Hutch
Strata Poster
This was back over Memorial Day weekend, but I’ve been putting off on completing this report until now. This was just a visit to the Toronto area to finally knock off Canada’s Wonderland, one of the last big mega parks I have left in the western hemisphere. Despite living within driving distance to the border, this was actually my first time in Canada.
Toronto however is a bit too far of a drive for me in one go (especially for just a weekend), so I ended up taking a short flight from Boston. Driving isn’t outright unreasonable considering you could match it up with a few parks in upstate New York, but I wasn’t about to take any extra days off and honestly don’t have the interest/energy to drive to those other parks (i.e Darien Lake, Seabreeze). A focus on CW with some Toronto sightseeing was much more preferred for a weekend.
I had an easy flight Friday evening and got to our hotel around 9:30. Perfect time to regroup and post up at a tap house nearby. Enjoy a view of the Finger Lakes from above:
The next day was our primary Canada’s Wonderland day. Cred running this park always seemed like such a gauntlet as there’s just heaps of crap. Luckily, Buzzed Bars got a pretty great deal on fast lane plus for about $50 (as opposed to the usual $130+) for unlimited rides on all the good/important stuff. That said, there was still some strategy to be had as a lot of the kiddie/low capacity crap wasn’t on it, so those obviously needed to be taken care of.
Well, you can throw that strategy out the door because the place was dead due to the most miserable weather I’ve ever experienced during a theme park visit.
Luckily, that didn't stop the park from opening things.
There was rain all day, with high winds, and it was decently chilly. I had a rain jacket and umbrella, but it was just gross and miserable out.
Credit where credit is due, the park decided to open pretty much everything they were able to. Only three of the creds were down completely. As such, we were able to cred run very quickly, but pretty much all my rides were spoiled by rain and cold. I did experiment with wearing my sunglasses while riding, which was a game-changer when it came to eye protection from the rain.
Alright so we started out with Vortex. I never really rated Kings Island’s Bat, but this feels completely different for whatever reason. The trains tear through the layout with strong gs and absurd transitions. Easily the best Arrow suspended coaster—only missing Vampire now.
Wonder Mountain Guardian was pretty sh*t. I knew about the surprise element (pretty good actually and kinda cool how it’s tied in with the story), but the shooting aspect was poorly done. It was way too short too. Having done dark ride shooters that go on for quite a bit, this was poor. I also thought there’d be a more legit coaster section, but what you see outside the mountain is basically what you get—barely a +1.
We knocked the kiddie area out of the way—pretty easy with the area being empty. The Vekoma hang-and-bang wasn’t ready yet, so that’d have to wait for later.
Taxi Jamin, who knows why, was the only coaster where they insisted I don’t wear my sunglasses.
I think Ghoster Coaster is the fifth one of the kiddie PTC woodies I’ve done, or at least the fifth of this clone. I suppose there are worse clones out there though.
Snoopy’s Railroad was an excellent family coaster though, at least for the level of small family coasters. The layout has two launches, and you go around twice, so it’s just a great little launcher for the children to try out.
Since everything was clearly dead, I was getting to the point where we should probably get on the good stuff and avoid the risk of early closures, so it was time for Alpenfury. This was the only ride with any sort of queue. Obviously, we walked on with the fast lane wristbands, but the main queue was only 10 minutes.
Some people really seem to rate this among the best. I never really bought it, and wasn’t convinced after riding, but it is really great. Nothing can save Premier’s trains, but once you actually settle in and riding something of theirs that’s not a Sky Rocket II, it’s nice to know that Premier can actually make really good rides. This is easily the best of theirs.
Wilde Beast was not good. It didn’t help that that the rain had started to come down a little heavier, but the track work is in a dire state. There are some questionable attempts at dynamic banking on some turns as well, which they probably shouldn’t have even bothered.
It was time to brave a god damn giga coaster in this weather.
It was awesome to get on Leviathan—it was a cool ride I learned about in my early years as an enthusiast. Riding in the weather was obviously a mission. I was a little concerned about losing my sunglasses throughout, and my rain jacket flapped around like crazy. At one point I tried taking my hoodie off, which was a big mistake as my forehead got obliterated with droplets and gave me brain freeze.
So obviously not an ideal first ride, but still able to appreciate some powerful elements here. The precious airtime elements hit, with each one getting better than the last.
The park had absolutely no business running three trains on this though (more on this later). And because of the light crowds, operations were a little relaxed. Because of that, the worst part about today’s visit was suffering on the brake run of any coaster, sitting there all wet and cold.
No rest for the weary, Dragon Fyre was up next. What a disgrace. All the seats pretty much had a puddle for you to sit in, climbing in and out is unpleasant, and the ride sucked. Ops were being extra leisurely getting on with it too. Waiting on the brake run was the low point of my day.
As you can tell, I'd reached the point where I was not having fun in the park, but we had a mission to complete. We were just two hours in and already snagged nine of the creds. Oh, it was also announced the park would be closing early at 4—no worries, we’re getting things done and have no desire to stay long at this point.
Regardless, this sh***y thing was next. Ugh.
At least Thunder Run, the Mack powered mine, provided some relief from the rain. Well, the indoor portions at least. Also these seats were pretty tiny—I don’t recall there ever being trains like this—tough to squeeze a couple adults in one row.
Yukon Striker is one of the best dive machines. It had a great drop and it was nice to not slam into a mid course immediately after the Immelmann. It runs pretty fast through the third and fourth inversions too.
I did a couple rides on Behemoth, thinking I wouldn’t want to walk all the way back here. The first drop was excellent in the back, and it was nice to have a good series of camelbacks one after another. My second ride was more in the middle, and unfortunately the airtime wasn’t quite hitting very well.
I’ve now got the complete set of the Backlot Stunt Coasters (who wants to touch me?). This one launched much faster than the other two, so that turn into the helix was really intense.
I should note that the Mighty Canadian Spitebuster was closed for retracking, and the SLC was closed for… I think just a repaint? The wild mouse was also down—maybe it doesn’t do well in the rain. I hope my rage isn’t too obvious.
Highlight of the visit was eating indoors for lunch. While enjoying the warmth, we got word that Silver Streak, the Vekoma SFC, was finally up, so that was the only remaining cred I had that was open.
Well, we sat down on the train and immediately got kicked off as the team got a call for high winds. In the meantime, both Leviathan AND Behemoth valleyed. Remember when I said Leviathan was running three trains? With less and less riders for each train, the crew thought a train with only five riders was good enough, and it couldn’t clear the hammerhead turnaround near the entrance. Behemoth’s stalled I believe right before the midcourse—luckily an empty train then.
As such, someone higher up rightfully decided to call it once the big B&Ms f—ked up. Fine by me. I managed 14 of the 18 creds in just a few hours and was struggling to enjoy the visit. Honestly one of my least favorite visits to a park—simply for the discomfort of being in the cold rain. I was ready to go.
I do kinda love the unhinged energy of the park just going for it though and opening everything they could with multi-train ops. Most other parks would just throw in the towel on some rides and not even bother.
But good news! We stopped by guest services on the way out and were told that both our day tickets and fast lane plus may be accepted the next day. Wonderful! Especially since I didn't go for a chain-wide pass this year. The next day was supposed to be my sightseeing day in Toronto, but I was entertained with the idea for a free revisit, actually get some money’s worth out of the fast lane, and, well, actually enjoy some coasters. I’ll separate that into a second part though as this is already getting kinda long.
Anyway, hot tub time back at the hotel was well earned. Our group settled up at a Mexican restaurant for a bit before finishing off at some arcade bar.
Toronto however is a bit too far of a drive for me in one go (especially for just a weekend), so I ended up taking a short flight from Boston. Driving isn’t outright unreasonable considering you could match it up with a few parks in upstate New York, but I wasn’t about to take any extra days off and honestly don’t have the interest/energy to drive to those other parks (i.e Darien Lake, Seabreeze). A focus on CW with some Toronto sightseeing was much more preferred for a weekend.
I had an easy flight Friday evening and got to our hotel around 9:30. Perfect time to regroup and post up at a tap house nearby. Enjoy a view of the Finger Lakes from above:
The next day was our primary Canada’s Wonderland day. Cred running this park always seemed like such a gauntlet as there’s just heaps of crap. Luckily, Buzzed Bars got a pretty great deal on fast lane plus for about $50 (as opposed to the usual $130+) for unlimited rides on all the good/important stuff. That said, there was still some strategy to be had as a lot of the kiddie/low capacity crap wasn’t on it, so those obviously needed to be taken care of.
Well, you can throw that strategy out the door because the place was dead due to the most miserable weather I’ve ever experienced during a theme park visit.
Luckily, that didn't stop the park from opening things.
There was rain all day, with high winds, and it was decently chilly. I had a rain jacket and umbrella, but it was just gross and miserable out.
Credit where credit is due, the park decided to open pretty much everything they were able to. Only three of the creds were down completely. As such, we were able to cred run very quickly, but pretty much all my rides were spoiled by rain and cold. I did experiment with wearing my sunglasses while riding, which was a game-changer when it came to eye protection from the rain.
Alright so we started out with Vortex. I never really rated Kings Island’s Bat, but this feels completely different for whatever reason. The trains tear through the layout with strong gs and absurd transitions. Easily the best Arrow suspended coaster—only missing Vampire now.
Wonder Mountain Guardian was pretty sh*t. I knew about the surprise element (pretty good actually and kinda cool how it’s tied in with the story), but the shooting aspect was poorly done. It was way too short too. Having done dark ride shooters that go on for quite a bit, this was poor. I also thought there’d be a more legit coaster section, but what you see outside the mountain is basically what you get—barely a +1.
We knocked the kiddie area out of the way—pretty easy with the area being empty. The Vekoma hang-and-bang wasn’t ready yet, so that’d have to wait for later.
Taxi Jamin, who knows why, was the only coaster where they insisted I don’t wear my sunglasses.
I think Ghoster Coaster is the fifth one of the kiddie PTC woodies I’ve done, or at least the fifth of this clone. I suppose there are worse clones out there though.
Snoopy’s Railroad was an excellent family coaster though, at least for the level of small family coasters. The layout has two launches, and you go around twice, so it’s just a great little launcher for the children to try out.
Since everything was clearly dead, I was getting to the point where we should probably get on the good stuff and avoid the risk of early closures, so it was time for Alpenfury. This was the only ride with any sort of queue. Obviously, we walked on with the fast lane wristbands, but the main queue was only 10 minutes.
Some people really seem to rate this among the best. I never really bought it, and wasn’t convinced after riding, but it is really great. Nothing can save Premier’s trains, but once you actually settle in and riding something of theirs that’s not a Sky Rocket II, it’s nice to know that Premier can actually make really good rides. This is easily the best of theirs.
Wilde Beast was not good. It didn’t help that that the rain had started to come down a little heavier, but the track work is in a dire state. There are some questionable attempts at dynamic banking on some turns as well, which they probably shouldn’t have even bothered.
It was time to brave a god damn giga coaster in this weather.
It was awesome to get on Leviathan—it was a cool ride I learned about in my early years as an enthusiast. Riding in the weather was obviously a mission. I was a little concerned about losing my sunglasses throughout, and my rain jacket flapped around like crazy. At one point I tried taking my hoodie off, which was a big mistake as my forehead got obliterated with droplets and gave me brain freeze.
So obviously not an ideal first ride, but still able to appreciate some powerful elements here. The precious airtime elements hit, with each one getting better than the last.
The park had absolutely no business running three trains on this though (more on this later). And because of the light crowds, operations were a little relaxed. Because of that, the worst part about today’s visit was suffering on the brake run of any coaster, sitting there all wet and cold.
No rest for the weary, Dragon Fyre was up next. What a disgrace. All the seats pretty much had a puddle for you to sit in, climbing in and out is unpleasant, and the ride sucked. Ops were being extra leisurely getting on with it too. Waiting on the brake run was the low point of my day.
As you can tell, I'd reached the point where I was not having fun in the park, but we had a mission to complete. We were just two hours in and already snagged nine of the creds. Oh, it was also announced the park would be closing early at 4—no worries, we’re getting things done and have no desire to stay long at this point.
Regardless, this sh***y thing was next. Ugh.
At least Thunder Run, the Mack powered mine, provided some relief from the rain. Well, the indoor portions at least. Also these seats were pretty tiny—I don’t recall there ever being trains like this—tough to squeeze a couple adults in one row.
Yukon Striker is one of the best dive machines. It had a great drop and it was nice to not slam into a mid course immediately after the Immelmann. It runs pretty fast through the third and fourth inversions too.
I did a couple rides on Behemoth, thinking I wouldn’t want to walk all the way back here. The first drop was excellent in the back, and it was nice to have a good series of camelbacks one after another. My second ride was more in the middle, and unfortunately the airtime wasn’t quite hitting very well.
I’ve now got the complete set of the Backlot Stunt Coasters (who wants to touch me?). This one launched much faster than the other two, so that turn into the helix was really intense.
I should note that the Mighty Canadian Spitebuster was closed for retracking, and the SLC was closed for… I think just a repaint? The wild mouse was also down—maybe it doesn’t do well in the rain. I hope my rage isn’t too obvious.
Highlight of the visit was eating indoors for lunch. While enjoying the warmth, we got word that Silver Streak, the Vekoma SFC, was finally up, so that was the only remaining cred I had that was open.
Well, we sat down on the train and immediately got kicked off as the team got a call for high winds. In the meantime, both Leviathan AND Behemoth valleyed. Remember when I said Leviathan was running three trains? With less and less riders for each train, the crew thought a train with only five riders was good enough, and it couldn’t clear the hammerhead turnaround near the entrance. Behemoth’s stalled I believe right before the midcourse—luckily an empty train then.
As such, someone higher up rightfully decided to call it once the big B&Ms f—ked up. Fine by me. I managed 14 of the 18 creds in just a few hours and was struggling to enjoy the visit. Honestly one of my least favorite visits to a park—simply for the discomfort of being in the cold rain. I was ready to go.
I do kinda love the unhinged energy of the park just going for it though and opening everything they could with multi-train ops. Most other parks would just throw in the towel on some rides and not even bother.
But good news! We stopped by guest services on the way out and were told that both our day tickets and fast lane plus may be accepted the next day. Wonderful! Especially since I didn't go for a chain-wide pass this year. The next day was supposed to be my sightseeing day in Toronto, but I was entertained with the idea for a free revisit, actually get some money’s worth out of the fast lane, and, well, actually enjoy some coasters. I’ll separate that into a second part though as this is already getting kinda long.
Anyway, hot tub time back at the hotel was well earned. Our group settled up at a Mexican restaurant for a bit before finishing off at some arcade bar.
