Wonderland Halloween Haunt 2014

[staax]

I'm taking my Mazda there and its in Vaughan so its somewhat TM3 related, right?

Anyway tomorrow at 2pm I'm departing from Ottawa to Wonder land (4.5 hr drive) with my girlfriend who's been dying to go. We'll also be returning the same night... or should I say morning since I refuse to spent money on a hotel (saving for a house).

Has anyone been this year and can give me your honest review?

I have to admit... all these reviews on Google and TripAdvisor make me regret my decision to go since all are negative and state that the lines are rediculous , staff are rude, no refunds whatsoever, and parking is a nightmare to leave. I am being honest when I say I have not read 1 positive review about CW this year.

Thanks!

[Slade]

I have been once , 2 years ago.

-It was a bit chilly.
-The parking was a non issue.
-Lines? We stayed on Behemoth for 3 straight runs, as their was no lineups.

The staff didn't really seem rude.

Thats a tonne of driving in one day though, the stretch back from Cobourg-Kingston/Napanne is going to be a killer after a long day/nite.

[jab]

The last time I went was probably 4 or 5 years ago and I'm not going to lie it was pretty bad. It is a lot of drunk underage kids running around the park. It is exactly like a normal day would be with huge lines up and waits for everything, except at night. There are some decent attractions for the halloween theme but there are also a few lame ones which were poorly put together. I think it is just an excuse to have the park open to make money at this time.

[danacosta24]

I went last year and it was none of the above. Parking was fine, lines weren't crazy but you had to wait a bit, staff was fine. Just bundle up a bit and its a good time!

[staax]

Perhaps there is hope for a good time haha.

But yes lots of driving. Approx 1000 kms of driving (if you include my morning errands) in one day.

Let's hope the Mazda is up for the task!

I debated taking my Dakota which has a topper and air mattress that fits in the bed in case I got sleepy but that thing costs $100 to kill and gets max 425 kms on the highway Lol. This is why I love my Mazda.

[staax]

Oops double post - delete please!

Perhaps there is hope for a good time haha.

But yes lots of driving. Approx 1000 kms of driving (if you include my morning errands) in one day.

Let's hope the Mazda is up for the task!

I debated taking my Dakota which has a topper and air mattress that fits in the bed in case I got sleepy but that thing costs $100 to kill and gets max 425 kms on the highway Lol. This is why I love my Mazda

[soccerboy1491]

You should have fun. Lines will mostly be for the mazes that will be long and such. Rides probabaly won't be long since everyone wants to get scared in the mazes lol. Cell service sucks tho from what I remember just due to the amount of people there. Lots of monsters and creatures roaming the park so if your gf gets scared easily it should be great.
As a tip the mazes that offer 3d glasses def get them! The mazes are 100% better lol

[asyed]

As someone who has never went but has seen the chaos... The lineup coming and going out of the parking lot is long... I'm not sure if this was on last weekend but if it was both Rutherford and major Mackenzie exits on the 400 north (as well as the access road that runs parallel to the 400) had huge backups... I'd advise on going early...

[fruitloops]

As someone who has never went but has seen the chaos... The lineup coming and going out of the parking lot is long... I'm not sure if this was on last weekend but if it was both Rutherford and major Mackenzie exits on the 400 north (as well as the access road that runs parallel to the 400) had huge backups... I'd advise on going early...
K thanks, I'll go early this time.


Nice avatar
~ loki

[Neo]

People are never satisfied.

I use to go to the haunted farm up here in stouffvile. Unfortunately they closed it down. Bar none the best place to go for Halloween. Sadly it was growing too fast and there wasn't enough cash in it for them to continue. That and I can only imagine the damage that was done for basically 2-3 days of activity. It is an actual working farm.

So a friend of mine at work suggested we go to wonderland. Didn't think she was into the horror scene. I was kinda right. She wanted to go on the rides. I wanted to experience the horror side. It was perfect. This was 2yrs ago.
Guys, for those who are kinda getting to know each other with their girls, no better time than Halloween at wonderland.
I haven't been to wonderland since I was a teenager. That was the last time I was willing to wait in line for a 25-30 sec ride.
Parking? Not an issue since I know a "secret" entrance. We purchased tickets online so we by passed all the lines. It was like going to the mall on a work day. Place was busy but no where near as busy as a weekend. We got there by about 8pmish
Wait in line? Not on Halloween nite. The longest we waited for a ride was 2min??? If that. Perfect weather for October on Halloween. It was about 9-12c and a little windy. It was scheduled to rain later in the night.
We went on almost all the rides and only missed out on 2 of the scary stuff they setup. It's located all throughout the park so there's a fair bit of walking.
I looked forward to the scary stuff since my friend held on tight as we went through the mazes. :)
By about 11 her heart couldn't take it anymore and we called it a nite. Right then it started to rain. It was the perfect night.
Perfect date night for new couples. ;)

[asyed]

K thanks, I'll go early this time.


Nice avatar
~ loki


'

not to go offtopic but really???? was that necessary???? :facepalm

[Hyperion]

Don't do the 4d ride. You'll waste 1.5 hours of your time lining up for the worst 2 minutes of your life.

[The Wolf]

I generally only do CW in October these days. Less crowded, an added dynamic of ghoulishness, it's a good time. I went this year on opening night and that was probably a mistake. It was the most crowded I've ever seen it, and it rained so a lot of the extra cool halloweeny stuff was shut down/less entertaining.

[Cab0oze]

This will be the first year not making the drive from Montreal or ottawa to go. I always have a ton of fun, Wonderlands Fearfest/halloween haunt etc is just plain awesome. If the weather isnt great it is even better because there are no lines anywhere!
best time i went was 3 years ago, not sure what was done different that year but the staff succeeded in scaring the shit out of me on multiple occasions. Probably because it really wasn[t busy (no lines for the haunted houses) but they also seemed extra enthusiastic.

[staax]

Well guys I'm back home now and I must admit that my final opinion of the trip was just O.K - but I certainly appreciate all your responses!

First off - drive there was good and I don't visit Toronto (Vaughan) often; last time I was there was maybe 5 years ago and boy I had no idea that going 120 km/h was considered slow for you guys! And the traffic was still quite heavy for a Saturday afternoon.

In terms of the actual park - it was jam packed. Because we had a 4.5 hour drive back home we arrived at 6:15 (in the park by 7:00) and left at 11:15 - I wanted to make sure to beat the traffic. We entered and found quite a few people in costumes but towards the back of the park we saw none - probably just because all the Halloween stuff was up front. We immediately did 2 mazes which weren't the easiest to find even with the map which was good - not really scary since we must've had a solid line of people infront and behind us at all times.

Next we decided we wanted to try the Leviathan (pants were shat) which we waited about 45 mins before. To my surprise, my girlfriend was actually more interested in the rides than the scary portion so we decided to do the Behemoth next... waited in line for 1hr 30 mins and had actually a few teenagers jump and cut the line which is a little frustrating to see but you gotta expect that everywhere. Time for one more not-so-scary maze and it was time to hit the road.

Smooth sailing all the way home, although I accidentally took the 407 so I'll expect the bill to arrive in the mail soon.

All in all, it was a fun experience but due to the amount of people compared to what you're paying... IMO not worth it. Atleast on a Saturday night where the weather was pretty good.

Appreciate all the feedback nonetheless!

[Reddie1337]

Well, apparently there was a stabbing there last night. Good thing you're ok.

http://m.thestar.com/#/article/news/crime/2014/10/26/one_dead_one_seriously_injured_after_stabbings_at_ canadas_wonderland.html

[SomeGuy]

Just came to post the same thing:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/canada/double-stabbing-at-canada-s-wonderland-leaves-1-dead-another-in-critical-condition-1.2071592

[Girds]

Wow my sister was there last night...

[Stathakos]

No thanks don't wanna get shanked

[staax]

Oh jeeze wow, no I didn't get stabbed. Just robbed by Wonderland a little but I'm good.

Can't imagine how bad it would've been to get out of there at that time.

[asyed]

given how crazy it is judging from the huge lineups just to get into wonderland.... im not suprised the stabbing happened....


my thoughts and prayers go out to the stabbing victims and their families.

[greyseason]

Don't go. Waste of $120

Long lines, too many people, not scary at all. Much more fun could be had going to the country and hitting up corn mazes and real haunted houses that a family will set up

[greyseason]

I went 2 weeks ago, first weekend it openes

[staax]

Thanks for posting after already wasting about $200 hahaha.

[greyseason]

Thanks for posting after already wasting about $200 hahaha.


Faaak, sorry buddy. was jsut on break and read the thread.

Did you have SOME fun? the girlfriend and I atleast got to go on the wooden coasters, which are our favourite

[staax]

Nah no worries. The few ones we did make it on were fun but not worth it IMO.

Wayyy too many people. Even those who bought that fast pass were complaining. We were chatting with a couple who bought them.

[SomeGuy]

WTF, who on earth would spend $120 to go to wonderland for a few hours? That's absurd. If it was that busy too, we have a lot of idiots out there.

[staax]

WTF, who on earth would spend $120 to go to wonderland for a few hours? That's absurd. If it was that busy too, we have a lot of idiots out there.

It's $35.99 per person +tax on a Saturday + $20.00 to park

If you don't have a wife/girlfriend I don't expect you to understand.

[asyed]

WTF, who on earth would spend $120 to go to wonderland for a few hours? That's absurd. If it was that busy too, we have a lot of idiots out there.

That's like Disney world admission territory there....

[SomeGuy]

It's $35.99 per person +tax on a Saturday + $20.00 to park

If you don't have a wife/girlfriend I don't expect you to understand.

I was basing it on greyseason's post saying a waste of $120 assuming that was just for him....$35.99 isn't so absurd.

[staax]

I was basing it on greyseason's post saying a waste of $120 assuming that was just for him....$35.99 isn't so absurd.

Ahh I see, because it turned out to be $106 for my girlfriend and I, that's what I thought you were referring to. Close enough to $120. Go ahead and add a bottle of coke, thats about $14 there right!? :chuckle

[Hyperion]

$49 ea at the gates plus $20 parking

[Cab0oze]

Don't go. Waste of $120

Long lines, too many people, not scary at all. Much more fun could be had going to the country and hitting up corn mazes and real haunted houses that a family will set up

Well if the lines are really that bad, yeah it wouldn't be much fun. Gotta pick a night that it's not busy and go to the haunted houses first before there is a line and the employees get tired of scaring people.