Canada's Wonderland 2007-present

File:Wonderland2007.jpg The Logo of Canada's Wonderland
Interactive map of Canada's Wonderland 2007-present
Location	Vaughan, Ontario
Opened	May 23, 1981
Owner	Cedar Fair Entertainment Company.
Slogan	The Best of Hollywood Entertainment, Now Playing.
Operating season	May through October
Area	330 acres (1.3 km²)
Attractions
Total	60 Thrill Rides & 200 Attractions
Roller coasters	14
Water rides	20 Acre (81,000 m²) Waterpark – Waterpark, Outdoor Wavepool, 16 Water Slides
Website	canadas-wonderland.com

Canada's Wonderland is located near Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, slightly north of Toronto, Ontario. It is one of North America's premier amusement parks, holding more than 200 attractions. The park is open yearly between May and October; the 2005 seasonal attendance was 3.7 million people^[1].

In 1972, the Taft Broadcasting Company first proposed building a 1.50 km² (370 acre) theme park in the small village of Maple, now part of Vaughan, Ontario. Several other possible locations were considered, including Niagara Falls, Ontario and Milton, Ontario, but the site in Maple was finally selected because of its proximity to the City of Toronto and the 400-series of highways.

Other companies had seriously considered the greater Toronto area as a spot to build a park, including the Conklin family (whose Conklin Shows ran various midways around North America) and Walt Disney, who eventually decided that the area would not make a suitable park site, the main reason being that the climate was too cold, thus the operating season too short to be sustainable.

The construction of the park was fought on multiple fronts. Many cultural institutions in Toronto felt that the new theme park would put them out of business. Many of the institutions included Ontario Place, the Royal Ontario Museum and the operators of the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) who felt that the Toronto market wasn't large enough to support more competition. Other groups that fought the building of Wonderland included a Vaughan residential association (called 'SAVE') who felt the increased traffic would reduce property values. Some of the concessions from the company included the building of a landscaped berm around the park to reduce noise and the visual sight of the large parking lot. Taft was concerned about opposition, going as far as to fly a group of opponents and regional councilors out to Cincinnati to show residents and town councilors the impact of one of their theme parks on the local community (it should be noted that up until the 1970s, amusement parks had the reputation of being poorly designed and 'unsavory')^{[citation needed]}. People in the region were concerned that the new park would be similar and aesthetic to that of a carnival and midway like the CNE.

Wonderland was also responsible for changing the master development plan for the Province of Ontario. The government had wanted to increase residential and commercial development to the east of Toronto in the Oshawa/Pickering region while having the lands to the North of Toronto remain agricultural. Wonderland was able to convince the province to amend the planning policy for the region, and secured infrastructure improvements (including a highway overpass, and sewage systems) to be expanded and built out to the site. The subsequent improvements paved the way for increased developments throughout the region.

Concerns were also raised about the cultural implications of allowing an American theme park to open in Canada. Many felt that it would be a "Trojan Horse" for American culture. To offset the criticism, Taft planned to open Frontier Canada, a part of the park devoted to Canada's history. Early park maps show the area encompassing what is now Splashworks, White Water Canyon, Paramount F/X Theatre and the southern part of Kidzville, as well as proposed attractions, including a steam passenger train. While Frontier Canada was never built, several elemental themes remain in the area, including White Water Canyon, the "Frontier-style" theming of the walkways and path railings, The Mighty Canadian Minebuster roller coaster, as well as the area's "Deep in the Forest" setting. Other elements to the park which were never built include a hotel and conference centre (to have been built north of the park).

The initial construction of the park began in April of 1979. During construction, Canadian companies partnered on the preliminary design and engineering of the project. Two years later, on May 23, 1981, Canada's Wonderland was officially opened by then Premier of Ontario William Davis. The spectacular opening ceremony included 10,000 helium balloons, 13 parachutists, 350 white doves, and a pipe band. Four children representing the Arctic, Pacific, Atlantic, and Great Lakes regions of Canada each poured a vial of water from their home regions into the park's spectacular fountain. Hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky also appeared as a special guest, helping to raise the Canadian flag.

The park's former connection to Hanna-Barbera productions was reduced after Paramount purchased the park in a successful attempt to bring families back to the park by providing children with Nickelodeon cartoon characters that were familiar to a new generation. While the Nickelodeon channel is not available in Canada, many of the network's shows air on YTV, making this decision logical. YTV had previously been involved in numerous projects at the park, including the 1992 direct-to-video Festival of Friends concert, raising money for Kids Help Phone.

In 2005 the park introduced Fearfest. A Halloween event featuring various haunted house attractions in different themed areas of the park. The park also had many of their of their thrill rides running during the event. They had the section of the park that was normally suited for smaller children closed off during the event. On one of their rides known as Thunder Run where patrons ride a mine car like train through a mountain is also changed for the event. It is called Haunted Thunder Run and patrons ride through a darker tunnel with more strobe lights, fog machines, and black light lit scenes featuring staked skeletons, and the skeletons of miners that might have died in the mine. There is also supposedly a headless skeleton in the mine that is supposedly a reference to the headless employee legend, but this is not confirmed and is only based on what people saw as they quickly rode passed the display. More details of the headless employee legend can be found in the Thunder Run article.

On 22 May, 2006, it was announced that Cedar Fair, L.P. was interested in acquiring five Paramount theme parks, including Canada's Wonderland, a deal which was completed on 30 June, 2006^[2]. In early January 2007, Cedar Fair dropped the "Paramount" name from all of its acquired Paramount Parks.

New for 2007

• Two new restaurants are well under construction and targeted to open for the 2007 season, including "Coaster's", a popular Cedar Fair branded restaurant.
• The Paramount Theatre stage is being refurbished to allow for a new ice skating show to debut ("School of Rock" will be replaced).
• Due to low levels of popularity, "The Funtastic World of Hana-Barbara" has been removed from Action FX Theatre. The 3D Feature "Sponge Bob Square Pants" is scheduled to be the sole feature.

Today, Wonderland has over 200 attractions, including over 60 thrill rides. The park has North America's 3rd greatest number of roller coasters with 14 in total, and North America's greatest variety. The park features eight themed areas on 330 acres (1.3 km²) of land which includes a 20 acre (81,000 m²) waterpark called Splash Works. Splash Works has over 2 million gallons (8,000 m²) of heated water, Canada's largest outdoor wave pool measuring 36,000 square feet (3,300 m²), a lazy river, and 16 water slides.

In 1983, Wonderland built the Kingswood Music Theatre, a 15,000 seat amphitheatre that used to play host to many "big-name" concerts. In recent years, the number of these concerts has dwindled to none at all, as many major artists have chosen to play at the Molson Amphitheatre at Ontario Place in downtown Toronto. For the past few years, Kingswood has played host mainly to cultural events. The SplashWorks waterpark is featured in the southwest quadrant; a small artificial mountain forms the park's central feature.

The park's themed areas are as follows:

• International Street
• Medieval Faire
• International Festival
• Nickelodeon Central
• Hanna-Barbera Land
• Kidzville
• White Water Canyon
• Splash Works
• Grande World Exposition of 1890, a section with exciting and new rides. Includes the Action Zone.

• Hollywood's Stunt Spectacular (Opened 2006), an action show with explosions, weapons and vehicular stunts.
• Ice Show (Opening 2007), The Paramount Theatre stage will be transformed into a skating rink with a new ice show for the 2007 season.

• Black Hole
• The Plunge
• Super Soaker
• Body Blast
• Riptide Racer
• Barracuda Blaster
• The Whirlwinds
• Splash Island Waterways

• The Bat - Steel shuttle Coaster with two loops and a cobra roll, built by Vekoma
• Dragon Fire - Steel double-loop, double-corkscrew with a downwards helix, built by Arrow
• The Fly - Wild Mouse roller coaster built by Mack Gmbh
• Italian Job: Stunt Track (Opened 2005) - steel, powered launch, built by Premier Rides
• Mighty Canadian Minebuster - Wooden coaster with modified out-and-back layout, built by Philadelphia Toboggan Company
• SkyRider - steel stand-up, with one loop and a downward helix, built by Togo
• Thunder Run - Steel mine train coaster with no lift, built by Mack Gmbh
• Tomb Raider: The Ride - Steel flying roller coaster, built by Zamperla
• Top Gun - Steel suspended looping coaster, 5 inversions of various types, built by Vekoma
• Vortex - Steel suspended coaster, built by Arrow Dynamics
• Wild Beast - Wooden, modified Bearcat/Wildcat, built by Philadelphia Toboggan Company

• Scooby's Gasping Ghoster Coaster - Wooden, children's coaster, double out and back layout, built by Philadelphia Toboggan Company
• Silver Streak - Inverted steel family coaster, built by Vekoma
• Taxi Jam - Steel children's coaster, built by Miller

Besides the large amount of roller coasters it has, it also has a huge variety of flat rides, such as bumper cars, carousels, many of these relying on centrifugal forces, and other funfair ride. Such as:

• Psyclone - A large pendulum swinging and spinning reaching heights of over 110 feet (33.5 m).
• Shockwave - A ride that twist and turns on every possible axis.
• Cliffhanger - A ride with twin gondolas that flip and go around in the air, but you might get wet.
• Klockwerks - An old classic that rotates and with the centrifugal force pushes you outward.
• Sledgehammer - Spins riders on 2 axes and blasts you up and down distances of 85 feet (25.9 m).
• Action FX Theatre - Motion based seating ride in two large theatres featuring Sponge Bob Square Pants in 3D (2006 Feature "The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera" has been removed).

Wonderland is on the east side of Highway 400 between Rutherford Road (exit 33) and Major Mackenzie Drive (exit 35), 13 km (8 miles) north of Highway 401, 6 km (3 miles) from Highway 407 and 64 km (41 miles) south of Barrie. It is bounded by Highway 400 to the west, Jane Street to the east and has three entrances. Regular transit access is provided by York Region Transit, while GO Transit, Brampton Transit, and Mississauga Transit all run special services, as does YRT from Newmarket and Markham.

Transportation to the park has improved with more options:

• Toronto Transit Commission 165D Weston North--Extended north of Steeles to Major Mackenzie; seasonal extensions to Wonderland
• Mississauga Transit 288 Wonderland Express (formerly Route 88 seasonal Wonderland Express) provides service to and from the Mississauga City Centre Transit Centre
• York Region Transit offers regular routes that serve the perimeter of Wonderland including the 4 and 4A Major McKenzie route, as well as seasonal service into the park itself from Markville Mall in Markham (route 318) and from Newmarket and Aurora (route 319)
• GO Transit seasonal route from York Mills subway station, as well as Yorkdale subway station
• Brampton Transit runs regular service on its 66 WONDERLAND route

• A 1982 episode of The Littlest Hobo, entitled "Forget Me Not", was set at the park^[3].
• The park played host on several occasions to a City TV defunct program, Electric Circus.

• Paramount Canada's Wonderland official site
• Roller Coaster Database
• PCW Online - unofficial Canada's Wonderland guide
• PCW Junkies - Canada's Wonderland fan site
• Google Satellite Image
• Cedar Fair

43°50′33.16″N 79°32′31.00″W / 43.8425444°N 79.5419444°W / 43.8425444; -79.5419444