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True, a single ride goes down at a CF park and FB users lose their mind LOL. Whatever approach is done, someone will be infuriated by it. Move park hours from 1pm to 10pm and those that like to go early will be mad. The different closings of rides makes some sense if it means longer opening hours, but even a well publicized schedule and people will still go and be infuriated. Parks are in a tough situation this year, more so than previous years.

I feel your pain... I'm stuck up here and I can't use ANY of the parks I bought it for... You got that shiny new coaster there and I haven't been able to give it a whirl... And to top it off ya hogging all the baseball too

No, it just means that it costs the government more money than they budgeted for. They either just tack it on to the deficit or try to balance it out by cutting somewhere else.

We will have some people that refuse to get it, but I believe that the percentage that don't want to is between 10% and 20%... We've been behind the curve on vaccination rates largely because of supply and distribution issues, now that we're getting a good supply, we're catching up.... I know in the rural area where I live, people are still having trouble getting appointments for their first shot, whereas a few hours away there are places taking walk-ins...

It’s socialized medicine, meaning that for the vast majority of procedure, we have “free healthcare”, in that we don’t pay for it out of our own pocket for each visit. Of course such a system needs to be funded strongly by government. I’m no expert on healthcare funding, but prior to COVID, over at Brampton Civic Hospital, the concept of “hallway medicine” was common, that is rooms being full and thus patients have to be in the hallways. I do recall reading that Ontario’s bed per 1000 capacity was less than 2. So yeah that means there are in essence one hospital bed available for every 500 citizens. Back in the 1980s, this number was 7. What happened earlier this year with the ICUs filling up stronger than ever were patients against their will being sent to other hospitals. I’m not sure how far the biggest patient transfers went, but to put this into perspective, to reach the city of Thunder Bay in north western Ontario, that’s actually a longer drive than driving from here to Florida!

Just a little different approach! Time will tell which approach results in return visitors next year. Or maybe both ways still results in record attendance next year...

And yet we haven't heard of an outbreak from any of the parks that opened in 2020, nor have we yet in 2021 and many parks by now that are open have dropped (or not enforcing) all social distance and mask requirements. In the past week, Kings Island has basically removed the remainder of any social distance markings except for the show by the fountains, and the majority of the hand-sanitizers around the park are not being refilled, or at least not refilled as fast as they were last year. You may agree or disagree with the operations of the parks, but they are following whatever guidelines are in place (or not in place) and it is your decision as a consumer to attend or not based on what they are offering for your entertainment dollar.

None of this makes sense. I'd buy the "don't travel to protect the system" line if they did any more than pay it lip service. I live in cottage country, a couple hours north of the GTA. Our hospitals are significantly smaller than those in the GTA. If travel were such a concern for our hospitals, why does the population of the towns double/triple every weekend? Why is lining up for a roller-coaster a bridge too far but I can travel south to the Costco and line up nose-to-tail? I'll obey the rules they make. And if the rule says I can go to a theme park, I will.

I think Cedar Fair is taking a more cautious approach with their calendars than Indiana Beach. Cedar Fair is only opening for days and hours they know they will have appropriate staffing. In the beginning of the season, Cedar Fair was not doing this, but they got a lot of negative attention for being understaffed. Now, Cedar Fair has limited park operating days and hours to ensure they are appropriately staffed, and guests are now mad that they are limiting hours. Parks like Six Flags and Indiana Beach seem to be operating beyond their means. Many of these parks don’t have enough staff to do so, but I guess they don’t care and are doing it anyways.

That is true! I really think we need a ferris wheel of some type. My dream would be a large skywheel with enclosed cars and an awesome lighting package. Would be another ride to run during Winterfest.

Or just tear down the crypt building and start from scratch. You could definitely fit something like Maverick there. Imagine a Maverick coaster there ripping through the woods like The Beast does. I copied and pasted Maverick there and it fits (made sure it was to scale as much as possible)

@BeastForever I remember that as well. Much like how many people want Timberwolf demolished, tearing out existing infrastructure is always a bad idea when you have the ability to fix it up. Once infrastructure is gone, its hard to bring it back.

That having said, it should be noted that Mike Koontz has said on several occasion that he's not a fan of the underutilized buildings either. He's commented on the Crypt building in particular (at 2018 Coasterstock and in A Ride Through Time). He's said that he definitely wants something other than a Haunt maze to go into the Crypt building eventually, he just doesn't know what that would be at the moment. Whether it be a ride or something else only time will tell, but let it be known that management (at least, current management) does have interest in investing in underused infrastructure.

Why is it his responsibility to staff the park? He was offered a package of events when purchasing his pass. He shelled out the money and it’s the park’s responsibility to deliver these products. If it weren’t for the fact that this season was “free” there would be some very good grounds for a class action lawsuit if they cancelled Haunt. No judge in the world would take pity on them for taking everyone’s money and then not delivering on what’s advertised because of “staffing.”

A Gerstlauer Sky Roller might be another option. https://www.canadaswonderland.com/rides-experiences/skyhawk

When I first toured the park in December 1971 with someday-to-be-park-manager-Al Weber, the station platform corral was stacked full of the canoes to be used on the two canoe rides. That appears to be some of them in one of the pictures. And I vaguely remember Bert Williams wearing a fishing hat like that. You may have discovered pictures of the very first test runs of #12 in February 1972. The ties appear to have a light dusting of snow on them.

Attached is the obituary in Live Steam Magazine for Ken Williams, Crown Metal Products founder. It was my recollection that Ken died later in the year between the delivery of #19 and #12, but apparently he was already gone before #19 arrived in October or November 1971. Ken's son Bert would have been responsible for delivering both engines and testing them. During the early years, the Losantiville station had a sign reading "Ken Williams, Stationmaster".

If a museum is not in the works . . I would like to see them post signs around the park marking historic spots with pictures and history. Maybe mark spots of former attractions/rides at their originally locations. Not permanent just for the 50th Anniversary season.

The one thing defines Canadians is anti-Americanism, heck even Wonderland opening 40 years ago was a nasty political battle. Perhaps it only got allowed to build because the Vaughan mayor and Premier of Ontario supported it. “You could say Yogi Bear won and Maple lost,” -Vaughan Councillor James Cameron ”Taft think they’re doing us a favour by building a plastic replica of the Canadian frontier when we have Black Creek Pioneer Village two miles down the road.” -Vaughan Councillor James Cameron “For God’s sake, Disneyland isn’t the real world. We don’t need a place like this. We have everything we need in Metro Toronto … It’s an abomination and I don’t want my children exposed to more of this kind of hucksterism,” -Mayor of King Township Margaret Britnell “Unless we want to turn Maple into a row of touristy boutiques, I can’t see the park doing much for local businessmen.” -Vaughan Councillor Lorne Jackson ”You could pick this thing up, lock stock and barrel, and move it to Pretoria and call it South Africa’s Wonderland. There is nothing Canadian about it at all,” -Vaughan Councillor James Cameron But we had those who supporter the park as well. “All this anti-American feeling is baloney. Building this park is no different than watching American television” -Mayor of Vaughan Garnet Williams ”Are you against children having fun?” -Premier of Ontario William Davis The point I’m making here is that there was strong opposition to Canada’s Wonderland, it wasn’t a hunky dory project. A good chunk of this opposition was again fuelled in part by anti-American hatred.

Oh yeah, remember your government blocked any vaccine distribution to Canada. So much for friendly neighbours, so getting a vaccine isn’t entirely easy. The government instead has had to make a significant gambit in delaying the second shot for up to 16 weeks because they see getting everyone vaccinated with one shot with scarce supply is more important than administering the vaccines properly. Perhaps it should have been tit for tat, you refuse to give up vaccines, than Quebec should have shut off the power to the east coast.

I find it mildly offensive that you practically ignored what I had to say. if the border was “open”, than I would say it is “open” for non essential travelers. For those being optimistic, let me remind you of the current situation in Canada. Anyone who enters Canada who isn’t an essential worker MUST quarantine for 14 days, failure to abide by this can lead to a fine of up to $750,000 and/or imprisonment of up to 6 months. Canada Quarantine Act from Government of Canada The fact this still stands means that you can kiss your dreams of coming across the border away this summer. And as I said, Canadians for the most part actually want this border to remain closed to Americans as they see them as being incredibly irresponsible in the handling of the virus, with having the highest case and death rate in the world. Public polling suggests that only about 1 in 3 Canadians support reopening the border at this point. To compare two similar sized jurisdictions, Ontario has had around 9,000 deaths so far while Ohio has had over 20,000 deaths I am but one person, who does not agree with this, but the fact a change.org petition is this strong tells you something. Keep the border closed