Paramount Canada's Wonderland Trip Report
Friday, June 22, 2001

First visit to Wonderland.

On Friday I started the day a bit on the tired side, but I have to say there is nothing like a good coaster ride to get your blood flowing. I had been looking forward to this trip since it was planned in mid-May. For this trip I was joining the Reid family at their home in Canada for a weekend of trips to their local parks. Of course Paramount Canada's Wonderland has always been high on my list of parks to visit.

Quickly let me recap my trip to Toronto. I left Los Angeles at 10:30 p.m. on Thursday evening and flew all night. The flight was a painful experience. I was stuck in a bulk head seat with no leg room, arm rests that were solid (thankfully I am thin) and an annoying movie/on flight entertainment that flicked in my eyes from the screen only feet in front of me all night long. Top it off the plane was completely full which just added to the discomfort of all onboard. I am getting sick writing about it from this exhausting experience.

My flight landed at 6:00 a.m. (3:00 a.m. California time!) and I waited for Kevin to arrive at 8 a.m. to leave for his beautiful home. The area was quite different than I expected. On the way home I got my first glimpse at Wonderland.

At his home I took a quick shower and then we immediately left for PCW to be there for the park opening. The weather was rainy when I arrived at the airport, but it tapered off and the skies cleared as the day went on.

On the way to PCW Kevin insisted we stop at Tim Horton's for some donuts. As I found out Kevin loves donuts. I rarely eat them, but he told me that enthusiasts who visit Canada rave about Tim Horton’s. I also found out about the origin of the chain, the first sports star to do something wise with their money.

I must mention that Kevin Reid is a funny guy and really enjoyable to hang out with. He always converts the price of things into the currency of the opposite country (US or Canada). If you're from the US you sure get a great deal on the exchange rate and I know that drives Kevin crazy sometimes. While at Tim Horton's Kevin insisted we save some money on Canadian taxes and order half a dozen donuts, instead of ordering just one. No complaints, but we did not exactly have a car full of hungry guys to feed.

Kevin also mentioned that Tim Horton’s according to some has better donuts than Krispy Kreme... after the first bite I will say "not!" Regardless I still managed to shove three of them down my throat before our arrival at PCW. Nothing like a stomach full of donuts before a good coaster ride.

Arriving at Paramount Canada's Wonderland I was blown away by the close resemblance of Paramount's Kings Island. The parking lot layout and skyline of the park just looked too similar. I must note that this was a nice feeling since PKI is one of my favorite parks.

Kevin showed me a secret entrance to the parking lot. Skipping the toll booths, we instead drove across one Mad Cow Disease invested field after another, but hey our parking spot was great and we did not forget to put the receipt in the window...fearing the worst from the PCW parking police.

A couple notes...the park was infested with school children who should be in school. Guest relations were a bit confused with my VIP pass from Paramount's Great America which I thought was funny. They either thought it was an employee pass or that I was someone special.

Entering the park I noticed the familiar look of King's Island sans the Eiffel Tower icon has been replaced by the impressive mountain and water falls. I did not realize the parks would look so similar, but then again I never really studied the map or looked at many photos of the park, only the coasters.

I should mention that my expectations for a Paramount Park are high. After my experience at PKI a year ago I was expecting the same clean, well themed park with a great selection of outstanding rides. I also got the impression from PKI that the park is well managed and into delivering an exceptional guest experience. In my opinion Paramount is ahead of Six Flags and just behind Disney in terms of the overall park experience. Knott's comes close, but I did not find the same to be true for Dorney Park, so Cedar Fair is inconsistent among parks I have been to.

I will tell you know that Canada's Wonderland exceeded expectations.

My first ride was Vortex and it was the coaster I was most looking forward to riding. Vortex is an Arrow suspended roller coaster, which is one of my favorite types of coasters. I have found that suspended coasters can deliver an amazing ride. They are fun and very re-ride able.

Ninja at SFMM has been a long-time favorite, but I have to say Top Gun at PKI blew away my home park coaster. I have also ridden the Big Bad Wolf at BGW, which I felt was disappointing. After a dozen or so rides I can say that Vortex is now my favorite, inching out Top Gun by a hair.

Vortex starts with a cool lift hill that ascends into the giant mountain which is the centerpiece of PCW. Sort of like the castle of the Disney theme parks. The first drop is great since you cannot se the button until after you drop. All you see is the track dropping off the side of the mountain.

The highlight of the ride though is the helix over the lake. Just try and lift your feed as Kevin challenged me to do. You can't. The positive G's are just too intense. After my first ride I was blown away and knew I would have to ride Vortex over and over again.

After our first ride it started to rain. We walked to the Canadian Mine Buster and I took in the sights along the way. We tried to wait in the station for the rain to clear, but I got tired of waiting and decided to ride anyway. So what we got wet.

PCW has three wooden roller coasters which is a nice collection for one park. I had heard many good things about the wooden coasters here from Kevin, but of course I remembered he is biased! Skeptical as I was...he was right. They do indeed have three great wooden coasters.

My first ride on the Canadian Mine Buster was in the front seat and it was a blast. This coaster has plenty airtime and concludes with a fine helix in a dark tunnel. It also has wonderful PTC trains that I love, but on the downside individual lap bars and headrests. BOO!

Too bad this coaster does not run like it did on day one. The fixed position lap bars would be incredible. Another positive note was the lack of seat belts which only cause problems. I have to deal with seat belts on GhostRider at Knott's and it cramps the rides capacity.

While a bit wet the first ride was worth it. Riding in the rain is fun! I insisted on a second ride and I cannot remember where we rode, but regardless of location I enjoyed it as much as the first.

Our third coaster was across the walkway. SkyRider is one of the early Togo, slow load, stand-up coasters. My first was the King Cobra at PKI, which I was unimpressed with having ridden a number of B&M and even the original Shockwave Intamin standup at SFMM.

SkyRider was more fun than I remembered the King Cobra to be. At PKI King Cobra was one of the last coasters I rode so I think the others had a big influence on my opinion. What I enjoyed most about SkyRider was the extreme airtime on the hills and bunny hops and the trick track. Too bad the loading is painfully slow or I would have ridden more than just once.

Leaving SkyRider we went on a little tour of the park. PCW has a reputation for having an outstanding collection of flat rides and I now can confirm that they really do. My local parks, especially Magic Mountain are weak in this department.

I was hungry by now and on our tour I spotted some amazing hot dogs...half pound, foot long, all-beef hot dogs. There is nothing like a good hot dog and these looked exceptional. Unfortunately it was an adventure to get one.

The first stand we walked by had a long line, so we walked to the next stand which believe it or not was SOLD OUT! It was obvious that the park was not expecting the crowds and they were struggling. The third stand we stopped by again had a long line and only one person working so we went back to the first stand.

Kevin insisted the wait would be half an hour. I refused to believe it so we waited. While in line I started to put out the spiel about how they had just run out or how the line was 30 minutes and guess what a dozen people in front of us left the line! Regardless it was ten minutes, but sadly it could have been two had they any idea how to run a hot dog stand.

First rule of running a hot dog stand. When you have a line, put some dogs on the grill. The girls working the stand would put one or two at a time forcing people to wait. Now with only hot dogs and drinks on the menu, what do you think people are waiting for? Hamburgers???

Second rule of running a hot dog stand. Let the customer put on their own condiments. Oh but at PCW you and your dog get the VIP treatment, that I detest. In a theme park this is bad service, because it takes too long. Not only do they put on too much ketchup, not enough mustard and don't spread the relish evenly...but they force you to wait longer to get your grub. Condiments belong on the side and thus service would be greatly improved.

I found a couple other things odd while waiting at the stand. An employee picks up a hot dog off the grill and drops the dog out of the bun onto the floor. Instead of just picking up another hot dog of the grill the girl just throws the bun away and starts over. Guess what if vice versa happens, vice versa happens with the dog as well.

Now as for the hot dog...it was great! Tasty and flavorful, but also messy I left a bunch of the condiments to dry on the pavement near some planter I was sitting on while eating.

I also discovered while eating the dog that Coca Cola in Canada is great! Here is the secret why. When in the US Coca Cola introduced the biggest failure in soft drink history new Coke they stopped making the original formula here. The rest of the world never saw new Coke or if they did they only saw it is a test product. After New Coke failed (within weeks) Coke brought back Coca Cola Classic, but they changed the formula. Yes, folks they have been lying. In the US they use corn syrup instead of sugar, but in the rest of the world the bottling companies make Coke with sugar. The result is a much better Coke.

Now I have recently given up drinking soda all together, except for theme parks and movie theatres since you don't have much choice and water is a rip off. Further, I never drink regular coke in the US only Diet Coke. Well I decided I had to make an amendment to my personal rule and with a vote of one in favor, no against the decision to drink regular Coke at anytime outside of the US passed so I was going to drink all that I could get. In fact I brought to bottles home with me and have them for that rainy day, which happens to be today in LA.

After the hot dog experience and my coke revelation we continued our tour of PCW with a walk through Kidzville and on through Hanna Barbara land. I took a look at Silver Streak, the new Vekoma inverted family coaster. It looks nice, but with one-train operation the line was a bit slow and long so we skipped. I saw Taxi Jam and opted to skip for now until one the youngest Reid, Nolan was with us later in the day.

Kevin and I stopped at Scooby's Ghoster Coaster, a junior wooden coaster with the same layout as Beastie at PKI. I love these junior wooden coasters and they are also a hit with the kids. More parks should build these wonderful coasters.

Kevin and I rode in separate seats since the pint sized PTC trains do not afford you the space for two adults...well they do, but it is not comfortable. Shaggy and I rode together a year ago at PKI and it was a tight fit, but boy did that train go fast. There is not much air on Scooby's Ghoster Coaster, but one thing to note it lacks the trim break that PKI installed on theirs. This coaster is also an ACE classic.

Next on the list was Kevin's favorite the Wild Beast. The Wild Beast has a very similar layout to the Grizzly at PKD and is somewhat similar to the modified Grizzly at PGA. I have to say that I really enjoyed the Wild Beast. After the second drop you have two great pops of air time and overall it was better than the Canadian Mine Buster IMO.

After Wild Beast we headed over to Dragon Fire, an Arrow/Huss steel looper. There is not much here to talk about. One element I enjoyed was the stretch of straight track between the first drop and first inversion, a vertical loop. Overall, the coaster is short, but it made me realize that Viper at SFMM is really missing an conclusion after all the inversions like a helix.

We then toured the rest of the park and then left for home to have dinner and pick up the rest of the Reid Family, Donna, Adam and Nolan.

The entire Reid family and I returned to PCW at 7:00 p.m. to find the park clearing out. This is always a nice sign. First ride of evening was on Thunder Run, a electric powered coaster inside the mountain. Kevin told me that some do not consider this ride to be a coaster. I kept insisted it was not as well.

Thunder Run was a surprise for me. I expected a short coaster that basically ran in an oval layout. Instead it was a bit longer with a nice helix in the middle and it felt like the coaster really got moving fast while in the helix inside. IMO it was fun and it is a coaster so it got added to the count.

Next for the evening was The Fly, PCW's wild mouse coaster. This is a fun Wild Mouse that begins with a nice drop before the famous switchback turns that every mouse has. The line early in the day was too long to wait in, but now it was down to less than 15 minutes.

We had a fun experience on this coaster and it earned a nickname for the evening... "Fabio's Revenge." I am sure you can begin to imagine what we did to some poor little creature.

As we were making our way through the switchbacks I noticed a bird standing on one of the rails on one of the turns. To my disbelief as our car rounded the turn and the bird did not move Frozen on the track under the car the bird went and I felt a little bump, so sorry Mr. Bird or shall I say bye bye birdie. The coaster got revenge on the bird. Usually birds fly away at the last moment, but I am afraid this bird met its maker and became coaster meat.

Next stop was Silver Streak in the new Zoom Zone. This is a fun family inverted coaster, but with single train operation it is prone to long lines. No big deal now since there was no line. I rode once and got my fill of Silver Streak. I can see why kids would just love this coaster. I would have loved it when I was younger.

Taxi Jam was the next stop. I rarely will ride a junior coaster, but Kevin insisted that I take a ride for the count...or what count? Nolan was nice enough to ride with me and we went for the backseat for the best airtime Taxi Jam has to offer. Out of the station it took only seconds to ascend the impressive lift hill before we were off down the wicked twisting first drop followed by a quick pop of extreme air from first bunny hill. Then came a series of several bunny hops, each one forcing the train to buck up and down like a wild bronco. Of course delivering whip lash, thigh bruises and calf crunches from the pint sized cars, miniature lap bars and lack or leg room. Returning to the station I was relieved the ride was over, but to my surprise the evil ride op sent the train around again and again. Taxi Jam kicks butt!

Bat was the next coaster I took a ride on and Nolan was my riding partner. An interesting note about the Reid family. With the exception of the youngest member Nolan, no one rides looping coasters for the most part. Kevin especially will not ride a Vekoma boomerang which the Bat is. One note the general public continues to love the ride that most enthusiasts could care in the least about.

Following the boomerang we took a few more rides on the Wild Beast, which was running great. The Wild Beast is a front seat ride IMO. The backseat did not have the air like the front did. Then I took a ride on the Drop Zone with Kevin. Yes, the man who hates drop rides got on this one. How could he say no? I love the Intamin Giant Drop rides! I loose my stomach every time and as few know I am afraid of heights so that factor only adds to the excitement.

After the Drop Zone Donna, Nolan and Adam went to the Canadian Mine Buster and Kevin and I headed for Top Gun, the Vekoma SLC or as I call them "hang and bang". The line was short by this time. I enjoy the hang and bang coasters and don't find them to be as rough as so many claim they are. While riding I got a laugh when I heard some girl crying "oh my head" at the end of the ride.

We ended the evening with four back-to-back rides on the Canadian Mine Buster. This was a great night ride minus the spiders on the return brake run. I can't stand spiders and wooden coasters seem to attract them by the hundreds.

One thing about the Canadian Mine Buster was the obvious modification to the layout. On the run out I could almost instantly identify a section of the track that was modified. This section was obviously missing a hill that I knew a designer would not leave out. According to Kevin the park modified the coaster when it installed the bridge connecting the front and back sections of the water park. Regardless, it is still a good wooden coaster, but I think the Wild Beast won over this single fact.

Well it was 10:00 p.m., the park was closed and time to leave. Tomorrow was going to be a big day with a visit to Six Flags Darien Lake and Martin's Fantasy Island planned. I was exhausted.

Next report, Six Flags Darien Lake.

Eric

(Originally posted on URC Discussion Forum) used with permission