Canada's Wonderland Discussion Thread

[coasterbill]

I want to see a POV of the loose article coaster.

[mikeykaise]

I love how it dives through the turn around of another coaster and then flies over top of the same coaster, very cool!

[coasterlvr]

I want to see a POV of the loose article coaster.

 

someone had to have done this. lol

[Married a Canadian]

I love how it dives through the turn around of another coaster and then flies over top of the same coaster, very cool!

 

That coaster is "Vortex". It will be even cooler for the lucky ones that get to "duel" as they drop.

[SharkTums]

Yeah I think it's time to finally get a passport.

 

Please note - I'm not singling you out here specifically...

 

but...

 

American's need to get passports, get passports early in life, and travel!!! I realize we're making progress. It's currently estimated that 42% of American's now have one up from 4% in 1990!!!! This is still far behind most other civilized countries though.

[prozach626]

We just sent in our paperwork so we can go to CW. I know we're missing out on a lot worldwide, but there's also still so much we want to do in the US. We're in our early/mid 30's. I have no doubt we'll make it overseas several times in our lives. When it happens we'll do a package tour like we contemplated when planning our summer. I have no interest in going to Mexico, so a few days in Canada is our baby step.

 

Speaking of which, how long does it take you to get through a border crossing? We'll be heading from NYC to the Canadian side of Niagra Falls. Also, how much earlier should we get to the airport when taking our flight back home from Toronto?

Edited April 25, 2019 by prozach626

[SharkTums]

^We're lucky that we live in such a large, diverse country with lots to do for sure! (But you should still go see the rest of the world!)

[thesman]

Not gonna lie I usually hate on dive coasters. This one seems insane

[Married a Canadian]

Speaking of which, how long does it take you to get through a border crossing? We'll be heading from NYC to the Canadian side of Niagra Falls. Also, how much earlier should we get to the airport when taking our flight back home from Toronto?

 

Crossing into Canada at a land border is pretty straightforward, and if you arrive at a good time of day...you can be through within 10-20 mins tops. Obviously depends on traffic....but I have found as a rule of thumb, anytime from mid morning to mid afternoon is OK when driving (and I have a British Passport with Canadian residency/Nexus card).

If you are flying back from YYZ, they do US preborder clearance (customs) AT the airport, and the line ups do get pretty long. They recommend arriving at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours before a US flight simply because of the wait time in customs. I would not disagree with that. Again it does depend on your flight time...but the busiest times at YYZ are from 6am till 10am, then anytime from 2pm onwards (I work as an Air traffic controller at Toronto).....not much flexibility for arriving a bit "later" for your flight if you are travelling to the US.

It was the wait times that made us as a family apply for "NEXUS" which is Canadian/US preclearance...and means you get to skip the lines (FASTLANE/FASTPASS for airports!). Worth looking into from the US side of things as it makes border security a LOT easier. I think they call it "Global Entry" in the US...but NEXUS will also come up on any search you do. It is as good as theme park fast pass schemes and makes the airport experience a lot less "stressful".

 

The only plus point of customs in YYZ is when you arrive back in NYC...you arrive as a domestic passenger and don't have to line up again in security.

[pproteinc]

Yeah I think it's time to finally get a passport.

 

Please note - I'm not singling you out here specifically...

 

but...

 

American's need to get passports, get passports early in life, and travel!!! I realize we're making progress. It's currently estimated that 42% of American's now have one up from 4% in 1990!!!! This is still far behind most other civilized countries though.

 

 

This is factual! Got mine back in 2000 but do you need for Canada? I thought the new Real ID took place of that for travel with North America? Or am I wrong

[AmyUD06]

Nope, Real ID is only for domestic (within US and its territories) flights. Fun fact: Despite being passed in 2005, it still isn't required. Many states haven't even implemented issuing compliant licenses.

[rollin_n_coastin]

Yesterday, TPR was at Canada’s Wonderland to preview Yukon Striker, the world’s tallest, fastest and longest Dive Coaster, designed by B&M. With a 245 ft drop, the ride is a fantastic complement to the park skyline, along with its distant relatives, Behemoth and Leviathan.

 

72 lucky raffle winners, who participated in a fundraiser for Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, were the first of the public to ride. The fundraiser raised $34,000 in support of children’s medical research, education and building a new hospital. Judging from the reactions and huge number or re-rides, Yukon Striker is already a hit. Congratulations to Sick Kids and Canada’s Wonderland on this fundraising initiative. I'll post separately about this event.

 

Yukon Striker, and its Yukon goldrush theme, is the anchor to a new themed area of the park, Frontier Canada, which was originally planned to be built in the early 1980s. It goes to show that it’s never too late to follow through on great ideas. From the food selection, theming, rides, characters and more, it’s a very refreshing and distinct area to enjoy while walking through the park. There’s no shortage of theming details to check out.

 

As for Frontier Canada’s halo attraction, Sophie Bolliger, Vice President & Head of Sales at B&M, explained to TPR what makes Yukon Striker so unique. In addition to having the first loop ever on a dive coaster, Ms. Bolliger highlighted the dive through Vortex in a 200ft length underwater tunnel, a dive through a second tunnel, two Immelmanns, a zero-g roll and a dynamic spiral as a surprise ending. “I think what is also very unique about Yukon Striker, is that it was custom designed for Canada’s Wonderland. It has a great variety of elements”.

 

After riding twice, once in the middle and once in the front, it is both familiar and unique. For anyone who has been on a dive coaster, the dive, impressive look of the ride, width of the trains, smooth ride, relative short length and re-rideability, will all be familiar. It’ll be instantly unique once seeing the breathtaking view looking over Vortex and down into the underwater tunnel. Yukon Striker is special in its use of the terrain, combined with riding through the course of a ride so massive in scale, when you consider the track gauge, train width and how high the inversions are. All of the inversions, in particular the zero g roll, are fantastic and above all, super smooth. Sure, the park has lots of inversions, but these are a first—Smooth ones! Yukon Striker is a great addition to the classic loopers at the park. Guests are going to love it. There’s no doubt that this ride will be an instant landmark and hit.

 

Enjoy the pictures below. Be sure to check out TPR's YouTube and Twitter channels for video. More video coming soon.

 

Park Information:

This Friday, April 26, is Season Passholder Preview Night, from 5:30pm to 10pm.

The park opens for the 2019 season on Friday, May 3.

 

Let's do this. Time to check out the world's tallest, longest and fastest Dive Coaster!

No one can really work on an empty stomach. A great preview of new food offerings in Frontier Canada.

Majestic.

It's testing. No chickening out.

Frontier Canada, in the original design of the park, is finally done and it looks fantastic!

Gold, huh?

The station is really well done.

Before the 72 raffle winners get to ride, we hear Jack's inspiring story. He is a Sick Kids patient, cancer survivor, ambassador and a huge coaster fan! The fundraising effort means the world to Jack, and every patient, at Sick Kids.

A little peak at the conveyor system that will carry bins full of our stuff over to the ride exit.

First public train out with Sick Kids Hospital fundraisers.

How's the ride? Just take a look at the faces n the next series of pics.

Underwater time!

Watch your head! You'll fly through a 200 ft long tunnel in under 2 seconds!

Falling at 90 degrees

Bunny hop before the spiral.

My homage to SkyRider.

It's going to be a great season.

Edited April 29, 2019 by robbalvey

[bluestreak]

Wonderful pics! Looks like a great ride!

[coasterbill]

Yeah I think it's time to finally get a passport.

 

Please note - I'm not singling you out here specifically...

 

but...

 

American's need to get passports, get passports early in life, and travel!!! I realize we're making progress. It's currently estimated that 42% of American's now have one up from 4% in 1990!!!! This is still far behind most other civilized countries though.

 

 

This is factual! Got mine back in 2000 but do you need for Canada? I thought the new Real ID took place of that for travel with North America? Or am I wrong

 

Real ID is not enough for entry into Canada but some states offer enhanced licenses that meet the Real ID standards and also serve as passport cards. A passport card or enhanced license allows for travel by land or sea (but not air) to Canada, Mexico and a few countries in the Caribbean.

 

Real ID is just a way for states to charge you extra for something that should be standard and act like they’re doing you a favor by allowing you to pay extra for a state ID that’s not so useless that the TSA refuses to let you on a plane.

 

If you don’t have a passport, enhanced license or passport card you could also just show up at the border looking sad and offer them timbits.

[JJLehto]

Superb pics! Just wonderful!

That drop is just bonkers.

[SteVeUrkle]

I'm really surprised they never themed the tunnel and just left it as bare concrete. They went the extra mile for the mine-shaft area after the vertical loo.

 

I think you're mistaken, as they didn't theme that mine-shaft tunnel. What you're looking at is bare reinforcing underground steel material. It's the same stuff used on the tunnel after Cheetah Hunt's "tree figure 8" which isn't themed at all either. It's the same stuff street construction workers use to keep the land on their sides from collapsing when they're working underground. Why they don't spend a couple thousand dollars freshening up something so ugly after spending 10's of MILLIONS on a coaster, is beyond me. Hell, even bolting some 1x6's to the sides would look sweet!

 

I love how it dives through the turn around of another coaster and then flies over top of the same coaster, very cool!

 

This actually bugs me about this coaster. In standard B&M form, besides the initial tunnel, they ignore everything around what they're building and just "plop" the thing on top of everything. That spot after the first dive loop is a perfect example of "Welp, we'll just build OVER it!" I'd prefer if B&M would incorporate the existing rides around what they're building and adapt the coasters' circuit to them. It would make their rides seem SO much less cookie cutter, and arguably, this one comes off just like the latter.

 

Debbie Downer Alert: I dunno. B&M just does not impress me anymore. These dive machines, or a lot of their rides these days are just so watered down, to be honest. Yukon Striker as a Dive Coaster goes SO slow on some of its inversions, they're forceless, that MCBR is laughable, and I've been on more than a couple of these now: but after riding one, you've pretty much done all of them.

 

It's just not something that would ever "entice" me to go out of my way to visit a park that I didn't want to visit in the first place. Even friends and family that have been on these with me would literally rather "skip" them on their next visits, because they all suck.

[Intamin_coyote]

 

It's just not something that would ever "entice" me to go out of my way to visit a park that I didn't want to visit in the first place. Even friends and family that have been on these with me would literally rather "skip" them on their next visits, because they all suck.

 

"They all suck"? Really?

 

Its one thing to say that you personally find a ride underwhelming (which is fair), but then you just jump to saying "they SUCK". Not only that, you say "they ALL suck". Have you ridden all 15 B&M dive coasters in the world to make such a sweeping generality? I suspect not...

 

As far as I'm concerned, a ride normally has to have something that causes an undue of discomfort/pain in order for it to "suck" (excessively rough, too much headbanging etc.) And no, I wouldn't consider vest restraints necessraily to be one of things (granted, some people really find them uncomfortable - but I've heard more complaints about it reducing airtime etc. rather than it being uncomfortable) .

 

Petty complaints of a ride being "forceless" or watered down is not enough to constitute true suckishness - but thats just my opinion!

 

To be fair, you did give a Debbie Downer alert.

 

(P.S. But honestly, might you refrain from shitting on a coaster you haven't even ridden yet?)

Edited April 26, 2019 by Intamin_coyote

[MIAfan88]

It looks slow in some areas, but more circuits and warm weather will help with that. I don't think I've ever seen MCBR catwalks shake like it did at the end.

[prozach626]

If you are flying back from YYZ, they do US preborder clearance (customs) AT the airport, and the line ups do get pretty long. They recommend arriving at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours before a US flight simply because of the wait time in customs.

Wow. I had no idea I would have to allot myself that much time. I really appreciate your feedback.

 

 

Debbie Downer Alert: I dunno. B&M just does not impress me anymore. These dive machines, or a lot of their rides these days are just so watered down, to be honest. Yukon Striker as a Dive Coaster goes SO slow on some of its inversions, they're forceless, that MCBR is laughable, and I've been on more than a couple of these now: but after riding one, you've pretty much done all of them.

 

It's just not something that would ever "entice" me to go out of my way to visit a park that I didn't want to visit in the first place. Even friends and family that have been on these with me would literally rather "skip" them on their next visits, because they all suck.

 

Did you ride it? Sounds like your attitude really sucks, dude.

 

I'll just quote myself from an earlier post:

 

You'll love it. Fury defintely lives up to the hype. What 300+ ft coaster that goes 90+ mph doesn't? Oh wait some think Millennium Force sucks lol. Which is the other giga I've been on. Both are great rides.

 

And most of those people are one of the reasons I only communicate with a few unlucky enthusiasts outside of these forums.

[boldikus]

I love when people talk shit about dive coasters because it gives me the opportunity to tell them that if a massive roller coaster with a ridiculous 250 foot tall vertical drop going 80-some mph into multiple inversions, tunnels etc etc is boring/dull? Then you probably need to just find a new hobby. Shut it down, its all over for ya.

[Married a Canadian]

This actually bugs me about this coaster. In standard B&M form, besides the initial tunnel, they ignore everything around what they're building and just "plop" the thing on top of everything. That spot after the first dive loop is a perfect example of "Welp, we'll just build OVER it!" I'd prefer if B&M would incorporate the existing rides around what they're building and adapt the coasters' circuit to them. It would make their rides seem SO much less cookie cutter, and arguably, this one comes off just like the latter

 

Criticism is "OK" if you are actually critiquing and making sense! You are saying here that the first drop which goes THROUGH the turn of another coaster WHILE that coaster is actually in operation is "cookie cutter". They actually have adapted Yukon Striker to go through the course of Vortex in a pretty nifty way...and you say that you would like B and M to incorporate existing rides into the circuit. Well they have here...so what are you complaining about?

 

I said earlier...you could technically say that CW has a "duelling" element now...any train on the drop of YS and any train on the turn of Vortex will be in close proximity to each other. That seems OK to me.

 

As others have said....criticising the ride now before riding it is rather "odd". Criticising the layout for being "cookie cutter" is, dare I say, just wrong!

[rollin_n_coastin]

I love when people talk shit about dive coasters because it gives me the opportunity to tell them that if a massive roller coaster with a ridiculous 250 foot tall vertical drop going 80-some mph into multiple inversions, tunnels etc etc is boring/dull? Then you probably need to just find a new hobby. Shut it down, its all over for ya.

 

So true. Understandable that some people can become jaded. I hope it doesn't spread easily! When driving up to the park and seeing that skyline, it's easy to remember why we love this stuff.

 

 

This actually bugs me about this coaster. In standard B&M form, besides the initial tunnel, they ignore everything around what they're building and just "plop" the thing on top of everything.

 

Yukon Striker is a custom design, the furthest from cookie cutter for the very reasons you mention. Its use of the terrain on the side with the second Immelmann, tunnel and vertical loop is definitely different. The pathway beside that section, near the Splash Works entrance, was still under construction so we couldn't get closer. The spiral with the viewing area worked really well. It was definitely the most popular viewing spot.

 

I love how dive coasters work so well for parks, being one of the coolest looking rides to watch for the non coaster rider (viewing/ F&B areas built around splash downs and now spiral elements), and one of the coolest to ride for the the coaster rider.

 

Also, keep in mind that they built an entirely new themed area that this coaster belongs to. Both the ride and area are well themed. Some great details all over.

 

If you love dive coasters, you'll love this one. I've been on six, including Yukon Striker, and it's the most unique. Best themed I hear goes to Baron 1898, although Krake is up there as well.

 

It looks slow in some areas, but more circuits and warm weather will help with that. I don't think I've ever seen MCBR catwalks shake like it did at the end.

 

It was definitely cold in the morning and cool throughout the day. The station wheel heaters were on all day. I can't wait to try it again in the summer. It snowed during Leviathan's opening day and the last turn into the break run didn't seem like it would happen every time haha

 

The shake/ wobble is there on the mid course. It's the only place I noticed it unlike Valravn where it felt wobbly/ shaky throughout the entire ride, in particular the lift. Adds to the thrill I guess?

Edited April 26, 2019 by rollin_n_coastin

[rollin_n_coastin]

Edit - Double Post

[BitterOldHag]

I love when people talk shit about dive coasters because it gives me the opportunity to tell them that if a massive roller coaster with a ridiculous 250 foot tall vertical drop going 80-some mph into multiple inversions, tunnels etc etc is boring/dull? Then you probably need to just find a new hobby. Shut it down, its all over for ya.

 

This 1000%.

 

I rode Sheikra back in 2006 and that was my first Dive Coaster. I was blown away and ended up riding it 6 times that day. I came off each time smiling from ear to ear. In 2009 I rode Griffon for the first time. Again, blown away. Yes, the layout of the ride is a bit short, but I came off grinning like a little kid. When Cedar Point announced Valravn, I was ecstatic. Finally I get a Dive Machine nearby. And while most will argue with me, I actually enjoy Valravn more than Steel Vengeance. I can ride it numerous times without feeling sore, and like the previous two, I've got a huge smile plastered across my face after the train hits the brake run. These rides are smooth, thrilling, and just plain fun.

 

Unfortunately this year has seen the end of my coaster riding... so I will be unable to try Yukon Striker. But I do know one thing- if I did have a chance to ride, I guarantee I'd be as happy as a little girl when I got off.

[savetheclocktower]

Even if Yukon Striker goes through the inversions slowly, who cares? That would be pulling g's of -1! That's only .3 g's more than El Toro's "minimum" (according to that El Toro graph from the ride force app)!