Should Canada's Wonderland be replaced?

[Taeolas]

As someone who grew up in New Brunswick, I think my main exposure to Canada's Wonderland was commercials on YTV when we finally got cable. (Marineland commercials got ubiquitous at the same time).

Strangely the one commercial that sticks in my mind is when they used the song "Free Ride" for it; to this day, whenever I hear the song, it links to the Canada's Wonderland for me; yet I can't even find the commercials on Youtube. (To the point I'm almost thinking it's a Bernstein Bears effect or something).

I've gone to CW once, maybe twice in my life while I was at University in Waterloo; and I did enjoy it.

Nowadays, I have no idea what the state of the park is (COVID aside) so I have no idea if anything needs to be done one way or another. But back then, I had a blast there. Sure it isn't a Disney type experience, but Disney and even Universal Studios parks are basically Global theme parks. For Provincial/State level parks, CW felt very adequate, if not higher tier than similar Six Flags and other parks.

[SpongeG]

I remember Electric Circus would go there at least once during the summer.

I've gotten to fo twice in my life. Once in 1985 when on a scout Jamboree and once when I lived in Ontario in 93. It was pretty good, enjoyed it.

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[Acajack]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

isn't La Ronde owned by Six Flags?

Yes. Wasn't always the case of course. Its bones are those of the amusement park build for Expo 67.

EDIT: Since 2001

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

I remember Electric Circus would go there at least once during the summer.

I've gotten to fo twice in my life. Once in 1985 when on a scout Jamboree and once when I lived in Ontario in 93. It was pretty good, enjoyed it.

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I remember stumbling upon one of those Electric Circus shows from Wonderland, and thinking that many kids watching from (often remote) other parts of Canada were probably wishing they lived in Toronto.

[Chadillaccc]

There's a Toronto sub-forum for city-specific shit like this and the other threads created the last couple days.

[GreatTallNorth2]

There were rumours years ago that Canada's Wonderland was going to pick up and move to the former Ford property near London/St. Thomas right off the 401. It's a huge amount of land and would sell for cheap, whereas the land in Vaughan is obviously quite valuable.

Some might think this is crazy, but some of the bigger theme parks in the States are not located in the biggest cities.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

There were rumours years ago that Canada's Wonderland was going to pick up and move to the former Ford property near London/St. Thomas right off the 401. It's a huge amount of land and would sell for cheap, whereas the land in Vaughan is obviously quite valuable.

Some might think this is crazy, but some of the bigger theme parks in the States are not located in the biggest cities.

yeah, like Cedar Point (gargantuan for coasters) in Sandusky, Ohio, sort of halfway between Cleveland and Toledo.

[travis3000]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

There were rumours years ago that Canada's Wonderland was going to pick up and move to the former Ford property near London/St. Thomas right off the 401. It's a huge amount of land and would sell for cheap, whereas the land in Vaughan is obviously quite valuable.

Some might think this is crazy, but some of the bigger theme parks in the States are not located in the biggest cities.

I was told they were considering the move at one point but ultimately decided against it. They've since built three massive and expensive roller coasters (Behemouth, Leviathan, and Yukon Striker). You really can't get a better location than Vaughan. You have Highway 400/407, the Subway, and over 7 million people within a 1 hour drive.

[Mister F]

Originally Posted by GreatTallNorth2

There were rumours years ago that Canada's Wonderland was going to pick up and move to the former Ford property near London/St. Thomas right off the 401. It's a huge amount of land and would sell for cheap, whereas the land in Vaughan is obviously quite valuable.

Some might think this is crazy, but some of the bigger theme parks in the States are not located in the biggest cities.

Those rumours have been floating around for at least 20 years, much to the amusement of the park's management probably. Not happening, never was. Wonderland gets more visitors than any of those American parks, at least the seasonal ones. That's a direct result of it not being in the middle of nowhere like those other parks. Wonderland's location is a goldmine.

Just think about the logistics of moving a theme park the size of Wonderland. The three roller coasters they've built since Cedar Fair took over cost a combined US$79 million (more if you account for inflation). All three are designed around the specific layout and topography of the park and are significant investments into not just the rides themselves, but their locations too. Removing those rides and rebuilding them somewhere else would probably be as expensive as they were to build in the first place.

[technomad]

Originally Posted by Acajack

I remember stumbling upon one of those Electric Circus shows from Wonderland, and thinking that many kids watching from (often remote) other parts of Canada were probably wishing they lived in Toronto.

Indeed.. So unfortunate nothing like that or better could ever occur outside your Laurentian confines

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[Doady]

It's interesting seeing the objections to "city-specific shit" about Toronto here, but a thread about Quebec City is okay. Even in the global City Discussions forum you can see threads for Detroit and Oakland with no complaints, yet somehow Toronto must be limited to the Toronto section. I will definitely try to keep that in mind with any future threads or posts that I make on SSP. I did enjoy showing photos of the Toronto area to a more global audience so I will probably go back to SCC to continue doing that.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by technomad

Indeed.. So unfortunate nothing like that or better could ever occur outside your Laurentian confines

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LOL at the GTA as "Laurentian"! But sure, I suppose according to certain political axe-grinders, it fits perfectly.

BTW I still think that to teenagers specifically the unique mix of a huge dance party amidst theme park rides is probably hard to beat.

Finally. I am sure many here will be amused at the notion of Acajack as a shameless Toronto-centrist....

[Tg11]

I mean yeah sure Wonderland is always busy year after year but after this pandemic, major financial hits to the park too like it makes me wonder what comes next

[niwell]

What a bizarre flex!

But yeah, can confirm that lots of kids in Western Canada wanted to be in Toronto back when MuchMusic was the epitome of cool. I wasn't aware they'd done Electric Circus at Wonderland but that show wasn't really my jam anyways. I have vivid memories of seeing crowds on Queen when bands I was into were interviewed / performed in studio.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by niwell

What a bizarre flex!

But yeah, can confirm that lots of kids in Western Canada wanted to be in Toronto back when MuchMusic was the epitome of cool. I wasn't aware they'd done Electric Circus at Wonderland but that show wasn't really my jam anyways. I have vivid memories of seeing crowds on Queen when bands I was into were interviewed / performed in studio.

Yes I remember that as well!

I have to say that when I wrote that post above, it was more places like Kapuskasing, ON or Thompson, MB that I had in mind...

[esquire]

^ Confirmed that MuchMusic was a big deal in the 80s and 90s. When I was a teenager it was routine for friends on trips to Toronto to take pictures outside of the MuchMusic HQ. They'd use that phone booth mounted there to do rants for TV or whatever the hell it was. Today's teenagers would not recognize that building.

[MolsonExport]

Quebec had the french version (Musique Plus), and you could watch some of the videotaping live from glass-walled studios on Rue Ste. Catherine (Montreal) back in the eighties.

"Laurentian confines"? What a weird post. par for the course. somebody must have temporarily run out of guns to play with.

[thewave46]

Originally Posted by Tg11

I mean yeah sure Wonderland is always busy year after year but after this pandemic, major financial hits to the park too like it makes me wonder what comes next

It's a hugely popular and profitable theme park located in the centre of the population mass of the largest province in the country. Almost all of the province's population lives within a day trip's drive.

The land is valuable, but not so valuable as to make ripping down something that's got several hundred million dollars worth of capital invested worth it. It's not the core of the city.

It's not going anywhere. Just like airlines aren't going anywhere, despite the financial hit they're taken.

[MolsonExport]

i think it is easy to envision that CWL could move someday. The land must be worth many billions of dollars. At some point, the cost-benefit analysis would reveal a business case to be made for relocation, despite the short term decline in traffic (on the other hand, they could (eventually) build something really world-class if they retain a land bank for expansion, like Disney (in Florida) did. Maybe London. Maybe Wootstock. Maybe Brantfart?

A lakeside location would be sweet. Lake Erie or Huron.

If they can do it at Cedar Point (essentially the same climate zone, on Lake Erie, in the no-growth state of Ohio), they can do it here.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by esquire

^ Confirmed that MuchMusic was a big deal in the 80s and 90s. When I was a teenager it was routine for friends on trips to Toronto to take pictures outside of the MuchMusic HQ. They'd use that phone booth mounted there to do rants for TV or whatever the hell it was. Today's teenagers would not recognize that building.

That's fine, it's a relic of a bygone era like anything else, when TV was very uniform with limited options of culture being passed through one or two streams. Teens today have more outlets for information, culture, and entertainment and they're better off for it, even if it means less of an overall shared experience.