Canada's Wonderland vs WDW: Our Trip Last Week

[WDWFRV]

Hi Gang

I just wanted to make some general observations from our trip last week. We decided to go to Toronto for a couple of days with our DD3 and DS7. Since our kids had never been to CW we decided to go there for the day.

I want to first say that our family is pretty easy going and honestly it takes a lot to make us unhappy.

The funny thing is that I kept comparing everything to WDW. Unfair? Probably, but CW is still a theme park even if it is smaller. It should also follow the same rules for keeping it's customers happy.

My overall impression was that it didn't even come close to WDW. Honestly I don't think I'd go back any time soon. Maybe when my kids are old enough for the mainstream rides I'd go.

Unfortunately we found it expensive ($10 for a couple of chicken fingers, close to $40 for a medium sized pizza and one pop, $3.50 for a bottled water out of a vending machine, $15 to rent a 2 seater stroller, etc....).

The rides for kids were really nothing spectacular, not like Disney where my kids keep saying "Wow, can I go on that ride, and that one, and that one...". The last time I was there was about 20 years ago when I was 17. Honestly, in 20 years I can't believe how little it's changed. There were some neat things that were new to be fair but really not a big deal to me.

CW also does a really crappy job of keeping it's parkgoers cool in the hot son. There are very little places to get shade in the hot sun whether it be trees or umbrellas at the food shops. The last thing you want are 2 little kids and 2 grumpy adults after 2 hours in the hot sun.

One last complaint... the attitude of the workers. Not impressed. It seemed that most were young kids that really didn't care to be there, at least the ones that I had to interact with. It showed. 3 times (yes 3) I was cut off by a worker sweeping the grounds. How's that for welcome to our park please come back. Hmpf. Perhaps I just caught them on a bad day but it just left me with a bad feeling of CW in general. My experience with Disney is that their workers bend over backwards to make sure the parkgoers really enjoy their time and money spent.

My feeling is that CW has a lot of catching up to do.

Just my $0.02,
Andy

Oh my god, this is so weird, my family and I went after the civic holidays on the Tuesday and Wednesday and my sister kept on telling me IT'S NOT DISNEY and I was laughing. Let me tell you that it is more expensive than Disney on food. WOW, 80.00 for lunch for 5 people. They should go to Disney for organizing the entrance and the rides. Never again am I going there.

 

[daver]

We are going to CW next year, but it is part of a 2 week long excursion that starts in Halifax, goes to :

Quebec City, Tranna, CW, Niagara Falls , NYC, Boston, Bangor, Halifax.... by car with hardtop..... So id CW is all you say it isn't, the rest of the trip will make up for it

 

[debbiet1]

I was a regular at CW yearssssssssssssssssssss ago when it first opened. After about year 10, i'm being generous.. it went downhill. We decided to try it again.. Mistake... we thought the kids would enjoy it. Well our 14.5 yr old daughter commented on what bad language she heard constantly all day long and then added you dont hear that at disney. Our 7 yr old told us how much more fun Disney was and how clean it is compared to CW. He went to the washroom and came back out and told me the counter was too dirty for him to wash his hands. So I bought a bottle of water to wash his hands. Disney has our vote.

 

[snickerboo]

Hmmm, I was gonna take my kids on Wednesday.

I guess the one thing to remember is (food aside) it is much cheaper than Disney.

For me, sure, it's not Disney but I ask you: really, WHAT IS?!LOL To me, the Magic Kingdom really is the most magical place on earth!

BTW: Went to SeaWorld on our Disney trip this year then went to Marineland in NF this summer. I found myself saying there, "this place sure isn't SeaWorld!!!"