Canada's Wonderland

When Canada's Wonderland was planned the region lacked a seasonal amusement park. Toronto had previously hosted three amusement parks which had roller-coasters. Sunnyside Amusement Park closed in the 1950s to make room for the Gardiner Expressway.[7] The Scarboro Beach and Hanlan's Point amusement parks both closed in the 1920s.[8]

In 1972, the Taft Broadcasting Company, headed by Kelly Robinson, first proposed building a 134-hectare (330-acre)[9] theme park in the then small village of Maple, part of Vaughan, Ontario. Several other possible locations in Ontario were considered, including Niagara Falls, Cambridge, and Milton, but Maple was finally selected because of its proximity to the City of Toronto and the 400-series of highways.[10]

Others had seriously considered the Greater Toronto Area as a spot to build a theme park, among them the Conklin family (whose Conklin Shows ran various midways around North America, including Toronto's Canadian National Exhibition midway). Walt Disney also considered the idea before choosing Florida for Walt Disney World, rejecting Toronto mainly because of the seasonal climate, which would make the operating season too short to be profitable.[11]

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 felt that 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, which thought the increased traffic would reduce property values. People in the region were concerned that the new park would be similar in aesthetics to a carnival or midway.[12] Some of the concessions the company made included a landscaped berm around the park to reduce noise and modifying the appearance of the large parking lot. Taft was concerned about opposition and flew a group of opponents and regional councillors to Mason, Ohio (near Cincinnati) to show them the positive impact of one of its theme parks on the local community.

Canada's Wonderland was also responsible for changing the master development plan for the province of Ontario. The provincial 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 keeping the lands to the north of Toronto agricultural, as a Greenbelt. The Wonderland promoters were 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, that were expanded and built out to the site. This infrastructure paved the way for increased development throughout the region.[12]

During the park's development, it was decided that Wonder Mountain would serve as its centrepiece, as opposed to the replica Eiffel Towers found in its sister parks.

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 counter 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 Action Theatre and the southern part of Kidzville. Taft also proposed including a steam passenger train. While Frontier Canada was not brought up as an idea until 2019, several original themes remain in the area. Unlike its sister parks, Kings Island and Kings Dominion, it was decided early 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 that led visitors to a look-out point. The interior pathways have been closed since and have remained closed. Hyatt House and Hyatt Place Vaughan at Canada's Wonderland, a hotel, was being built during the first half of 2019 and set to open in late 2020.[13]

On 13 June 1979, Ontario Premier Bill Davis depressed the plunger on an electronic detonating device at St. Lawrence Hall in downtown Toronto, triggering an explosion on the site. Construction began immediately and continued on to early 1981. Canadian companies were partners on the preliminary design and engineering of the project. Construction of the mountain alone involved a dozen local companies under Cincinnati engineer Curtis D. Summers.[14]

Canada's Wonderland was opened to the public in May 1981.

Two years later on 23 May 1981, Davis and Taft Broadcasting President Dudley Taft officially opened Canada's Wonderland to the public. 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 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.[12] The park cost $120 million ($323 million in 2018 dollars) to build.[3]

During the 1980s, Canada's Wonderland and the Loblaws supermarket chain mounted a cross-marketing campaign. Loblaws issued "Wonder dollars" based on customers' purchases, which were redeemable at Canada's Wonderland at par with the Canadian dollar on weekdays. The obverse of the coin featured Wonder Mountain, while the reverse featured the Loblaws logo.[15]

Kings Entertainment Company operated the park during the 1980s and early 1990s.[12] The park's former connection to Hanna-Barbera Productions lessened after Paramount Pictures raised its stake from 20% to full ownership of the park in 1993 and renamed it Paramount Canada's Wonderland. After Viacom bought Paramount in 1994, a successful attempt was made to bring families back to the park by attracting children with original Nickelodeon cartoon characters that were familiar to a new generation.[12]

The Black Hole is a water slide built during the first expansion of Splash Works in 1996.

Many changes occurred in the next decade. In 1996, Splash Works expanded, with a new water slide, a wave pool and a new child-friendly water playground (The Black Hole, White Water Bay and The Pump House). In 1998, the park expanded by adding KidZville, which was mainly designed for infants and children. In 1999, Splash Works expanded for the second time, with the addition of raft rides: The Plunge and Super Soaker.[16]

In 2001, a new themed area called Zoom Zone was added within the KidZville section. Three new attractions were built in that area: Silver Streak (a family roller coaster), Blast Off (a "frog hopper"), and Jumpin' Jet.[16] In 2002, the park unveiled Action Zone, a new themed area replacing the Exposition of 1890, which at the time contained already existing rides and added the Psyclone ride.

Splash Works also received its third and most current upgrade, with the addition of a child water playground area called Splash Island and the removal of Pipeline.[16]

On 11 May 2003, with the park packed with people for Mother's Day, two guests were involved in a fight at the front gates of the park, which led to a shooting death. It was thought to have followed a prior dispute involving the two over a drug exchange, according to York Regional Police. The park has since added metal detectors at the front gate, with additional security.[17]

In 2005, the park introduced Fearfest, a Halloween-themed event featuring haunted house attractions.

In 2005, the park introduced Fearfest, a Halloween event featuring various haunted house attractions in different themed areas. Though the section for smaller children was closed off, the park continued running many of the thrill rides during the event, such as the Thunder Run, in which patrons ride a mining type train through a mountain. During the Halloween season, it is re-themed as the "Haunted" Thunder Run, with a darker tunnel and more strobe lights, fog machines, and black-light lit scenes featuring the "skeletons" of miners.[18]

In 2006, the park introduced Spooktacular, a child-oriented Halloween event. 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.[19] Fearfest got renamed to Halloween Haunt and Spooktacular to Camp Spooky.

On 14 May 2006, Cedar Fair Entertainment Company announced it was interested in acquiring the five Paramount theme parks from CBS Corporation (successor of the original Viacom), including Canada's Wonderland. CBS stated that amusement parks did not fit the company's new strategy. The acquisition was completed on 30 June 2006.[20]

Entrance to the park featuring its original name. The park reverted to its original name in 2007, after it was acquired by Cedar Fair.

After the sale, Cedar Fair began to drop the name "Paramount" from all of the former Paramount properties it acquired, as a result, the park has reverted to its original name of Canada's Wonderland in January 2007. The 2007 season was a transition year throughout the park and included renaming the movie-themed rides since Cedar Fair did not hold the rights to Paramount film properties. By the start of the 2008 season, all Paramount logos and similar references had been removed.[16] In August 2007, Cedar Fair announced that Fearfest would become Halloween Haunt to remain consistent with most other Cedar Fair parks,[18] and that Spooktacular would become Camp Spooky. The park extended its regular operating season until the last weekend in October. Halloween Haunt runs in the late evenings on October weekends.

On May 4, 2008, Canada's Wonderland opened a Bolliger & Mabillard hypercoaster called Behemoth, which held the record for the tallest and fastest roller coaster in Canada at the time of its opening, standing at 70 metres (230 ft) and reaching speeds of 124 kilometres per hour (77 mph).[21][22][23]

On July 19, 2009, stunt performer Nik Wallenda walked on a tight rope from the pond area of Medieval Faire to Wonder Mountain.[24]

In 2011, Canada's Wonderland opened a 91.8-metre-tall (301 ft) WindSeeker, making it the tallest ride in the park until Leviathan opened in 2012.[25][26] The park also announced the addition of the Starlight Spectacular show, which started on 25 June 2011 and ended on Labour Day, 3 September 2011.[26][27] It was a nightly 'light and sound show' designed to celebrate the park's 30th anniversary; it was shown at 10 pm EST every night on International Street.[26] Canada's Wonderland stated that the total cost for the show was approximately $1 million,[28] with 16 million different colours and 300,000 LED lights.[26] While the show took place at the front of the park (International Street), the highlight was on Wonder Mountain, with many 3D images and colours.[28]

The tallest and fastest roller coaster in Canada, Leviathan, was opened at the park in 2012.

In 2012, Leviathan, a Bolliger & Mabillard Hypercoaster (also classified as a giga coaster), opened, surpassing the Canadian records set by Behemoth in 2008, becoming the tallest and fastest roller coaster in Canada.[7][29] Norm Pirtovshek, general manager of Canada's Wonderland, said that the Leviathan as a new attraction would help to spread out visitors. It was also described as part of a "roller coaster renaissance" where theme parks distinguished itself by introducing bigger and faster rides to attract guests. In addition to Leviathan, Canada's Wonderland also opened the Dinosaurs Alive! walk-through dinosaur exhibit.[30]

On 27 May 2012, for the first time in the park's history, Canada's Wonderland hosted a one-kilometre, 5-kilometre, and 10-kilometre run to raise money for the planned Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital (then known as Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital) that will be built on land once owned by Canada's Wonderland north of Major Mackenzie Drive.[31]

On 30 August 2013, Canada's Wonderland announced that Wonder Mountain's Guardian would open inside Wonder Mountain in May 2014. The attraction is a 4-D interactive dark ride/ roller coaster with animations from Montreal-based Triotech.[32] Park management also announced that SkyRider would close Labour Day, 2014.[33]

In October 2014, a man was fatally stabbed at Halloween Haunt.[34][35] SkyRider was removed at the end of the 2014 season and relocated to Cavallino Matto in Tuscany, Italy, as Freestyle in 2015.

Near the close of the 2015 season, Canada's Wonderland announced that two new flat rides would be added in 2016: Skyhawk (a Gerstlauer Sky Roller) and Flying Eagles (a Larson International Flying Scooters).[36][37][38] Cedar Fair CEO Matt Ouimett also confirmed in December 2015 that virtual reality (VR) headsets would be added to Thunder Run in 2016. Available to riders for an additional upcharge fee, the experience is co-developed with Mack Rides, a German amusement ride company. The VR headgear is a type of head-mounted display that animates the entire field of vision to produce a 360-degree 3D experience.[39][40]

On 26 August 2016, Canada's Wonderland announced that a new flat ride would be added in the 2017 season: Soaring Timbers (a Mondial Inferno). The ride is stated to be the first of its kind in North America. The park also announced a Splash Works expansion for 2017 in the form of Muskoka Plunge, a 18-metre (60 ft) tall waterslide complex featuring four "trap-door" speed slides.

On 16 August 2017, Canada's Wonderland announced the addition of Flying Canoes for the 2018 season. Flying Canoes is an interactive family ride that allows riders to control their journey of flight in two-person canoes that rotate speedily around a circuit. They also announced the addition of Lumberjack for 2018. Lumberjack is a thrill ride that takes guests to heights of 23 metres (75 ft) on two swinging axe-themed pendulums, propelling them into a looping 360-degree experience. In addition to these two attractions, the park announced an expansion to the Splash Island pool (located in Splash Works), which would double the size of the pool and include new interactive water features and children's slides. The area was renamed to Lakeside Lagoon following these upgrades.

Yukon Striker under construction in October 2018

On 15 August 2018, Canada's Wonderland announced Yukon Striker, a B&M Dive Coaster which opened to the public on 3 May 2019. The ride features a 75-metre-tall (245 ft) drop into an underwater tunnel in the centre of the Vortex helix, which has a top speed of 130 km/h. Upon opening, the ride became the tallest, fastest, and longest dive coaster in the world and features four inversions, more than any other dive coaster, including the first vertical loop on a Dive Coaster.[41] They also announced the opening of Frontier Canada, a gold-rush-themed attraction area that includes Yukon Striker, Mighty Canadian Minebuster, Lumberjack, Soaring Timbers, Flying Canoes, Vortex, Timberwolf Falls and White Water Canyon. Canada's Wonderland also announced Winterfest, an immersive holiday-themed event.[42] In addition, Wonderland announced that Dinosaurs Alive! would be closing on 28 October 2018.

On 4 February 2019, the park announced that Orbiter would not be opening for the 2019 season. Since the announcement, the attraction has been removed from the park and the area surrounding it was replaced with a pathway connecting Action Zone and Frontier Canada.

On 14 August 2019, Canada's Wonderland announced the addition of two new attractions for the 2020 season. The first, Beagle Brigade Airfield, will be a new children's ride to be located in Planet Snoopy. The attraction will be similar to the version at sister park Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, Missouri, which share the same name. In addition, the park will introduce Mountain Bay Cliffs to Splash Works, a cliff-jumping style attraction featuring multiple platforms of varying heights, the highest of which is 7.5 metres (25 ft).[43]

On 22 November 2019, WinterFest debuted at Canada's Wonderland. WinterFest is a holiday event. During WinterFest, five million energy-efficient LED lights were strung on 800 trees, the buildings, the décor, and on Wonder Mountain. On International Street, the lake had been frozen into a skating rink called Snow Flake Lake. There were eight themed areas.[44]

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the park remaining closed for the 2020 season. This led to the cancellations of that season's Halloween Haunt and Winterfest events in the park. 2020 season passes were extended to include the 2021 season and refunds were not offered.[45]

Due to the pandemic, the 2020 edition of Toronto's original Santa Claus Parade was pre-recorded from Canada's Wonderland with no spectators on site and was broadcast on prime time on 5 December 2020.[46][47]

On 28 January 2021, the park announced plans to reopen on May 14, with direction from provincial health officials.[48]

International Street, Canada's Wonderland entry area, is lined with shops and restaurants.

International Street is the park's entry area, similar to the Main Street, U.S.A. sections of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Using a format borrowed from sister parks Kings Island and Kings Dominion, both sides of the street are lined with shops, including souvenir shops, clothing stores, restaurants, and candy stores. Unlike the use of replica Eiffel Towers at Kings Island and Kings Dominion, Wonder Mountain, the park's centrepiece, appears at the end of the street. In the early decades of the park's history, stores sold high-quality imported goods themed to the buildings, and restaurants sold non-standard foods for a North American theme park, such as shrimp, paella, and smoked sausage.[57] The buildings are named the Latin, Scandinavian, Mediterranean, and Alpine Buildings.[3]

International Street has hosted to a number of shows presented at the park, including:

International Street's fountain, and Wonder Mountain behind it. The fountain and mountain host shows presented at the park.

Action Zone was created as a subsection within the Grande World Exposition of 1890 section of the park in 2002.[16] However, the entire Grande Exposition section was renamed Action Zone in 2009. In 2019, the park split Action Zone into two sections, with its eastern portion of Action Zone reverting its theme and name to The Grande Exposition of 1890.

Behemoth is a large steel hypercoaster located in Action Zone.

Situated in the Action Zone, the Sledge Hammer is the only ride of its kind presently operating in the world.

Grande World Exposition of 1890 is an area themed to resemble a 19th-century world's fair.

Swing of the Century is a swing ride located in the Grande World Exposition.

The Grande World Exposition of 1890 is one of the original four themed areas of Wonderland. It was made to resemble a late 19th century world's fair with expositions from different countries with a particular focus on African and Asian themes.[3] The restaurants and washrooms were formerly true to the exposition theme. One of the restaurants was called Ginza Gardens (now The Backlot Cafe) and had a Japanese theme and a Japanese façade. There is also an arcade area (Crystal Palace Arcade) within this section of the park.

In 2009, the entire Grande Exposition section was incorporated in Action Zone, an area of the park that formerly operated as a themed subsection of the Grande Exposition. The section operated as a part of Action Zone until 2019, when the eastern portion of Action Zone reverted to its original name and world fair theming.

Frontier Canada is the newest themed section of the park, debuting for the 2019 season. The section consolidates most of the park's Canadian themed rides; as well as an area of the park formerly known as White Water Canyon, which operated from 1984 to 2018.[61] The area is themed after a boom town found during the time of the Klondike Gold Rush, with most of its inspiration coming from Dawson City, Yukon, and its surrounding area.

White Water Canyon is a river rapids ride located in Frontier Canada.

Vortex is a suspended roller coaster located in Frontier Canada.

International Festival includes rides and midway games.

International Festival is located in the northeast section of the park. It includes rides and midway games and a mild Alpen theme.

Shockwave is a Top Scan ride in the International Festival section.

The Medieval Faire's setting, and most of its rides, are medieval-themed.

The Medieval Faire section of the park has a medieval European theme in both the setting and the rides. The two original roller coasters, Wilde Beast and Dragon Fyre, use pseudo-Elizabethan English spellings before being renamed using modern spelling (Wild Beast and Dragon Fire) from 1998 to 2018. Many of the original names of some the attractions have reverted to their pseudo-Elizabethan spelling, such as Dragon Fyre, Wilde Beast, Wilde KnightMares, Viking's Rage, and Canterbury Theatre. These renames occurred prior to the beginning of the 2019 season.

The stores, midway games and restaurants follow the medieval theme, as does the castle theatre (Canterbury Theatre, renamed Paramount Theatre during Paramount's ownership, and Wonderland Theatre until 2019) and a pirate show (originally opened with the park as Sea Sceptre and later replaced with Kinet-X Dive Show) in the middle of Arthur's Baye. However, rides such as Drop Tower: Scream Zone and Speed City Raceway have no medieval theme.

Canterbury Theatre hosted ice shows from 2006 to 2011 and hosted Cirque Ambiente in the summer of 2012 and 2013.

Entrance to the Leviathan, a giga coaster in the Medieval Faire

One of the entrances to Planet Snoopy, a children's area themed after the Peanuts comic strip.

There are presently two children's areas at Canada's Wonderland, KidZville, and Planet Snoopy. A third themed area known as Zoom Zone also exists as a part of KidZville section.

The children's areas in Canada's Wonderland originally were themed as The Happyland of Hanna-Barbera. The three areas were themed as Yogi's Woods, Scoobyville, and Bedrock; the first was converted to Smurf Village in 1984 and the last also had a marine mammal show held at the Bedrock Aquarium. In 1993, the Smurf area transitioned to Kids Kingdom, which became KidZville in 1998. In 2003, Bedrock became Nickelodeon Central; Bedrock Aquarium and its marine mammal show closed down as well. The park replaced Nickelodeon Central with Planet Snoopy for the 2010 season, standardizing the park with the rest of the Cedar Fair chain. Planet Snoopy is a section of the park themed after the comic strip Peanuts.

A Peanuts character at the Playhouse Theatre in KidZville, one of two children's areas at the park

The Zoom Zoom subsection of KidZville was created in 2001 with the debut of Silver Streak; it also contains the small rides 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 the new section. Starting in 2004, Zoom Zone was no longer shown on park maps as an independent section. However, since Cedar Fair's acquisition, each of the three rides are depicted in Zoom Zone, and park signage continues to use the name.[10]

The first ride accident in the park's history occurred on 23 August 2003, when the Jimmy Neutron Brainwasher (later renamed Woodstock Whirlybirds due to Cedar Fair's contract with Peanuts) fell apart. Three children were sent to hospital as a precautionary measure.[70]

Rides located within these children's areas include:[71]

Entrance to Ghoster Coaster, a children's roller coaster that debuted at Wonderland in 1981

Opened in 1992, Splash Works is an 8-hectare (20-acre) water park located within Canada's Wonderland.

Opened in 1992, Splash Works is an 8-hectare (20-acre) water park. The water park is home to Whitewater Bay, the largest outdoor wave pool in Canada,[72] and 16 water slides. It is included with the price of admission to Canada's Wonderland and is open from late May to early September.

Similar privileges are given to guests with mobility issues and guests within the autism spectrum, though such guests must be accompanied with one other person at least 14 years of age (most often the support worker or family member (i.e. someone who can assist boarding the ride with the guest with the disability) for the entire duration of the ride and enter the ride at a designated time based on the length of the queue. Guests with these disabilities receive paper boarding passes in which ride operators mark the designated times these guests can enter a ride without queuing if one has a cast or other issues. If one is within the autism spectrum, one gets preset times (every half-hour on normal nights or 15 minutes for Winterfest) and can go to the exit (or entrance) and get priority boarding. One waits elsewhere outside of the queue line, get food or watch a show so they are away from the stimulation for long periods of time. These guests enter either at the ride's exit or get a time from the associate at the beginning of the ride, such as Wonder Mountain's Guardian, Leviathan, Behemoth, and Yukon Striker. Lazy River is the only attraction in Splash Works that accepts boarding passes.[75]

Current name in (parentheses) *Additions to Splash Works are italicized