cwcoasterboy Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 Saturday May 1 was Media Day at Canada's Wonderland, and I was lucky enough to be invited. The park sells out it's first operating days of the year to 3 of Canada's largest banks. We shared our Media Day this year with RBC Royal Bank. The weather was pretty dodgy, with rain off and on during the day. We got in some rides between showers, had lunch with the media guests and shmoozed with the park management and PR people. Thanks Russ and Dineen for having us. New for 2010 is a complete overhaul of the former Hanna-Barberra Land and Nick Central areas of the park. The Kidzville and Zoom Zone sections of the kids area have been kept the same. The park received capital to add three new rides this season while updating the area to Planet Snoopy. The areas look amazing! A fresh coat of paint on everything, new food stands and merch locations and re-named and re-themed rides. Here's a full update in pictures of the excellent job they did in the new area. Rumors abound about the 2011 project at Wonderland... we'll keep our eyes open and keep you all updated as we learn more. The newly updated entrance to Planet Snoopy This looks like the other Planet Snoopy's I've seen... kids seemed to really like it I know, I know... but I couldn't resist! New posters and signs replace the old... no more Spongebob or Dora! Boo Blasters on Boo Hill... one of the worst capacity rides in theme park history. At best it can hit 150 riders per hour! It's a fun ride though if you can get on it. NEW for 2010... Snoopy's Revolution. A 40' Zamperla Ferris Wheel. Wonderland's first and only Ferris Wheel. Also NEW for 2010... Peanuts 500. A kids sized whip ride that's the same as the others in Planet Snoopy. Seemed to be very popular with the kids! A renovated and slightly moved Birthday Pavilion. Have your kids birthday party right inside Planet Snoopy. Apparantly this was very successful for the park as Nick Birthday and now the set up is more permanent. The kids bumper cars now on it's 3rd re-theme. They opened at Boulder Bumpers when this area was Bedrock (Flinstones) then was re-named the Toonpike when this area became Nick Central, and now Snoopy watches over Joe Cool's Dodgem School. Formerly the Wild Thornberry's Tree Top Lookout, they did a great job converting this to the Pumpkin Patch. Dora is gone, but Sally's Love Buggies looks pretty good The Lov Buggies will have a nice heart-shaped garden in the coming weeks NEW for 2010... the third new ride to complete the back half of Planet Snoopy is Lucy's Tugboat I thought they did a nice job on the theming around this one. We didn't have a kid to take on the ride with us (a requirement at Wonderland) so we got a media escort to tell the ride op to let us on! Thanks Russ! The original plane ride from 1981 is now The Red Baron... looks good! Jetson's Rocketport becomes Snoopy's Space Race... look how busy the park was and it's not even open to the public yet! This one was sad for me... the Hanna-Barberry Go Round was stripped of it's characters and replaced with standard carosel horses. The Ghoster Coaster got to keep it's name... thank god! And it even kept it's original sign... minus the Scooby Also NEW for 2010... Wonderland's very first Dippin'Dots stand! The parks exclusive deal with Nestle ice cream is over. The old Nestle Scoops on International Street is now an Italian Gelato stand! Nice! All right... enough of all that... COASTERS! The best ride at Wonderland... Behemoth! Amazing operations... three trains that I never saw stacking... makes that line fly! Loopy Goodness at Dragon Fire! (Still my favorite Arrow looper) Vortex was running great today... The Fly... slow ops and too many trims... still had fun though! The Bat... one of the longest lines in the park everyday! All the parks I've been too, I've never seen a Boomerang so popular! While Sledgehammer is back up and running... it opened late due to some crew issues today. We never made it back to get a ride. Got a great ride on Shockwave... such a unique ride! Media Swag... nice gifts from the park for thier media Guests... not quite a TPR bag-o-crap, but still good! Ahhh... Snoopy is a puppet! Nice! Thanks for a great day Wonderland! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angryemobeaver Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 Wow, Planet Snoopy actually looks good at CW! I like the one at Cedar Point and Carowinds, but I hate it at KD and KI! It's also nice that CW received completely new rides for Planet Snoopy also, more for the kids to ride! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollin_n_coastin Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 Hey Jeff thanks for posting, it looks pretty good. Although kinda funny seeing Snoopy on the Hannah-Barbara rainbow. Do they still have the 1981 Baloon Race and Enterprise? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwcoasterboy Posted May 2, 2010 Author Share Posted May 2, 2010 Hey Jeff thanks for posting, it looks pretty good. Although kinda funny seeing Snoopy on the Hannah-Barbara rainbow. Do they still have the 1981 Baloon Race and Enterprise? Formerly part of Smurf Forest, the Balloon Ride is still there as part of Kidzville. Pics here: http://www.cwmania.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=42 Not sure what you mean on the Enterprise. Perhaps that's the one that is now Snoopy's Space Race? http://www.cwmania.com/photos/thumbnails.php?album=44 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dangeuros Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 Great trip report, looks like an awesome park! I love all the snoopy stuff. oh and I agree with angryemobeaver, they don't have nearly as much snoopy stuff as they should. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollin_n_coastin Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 ^^Those are the ones! Great memories I can actually remember going on those. Thanks again, cool report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philrad71 Posted May 2, 2010 Share Posted May 2, 2010 Great report...thanks for sharing! I am glad to see that they kept the rainbow entrance to the kiddie area! I was really impressed how large the kids area had expanded when we were there a couple years ago. I will be most interested to hear what they have up their sleeve for 2011...I would like to make another trip to this park in the future. Fingers are crossed for an Intamin coaster! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hockeydad Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 I've been a little undecided about the new Snoopy themes up until now, but CW's looks great! I know lots of people who are upset at CF for this change from Nick, but if they see the change with their own eyes it may sway some of those people. Haven't been down to KI yet...does it look equally as good as CW or not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tj_bomber Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 I went there when it was Nick... I love Scooby Doo I will absolutely miss it ;w; But this looks really well designed! and everything looks good XD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgwfreak777 Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 It's funny to see the old Vortex logo still in use. I need to get to that park soon, well, and Canada in general I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chemical_echo Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 The loss of HB-go-round upsets me greatly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarmor Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 WOW is this the only planet snoopy to get new rides? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwcoasterboy Posted May 3, 2010 Author Share Posted May 3, 2010 WOW is this the only planet snoopy to get new rides? Yes... the others were only re-branding and re-naming of existing rides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rider-x Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 hey forget the new rides, now that the dippin dots stand is up we will have an inside guy with all the info on upcoming rides and why Expidition geforce had an accident Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jynx242 Posted May 3, 2010 Share Posted May 3, 2010 Thanks for the report. It looks like they did an amazing job with the re-theme. I love the pumpkin patch idea. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingsislandfreak Posted May 4, 2010 Share Posted May 4, 2010 I love this TR cnadas wonderland holds some real uniqueness inside Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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