Season Pass Night in our household has become almost like Christmas Eve. The countdown to PCW season pass night starts the day we walk out the exit on the last day of the season of our Canadian Thanksgiving Weekend in October.

This year the wait was a little easier. Our 2000 roller coaster season did not end in October because we were able to extend it by attending the last PKI weekend in November. In January I was able to attend my first ACE No-coaster event in Chicago with bud John Keeter. The first weekend of April saw us driving to PKI for their opening weekend of 2001. But we still had to wait one more month for our beloved Wonderland to open. Most of April was spent in the front of a computer updating the PCW Guide for our web site.

May 4th finally arrives and oh boy! were we ready to go. First time in a while my mom also decides to come along with us on Season Pass Night. When we left Newmarket the weather was absolutely gorgeous, 25 degrees Celsius. Short and T-shirt were the order for the evening but still took along sweaters and coats just in case. Drove down Jane Street and observed the many changes that have taken place as we get nearer to Wonderland. In just the six seasons we have been going to the Wonderland the development near the park is unbelievable. Pull into a prime parking spot on the front row around 5:15PM. Gone are the traditional PCW Guide Books replaced by a Guide Map. This is going to make it a challenge to scan and get posted on the web site.

We had decided on the drive down we would hit Silver Streak first because we felt it would be like PKI’s and that area of the park would be the busiest as the evening wore on. On our way over to Silver Streak we see the relocated Klockwerks sitting in the spot once occupied by Bayern Curve. Wonderland did a lot of work in this relocation. Gone is the hole that it sat in and the fake rock that surrounded it. The Curve’s queue and ops booth now belong to Klockwerks. The brand new Mondial topscan Shockwave now sits right beside The Fly in Klockwerks’ old location. The entrance has been re-routed but the old queue is still used. Iain Hendry, RRC, waved to us from the queue line. Global News had their equipment there for a live take on the 6:00PM news. We watched Shockwave cycle for one ride. Shockwave comes real close to the top of The Fly’s first drop. That should add a little extra excitement. I can honestly say that I have added another ride to my "not going to do it, wouldn’t be prudent" list. I have also heard that some PCW ride ops refer to Shockwave as "Protein Spill 2001" – I see why!

We finally make our way over to Silver Streak. Silver Streak is located in a brand new kid’s section called Zoom Zone. Zoom Zone is located behind the Pizza Pizza and beside The Candy Factory. Silver Streak probably sits were the old Jumbo Bumps (yellow slide) was located. Zoom Zone has two other new rides: 1) Jumpin’ Jet a S&S Power froghopper and 2)Blast Off a Zamperalla crazy bus. PKI’s Runaway Reptar must have used the entire budget for themeing because Silver Streak got literally none. Silver Streak’s loading platform is better designed than PKI’s and does not have those ugly overhead flush gates. PKI’s have all the guests bunching up at the back of the ride while PCW’s has lots of room and you enter at the middle of the flush gates. We walked right into the queue and only had to wait one train. Adam and Nolan took a front seat ride while mom and dad took the seat behind them. The ride of course is the same as PKI’s except there is no leg cop effect and PCW’s has an on ride photo located on the final curve before the break run. Silver Streak is the proud owner of the nicest On Ride Photo equipment in the park. Ten ViewSonic monitors display the photos for sale. Of course we could not pass on our first official ride photo. After Silver Streak nobody was at the Jumpin’ Jet so I suggested to the boys it would be a good idea to ride before the line was packed. Nolan notices that S&S Power was the manufacturer and says, "hey Dad, this is my first S&S".

Took a break in the action to have some Pizza Pizza and this is about where the beautiful day weather wise stopped. The wind picked up and it started to get a bit chilly. On the way back to the front gate to pick up our sweaters from the van we hopped on Vortex. This Arrow suspended is still one of the best rides in the park. Took a quick walk up The Fly exit ramp to see if Joe_PCW was working but we did not see him. Ran into our neighbours at The Fly who we had planned to meet later that evening.

Nolan just this year has reached the magical 54" mark and wanted to ride Top Gun (SLC) for his first time. This is not his first SLC he has already ridden three at Six Flag parks last year. (Only 52") We queued up for the front but bailed out after a delay because we didn’t want to waste valuable PCW time.

We decided that Minebuster would be our first PCW woodie of the year. MCM has received a few changes. Gone are the wooden steps and ramp leading to the platform. Replaced by a steel and concrete ramp very similar to Dragon Fire’s new ramp last year. Inside the queue house we notice three televisions and speakers could this be start of a PCW version of PKI’s QTV? Donna and I take the front seat and notice a brand new transfer track as we head up the lift hill. Minebuster already in top form because our first ride was excellent. Lots of speeds and little bursts of airtime. I just love the force of the train pushing us up the first turn around. Some of the gang stayed at MCM while Nolan and I go over to Skyrider. Skyrider has both trains running and we only waited one train. I was able to say hello to Cory who is working on the crew of Skyrider. Cory and I have exchanged e-mails and it was nice to meet you. Thanks for lowering that seat for Cody’s first Skyrider ride.

After Skyrider I had to check on the status of Pharaohs Falls. Well! it is gone. The only thing left is the tower and stairs. Looks like they have poured a new concrete pad there. Not sure what that is for.

Took one ride on The Great Whale of China with Donna and we reminisced about how this was our first big flat ride we tried back in 1996.

Our neighbours were going to wait for 7^th Portal so we decided to head for Wild Beast. Just like we predicted most of the people were now in Kidzville and Zoom Zone and the queue for Silver Streak was full. Wild Beast like MCM did not disappoint and also delivered an excellent ride. Wild Beast also received a new transfer track. We felt some rain drops on the lift hill and since we were getting a wee bit cold we decided to call it a night. By the time we got out of the parking lot it was raining pretty good.

SUMMARY
The 2001 Season has now officially started for the PCW Junkies. Tonight was probably just the first of at least 40 visits. It sure is great to be HOME! It’s the most Wonderful Time of the year…