Canada's Wonderland - August 29th, 2023

 On Tuesday, August 29th I spent a whole day at Canada's Wonderland, hanging out with Amadeo and his friends Arianna and Daniel throughout the afternoon through closing time. We ended our day with a night ride on Behemoth! While it was really busy at the park, it was amazing hanging out with them on my 7th visit of the season! I hope to do it again sooner, rather than waiting a whole year!

Be sure to check out my photos of our great time at Canada's Wonderland! 

The morning was bright and sunny when I arrived at the park shortly after 9:30am.

Once the ropes dropped at 10am, I headed over to Yukon Striker for my first ride of the day.

After a ride on Yukon Striker, I went over to Behemoth as Tundra Twister wasn't quite ready for the day. After a ride on Behemoth I saw people on Tundra Twister, so I got in line for Tundra Twister. Once in line the ride temporarily goes down and cycled empty. I managed to get this nice shot while waiting for Tundra Twister to reopen.

After a ride on Tundra Twister, I ventured over to International Street to watch the Victoria Falls High Divers show at Wonder Mountain.

While the performance is relatively the same every year, it is still cool to see divers jump off of the top of Victoria Falls down into the pool below at the base of Wonder Mountain.

You wouldn't catch me up there!

The show always draws a crowd!

If you're going to dive off of Wonder Mountain, going head first is the way to go! ;-)

While waiting for Amadeo and his friends to arrive, I captured a photo of the small shrubs planted around Swing of the Century. They will look nice once they have fully grown.

The flowers planted throughout the park have done really well with all the rain we have received this summer!

Once back in Action Zone I rode Sledge Hammer. It is still hard to believe that this one-of-a-kind ride is 20 years old this year!

Shortly after 1pm, I met up with Amadeo and his friend Arianna on the patio at the Lazy Bear Lodge. The patio offers a really nice view of Yukon Striker and Vortex!

And Tundra Twister, too!

The trains on Vortex just zip on by!

Afterwards we took a ride on Vortex and Shockwave (which is still running insane!), followed by a ride on Drop Tower, where Daniel met up with us to take the 227 foot plunge!

I always enjoy free falling on Drop Tower, especially with my hands up!

Once back on the ground, I headed over to Backlot Cafe for a Chicken Nacho Bowl. I was used to the beef Nacho Bowl, but the chicken one was surprisingly good! Here is a photo of the highly photogenic Flight Deck.

While I was eating at Backlot Cafe, Amadeo, Arianna, and Daniel were in line for Ghoster Coaster. Here's a photo of them I captured from Ghoster Coaster's exit path.

There they are on the fun and classic family wooden coaster. I also enjoy taking it for a ride every once in a while.

Unfortunately for us taller riders, the trains on Ghoster Coaster aren't too kind on the knees. 😆

I just love how the evening sun shines on Yukon Striker's track. This was on our way over to ride Sledge Hammer.

That little dip on Yukon Striker is filled with a bit of airtime!

After a fun ride on Sledge Hammer, I captured this photo of the sun setting. it looks as if Yukon Striker's track just heads into the sun!

After another ride on Tundra Twister, we hung out on the Lazy Bear Lodge patio again. There I was able to get some night shots of Tundra Twister in action.

It is quite tricky to capture at night!

Once the sun goes down, some of the rides really come to life!

We finished our night at the park with a ride on Behemoth! It is a great roller coaster to ride in the dark! I was glad to enjoy a night ride on it as it has been quite a while since I had last done that! Just afterwards, it began to lightly rain.

International Street is quite beautiful at night with the Royal Fountain lit up.

Here I am after a day of hanging out with some great people at Canada's Wonderland!

Here are the four of us (from left to right: Amadeo, John (myself), Daniel, and Arianna) before leaving the park just as the rain began to pour down! Thanks to Amadeo for this photo! It was amazing hanging out with you guys! :-)

Canada's Wonderland - June 25th, 2019

Well, it has been 20 days since my previous visit to Canada's Wonderland! In light of that, I decided to make my sixth visit of the season on this beautiful late-June Tuesday. The warmer weather sure brought out the crowds, which was kind of surprising for a Tuesday in late June. I am now up to 19 rides on the all-new Yukon Striker. Be sure to check out my photos below!

As mentioned, this visit sure was beautiful weather-wise. The bright sun made International Street glow.

There was a low flying jet that passed over the park in the late morning. It was quite interesting to see, as it looked close to Yukon Striker.

The flowers in the flowerbeds throughout the park sure popped and caught your attention in the sun! Yukon Striker just happens to be in the background.

Although riding Yukon Striker nearly 20 times as of this visit, the first drop still gets me every time! 

The hanging baskets nearby the Medieval Faire entrance are a nice touch.

It has been many years since I have watched the iconic Victoria Falls High Divers show. So, my Mom and I deiced to catch a mid-day performance. 

The backwards jump off of Wonder Mountain into the pool below always pleases the crowd!

I see you peeking out from behind Wonder Mountain, Vortex!

The airtime on Behemoth makes some passengers' hair stand up!

Sledge Hammer stands tall against the clouds above!

After another great day, my Mom and I decided it was time to head home after over six hours of fun! Thank you for taking a look at my sixth visit of the season to Canada's Wonderland! :-)

Season Pass Sneak Preview Night at Canada's Wonderland- April 26th, 2019

Welcome back Amusement Views readers! It sure was a long and cold off-season! Luckily the cold weather has pretty much passed and the seasonal amusement parks across the North American landscape are beginning to open for another season of thrills and excitement!

During the Wintertime, the wonderful team at Canada's Wonderland was busy preparing for another amazing season with the construction of the World's largest Dive Coaster manufactured by Bolliger and Mabillard, Yukon Striker and many other improvements and changes around the park that are mentioned below.

The 2019 season at Canada's Wonderland has officially begun! While not my first visit of the season (as I had attended Yukon Striker's First Rider/Media Day Event two days prior), Season Pass Sneak Preview Night was my first visit with the public and fellow pass holders.  Despite being very windy and somewhat cold throughout the whole evening, my Mom and I had a great time! I was able to get on a few rides and also meet up with some fellow enthusiasts, Matt of CoasterCircuits and Tyler of  Wonderland Weekly for a couple of hours throughout the evening checking out all that was new for this year.

Be sure to check out the photos of my great time!

The crowds were growing as the opening time loomed closer. I had met up with Matt while lining up to get in for the evening.

Once the gates opened, everyone ventured off to Yukon Striker, leaving International Street quite empty.

Here is a close up view of the new for 2019 Yukon Striker as seen from the path between Wonder Mountain and Action Zone.

Matt and I waited for the opening of Yukon Striker, but decided not to ride that night due to the wind delays. Eventually Matt was able to get on it later in the evening. After deciding to not go on Yukon Striker, we met up with Tyler and rode Sledge Hammer together! I learned from Matt that he was able to get on Yukon Striker later that evening.

This is the area where Orbiter operated from 1981 through 2018. It was removed in February. A path has currently taken over its place.

A new Kingswood Event structure was built since the event tent was destroyed by an ice storm in April of last year. It looks quite nice and should be used by many school kids for musical performances for years to come.

Here is the line for Yukon Striker once it did open for the evening. It stretched over towards Antique Carousel and was reported to have upwards of a four hour wait. Luckily I had gotten 10 rides during the First Rider event on Wednesday!

Yukon Striker can be seen from pretty much anywhere in the Action Zone and Grande World Exposition of 1890 sections of the park!

The geese thought they were the stars of International Street. ;-)

After checking out the south end of the park, we ventured over to the North end. What's old is new again! A few attractions within the Medieval Faire section received their original names. Here is the Canterbury Theatre, formerly known as the Wonderland Theatre. It was known as Canterbury Theatre from 1981-1993.

One of Leviathan's trains going over the edge of its 306 foot drop!

The Rage has been renamed "Viking's Rage" like it was known as from 1981 through 1996. The new sign and matching queue line canopy look very nice!

Nightmares also received its original name of "Wilde Knight Mares" like it was from 1981 through 1996. The new sign also looks quite nice and suites this classic and rare thrill ride quite well.

Thrill Burger was renamed Kings Feast this year to better fit in with the Medieval Faire section of the park. 

While Drop Tower was closed due to the high winds, its restraints had received bright yellow covers.

Wild Beast has reverted back to its original spelling of "Wilde Beast", as seen on the new sign.

During Season Pass Sneak Preview Night Klockwerks' lights were not present. Hopefully this isn't a permanent decision.

The slap shot hockey game within International Festival has been relocated to the former Ring Toss game structure in front of Krachenwagen.

The old slap shot hockey game location will be the new location of the grab and go food market opening this season.

The Peach Basket game in International Festival has been replaced by a milk can type game.

Here's one of the two entrances to the newly transformed Frontier Canada section as seen behind Wonder Mountain.

With the introduction of Frontier Canada came a new sign for Vortex.

There are many photo opportunities for Yukon Striker!

Here's the final and fourth on Yukon Striker! It is quite impressive and huge when you walk along the nearby path! The path that goes along Splash Works was still under re-construction, so you could not get too much closer.

Here's a train full of thrill seekers exiting the second Immelmann inversion on Yukon Striker.

Vortex as seen through Yukon Striker's supports!

The new chuck wagon was on site in Frontier Canada. It'll be serving up hot dogs and sausages.

I held the shutter on my camera to get this somewhat artistic shot of one of Yukon Striker's trains entering the trench right after the vertical loop.

Jacob's Ladder was renamed Lumberjack Climb to fit in with the newly transformed Frontier Canada section.

The next few shots showcase Yukon Striker as seen from Frontier Canada, near the Kidzville entrance.

Here's the train entering the first inversion, an Immelmann.

Here's another shot of Yukon Striker with one of the trains going through the final inversion.

While taking a thrilling ride on The Bat, I happened to notice the beautiful sunset that was off in the distance. Once I got off, I tried to capture it through the willow trees next to The Bat. 

The wind had picked up while I was taking this long exposure shot of Wilde Knight Mares.

Here's my Mom and I after a great evening of fun! I had captured a night ride on Mighty Canadian Minebuster which was great as usual!

Here's one final photo of Yukon Striker in the dark! The train (and coaster track) turned into quite a blur due to the wind and the camera settings. Thanks for checking out my photos of Season Pass Sneak Preview Night! :-)