USA/Canada Trip Report (CP, CW and La Ronde)

[DJKostya]

So I have just returned from a quick coaster trip to the USA and Canada. Overall the trip was great and I very much did not want to come home.

 

Cedar Point (6 days)

OK 6 days seems like a long time but when I last visited 10 years ago we waited 2-3 hours to get on everything and over 4 days we rode everything once and got some double rides on MF and TTD so my planning was with this in mind.

Getting there however was a different story. It was dead. The longest queues were for Valravn and Maverick and even they were only 30 minutes. Raptor also got some big queues if Valravn went down.

So a quick breakdown of the big Coasters:

Millennium Force

Still number 1 in my book. Over 6 days I rode this 50 times. Yes I counted  the highlight was definitely front seat in the dark (Bugs taste like chicken).

Valravn

Was OK but I think that SheiKra was better.

TTD

Starting to get a bit rough but still awesome. I was also lucky enough to get a roll back

Raptor

This was way better than the last time. They are no longer trimming speed at the block breaks and are letting it run at full speed which was awesome!

Rougarou

This was better when it was Mantis and standup. The ride has become incredibly rough and was disappointing.

Maverick

This was my first time riding Maverick as it was under construction last time I was there. This was AMAZING! Both launches were amazing!

Mean Streak

I rode this once the whole time I was there. There is a damn good reason they are closing it at the end of the season. I offered to personally burn this pile of crap to the ground whilst I was there.

Gatekeeper

Another new one for me. Overall it was OK but not fantastic. TBH I think that this would be better if it was faster.

The new park app was great for seeing how long ride queues were and I highly recommend it. There is also park wide free wifi. The park was spotless. As for food avoid Panda Express near MF. I ate there and got sick. Talking to people around the park that is pretty common.

 

Canada's Wonderland (1 day)

I had initially intended to spend 2 days here but I was very very disappointed with this park. It was a bit like going down memory lane what with Wonderland having some of the same rides. 2 out and back hyper coasters by the same manufacturer in the same park. Not sure about that thinking! Generally most of the rides were incredibly rough including Leviathan.

So a quick breakdown of the big Coasters:

Leviathan

Was a pretty good coaster but was quite rough.

Vortex

Was an amazing suspended coaster, fast and lots of turns. Definitely a highlight.

Behemoth

Was incredibly rough but some great air time on some of the hills.

Thunder Run (VR Experience)

The park was offering free VR rides on this to season pass holders. It was amazing. The story that you saw (Dwarfs in a mountain mine being chased by intruders and then being rescued by dragons) was also pretty good.

Wonder Mountain's Guardian

This was pretty good however it was difficult to see where you were actually shooting.

Backlot Stunt Coaster

This was fantastic and was actually pretty smooth (Which was rare in this park).

Flight Deck

Hands down the WORST SLC I have ever been on. I have never ridden one as rough as this one.

Mighty Canadian Mountain Buster

This was also surprisingly smooth and had some great air time.

Time Warp

Never again would I ride a Zamperla flying coaster. There is no way of stopping your head bouncing around between the headrest.

Wild Beast

Hello Bush Beast! This was incredibly rough but did bring back memories.

Ghoster Coaster

This brought back a lot of memories. The Beastie was the first roller coaster I ever went on. Seeing as I can't ride that anymore this was a great trip down memory lane.

Overall the park is nice but it just seems really disjointed and lacks some punch in the coaster department (Which is odd seeing as they have so many coasters).

 

La Ronde (1 day)

Whoever said I was going to be disappointed by this park (Sorry can't remember who it was) you were right. This park is terrible. When I arrived there were signs out the front advising that 9 rides were out for the day. That's nearly 20% of the park. The grounds are not maintained (I had to brush cobwebs off myself on several occasions). It's difficult to get around the park and all of the rides are in some serious need of some TLC. I know that rust can in some situations is OK but seriously the Boomerang looks like it should be condemned.

So a quick breakdown of the big Coasters:

Le Vampire

Was running backwards which was awesome. It's stuck out in a part of the park that management seems to have forgotten.

Cobra

Was closed and looks pretty derelict.

Dragon

Also closed.

Endor

A typical SLC. Rough as guts (But not as bad as Flight Deck, not by a long shot).

Goliath

This was the only good thing in the whole park. Lots of air time hills and good speed.

Le Monstre

OK little rant about this one. So it has 2 tracks, both different. Fast Pass users can only access 1 side of the track. On the day I visited Side A only had one train running. Side B has 2 trains running. I'll let you guess which one the fast pass users got (Hint: it was not Side B). I waited over and hour to get on Side A. Easily this was the longest wait of the day. Each train takes 16 people and they were letting 12 fast pass users onto each train.

As for the rides both tracks were great with lots of speed and some decent headchoppers. Surprisingly this wasn't as rough as I expected it to be.

Super Manage

Was also closed.

 

So that was my quick trip to the USA/Canada. Overall it was a great trip (I of course did other non-coaster things). I would definitely go back to Cedar Point. Canada's Wonderland was OK but disappointing. La Ronde can go die in a ditch for all I care.

[Santa07]

6 days at CP is crazy... might have been better driving for a few hours to get Kings Island done too, but sounds like you had a great time.

[DJKostya]

I would have loved to have done King's Island but it was closed while I was there

[mickey_079]

Sorry if I sound rude, but why did you spend so long at Cedar Point?

You could have done so much, visit Detroit, visit Cleveland, drive to Niagara Falls on your way to Toronto, spend some extra time in Toronto. Would of had heaps of time to drive or fly to Chicago as well. Without all the info you could have possibly done those things though.

Leviathan is amazing in my opinion, and not rough at all. Wonderland is great for a Canadian park, I mean just look at what they have. PNE Playland (exception of the woodie), it is very lack luster. My old local park, Calaway Park in Calgary is just a joke. Galaxyland in West Edmonton Mall definitely has a cool factor but it generally doesn't feel safe, especially riding Mindbender backwards! I can't comment on La Ronde as I never got the chance to visit. As for the other small parks, they are just small and child friendly parks (like Calaway). Wonderland IMO is a great park and considering Canada shares a similar population with us it is definitely a step above what our parks are currently offering.

However it is great to see more people on these forums having the ability to get out there and visit more parks!

[DJKostya]

11 minutes ago, mickey_079 said:

You could have done so much, visit Detroit, visit Cleveland, drive to Niagara Falls on your way to Toronto, spend some extra time in Toronto. Would of had heaps of time to drive or fly to Chicago as well. Without all the info you could have possibly done those things though.

Not rude at all, a valid comment. As I said at the bottom I did do other things and not just theme parks

While I did spend 6 days at Cedar Point I didn't spend all day there either. Most of the time it was too hot to be there in the afternoons so I would head in around 4pm and leave when they closed at 10pm so filled the day with other things in the area.

In regards to your suggestions I did all of the things you mentioned except visit Chicago . All up I was overseas for 28 days and I only spent 8 days at theme parks.

15 minutes ago, mickey_079 said:

Leviathan is amazing in my opinion, and not rough at all. Wonderland is great for a Canadian park, I mean just look at what they have. PNE Playland (exception of the woodie), it is very lack luster. My old local park, Calaway Park in Calgary is just a joke. Galaxyland in West Edmonton Mall definitely has a cool factor but it generally doesn't feel safe, especially riding Mindbender backwards! I can't comment on La Ronde as I never got the chance to visit. As for the other small parks, they are just small and child friendly parks (like Calaway). Wonderland IMO is a great park and considering Canada shares a similar population with us it is definitely a step above what our parks are currently offering.

I agree the park is great don't get me wrong but it just didn't wow me as I was expecting. Had the coasters not been so rough (Maybe it was coming from Cedar Point I'm not sure) I probably would have enjoyed it more. Leviathan was good and I rode it several times but I was just surprised by how rough it was, I know it's not quite comparing apples with apples but Millennium Force by comparison was a much much smoother ride and it's 12 years older.

[downunder]

Nice report, I spent 5.5 days at Cedar Point the first time I visited, though that was before fast passes. I just loved the location, cruised Lake Erie and generally chilled as well. Glad you got heaps of rides in.

La Wronge is just such a bad park, lovely location, a few good coasters, but they operate their rides with absolute contempt for customers. With a gold flash pass we still had to queue for 45 mins for that crap SLC.

I hear you on Vortex at CW, at night, that was one of the most amazing experiences, like someone pushed the fast forward button. The trains were still swinging from side to side in the brake run when I rode it.

 

[Gazza]

Curious with Cedar Point whether additional days of accommodation and car hire worked out more expensive than staying for fewer days, but using fastlane/fastlane plus on those days?

 

[DJKostya]

11 hours ago, Gazza said:

Curious with Cedar Point whether additional days of accommodation and car hire worked out more expensive than staying for fewer days, but using fastlane/fastlane plus on those days?

 

Accommodation was pretty cheap (I didn't stay on the point). I stayed at Camp Sandusky which only cost about $40 a night. I didn't hire a car I used one of the local taxi services. It cost me $20 a day to go to and from the point.

There was no point to buying a fast pass for the time I was there although I did consider it when I was planning. As I said previously most of the rides were walk on (I will post a picture of the Millennium Force station when I get home, they were letting people stay on and re-ride it was that quiet).

Originally I had intended to spend some time at King's Island but it was closed when I was able to go (They were down to reduced hours on weekends only) which meant I decided to spend more time in Sandusky.

For those interested I did a heap of other things in Sandusky aside from Cedar Point including:

- Merry-Go-Round Museum

- Thrill Centre

- Some local wineries

- Maritime Museum

- Skateworld (I officiate Roller Derby which was the main point of this trip so it was nice to get some practice)

- Kalahari Water Park

- Paragliding

- Fishing on Lake Erie