Canada's Wonderland is the country's biggest and best theme park, part of the Cedar Fair chain that operates many other theme parks that we've visited before such as Cedar Point, Knott's Berry Farm, Kings Island, Kings Dominion and Carowinds.
We visited during fall, with the popular park decorated beautifully and a charming seasonal atmosphere.
Wonder Mountain is a very impressive centerpiece to the theme park, with huge waterfalls cascading down to a sparkling lake filled with dancing water fountains.
The new area - Frontier Canada - was our first destination, home to one of this year's most anticipated new roller coasters.
Yukon Striker is the tallest, longest and fastest dive coaster in the world. 245 feet tall, 3,625 feet long and 130 km/h fast. We waited for front row seats and they were most certainly worth the extra time queuing. The sight of the first drop into a tunnel that takes you under the park's lake is jaw dropping.
The ultra smooth new B&M ride features the first vertical loop on a dive coaster as well as a further three stunning inversions. It is an absolute joy, and for any adrenaline junkie is worth making a trip to Canada's Wonderland.
Adjacent to this, Mighty Canadian Minebuster is a wooden roller coaster that delivers 3,828 feet of swooping hills in a classic out and back layout.
This beautiful section of the park also includes the attractively themed rides Flying Canoes, Lumberjack and Soaring Timbers. There are also two water rides, flume Timberwolf Falls and White Water Canyon rapids.
The 306 feet tall, with a top speed of 148 km/h, Leviathan is Canada’s tallest and fastest roller coaster. It brought back memories of the sublime Fury 325 at Carowinds, another sensational B&M creation. The gargantuan airtime hills take you beyond the park for a thrilling flight of pure giga coaster pleasure.
Leviathan is the flagship attraction of the Medieval Faire area, also home to the wooden roller coaster Wilde Beast which was fairly rough but definitely worth it, ageing steel looping coaster Dragon Fyre and a few thrill rides including the notable Wilde Knight Mares, a rare HUSS UFO.
Behemoth, which is the second tallest roller coaster in Canada, is an impressive 230 feet tall and reaches a top speed of 125 km/h. Initially, it appears to be a smaller version of the mighty Leviathan with a series of swooping airtime hills, but the last section surprised us with some very forceful helix turns.
Action Zone also includes the fantastic Sledge Hammer, the only ride of its type in the world, which is both spectacular to watch and brilliant to ride. Located nearby, the 301 feet tall tower swing WindSeeker, 135 feet tall 'sky roller' Skyhawk and pendulum ride Psyclone, plus the Backlot Stunt Coaster that appears at several other Cedar Fair parks.
The park's impressive total of 17 roller coasters is bulked out with a varied mix of other rides including the Time Warp flying coaster (a terrible Zamperla Volare) and Flight Deck inverted coaster (a standard Vekoma model).
Wonder Mountain's Guardian should be an exciting mixture of interactive dark ride and roller coaster, but sadly it's one of the worst rides we've ever been on. The experience was lacking in so many ways, from the non operational pre-ride video and an unthemed station resembling a manufacturing plant, to the broken laser guns, fuzzy low-definition 2D screens and lack of any sound effects. It really needs a huge makeover, which is quite surprising as it only opened 5 years ago.
Far more enjoyable in the Wonder Mountain area, thrilling suspended coaster Vortex and exciting runaway train Thunder Run.
Overall the variety of thrill rides at Canada's Wonderland is really good, with some unusual attractions that we were delighted to experience for the first time.
For families with children the park has two areas specially dedicated to young fun, the colorful Kidzville for tiny tots, and Camp Snoopy for older kids. Both are nicely done with a selection of rides and attractions.
Canada's Wonderland has some well themed areas but the use of
generic 'hit radio' music in the queues cut through any sense of place
that had been created by the decoration.
We enjoyed an evening meal at Coasters, a 1950’s style diner and one of the better places to eat. There were plenty of options around the park but many closed quite early.
Our final ride of the night was on Yukon Striker in the dark, and what a brilliant way to end our visit to this wonderland in Canada. This dive coaster feels even taller, longer and faster. It was a highlight of the year!
We were guests of Canada's Wonderland for the purposes of this review. For further details and to plan your visit go to www.canadaswonderland.com
