It’s mid-June, so I hope you’ve all been enjoying the (P)ride this month! This is one of those weeks I’m thankful to no longer be making weekly videos. With Brew & BBQ only running on Saturdays and Sundays, I simply couldn’t make it to the event this week and instead had a relatively uneventful Friday visit. However, this does give me an opportunity to talk about the merchandise.
Food
Veggie Meatballs with Garden Salad
I was very hungry when I arrived around 4:45 so I grabbed the most filling meal I’ve found at the park this year. It seemed like a lot of glaze on the meatballs this time, which is slightly sweet. I’m not a huge fan of the glaze, but I cover the taste with barbecue sauce so it doesn’t really matter.
Toronto Ty Taste Tier: A
Classic Poutine
I had to rush home so I grabbed a quick walkable meal. I wonder if putting the cheese curds in first would make them melt a bit more? As is, most of them are still cold or just slightly warmed. They also seem to giving fewer fries per serving, but the peppery gravy is now at least proportional to the other ingredients.
Toronto Ty Taste Tier: A
Rides
I managed to get nine rides in during this short visit. Operations at Psyclone were very slow. Behemoth was very efficient. Minebuster continues to deliver an excellent ride, but I find the restraint is coming down an extra notch during the “unfinished” part of the ride, crushing me a bit for the new finale. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’d really like to see new trains on both Minebuster and Wilde Beast.
I rode Yukon Striker, Tundra Twister, and Vortex with Amadeo. Yukie delivered as always. Tundra Twister was a pretty wild cycle with a sustained inversion as we headed toward the ground. Vortex was also quite intense, with big swings.
Wilde Beast really has some great moments if you can get past the roughness. And Shockwave… once again some of the most intense experiences I’ve ever had on it. It’s kind of interesting Tundra Twister and Shockwave had similar sustained inversions during downswings! Overall, it was an intense ride day, which was quite a bit of fun!
Merchandise
Wonderland Store has some new items this year. I quite like this orange varsity hoodie, though I’ll be waiting for some kind of sale off the $70 price tag.
This hoodie on the other hand is… oof. I’m assuming AI had a hand in crafting this design (which you can also find on hats and other items). Behemoth’s creature looks more like a demon than an animal, with “Approved 27.04.2007” making no sense to me since Behemoth was announced in August of that year before officially opening in May of the following year. Was the name approved in April 2007 or…?
Yukon Striker and Leviathan at least have the correct opening years, though I’m not sure why “Bienvenue au Canada – Visa Approved” is on there. No issue with Dragon Fyre’s logo other than it being fully written in french, and AlpenFury’s is also fine with the odd inclusion of “approved” appearing yet again. Vortex’s picture looks more like the retired Vortex at Kings Island, but lists Toronto instead of Vaughan. The Bat has a random date in 2013 (though it’s interesting it’s 27 like Behemoth’s). No idea what “Wonder Mountain Stamped on 05 OCT 2024” means and… why is Wilde Beast “valid thru” December of 2008? Why do we have “Exit,” “Departure,” and text in other languages plastered over the logos?
I briefly thought it was designed to be like a passport filled with stamps, but then other elements conflict with that idea. I hope no one spends good money on anything in this line of merchandise since it’s rife with issues.
Property of Leviathan? I really don’t get what this sweater means…
It seems repeating-pattern shirts are en vogue this year, with Snoopy, Joe Cool, Leviathan and AlpenFury featured prominently. Leviathan’s layout is at least somewhat close. Of course I’m passing on anything depicting AlpenFury’s top hat, particularly when it further exaggerates how it towers over the majestic Wonder Mountain.
So yeah, these socks get a hard pass from me.
Get this shirt while it lasts! But it does make me wonder when we might see The DareDeviler merchandise… If it rides as well as I think it will, I’d definitely be interested in getting something featuring The DareDeviler’s logo!
This design looks okay, though one of the support columns is really funky. Also the circle at the end of Wonderland looks like it should be a registered trademark symbol, but looking at this photo makes it appear backwards? And the mix of imperial and metric units for the ride’s statistics is kind of silly to me. Height is measured in metres, but length is measured in feet? I’d prefer if they picked either feet or metres, and maybe had the other in parentheses.
I’m obviously not getting an AlpenFury shirt, but at least this one sticks to feet for both height and drop. Of course then it uses metric for speed… AlpenFury also has the easiest statistics to write in metric, with a nice round 50 metre height and 1,000 metre length, but I digress. The mix of colours as well as the oddly-shaped blobs just doesn’t work for me.
Behemoth’s got no wheels! Neither train depicted is really on the tracks and I have no idea why Minebuster and a forest are part of this shirt.
This one is probably the least objectionable and may be a good option for those with a love of pink and purple.
I didn’t take a good photo of Leviathan’s shirt, but it seemed fine. Overall, this whole line has an ‘80s neon aesthetic which is a bit too loud for me.
These beasts look fierce, but the track definitely isn’t B&M like it should be. Also Leviathan has wings now!
Never mind, no wings on this mecha-Leviathan. Definitely not B&M’s iconic boxy track either.
Having the park’s biggest coasters in the subtlest colour is an interesting choice. I’d consider getting this is if weren’t for AlpenFury. Somehow they made its dominance over Wonder Mountain even more egregious, but at least it’s more “balanced” than the off-centre reality. I like it better this way, but not enough to buy the shirt.
This fanny pack and the mini backpack next to it are pretty nice, though the backpack seems too large to fit in the bins at Yukon Striker and AlpenFury. I thought about getting the fanny pack for days I don’t bring my big camera, but $39.99 seemed a bit steep even with my season pass discount.
Any Other Updates?
I mentioned these two square-roofed gazebos outside bag check, with my assumption being the park would direct guests through the middle during hours the chaperone policy is in effect. But no, I arrived and left during those hours, with the fences placed directly in front of this structure so guests have to enter on either side. Truly I cannot wrap my head around the purpose of these structures.
There are a couple of new trees I’ve noticed this year. One is between Coaster’s Drive-In and the former Chicken Shack building, right next to the ugly screen.
That’s better.
The other is on International Street, next to the height check station on the north side.
Tanghulu is being advertised outside Sweet Spot. Based on my experience at the media tasting, I can’t say I’m rushing to try it again…
Here’s a better look at the new Dippin’ Dots stand by Yukon Striker’s final inversion. Again, the angle or placement seems off and the colours aren’t a great fit for the Frontier Canada theme in my opinion. I think it would have been a much better idea to remove Outpost Bar and put this in its place. As I’ve mentioned before, there’s already a bar in this same plaza: Caribou Crossing. Plus School House Snacks also has some alcoholic drinks for some reason.
On a brighter note, the basic stanchions by the floral flag for character meet-and-greets have been replaced by coloured flag ones with white posts. It’s a small change, but these area much better fit for the target audience.
No update on The DareDeviler since my last video, but here’s another look at the station and control tower.
There are a couple new portable planters set up by Sledge Hammer’s plaza. They’re great to see, though I’d prefer some permanent (or even boxed) trees.
Signs for Watchtower, the new Arthur’s Baye show, have been added. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the new show may change from the previous versions.
TL;DR
An intense ride day, with a couple very filling, meat-free meals. No shows or events running during this visit, and no major projects happening either from what I could see. It was a simple visit, but that finally gave me the time to discuss my main issues with the current merchandise lineup. Did I miss a particularly bad item? Submit a comment below!
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