Guardian Is Open!

 Wow... time flies when you are busy!  I have been tied up with wedding plans ... and then the actual wedding itself.... and of course Guardian did not open at the beginning of the season, when I had time to go, but I finally had time to go today, and here is my review:

First, the line stretched out of the mountain, towards the waterfalls.  A little informal, but someone was standing at the end of the queue with a sign indicating where the end of the line is.  Once inside the mountain, the queue is very short.  Surprised me.  If it was a mountain only queue, it would be 10 minutes.  The queue inside the mountain kept up with the outside facade, complete with the faux-rock interior.

Staff assign you your seating - so there is no lining up for your favourite row.  Once you are seated and secured in your rather comfy seats, you are off - dispatches are quick on these two car (4 seats per car) trains. You immediately make a right turn out of the mountain and are up the lift hill.

At the top of the hill, you make a swooping, curving drop to the right, and pick up some considerable speed. You then enter the mountain, slow down, and the cars turn sideways.  This is where the show starts.  You begin the first of five scenes (or layers, as they call it) as you slowly descend along the course.  The slow descent along with the 3D visuals (yes, you are wearing glasses) gives you the impression that you are actually descending to the ground level.  Along the way you battle various creatures with your built-in gun.  As for the gun, it responds very well when you shoot - this is no Boo Blasters - and you feel the shots as well as see them on the video screens.  As for the content of the video - I was having too much fun to notice the storyline, so multiple re-rides are in order (and, if you are a member of the American Coaster Enthusiasts, or a guest of mine, you will have such an opportunity when we hold our event there this September).  All of a sudden, I found myself at the final scene, where we were battling it out with the dragon.  All hell was breaking loose in front of us on the screen, when, suddenly, all hell broke loose under us, and the surprise element on the ride hit us.

The track suddenly dropped 10 metres.  Yes, that is right.  It caught everyone by surprise (except me, of course - but I was still thrilled).

Once we caught our senses, the train coasted to the station.  Along the way, we passed by a scoreboard which had our photos and our scores under them.  I picked up over 14,000 points.  Then it was into the station, and off the ride.

My verdict :  LOVE IT!  This ride was so unique... so ...fun! There was never a dull moment.  It combined two of my favourite things at an amusement park - a roller coaster and a dark ride.  My only criticism was that I did feel the ride could have been a little longer.  But still, if you can get to Canada's Wonderland, this ride is worth the trip!

Its been a while....

Man, where has the time gone?

Looking at this blog, it has been about a year and a half since I have written anything here.  Life has been busy, and time for things like this has been short.

Also, it is not like there has been new gargantuan coasters like Leviathan being built in my backyard lately.

So... what have I been up to (within the topic of this blog)?

Well, I continue to travel with the American Coaster Enthusiasts  (ACE) to events big and small, from local events at parks like Canada's Wonderland... to large events like Coaster Con.  Last year it was at Dollywood and Carowinds.  This year, it was at Six Flags New England, Canobie Lake Park, Palace Playland, and Funtown/Splashtown USA.   I cannot stress enough how much fun Coaster Con is - it is the one event i make sure I always go to.

I also took on a volunteer position with ACE - as an assistant regional rep for Canada.  We do have a little Facebook page that we have just resurrected for the American Coaster Enthusiasts - Canada Region . Go on over there and "like" it if you can.  We will be updating it with event photos, as well as with photos from parks from our region.

What is up for this page?  Well, I do hope to update it more frequently as time allows.  Canada's Wonderland is building a new coaster / dark ride experience called Wonder Mountain's Guardian .  Hopefully I will be able to cover that new attraction.

Until next time... ride on!

Leviathan Opens!

Well.. the day has come... Leviathan opened today!  And i was lucky enough to be there before the park opened, first as a guest during the First To Ride event, and then stayed through the Media Day event.

I arrived at 12:15 this afternoon and was greeted by an empty entry plaza.... and this sight (as always, click on the photo for a larger view) :

I had some time to kill, so I walked around and took a few shots.... the first one you can see a train with the water dummies on it, stopped on the lift hill.

 

This next shot shows my favourite element... the short high speed hill.  Absolutely awesome.

More shots from the walkaround:

Dragon Fire's loops look so tiny under Leviathan:

The tunnel is not in place at the bottom of the hill yet, but the footers for it are there:

Finally, it was time to go in.  First thing that greeted me was a dinosaur:

Then I heard the distinctive B&M roar and I turned to see Leviathan testing:

We were sequestered at the Marketplace restaurant for a while, then it was time to go to the ride.

 

 After some speeches, it was time to ride.  First To Ride bidders went first.  Here is my buddy Jordan before his first ride:

Here is the first train to go out......

And then the second one.....

 

 After First Rides were done, the guests were allowed to ride.  I got two rides in before our meal, and seven more after.  My verdict?  It is an awesome ride.  You get lifted out of your seat down the whole drop.  The overbanked turn is fun.  I LOVE the short speed hill.  Airtime on the larger hills too.  The front gate turnaround - magnificent!  The whole ride kicks ass.

Here is Jordan and Ken (who gave me his guest pass... thanks!)

When I was at lunch, I saw that even Charlie Brown was hungry......

After the lunch... which was REALLY good.. I joined the media and rode to my heart's content:

Here is Ruth and Mike, my ACE (American Coaster Enthusiasts) regional reps:

After the media event, we walked over to Behemoth to give it some love, but not before catching this view of Leviathan over the front gate :

The pathways were empty.....

Sledgehammer was partially disassembled.....

Behemoth did not dissapoint.....

 

We walked around the park after and rode everything in site.  No lines today.  Except for Leviathan, but even then it looked managable.... because it was cold today.   Took some more pictures.....

Then I decided it was time to go.  Not to worry... i will be back often to ride Leviathan!

As a treat... here is a video I shot before leaving..... enjoy!