Waiting in a Canada Wonderland...

The Rubino boys got a break from girl stuff (or at least girl inability/lack of desire to do the big roller coasters) yesterday and headed off to Canada's Wonderland.

Looking at the park itself, it is a great park--10+ roller coasters: 3 kid level, 4 wooden (one of which was a "kids coaster"), a hyper coaster (80+ MPH, 78 degree fall), a flying coaster (lie on your stomach and fly like superman), 2 suspension style, etc. There appeared to be several shows including ice skating and free diving (we didn't see any of them). The food options were numerous, and we admit to having a funnel cake. The funnel cake took a while to make, but was excellent. They had a funnel cake guy whose job was to pattern the batter into a funnel cake shape. No automation there. In fact, the service was excellent throughout with people clearly taking pride in their work. The coasters were all fully staffed including a person confirming height before people got in line. I saw at least two supervisors (or higher? one wore a suit) walking the park and picking up trash themselves.

The only problem was all of the lines. The park was packed. From the time we got to the entrance of the park until we got in was nearly 20 minutes. Security, of course, was the problem as they had to confiscate any/all sodas and sandwiches, but snacks and water bottles were OK. What-ever. All lines but one were at least 30 minutes and our record was 80 minutes for "Scooby's Haunted Mansion."

But enough kvetching. The weather was perfect. Sunny, low 70's, light breeze. I loved "Time Warp" not because it was a great roller coaster, but because the flying motion was just so much fun. The Behemoth was good as well and the drop was a doozy. The pedistal seating for such a big drop & speed was alarming. I admit to not having my hands up for any of the drops. I think that's the first time I have done that since I was in 4th grade.

CW's waterfall ride was an amazing soaker. I've been on probably 6 of these and they can get wet, but typically those who get wet are the people on the observation bridge. On this one, there were jets that shot water at us as we were going down the hill. And then the splash at the bottom managed to soak us. And then the bridge over the track (which usually gets the full brunt) was angled, so the water that landed on the bridge proceeded to pour over us as we went under it. All the electronics were in the backpack which did not go on the ride, so all was well.

One more ride that CW "did right" was called Rip Tide and was a variant on Firefall at GASC. Unlike Firefall which has a fountain which looks like it will do something, but doesn't. This one had the jets turned up well past 11 and soaked everyone on the ride. At least once on the ride, people are inexorably lowered, upside down into these jets of water. Brilliant. I wonder if there was some stupid lawsuit/fear in the US which prevented all the US parks from having the ride do that....

Another thing I really enjoyed about CW was the diversity of people. There were muslims with their various scarves (one doesn't see that in the US as often). There were also a few groups of Africans with the full robes. I also enjoyed that there were several grandparent aged people going on roller coasters, some apparently for the first time. Either Canadians don't stop living when they switch demographic groups, or they aren't marketed to as heavily on a demographic level, so they feel free to cross "boundries" in the US.

The boys naturally had a good time, and Paul thanked me several times during the day. Apparently McDonalds on the way home, funnel cake at the park, and just the day itself put him in a thankful mood. I had to wake up James for McDonalds, and both were sound asleep by the time we got back to Nanas.