On Saturday, September 19th, 2020 I decided to take a drive to see an old "friend", one which I hadn't seen since last November, for the premiere of Winterfest. I definitely maintained a social distance during the visit as I stayed behind the perimeter fence. It was quite eerie to see North America's most visited seasonal amusement park sitting idle due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Below are many photos that I had captured of Canada's Wonderland during my excursion.
Be sure to enjoy the photos below!
Here's a view of Behemoth and Yukon Striker from the Maple Auto Mall, just located south of the park.
The following views were captured along the Deepsprings Pond Trail, also located south of Canada's Wonderland. This photo in particular makes it hard to believe that Canada's Wonderland is located in the bustling city of Vaughan.
This nice scenic trail heads towards Canada's Wonderland Drive.
The airtime filled hills of Behemoth look quite majestic from this view.
Here you can see Behemoth, Mighty Canadian Minebuster, Yukon Striker, and Leviathan just poking above the trees.
Wonder Mountain, Drop Tower, and Slingshot made a brief appearance in this shot.
It was quite eerie and interesting to see some of the park's largest attractions sitting idle on a beautiful Saturday in September.
The Deepsprings Pond Trail sure provides quite a scenic and secluded view of Canada's Wonderland.
Here's the wild Behemoth in its natural surroundings.
Looking south on the Deepsprings Pond Trail, you can see the subdivisions that surround the park.
Yukon Striker's Immelmann inversion sure stood out under the late-morning sun.
From the edge of Canada's Wonderland Drive you can get an amazing view of Behemoth's lift hill and first drop.
Canada's Wonderland Drive provides some unique angles that you wouldn't be able to get if you were in the park. Here is Behemoth, Backlot Stunt Coaster, Mighty Canadian Minebuster, and Yukon Striker.
On a normal Saturday in September, you would be able to see cars racing along the track of Backlot Stunt Coaster. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has stopped all fun and excitement in its tracks.
The one and only SledgeHammer was also sitting idle, patiently waiting to jump sky-high again!
Looking North from the edge of Canada's Wonderland Drive, Skyhawk and Drop Tower were standing tall, as usual minus the screams of thrill seekers as they rise up and descend the towers.
Some slides and attractions within Splash Works, the park's water park can be seen from Canada's Wonderland Drive. With the hot weather we had this past summer, it would have been nice to have been able to cool down on some of the water slides!
In this shot you can see seven of the park's many rides and roller coasters.
Here is a side view of Mountain Bay Cliffs, one of two new additions at Canada's Wonderland for the 2020 season. Replicating Wonder Mountain, Mountain Bay Cliffs is situated in Splash Works and features three diving platforms of varying heights, with the highest reaching 25 feet above the pool below! The other new for 2020 addition is Beagle Brigade Airfield, an airplane themed ride manufactured by Zamperla. It is located in Planet Snoopy where Peanuts Putt Putt mini golf was formerly located.
Yukon Striker, the World's longest, tallest, and fastest Dive Coaster still looks shiny and new over a year after its debut.
Both modern steel roller coaster track and older wooden roller coaster track are quite photogenic, even without trains roaring along their tracks.
If you look closely at Slingshot, you can see its gondola suspended partially up the structure. Slingshot has been sending thrill-seekers 300 feet into the air since its debut in 2015.
Behemoth's twisted finale is quite hidden by the trees that have grown up along Canada's Wonderland Drive.
Before moving onto views of Canada's Wonderland from Jane Street, here is one final view of Behemoth from Canada's Wonderland Drive.
From one of the plazas across from Canada's Wonderland on Jane Street, the hammerhead turn around and speed hill on Leviathan stand tall above the trees that line the edge of the park's parking lot.
Here is a straight on view of Action Zone from Jane street. Pictured are Flight Deck, Slingshot, Yukon Striker, Windseeker, Skyhawk, and Xtreme Skyflyer.
The iconic Wonder Mountain is still very photogenic nearly 40 years after its debut with the park in May of 1981.
The angle captured in this photo makes it look as if Leviathan is the only roller coaster in the park.
These geese appeared to be enjoying the quietness of Canada's Wonderland. I could only imagine how many have taken residency in the park during this unusual year!
Dragon Fyre, Canada's Wonderland's first looping coaster sits quietly as it awaits to celebrate its 40th anniversary next year, along with the park.
For any Time Warp fans out there, Canada's first and only flying coaster is still at the park. Although, it is trying its best to blend in with Behemoth in this photo.
Here's another shot of Leviathan as it gleams under the early afternoon sun.
Here's another 'over the bank' shot of Leviathan to add to the collection.
Leviathan's 306 foot drop looks larger than it actually is when the parking lot is empty.
Maybe its just me, but Yukon Striker looks quite flat from this angle.
It is quite sad to see roller coasters sitting idle during such a beautiful time of the year.
From the corner of Jane Street and Major Mackenzie Drive you can get a 'wide angle' shot of the park.
Usually on a Saturday in September the entrance would be welcoming guests for a day of fun and thrills. But this September, it has remained closed for obvious reasons.
Despite the park being closed, seeing it in person for the first time since November 22nd brought a smile to my face! I just wish I could have enjoyed it as intended, but you must take what you can get during times like these.
From along Major Mackenzie Drive I managed to capture another angled shot of the park.
Drivers on Major Mackenzie Drive wishing to visit Canada's Wonderland are directed to the parking lot entrance on Jane Street. This sign appears to be quite weathered.
A nice mixture of new and old is within view of this shot.
Some of Medieval Faire's rides are quite visible from the North end of the park, along major Mackenzie Drive.
There appeared to be some form of construction happening in the employee parking lot at Canada's Wonderland.
Here's a blast from the past! The sign over the former exit leading onto Major Mackenzie Drive is still intact despite not being used in quite a few years due to the construction of the new hospital across the street.
The associate parking lot only had a handful of cars parked in it during my visit. Normally, it along with the other parking lots nearby would be filled with employee's cars.
For the past 8+ years now, Leviathan has towered over Dragon Fyre. Despite only being 78 feet tall, Dragon Fyre still provides a great amount of airtime on its first drop, followed by a series of thrilling loops and corkscrew inversions. For many park guests, Dragon Fyre was their first upside down looping roller coaster, a distinction it still holds to this day.
The sun was shining down on the top of the initial drop on Wilde Beast, one of three wooden roller coasters at Canada's Wonderland.
From Major Mackenzie Drive you can get a decent view of the park's maintenance buildings along with the storage area where they store portable food stands and promotional items. Near the far right of the building, I could see the Halloween Haunt house prop used to promote Halloween Haunt. Unfortunately due to COVID-19, Halloween Haunt will not be occurring this year.
The sidewalk along Major Mackenzie Drive provides a nice side-angle view of Leviathan.
In this photo you can truly see how vertical Yukon Striker's 245 foot drop really is!
The overpass at Highway 400 and Major Mackenzie Drive provides a nice view of the North end of the park.
Like I've said before, it is quite eerie seeing Canada's Wonderland sitting idle during a weekend in September.
Behemoth's turnaround stands just tall enough to be seen above the nearby trees!
While Wonder Mountain hasn't been the tallest structure at the park in over twenty years, it still captures the attention of motorists passing by on the 400.
I can't wait for when the day comes that I can enjoy the drop of Drop Tower again!
Leviathan stands mighty tall and proud over the park.
The last photo that I had captured during my excursion around Canada's Wonderland is of Leviathan's first drop.
That concludes my visit of seeing an old "friend"! I hope you enjoyed seeing photos of Canada's Wonderland closed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here's hoping that we will all be able to enjoy the thrills that Canada's Wonderland has to offer during the 2021 season which happens to be the park's 40th anniversary! Until then, continue to stay safe! Thanks for reading! :-)
Since I have not been able to visit an amusement park this year so far due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19), I decided to keep my blog active by looking back at photos on an older memory card that I had taken at Canada's Wonderland and a few fairs prior to the creation of my blog Amusement Views in the Spring of 2016. Today, I am going to share some photos of the former SkyRider stand-up roller coaster that were taken a few weeks before it ceased operation at Canada's Wonderland on September 1st, 2014.
For those who are unaware or have possibly forgotten, SkyRider was a stand-up roller coaster manufactured by Togo of Japan that operated at Canada's Wonderland from 1985 through 2014. When SkyRider debuted in 1985, it was advertised as Canada's first and only stand-up roller coaster and held that title until 1995 when La Ronde in Montreal, Quebec opened Cobra. La Ronde's stand-up coaster continued to operate until the end of the 2016 season.
Going back to SkyRider, it thrilled nearly 23 million passengers during its 29 years of operation at Canada's Wonderland! SkyRider featured an 84 foot drop, allowing the two 24-passenger trains to reach a maximum speed of 82 km/h (51 mph) before entering the coaster's only inversion a vertical loop, followed by a series of helixes, a trick track element, and airtime-filled hills all contained within 2,210 feet of track and all done while standing up! SkyRider's trains secured passengers using a unique and adjustable "butterfly" restraint system consisting of D-shaped shoulder bars with a seat belt, a lap bar, and a bicycle seat which passengers straddled to remain in a standing position throughout the duration of the ride. If a passenger where to not adjust the height of their restraint/seat properly, it could result in a rather uncomfortable ride for some as the seat was not meant to be sat on.
Despite being an uncomfortable ride for some, SkyRider created a love for stand-up roller coasters for others due to its immersive amount of airtime and only inversion, a vertical loop! I for one greatly enjoyed my rides on SkyRider as they were smooth and filled with airtime, something many amusement park and roller coaster enthusiasts crave! Prior to the 2014 season, I had not rode SkyRider due to being intimidated by its riding position. Luckily for me I had gotten over that fear in the early part of the 2014 season as I had greatly enjoyed my nine rides (eight of those done with my hands up) on SkyRider, for what we would later discover to be its final season at Canada's Wonderland.
After the park had made the announcement of its removal, I decided to capture some photos and a very short video clip of SkyRider on August 11th of that year. Be sure to enjoy the photos below!
The entrance to SkyRider was located just over the bridge in Action Zone on your way to Splash Works, Canada's Wonderland's water park.
The test 'seat' located just before the entrance sign of SkyRider stated "To Ride SkyRider you must be able to straddle the seat with your feet flat on the ground". In the above photo you can see that the seats on SkyRider resembled that of a bicycle seat.
Who in their right mind would go to an amusement park wearing high heeled shoes?!? I have heard that some visitors had over the years!
For the 2013 season, SkyRider received a blue coat of paint on its running rails. Prior to the 2013 season SkyRider featured a green and orange colour scheme.
SkyRider was quite compact when compared to other stand-up roller coasters. It was modeled after the former King Cobra at Kings Island, a stand-up coaster also manufactured by Togo. King Cobra operated from 1984 through 2001.
Here is a look at SkyRider's iconic vertical loop from the path in front of Splash Works.
SkyRider's station featured an elevated operators booth that was situated above the track, allowing the ride operator to have a clear view of the trains and passengers within the station.
As the train went up the lift hill, a ride attendant would start their safety spiel by saying "Welcome to SkyyyRiderrr!" The exaggerated pronunciation became quite iconic and memorable for many park-goers. Unfortunately during the time I had captured these photos, SkyRider had temporarily gone down resulting in many tests runs before reopening, hence the empty trains.
Once the train descended the 88 foot tall hill, it would quickly zip through the vertical loop!
Near the end of SkyRider's layout, the trains would enter a series of bunny hills before hitting the final brake run!
Here is the orange train ascending the lift hill.
Whether you rode on the yellow or orange train, you were still able to experience the thrill of standing up while going upside down through the vertical loop!
The final bunny hills were filled with pops of airtime!
Above is a very short clip of the yellow train going through the only inversion on SkyRider!
After the removal of SkyRider in the Fall of 2014, it would thankfully be sold and relocated to Cavallino Matto in Italy where it has been operating as "Freestyle" with a vibrant highlight yellow colour scheme since July 2015! Luckily this great stand-up coaster received a new lease on life!
For the next few seasons, the land where SkyRider had previously operated would sit vacant until the construction for Yukon Striker, the World's fastest, longest, and tallest Dive Coaster, began in January of 2018. In the Spring of 2019, Yukon Striker opened to thrill seekers.
While SkyRider has been making new memories in Italy as Freestyle for the past five years now, the memories of it at Canada's Wonderland still live on and will continue to do so for many years to come! I hope you enjoyed looking at these photos of SkyRider that I had captured on August 11th, 2014! Stay tuned for more From The Vault features in the following weeks and months! :-)
