Canada's Wonderland Opening Day - April 30th, 2022

On Saturday, April 30th  my brother Scott and I went to Canada's Wonderland for our first visit of the 2022 season on opening day! It was nice to be back at the park again and enjoying some rides and seeing some familiar faces! There was also a lot of construction activity to be seen as well! Thankfully the park was not insanely busy, so we were able to enjoy quite a few rides throughout the day. 

Be sure to enjoy some of the photos from our thrilling day! :-)

We arrived at the front gates around 9:30am.

It was a sunny, but somewhat cool morning. Wonder mountain was looking quite majestic as usual. CP24 was there in the morning to cover opening day.

Over the off-season, the park had done some work to the roofs on the buildings on International Street. The new shingles sure stand out!

For the 2022 season, Dairy Queen is no longer at the park. The locations have been replaced with park-ran ice cream shops serving soft-serve ice cream and sundaes. Pictured is the Swiss Dip shop on International Street.

Over the off-season, many new structures have been constructed at the park, including this Coca-Cola refill station behind Wonder Mountain.

Here is a look at the new dining facility under construction. It will be themed to a mountain lodge and be able to seat many people when it opens.

In order to make room for the new dining facility behind Wonder Mountain, the Mountainside Bakery (formerly Cookie Café prior to 2016) was demolished. Instead of removing it completely, the park constructed a new building across the path which will be home to the new Cookie Café.

Our first ride of the day was on Vortex, followed by Yukon Striker.

On our way over from Vortex to Yukon Striker, we saw the new structure built across from Windseeker. It replaced an older structure which was home to Fast Lane sales. I believe this new structure will serve the same purpose and possibly more!

After riding Yukon Striker we then ventured over to Behemoth, followed by Sledge Hammer. It was operating rather smoothly!

If you're a fan of Canada's Wonderland and an amusement park enthusiast like myself, then you would know that Psyclone is celebrating 20 years of operation this year! Since 2002, Psyclone has been swinging 40 riders upwards of 120 feet into the air as they face the ground and the sky throughout the duration of the ride!

The Dairy Queen location in Medieval Faire was transformed into Arthur's Sundaes and Cones. This Medieval themed ice cream shop better suits the area than Dairy Queen had during its years at the park.

Also new this season, The International Marketplace Buffet in Medieval Faire has been retransformed to the All's Well Hall, which it was known as in the 1980s. I love seeing the park continuing to revert rides, attractions, and facilities to their original names over the past few years!

Here's another shot of the Royal Fountain on International Street and more completed roof work on this lovely late-April day!

Later in the afternoon we rode Dragon Fyre, the park's classic Arrow looping roller coaster. To our surprise it was only operating with one train, something we hadn't seen before. Hopefully the second train makes a return soon.

I would like to acknowledge the ride crew for operating Dragon Fyre with only one train in a highly efficient manner! Scott and I only waited approximately 25 minutes to ride, with the queue stretching down to the end of the ramp. It was a shorter wait time than we had expected! :-)

It continues to look like the Kingswood Music Theatre is on its way out. This iconic amphitheatre opened it gates at the park in 1983 and was home to many great performers over the years. Sadly, the venue hasn't been used much over the past decade or so. Last year signs of its removal were became quite evident by the work being done in the area.

There was a bit more action and excitement in the Grande World Exposition of 1890 with the reopening of Xtreme Skyflyer. It sat idle during the shortened 2021 season due to the pandemic restrictions. After I took this shot, I noticed that fellow enthusiast Tyler was filming for another of his Wonderland Weekly videos. Scott and I hung out with him for a bit discussing the future of the park and what we would like to see come to the park. it is always a pleasure seeing Tyler at the park!

In the late-afternoon, Behemoth's line had stretched beyond its queue. Thankfully Scott and I had gotten a ride on it earlier in the day.

Tyler and I had rode Skyhawk to get a better view of the new dining facility under construction. It looks massive from above!
 Here's another look at the new dining facility under construction coming to Canada's Wonderland.

After over 8 hours of fun, it was time for Scott and I to venture home. We definitely had a great day at Canada's Wonderland and look forward to doing it again soon! :-)