Kings Island is similar, probably because it was also a Paramount park at one time.

 

The main point in all of this is that there is theming at wonderland. If you would like to discuss parks with little to no theming, Darien Lake, Cedar Point, Fantasy Island, Seabreeze, Knoebels and Dorney Park would love to have a word with you. And those are just the few off of my head that I could think of at this moment.

 

One final thing though, and this is important - A park does NOT have to be themed to be successful. Sure it helps add to the experience but it is NOT a requirement.

 

I was not going to get into this, but, Paint colour is not the theming i meant. Now, comparing Canada's Wonderland's theming to Walt Disney World, um. So, Flaying Canoes and Dumbo and the Carpet Ride are themed great. But what about the Spinning Dinosaur ride in Animal Kingdom and The Fly. What about Goofy's BarnStormer and SilverStreak? Every ride at WDW has theming. You can't say that about Wonderland. What about Jurassic Park at Universal Studios and TimberWolf Falls.

 

Flight Deck, BLSC and Time Warp were themed after Paramount Studio movies, over 12 years ago, and the names were changed by Cedar Fair. The 4 zones you mention were never used by Paramount Parks, and give credit to Kings Entertainment for the "hard to walk on" concrete and brick walkways. I agree with you about theming at DL, but the atmosphere there is amazing. From the second you walk in to the last second of your visit, the smell of the flowers and the overall look of Dl beats Wonderland hands down. I love DL and Wonderland.

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^ woah there. I also did not say that theming at Wonderland is by any means “better” than that of Magic Kingdom or any of the WDW parks. I said Wonderland has a certain charm that’s hard to emulate elsewhere. I also said it’s one of the most beautiful parks I’ve been to. That can be attributed to the colors of attractions and how they blend together nicely in the parks skyline, I like the atmosphere of the park, and mentioned there is theming around. Again, I can’t stress enough that I did not say that action zone is THEMED. I said action zone’s attractions are designed to look nice together and that is accomplished through a color scheme of mainly red black and yellow (plus Behemoth’s blue). That looks much better than having 3 attractions of all random colors trying to co-exist within an area of a park for no rhyme or reason.

 

And for the brick and cement - I didn’t say it was hard to walk on so please do not falsely quote me there. I said I like how it looks and I appreciate it over the mainly blacktop pathways at Darien Lake and in parts of Cedar Point. It looks much more professional and well done. Plus, it’s not something the park has stopped doing since becoming a Cedar Fair park. The new Yukon Striker path is all brick-work and looks great.

 

Wonderland is great in its own ways

Darien Lake is great in its own ways (sort of)

BGW is great in its own ways

Magic Kingdom is great in its own ways

 

I’m not saying one park is better than another, I’m adding a little more context to my “one of the most beautiful parks I’ve been to” statement. Never did I say “the most beautiful hands down and has way better theming than Disney World parks”, keep that in mind.

 

I personally love Magic Kingdom as well as Wonderland, but as most anyone will tell you, those parks are both completely different. Wonderland is much more of a thrill park, and being such it has its own aesthetic (you know, big monsterous steel attractions with bold color choices and designs) where Disney is more about the entire experience - that’s where sight lines become crucial and you won’t see any Frontierland theming from Tomorrowland and vice versa. You can see Leviathan from almost anywhere in the park, but that isn’t a bad thing. You’ll also be able to see Yukon Striker from almost anywhere in the park - also not a bad thing.

 

Just because they don’t care as much about sight lines or immersive theming does NOT mean theming doesn’t exist. And I think that’s about as far as I can take it without beginning to go in circles with this conversation.

 

Just a recap of things I HAVE NOT said:

 

- Action Zone has immersive theming

- Wonderland is the MOST beautiful park in the world

- Wonderland is better than Magic Kingdom

 

Things I HAVE said

 

- Wonderland has theming

- Action Zone attractions are designed to look as though they are meant to be together (mainly via color scheme)

- Multiple visually appealing parks have their own reasons for being visually appealing

- Wonderland looks better than Darien Lake (by a lot)

- Parks without theming (that are doing just fine without it): Darien Lake, Fantasy Island, Seabreeze, Knoebels, Dorney Park

 

One last thing - verifying at the end of each statement that you love DL and CW does not do much for you aside from make people wonder if you’re being a troll. I’m happy to discuss things here but I’m not gonna go in circles unless it’s 150% justified.

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The "hard to walk on" quote was actually my quote. I much prefer to walk on the blacktop with my sandals on compared to concrete and brick, and I agree with you that Wonderland, Darien Lake, Disney and Universal are in different leagues. I do want to ask you something for the next time you are at Wonderland. Go to the Snoopy Boutique and look along the path towards Boo Blasters, and then walk along to in front of the Boo Blasters queue and look back along that path towards Snoopy Boutique. I think that is the most beautiful path at Canada's Wonderland. What do you think? I need to say I love DL and CWL sometimes to keep on topic.

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