Today was the final day of our whirlwind tour of amusement parks. We left the strange little motel we stayed in around 7:30 am and drove non-stop to Toronto and Wonderland. I must say, it felt good to be back in Canada, with our wide highways, decent signage and on-ramps and exits that follow logic more often than not.
We got in to Wonderland about 20 minutes before park opening, got our tickets and were allowed in. This is a change from other parks, as we'd have to line up at the gate and wait before, at Wonderland the main ride sections were simply blocked until 10 on the dot, so you could go at least part of the way to what you want to ride first. Which for us was Behemoth, but due to the high winds and early threats of rain, neither Behemoth or Leviathan were running upon opening. Rather disappointed, we went over to Flight Deck (formerly Top Gun in the Paramount days), an old favourite of our's, and rode it first.
Flight Deck was the first inverted looping coaster in Canada, and has been cloned somewhere near 29 times in other parks around the world. It is the older, lighter track construction with only two-seats side by side per car, same style as Mind Eraser, though the restraints are more robust. Once on, you are brought up the lift hill, dropped in a curving swoop, then a speedy turn that leads into the sidewinder dual inversion. After the sidewinder is a heavily banked swooping turn than rises above a part of the track then down again into a half-loop that corkscrews out. A banked helix leads you to a leg-chopping dual barrel roll through the heart of the coaster layout, and a final banked turn brings you around the the brake run. Very fun coaster, has aged quite well and I still love the thrill of the barrel roll twisting you away from the track seemingly right before it would have taken your legs off. A must-ride.
Next we went over to Vortex, a suspended swinging car roller coaster. Its lift hill brings you up to the summit of Wonder mountain at the end of International Street. You are provided a nice view of the park before you are dropped down towards the lake and helix up over the station. Another drop takes you through a series of swinging turns and a final helix down close to the water's surface. After that you are brought up to the brake run for the somewhat iconic break and swing at the end of the ride. One of the best suspended swinging coasters I've been on, lots of speed and lateral swings, recommended.
Next up we went by Dragon Fire to see how Leviathan was doing. Still closed, so we rode on Dragon Fire. Dragon Fire was one of four original roller coasters that Wonderland opened with back in 1981. It is an old school corkscrew coaster, somewhat less intense than some of the others we have gone on of the same type. After leaving the station you are dropped slightly to a 180 degree turn that goes to the lift hill. After the lift, you are dropped down and through two vertical loops, followed by a banked turn and two corkscrews in a row. You hit a slight brake and then are dropped into an upward helix and the final brakes and station. Fun coaster, a great introduction to looping coasters for the uninitiated, somewhat lackluster for those who have been on the more recent steel twisters, but still recommended.
Next up was the Mighty Canadian Mine Buster, another of the original four coasters of the park. It is a classic wooden coaster, upon leaving the station you are dropped down a bit and turn 180 degrees to the lift hill. After the hill, you go through a 90 degree turn and are dropped and shot along a few air humps under some of the water rides and then up into a banked turn, before dropping down again and then going through some more humps and a head-chopper element under the track. Then you bank into the upward helix and at the halfway point you are thrust into a dark and loud tunnel, before coming out into the light and then hitting the brake run. Classic wooden experience, and a smoother ride than others we have been on. Recommended.
Next we walked back over to Wild Beast, number three of the original four, but after about ten minutes in line with people bailing and no trains running the circuit we saw it was broken down and not going to get going in short order. So we left the line, found some lunch and rode on Flight Deck again. The weather had been improving steadily with the sun finally out, and while on the lift of Flight Deck, I spotted Behemoth running trains for the first time in the day. So we wandered over and got into the line that was rapidly getting bigger.
Behemoth is a B&M hypercoaster, often compared to Diamondback and Nitro. Behemoth has a unique, prototype train, where the first two seats are mounted side by side in the middle of the car, and the back two are set far enough apart to give an unobstructed view to the back row. You leave the station, go right and then climb the 230 foot tall lift hill, where you can actually see the CN Tower in the distance, and are dropped at 75 degrees to reach speeds of 78 mph (125 Km/h) and are instantly shot up a huge camelback hill for some awesome negative g's. After the hill, you go through an overbanked hammerhead turn and back around to another two sweet air-time hills. Another hill takes you up to a brake run that slows you before the 540 degree, tall helix down to the right, followed immediately by an upward 270 degree helix to the left, with one final air-time hill and some slight air on the last hill that leads to the final brake run and station. Totally awesome ride, smooth as can be and so much air-time! World class coaster, a total must-ride!
While in line for Behemoth, we saw that Leviathan was going through its paces too, so we made for it as soon as we got out of the station. The line was almost totally full when we got in, and filled up beyond capacity while we waited. The coaster has a fairly high capacity and the queue was never immobile for long. Leviathan is the tallest and fastest coaster B&M have ever constructed, the equal to either Millenium Force or Intimidator 305 by Intamin and only the third gigacoaster to be built in North America. After leaving the station you go through a 180 degree turn and are brought up the 306-foot tall lift hill by a more traditional chain lift. Upon cresting the top, you are dropped down the hill at 80 degrees and reach speeds of 92 mph (148 km/h) and go through a darkened tunnel themed as the Leviathan's open mouth. You come screaming out of the tunnel and into a 164-foot tall overbanked turn that drops you down into a high speed turn to the left. Then you go hurtling up a huge camelback hill for awesome air-time before hitting a more severe than usual overbanked hammerhead turn that crosses the track instead of sending you back the way you came and leads to a swooping high speed turn. Another, smaller camelback provides some more awesome negative g's and one last overbanked turn brings you around in line with the station and a final dip and hill before the brake run. You must ride this coaster, unbelievably smooth, fast, thrilling ride. Even with a full queue, the wait will not exceed one hour and it is completely worth it to experience this awesome coaster. I had wondered in the start if B&M could pull off what only Intamin has done so far, and the answer is an emphatic "Hell yes!". I never believed Canada would get a ride of this calibre, a total and absolute must-ride!
After another bout on Behemoth, we left the park and concluded the Great American Coaster Tour 2013. What a ride it has been! Over 5000 km traveled through Ontario and 11 states, and seven great parks. If you like roller coasters at all, there is no better way to spend two weeks! Well, except of course hitting more parks! But we had timing issues with the hours and whatnot, so we did the best we could in the time we had. Though, Wonderland (also King's Island and Six Flags New England, to be fair) are in need of some B&M inverters or some Intamin launched/more bizarre rides. Roller coasters are what draws people from all over the world to these parks, and the more quality rides a park has, the more people will think it is worth the journey to get there! No parks on the trip turned out to be disappointing, which I am glad for, but some were definitely a better value than others.
Record holders:
Leviathan, 7th tallest, 8th fastest
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