Hey everyone! So here it is, a wrap-up of Leviamania 2012. First, I'd like to say THANK YOU to Jeff, Dan, Dineen and everyone else at Canada's Wonderland for making yesterday such a HUGE success. And thank you to all you CWManiacs for coming out and supporting us! We can't wait to do it again!
Now, on to the report!
The full set of pictures can be found here:
http://www.cwmania.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=266
Welcome CWMania to Leviamania 2012!
We started the morning off by heading up to the top of Wonder Mountain. We used the stairs located in the mountain, right by Thunder Run's station.
We're "Authorized Personnel" today!
The view of the park is just amazing up here. Leviathan is just as impressive up here as it is down low.
Leviathan's station, lift and final brake run.
Early morning testing was well under way. Do you see the maintenance worker in this picture?
As promised, here's that spot on the mountain where the control booth for the Eruption was located. This "patched" area is the spot where Paramount cut out the "pool" of the top waterfall. Wonderland fixed it up after being purchased by Cedar Fair.
Time to head back down so we can go ride Leviathan!
Our first group-shot of the day. What a great looking group
With the pictures taken, it was time to RIDE. Here's the first row of the first train of the day.
Yep, they LOVE Leviathan!
A little lube always helps when it's cold out!
This group thought they'd drop in for some Drop Tower ERT.
And we all gave Wild Beast some ERT love too.
We surprised the group with being on the first WindSeeker ride of the day. The Hill's seemed to be pretty happy about it.
Up next was the continental breakfast and Management Q&A. Norm was amazing - he gave some great answers to great questions. Here's a few of the highlights:
Leviathan's tunnel is an evolving creature of its own. There's more to come. It's not done yet.
Sledgehammer was only up for about 4 days this season. It's back down for extensive maintenance. The centre rod is damaged and needs to be removed. They hope to have it back up and running by the end of June.
The original name/theme pitch for Behemoth was Leviathan (lots of hills right by the water - looks just like a sea monster). The COO at the time wasn't a fan of the idea. So we ended up with Behemoth. Fast forward to the B&M Giga coaster we just received. The park pitched Leviathan again (to the new management team) and they loved it. Now it just seems a bit odd, maybe we should have switched the names/themes around. So to compensate, we got an amazing entry plaza with that beautiful fountain!
Norm was also asked if other manufacturers were considered for a Giga coaster. He promptly responded that there's only one company he could think of for a steel coaster, B&M.
Back Lot Stunt Coaster is having work done on the LIMs. Until they've all be recoiled, they will have to continue to run trains with only 8 people (leaving the back 4 seats empty).
The original plan for Top Gun (now Flight Deck) was a B&M inverted. We were REALLY close to signing a deal UNTIL... B&M contacted Wonderland and advised them they had signed an exclusivity deal with Cedar Point. No other park within a 200 mile radius (as the crow flies) of Cedar Point could build a B&M Invert. Canada's Wonderland is at the 198 mile mark. We were only 2 MILES away from getting a B&M invert!!!!
So we ended up with the Vekoma SLC model instead.
Norm was a part of the development team for WindSeeker. Wonderland has such a great relationship with Mondial that Cedar Fair took note. He along with other Cedar Fair executives went to Europe and worked with Mondial to create WindSeeker. So WE were first.
The park hasn't hammered down the exact number of Fast Lane wristbands that will be available. They're selling well. They're still working on finding that perfect balance of Fast Lane riders versus non-Fast Lane.
Dinosaurs Alive cost approximately 5-6 million dollars to install. The dinosaurs were out all winter long and are able to stay out all year 'round. They are similar to the dinosaurs at the Calgary Zoo that go through much harsher winters than us.
Jet Scream did not end up in Venezuela. The original purchasers of the ride have put it back up for sale.
If I or anyone else remembers more details from Q&A, please feel free to post the info here!
After breakfast and chatting with Management, we decided to go check out Dinosaurs Alive. This one was was a bit thirsty.
Is this sign referring to the gray shirt to the left or the dinosaur on the hill?
There are A LOT of dinosaurs. They look and sound great along with lots of movement. There are even interactive dinosaurs that you can make move!
Just diggin' for bones. The kids LOVE this area.
After checking out the dinosaurs, we walked back over to Leviathan for our walk-back tour. We started under Leviathan's station.
Gate opens, gate closes. This mechanism is what opens and closes the gates so you can get your ride on Leviathan.
Leviathan's electrical room. This is the "brain" of the entire ride.
Where have I seen these plans before???
Next we headed over to Dragon Fire to get pictures under Leviathan's first drop. Quick! Everyone get your cameras out, here comes the train!
STEEP drop ahead.
Love this shot of the corkscrews on Dragon Fire.
Time for another surprise, walk-back to Wild Beast's inner field. GROUP SHOT!
Oh ya, they're all jealous of us
Next up was lunch. Love a good old cook-out! After filling our bellies, we played a round of CWMania Bingo. We had some awesome prizes. Thanks to Peter and the rest of the Management gang for providing some unique coaster-part prizes.
Aldo (aka jetscreamlover) was presented with the TSSA placard from Jet Scream. THANK YOU PETER for this amazing gift!
And thank you Dineen for working with us to set up this amazing event. Everyone signed this as we registered in the morning. I'll be looking for it the next time we stop by your office Dineen!
After a lot of free time in the park, we met at the Backlot Cafe once again for coffee and cake. Dineen was able to find some books and binders with LOTS of historical items. I think we even found a picture of Norm from the early 80s! We hope to get more coverage of those materials soon.
After getting our sugar, cafeine and history fix, it was time for evening ERT! We had a great time on Behemoth.
Behemoth was riding really well. LOTS of airtime and LOTS of happy riders.
The park surprised us with this logo on the yellow Behemoth train. They like us, they really, really like us!
And for the final surprise of the night... How about Back Lot Stunt Coaster with the tunnel lights ON. What a great way to end a great day!
I hope everyone that attended had an amazing time. And I hope those that weren't able to attend will be able to join us for one of our future events. Thank you again to EVERYONE involved.
by chadta » May 28, 2012 3:59 pm 
...looks and sounds like it was a fantastic event.
. 
. This was also the first time that I noticed the vibrations everyone keeps talking about, and TBH I found that they were only noticable at the bottom of the first drop, and didn't take away from the ride experience at all. 
