I planned to visit Canada’s Wonderland solo this week, but my sister Amanda and brother-in-law David decided to join me since they now have season passes. We spent a few hours with the water attractions before enjoying the dry park.
Updates
Last week I mentioned the milk crates by bag check. It turns out those are just used for items confiscated from guests as they enter. From what I saw, this was mostly drinks. I stand by my recommendation for updating this process, but the new tables are a good upgrade.
The construction fences are down from around the former Chicken Shack. Some screens presumably for menus have been installed. The colours look nice, but I still can’t say what this location will become.
Canada’s Wonderland now features “Sensory Friendly Fireworks Viewing” inside Canterbury Theatre! This is excellent to see and a great option for those who otherwise wouldn’t watch the park’s fantastic fireworks spectaculars!
Joining International Street and The Grande World Exposition of 1890, Medieval Faire and AlpenFest now feature themed music! AlpenFest’s soundtrack is perfect, fully situating the area as a fun, festive area in the Alps! Medieval Faire’s music is a bit more varied which works well to set the area’s atmosphere, however I could only notice it while walking around Arthur’s Baye and outside Canterbury Theatre. By the time I got to King’s Feast and Wilde Beast, I heard no music of any kind. Perhaps they want to ensure a bit of a buffer between AlpenFest and Medieval Faire so the music doesn’t conflict? Admittedly it’s difficult to have a clear demarcation since The Bat and Jester’s Courtyard are clearly in Medieval Faire while Shockwave is (appropriately) considered part of AlpenFest. But I hope it’s more an issue of working out a few kinks that will be resolved quickly.
Some merchandise for The DareDeviler has appeared in Wonderland Store! I really love the iconography of this ride so I’m eager to get a magnet at some point!
The sweater looks great for the most part, but the track on the left side is quite perplexing. It looks more like a log flume support structure than anything on The DareDeviler in my opinion. (No, I don’t think it’s a teaser.)
I thought I got a photo of the hat as well but I suppose not. It looks nice, but I can’t justify $50 for a baseball cap, especially when the logo is simply printed on instead of stitched.
There was a different fire performer in Action Zone this week. Rather than dancing, this performer ate the flames and transfered them from point to point with nothing but his tongue! All part of the expanded live entertainment at the park on fireworks nights!
Speaking of which, the juggler I’ve seen a few times got David and I involved by asking David and I to toss a bowling pin for him to catch while juggling two other pins! It’s so great to have street performers around the park!
Splash Works
It was around 12:45 p.m. when we entered Splash Works. I think the clouds and forecasted rain kept it quieter than usual. There are now shoe racks bordering Lazy River’s queue which is very nice. Some of the fencing has also been replaced with fresh lumber. As far as I know, guests are still prohibited from taking photos and videos in the water park so unfortunately I can’t share any visuals.
By 2:30 p.m. the crowds had started to show up. We had already done pretty much everything we wanted in the water park so we headed over to White Water Canyon before changing out of our bathing suits. (Of course we needed to don footwear and shirts to walk over to the ride though.)
Slide Count
Lazy River x1
Whirlwinds x1
Typhoon x1
Super Soaker x1
Moosehorn Falls x1
Black Hole x1
Mountain Bay Cliffs x1 (10’ level. Amanda and David didn’t join me.)
Food
I convinced them to buy an all-day dining plan which worked out quite well! They had six meals and felt they got their money’s worth.
Their Meals
6” Tuna Sub w/Chips from Subway
Chicken Tenders w/Fries from Dockside Grill
Foot Long Hot Dog w/Mac & Cheese from Coaster’s Diner
Honey Garlic Chicken w/Noodles from Manchu Wok
Beef Meatballs w/Biryani Rice from Grande World Eatery
Cheese Pizza Slice w/Garlic Bread from Ristorante Pizza Pizza
My Meals
Foot Long Hot Dog w/Fries
Since I was with them when they got the hot dog, I decided to get one for myself. Unfortunately the relish dispenser was empty. The hot dog itself isn’t great and I would have preferred getting it grilled from one of the other locations. The fries were far too salty as usual so I didn’t finish them. Amanda and David agreed the fries were consistently too salty.
Toronto Ty Taste Tier: C
Pesto Chicken Caprese Sandwich w/Pasta
So delicious and a great portion! The pasta still isn’t my favourite, but I do enjoy it and the sauce.
Toronto Ty Taste Tier: S
Speaking of Banquets…
When a thunderstorm passed through, we started waiting for The King’s Banquet. They had us enter through the side doors which was a fun experience. I think they knew it would be crowded since most of the rides were closed so this entry method works wonders for crowd control.
The show was just as great as the first time I saw it, if not better now that the performers have become more accustomed to the show. The aerialist didn’t do the chandelier act though.
My main criticisms remain: Microphones might be nice and the “zap” sound effect is a bit lacklustre.
Amanda and David had a blast, calling it one of the best shows they’ve ever seen at the park. It really is fantastic and the fact it fits the Medieval Faire theme is wonderful!
Yukon Striker’s New Gold Standard
The fireworks were excellent as usual and it was extra special to have Amanda and David with me this time around. It’s been years since either of them have seen the park’s fireworks so seeing the wonder on their faces and hearing awe in their voices meant so much to me.
Yukon Striker closed earlier than usual, even for a fireworks night. I knew there would be something “extra special” this time around, but I wasn’t prepared for a coaster’s lift hill erupting in fireworks! That’s right, just at the start of the show, Yukon Striker had a series of fireworks launch in sequence, from the base of the lift hill all the way up to its peak!
It went by quickly, but it definitely had an impact. I have tremendous respect for the preparations involved with bringing this concept to life, but the imagination behind it is what really stuns me. Unfortunately my footage didn’t turn out as well as I’d like since I didn’t know exactly where the surprise would be (and I was still getting sat down after the national anthem). I imagine the park will attempt to incorporate this element into future shows as well and I highly encourage all of you to check it out in person if you’re able. I’ll have a video of the full show posted soon so you can see what I mean. Still frames don’t do it justice.
Rides
The park was decently busy by the time the afternoon thunderstorm cleared and we didn’t feel like waiting in long lines so we only managed to get on Vortex and WindSeeker before the fireworks. WindSeeker had the worst operations I’ve seen at Wonderland in memory. I’ll spare the details here, but I’ll be submitting a formal complaint to hopefully lead to some improvements.
After the fireworks, we took full advantage of the extra hour of ride time with two rides on The DareDeviler! It was a walk-on so we took the first two rows. Amanda’s glad she did it with the updated trains, but it was a bit too intense for her so she sat out the second ride. After that, David was done with rides for the night, more from being tired than the ride being too intense. Both of them agreed the ride was much better than before. They do wish there was somewhere to hold on, though.
With David too tired to continue riding, Amanda and I got one ride on Klockwerks, and a double-ride on Viking’s Rage. What do I mean by double-ride? When the ride ended, before they opened restraints, the ride operator sent the ride for another cycle! Neither the operator nor unload attendant asked if we wanted to go again; they just sent us for another round to make it an extra long ride! This was phenomenal and reminded Amanda and I of the way we remember the park being in our childhood. It was the perfect end to a (nearly) perfect day!
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