Cedar Fair announces 4D dark ride, Wonder Mountain's Guardian, for Canada's Wonderland

August 30, 2013, 11:10 PM · Canada's Wonderland just announced today they are building a new dark ride inside the park's iconic Wonder Mountain, called Wonder Mountain's Guardian, due to open May 2014. This will be the first dark ride Cedar Fair has ever attempted. It is going to be a 4D interactive dark ride, on a coaster track.

Wonder Mountain's Guardian

Here is a video from the announcement that goes into more detail.

It sounds like they are attempting a cross between Spiderman/Transformers, Toy Story Mania, Expedition Everest, and Disney's vision for the Beastly Kingdom dragon coaster that (sorta) never happened. Sounds awesome in theory, if they pull it off. Cedar Fair has no experience in dark rides, so its hard to predict how it will turn out.

TRIOTECH, the Montreal-based company creating the ride doesn't seem to have too much experience with major, well-known theme parks. Their CEO says this will beat anything Disney or Universal has. It is hard to believe that, especially when the budget for the ride is rumored to only be 10 million dollars. It will have the longest interactive screen ever built for a ride, so that's saying something.

I grew up in Toronto and went to Canada's Wonderland all the time. I would love nothing more than for this ride to be as awesome and state of the art as its being hyped to be. Only time will tell. But Summer 2014 is shaping out to be a great summer for North American theme parks. I can't wait to check out this ride.

What are your thoughts on Wonder Mountain's Guardian?

Update: In more Cedar Fair news, Worlds of Fun, outside Kansas City, announced a new tower swing ride for next year, SteelHawk. This is widely expected to be the Windseeker ride relocated from California's Knott's Berry Farm.

Replies (7)

August 30, 2013 at 11:26 PM · The concept art on Canada's Wonderland's website shows riders shooting at the dragon on the ride. So this is a Spider-Man meets Men in Black ride?!?

Seriously?

Book me a trip to Toronto, stat!

August 31, 2013 at 9:02 PM · I wonder where the entrance will be. I've been to the park several times over the years as I live in the Niagara region, which isn't that far away from Vaughan where the park is at.
August 31, 2013 at 11:02 PM · Looks cool! Triotech looks like it's basically doing Toy Story Mania with PS2 graphics and gameplay. Which could be a great ride if it's done with great atmosphere and story. Hope this isn't an Antarctica Empire of the Penguin letdown.
September 1, 2013 at 5:03 AM · While I do not think Cedar Fair's new dark ride will compare favorably to anything Disney or Universal would accomplish (why in the world would marketing folks even invite such comparison????), I applaud the attempt and look forward to seeing other installations of this type at Cedar Fair parks closer to me (like Worlds of Fun - SteelHawk? Seriously? What a joke!).
September 1, 2013 at 9:38 AM · Maybe the money allotted for Carowinds will go to something more unique and family friendly like this.... than to yet another coaster or water park attraction. The park is nothing but coasters on one side and bathing suit attractions on the other. They need to fix that. Carowinds needs to become more than a teenagers play place. It's why I quit going to my local park. Maybe with this out of the box thinking at Cananda's Wonderland there might be some hope for the future.
September 1, 2013 at 5:42 PM · The dragon in the logo implies they are rethemeing Thunder Run. There's already a dragon inside the mountain.
September 1, 2013 at 9:46 PM · A 4D interactive dark ride similar to this has been done before, but by a different manufacturer: Alterface. The ride is called "Huntik" at Rainbow Magicland near Rome.

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