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May. 22nd, 2005 01:32 pmI went to Canada's Wonderland yesterday. Screw "Paramount's". It'll always be "Canada's Wonderland" to me. And I went on the new Italian Job coaster... which I'll review - after everything else that amused me.
Paramount Action FX Theatre
The last time I was in this thing was 1997, when DAYS OF THUNDER was the big film. The amusing thing is that the theatre is over 10 years old, it STILL has bits of theming from Days of Thunder. Checkerboards, etc. That made me laugh. Viva la 90s!
Speaking of wacky, they're only running one side of the theatre this season. Judging from the massive lineup, there IS a need for both sides. They're showing SpongeBob SquarePants 3D. Imagine waiting in line with all those bored kids. o_O
(On a side note, the Theatre played Superstition during Halloween in 2000 and 2002. Excuse me while I cry in a corner. While many people slam Superstition... they weren't the target audience. I've always believed that Superstition was the ONLY ride ever created with the late night b-movie viewing, cheese addicted demographic in mind. For heaven's sake, it starred Elvira, ye old Mistress of the Dark. Elvira is cool (...one half of my new fake OTP!!1! XD ), but if you're not in on the joke, it's going to go over your head. Did YOU watch Elivira's Movie Macabre in the 80's? No? I did and I was under the age of 8. :P)
Sledge Hammer
Ahhh... my beloved Huss Jump 2. One day I'll have one of these in my backyard. I waited in line too long for this, since car 6 broke and they spent about 35 minutes trying to repair it. They gave up and just ran 6 empty the rest of the day. Even at 9 pm it still wasn't fully operational. Poor Sledge Hammer. ;_;
Thunder Run
POT SMOKING DRAGONS! That's what we called them back in high school. XD
Tiny Tom Donuts
OMG! When did they get these in the park?!?! *coughs* To explain to people not from the Toronto area (which is... like almost everyone on my F-list. XD ), Tiny Tom Donuts are a Canadian National Exhibition institution. And the CNE is a Southern Ontario institution. Word. So, it was amusing to see Tiny Tom Donuts after living in Thunder Bay this school year. The donuts are these tiny little donuts sold by the dozen. IIRC, they taste a little like crap if you leave them out too long.
Truth be told, I prefer Beaver Tails to Tiny Tom's as my favorite deep-fried All-Canadian food. Beaver Tails are kinda like fried dough, but the dough is slightly different. They're also served with an assortment of toppings. The only place I know where to get Beaver Tails locally is the East Island of Ontario Place and that's seasonal. ._.
And the review of the moment...
The Italian Job: Stunt Track
The Italian Job Stunt Track is a launched coaster located between the Minebuster and Sledge Hammer (although it's across the little creek from Sledge Hammer). The coaster was is set fairly deep and away from the main pathway (and on the other side of the park service road o_O). This is to put in the looooong lineup. The wait time the park gives from the main path is 90 minutes. Yes, I waited from that point and no, it's more like 70 minutes, but I didn't count.
The cars really do look like Minis, with doors on the left side that open to let riders in. As soon as I got in, I knew that Premier Rides built the coaster. The restraints are the standard Premier lapbars, with a lockbar at the lap and another above the feet. They're comfy for roller coaster restraints. There are three Minis in a train, each with two rows of two seats, for a total of 12 passengers on a train. Wonderland was running three trains. I can't recall if the trains were stacking (I THINK they were, but not much). The hourly capacity on this thing apparently sucks hard.
Since it's a launch and lacks a lift hill, the ride is fast. Blink and you'll miss it. The uphill helix was the most plesant surprise on the hill. Not as in "I wasn't expecting it", since you could clearly see it from the outside, but I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. Going into details about the rest of the ride is borderline spoilers, so I'll lay off. It is worth mentioning that there's an awkward point with the subway stairs that feels... incomplete. There's something lacking.
Despite this... it really isn't worth over an hour wait. It's miles ahead of Tomb Raider, which didn't give me anything but a headache, but then that's not saying much.
And such is Wonderland.
On top of this, we grabbed a fast food dinner on Finch, which is the "bad side of town". I got to see an abandoned mall ("Finch West Mall", I believe) and there was some nutcase across the road firing off a roman candle while holding on to it. See, I am a freak that gets kicks out of such things.
Paramount Action FX Theatre
The last time I was in this thing was 1997, when DAYS OF THUNDER was the big film. The amusing thing is that the theatre is over 10 years old, it STILL has bits of theming from Days of Thunder. Checkerboards, etc. That made me laugh. Viva la 90s!
Speaking of wacky, they're only running one side of the theatre this season. Judging from the massive lineup, there IS a need for both sides. They're showing SpongeBob SquarePants 3D. Imagine waiting in line with all those bored kids. o_O
(On a side note, the Theatre played Superstition during Halloween in 2000 and 2002. Excuse me while I cry in a corner. While many people slam Superstition... they weren't the target audience. I've always believed that Superstition was the ONLY ride ever created with the late night b-movie viewing, cheese addicted demographic in mind. For heaven's sake, it starred Elvira, ye old Mistress of the Dark. Elvira is cool (...one half of my new fake OTP!!1! XD ), but if you're not in on the joke, it's going to go over your head. Did YOU watch Elivira's Movie Macabre in the 80's? No? I did and I was under the age of 8. :P)
Sledge Hammer
Ahhh... my beloved Huss Jump 2. One day I'll have one of these in my backyard. I waited in line too long for this, since car 6 broke and they spent about 35 minutes trying to repair it. They gave up and just ran 6 empty the rest of the day. Even at 9 pm it still wasn't fully operational. Poor Sledge Hammer. ;_;
Thunder Run
POT SMOKING DRAGONS! That's what we called them back in high school. XD
Tiny Tom Donuts
OMG! When did they get these in the park?!?! *coughs* To explain to people not from the Toronto area (which is... like almost everyone on my F-list. XD ), Tiny Tom Donuts are a Canadian National Exhibition institution. And the CNE is a Southern Ontario institution. Word. So, it was amusing to see Tiny Tom Donuts after living in Thunder Bay this school year. The donuts are these tiny little donuts sold by the dozen. IIRC, they taste a little like crap if you leave them out too long.
Truth be told, I prefer Beaver Tails to Tiny Tom's as my favorite deep-fried All-Canadian food. Beaver Tails are kinda like fried dough, but the dough is slightly different. They're also served with an assortment of toppings. The only place I know where to get Beaver Tails locally is the East Island of Ontario Place and that's seasonal. ._.
And the review of the moment...
The Italian Job: Stunt Track
The Italian Job Stunt Track is a launched coaster located between the Minebuster and Sledge Hammer (although it's across the little creek from Sledge Hammer). The coaster was is set fairly deep and away from the main pathway (and on the other side of the park service road o_O). This is to put in the looooong lineup. The wait time the park gives from the main path is 90 minutes. Yes, I waited from that point and no, it's more like 70 minutes, but I didn't count.
The cars really do look like Minis, with doors on the left side that open to let riders in. As soon as I got in, I knew that Premier Rides built the coaster. The restraints are the standard Premier lapbars, with a lockbar at the lap and another above the feet. They're comfy for roller coaster restraints. There are three Minis in a train, each with two rows of two seats, for a total of 12 passengers on a train. Wonderland was running three trains. I can't recall if the trains were stacking (I THINK they were, but not much). The hourly capacity on this thing apparently sucks hard.
Since it's a launch and lacks a lift hill, the ride is fast. Blink and you'll miss it. The uphill helix was the most plesant surprise on the hill. Not as in "I wasn't expecting it", since you could clearly see it from the outside, but I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. Going into details about the rest of the ride is borderline spoilers, so I'll lay off. It is worth mentioning that there's an awkward point with the subway stairs that feels... incomplete. There's something lacking.
Despite this... it really isn't worth over an hour wait. It's miles ahead of Tomb Raider, which didn't give me anything but a headache, but then that's not saying much.
And such is Wonderland.
On top of this, we grabbed a fast food dinner on Finch, which is the "bad side of town". I got to see an abandoned mall ("Finch West Mall", I believe) and there was some nutcase across the road firing off a roman candle while holding on to it. See, I am a freak that gets kicks out of such things.
