Paramount Canada's Wonderland is an amusement park in Vaughan, Ontario, a northern suburb of Toronto. The park has one of the greatest variety of rides in North America, with over 200 attractions. 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.

The park season runs from approximately early May to late October.

It was as far back as 1972 when the Taft Broadcasting Company first proposed to build a 1.50 km² (370 acre) theme park in the small village of Maple which is now part of Vaughan, Ontario. Several other possible locations had been 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.

Taft wasn't the first company to pinpoint Toronto as being a potential home to a theme park. Other companies including the Conklin family (who's Conklin Shows ran various midways around North America) had their own plans for a park in the Toronto area. Even Walt Disney investigated the idea of a park in Ontario, but decided the climate too cold and the operating season too short to be sustainable (Walt Disney World would become the desired expansion site).

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 Vaughn 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 area around the park as to reduce noise, and the visual sight of the large parking lot. Taft was concerned about opposition, to go so far as to fly to Cincinnati as 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 Park's had the reputation of being poorly designed and 'unsavory'. People in the region were concerned that the new park would be similar to aesthetic to that of a carnival and midway like the CNE.

Wonderland is also responsible for changing of 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 - as to have the lands to the North of Toronto to 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 improvemnts 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 White Water Canada (Fact check the area name) a part of the park devoted to Canada's history. Early park maps show the area, and proposed attractions - including a passenger train. Only the white water ride was built. Other never realized elements to the park include a hotel and conference centre (to have 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.

Originally known as Canada's Wonderland, the park was purchased by Viacom in 1993 and became a part of its network of Paramount Parks.

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.

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 state of the art 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, a new attraction to the Wonderland.
• 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.

• Black Hole
• The Plunge
• Super Soaker
• Body Blast

• 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
• 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
• 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
• SkyRider - steel stand-up, with one loop and a downward helix, built by Togo
• Taxi Jam - Steel children's coaster, built by Miller
• 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

• Antique Carousel - Philadelphia Toboggan Company Carousel #84, built originally in 1928. This is the oldest ride in the park, and comes to Paramount Canada's Wonderland by way of Happyland Hastings Park (Vancouver, BC: 1928-1934), Palace Playland (Old Orchard Beach, ME: 1934-1945), Palisades Amusement Park (New Jersey: 1948-1971). It was purchased by Taft Broadcasting, who were 50% owners in Canada's Wonderland when it was built, and was moved to Wonderland in time for the 1981 opening.

• The Zumba Flume (Original Opening Day Attraction), a classic 'water log ride', was removed to make way for new rides. It was located where the current 'Top Gun' ride is situated. A small portion of the Zumba Flume remains, and park employees are able to show it to park guests.
• Wonder Mountain Walkway (Original Opening Day Attraction) Prior to the construction of 'Thunder Run' visitors could walk a pathway that led to an observation deck on the top of the mountain. It was closed to make way for relocated mechanical equipment that was taken from the inside of the 'mountain' and placed in the public areas. The portion of the walkway which went behind Victoria Falls remained open for a number of years afterwards, finally being closed in the late 1990's due to safety concerns.
• HotRock Raceway(Original Opening Day Attraction) was closed in 2002 due to difficulty in maintaining the ride and increasing downtime. As of 2005, nothing has replaced this ride, and it remains open for future development of Nickelodeon Central.
• Bedrock Dock, a small boat ride, was removed in 2002 to make way for Scooby Doo's Haunted Mansion.
• Wipe Out was closed by the end of the 2004 season, however the slides remained in place as of August 2004.
• The Fury and The Great Whale of China (Original Opening Day Attraction) were removed at the end of the 2003 season to make way for Tomb Raider: The Ride
• Bedrock Aquarium, a marine show tent, was closed in 2004 when Nickelodeon Central replaced the northern section of Hanna Barbara Land. As of 2005, the tent still remains.
• Bayern's Curve (Original Opening Day Attraction), a 16 car attraction that ran in a circle many times, situated next to Wonder Mountain, closed in the mid-90s. This ride was most famous for the massive horn as part of the set and the blast the horn sounded as the ride started.

A number of rides and attractions have been renamed to correspond with area theme changes, most notable of which is the northern region of Hanna Barbara Land.

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