Canada's Wonderland Discussion Thread

LOVE the Canadian-style theming of Soaring Timbers...looks really nice and kind of reminds of the great theming of the Pirate at Lake Compounce.

I always liked The Bat's original paint job.

Agreed, as much as I like the ride, it was a eye sore for me when they switched to the orange supports. I like the look of Soaring Timbers but I always thought a more appropriate place for it would be near White Water Canyon or Timberwolf Falls, not beside Shockwave, which is such a similar ride. having properly themed areas has never been a strong suit at the park.

The Bat got painted back to the red and black for its 30th anniversary this year!

The colors look better, but I feel that it looks too similar to other rides, the special color choice, made the ride a little more unique.

Looks like Cedar Fair is really trying to use their "regional branding" strategy on this park to make it uniquely Canadian. That landscaping coupled with the new park logo that includes the Canada Maple Leaf look to be a great start!

The Bat got painted back to the red and black for its 30th anniversary this year!

 

The colors look better, but I feel that it looks too similar to other rides, the special color choice, made the ride a little more unique.

Well, the red and black was The Bat's original colours. I'm quite sure the reason as to why The Bat was repainted for the 2008 season was because they had a lot of paint left over from Behemoth. But, since that paint faded and chipped over the past eight years, it was time to give The Bat a fresh coat of paint, at a no better time than its 30th anniversary. Vortex received a fresh coat of paint last year for its 25th anniversary last year. I'm all for making the rides look great and appealing!

Forgive me since I'm not overly familiar with this park, but when was that picture taken? There are people in the train, and I thought the park doesn't open until this Sunday?

Forgive me since I'm not overly familiar with this park, but when was that picture taken? There are people in the train, and I thought the park doesn't open until this Sunday?

The above photo of The Bat was taken this past weekend during Bank Days which are held on weekends in late April. These days are for bank employees, their families, and their friends.

The above photo of The Bat was taken this past weekend during Bank Days which are held on weekends in late April. These days are for bank employees, their families, and their friends.

Just another perk of being a bank employee in Ontario.

It's official, Soaring Timbers will NOT be open tonight for passholders.

Website says not operating for opening day either now.

Besides Mystic Timbers, every Cedar Fair expansion was delayed this year. Kinda sad. I expect better from them.

Besides Mystic Timbers, every Cedar Fair expansion was delayed this year. Kinda sad. I expect better from them.

Kings Dominion, Cedar Point and Valleyfair come to mind as being on time.

Besides Mystic Timbers, every Cedar Fair expansion was delayed this year. Kinda sad. I expect better from them.

Kings Dominion, Cedar Point and Valleyfair come to mind as being on time.

I guess you're right (though two of those haven't opened yet). Cedar Fair usually sets the standard when it comes to being on time with their new stuff, but Dorney, Worlds of Fun, CGA, Carowinds, and (kinda) Knott's were late this year.

Dorney was partly on time. Dodgems was running tonight at the Passholder Preview.

Besides Mystic Timbers, every Cedar Fair expansion was delayed this year. Kinda sad. I expect better from them.

Seriously?

It's still a month before Memorial Day. I don't even think it's fair to call any new attraction "late" until it's mid-June or later. Considering that most CF parks are open now (minus 3), and all of the parks have their respective new attractions already open or very close to opening, I don't think they are "delayed" at ALL. Most Cedar Fair parks open in late March and early April... you can't possibly expect them to get their new areas/vintage flat rides open with such a short off-season for many.

When compared to Six Flags, who takes 9 months to build a Super Loop, Cedar Fair dominates in opening rides on time. Nothing is "delayed." It's still not even May yet. My goodness.

//end rant

Cedar Fair dominates in opening rides on time.

They're not bad, but let's be honest: HFE dominates in having rides open day one. Lightning Rod is the first ride in about 10 years that didn't.

Besides Mystic Timbers, every Cedar Fair expansion was delayed this year. Kinda sad. I expect better from them.

Kings Dominion, Cedar Point and Valleyfair come to mind as being on time.

I guess you're right (though two of those haven't opened yet). Cedar Fair usually sets the standard when it comes to being on time with their new stuff, but Dorney, Worlds of Fun, CGA, Carowinds, and (kinda) Knott's were late this year.

If you thought Cedar Fair was late, you wouldn't want to know what Six Flags' new rides look like right now (Hint: None of them are open).

Anything before Memorial Day is nowhere near being late. Patriot opened a week after the park opened, and Knott's never closes so there is no "late"

To be fair, this is the CW thread, and their new rides are almost always ready for opening day. Maybe one exception in decades?

To be fair, opening day is much, much later than most other parks.

To be fair, opening day is much, much later than most other parks.

Really?? It opens a week after KI and a week before CP.

CW also has brutal off season weather. Most southern parks have it easy. No snow

^yes, and that certainly affects large scale construction projects. But let's be real - this is a traveling flat ride that can probably be set up in a matter of hours on the fair circuit. Yes it's being installed in a permanent location and the landscaping looks lovely, but there's no reason that shouldn't be able to be done for opening day if they planned properly and actually cared to do so.

^yes, and that certainly affects large scale construction projects. But let's be real - this is a traveling flat ride that can probably be set up in a matter of hours on the fair circuit. Yes it's being installed in a permanent location and the landscaping looks lovely, but there's no reason that shouldn't be able to be done for opening day if they planned properly and actually cared to do so.

Yes, because it's always easy to predict how hard a blizzard will hit several months from now and how long after that the ground thaws enough to put shovels back into the dirt. They need to dig up enough dirt to have a space for this thing, pour some concrete, wire electrical outside of guest view, erect and test the thing. A couple years back in Minneapolis, they poured salt onto the roads before a large blizzard. But before the blizzard hit, a rainstorm washed most of the salt away. And the blizzard hit before more salt could be placed. That winter completely shredded the roads.

"The best laid schemes of mice and men/Go often askew,"

-"To a Mouse" by Robert Burns

Something which I found odd is why would Canada's Wonderland locate Muskoka Plunge next to Typhoon? Especially because of that huge dirt pile on the opposite side of Minebuster. You think it's unusual that they didn't just put it where they did digging last year. Especially due to the removing of trees in the process.

The dirt pile would be where there's a tree lined road to Minebuster. While the new slide complex is on the opposite side of the tracks.

Did anyone go on opening day?

Leviathan was down, the new ride had still some construction going on, and it was freezing. But it was empty so it was fine.

Most of the rides were running insanely slow, behemoth felt like it was going to rollback on the helix...

Backlot stunt coaster either roll-backed or the brakes kicked in on the launch, because it was stuck at the end of the launch.

I was the only rider on minebuster in the front row, and it broke... I think something is wrong with the chain and brakes on that ride.