As we near the end of the trip, it’s been quite obvious that we’re slowing down. Despite all that, we managed the ridiculous drive from La Ronde to Canada’s Wonderland, arriving around noon today. Canada’s Wonderland is my first repeat park (my first visit coming in 2008) with one notable exception: Leviathan. I’ve written about my feelings on this coaster before, especially in regards to why the ride is even here in the first place with another B&M hyper already towering over the park.
Once again we elected to put larger ride counts over morals and bought the ‘Fast Track’ ticket, allowing us to have a shorter wait for many of the coasters and flat rides. This proved to be an absolute necessity for the park as it was jam packed. Lines for most coasters stretched nearly to the queue entrances. Paying the extra amount for the convenience of being able to ride faster and still choose which row we experienced was a good move with our limited schedule and limited likelihood of another visit anytime soon.
As it turns out, Leviathan would be my 300th individual coaster, a feat that just shows how coaster riding has gone beyond just a hobby for me. From miles away, the coaster’s teal track is visible, an absolutely massive structure above the rest of the park. Taking a cue from Goliath at Six Flags over Georgia, the coaster actually runs outside the park’s entrance gate. This makes for spectacular visuals, both on and off ride. The coaster uses the traditional 4 across B&M trains unlike the tiered rows Cedar Fair’s purchased on their last three airtime coasters from the company. There are only 8 rows to each train which is strange because any other tall B&M runs 9. Thankfully, Cedar Fair park ride operators are some of the speediest around and can have a train in and out in about 40 seconds. This keeps the three trains moving and lines at their minimum. The coaster itself exceeded my expectations. While the back seat is incredible, the front is even more so. A long, but fast lift hill leads to a drop with incredible floating airtime. The rest of the course alternates with great moments of floating airtime and huge overbanked corners. Perhaps my only complaint with the ride is length. While it’s longer than anything else at Canada’s Wonderland (over a mile in fact), the coaster has such big sweeping elements that the coaster is over before it seems to really get going. Coupled with the fact that the brake run actually starts higher than Dragon Fire’s (the Arrow coaster) lift hill, I wished the coaster could’ve had one or two more airtime hills. But with all that said, it’s hard to complain about a coaster when it’s as good as Leviathan.
The major question after Leviathan is how does it compare to Behemoth? Personally I will take Leviathan just for the sheer speed of the ride. Behemoth has developed quite a rattle from my 2008 rides, though the coaster still produces the strongest airtime I’ve ever had on a B&M coaster. Behemoth also feels like a more complete coaster with lots of airtime hills, a midcourse brake run and a not insignificant section of corners and hills afterwards. I’d have to put these two coasters one after the other in my rankings list, though Leviathan gets the edge this time. Still, it’s weird having two of essentially the same type of coaster within one park. No complaints though, when they’re both fantastic.
After the two stars of the park, the coaster quality drops off dramatically. Coming in at a distant third is Vortex, the Arrow suspended coaster. These are getting harder to find, so it’s good to see the park still operating theirs. The ride seems to suffer from some serious pumping of the back car as it shuffles around in relation to the train. It’s awfully noticeable on the ride, though it doesn’t detract terribly much from the experience—the coaster is a lot of fun with some great swinging. After Vortex, the quality drops off even further. Backlot Stunt Coaster is the former Italian Job ride when the park was operated by Paramount parks. Now it’s been stripped of some theming and many of the effects have been turned off or aren’t working. It’s a fun family coaster, but that’s about all that can be said. More can be said about SkyRider, the park’s Togo stand up coaster, but not much of it is good. The ride suffers from some seriously bad transitions and uncomfortable restraints that add up to a very unpleasant ride experience. Slightly better, but still rough are the park’s two wooden coasters. Thankfully they both have some pretty decent airtime. At the bottom of the barrel is yet another Zamperla flying coaster (the roughest of the 3 so far) and one of the worst SLCs in the world.
Oddly enough, many of the park’s flat rides outshine the coasters. They have an impressive collection including an Intamin drop tower, Huss giant enterprise, a Huss Jump II (only one in the world), a Mondial frsibee, a Mondial Top Scan, and a Mondial Splash Over (wet top spin). Along with lots of other rides, the park has quite an impressive collection to handle the crowds. The newest flat ride is a Mondial Windseeker, a 301ft. tall swing ride. The ride features great lap bar restraints and a smooth and comfortable ride up to the top. To me, it was more relaxing than anything and offered a great view of the sprawling park.
Because of the sheer number of rides, cleanliness, and incredible speed of operations, Canada’s Wonderland is the park favorite of the trip thus far and will probably stay that way. Leviathan is an incredible coaster and there was nothing like finishing the park with two night rides in the front seat. For anyone visiting Niagara Falls or Toronto, Canada’s Wonderland is a great add-on day to the trip. I will happily come back though it seems likely I will continue to purchase the Fast Track pass if the lines stay as long as they were today.
Up next: Tomorrow is the last full day of the trip, but it might be too ambitious. The hope is to do 3 parks in a day, Marineland Canada, Martin’s Fantasy Island just across the border into the US, and Seabreeze in Rochester. If we’re not able to complete it all, Seabreeze can start the day on Sunday.
Coaster List So Far:
- Dragon, Wisdom Rides Kiddie Coaster, Bowcraft
- Sea Serpent, Miler Kiddie Coaster, Keansburg
- Wildcat, Schwarzkopf Wildcat, Keansburg
- Cyclone, Keenan Wooden Coaster, Astroland
- Sea Serpent, Miler Kiddie Coaster, Deno’s Wonder Wheel
- Soarin’ Eagle, Zamperla Flying Coaster, Scream Zone
- Steeplechase, Zamperla Motorbike Coaster, Scream Zone
- Tickler, Zamperla Spinning Wild Mouse, Luna Park
- Circus Coaster, Zamperla Family Coaster, Luna Park
- Ladybug Coaster, Zierer Family Coaster, Adventureland
- Hurricane, S.D.C. Sitdown, Adventureland
- Dragon Coaster, Church Wooden Coaster, Playland
- Crazy Mouse, Zamperla Wild Mouse, Playland
- Super Flight, Zamperla Flying Coaster, Playland
- Family Flyer, Zamperla Kiddie Coaster, Playland
- Wooden Warrior, Gravity Group Wooden, Quassy
- Little Dipper, Allan Herschell Kiddie, Quassy
- Yankee Cannonball, Schmeck Wooden Coaster, Canobie
- Untamed, Gerstlauer Eurofighter, Canobie
- Canobie Corkscrew, Arrow Corkscrew, Canobie
- Goliath, Vekoma Giant Inverted Boomerang, SFNE
- Flashback, Vekoma Boomerang, SFNE
- Pandemonium, Gerstlauer Spinning Coaster, SFNE
- Great Chase, Miler Family Coaster, SFNE
- Thunderbolt, Traver/Baker Wooden Coaster, SFNE
- Bizarro, Intamin Mega Coaster, SFNE
- Gotham City Gauntlet Escape from Arkham Asylum, Mack Wild Mouse, SFNE
- Catwoman’s Whip, Zierer Family Coaster, SFNE
- Mind Eraser, Vekoma SLC, SFNE
- Batman: The Dark Knight, B&M Floorless Coaster, SFNE
- Cyclone, Cobb Wooden Coaster, SFNE
- Alpine Bobsled, Intamin Bobsled, Great Escape
- Comet, Schmeck/Allen Wooden, Great Escape
- Canyon Blaster, Arrow Mine Train, Great Escape
- Steamin’ Demon, Arrow Looping Coaster, Great Escape
- Cobra, Intamin Stand Up Coaster, La Ronde
- Vampire, B&M Inverted Coaster, La Ronde
- Le Boomerang, Vekoma Boomerang, La Ronde
- Super Menage, Vekoma Corkscrew, La Ronde
- Monstre (Track 2), Cobb Double Wooden Coaster, La Ronde
- Dragon, Intamin Indoor Coaster, La Ronde
- Goliath, B&M hyper coaster, La Ronde
- Toboggan Nordique, Zamperla Wild Mouse, La Ronde
- Monstre (Track 1), Cobb Double Wooden Coaster, La Ronde
- Leviathan, B&M Giga Coaster, Canada’s Wonderland
- Dragon Fire, Arrow Loop & Cork, Canada’s Wonderland
- Vortex, Arrow Suspended Coaster, Canada’s Wonderland
- Behemoth, B&M hyper coaster, Canada’s Wonderland
- Backlot Stunt Coaster, Premier launched coaster, Canada’s Wonderland
- Wild Beast, Summers Wooden Coaster, Canada’s Wonderland
- Sky Rider, Togo Stand Up Coaster, Canada’s Wonderland
- Mighty Canadian Minebuster, Summers Wooden Coaster, Canada’s Wonderland
- Time Warp, Zamperla Flying Coaster, Canada’s Wonderland