Our weekday night PCW visits have been reduced to zero for August since I have been working late every evening in August on our Oracle conversion. I just could not wait until tonight (Friday) for PCW. So I had to get a PCW fix last night. I arrive home around 8:00PM and asked if anybody wanted to go to PCW and the only taker was youngest son Nolan.

We leave the house around 8:10PM and almost left without the season passes. Oops! Get to the park around 8:40PM. Nolan and I can tell that Thursday was a pretty busy day at Wonderland just by seeing how far back some of the cars were parked in the lot. We get our normal parking spot on row two.  Nolan and I discussed our riding plan during the trip down Jane Street.

The evening had cooled off from the daytime and these are the conditions that create some very good rides on wood coasters. Wild Beast had about a six train wait. I was amazed how quickly the crew was dispatching the trains. A train was leaving the loading platform as the other train was in the fan curve. Nolan and I take our normal back seat riding position with arms in the air as we descend the first drop. Wow! Wild Beast is in top form tonight the airtime off the second drop is great especially with the hand chopping effect which quickly follows. Most of the people who raise their hands normally get them down quickly but the PCW Junkies know there is lots of room. The train screams into the fan curve and then we get some very good laterals and airtime on our way to the final turn around. Two more fast airtime filled bunny hops before the brakes grab Wild Beast’s Trains and brings it to a halt. The funny thing about this ride we just experienced is that it is was not the best ride we had on Wild Beast this evening. More on that later.

Next up would be Fly or Vortex depending on the line up. Both were real busy so we opted for the walk over to MCM and Skyrider instead.  Skyrider, Togo standup, had only a two train wait. Nolan just barely has his feet flat on the floor. It is so funny to see this little guy standing in Skyrider’s restraints. In June Nolan tried PKI’s King Cobra but could not ride because they had an extra pad on the seat and his feet would not sit flat on the floor.

Mighty Canadian Minebuster (MCM) queue at this time of the night is usually only a few minutes but tonight the line up spilled out onto the stairs. We waited almost 25 minutes for our only MCM ride of the night. We usually pick the last car middle seat but that area had looked to busy so we went for the front car middle seat. MCM just continues to get better as the season rolls on. The first drop is still one of my favourites drops because of the speed and airtime you achieve as we crest the first hill after the drop. The speed of MCM gives you a fantastic push when you sit in the front as you reach the top of the turn around. The trip back into the station is filled with speed, laterals, airtime, and a dark helix. The brakes come on soon after coming out of the helix to bring this great Canadian coaster to a sudden stop.

Wow! We look at our watch and it is already 9:40PM and only 20 minutes left before the park closes and the Eruption starts. So we head back towards Wild Beast and on the way notice that The Fly was still too busy. Bummer! I guess we have to settle for an other ride on Wild Beast. Nolan and I walk briskly to Wild Beast and choose the front seat because there were only two groups in front of us. This ride in the front was even better than our earlier ride, about one hour ago, the airtime coming of the second drop almost made me stand up in my seat. I had to be careful not to wreck on the seat divider. It was almost 10:00PM and we were able to sneak in an other bonus ride on Wild Beast because there was a middle seat empty as we were exiting from our front seat ride. Just when I was about to switch my allegiance to MCM, Wild Beast roars back to remind me that it is still the best coaster in the park.

The Eruption had already started as Nolan and I rush to the parking lot before the mass exodus started. Nolan and Dad were back home in Newmarket by 10:40PM and were okay with our PCW fix until we return tonight for MORE.

Regards,

Kevin Reid