Showing posts with label Sledge Hammer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sledge Hammer. Show all posts

Thursday, 16 July 2026

Canada's Wonderland - July 16th, 2026

 This visit marked my fifth visit of the season to Canada's Wonderland!

It was quite smokey due to the wildfires happening in Northern Ontario, but not nearly as bad as the day before! The lines were quite short today due to the smokey air, allowing me to get on quite a few rides during our visit!

During this visit my mom, Scott, and I got a chance to check out the new show The King's Banquet in the Canterbury Theatre and saw the final touches being made on The DareDeviler in preparation for hopefully an upcoming reopening.

Be sure to check out the photos from today's visit! 🙂

The flowers before the security checkpoint were looking very beautiful on this mid-July morning.

If you look closely, you can see a little bit of blue skies behind the smoke, which is much better than the yellow haze that was in the skies due to forest fires in Northern Ontario yesterday! Due to an expected lower than usual attendance, only four lanes at the front gate were open.

The skies were quite smokey! AlpenFury almost blends in!

Our first ride of the day was a front row seat on AlpenFury during the early ride time before the rest of the park opened for the day!

Up next was a ride on the classic Thunder Run. I am still a bit disappointed that the lights at the end still aren't working.

With the rest of the park now open, Scott and I took a ride on Vortex!

We then took a ride on The Fly as the line was very short!

After getting on some rides rides in AlpenFest, we ventured down to Action Zone where Sledge Hammer has recently reopened!

On our way over to Sledge Hammer, I noticed that the former Chicken Shack was being re-painted to match the rest of Grande World Expo of 1890 and that of the recently transformed The DareDeviler! By the late-afternoon, the entire roof was repainted.

The aqua green looks good! Hopefully those metal industrial looking columns get replaced!

It was nice to see an old friend up and running again! Sledge Hammer actually gave a rather smooth ride! Hopefully the recent work keeps it running well. The only down side is two gondolas are currently closed. But I don't think that will be for long!

After a fun ride on Sledge Hammer, we took a ride on Btreehmoth... err... Behemoth! We could really feel the smoke while riding it! The smoke in the air was very reminiscent of the summer of 2023!

While leaving Behemoth, we noticed these geese were turned around from the Fast Lane/Single Rider lines. I guess they were too short to ride! They kept chattering up at the track with their disapproval! 🤣

We then had an amazing ride on Mighty Canadian Minebuster. You can see how ghostly Behemoth looks in the background due to the wildfire smoke!

I then hopped on Yukon Striker as it was a walk-on before 11am!

Shortly after 11am, Scott and I took a two lap ride on White Water Canyon! On a side note, the park now includes a closing time of 9pm (which was always the case, although never posted) on the entrance sign for White Water Canyon.

After two laps on White Water Canyon, we went to the Lazy Bear Lodge for lunch. Today I ordered chicken drumsticks with a side of vegetable rice. Both were very tasty!

Afterwards, we swung back around to the Grande World Expo of 1890 to see how the transformation of The DareDeviler was coming along! The entrance sign was up, the biplane was in place, and the modifications of the supports were painted.

Here's a look at the biplane that sits were the fighter jet once was located for the past 30 years!

Here's a closer look at the sign! I think it looks great!


Scott and I then took a ride on Swing of the Century. The new double seats are still quite popular, even on quieter days at the park!

All three of us then took a ride on the Antique Carousel!

I feel like I've mentioned this before, but the floors on the Antique Carousel for the past few years have been quite dirty! Hopefully they get cleaned as the Antique Carousel is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2028!

As the lines were short, Scott and I took another ride on Sledge Hammer!

I then took a ride on Tundra Twister!

On our way over to Medieval Faire, I took a ride on Shockwave. Today it was sadly running a milder program.

The winds dropped enough for Drop Tower to open! Scott and I dropped in for a 227 foot freefall!

Up next was a ride on Leviathan as it only had a 5 minute wait!

We then rode Dragon Fyre before catching a show at the Canterbury Theatre!

New for 2026 at the Canterbury Theatre is the hilarious acrobatic show, The King's Banquet!

The show is filled with many humorous moments accompanied with many acrobatic stunts!

Balancing on a pile of chairs in quite the talent! This jester went even higher than pictured here!

There was a unicycle too!

A fire and sword swallower was also a part of the performance!

A performer even swung and spun from a chandelier. it was quite amazing (and dizzying) to watch!

It was amazing watching the performers do various acrobatic stunts during the show as you follow the humorous death and return of the King!

Overall, The King's Banquet was a great show filled with many acrobatics and humour! It is nice to see a new show themed to Medieval Faire take the stage at Canterbury Theatre! I highly recommend anyone visiting Canada's Wonderland this summer to get out of the heat to see The King's Banquet!

After leaving the Canterbury Theatre, we saw Snoopy dressed up as Santa!

He was in the Christmas in July pop-up store in the former Castle Trader store in Medieval Faire.

With my $10 Rewards Dollars, I was able to buy Scott and I broken cookie sundaes from the Cookie Cafe for only $3.04 (they are normally $6.79 each)!

The floral baskets in Grande World Expo were quite stunning and flourishing in the heat!

Scott and I then took a ride on Klockwerks as the line was a single cycle wait.

Our final ride of the day was on Krachenwagen! This was quite hilarious as the ride operator was looking to fill a single car, so to get on faster, we took up on the offer and squeezed into the single bumper car! It was quite the ride and something most adults cannot do!🤣

Our final meal of the day before heading out was a poutine from Après Poutinerie. The gravy and fries were hot, but the cheese curds were cold as they had just come out of the refrigerator.

After another great 8 hour visit to Canada's Wonderland, it was time to head home as the smoke was becoming a bit too much!

On our way out, The DareDeviler was testing once again, something I hadn't seen personally in probably over a month! Hopefully it reopens by our next visit! Until next time! 🙂

Wednesday, 27 August 2025

Canada's Wonderland - August 25th, 2025

On August 25th, I made my eighth visit of the season to Canada's Wonderland. This time I went by myself and was able to get on a handful of rides despite the park being very busy! It rained a couple times during the afternoon, but that didn't ruin my final weekday visit of the 2025 season as I went prepared. I'm looking forward to Fall weekend visits, which will be coming very soon!

Be sure to enjoy the photos from today's visit! 🙂


I arrived to the park on this cooler, late-August day at 9:30am. As soon as the gates opened, I was off to AlpenFury.

On my way over to AlpenFury, I noticed work was being done on the former slap shot hockey game structure location across from Thunder Run. It looks like it might be transformed into another game.

Unfortunately AlpenFury started off with an hour long delay. On a positive note, my wait was only an hour and 30 minutes, the shortest I have waited so far! If it wasn't for the delay, it would have only been 30 minutes! This visit marked my fifth ride on AlpenFury since its debut in July.

After an exhilarating ride on AlpenFury, I took a ride on Shockwave! This cycle had many flips, which is always fun! One thing I noticed is as of recently, the gondolas don't park back in the position they started at as they normally do. I guess there was a tweak in the programing?

Afterwards, I ventured over to Lazy Bear Lodge for my first meal of the day. The smoked chicken and chili lime corn were all good. The only thing that wasn't good was the line that had formed inside Lazy Bear Lodge just before noon!

After lunch, I went over to White Water Canyon which had an under 20-minute wait due to the cooler weather. This was one of the shortest waits of the day!

After a slightly soaking ride on White Water Canyon, I went over to ride Tundra Twister. While in line, it began to rain for a short time. Luckily the queue for Tundra Twister is mostly covered.

Here's a look next to Splash Works of the Halloween Haunt props getting staged to be set up over the next month!

Up next was a ride on Psyclone. It began to rain again while I was in line, but stopped just before I got on!

Here's a look at one of the hanging baskets placed in front of Wonder Mountain on the bridge on International Street.

The sun came back out as I rode Spinovator!

Up next was a ride on Leviathan! It had about a 65 minute wait!

After a ride on Leviathan, I swung by the Cookie Cafe to have another broken cookie ice cream sundae. This time there was tons of cookie pieces in it! This and the blue ice cream are my favourite items from Cookie Cafe!

As of recently, Sledge Hammer has been opening at 4pm. I managed to get on it just after 4:30pm!

My final ride of the day was on the Antique Carousel.

Before I headed out, I got my second meal of the day from Après Poutinerie in AlpenFest. It was a decent poutine with lots of gravy and cheese curds with crispy fresh cut fries.

After a fun but busy day at Canada's Wonderland, it was time to head out. Until next time! 🙂