Canada's Wonderland promises to take you to dark side with new zombie ride

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 9, 2014
By Adam Martin-Robbins

Vaughan’s massive, month-long fright fest is marking a major milestone this year with an epic battle against the walking dead.

This is the 10th anniversary of Halloween Haunt at Canada’s Wonderland and to celebrate the park has added a new interactive, “dark ride” dubbed Zombies 4D.

The ride, which operates as Wonder Mountain’s Guardian by day, takes you up the side of Wonder Mountain then plunges you into its dark core where you’ll draw on your gaming skills to do fend off hordes of brain eating undead.

“We (Canada’s Wonderland) are in our tenth season of Halloween Haunt so we had to step it up a little bit,” said Shannon Kelly, manager of public relations and special events. “It’s going to be a fantastic ride. It really does showcase all the senses and it’s a very frightening ride to be on.”

Halloween Haunt runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights from 7 p.m. to midnight until Oct. 31.

And to keep you screaming all night long, there are 10 macabre mazes - including The Ruins, Sci-Fi House, Louisiana Scream, Club Blood, Streets of the Undead and Terror of London - three spooky “scare zones”, ghoulish live shows, dozens of spine-chilling rides and more than 700 zombies and monsters lurking in the darkness.

Other new additions to this year’s instalment include Toxicity and Skeleton Key.

The former is a “Cirque-inspired” show featuring mutant acrobats showcasing their strength and athleticism, three-times per night, at Wonderland Theatre, Kelly said.

The latter is an addition to the front-of-the line pass known as Fright Lane. Those who pay the extra fee to bypass the line will get access to a separate, special room in five of the mazes.

“It takes you away from the typical line going through the maze and isolates, one to three people in a separate room,” Kelly said. “Our designers have had a lot of fun making those rooms because you can do a lot of things in there you can’t do in a large maze. ...Our (general manager) went through one and he said he’s going to have a few nightmares from that one.”

Halloween Haunt is meant to scare your pants off, so it’s not recommended for children under the age of 13.

And don’t come dressed in costume or you won’t be allowed in.

For those with younger children looking for some fright-free fun, where you can wear a costume, there’s Camp Spooky located in KidZville and Planet Snoopy.

That event runs Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Nov. 1.

It features rides, three mazes, candy, a children’s costume parade, trick-or-treating, a live show featuring Charlie Brown and more.

Canada’s Wonderland is located at 9580 Jane St. in Vaughan.

For more information about these events or to purchase tickets, visit canadaswonderland.com.