With Celebration Canada behind us, I thought this would be a pretty straight forward visit with few updates. But as the week went on, I saw others posting about the progress on The DareDeviler and knew I had to make another video. Of course being a Saturday visit in July, there were also fireworks so I was bringing my camera anyway.
The DareDeviler
I previously reported on the new notches The DareDeviler has received as part of its transformation from Flight Deck. But this week’s developments went far beyond “notches.”
Several support columns have had sections removed and replaced with new steel, bending outward to allow for greater clearance.
A construction crew was on site, welding in three different places at once. The park is clearly working as hard as it can to deliver a completely safe new experience as soon as possible.
The fact some supports have notches while others have completely new steel speaks volumes to the engineering involved in this project.
This one support in particular (seen below, on the right), which combine two existing supports below where they used to connect, is very striking! Absolutely wild the lengths the park has had to go in engineering and fabricating these new support sections!
I really can’t say how long it might be before The DareDeviler opens, but the signs still say “Taking Flight This Summer,” so I hope they’ll move on to painting and testing soon. But obviously it takes as long as it needs to; with three sets of welders working at once, the park isn’t cutting corners. (Well… I guess they are literally cutting new corners around the ride envelope, but you get my meaning.)
Goats on the GOAT
Amazingly, two more goats have appeared around AlpenFest, taking residence on Wonder Mountain. One of them joins Sherman by AlpenFury’s dive into Wonder Mountain.
The other is way up on the precipice of this narrow peak, overlooking AlpenFest in a truly spectacular spot!
This is such a great surprise and I’m marvelling at the one high above as it can’t have been an easy task to get it up there! I’m assuming these are the originals from Bayern Curve (removed a quarter-century ago), but I haven’t asked for confirmation from the park yet. Regardless of whether they’re originals or replicas, it’s wonderful to see these goats on the GOAT of park centrepieces!
The Mighty Canadian Restoration
Minebuster now has a sign attached to its operator’s booth, featuring the ride’s name on a wooden board, a vintage Canada’s Wonderland logo, some long rusty nails, and a few little plaques with information about the ride’s multi-year restoration. All of this is attached to a theme-appropriate corrugated steel plate with the image of a maple leaf silhouetted by rust. The text reads—
Since opening in 1981, The Mighty Canadian Minebuster has delivered thrills to millions of guests and remained one of Canada’s Wonderland’s most iconic attractions. Through the dedication and craftsmanship of Canada’s Wonderland’s carpenters, The Mighty Canadian Minebuster will continue creating memories for generations to come.
Another plaque reads “Preserving a classic for future generations to enjoy.” I absolutely love this whole sign and truly appreciate the entire team at Canada’s Wonderland for keeping the park’s classic attractions around for all of us to enjoy.
The last section of plaques reads “1981-Present,” with a plaque for the names of people responsible for the 2024-2025 retracking project, one for the 2025-2026 work, and a third plaque left blank. Clearly this implies a third round of retracking is planned, though the park isn’t confirming when that might happen.
The 2025-2026 plaque actually has a few errors. Most obvious is the lack of a slash between the metric and imperial measurements for the amount of replaced track. Another error is having metres written as “meters” in both instances. The more subtle error is the measurements themselves. It lists 999’ or 298m, but those numbers aren’t equivalent. Based on a social post by the park, it’s actually 980’, which does equal 298m.
If this is accurate, the park has replaced approximately 50.7 per cent of the total track (based on the 3,828’ listed by RCDB). Of course the track length is likely slightly different now than before the track work began since there are two new hills, but regardless, the park still has nearly half the track left virtually untouched after the past two years. If there’s only one more stage in this multi-year retracking project as the plaques indicate, I expect there will be some areas still left untouched after all is said and done.
The remaining areas consist of everything from the brake run to the first drop, the flat turn at the far end of the ride, and the first part of the return trip. Based on the condition of the ride and the areas under the most stress, I’m hoping the first turn out of the station and the first part of the return trip are in the plans, with anything else being a bonus. Time will tell, but it’s good news to know there’s more new track on the way!
Other Updates
Sledge Hammer is now open! But I didn’t get on it due to a temporary/extended delay. Hopefully I’ll have better luck next time.
There were a couple carts close to the entrance to Planet Snoopy. I’m not sure if this is just for fireworks nights, but it’s a smart idea.
Sweet Spot has some nice window displays. The giant jellybeans and classic candy jars are pretty cute. unfortunately the glare on the windows makes it very difficult to get even a half-decent photo of the display. It’s not the easiest thing to see even when just passing by either.
This miniature carrousel is excellent. Having it move would have been the cherry on top!
It’s just a shame the interior of Sweet Spot is still just as bland as when it first opened. This Pixie Stix dispenser isn’t helping.
At Castle Trader, there’s now a Christmas in July sale. This is definitely a better use of the space than those claw machines. I’m particularly impressed by the signs above each section indicating price ranges. Great move!
That’s Entertainment
Major Mack was out greeting guests during my visit. You’ll have to watch my video to hear how excited I was to see him. There’s been a huge increase in character meet-and-greets in general including by Front Gate, but Major Mack outside of Celebration Canada really shocked me in the best way!
On that note, Character House has been doing indoor photo ops with the Peanuts gang for a while now but this is the first time I noticed signs on the outside indicating who’s currently available. Honestly, another fantastic little change! I wouldn’t be surprised if a more eye-catching sign appears in the future, but this is a great start!
I sat through RetroSpect. It’s the show I’ve been least looking forward to seeing this year and I really did not enjoy it. There’s no story, no cohesive theme, and a very bland backdrop. After just eight minutes, I was ready to leave but I stuck it out to record the whole thing. The music is just random medleys of songs spanning several decades. I saw one person grooving to one song, but then it changed to a different song and they literally laid down on the bench.
I hate to criticize the performers, but I also saw nothing spectacular on stage. The dancers didn’t seem to be doing much and the singers’ voices weren’t coming across very well (though that may be more of the sound system). At one point the singers said they wanted to see everyone get up and dance, but I only counted six people who stood up. This was almost certainly the worst show I’ve ever seen at the park.
It feels like something Kings Island would have (and yes, that park had a version of RetroSpect), but not even to that quality. Part of why I think this type of show works better at Kings Island is because people notice it as they pass by and decide to watch more because they hear a song they like. And because the stage has no seating, people may start actually dancing on their own. But at International Showplace, guests need to plan in advance to see the show, and then sit down to watch it.
It’s a show that was never going to be my favourite, but unlike Cool Yule (which I personally don’t enjoy), RetroSpect doesn’t even seem to be well produced. A show like this needs a lot more dancers, a lot more colour, and some kind of unifying theme. Then, put the show out in a plaza where guests will be drawn in by the showy flashes of light off the dancers’ costumes and the singers’ voices. Somehow we got the opposite, with flashy costumes for the singers and flat costumes for the dancers. But personally, I just don’t think it’s worth “fixing” this show when Wonderland’s previous entertainment offerings have been so much better. (Yes, even if that means hiring outside companies to produce the shows).
Speaking of which, there was a juggler and a couple fire dancers in the park just before the fireworks! Earlier in the day, there was also some live entertainment on the festival stage. Absolutely awesome to have some extra live entertainment to just stumble upon!
Moving on to the fireworks, I had a great time enjoying this week’s show! The crowd level was lower than a usual holiday fireworks display which made for a better experience overall. I still think the audio needs to be adjusted somehow. My latest idea is putting large speakers on Lazy Bear Lodge’s roof.
There’s More!?
Yes, Medieval Faire now stays open until 11:00 p.m. on fireworks nights! This is excellent for multiple reasons, not least of which is helping with traffic flow leaving the parking lot! Instead of everyone leaving at 10:15, some guests are staying until 11:00. Obviously this also means more time for night rides and Medieval Faire offers the best balance of thrills and family rides so there’s something for (almost) everyone!
Based on this one experience, not many people have found out about this extra hour yet. While this is great for those who do know about it (because they can get several rides in with short waits), I hope the park does more to promote this new policy. I had both a guest and an employee confused about why the rides were open later, where to find out this is now a thing, and the employee didn’t even realize Medieval Faire is the only section that stays open this late.
Clearly communication needs to be improved, both internally and externally. Since some rides already have custom signs about early closures for the fireworks, perhaps the park can add signs to indicate the rides that stay open late on these nights? Or have a spiel after the fireworks along the lines of “please join us in Medieval Faire for rides until 11:00 p.m.” Crucially, the park should be using the screens throughout the park to inform guests Medieval Faire stays open after the fireworks.
Rides
On this day, I rode—
- Behemoth
- Viking’s Rage
- Wilde Beast x3
Viking’s Rage has a better program now, delivering a more intense and possibly longer experience! It’s not too intense for little ones, but gives a bit more of that feeling in your stomach.
Wilde Beast was pretty rough earlier in the day, but it was running really well at night! Maybe it’s because I didn’t have someone next to me, or maybe it was the seat/train I was in, but the difference was literally night and day!
Food
Pesto Chicken Caprese Sandwich & Capellini Pasta
This was a perfect first meal at Grande World Eatery. It was very filling, tasted great, and had enough variety in flavours to stand above almost anything at the park! The noodles weren’t my favourite, but pasta is always good in my opinion. The sandwich was larger than I’ve come to expect which is a very good thing!
Toronto Ty Taste Tier: S
Beef Meatballs & Vegetable Rice Biryani
Three meatballs is not a meal. They were good, but I think five or six would be a more reasonable portion even by Wonderland’s standards. The rice had spices, but still seemed very bland.
Toronto Ty Taste Tier: Three out of five meatballs. (Solid C)
TL;DR
It was a wonderful day thanks to the extra live entertainment (minus RetroSpect), good food, excellent fireworks, new theming in AlpenFest, major activity around The DareDeviler, and bonus ride time in Medieval Faire.
Next week will be a bit different as Meghan and I are joined by our friends Phil and Anna, plus their daughter Emma for her first non-WinterFest visit to the park. [Due to the weather forecast and air quality from the wildfires, we postponed our joint visit so I won’t be back at the park until Thursday, July 23.] We won’t be staying for fireworks, but I hope all of you make plans to see them if you’re able. Even if you’re more of a ride person, you now have bonus time for Leviathan rides if you make on a fireworks night!
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