The Victoria Day long weekend is considered the unofficial start of summer and Sunday’s heat definitely felt like summer! Meghan (girlfriend) and I endured the afternoon heat so I could do a full update between food and fireworks. We knew crowds would be bad, but I think that was only exacerbated by the low-low price of 2026 season passes.
RIDES
Even though we didn’t expect to ride anything, the heat was getting to us around 6:00 so we hopped in line for White Water Canyon. It just opened for the season a couple days prior and had about a 45 minute wait. Thankfully the queue is very shaded by tall trees so we didn’t really mind the wait. The ride was a nice reprieve with both of us getting splashed by the rapids. Thankfully the waterfall wasn’t on as that probably would have been a bit too much.
FOOD
For our first meal, we headed to King’s Feast for the beef sliders… but they were out and we didn’t feel like waiting for more to be prepared. Meghan got chicken tenders and I tried the foot-long corn dog.
It was crispy but otherwise fairly standard. I really wish it was all-beef. It was very unstable on the plate and in retrospect I should have squirted the condiments onto the plate instead of putting them directly on the corn dog. I think they should have little cups for the ketchup and mustard to make dipping easier, though. The fries were over-salted as usual.
Toronto Ty Taste Tier: C
For our second meal, we wanted something quick and easy to eat on fireworks hill, so we each got a slice of pizza. I don’t know if it’s just because it’s always very fresh, but pizza from the park’s Pizza Pizza locations always tastes better than the ones outside the park in my opinion.
One piece of garlic bread was a bit too toasty. There has to be a better way to serve this that doesn’t involve the garlic bread being placed right on top of the pizza slices, though…
Toronto Ty Taste Tier: B
SWEET SPOT
The big update for this week is Sweet Spot! The newly-renovated candy shop on International Street opened its doors and I got my first look at all the changes.
Right off the bat, this is a huge improvement to the layout and flow of the building! While Sweet Shoppe had three distinct areas (in-house treats, pre-packaged candy, and merchandise), the new layout is completely open from end-to-end. It feels bigger and just more open in general, which is great!
Instead of having two counters across from each other and multiple checkout areas, everything (including registers) is now along the one long wall (further from the Royal Fountains). It feels better and makes so much more sense logistically. It also seems to have even more room for employees behind the counter!
There’s still merchandise at the far end, which surprised me a bit. Some of it is at least related to candy though, such as ICEE sets and plush fruits with faces.
The ceiling tiles have an inset pattern, which is a nice detail…
But unfortunately everything else is very bland. When I think of a candy shop, I think of fun colours and whimsical energy. This is the exact opposite. White and dark grey throughout with no kinetic energy. It’s sterile and uninviting. Perhaps it’s a matter of taste (no pun intended), but I truly don’t understand this direction at all and so far haven’t heard a single positive reaction to the new look of this shop.
The name hasn’t grown on me at all either. Sweet Shoppe had much more character and felt more appropriate for Wonderland. Sweet Spot sounds generic and corporate while also having an unfortunate word association for my sister. (I won’t be going into further detail.)
I’m very grateful for the structural upgrades to this shop, but I’m already looking forward to the next time they change the name and refresh the aesthetics of the interior… Another thing to mention in future surveys I suppose.
OTHER UPDATES
The “Show Times” sign boards outside Canterbury Theatre have been painted. The colours fit into the area much better. Also a good reminder of how much better physical signs look than screens.
The ICEE stand in Action Zone has been painted and now features a sign! This is a huge improvement and really helps it STAND out! (Apologies, but this pun was intended.)
Like every ICEE stand on Sunday, this one had a long line throughout the day. I’d be okay if the park built a few more dedicated ICEE stands in the coming years, which of course can double as hot chocolate stands during WinterFest.
The KidZville Refresh Centre no longer has its construction fencing, so it should be opening very soon if I had to guess. Right next to it, the water bottle refill station is already open! People were filling up quickly, meaning a line barely had time to form! While I didn’t use it during this visit, I’m sure it’ll come in handy for me soon.
The Refresh Centre mostly fits in well, though I think the giant orange Muskoka chair kind of clashes with the red walls (and fences). Perhaps the chair can be painted another colour to blend into the area better?
In AlpenFest, a new game has opened! The sign is probably my favourite in all of AlpenFest, and continues the trend of being larger and more attention-grabbing than AlpenFury’s!
Farbspiel (German, roughly translating to “Colour Game”) is what I’ve always referred to as a whiffle ball game. You get a whiffle ball (or several) and toss them onto the table. The coloured hole your ball rolls into determines your prize. I didn’t ask for further details about this iteration of the game, but the sign indicates you’re a “winner every time,” which means I’ll probably try my hand at it before too long.
Moving over to AlpenFury’s station building, a new plaque has appeared on the ground level, honouring Heather Hill, the park’s (now former) VP & General Manager.
Heather started as a ride operator at Zumba Flume when Canada’s Wonderland first opened in 1981. She had several roles over her 45 years at the park, leaving an undeniable impact on the park, its employees (past and present), and countless guests. Heather’s dedication to service and the guest experience only enhanced my appreciation for the park and the team responsible for making it all happen. I’m truly grateful to have known and worked with her. For more on Heather’s retirement and her legacy of service, I highly encourage you to read this Six Flags blog post.
Regarding the plaque’s text, “Zumba Flume Riverworks” makes sense in reference to Heather’s first role. “Builder of Leaders” is completely justified. I’m a little confused by the last line, though. “From the Rapids” could be referring to White Water Canyon (the first ride built at the park after it opened) or possibly to Zumba Flume (which I never experienced, but probably had some elements vaguely resembling rapids). But then does “to the Ridge” somehow refer to AlpenFury, or is it alluding to something else? Regardless, I’m thrilled something in the park acknowledges Heather’s contributions to the park’s history.
Speaking of which, I’ve been informed some employees have come up with an affectionate name for this new pathway on the hill next to Lazy Bear Lodge: The Heather Hill.
The pathway may be subtle and overlooked by most guests, but it has a clear mission to improve the guest (and employee) experience. I expect all of you to spread the word and exclusively refer to this new path as “The Heather Hill” from now on.
I really am thrilled the park went to the effort of establishing The Heather Hill path and it seemed to function quite well before and after the fireworks!
FIREWORKS
On that note, the fireworks themselves were good and the music choices were fine. Some of the songs weren’t as upbeat or bass-heavy as I think should accompany a fireworks display, but part of the reason I feel that way may be due to the absurdly low volume. I’m not sure if they’re using different speakers, or if they’re wearing out, or maybe someone literally just didn’t turn the dial all the way up, but it was unacceptably quiet. Half the time I wasn’t sure music was playing at all. Bringing back the massive speakers on Timberwolf Falls’ exit ramp might be a good idea as well, especially for those guests sitting closer to Vortex’s station. Hopefully the park can address this before the Canada Day fireworks.
The other issue was leaving the park. It’s usually a bit of a pain after the fireworks, but this time was particularly bad. Some of you may remember Wonderland Store’s renovation in 2024, adding a set of doors exiting out of the park into the exterior entry plaza. Sadly these doors have now been turned into emergency exits and apparently what I’d estimate was ~50,000+ guests leaving the park all at once doesn’t qualify as an “emergency.”
These doors were seemingly added with the express purpose of adding another way to leave the park so I’m sad to see this is no longer the case. And when you’re dealing with such huge crowds, this means everyone who enters the store has to then squeeze out through a single door perpendicular to another sea of people.
Yes, I understand there may have been some concerns over theft or guests attempting to let others in through these “exit-only” doors, but both can (and were) mitigated through added security/police monitoring around these doors. With theft, these doors were more closely monitored than the other store doorways. With attempted admission bypass, a single guard should be able to prevent this.
My point is, crowd control is more important than almost anything on fireworks nights. In my opinion, opening these doors for guests to exit would relieve some of the pressure on Front Gate without significant security or loss prevention risks.
TL;DR
Quite simply, it felt like the park wasn’t prepared for these crowd levels. I believe that’s in part due to the way Victoria Day fell a little earlier in the season, but the park still feels like it’s operating at previous years’ preview day levels… except with fireworks crowds.
Lines for food and beverage locations were absurdly long with Coasters’ line stretching out close to SlingShot, and yet Grande World Eatery and Chicken Shack were of course still closed. (Part of the problem is the fact Lazy Bear Lodge closes early for fireworks due to the VIP viewing experience.)
Leviathan was still running with only two trains. Minebuster, Sledge Hammer, and The DareDeviler haven’t opened for the season yet. And the bargain-basement price for a season pass just puts extra stress on every area of the park. Add to that the lacklustre musical accompaniment for the fireworks and it was far from the best Wonderland visit. Some things probably aren’t going to get better this year, but I still have faith things will run a little smoother by Canada Day.
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