User blog:RCTFan2002/What If? Episode 3: What if Canada’s Wonderland was a Six Flags park?

(NOTE: This is all cross-posted from my blog on Theme Park Fanon Wiki. You can find this series on there as well under the same name)

(ALSO NOTE: This has absolutely nothing to do with the DFW version of “Six Flags Canada’s Wonderland”. This is all purely my own version and speculations of such a scenario and I do not intend to look like I’m copying any of BigSpinCoaster or Maddox121’s ideas)

Hey everyone, welcome back to my “What If?” series. Last week, I spoke about what would Six Flags Fiesta Texas look like if it was owned by Cedar Fair instead of Six Flags. Well, this week I will be taking an opposite approach - what if Canada’s Wonderland, a Cedar Fair park, be like if it was owned by Six Flags instead? Again, inspiration for this idea came somewhat from Theme Park Predictions’ video, “What if Carowinds was a Six Flags park?”, but I will still be using my own ideas for predictions instead of copying off the video. All and any similarities are purely coincidental.

It goes without saying that everything being said in this blog post is all fictional, based off of my own imagination and speculation as to what Canada’s Wonderland would look like as a Six Flags park.

Introduction
Canada’s Wonderland opened in Vaughan, Ontario in 1981 as the fourth and final theme park opened by Taft Broadcasting. Later on, the park was quickly sold to Kings Entertainment along with it’s sister parks and in 1992, all KECO parks were bought by Paramount Parks. As a result, Canada’s Wonderland was renamed “Paramount’s Canada’s Wonderland” and remained that way until 2006 when Paramount Parks went out of business and all their theme parks were sold to Cedar Fair as a result. The park went back it’s old name and has remained that way ever since. However, suppose something different happened - what if instead of Cedar Fair buying the park in 2006, it was Six Flags? What would the park look like today if it was known as “Six Flags Canada’s Wonderland”? Would we still see coasters like “Leviathan” or “Behemoth” there? Or would it just end up becoming another La Ronde? Find out here in this blog.

(NOTE: I know Six Flags was going through financial problems around this point and likely wouldn’t be buying any more parks at the time, but since this is an alternate universe scenario, we can just assume that their bankruptcy never happened in this timeline and they were able to buy the park w/out any problems)

Year-by-year predictions
Real life park additions will be typed like this; Six Flags predictions will be typed like this

2007 - Endless Summer on Ice Show; Massive park rehaul and rebranding, Looney Tunes and Thomas Town/Wiggles World Kids Areas: Just like in my last blog post when Cedar Fair bought Fiesta Texas and spent the first year giving the park a massive rehaul to fit CF park standards, I predict that Six Flags would do the exact same thing to Canada’s Wonderland and spend the year fixing it up to fit Six Flags park standards. This includes renaming and retheming a bunch of the park’s coasters and attractions to more “Six Flags”-style names. The park’s boomerang coaster “The Bat” would become “Flashback”, “Top Gun”, the park’s SLC, would obviously become “Batman: The Ride” (like the one at Six Flags Mexico), and I could totally see “Tomb Raider: The Ride” (now “Time Warp”) becoming “Superman: Ultimate Flight”. Both coasters would be repainted obviously to fit their new themes, and the area could unofficially become the park’s new “DC Universe” area - a subsection of Action Zone and World Exposition of 1890 respectively. The “Medieval Faire” area would mostly remain the same, but with some slightly lighter area theming and a new name such as “Nottingham Village” (yes, Six Flags Astroworld reference XD). Also this year I think Six Flags would try to rebrand and rename the park’s kiddie areas as well, converting the “Hanna-Barbera Land” and “Nickelodeon Central” areas into one huge “Looney Tunes”-themed area. In that case, I could totally see “Ghoster Coaster” becoming “Roadrunner Express” instead. In the case of the “Kidzville” area however, I think instead of converting it into another part of the “Looney Tunes” area, it could get a new theme entirely since most Six Flags parks usually have 2 or even 3 kids area to them. Since Six Flags was opening Wiggles and Thomas the Tank Engine-themed areas in some of their parks around this time, I predict that Six Flags could definitely convert “Kidzville” into either a Wiggles World or Thomas the Tank Engine-themed kids area, making it the very first international one of its kind in the Six Flags chain.

2008 - Behemoth opens; Waterpark Rebranding, Park Improvements: Another copy off of my last blog post, I predict that this year Six Flags will do “phase 2” of their park rehaul by focusing almost entirely on the waterpark this season and converting it into “Hurricane Harbor”. Some of the water slides and attractions will be renamed/rethemed to fit the “Hurricane Harbor” theme more, and I could see a possible new kids area to replace the “Splash Island” kiddie pool, since it seems really dinky, especially for something in a Six Flags waterpark. I can see it being replaced with a new “Hook’s Lagoon” play area. Also, I think Six Flags would put the finishing touches on their overall park rehaul by adding some minor park improvements to the theme park itself, such as new paint on the buildings and stuff.

2009 - No major capital; Gerstlauer Spinning Coaster: Now that Six Flags has finally brought Canada’s Wonderland up to typical SF-park standards, I predict that in true Six Flags fashion they will start right away with a new coaster addition (plus this makes up for the lack of “Behemoth” in this scenario). However, since at the time the CEO for Six Flags was Mark Shapiro, and he didn’t want to spend 15+ million dollars on another new coaster for a Six Flags park, I predict that, based on the type of coasters that SF was adding to their parks at the time, Canada’s Wonderland would’ve gotten either a Gerstlauer spinning coaster or a GCI wooden coaster. Since Canada’s Wonderland already has three woodies to it’s name, I’m gonna go with the Gerstlauer spinning coaster for 2009. This would be a good attraction for the park because it would appeal to both families and thrill seekers alike with it’s low, twisting layout and, well, spinning ride experience. The new coaster would also bring guests away from Galaxyland in Alberta (which also has a spinning coaster) because now theme parks enthusiasts would no longer have to drive all the way across the country to Alberta to ride a spinning coaster when they could just easily go to Canada’s Wonderland several provinces over. It would be located in the patch of land right between the entrance to the Looney Tunes kids area and “Flashback” (“The Bat”), This spot is big enough for a compact coaster like the Gerstlauer spinning coaster, and also entice families into the nearby kids area as well. However, since this area also features a lake with a Swan Boats attraction in it, that would mean that the lake would have to be filled in for the ride to be built over it, but if Six Flags somehow kept a part of the lake so the coaster could have its massive turn at the end over it, that would give riders some epic views of the water beneath them and provide an even more awesome ride experience.

2010 - Planet Snoopy; Terminator X: Battle for Salvation Laser Tag Ride, ProSlide Tornado: For those who don’t know, Terminator X: Battle for Salvation was an indoor laser tag attraction that opened at several Six Flags parks starting this year, most notably La Ronde and Six Flags Mexico. Since this attraction is pretty common at Six Flags’ international parks, I don’t see why Six Flags Canada’s Wonderland wouldn’t get the same thing. The ride’s building would be located next to the park’s go-karts attraction, right over where Leviathan’s station/turn out of the station currently stands. The ride itself isn’t that big so there should be enough space for the building to be put there. Also new this year, I’d like to see Six Flags give their newest waterpark some more love by adding a ProSlide Tornado - as is common at many other SF-owned waterparks - to the spot right next to the wave pool and just behind the “Black Hole” tube slide complex (where “Mountain Bay Cliffs” was just recently added). This would definitely help give the waterpark more of a “Six Flags” vibe to it than it already has, and the new water ride would help bring more guests into the waterpark on scorching hot summer days.

2011 - Mondial WindSeeker, Starlight Spectacular light show; Canadian SkyScreamer, Wiggles World/Thomas Town Renamed, Terminator X removed: Just like how Cedar Fair added WindSeeker to the park this year, I predict that for 2011 Six Flags would add their own swing tower ride to the park, in the form of “Canadian SkyScreamer”, a 225-ft tall Funtime StarFlyer located where the SlingShot ride stands today. And since this ride basically replaces WindSeeker in the original timeline, that means “Jet Scream”, the park’s Intamin Looping Starship, will not be removed for the time being and stay…for at least a while. This is also the year that a bunch of minor Six Flags licenses such as Terminator, Thomas the Tank Engine, the Wiggles, etc. expired, so I would expect the Terminator X laser tag attraction to shut down after this year, with the building staying intact (you’ll see why later), and the Kidzville aka Wiggles World/Thomas Town kids area being converted into another generic themed kids area - since “Kidzopolis” and “Whistlestop Park” are the respective replacements for Wiggles World and Thomas Town I would predict Kidzville would be converted into one of the two.

2012 - ''Leviathan and Dinosaurs Alive! open''; B&M wing coaster, Whirlwinds slide complex closes: With the kickass addition of “X-Flight” to Six Flags Great America this year, it’s a shame that no more Six Flags parks after this added any B&M wing coasters to them, as these rides look freakin’ epic. Well, with the lack of “Behemoth” and “Leviathan” in this scenario, it’s obvious that at this point Six Flags Canada’s Wonderland is gonna need something new, huge and exciting to make up for it and bring more popularity to the Canadian park. Behemoth’s absence also works well in this scenario because it gives us a lot of room for my 2012 prediction - a B&M wing coaster with a custom layout taking over most of Behemoth’s footprint. The station would be built right over where Behemoth’s station currently stands, with a 125-ft tall lift hill and 120-ft tall dive loop drop straight into an Immelmann, just like Cedar Point’s “Gatekeeper”, before doing a swooping turn to the right and going through several airtime hills and barrel rolls, along the back of the waterpark just like “Behemoth” currently does. Where Behemoth does it’s turn-around IRL, there would be another inversion there that brings the coaster back - either another dive loop or a cobra roll - and it would return in the exact same fashion. It’d then go into a corkscrew and fly over “Backlot Stunt Coaster” (which would obviously be renamed in this scenario), down into another corkscrew right beneath the lift hill and into a rising helix before entering the break run. This coaster would help fill the hole of “Behemoth” and “Leviathan” for the park’s “big” coaster, and it’d definitely help bring more guests into the park as it’d be advertised as Canada’s only wing coaster (to my knowledge). This would immediately put Six Flags Canada’s Wonderland on the map for coaster enthusiasts across the country and make it much more enticing and popular to park visitors. However, this year would also feature the removal of the waterpark’s “Whirlwinds” two-slide complex to make room for a new waterpark attraction the year following.

2013 - No major capital; Bonzai Pipelines slide complex, Park Improvements, Launch Pad and Jet Scream removed: New for 2013, I predict that Six Flags will again focus mainly on their waterpark this season as “Bonzai Pipelines”, a new 6-slide trapdoor slide complex, is built as a replacement for the former “Whirlwinds” 2-slide complex. This would greatly improve the waterpark’s overall rider capacity and reduce waiting times to go on a waterslide, thus bringing in more guests to the waterpark. As for the theme park itself, I think Six Flags would take a year off from the park, giving the previous year’s major new addition. Instead they would focus solely on park improvements and really sprucing up the park’s atmosphere a bit, to seem more enticing to park guests. Also, I predict that this year would be Jet Scream and Launch Pad’s final seasons as Jet Scream’s pretty much run it’s time at the park, and Launch Pad is just a small temporary up charge attraction. Both of these rides would be removed for part of next year’s addition:

2014 - Wonder Mountain’s Guardian added, SkyRider removed; Flat Ride Package: I’ve always considered flat ride packages at an amusement park cool because you get multiple new rides for the price of one (provided the rides aren’t really lame such as kiddie rides of course). Since around this time Six Flags has just started doing these additions to some of their moderately-known parks, I’d predict that Six Flags could possibly add one of these to Canada’s Wonderland too, just for the sake of boosting the park’s popularity some more. As for what specific rides would be added, I could definitely see a Larson Super Loop in Jet Scream’s old spot, making it the first ride of its kind in the country, a Mack Aqua Twist in Launch Pad’s old spot, and finally a Larson Flying Skooters ride (yes, like the one the park would get later on) in the current spot of “Skyhawk” (which if you ask me is rather fitting XD). These thrilling and family-appealing rides would definitely help bring in some more families and thrill seekers to the park and boost the number of seasonal park guests.

2015 - Waterpark Capital, SlingShot added; Justice League: Battle for Metropolis dark ride, Wilde Beast closes: Another new attraction added to a majority of SF parks around this time, I predict that it wouldn’t be long before one of these dark rides was added to Canada’s Wonderland. And yes even though they already had “Boo Blasters on Boo Hill”, that’s a much more family-centered ride. Plus, this way it allows Six Flags Canada’s Wonderland to become more well known as its a rare amusement park with TWO dark rides in it, and it’d help shelter park guests who prefer to be indoors from the elements of nature. This ride would be located in the same building that housed the former “Terminator” dark ride (I told you it’d come back up again). Also this year I predict that Wilde Beast would close for good so it’d be converted into next year’s new addition 1

2016 - Skyhawk and Flying Eagles added, Body Blast and Pro Putt removed; RMC Wilde Beast: For a while I went back and forth on this idea, as I didn’t know whether to make it a RMC conversion of Wilde Beast or to tear it down completely and replace it with a ground-up RMC I-Box coaster. I eventually decided on an RMC conversion because it’s easier to do and would probably make more sense for Six Flags to do with 1 of their old wooden coasters. And since this is an RMC conversion of the ride, it would definitely be much more extreme than the real life Wilde Beast, with the lift hill becoming much steeper and extended a good 100 ft or so, an 80-degree drop and a longer layout with much taller, and overbanked, turns. Of course we can’t forget the inversions - it would have a few barrel rolls and a zero-g stall to it like most RMC conversions, and I think it would be so cool if it also had a barrel roll drop a la “Twisted Timbers” at Kings Dominion. By the way, if you’re wondering why I’m doing a Wilde Beast conversion instead of the Mighty Canadian Minebuster, it’s because each Six Flags park needs at least one thrilling wooden coaster to it and since Wilde Beast is more of a family coaster, converting it into an RMC would be the perfect chance to give the park a badass RMC without losing one of its more thrilling woodies. This ride would breathe some much needed new air into Wilde Beast and truly turn it into an awesome kick-ass thrilling coaster that park enthusiasts would want to see. This new coaster would bring plenty of new coaster enthusiasts and thrill seekers into the park and help make the park more well known as a rollercoaster hot spot.

2017 - Soaring Timbers and Muskoka Plunge added; Zamperla Disk’O, Superman: Ultimate Flight (Time Warp) removed: Another underestimated thrill ride, I can totally see a Zamperla Disk’O being added to the park if it was owned by Six Flags, because not only were a few of these being added to Six Flags parks around the time, but also because it’s a really cool and thrilling flat ride that appeals to both families and thrill seekers alike. There is a huge spot of empty land right across from “Skyhawk” IRL that could perfectly fit a ride like this. If it weren’t for the fact the park already had “Psyclone”, I would’ve said they could’ve added a Zamperla Giant Discovery to the park in that spot instead. But a Disk’O ride is still good enough for me because it’s still a pretty good and popular thrill ride. This year would also see the Zamperla Volare coaster “Superman: Ultimate Flight” (aka “Time Warp”) be removed because this ride honestly has pretty much overstayed it’s time here - anyone who has ridden a Volare coaster before should know what I’m talking about when I say this type of coaster is usually one of the roughest and worst types of coasters out there. So anyways, the coaster would close this season and be replaced with a much better ride the following year:

2018 - Lumberjack and Flying Canoes open, Splash Island Expansion, Orbiter closes; The Joker S&S 4D Free Spin Coaster, Holiday in the Park: Yet again another coaster added around this time in most Six Flags parks, Six Flags Canada’s Wonderland has pretty much proven at this point to be just as much of a thrilling place as various other SF parks, so I should see no reason as to why they wouldn’t add an S&S 4D Free Spin coaster either. This ride would replace the “Superman: Ultimate Flight” coaster and pretty much provide a needed source of relief for most coaster enthusiasts at the park. It’d be the same basic Free Spin coaster as found at other Six Flags parks and also have the same “Joker” theme that they do (since the park already has a “Batman” coaster in it). I also predict that this year, Six Flags would start their seasonal “Holiday in the Park” event as an attempt to bring more guests into the park for the overall park season.

2019 - Yukon Striker opens, WinterFest added; ProSlide Flying Saucer Water Coaster, SkyRider removed: Since the waterpark hasn’t seen any new attractions being added to it since 2013, I think it’s about time that Six Flags finally added a new water ride to it. And what would be more exciting and appealing than a new ProSlide Flying Saucer water coaster? This new attraction is popping up not just in Six Flags parks, but in many other theme parks across America such as Hersheypark, and for good reason - this ride basically combines a water slide with the high speed and intense thrilling turns that a coaster has, thus making this a perfect way to attract more guests to the waterpark this season. It would be located on the huge spot of land where “Typhoon” and “Splash Station” currently stand, since I think this area would be just about large enough for this type of ride. It would easily attract a lot more people into the waterpark and provide a much needed exciting water ride experience for said waterpark. Sadly this season would also be the last season for the park’s stand up coaster “SkyRider”, which really shouldn’t be surprising because this coaster is 35 years old at this point and really at the end of it’s service life. It would be removed after a big ceremony at the end of the park season and be replaced ultimately with…

2020/21 - Mountain Bay Cliffs and Beagle Brigade Airfield added; RMC Raptor Coaster: In case you don’t know why this is marked “2020/21”, it’s because this was initially 2020’s new addition that was pushed back a year due to COVID-19. So instead of opening in 2020, this coaster would’ve opened in 2021 instead, just like the “Jersey Devil” coaster at SFGAdv did. It would take up the old spot of “SkyRider”, however, due to the size of the area, this coaster would instead be a copy of the “Wonder Woman Golden Lasso” coaster that’s currently at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. This new coaster would greatly benefit the park financially since we are currently recovering from a pandemic, and more people are, reluctantly, going back to theme parks across the country. It would also make the park more appealing to coaster enthusiasts as it is the only RMC Raptor coaster in all of Canada.

2022 - New restaurants and park entertainment; Funtime Booster or Zamperla Air Race: For 2022, my mind is split 50/50 between these two rides, because on the one hand the Funtime Booster is a relatively new and thrilling-looking ride that I could see being added to more moderate-sized Six Flags parks in the future. On the other hand, Zamperla Air Race rides are much more common with theme parks even outside of Six Flags and have a better capacity and overall popularity record. I can definitely see either one of these two rides being added to the park if it was owned by Six Flags for the 2022 season, but for now I am still stuck between these two (if you want, just use your imagination and choose one yourself).

Conclusion
So overall, this is what I believe Canada’s Wonderland would look like if it was bought by Six Flags in 2006 instead of Cedar Fair. Do you agree with my opinions/predictions? If not, then why? What are some of your possible park predictions for this scenario? Please leave me feedback in the comments below.