Wonder Mountain's Guardian

About

Wonder Mountain's Guardian (also known as Guardian or WMG; during Halloween Haunt known as Zombies 4D) is a 4D, interactive dark ride roller coaster at the Canada's Wonderland amusement park located in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. Park management first proposed a dark ride located inside Wonder Mountain around 2004. Technology and budget limitations at the time delayed the project's planning and design stages until 2011. The steel track was manufactured by ART Engineering; it is approximately 304.8 metres (1,000 ft) long and reaches a maximum height of about 18.3 metres (60 ft). The ride also features one of the largest drop tracks in the world reaching a height of 9.1 metres (30 ft). Triotech designed the ride's interactive 3D animations, which are accompanied by other special effects such as wind, adding the fourth dimension. During the park's Halloween Haunt event in October, the animations are replaced with zombie-themed effects. Delays during construction delayed the ride's opening until May 24, 2014; three weeks after the 2014 season began. Guardian was inspired by the dragon in Thunder Run—another roller coaster located in the mountain area of the park—and Starlight Spectacular...

Canada's Wonderland's first interactive dark ride was Scooby-Doo's Haunted Mansion (renamed Boo Blasters on Boo Hill after Cedar Fair's purchase of the park), which opened in 2000. It was designed by Sally Corporation and relies entirely on physical sets and theming rather than projected animations, and uses basic, moving props. About four years later, park management began discussing the addition of a new attraction inside Wonder Mountain. The technology available at the time meant the cost of building a more advanced dark ride was too expensive for a regional amusement park. In 2011, as technology improved and the costs decreased, the park started planning a second interactive dark ride. Several companies were contacted to design the audio-visual portion of the future ride; park management chose Triotech to do so.

Speculation that Canada's Wonderland would build a new attraction for the 2014 season began at the end of July 2013 when maintenance work on the western side of Wonder Mountain was discovered. On August 8, Cedar Fair confirmed an interactive dark ride would be built at one of the company's parks. Wonderland officially announced Wonder Mountain's Guardian—a ten million-dollar attraction—on August 30, 2013, on Breakfast Television, a morning news program for the Toronto area. During the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) Attractions Expo 2013, the characters of the ride were revealed during president and CEO of Cedar Fair Matt Ouimet 's keynote address.

The first pieces of track and other parts from Germany arrived at the park in mid-January 2014. A month later, installation of the track began inside the mountain. By the end of February, erection of the framing for the 3D screens began. By the beginning of March, support columns for the outside portion of the ride were installed. The lift hill was completed at the beginning of April. The park opened to the public on May 4 but the opening of Guardian was delayed. On May 24, the park announced that the ride had opened. The entire project involved 10 contractors and at least 47 workers.

On November 7, 2013, Cedar Fair announced that during Halloween Haunt, Guardian would be altered to a zombie-themed ride. The name of this version of the attraction was later revealed to be Zombies 4D.

This attraction will provide [...] an exhilarating, and unique ride experience unlike any other attraction in the park; immersing [riders] in an extraordinary adventure and engaging their senses from start to finish.

— General Manager of Canada's Wonderland, Norm Pirtovshek

When Guardian first opened, Fast Lane was available to guests but within the first week of operation the Fast Lane option was removed. Riders must be at least 107 centimetres (42 in) tall to ride with an adult or 122 centimetres (48.0 in) to ride alone.

The experience is dependent upon the location of rider's seat on the train. Screens are located on both sides of the track but the only continuous screen on the track is on the right-hand side. The train makes several tight turns during the ride; riders facing forward experience all the animations while riders facing backward miss some scenes because of the lack of screen space. The cars rotate 90 degrees clockwise to face the screens; forward-facing riders rotate toward the continuous screen.

In the ride's narrative of events preceding those that occur during the ride, King Adelsten entered the mountain to fight a dragon called Ormaar. During the battle, the king lost his crown. Stansein, one of the king's servants, guides riders through the mountain to find and retrieve the crown. Throughout the ride, riders can score points by hitting objects on the screen with their light guns. At the end, the highest scores are placed in the 'Wonder Mountain's Guardian Hall of Fame'.

After the train leaves the station, it turns 180 degrees right and exits the mountain, leading into a 18.3-metre (60 ft) chain lift hill. Once at the top, the train enters a shallow, right-hand drop, crossing over Vortex 's first drop as it runs along the side of the mountain. It makes a banked right turn back into the mountain, then a tarpaulin drops, blocking the entrance to prevent light from entering. The train slows and the cars rotate 90 degrees to face the screens. Stansein tells riders to prepare to battle the enemies. The first scene takes place in forest environment where riders fight Sneaky Spiders and Beasty Bats. At the end of the first scene, riders who began the ride facing forward see Stansein's first appearance, in which he points in the direction riders should go next. Backward-facing riders do not see this transition. In the next scene, riders—who are surrounded by a lake inside the mountain—battle Wet Ones and Crazy Crabs. The scene starts above the surface of the water but later moves downwards. As the scene ends, the train passes two waterfalls; this transition is absent for backward-facing riders.

Riders then arrive in an underground city named Draconian City, where they battle against Draconians and Archers. Nearing the finale, forward-facing riders see Stansein making his final appearance, following the train. Riders are then confronted by more Draconians and Archers before entering a gold-covered area where King Adelsten's crown is found. Soon after, Ormaar arrives and breathes fire toward the ground. After a few seconds, the drop track releases the train into a 9-metre (30 ft) free fall, escaping from Ormaar. As the train leaves the drop track, the trains are rotated to their original positions and all of the riders' scores are displayed on both sides of the track. After turning left into the station, riders disembark and the next riders board. One cycle of the ride lasts approximately three-and-a-half minutes.

In the ride's Zombies 4D version, riders score points for shooting zombies and police badges found throughout the ride, but lose points if they shoot civilians.

After the train is dispatched and enters Wonder Mountain, riders find themselves in a graveyard where zombies are roaming. At the end of the scene, riders who began facing forward see a survivor directing them to the next scene. Riders who were seated backwards do not see this transition. The next scene takes place in a house overrun by the zombies and large spiders. At the end of the scene a truck crashes into the house. Riders then leave the house and pass the survivor; this transition is again absent for backward-seated riders. The train continues to a road with zombies, where three cars with zombies on them join the riders. Two of the cars crash at the end of the scene. The train then passes through a tunnel with abandoned cars; this scene is absent for riders facing backward. Riders then battle the zombies for the final time before entering the drop track sequence. The names of the highest-scoring riders are displayed on a leader-board for this version of the attraction.

In the ride's narrative of events preceding those that occur during the ride, King Adelsten entered the mountain to fight a dragon called Ormaar. During the battle, the king lost his crown. Stansein, one of the king's servants, guides riders through the mountain to find and retrieve the crown. Throughout the ride, riders can score points by hitting objects on the screen with their light guns. At the end, the highest scores are placed in the 'Wonder Mountain's Guardian Hall of Fame'.

After the train leaves the station, it turns 180 degrees right and exits the mountain, leading into a 18.3-metre (60 ft) chain lift hill. Once at the top, the train enters a shallow, right-hand drop, crossing over Vortex 's first drop as it runs along the side of the mountain. It makes a banked right turn back into the mountain, then a tarpaulin drops, blocking the entrance to prevent light from entering. The train slows and the cars rotate 90 degrees to face the screens. Stansein tells riders to prepare to battle the enemies. The first scene takes place in forest environment where riders fight Sneaky Spiders and Beasty Bats. At the end of the first scene, riders who began the ride facing forward see Stansein's first appearance, in which he points in the direction riders should go next. Backward-facing riders do not see this transition. In the next scene, riders—who are surrounded by a lake inside the mountain—battle Wet Ones and Crazy Crabs. The scene starts above the surface of the water but later moves downwards. As the scene ends, the train passes two waterfalls; this transition is absent for backward-facing riders.

Riders then arrive in an underground city named Draconian City, where they battle against Draconians and Archers. Nearing the finale, forward-facing riders see Stansein making his final appearance, following the train. Riders are then confronted by more Draconians and Archers before entering a gold-covered area where King Adelsten's crown is found. Soon after, Ormaar arrives and breathes fire toward the ground. After a few seconds, the drop track releases the train into a 9-metre (30 ft) free fall, escaping from Ormaar. As the train leaves the drop track, the trains are rotated to their original positions and all of the riders' scores are displayed on both sides of the track. After turning left into the station, riders disembark and the next riders board. One cycle of the ride lasts approximately three-and-a-half minutes.

In the ride's Zombies 4D version, riders score points for shooting zombies and police badges found throughout the ride, but lose points if they shoot civilians.

After the train is dispatched and enters Wonder Mountain, riders find themselves in a graveyard where zombies are roaming. At the end of the scene, riders who began facing forward see a survivor directing them to the next scene. Riders who were seated backwards do not see this transition. The next scene takes place in a house overrun by the zombies and large spiders. At the end of the scene a truck crashes into the house. Riders then leave the house and pass the survivor; this transition is again absent for backward-seated riders. The train continues to a road with zombies, where three cars with zombies on them join the riders. Two of the cars crash at the end of the scene. The train then passes through a tunnel with abandoned cars; this scene is absent for riders facing backward. Riders then battle the zombies for the final time before entering the drop track sequence. The names of the highest-scoring riders are displayed on a leader-board for this version of the attraction.

Guardian operates with five trains, each containing two cars that were manufactured by Art Engineering. Each car seats four riders back-to-back in seated rows; each train can seat eight riders. Every seat has a lap-bar restraint, a light gun, and a loudspeaker that provides sound during the ride. This configuration allows the ride to theoretically carry 650 riders per hour. The cars can rotate 90 degrees in both directions. The trains' light guns are programmed to display a unique colour on the ride's screens to indicate where each rider is shooting and to distinguish between shooters.