Photo TR: Paramount Canada's Wonderland

This trip report is a combination of two park visits. The first visit was on September 4th and the second being on September 11th. I won’t go into any great detail, but will just stick mainly to the rides and in no particular order, unless stated otherwise.

I visited the park both times with my younger brother. A quick note about him; I thought he had been on most of the rides and coasters in the ‘adult’ section of the park, but on the morning of our first visit my Dad told me that he has never been on one of the bigger coasters and almost none of the rides! I had to take advantage of the situation and was ready to introduce my brother to the fun of throwing yourself to the will of the rides and coasters

 

Italian Job: Stunt Track;

Well, after reading a lot of the reviews of this ride I wasn’t expecting much from it at all. After getting two rides on it, in my opinion this is quite a fun family ride. The highlights of the ride are defiantly the beginning helix and the ending tunnel. Everything in between those two parts was boring and seemed pointless. I guess it didn’t help that on both days I went, none of the onboard effects were working, at all. And on the second day I went the ending water splash (more like squirt…) wasn’t even working.

My brother really enjoyed this ride. It’s a shame that it moves people so slowly and that he couldn’t ride it more without waiting in what seemed one of the slowest moving lines I have ever waited in. It also sucks that you can’t choose your own seat.

In my opinion, I think this would have been a lot better as an indoor ride with more lighting effects.

Total rides: 1 on Sept 4th & 1 on Sept 11th

 

Mighty Canadian MineBuster;

In past years this woodie has been very painful and not worth riding more than once, if at all. However, my rides on it during these two visits were actually quite enjoyable. The bone jarring jack hammering all throughout the ride seems to have been lessoned by a great amount. Now all they need to do is add some damn airtime!!! There is only airtime on the first drop and the first hill after, in the back seat. All of the hills after you just bounce around as you coast over the crests of the hills.

Riding at night on the Minebuster was a real fun experience. With the water park closed and with very few lights on, it is a blast (even without airtime) to fly through the dark water park diving under the water slides.

My brother was nervous when he first got on, but that was soon erased by a huge smile. I tried to get him to hold his hands up on his second ride, but he wouldn’t hold them up. I did get him to hold them up on his third ride though.

Total rides: 3 on Sept 4th & 3 on Sept 11th

 

Skyrider;

Hmm, a Togo standup? Am I in for a pounding? Nope! This ride has always been great, especially in the back car! If you ride in the back car, you really get whipped down and over the first drop which provides some great airtime all the way down. Then you are thrown into a loop which has some nice positive g’s the entire way through. The next hill is my favourite. In the back car it feels like you get thrown over the second hill and right into the helix.

Brother’s thoughts: At first he was very nervous and I didn’t think he would actually get on. But he did, and this was one of his favourite rides of the day.

We didn’t ride this on the 11th because in the morning someone barfed, so they had to clean it all up which made a major delay and in the afternoon the line was just too long to even bother.

Total rides: 1 on Sept 4th

 

The Orbiter (Huss Skylab);

Over the year or so there have been some rumours that this old ride is going to be taken out. If this ever happens I will be really sad as I love this ride a lot. I’m happy that is was in good working order both days I visited Wonderland.

On the 4th, we got to this ride early, but it was weird. The ride was ‘on’ with all the motors and pumps running, but there was no ride op or any staff around, at all. I just though it was strange as anyone could have jumped the fence and started pushing the buttons or whatever in the control booth, lol.

Brother’s thoughts: He actually wanted to ride this and thought it was a really fun ride.

Total # of rides: 2 on Sept 4th & 1 on Sept 11th

 

Sledgehammer (Huss Jump2);

A fun ride. Umm, not really sure what to say about it. It is cool how is throws you up into the sky and then back down to the ground. It would a lot more thrilling if it kept bouncing you up and down instead of taking a brake to just spin you. I think the ride would also be a lot more enjoyable if the seats were facing to the outside, instead of towards each other.

Brother’s thoughts: Fun ride except for everytime you get pulled or pushed up and down you get some minor head banging into the hard, crappy Huss restraints.

Total # of rides: 1 on Sept 4th & 2 on Sept 11th

 

Psyclone (Mondial Revolution);

Another fun ride. If it is a hot day this is also a great ride to cool down on as you get quite a big breeze while swinging. My only nitpick about this ride is that I wish it swung at maximum swing for a bit longer. When on the ride the ride cycle feels so short. The restraints also restrict movement way too much.

Brother’s thoughts: My brother wouldn’t ride this when we went the first time, but on the 4th I talked him into riding it and he absolutely loved it and rode it again later in the day.

Total # of rides: 1 on Sept 4th & 2 on Sept 11th

 

Tomb Raider: The Ride

I hate this ride. It feels like you are inside of a hamster cage being violently shaken around. The only nice part of the ride are the two heart line rolls which give a weird hang time feeling in the middle of them. Also, what is up with the very harsh brakes????

Brother’s thoughts: This was the first ride out in the ‘adult’ section of the park that he went on. He didn’t really have much to say about it. So I have no idea what he thought of it, lol. Probably nothing great though.

Total # of rides: 1 on Sept 4th

 

Top Gun:

If only Vekoma SLCs were smoother and not as bumpy they would be great rides. In my opinion they have a great layout. Top Gun isn’t too bumpy, I don’t think. I only have Six Flags Darien Lake’s SLC to compare it to though.

Brother’s thoughts: He was quite nervous before riding this. Probably because we were getting into the front row. Going up the lift his he was white knuckled the entire way, but by halfway through the ride you could tell he was having a blast. After getting off he said he really liked the ride other than the fact that it bumps you around a bit.

Total # of rides: 1 on Sept 4th

 

Dragon Fire:

An old Arrow looper, enough said.

Brother’s thoughts; He liked the loops but though going through the corkscrews was a bit rough on the ears.

Total # of rides: 2 on Sept 4th & 2 on Sept 11th

 

Nightmares:

Fun ride I guess. It gets boring after a while and makes me feel a bit sick.

Brother’s thoughts; Fun ride. He didn’t really say much else.

Total # of rides: 1 on Sept 4th & 1 on Sept 11th

 

Drop Zone:

Yay, the Intamin drop ride! Can these things ever give a bad ride??

Brother’s thoughts; During the first visit I could not get him to even step in line, so my goal for the second visit was to somehow get him on Drop Zone. Well, somehow I managed to get him to agree to ride it at least once. After he got that first ride out of the way he couldn’t wait to ride it again!

Total # of rides: 1 on Sept 4th & 4 on Sept 11th

 

Wild Beast:

This woodie was definitely the surprise of both visits! In past years this was just another crappy woodie in my mind. However, on these two past visits I actually really enjoyed it, a lot! There is plenty of air (even some ejector air on the first drop in the back seat), laterals and even some lateral airtime which really surprised me.

The one thing I think that could be greatly improved on this coaster is the fan turn near the station. It needs to have less banking or be lowered so that you don’t ‘fall’ to the side of the car due to the lack of lateral g forces.

Brother’s thoughts; He really liked this coaster as well. He even held his hands up for most of the time on his first ride!

Total # of rides: 3 on Sept 4th & 5 on Sept 11th

 

Fly

Just another wild mouse type coaster with a 50 foot drop. Fun ride, nothing to write home about though. It was nice that only one of the trims was on during the entire course, instead of getting a constant slow down by the brakes.

Brother’s thoughts; Fun ride, but not worth the wait in line for a second ride.

 

Shockwave (Mondial Topscan):

Awesome ride! The last time I rode this it was running a really, really tame/lame ride program. This time around though, it was insane! Constant flipping, rocking, spinning etc etc. It was spinning and tossing me around so much that I had to grab the restraints a bunch of times for fear that I was going to come flying out of my seat, lol.

Brother’s thoughts; He would not ride it the first visit so we just skipped it. During the second visit we rode this twice as the line was pretty short. He thought the ride was pretty crazy.

Total # of rides: 2 on Sept 11th

 

Vortex:

We both decided to skip this coaster on the first visit because of the super long line it had. The second visit had a much shorter and faster moving line, so we jumped in line and waited for the front row.

Wow! With only 5 cars per train (6th car has been taken off for whatever reason…), the trains fly through all the turns without the usual pause that can be felt, sort of like sitting in the front of a SLC.

After riding the front row, we lucked out and grabbed the two empty seats in the same car, but row two for a second ride.

Brother’s thoughts; He thought is was interesting to see what is on top of the fake mountain and thought the ride itself was a blast.

 

 

Overall, we both had a really fun time and even though the crowds got pretty big in the afternoon on both days, we still managed to ride quite a few things.

One thing I must say, SINGLE RIDER LINES PLEASE!!!!

 

And now onto the pictures

 

^Italian Job ride area. Picture is taken from Minebuster's queue ramp.

 

^Crappy photo, but meh. Minebuster's brake run...how exciting!

 

^This would be such a fun ride if it didn't have the horrible restraints

 

^One of my favourite rides in the park!

 

 

 

^Better ride with only 5 cars!

 

^Didn't ride on either day, due to full queue line.

 

^Around and around and around and around.....

 

^I'm glad Arrow put a rest area (mcbr) in before tossing you through the helix!

 

^Who wants to get wet?!

 

^Almost!!!

 

^SOAKED!!

 

More more more!

 

^Weeeee

 

^uhhhh, next ride please.

 

^Some wildlife next to the Italian Job queue line

 

^The now mandatory IT:ST pictures....

 

 

^More swinging

 

^Aww, end of the day

 

^But ummm...Where did we park??

 

Until next time...

 

Sadly, I somehow forgot to take pictures of the Topscan in action :/

Looks like you had a nice time while you were at the park. Though I do have a hard time with some of those flat rides, I usually don't feel too good after riding them. Nice TR!

Awww, Cliffhanger!!!

 

We need more of those!

 

Nice pix! I look forward to getting back there someday...maybe when they add another good coaster.

^Another? I'm still waiting for the first 'great' coaster....lol

^LOL! Good Point!

Ah. Canada's Wonderland. One of the most beautiful parks with one of the most depressing coaster collections. Still haven't managed to catch Sledgehammer open.

 

Good shots though and great report!

I didn't realize Vortex came that close to Sky Rider ... great trip report by the way.

Thanks for the TR.

I didn't realize Vortex came that close to Sky Rider ... great trip report by the way.

 

Yeah, it comes fairly close over that pond thing. You can get some nice photos of Vortex from Skyrider's queue.

So, as you can see from the pictures, this is why I'd rather drive 2.5 hours to Cedar Point as opposed to 4 hours for that.

 

I've only been there once, in 1999, but I didn't start being a coaster junkie 'till 2002.