Canada’s Wonderland
During our holiday to Canada last month we had the opportunity to visit Canada's Wonderland. Canada’s Wonderland is an amusement park located about 40 minutes from my parents house, north of Toronto. I have many happy memories from my childhood at CW. For many years, our family would get a season’s pass for the summer. We even had one in 2019 when we were living back in Canada. The kids were only 4 and 1 at this time so they stuck to the kiddy rides, but this time I was excited to go back when they were a bit older for some of the more thrilling rides.
Our first visit didn’t get off to the best start. We left home a bit later than we would have liked, and the traffic was already really busy around CW when we arrived after 10:30am. The park opens at 10am, and growing up, my family is the type of family to get there right at opening time, or even a bit earlier. But a combination of jet lag (it was our third day in Canada but Ella and I still hadn’t adjusted to the time) and someone forgetting we were low on gas (dad!) meant we were way behind schedule. By the time we got there the lines to get in were already long and it took us nearly half an hour to get into the park.
Once in, we split up, with my dad, Ella and I heading towards some of the roller coasters, and my mom and Ollie heading to the Kids Zone. The park was busy, it was hot, and in our first two hours my dad, Ella and I only go on two rides. By then it was lunchtime, so we met up with Ollie and my mom for the picnic lunch we brought, resting in the shade for a little bit. My mom and Ollie had had a bit more success in the Kids Zone, and Ollie even went on the Ghoster Coaster, a small wooden roller coaster.
Those two also managed to sneak in an ice cream cookie - a classic Wonderland treat!
After lunch we decided to head to Splash Works, the water park section of CW. We found a nice shady spot to set up our towels and headed to some pools to cool off. And cool off we did, as the water was absolutely freezing! We spent the next few hours at Splash Works. The adults took turns going with Ella, who was keen to play in the wave pool and go on some waterslides. Ollie was a bit more reluctant, he hates cold water, but we managed to get him to play int he splash pad and go on some of the smaller waterslides.
At one stage, Ella, my mom and I came back from the wave pool to find Ollie and my dad having a nap - such a classic pose to find them both in!
We stayed in Splash Works until it closed, and then headed back into the main park for a few more rides. By this time the crowds had started to thin out - being the last week of the school year in Canada there were a lot of school groups there that seemed to leave around this time. We all went on the ride "White Water Canyon" together, an old school CW ride that we had a blast on. The ride is a 6-seater raft that travels along river rapids. After each twist and turn you could get sprayed by the rapids, and there are surprise geysers and waterfalls that also have the potential to soak. This was a really fun ride that was good for both Ella and Ollie, and being an older ride in the park there was definitely the element of nostalgia for me!
We ended up staying until about 9:30pm, the evening portion of our day being the most fun, with the temperature cooling down and the crowds thinning out.
A few days later we decided to head back to Wonderland for round two. This time it was just my dad, Ella, and I. Ollie was adamant he did not want to return so he stayed home for a Nannie and Ollie day. This time we had learned from our mistakes and arrived well before the opening time. We got an amazing parking spot and sailed through the entrance.
We ended up getting straight on the ride, and lucky us we got the front row of the roller coaster! As it all happened so quickly Ella didn't have time to get nervous and back out, which was a good thing, as she has a habit of overthinking and talking herself out of things if given too much time to ponder what could happen. She was pretty scared as the roller coaster climbed the 230 feet to the first peak, demanding to be let off the ride. Look, I don't blame her. The climb to the top seems to go on forever, and although you get an amazing view of the park and surrounding area, there is also ample time to think "holy crap, this is pretty high!" However, I kept my s**t together and pretended I was not scared AT ALL in an effort to reassure Ella that she had nothing to worry about!
Not sure how well it worked, if you ask my dad he'll tell you he heard some pretty terrified screams coming from us as we plunged down at a 75 degree angle at a speed of 125 km/h. Luckily those screams turned into laughter and Ella had a great time - though not good enough that we could convince her to immediately get on one of the other big coasters, Yukon Rider. She said she needed to go on some other rides first.
For whatever reason, the park seemed less busy than the other day. We ended up going on tons of rides, stopping only to get some food.
At around 8:30pm, Ella decided she was ready for another big roller coaster, so we decided to try the Leviathan. This is the tallest ride in the park at 306 feet, and the drop is 80 degrees. We checked the wait time, which was an hour at this time, and so decided this would be the last ride of the day as the park closes at 10pm. Our wait ended up being more like an hour and a half, and it was very dark out by the time we were ready to get on it. Ella was fine for most of the wait time, but when we were nearly ready to ride she started panicking. Empathetic mother that I am, I told her that we'd been waiting for an hour and a half, so if she didn't want to go on that was fine, but Grampy and I were going! Of course, she wanted to go, but was just doing her normal stress-out that she does. As the ride attendant was strapping us in Ella was practically crying, and I was like "she's fine, she's fine!"... a top parenting moment for me!
Again, as the roller coaster slooooooowly ascended I too was having second thoughts. And man, a drop at an angle of 80 degrees is no joke! More bloodcurdling screams from Ella and me as we raced through the roller coaster in the dark, at 148 km/h. By the time the 3-minute ride was over we were both laughing again, with Ella then proclaiming she was ready for the Yukon Rider. Sadly, the lines were closed, it was after 10pm, and it was time to go home.
We had a great time, and it's so satisfying to be raising a roller coaster loving child. My dad just emailed me the plans for the next roller coaster they are building at Canada's Wonderland and it looks like a ripper! We will definitely be visiting the park again on our next trip home.
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