 Hello and welcome to episode 2 of Ride History on Amusement Insiders. I'm your host, Jasmine, and today I want to go completely against the title of this entire series and not talk about a ride. So I'm not completely veering you off topic. I do want to talk about something totally amusement park related and just wrapping up a little bit of the very Wonderland focused content that we've done on this series by talking about Wonder Mountain. Now Wonder Mountain is of course the iconic centerpiece of Canada's Wonderland, the big mountain in the middle of the park itself and at the end of International Street when you first enter the park, and it has been that way since the park's opening day in 1981, as it was planned to be. In fact, before the park's opening during its planning stages, park management actually intended to have an entire Bavarian market held inside the walls of Wonder Mountain. However, over time mechanical equipment and storage ended up in there and the Bavarian market plans got put up on a shelf along with everything else. But with that said, they did eventually move a lot of that electrical equipment and storage to the top of the mountain and to other storage places around the park to eventually make way for Blower Enzion, the ride that we spoke about on the last episode, to actually be partially moved inside Wonder Mountain itself. So you can see how the mountain was already beginning to evolve. Also during the early days of the park's operation, there was a really cool trail. This trail was called the Wonder Mountain Walkway, and not only did it lead you to a lookout all the way at the top of the mountain, but you could also walk behind the falls themselves. And many parts of the Wonder Mountain Walkway are still openly visible to guests today. If you stand around the mountain from different viewpoints, you can actually see little doorways and little pieces of evidence of the trail that still exists. Did you know you used to be able to walk in there? You used to go behind the falls. You even come at the top. You could actually walk around for vortex now as it's turned. And if you're curious about that lookout that I mentioned, it's openly visible from the top of vortex. So if you go and take a ride on vortex right when you reach the top of the lift hill and you're crusting and turning around at the mountain, preparing for your drop, that big flat area that you see, you can even see a few doorways. That's actually the lookout, the original spot where you would enter up at the top of Wonder Mountain at the end of the Wonder Mountain Walkway. Now unfortunately, when all of that electrical equipment that I mentioned before was moved from inside the mountain up to the top of the mountain in order to make way for Blaurentzian Mount Thunderrun being moved to partially be in the mountain, back around 1986 when that move happened, the Wonder Mountain Walkway was closed to visitors and unfortunately never reopened. There are rumors that suggest that part of the reason for that closure of the walkway was also for safety reasons. I'm sure there were some slip hazards with people walking behind the falls and concerns with people being on a lookout at the top of this tall artificial mountain. So it is possible that that was partially the reason for the closure of the walkway, but it would be difficult to find out for sure. So after closing the Wonder Mountain Walkway, the mountain itself went largely unchanged for quite a few years. That is until Taft, who was the owners of the Park itself Canada's Wonderland at the time, contracted a ride manufacturer aerodynamics to construct a suspended coaster to go over the top of the mountain. And in 1991, vortex came to life. So as I mentioned before this ride utilized that what used to be the lookout at the top of the mountain for the crest and turn of the first lift hill of the ride before sending riders to dive down the side of the mountain towards the lake. At 91 feet this was the world's tallest suspended coaster at the time and felt even taller thanks to the effect of climbing to the top of the mountain. Guests were enthralled by this new thrilling ride experience and it also gave a unique touch to the iconic Wonder Mountain. Now this excitement from vortex's grand opening gave Wonder Mountain new life for the next few years. It breathed energy and movement into the mountain every single day. And probably for that reason we didn't see any crazy changes or new additions to Wonder Mountain that is until Wonderland's 20th anniversary celebrations in the year 2000. At this time Wonderland planned and executed a really cool unique fireworks display called The Eruption. Now this eruption of fireworks was launched from the very top of the mountain every single evening for the entire summer that year. It was a truly impressive display of pyrotechnics and it's still fondly remembered by fans of Canada's Wonderland to this day. I know that I along with many others who really enjoyed this particular fireworks show really hope that it might make a return for a future anniversary season. That would be super cool. I mean the show was so popular that it was brought back for two weeks for an additional display back in 2001 and 2002. So technically this show ran for three seasons. The eruption was arguably Wonderland's most popular show in its entire history. Now that said when the 30th anniversary did come around guests were treated to an entirely new type of experience still tied into Wonder Mountain. The year was 2011 and the park took a more modern and technologically advanced approach to lighting up Wonder Mountain. The light show was called Starlight Spectacular. This show utilized over 300,000 LED lights and over 16 million colored light projections creating 3D images across the front of Wonder Mountain transforming it with a canvas of colors. Due to its popularity Starlight Spectacular returned for the 2012 through 2015 seasons bringing light and art to Wonder Mountain for season after season. The show lasted roughly 10 to 15 minutes depending on the season and was a favorite nighttime event for many guests of the park. Perhaps one day we'll see a hybrid production of Starlight Spectacular and the eruption. Anyways okay back on track. So during that stretch of seasons where Starlight Spectacular was happening on and around Wonder Mountain we had the Guardian open. So 2014 Wonder Mountain's Guardian here we go. Now Canada's Wonderland for this project partnered with Canadian manufacturer Triotech. The goal was to produce and open a new 3D attraction inside the mountain called Wonder Mountain's Guardian. Unlike any other ride in the park Guardian combines elements of first person shooter dark rides with elements of new roller coasters creating a new and interactive adventure within the mountain for park visitors. With ride elements both inside and outside of the mountain and the queue mostly inside the mountain Wonder Mountain's Guardian not only gives guests a unique experience but also illustrates just how large and cavernous the interior of the mountain really is. The ride was received with excitement from the general public and slight confusion from the coaster enthusiast community. Many of you who you know are familiar with me from past live streams and things like that will know that I'm not a huge fan of Wonder Mountain's Guardian myself but I will admit it does usually have a significant wait time. Families seem to love it and it's an additional family friendly ride for you know parents and kids to enjoy together. So it is what it is and just like with Thunder Run you do see a sort of Halloween version of this ride come out for the Halloween Haunt events every year. Okay so this brings us to the more recent history of Wonder Mountain. So what have we seen over the 2017 and 2018 seasons? Well we've mostly seen some much needed maintenance. Over the years some of these smaller upper tiers of the waterfalls have caused some problems and even stopped working entirely at times. Over these past few seasons they've received some much needed TLC and are in wonderful working condition once again. Now hopefully what this means is that Wonder Mountain is refreshed, looking all spruced up and beautiful and ready for new additions in upcoming seasons. So I guess we're about ready to wrap up the video right? But wait I know what you're thinking. I've forgotten a huge part of Wonder Mountain's history. How can I forget about the Victoria Falls High Divers? Well fear not my friends I haven't forgotten about them at all. I did want to save the High Dive show until the end of the video because unlike so many other things that have happened to Wonder Mountain the Victoria Falls High Divers have always been there since day one and the show still runs to this day. They are truly like the constant string that weaves together all of Wonder Mountain's history. I'm getting a little crazy about this aren't I? It's pretty cool though that's a seriously long-running show. You don't see shows not in Vegas, not in Disney, not at theme parks in general that run that long and are that successful for so long. So okay a little bit of history about these guys. In 1981 when Canada's Wonderland first opened the waterfalls over the mountain were named Victoria Falls and a diving show from the top of the main waterfall called the Victoria Falls High Divers was launched. The dive show happens up to four times daily with park guests crowding up and down international street trying to catch a glimpse of the high diving daring stunts that the divers perform as they leap from heights over 60 feet only to scale back up to the top of the mountain to leap again. Like I said it's Canada's Wonderland's longest running show and with over 35 years of history it is absolutely a major part of Wonder Mountain's iconography. I know I really hope to see the Victoria Falls High Divers showing off their daring high diving skills for many years to come. So there you have it the history of Wonder Mountain or at least as much of it as I can remember. Did you learn anything new? Is there a fact that you know that I didn't mention here that you'd like to share down below with all of our viewers? Please do leave a comment down below and don't forget to like this video and subscribe to this channel for more awesome theme park related content. Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time. PS! Bonus marks to anybody who knows anything about this rumor that Canada's Wonderland and the whole Victoria Falls fountain system has some kind of cooling element. Let me know if you know anything in the comments. Thanks for watching!