It was a rare Tuesday visit for me this week. I have family visiting from out of province in anticipation of a wedding this coming weekend, so they wanted to visit Canada’s Wonderland with me as their “tour guide.” My cousin Elizabeth (11 years older than me), her husband Chris (a few years older than Elizabeth), and two of their kids (ages 15 and 19) joined me at the park for eight hours, getting on as many rides as we could while filling up on food through premium all day dining plans. Coming all the way from BC, Wonderland is quite a novelty for them!
UPDATES
There weren’t too many updates I noticed this week since I was focussed on giving my visiting family members the best day experience. The most exciting update was seeing The Mighty Canadian Minebuster sending empty cycles!
I saw several cycles, usually in quick succession. It looked to be the ride crew on site (not just maintenance), likely in the midst of training. Based on all of this, I’d guess Minebuster could be open before my next visit!
The DareDeviler’s painting continues, though I didn’t get a good look at it. Just saw someone at the top of the lift, seemingly painting the catwalk.
Over in KidZville, the new Refresh Centre has opened! Much like the one in Planet Snoopy, this has two sides (one for fountain drinks and one for ICEEs). This one has three Coke Freestyle machines and three ICEE machines, which I think is the perfect number for each!
They were not allowing guests to serve themselves at the ICEE machines, instead having a staff member stand in front of all three machines, take your cup, ask which flavours you want, serve, then hand the cup back to you. I had a similar experience at the Planet Snoopy location recently so I’m guessing this is a new policy but I think it completely defeats the purpose of this design while costing the park more in staffing. Self-serve is much more efficient for guests and allows more freedom of choice. In terms of sanitation, yes, guests are now touching each ICEE handle, but now we have an extra person touching every single cup so I don’t see how that’s better. The park may save a few cents by not having as much “waste” in ICEEs, but I can’t see any way paying a staff member for this would cost them less than the potential loss in product.
One final issue: The exit gate for the ICEE side was locked so guests had to turn around, back out the way they came, passing any other guests waiting for the staff to serve them. This can easily be fixed, but I’m baffled by how rough my first experience was at this location.
FOOD
My cousin’s family got two premium all day dining wristbands, which worked out really well! After tax, it was about $100 combined and they got six meals, two desserts, and a bunch of drinks throughout the day. Based on the price of a single meal at the park, they definitely felt they got their money’s worth! One frustration did arise, and that’s with purchasing the wristbands. Apparently you can’t purchase them inside the park, or at least not at the redemption window? They told us we had to buy them online which was a bit of a pain. Had we known earlier, we could have saved some time by buying them while waiting for AlpenFury.
Apologies for any poor quality or missing photos. I wasn’t very diligent about borrowing their plates so I could take a good photo. I’m only rating things I personally tried, but I’ll share the feedback I heard from the others below.
KING’S FEAST
Chicken Tenders
Fine, but not great. Fries were borderline too salty.
Beef Sliders
These were about the same as I had at the media/VIP tasting event. The cheese sauce works so much better than a cheese slice. Not a huge portion, but at least it’s tasty. Would love some tomato and lettuce to kick this up a notch.
Toronto Ty Taste Tier: B
LAZY BEAR LODGE
Chicken Tenders & Fruit Cup
Much better than the ones at other locations throughout the park! I would be thrilled if every location in the park made chicken tenders the way they make them here!
The fruit cup was mostly red grapes and some mandarins which my family believes came from a can.
Toronto Ty Taste Tier: B
Pulled Pork & Potatoes
I’m told it was really good, and very nicely done. That was coming from Chris who’s a self-proclaimed lover of smoked pork!
Oreo Biscoff Parfait
I forgot to ask about this, but I’ve heard good things.
Marshmallow Bar?
I think that’s what it was? Anyway, it was delicious! Certainly better than funnel cakes made with the new batter recipe, and substantially cheaper to boot! I may have a new dessert option for when I get a sweet craving! (Really regretting not getting a photo…)
Toronto Ty Taste Tier: A
COASTERS DRIVE-IN
Double Cheeseburger
Good, juicy burger. Could use some pickles, tomato, lettuce, onion… That’s coming from Elizabeth who had no idea Coasters used to have all of those options. I fully agree, having that toppings bar available again would be a huge improvement!
Foot-Long Hot Dog & Mac and Cheese
It’s nowhere near as good (or hefty) as the all-beef foot long hot dog I got at the SkyDome the very next day. The one at the SkyDome was also $5 cheaper! (Though admittedly it didn’t include fries.)
I’m told the mac and cheese was very creamy, but didn’t have much flavour.
Toronto Ty Taste Tier: C
RIDES
We started our day with AlpenFury to hopefully avoid the worst of the crowds. The line still took about 45 minutes, with the inadequate shade structures offering limited relief from the sun.
The lockers and strict loose article policy was a point of frustration for our group. The ride itself blew them away, though it was a bit much for Elizabeth who said she has no real interest in doing it again. I think all of us felt it was worth the 45 minute wait for their first ride, but isn’t really worth waiting that long for subsequent rides (neither on the same day nor on potential future visits).
The teens went on Drop Tower and Leviathan while the rest of us figured out the dining plans. Chris and Elizabeth sat out while the rest of us did The Bat. Then we headed to Thunder Run and Vortex for some all-family mountain fun. Heading over to the south side of the park, everyone except Elizabeth hopped on Yukon Striker. We all went to Behemoth next, then Backlot Stunt Coaster.
By this time, we had gotten on almost all the major coasters so the teens and I finished off this end of the park with Tundra Twister.
Since she used to live in Ontario and remembers the park as it was years ago, Elizabeth kept thinking there was more to do on the south side. But with Time Warp removed and Sledge Hammer, Minebuster, and The DareDeviler still not ready for riders, there weren’t any super unique experiences we hadn’t already done. (Psyclone is fairly similar to a pendulum ride at Playland; Antique Carrousel and Swing of the Century are standard fare even if they do have a certain unique charm.)
I wanted to get them on Wonder Mountain’s Guardian but it was experiencing a temporary delay so we headed back to Medieval Faire. Dragon Fyre was also experiencing a temporary delay so we got in line for Leviathan, but it also went down while we were waiting. I realized after we left the line it was probably for high winds since Drop Tower, WindSeeker, and Skyhawk were all down for weather, according to the app. By the time we walked over to Wilde Beast’s platform (there was no line), I saw Leviathan had already reopened and was dispatching with riders.
The teens and I hopped on Klockwerks (since Shockwave was temporarily down as well), then headed around the front of the mountain. They wanted to grab dessert from the Lodge and on the way we noticed Guardian was seemingly reopening. We ended up walking straight onto the ride as the second group following its reopening. I didn’t give them any warning about the finale so their shocked screams were genuinely perfect! They were terrified in the best way, and really loved it!
We ended up making the trek back to Dragon Fyre before heading out since it also reopened, though Chris and Elizabeth sat this one out over fears it would be too rough.
TL;DR
We had a great time and the crowds (while never awful) really calmed down around 4:00 p.m. as the school groups left. The lack of variety in food options is pretty apparent when you get the all-day dining plan and the quality is pretty hit-or-miss. I still highly recommend the all-day dining plan if you’re only visiting for one day, though, and the premium version only if you’re going to want/need fountain drinks throughout the day.
I asked the teenagers what their favourite rides were and they gave a bunch of answers. I remember specific mentions of Backlot Stunt Coaster, Behemoth, Leviathan, and a shout-out to Guardian (though they couldn’t remember the names very well). Granted it was the first ride we did, but I had to ask about AlpenFury individually to get their thoughts during this discussion. Basically every ride was good though, with no complaints about anything being bad. Those of us who live in southern Ontario are very lucky to have Wonderland so near!
With Minebuster testing, I’m hoping it’ll be open by my next visit, including that new final bunny hill! Hopefully The DareDeviler won’t be too far behind!
[UPDATE: As I was working on getting this onto the site, Wonderland posted a new POV of Minebuster and stated it is now open! I’ll be at a wedding this weekend, but I’m eagerly awaiting my next park visit so I can get a ride on it!]
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