Here is a link from a story in last week's London (ON) Free Press....
Canada's Wonderland not moving
Despite rumours, the park is not headed to Woodstock -- or anywhere else.
Hank Daniszewski, Business Reporter
The London Free Press
2005-07-07
The folks at Paramount Canada's Wonderland are wondering what they have to do to kill a persistent urban myth.
The latest version of the myth is the huge amusement park, just north of Toronto, is packing up and moving to Woodstock or Brantford.
The rumour was just one of many that swirled around Woodstock and Oxford County this spring when officials were scrambling to assemble 1,000 acres of land. Other rumours concerned an IKEA store, a NASCAR speedway and a giant Wal-Mart distribution centre. Last week, Toyota announced it would build an $800-million assembly plant near where Highway 401 meets Oxford County Road 2.
Kris Williams, Wonderland's manager of public relations, said she received many calls about moving to the Woodstock-Brantford area this spring. She said there has never been a shred of truth to the moving rumour, which surfaced about five years ago and was first linked to Niagara Falls and then Barrie.
"The rumour is frankly quite disturbing because people really believe it. I don't understand why it doesn't go away," said Williams.
Wonderland officials were getting so many calls from the public, media, politicians and developers in 2002 they were forced to place ads in several Toronto papers in a vain effort to quash the rumour.
Williams said Wonderland's site in the city of Vaughan was carefully selected in 1980 to serve the fast-growing area surrounding Toronto. Twenty-five years later, park management welcomes three million visitors a year and likes the location just fine.
"It really doesn't make sense for us to be anywhere else," said Williams.
Williams said she has never been able to track the source of the myth, but it seems to be based on several bogus assumptions.
- Canada's Wonderland is running out of space. Wrong: The park has always had 79 acres of vacant land.
- Canada's Wonderland can easily be moved like the midways that travel between county fairs. Wrong: 80 per cent of Wonderland's infrastructure is permanent and largely underground.
- The move is being triggered by new ownership. Wrong: The park has had several owners over the years and none wanted to move it.
Williams is worried even discussing the rumour with the media will extend its life.
"We're a little tired of it," she said with a sigh.
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lol. Susan, if you see a Gino's bus on the way there or back, look for the screaming Grade Sixers on to the Zoo, and give them a wave!
