TR: Paramount Canada's Wonderland
July 20-21, 2003

I awoke on July 20 excited. In my hazy, sleepy state, I had to recap why. Did I win the lottery? No. Were socks and sandals outlawed in Canada? No. But wait, I was in Canada, and I was FINALLY going to get to visit Canada's Wonderland!

For one reason or another, every year something got in the way of me getting to Toronto during the summer to visit Canada's premier theme park. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites in Markham that I scored through Priceline for $50 per night. The hotel's location was perfect, being about 15 miles from both PCW and downtown Toronto.

Our drive to the park took us west from the 404 along Major McKenzie Drive through Richmond Hills, past the pumpkin themed silo, and finally into Vaughan. Approaching PCW, only the top of Drop Zone stuck out. Once at the corner of Jane St, the park was fully visible. Taking the advice of Kevin Reid, we continued straight on Major McKenzie and used the north entrance for the parking lot. Parking was $7.50 CDN (about $5 USD).

Being that we (Mark & Adam) spent two rather full days at the park, I thought I'd give a general overview of the park, including ride reviews, and general insight.

Paramount Canada's Wonderland is easily one of the best corporate parks anywhere. It borrows lots of physical attributes from other world-class parks like PKI and BGW. In fact, if I had to describe the park in one sentence it would probably be something along the lines of a better-landscaped Kings Island. This is a perfect example of a park that I would return to annually despite it not having a single top tier coaster. The entire park experience at Wonderland is what won me over.

International Street at PCW is huge. The programmed fountains and the awe inspiring presence of Wonder Mountain behind it combine to make one heck of a first impression. The architecture of the buildings and general feel of the area is not much different than the International Streets at PKI and PKD.

Turning right, you are led into Medieval Fair. After passing the impressive Paramount Theater, the section opens into a broad midway that circles around a small lagoon. The lagoon is the scene for the park's pirate themed high dive show. Medieval Fair features a nice mix of original PCW attractions with a pair of new modern day thrillers.

Dragon Fire is an off the shelf Arrow/Huss looper with one gimmick- it's the only Arrow ride with a counterclockwise corkscrew. The ride runs two seven car trains, and was originally blocked to run three trains. When demand faded, the third train was modified by Vekoma to run on the park's new for 87 Bat (boomerang).

Wild Beast was the first of the four Coney Island Wildcat clones that KECO built. Essentially the same ride as PKD's Grizzly, Wild Beast does feel a bit different. I found the hill directly after the ride's second drop to be the best hill on the ride, while the following hill was dead by comparison (this dead hill is the potent hop inside Grizzly's tunnel). Grizzly's fan turn eats up Wild Beast's. According to Kevin, PCW rebuilt the fan turn several years back. The trains make a very odd shuffle upon entering the turn on Wild Beast, while Grizzly's trains take this element with grace and power. From the fan turn to the brakes the two rides are pretty much the same. I give the nod to Grizzly in this head to head battle. A side note here is that PCW runs every available train on every coaster unless the park is completely dead. At PKD, a ride like Grizzly is not as popular with the thrill-seekers as Wild Beast is at PCW (mostly thanks to PKD's recent steel installations I suppose). With both of Wild Beast's seven car two bench trains running, waits were non-existent.

Drop Zone at PCW is one of only two Intamin Giant Drops I know of with five cars (the other one being SFKK's Hellevator. At about 220 ft in height, it gives a nice view of the park and the surrounding flat landscape.

The Rage is a fairly standard park model Huss Pirate, while Nightmares is one of only two Huss UFOs in North America (with the other one located only 120 miles away at SFDL). Spinnovator is a well run themed Mack Calypso that fits its site well (I think this was once themed to barrels or something along that line).

Standing on what was the spillover queue for Dragon Fire is Cliffhanger. I believe this was the prototype splashover ride from Mondial. Essentially, this is a Huss Top Spin with independent rows. Having the rows on independent axis makes for less flipping and more rocking. The end result is a ride that is more impressive to watch than to ride. Thanks to cool temps and intermittent rain, the water effects were off.

Continuing on into International Festival, guests are led past the Leather Hut and the entrance for the Bat. Standing proud in the heart of International Festival is Shockwave- the almighty Mondial Top Scan. Unfortunately, PCW chooses to run their Top Scan in theme park mode. Even in theme park mode however, this is a supreme thrill. The keep you guessing forces and visuals need to be experienced to be believed. The close FLY bys only add to the experience of riding Shockwave. Other flats in International Festival include an awesome set of modern day Lusse scooters (perhaps the best theme park bumper cars anywhere) and Klockwerks (Huss Swing Around).

Rumbling around and through Wonder Mountain is Thunder Run. Thunder Run is the only example of a Mack powered coaster in North America (boy does EVERY European park have one of these!) I had a blast on Thunder Run - talk about a solid family thrill ride that everyone can ride and enjoy. The cheesy (but fully functional) effects in the mountain added that much more. It's powered so I don't count it, but who cares - Thunder Run may be the most fun ride in the park. Kevin calls it Wonderland's Raptor, as everyone seems to run to it at opening.

The Fly and Vortex are two of few coasters in the park that were custom built for Wonderland (The Fly's layout has since been cloned at Legoland California and PKD). For some reason or another, The Fly has hideous capacity due to how it is run. Not only are cars stopped and loaded (unlike the continuous motion on other Mack mice like Hersheypark), but the ops seem to take forever to dispatch the cars. Because the park was so uncrowded and this was the only ride with any kind of line during our two-day visit, we opted to ride only once.

The star of International Festival is Vortex. Through strategic planning by Kevin, Vortex turned out to be my 400th coaster. While both Vortex and PKI Top Gun have essentially the same layout, Vortex seemed noticeably more intense. I love the slow, suspense filled turn off the lift dropping off the top of the mountain. Night rides were full of insanity, as the layout continues to keep riders guessing which way the train will turn next. I loved the vast grass field that guests could walk out on to observe Vortex in action. It makes for great vantage points for filming and photography. Short but sweet, Vortex is one of Arrow's finest coasters.

Continuing under Vortex's lift and first drop, you are led into the Grande World Exposition of 1890- the largest themed section of PCW. Many of the park's original flat rides are located here- The Fury (Eyerly Monster), Great Whale of China (Mack High Seas), and Swing of the Century (Zierer Wave Swinger). Jet Scream was added in 1990 (the year between Bat and Vortex). It is a fairly standard Giovanola Looping Starship with a nice color scheme.

The park's PTC 84 carousel is located under a structure identical to the carousel pavilions at PKI, PKD, and PCAR. This four abreast machine is probably best known for having been the carousel at Palisades Park in New Jersey prior to coming up to Toronto. The ride looks great, is run at a good clip, but sadly lacks a real band organ. It also provides nice shelter from driving rainstorms.

The park's Action Zone has three giant flat rides that seem out of place theme-wise. Had PCW found a way to make Psyclone, Sledgehammer, and Orbiter better fit in with the Grande World Expo theme, it would have worked better IMO. However, who am I to complain about a ride like Psyclone? Mondial went above and beyond on this creation. I loved knowing that I could get a different ride based upon where I sat. It allows for a different experience every time. When comparing this ride to PKI's Delirium, I also appreciated the restraints over the cumbersome restraints that Huss used. My favorite seats on this awesome machine were any in the red sections on the right side of the ride (when looking at it from the entrance). Awesome floating air, amazing visuals (being suspended upside down with the entire suburban Toronto landscape displayed in front of you), on a smooth and wonderfully engineered ride. Mondial hit it out of the park with this one. Not quite as good as a Top Scan run on carnie mode, but as far as park flats go, it doesn't get much better than this.

Sledgehammer goes into the more impressive to watch category. I honestly didn't get what the appeal is with this thing. It seems like such a terribly complicated machine that doesn't do nearly as much for me as the simplistic ride right next to it. I got a kick out of seeing clouds of hydraulic fluid dust shoot out of this beast while it dropped. Smelled nice too- reminded me of the IHOP across from KBF.

Orbiter is the last remaining Huss Skylab in North America (I believe the only other two were located at Great Escape and PKI). Giant Enterprises were not a good idea. That's why we didn't see more of them.

Coaster-wise, Grande World Expo has three rollers.

Might Canadian Mine Buster. Whew. What an awkward name for an awkward ride. What was probably a wonderful out and back woodie at one time now just feels all-wrong. The ride's first drop and first speed hill work fine. Then, things go wrong. The second and third speed hills were recently turned into one long rampy hill that the train seems to fight to no end (this to allow pedestrians to access the expanded Splashworks Waterpark on the other side of the coaster). The return has one or two decent hills, and then an awkward straight stretch that slowly banks into an ascending helix, of which half is enclosed in a tunnel. After shuffling its way up to the ready brakes, your ride is over. Oddball ride. I'd love to know how the original Coney Shooting Star compared to this. Also odd is how KECO chose to put five car three bench PTC trains on this thing.

Skyrider is an oxymoron. It is a good Togo. That can't be, right? Wrong. I always loved PKI's King Cobra, so I knew I'd like Skyrider- it didn't disappoint. I love this ride's layout for a standup. The weird airtime, great helix, and funky trains all work on this (and for some odd reason don't on the compact layout of PKD's Shockwave).

Top Gun is a Vekoma SLC. I should say nuff said, but first I'll say it was pleasantly themed (with intact theming on a 1995 coaster). I guess when it is the last new major coaster put in the park, it needs to be kept up. Oh yeah- did I mention Top Gun is a Vekoma SLC? Nuff said. Are any other SLC's boarded at ground level?

Walking out of the back of Grande World Expo takes guests along the back of Skyrider and past the Proslide showroom called Splashworks. Continuing down a path through the woods (amazingly void of any food or merchandise outlets), guests find themselves between the park's two main water rides.

Timberwolf Falls is a standard Hopkins first generation shoot the chute. White Water Canyon is a very early Intamin River Rapids 6. A long winding wooden path leads guests to the turntable loading area. White Water Canyon has nice landscaping going for it, but little else. Nice layout, but the ride just didn't seem to do anything (unlike other great rides of this type like PKD's White Water Canyon).

Continuing on, you finally enter the park's huge kiddie/family sections. Virtually 20 percent of Wonderland's developed acreage is devoted to the kiddies. Behind PKI, this is easily the best kids complex anywhere. Kidzville, Zoom Zone, Hanna Barbara Land, and Nick Central are all chock full of kids attractions big and small. We took rides on Ghoster Coaster (KECO jr wood much like PKD's), and Silver Streak (Vekoma Jr Suspended Coaster). Scooby Doo and the Haunted Mansion (Sally dark ride) is also located here, but is hindered with single bench cars which results in hideous capacity. I was really taken by the beauty of the park when walking across the bridge near Hanna Barbara's entrance. Weeping Willow trees shade the tracks of the antique cars and kiddie train ride. In a small pond, an oddball Swan Boat ride (on a track) looks right at home.

What is Paramount Canada's Wonderland missing? A log flume. Why the park chose to remove the Arrow Zumba Flume is beyond me. Why they chose to remove it in favor of a Vekoma SLC is even further beyond me. No park like this should be without a log flume.

Unlike virtually every other theme park in the world, PCW has plenty of flat rides and family rides. This is a park long overdue for a large, custom designed coaster. After visiting the park in person, I don't buy the small market, no competition reasoning for not doing so. Toronto is one of the top ten largest markets in North America, and despite keeping attendance steady with moderate investments, a major coaster is needed every 5 years or so to rejuvenate interest. Top Gun's 10th anniversary is only a year or so away. It's time.

Food at PCW is way above par for theme parks, mostly thanks to lots of regional favorites and outside concessions being present (i.e. Pizza Pizza, Mr. Sub, Cadbury, Breyers). The BBQ in Medieval Fair was great.

An unusual option PCW offers is a general admission ticket. For a discounted price, you gain access to the park, and can ride a certain amount of rides. POP guests have to show their hand stamps to attendants before boarding rides.

In closing, PCW is an amazing park. What it lacks in not having a stand out coaster, it more than makes up for in operations and atmosphere. It has lots of American influence (mostly thanks to KECO) but also has lots of unique regional charm.

Thanks to the Kevin, Donna, Adam, and Nolan for being our guides for much of Sunday and for sharing your Newmarket Palace with us on Monday night. Special thanks to Nolan for allowing me to wear his spikes for #400.

-sparky