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MisterSG1

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  1. So as we saw, Wonderland did not have a single day open this summer. Yet in Niagara Falls, Clifton Hill, a glorified permanent midway of sorts was full of people this Labour Day Weekend: https://www.narcity.com/news/ca/on/toronto/clifton-hill-crowds-this-weekend-are-leading-to-a-protest-to-reopen-wonderland The article of course suggests that there is a protest happening for Wonderland to reopen. This is how I personally see things, if the government allows museums, zoos, even Ripley's Aquarium in downtown Toronto to reopen, than why can't Canada's Wonderland open, as Wonderland clearly had a plan in place. It's somewhat hypocritical to be honest, but then again, most museums, zoos, are indeed public. A zoo at the end of the day, in the case of a major zoo like the Toronto Zoo, has similarities to a theme park. While it doesn't have rides, it does have almost everything a theme park has, concession stands and what not. As for rides, god only knows the hundreds of thousands who will ride transit in the Greater Toronto Area daily still, and there's not an explosion of cases from such crowds on public transit. Yet, Wonderland and rides are seen as dangerous.
  2. Well, renovating a ride, in the grand scheme of things, isn’t that much the same kind of thing as building a new ride? I don’t know much about RMC, but I believe when it comes to redesigning the ride, that can easily happen. A Canadian construction company would have to do the actual work in constructing the ride. I mean RMC has renovated rides in other countries haven’t they? I could be wrong, but as it stands, except for some water slides in Splash Works or Triotech’s involvement with Wonder Mountain Guardian, there is not one Canadian ride manufacturer in Canada’s Wonderland. That being said, I’m sure if RMC wanted to renovate a ride, I don’t see there being any problem.
  3. When did I say that? If I mentioned any kind of law, I’m referring to the COVID-19 situation in which basically all non essential travel into Canada is forbidden for all non Canadians. In normal times, I don’t think this would be much of a problem.
  4. Somewhat, but what makes Vaughan different is that Vaughan is immediately north of the City of Toronto (which by itself is huge in area), Vaughan was known for many years with this slogan "The City ABOVE Toronto". Distance wise, Kings Island is roughly 24 miles from the downtown core of Cincy, while in Toronto's case, Wonderland is 18 miles away from the downtown core. By distance wise, I'm looking moreso at the shortest distance between the two spots. This is important to discuss because I-71 passes by both Kings Island and downtown Cincy, while Hwy 400 which passes by Wonderland DOES NOT go into downtown Toronto. (there was a plan for this and exit numbers appear to acknowledge downtown as a starting point despite the southern extension never built but that's another story). If one uses an all freeway route to get to downtown Toronto from Wonderland, it ends up being 30 miles, but you get my point I'm sure. It's also worth noting the high density developments that have sprung up at Hwy 400 and Hwy 7 in Vaughan, leading to a skyline of sorts. Much of this development is due to the brand new subway station which just opened in Dec 2017. This is the kind of endgame they have for their new downtown area, which would sit around 3 miles from Wonderland: The point I'm sort of getting at, Mason isn't nearly as big as Vaughan is right now or will be.
  5. Yeah, I guess you’re right, it’s just I always get into arguments with someone who claims that wonderland will become condos in the future. So when have you visited Wonderland, and how many times have you visited? It has been said that the overall planning focus in the Greater Toronto Area changed when Wonderland was built, they originally wanted to develop more east of the city, but Wonderland made them develop more north of the city. As for hitting a condo building nearby....it’s not that bad yet lol, when walking inside the park, you do feel like you are isolated from the real world for the most part. Wonderland does have a big advantage competition wise compared to other cities. First thing, there is virtually NO other major theme park nearby. You could say Darien Lake is close by, but remember that Darien Lake is behind an international border and most people aren’t adventurous to cross the border to go to a theme park. The only real other theme park in Canada is in Montreal, and not only is it a 5 hour drive away, but the predominant language spoken at the park is French. Los Angeles is really the only larger metro area with a CF park, which has a population around twice the population of the Greater Toronto Area. But remember, in the LA area exists four major theme parks, well five if you split Disneyland from California Adventure. While I’ve never been to SoCal, I’ve assumed, can someone correct me, that Knott’s and Magic Mountain are moreso “locals” theme parks, like how some off strip casinos in Vegas are known as “locals casinos”. Is this the case for the Knott’s and MM?
  6. In the case of the Toronto Blue Jays, both the city itself and the province of Ontario actually agreed to their plan, but the federal government did not. At the time, I thought it was a great plan because the Blue Jays play in a stadium that has a hotel attached to it. Confine the players to the hotel and you should be good. We saw what happened in Florida and the sort of domino effect that happened with baseball, so maybe it wasn't such a good idea. Unless new cases numbers don't take a serious nosedive in the US, my guess is that the border will remain closed at least until next summer at the earliest.
  7. Probably a very small amount. What I was saying earlier was more into the regards of corporate cutting their losses with the pain of running a theme park in a different country.
  8. Wasn't Winterfest basically cancelled everywhere else because everyone is forecasting higher numbers when traditional flu season occurs? It wouldn't make much sense to run Winterfest here only in that sense either. Assuming the remaining bits of Ontario move into Phase 3 not this Friday but next Friday, and the park is given the go ahead to open, here's a few things you have to consider even in that best case scenario. Sure, Wonderland has most likely hired an on call staff, but wouldn't there need to be a few dry runs of social distancing among the staff before opening. Let's just assume it takes them until the Monday after the go ahead is given on Friday to open. This puts you at August 17, which gives you three weeks of daily park operation up to Labour Day. I assume beyond Labour Day, as kids will be back to school in some form or another, they will revert to the weekend only schedule like they usually have in September. Weekends in October could happen too, although before Fearfest happened at Wonderland, the park used to close the weekend of Canadian Thanksgiving, which is the same weekend as Columbus Day. Weekend operation should be able to continue until the end of October as regular days without the Haunt . You do the math, is it really worthwhile for Wonderland to open at all this year? This is what I'm getting at.
  9. Most of the province of Ontario is under Stage 3 of reopening, the last stage in the reopening phases, and not mentioned was when Canada's Wonderland could reopen. While the powers that be in the Ontario government hinted that Wonderland could possibly open when all of Ontario enters Stage 3, I'll believe it when I see it. By that point, there won't even be much of a season worth salvaging. Let us also remember that Ontario's caseload and deaths is lightyears ahead of that in Ohio, and I'm not saying this to brag or to say snide remarks but to simply state facts. We have recently entered the third consecutive day of sub-100 new cases in this province, a province of 14,500,000 and one that would be the 5th largest state in population if it were a US state. It's important to know that Ontario has tread incredibly lightly in this matter. Ohio has mostly had days with new cases above 1,000 since the beginning of July. However, this got me thinking about the future of the park itself., just south of Rutherford Road on Jane Street, there is a new condo building which broke ground. The units in that building started from "the low $500s", consider this, if single condo units sell for that much, how much of a gold mine is Wonderland currently sitting on? As there is a metaphorical brick wall now on the "world's longest undefended border", a barrier which won't be eased anytime soon, this prevents corporate from even accessing Wonderland, or Wonderland's higher ups from going to Cedar Fair corporate. As well as a provincial government which has been extremely cautious with reopening (and most citizens here support the restrictions), at what point does Cedar Fair simply "cash out". The land itself is probably worth more than what Cedar Fair ever invested in the park, I'm sure the greedy developers would love to get their greasy hands on that prime land. As the land value should go up even higher around this area due to a new nearby subway station, as well as large developments near that subway station. Maybe Cedar Fair should consider selling the land entirely?
  10. Although the Canada/US border is mutually closed to citizens of the other country in both cases, it’s Canada who wants to keep it going and sadly I thought I’d never agree with a border closure as long as I lived. A border closure has never occurred as long as Canada existed as a sovereign nation, except for a day long closure of the US border on 9/11. That being said, if the US cases were substantially lower, think 2,000 new cases a day on average, then probably the border would reopen. But it’s the high numbers solely that’s causing countries around the world to bar Americans.
  11. Chuck Woollery, what a shame. I do remember him fondly from Greed, a very good game show that was highly underrated. Many saw it simply as a Millionaire rip off but it was much more enjoyable to watch. It adds a lot of other dynamics to it which Millionaire didn’t have, but I digress. I think many thought it would be over by the summer because they were banking on the last time we were through this, especially here in Toronto. I’m talking about SARS in 2003. During SARS, it broke out around the same time as COVID-19 did and just disappeared by the time summer rolled around. There was even an outdoor festival concert featuring AC/DC and the Rolling Stones when the outbreak was over in Toronto that summer Remember that COVID-19’s full name is SARS Cov-2, in essence SARS 2. When I first heard about it, I thought it was gonna be similar to the SARS outbreak and nothing much would change, but obviously I was wrong. Although during SARS, Toronto was a hot spot, it should be noted that life didn’t change much, only hospitals moved into a place where masks were required.
  12. Here's the thing that some of you are missing. While it is true that the deaths from those aged under 40 are minimal, there is the simple thing that one who catches it under 40 can spread it to someone vulnerable in a higher age bracket. Also, the virus doesn't exactly have a binary ending, you don't beat it or die, there are some who have concerning brain issues afterwards for example. What i like to compare it to, do any of you remember the story of Marcy Borders on 9/11, the infamous photo of the lady who escaped covered with dust. She died in 2015 from stomach cancer which many believe was related to the toxic dust she inhaled that fateful day. So think of it like this, she may have survived 9/11, but ultimately she was killed by the effects of what happened on 9/11. It's unclear how much COVID-19 can shorten someone's lifespan. Look, I was all for the mental health arguments and what not, but my mind completely changed after the huge US spike in the middle of June that has no intentions of receding.
  13. Regarding opening borders, it's funny, up here in Canada, certain provinces actually have shut their borders to other provinces, it really is a peculiar time. Where you cannot enter the province except for essential reasons, kind of like crossing the Canada-US border at this point. I understand this would be practically impossible for many reasons between US states, as it goes against the US Constitution for starters, but also that it's incredibly impractical to do. My guess is that there's probably hundreds of roads that cross over from Ohio to Pennsylvania for instance. Between, say the provinces of Quebec and New Brunswicik, you could probably count on two hands the number of ways to cross between them by road and why you can in theory easily shut down access. The problem is, is that from my understanding, politicians within the US, have made the issue political about wearing masks. Then there's also the attitude of rebelling against what the government says, a very paramount cornerstone to the foundation of the US but this is a case where everyone should do the right thing.
  14. Militant in the sense that taking your mask off will not be tolerated and will be grounds for immediate ejection from the park. Similar to if you stand up on a roller coaster. This is how serious this should be taken. Since the theme parks opened in Ohio, there has not been a single day with a sub-800 case count. It's not exactly the twilight zone, or maybe it is, when you consider that for the first time ever in history, Canada is basically demanding to have the border closed against the US. Heck, a good chunk of policy in Canada's history was keeping that border flowing as efficient as possible. Honestly, the border should remain closed until the US can reach daily new cases of around 2,000 a day, which I sadly don't see happening anytime soon.
  15. This is one of the attitudes that's causing the massive spread in the US. You may not get sick, but you may potentially pass the virus to many other people causing a lot more to get sick. The Government of Ontario announced today that Ontario's Stage 3 will not include the opening of Canada's Wonderland, and i think it's a good move personally. There's way too much risk at this point. Ohio and Ontario aren't too far off in population, Alarming that on July 10, Ohio reported over 1,500 cases, while here in Ontario, we have been reporting roughly 110-130 daily cases for the past two weeks. My concern about the parks opening as well is how 'militant' will associates need to be with guests wearing masks. If security doesn't immediately kick them out than I think there's way too much risk in keeping the park open.
  16. I’m going to put my two cents in on this matter. Once again, Cedar Fair is refusing to take responsibility, just like they shrugged off a guest being fatally stabbed on their property, (albeit in the corner by the toll booths) and they won’t say where this associate worked. i was very concerned about KI reopening, consider I was a Halloween Haunt maze usher at Wonderland. My job was to keep the flow running, when guests won’t listen to me there and laugh at me, who’s the say guests won’t react with the same hostile attitude when they are told to put their masks on. I got in trouble at wonderland for putting my foot down when a big logjam was created with guests and I sternly told them to leave. im not going to point fingers and name the person, but it’s unacceptable when I learned that three current Kings Island associates had spent a day earlier this week goofing off at Holiday World. Yes, a trip that would require crossing over two state lines. I think many understand the risk of that here and personally I am disgusted by that behavior. Obviously, Wonderland isn’t opened, and the province of Ontario is still reporting slightly north of 100 new cases each day, our population is 14.5 million so you can do the math. Cedar Fair’s greed to reopen the parks could care less about public safety.
  17. In the KECO and Paramount era, Canada's Wonderland always ran a float in the Toronto Santa Claus Parade to my knowledge. A brief history of this parade, the now defunct department store chain Eaton's first ran this parade in 1905 to usher in the arrival of Santa Claus to the department store. Supposedly, this is where the inspiration for the Macy's Parade comes from, as I understand its original purpose as well was to usher in Santa to the Macy's store on 34th Street. Eaton's hasn't been involved with the parade since 1982, and it continues to this day as a large scale parade. Anyways, a regular sponsor since their founding was Canada's Wonderland, it's kind of unusual really, in the sense of Beach Boys singing Christmas songs kind of unusual. Canada's Wonderland is not open for business for 5 and a half months, and yet they always ran a parade. On a youtube video, I had managed to find the float they ran in the 1990 and 2001 parades: I can recall the 1998 parade featured the Rugrats characters and had a roller coaster but I can't seem to find that float anywhere. In 2001, they tried to theme the float after what they were, an amusement park by making a roller coaster float. And finally, I managed to find an image of another float they ran in the 2006 season: Source: https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/105/301446957_65e28a1f81_z.jpg?zz=1 The above photo resembles Wonderland more with a structure somewhat similar to Wonder Mountain. As far as I know, since Cedar Fair's ownership of Wonderland, they have never ran a float in the parade ever. As I stated earlier, participation in the parade seems kind of weird for this time of the year. However, Wonderland is starting WinterFest next year, and well I thought it'd be a no brainer to run a float again to advertise the event. On top of that, with having Planet Snoopy, such theming of the float with one of the most timeless Christmas specials ever, A Charlie Brown Christmas, it really is quite easy to come up with something grand for the parade. Did Kings Island ever do something similar in Cincy?
  18. As promised, I did a drive by on my way to the subway station, here’s what I took, it’s the best I could do. It’s quite rare around these parts to have accumulated snow at this point of the year but it happens occasionally. Approaching from Hwy 400 north, I had phone attached to dashboard Looking south from various points on Major Mack over the bridge that crosses Hwy 400. We can clearly see there’s an inversion already finished. I’m somewhat of a road geek so I decided to take pics where we can see the 400 as well as the park. From this angle, you can see it’s quite small compared to the mighty Leviathan.
  19. The maze ratings were all at 4 at Wonderland.....so the rating is pointless. Blackout should be rated one step higher at Wonderland. (I was mostly in the mountain mazes which were The Ruins and Blackout as an usher) The Ruins is slightly more scarier than the others, both Blackout/Ruins are in darkness but during the ruins, they supply you with a flashlight which emits a red light, they take it away before you enter blackout. That being said, "Is the maze scary?" is a common question, I just tell them that these two are in darkness and that nothing can hurt them.
  20. Same is true over at Wonderland.....perhaps someone should proofread the safety guide before posting it.......
  21. On the final night of the Haunt on October 31, i managed to snap some pics of the Yukon Striker....on Monday, I will shoot some more photos of the amount of track that's been constructed. In these photos, you can see that the first drop has been constructed.
  22. It was more than a pirate ship ride......(we still have ours by the way, currently known as The Rage), this version of the ride went all the way around 360. Not only that, the Jet Scream wasn't that old, it opened in 1990, the park opened in 1981. I'd still say it's a more exciting ride than WindSeeker. The ride was actually called a Looping Starship
  23. I saw it malfunction twice in one night, they stopped running it after it malfunctioned the second time. The positive over at the Island is that at least a ride was not compromised there for the WindSeeker. Unlike at Wonderland, where Jet Scream was removed for the WindSeeker Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Jet_Scream_Canada's_Wonderland.jpg
  24. Fine then, how often does WindSeeker malfunction?
  25. Doing work at the Haunt at Canada's Wonderland, I have noticed the WindSeeker stall at the very top of the ride THREE times in a matter of just 5 nights. Is that ride that much of a piece of junk? I always couldn't stand the WindSeeker personally.
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