Canada's Wonderland

Previously known as Paramount Canada's Wonderland
Interactive map of Canada's Wonderland
Location	Vaughan, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates	43°50′33.16″N 79°32′31.00″W / 43.8425444°N 79.5419444°W / 43.8425444; -79.5419444
Opened	May 23, 1981
Owner	Cedar Fair Entertainment Company
Slogan	Canada's Wonderland: The Fun & Only (since the 2010 season) Where Else? (2007 season-2009 season)
Operating season	May through October
Area	330 ac (134 ha)
Attractions
Total	48 thrill rides & 200 attractions
Roller coasters	15
Water rides	20 Acre (8.1 ha) Waterpark – Waterpark, Outdoor Wavepool, 16 Water Slides
Website	canadaswonderland.com

Canada's Wonderland is a 330 ac (134 ha) theme park located in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, a suburb directly north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The park is open seasonally from May to October and contains more than 200 attractions. It opened in 1981 and was Canada's first major theme park.^[1] The park, when under the ownership of Paramount Parks from 1994 to 2006 was known as Paramount Canada's Wonderland. When sold to Cedar Fair in 2007, the park reverted to its original name. It was designed by Landscape Architects Richard Strong and Associates and structurally engineered by O.T. Baggio and Associates Professional Engineers.^[2] The park has been the most attended seasonal theme park in North America for numerous years in the 2000s. Almost every year in the decade the park's attendance had reached the 3 million mark, which has been slightly higher than the attendance figures in other major destination parks such as Kings Island, Knott's Berry Farm and Cedar Point. The park also holds the record for most roller coasters in a park outside of the United States with a total of 15.

In 1972, the Taft Broadcasting Company headed by Kelly Robinson first proposed building a 1.5-square-kilometre (370-acre) theme park in the small village of Maple, part of Vaughan, Ontario. Several other possible locations were considered, including Niagara Falls, Ontario, Cambridge, 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 theme park, including the Conklin family (whose Conklin Shows ran various midways around North America, including Toronto's CNE midway in Exhibition Place) and Walt Disney, who considered the area before his expansion plans in Florida; he eventually decided that the area would not make a suitable park site, mainly because the climate was too cold, thus the operating season would be too short to be sustainable.^[3]

Construction of the park was opposed on multiple fronts. Many cultural institutions in Toronto such as Ontario Place, the Royal Ontario Museum and the operators of the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) felt that the new theme park would put them out of business because the Toronto market was not 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 a landscaped berm around the park to reduce noise and the appearance of the large parking lot. Taft was concerned about opposition, going as far as to fly a group of opponents and regional councillors out to Cincinnati to show residents and town councillors the positive impact of one of their theme parks within the local community. People in the region were concerned that the new park would be similar in aesthetics to a carnival or midway.

Canada's Wonderland was also responsible for changing the master development plan for the Province of Ontario. The government wanted to increase residential and commercial development to the east of Toronto in the Regional Municipality of Durham, which includes Pickering and Oshawa, while having the lands to the north of Toronto remain agricultural (see Greenbelt (Golden Horseshoe)). Wonderland was able to convince the province to amend the planning policy for the region, and the park secured infrastructure improvements (including a highway overpass and sewage systems) to be expanded and built out to the site. These improvements paved the way for increased development 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 Splash Works, White Water Canyon, the 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. Unlike its sister parks, Kings Island and Kings Dominion, it was decided in the early planning stages that the centrepiece of the park would not be a replica of Paris's famous Eiffel Tower. Instead the park's designers chose to build a massive mountain, known as Wonder Mountain. Situated at the top of International Street, Wonder Mountain featured a huge waterfall and interior pathways which led visitors to a look-out point. Other elements that were never built include a hotel and conference centre (to have been built north of the park).

On June 13, 1979, Ontario premier William Davis depressed the plunger on an electronic detonating device, triggering an explosion on the site. Construction on Canada's Wonderland began immediately and continued through to early 1981. Canadian companies partnered on the preliminary design and engineering of the project and helped to mould the dream into a reality.

Two years later, on May 23, 1981, Canada's Wonderland was officially opened to the public by Davis and Taft Broadcasting President Dudley Taft. The park's cost was 120 million dollars.^[1] 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. 12,000 guests were welcomed into the park for the first time.

Kings Entertainment Corporation operated this park during the 1980s and early 1990s. The park's former connection to Hanna-Barbera productions was reduced after Paramount Pictures purchased the park. At that point, the park was renamed Paramount Canada's Wonderland. After Viacom bought Paramount in 1994, a successful attempt was made to bring families back to the park by providing children with original Nickelodeon cartoon characters that were familiar to a new generation (at the same time, one of Nickelodeon's competitors, Turner/Time Warner-owned Cartoon Network, had Hanna-Barbera cartoons take up much of the schedule). While the Nickelodeon channel (part of Viacom's MTV Networks) was not available in Canada until its Canadian version debuted in late 2009, many of the network's shows aired 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 differently-themed areas of the park. Though the section of the park for smaller children was closed off, the park continued running many of their thrill rides during the event such as the Thunder Run ride, where patrons ride a mine-car-like train through a mountain. During the Halloween season it is re-themed as the 'Haunted' Thunder Run, and patrons ride through a darker tunnel with more strobe lights, fog machines, and black light lit scenes featuring the skeletons of miners that might have died in the mine.

In 2006, the park introduced Spooktacular, a Halloween event geared towards children. The event included children's rides, costume contests and a treasure hunt. Spooktacular was open on weekends during the daytime, while Fearfest remained open at night. Due to very low attendance, Spooktacular only lasted one season.

On 14 May 2006, it was announced that Cedar Fair Entertainment Company was interested in acquiring the five Paramount theme parks, including Canada's Wonderland. The acquisition was completed on 30 June 2006.^[4] As a result, in early January 2007, Cedar Fair began to drop the "Paramount" name from all of their former Paramount parks, and the park is currently referred once again by its original name: "Canada's Wonderland". The 2007 season marked a transition year of removing "all things Paramount" throughout the park, which includes the renaming of some of the rides. By the start of the 2008 season, the Paramount logo and similar references were removed.

In August 2007, Cedar Fair announced that Fearfest would be renamed Halloween Haunt to remain consistent with other Cedar Fair parks. At this time Cedar Fair also announced that Spooktacular would be discontinued. In place of Spooktacular, the park extended its regular operating season until the last weekend in October. Thus, the park is open to the public during the day, and Halloween Haunt runs in the late evenings on October weekends.

In the off-season of 2008-2009, Flashpoint shot an episode at Canada's Wonderland called "The Perfect Family," which aired on April 10, 2009. Canada's Wonderland was called Northern Dream Park in the episode.

The park also announced its addition for 2008, a hypercoaster called Behemoth, currently the tallest roller coaster in Canada (reaching three feet taller than the Drop Tower), was built in time for the May 4, 2008 opening.^[5] In addition, Cedar Fair reactivated the two topmost waterfalls, which had been inactive for a long time.

On May 11, 2003, with the park packed with people for Mother's Day, two guests were among a fight at the front gates of the park which lead to a shooting death. It was over a dispute of a drug exchange which was thought to be an incident between the guests prior to this incident as told by York Regional Police. The park has taken this very seriously and have now since have added metal detectors at the front gate, with twice the amount of security.^[6]

The park has several themed areas. The four original sections are, International Street, Medieval Faire, Grande World Exposition of 1890 (now Action Zone), and the Happyland of Hanna-Barbera (renamed to Hanna-Barbera Land).^[1] Later areas include White Water Canyon (1984), Splash Works (1992), and the expanded children's area including Nickelodeon Central (2003), Kidzville (1998), and Zoom Zone (2001).

Flight Deck, which opened in 1995 as the "Top Gun" (based on the movie Top Gun) with a movie theme was a shift in the design of the park as it was the first ride to no longer be themed to match the "land" in which it was situated. Since then, almost all new rides have not been themed to be connected to the areas.

International Street is the park's Main Street area, which greets guests when they enter the park. Both sides of the street are lined with shops, including park-related souvenir shops, clothing stores, restaurants, and candy stores. At the end of International Street is Wonderland's centrepiece mountain, Wonder Mountain. While today^[when?] International Street is filled entirely with chain fast food restaurants and general souvenir stores, it originally had stores and food representing Latin American, Scandinavian, Mediterranean and Alpine (often called Central Europe today) countries, hence the "international" in its name.^[1]

Sister Paramount parks of Kings Island and Kings Dominion also have an International Street.

The Medieval Faire section of the park set in a medieval Europe theme in both environment and names of rides. However, it has diminished in recent years due to the advent of unthemed new rides: Riptide, Drop Tower, Shockwave, Speed City Raceway, and The Bat. Quixote's Kettles, a spinning buckets ride, was renamed to Spinovator in 1998 and its brown wooden buckets with twine handles were painted bright pastel colours and had the handles removed. The other original rides which are part of the medieval theme are Dragon Fire, The Rage (a swinging Viking ship,^[1] originally called Viking's Rage), Nightmares (originally called Wilde Night Mares), and Wild Beast. Rides Wild Beast and Dragon Fire also had pseudo-Old English names, Wilde Beast and Dragon Fyre before 1998. The stores and restaurants follow the medieval theme as does the castle theatre (Wonderland Theatre, originally Canterbury Theatre) and a pirates show in the middle of the lake. In 2006, Wonderland Theatre had the stage retrofitted for an ice rink and has hired International figure skaters to come perform in their ice shows.

Australia's Wonderland (later renamed Wonderland Sydney), which opened in 1985, was modeled heavily around Canada's Wonderland, as both parks were constructed by Taft Broadcasting.^[7] Two of the three themed areas at Australia's Wonderland were Medieval Faire, and Hanna-Barbera Land, and had a layout similar to Canada's Wonderland.

International Festival is located on the north east section of the park and is home to 14 games and 6 rides in the area.^[8] Rides include Thunder Run, WindSeeker, The Fly, Vortex, Klockwerks, and Krachenwagen. International Festival is most notable for their midway games. Depending on their respective department, Canada's Wonderland staff often refer to this area under different names, including Alpen Games (or also Alpenfest, or just simply Alpen), or simply as Mountain, due to its proximity to Wonder Mountain. The original rides of Krachenwagen and Klockwerks with its pseudo-German name, and the former ride of Bayern's Curve, which featured a fake man in traditional German dress with a massive horn with German fencing around it, fit into its international theme.

This section of the park is heavily treed area and includes White Water Canyon, Timberwolf Falls, and Action Theatre, as well as Launch Pad, a set of six trampolines, which is a pay-per-experience attraction. This area was introduced in 1984 when the White Water Canyon ride debuted, it is where the "Frontier Canada" themed area had been promised (along with Splash Works). For operational purposes, these rides are considered part of the Mountain operational group.

Opened in 1992, Splash Works is a 20-acre (81,000 m²) water park located within the park boundaries of the park. Splash Works is home to "Whitewater Bay", the largest outdoor wave pool in Canada,^[9][10] and is today home to 16 waterslides.^[9]

This area was formerly called the "Grande World Exposition of 1890" and was made to resemble an old world fair, which has expos ("expositions") from different countries all over the world, with specifically, the park focusing on African and Asian themes.^[1] The original rides which fit into the theme are its Antique Carrousel, and Swings of the Century (originally Swings of Siam), in addition to the arcades/laser zone. The restaurants and bathrooms formally had the exposition theme, as well as The Orbiter, which was called Sol Loco and had a Latin American theme. For instance, one of the restaurants was called "Ginza Gardens" (now "The Backlot Cafe") and had a Japanese theme, which explains the former Japanese façade. In addition, the former original rides of The Great Whale of China, The Fury (originally Shiva's Fury) and Pharaoh's Eye as well as the Racing Rivers slide Pharaoh's Falls fit the original theme. The newer rides of Backlot Stunt Coaster, Jet Scream, Time Warp, SkyRider, Flight Deck, Psyclone, Sledge Hammer, Xtreme Skyflyer do not. Despite the name change, signage at the entrance from International Street still maintains the old name, and this area continues to be referred to as either Expo or Expo/Action Zone by staff members.

The Grande World Exposition of 1890 is one of the original four themed areas at Wonderland. In 2002, Action Zone, was created as a new themed area within the Grande World Exposition of 1890 (for area of the new rides Psyclone and Sledgehammer).^[11] However, in 2008, the entire area was renamed "Action Zone." At sister park Kings Island, Paramount renamed their "Wild Animal Habitat" themed area (which became Adventure Village in 1994), "Action Zone" in 1999.

The Mighty Canadian Minebuster roller coaster, built for the opening park, is on the outskirts of the Grande World Exposition of 1890 and was originally intended to be the centrepiece of the never-built Frontier Canada section of the park.^[12]

The children's areas in Canada's Wonderland all began as The Happyland of Hanna-Barbera. The three areas were themed as Yogi's Woods, Scoobyville, and Bedrock; the first changed into Smurf Village in 1984. In 1993, the Smurf area transitioned to Kids Kingdom, which became Kidzville in 1998. In 2003, Bedrock became Nickelodeon Central, featuring Rugrats, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, The Wild Thornberrys, and Dora the Explorer themed rides, leaving only Scoobyville and the swan ride as-is. Planet Snoopy replaces both sections (including Kidzville) for the 2010 season, standardizing the park with the rest of the Cedar Fair chain.

The first accident occurred in 1984 on the White Water Canyon ride, and resulted in a drowning fatality.^{[citation needed]} The ride was closed for the remainder of the season while the park made design changes to ensure safety. The second ride accident in the park's history was August 23, 2003, when the Jimmy Neutron Brainwasher fell apart. Three children were sent to hospital as a precautionary measure.^[13]

This park section is a children's area set around the comic strip Peanuts. It is set to debut in the 2011 season.

In 1984, "Smurf Village" replaced Yogi's Woods; a themed area of Hanna-Barbera Land. The section featured the newly popular Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Smurfs and was a walk-through attraction. For the 1993 season, the Smurf Village section became "Kids Kingdom." The year 1998 saw the Kidzville (styled as KidZville) area replace the Kids Kingdom. While the two Kids Kingdom rides were kept, Kidzville also introduced Taxi Jam, Flavourator, Chopper Chase, Toucan Sam maze, and Swing Time (which removed Snail Trail). Today, it also has the rides, Frequent Flyers, Jokey's Jalopies, and Kidzville Station.

A fourth themed area is Zoom Zone. Quite small, it is part of Kidzville. Created in 2001 with the debut of Silver Streak, it also contains the small rides of Blast Off, and Jumpin' Jet. One of the Kidzville rides, and originally a Kids Kingdom ride, Jumbo Bumps, was removed to make way for these three rides and new section. Starting in 2004, the Zoom Zone was no longer printed on the park maps as an independent section, however since Cedar Fair's takeover each of the three rides mentions it is in Zoom Zone, and park signage continues to indicate the name.

For operational purposes, Kidzville, Nickelodeon Central, and Hanna-Barbera Land are all considered to be one operational area, known internally by staff members as "H.B.", for Hanna-Barbera.

Sister Paramount Parks of Kings Dominion, and California's Great America both have a Kidzville. Both created Kidzville by replacing Hanna-Barbera themed areas. Kings Dominion replaced their Hanna-Barbera Land in 1997, and Great America replaced their "Smurf Woods" themed area in 1999.

Today, Canada's Wonderland has over 200 attractions, including over 60 thrill rides. The park is tied for second place for the record of most roller coasters in one park with 15 in total, and North America's greatest variety.^{[citation needed]} The park features eight themed areas on 330 acres (1.3 km²) of land which includes a 20 acres (81,000 m²) waterpark called Splash Works. Splash Works has over 2 million gallons (7,570 m³) of heated water, Canada's largest outdoor wave pool measuring 36,000 square feet (3,300 square metres), a lazy river, and 16 water slides.

In 1983, Canada's Wonderland added the Kingswood Music Theatre, a 15,000 seat amphitheatre that hosted many "big-name" concerts. After the Molson Amphitheatre opened on the grounds of Ontario Place in 1995, cultural festivals at the theatre became more prominent. Splash Works is featured in the southwest quadrant; an artificial mountain forms the park's central feature. 4 million guests visited the park in 2008, making it the busiest seasonal theme park in North America. If it was open year-round, it is estimated that roughly 8 million guests would visit the park, so it is technically between 9th and 10th place worldwide in total theme park attendance figures.

Name	Type	Opening date	Photo
Backlot Stunt Coaster	Steel launched roller coaster	2005 on May 1
The Bat	Steel Shuttle roller coaster Boomerang	1987
Behemoth	Steel hypercoaster	2008 on May 4
Dragon Fire	Steel roller coaster	1981
Flight Deck	Steel inverted roller coaster Suspended Looping Coaster	1995
The Fly	Steel Wild Mouse	1999 on May 2
Mighty Canadian Minebuster	Wooden roller coaster	1981
SkyRider	Steel stand-up roller coaster	1985
Thunder Run	Steel powered coaster	1986 on May 23
Time Warp	Steel flying roller coaster	2004
Vortex	Steel suspended roller coaster	1991
Wild Beast	Wooden roller coaster	1981
Children-oriented roller coasters
Ghoster Coaster Formerly: Scooby's Gasping Ghoster Coaster	Wooden roller coaster	1981
Silver Streak	Steel inverted roller coaster	2001 on May 6
Taxi Jam	Children's steel roller coaster	1998

Besides the large number of roller coasters it has, it also has a huge variety of flat rides, such as bumper cars, carousels, many of these relying on centripetal force, and other funfair rides, such as:

• Psyclone - A Revolution, swinging and spinning reaching heights of over 120 feet (37 metres)
• Shockwave - A Top Scan that twist and turns on every possible axis.
• Riptide - A Splashover with twin gondolas that flip and go around in the air. Riders will become wet during the summer.
• Antique Carousel A classic carousel located in Action Zone
• Orbiter An Enterprise rotates around one axle, which eventually turns to almost 90°
• Spinovator A Tea Cups Ride
• The Rage A standard Pirate Boat
• Klockwerks - A Swingaround
• Sledgehammer - An Octopus ride that spins riders on two axes and blasts you up and down.
• Action Theatre - Motion based seating ride in two large theatres featuring Sponge Bob Squarepants in 3D)
• Drop Tower: Scream Zone - A vertical Drop Tower tower-like ride that begins by slowly taking its passengers up the towards the peak of the tower and then immediately drops the passenger down until he/she reaches the ground.

1981 - Park Opens with:

Antique Carousel, Balloon Race (Frequent Flyers), Bayern's Curve (R), Bedrock Dock (R) moved to Carowinds, now operates as "Little Bill's Cruisers", Blauer Enzian (renamed to Thunder Run and relocated to Wonder Mountain in 1986), Dragon Fire, Flintstone's Flyboys (R), Ghoster Coaster, Great Whale of China (R), Happy Landing (Swan Lake), Hot Rock Raceway (R), Klockwerks, Krachenwagen, Mighty Canadian Minebuster, Wilde Beaste (Wild Beast), Spinovator, Scooby Choo (KidZville Station), The Fury (R), Orbiter, Pharoah's Eye (R), Swings of the Century, Nightmares, The Rage, Wonder Tour, and Zumba Flume (R).

1982 - Kings Courtyard (The Courtyard)

1983 - Kingswood Music Theatre

1984 - White Water Canyon, Smurf Forest (until 1990s) (R)

1985 - SkyRider

1986 - Thunder Run (formerly Blauer Enzian)

1987 - The Bat

1988 - Racing Rivers

1989 - Timberwolf Falls

1990 - Jet Scream (closed and taken down since late 2010 to make way for 'Windseeker') (R)

1991 - Vortex

1992 - Splash Works: Whirl Winds, Body Blast, Splash Island Kiddy Slides

1993 - Kid's Kingdom play area (later renovated and renamed Candy Factory)

1994 - Days of Thunder - Motion Simulator Movie Ride (Action Theatre - Currently Playing SpongeBob SquarePants 3D)

1995 - Top Gun (later renamed Flight Deck)

1996 - Xtreme Skyflyer; Splash Works Expansion: Wave Pool, The Pump House, Black Speed City Raceway

1997 - Drop Zone (later renamed Drop Tower)

1998 - Kidzville, James Bond - License To Thrill (feature at Action Theatre (R)), The Edge Climbing Wall (R)

1999 - The Fly; SplashWorks Expansion: Super Soaker and The Plunge; Escape from Dino Island (feature at Action Theatre (R))

2000 - Riptide, Scooby-Doo's Haunted Mansion

2001 - Shockwave; Zoom Zone (new kids area) including: Silver Streak, Blast Off and Jumping Jet; 7th Portal (feature at the Action Theatre (R))

2002 - Psyclone; SplashWorks Expansion: Riptide Racer, Barracuda Blaster and Kids Sprayground

2003 - Sledge Hammer, Nickelodeon Central (replacing Bedrock), "Warrior of the Dawn" (in Action Theatre) (R), "Spongebob Squarepants 3-D" (feature in Action Theatre), Launch Pad (trampolines; requires separate fee)

2004 - Tomb Raider (later renamed Time Warp)

2005 - The Italian Job (later renamed Backlot Stunt Coaster)

2006 - School of Rock: Live in Concert, Paramount's Hollywood Stunt Spectacular (R), The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbara (feature at the Action Theatre (R), Nickelodeon Celebration Parade (R)

2007 - Coasters 50s Diner, International Marketplace Buffet, "Twistin to the 60s" show (R), "Endless Summer on Ice" show, Picnic Pavilion

2008 - Behemoth, "Dance to the Music" show (R)

2009 - "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" show, "Marty's Party" Show

2010 - "Rockband Live" show, "Snoopy On Ice" show, Planet Snoopy

2011 - WindSeeker

Future - On May 1, 2011 it was discovered that there was a large barricade at Canada's Wonderland saying "We Are Preparing For Your Future Enjoyment" sparking many suspiciousions of a future major attraction.

Current name in (brackets); R = Removed/Closed

Canada's Wonderland is on the east side of Highway 400 between Rutherford Road (Exit 33) and Major Mackenzie Drive (Exit 35), 13 km (8 mi) north of Highway 401, 6 km (4 mi) north of Highway 407 and 64 km (40 mi) south of Barrie. It is bounded by Highway 400 to the west, Jane Street to the east, Major Mackenzie Drive to the north and Rutherford Road to the south. Formerly quite isolated when the park opened, it is now surrounded by housing on all sides. It has three public entrances and one entrance designated for staff, deliveries, and buses.

Regular transit access is provided by York Region Transit (YRT), while GO Transit, Brampton Transit, and MiWay (formerly known as Mississauga Transit) all run special services. The bus loop at Wonderland is located near the northeast corner of the park, and is accessible from the service entrance on Jane Street, North of Major Mackenzie Drive. Transportation to the park to the Wonderland Terminal is available from the following of the regional transit organizations:

• Toronto Transit Commission on behalf of York Region Transit: Toronto - Route 165 Weston Road North bus to York Mills subway station via Wilson subway station; both stations being on the Yonge–University–Spadina line.
• Mississauga Transit: Route 88, express, non-stop trip to/from Canada's Wonderland, starting/ending at Mississauga's Square One Shopping Centre.
• York Region Transit: Route 20 Jane-Concord provides service along the Jane Street corridor from York University to Teston Road. YRT Route 87 Langstaff-Maple and Route 4/4A Major Mackenzie serve the park from nearby stops on Jane Street or Major Mackenzie Drive.
• GO Transit: Wonderland GO Bus Service (Route 60) from York Mills Bus Terminal and Yorkdale Bus Terminal.
• Brampton Transit: Route 66 from Bramalea City Centre.

York Region Transit used to run express Magic Wonderbus services from Newmarket and Markham. These services were discontinued for the 2007 season. As well, beginning with the 2009 season, Route 4 Major Mackenzie no longer serves the Wonderland bus loop.

In the 1980s, Canada's Wonderland and the Loblaws supermarket chain had a cross-marketing campaign. The supermarket provided customers with a Wonder dollar based on a customer's purchases, which was redeemable at Canada's Wonderland at parity with the Canadian dollar on weekdays. The obverse of the coin featured Wonder Mountain, whereas the reverse featured the Loblaws logo.^{[citation needed]}

The park from its opening in 1981 was known as Canada's Wonderland. In 1994, when it was sold to Paramount Pictures (later Viacom), they changed the name of the park to include the word Paramount, something Paramount Parks did with all of its other parks in 1993. Previous to that, none of the Paramount-owned parks had the Paramount prefix.

The logo was completely changed to be in the style of the Paramount Parks logo, as well as their other theme park properties, which all had the same styled logos, including the Paramount prefix, and the Paramount Pictures mountain logo.

In 2003, Viacom updated the logo of Paramount Parks, and all its theme parks, including Wonderland, to include an updated Paramount logo, even though the logo for Paramount Pictures, the film studio, remained unchanged.

In 2007, CBS Corporation, (split from Viacom in 2005), sold all of its theme park properties to Cedar Fair, which in turn, dropped the Paramount prefixes from all five parks, and gave the logos the Cedar Fair logo and font style.

• Wordmark used from 1981 until 1993
  Wordmark used from 1981 until 1993
• 
  Logo used from 1981 until 1993
• Logo used in 1990 to celebrate Canada's Wonderland's 10th anniversary using Hanna-Barbera characters Yogi Bear and Fred Flintstone
  Logo used in 1990 to celebrate Canada's Wonderland's 10th anniversary using Hanna-Barbera characters Yogi Bear and Fred Flintstone
• The logo after Paramount Pictures purchased the park, used from 1994-2003
  The logo after Paramount Pictures purchased the park, used from 1994-2003
• 
  Slightly modified logo used from 2004-2006
• Logo used since 2007 after Cedar Fair bought Paramount Parks, including Canada's Wonderland
  Logo used since 2007 after Cedar Fair bought Paramount Parks, including Canada's Wonderland

• Paramount Parks
• Cedar Fair Entertainment Company
• List of amusement parks in the Americas

• Canada's Wonderland official site