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Wonderland's Behemoth and Sunnyside's Flyer
Ceder Fair, owner of roller coaster Mecca Cedar Point, bought my town's local theme park (and my former employer) Canada's Wonderland from the notoriously stingy Paramount Parks a couple of years ago. Ever since, roller coaster fans have been waiting with bated breath to see what big new rides the company would put in. The park has always had a nice assortment of rides and roller coasters, however the penny-pinchers at Paramount never would drop the kind of dough it takes to build a really big, marque ride. Well the wait is almost over now as Wonderland has just completed construction and testing of the park's first hypercoaster, the awkwardly named "Behemoth". The press were invited to the park the other day for the big unveiling.
Videos:
Tom Brown Takes a Ride - CTVToronto.ca
A Blazing Roller Coaster - Toronto Star
Wonderland is pretty much the only place you can go in Toronto to ride roller coasters these days. The C.N.E. used to have The Flyer and Doppel Looping (or Double Looper as most people mistakenly called it) however they've been gone now for years. Since Wonderland is actually in the suburb of Maple, technically speaking Toronto no longer has any roller coasters today. As my dad likes to point out to me, there was a time when the Toronto lake shore was a lot more interesting than it is now. Before the Gardiner Expressway was built in the 50's, Sunnyside Beach Park sat just two blocks from the house I'm now living in. All that is left today is Sunnyside Pool and the Palais Royale. Thanks to the highway, roads, trains and streetcars, the spot the park once stood now has the distinction of being "The noisiest location in Ontario" according to Wikipedia.
In researching this story, I can't seem to find a definitive answer as to what the roller coaster at the Sunnyside amusement park was called, or what happened to it. Some articles indicate that it was called "The Flyer" and was moved to the C.N.E. after the park was closed down. The Toronto Star seems to think that it was called "The Rocket" and was simply torn down. They also claim that the C.N.E.'s Flyer was "built at the CNE for $200,000 in 1953 by Patty Conklin", which seems to imply it was not related to the Sunnyside Flyer in any way. This article provides the most detailed explanation of the history of Sunnyside's coaster, however it still left me confused as to how many "Flyer" coasters there were exactly. I get the impression that there may have in fact been three completely different Flyers built in the first half of the last century in Toronto. It seems like amusement park operators had just as hard a time coming up with decent names for their roller coasters back then as they do today.
UPDATE: Thanks to Donna Douglas for the following info about the CNE's Flyer:
The "Flyer", was designed by Joe McKee of New York and built, maintained and operated by Bill Davis of Conklin's Canada Shows. Constructed at a cost of $200,000
See more details in the comments.
8 comments
I love roller coasters! Cedar Point is on my list of theme parks to visit. Behemoth sounds crazy!Tell Kate I said hi!
Mike Filey will know about the history of the Flyer. He writes part time now for the Toronto Sun. I've read his book "I remember Sunnyside". I too saw the mention in the Star that the CNE Flyer was built in 1955. As far as I remember, that was the year the Flyer at Sunnyside was dismantled. I'm pretty sure that Mike Filey states that it was re-assembled on the CNE grounds. Ask him - I'm sure he'll be delighted to tell. 
Thanks Michael for the tip! 
it really does make me think about what happened to the wooden roller coaster at the sunny side park, i was told it was named the comet,the flyer,the rocket, but i really think that pattyklin found that roller coaster for sale at sunnyside and she bought it for a steal 200,000 they dis ,mantled the wooden coaster and mooved it to the cne... i also heard from thegrape vine that the flyer from sunnyside and the cne was cursed someway, something about one of the mintance working that keeps the flyer working all these year was decapitated(his head cut off) by the coaster was an accident, so they coaster was to be cursed and haunted.. these could be true or not but i really do beleive the story... what do you think??? e mail me and reply.. thanksgord
Always good to see, that was really a quality article. In theory would like to be such a good writer too. You need time to creat that brilliant and in addition lots of effort to make such a good article. 
i love the behemoth 
The Flyer at the CNE was not moved from anywhere. It was built for the CNE by my father Bill Davis, who was head carpenter for Patty Conklin for many years. It was completed in 1953. My brothers and sister and I all worked at the CNE and I was the first girl to work on the ride once Conklin allowed girls to work on rides. Before then girls could only take tickets or work in booths. Many of my cousins also worked at the CNE and on the coaster. The Flyer had a top safety rating as long as my father was the ride supervisor as he didn't want anything to happen to his ride. More wooden boards were always replaced than the City inspector indicated. The ride was inspected every hour during the CNE. My dad would walk the whole ride along the wooden walkway the was beside the tracks and also walk under the track on the grass. He could tell if anything was wrong just by listening to the way the cars went along the tracks.
Unfortunately, there were some accidents on the Flyer, but none mechanical. There isn't much you can do if some drunk rider decides to open the safety lever, and stand up on a curve to show how "brave" he is and then gets hurt.
Dad was forever collecting lost items for riders. One woman wasn't so happy to get her purse back with all the fruit squashed in it and it was years before Dad told us about the panties that he found.
I worked at the CNE for 11 years from the time I was 14(you could start young then). I worked in Candy Floss booths first and then switched to the Flyer as soon as girls were allowed. Great times, tiring 16/17 hours of work and then do it all again the next day.
Height 62 feet / 18.9 meters Track Length 2,612 feet / 796.1 meters
Notes The "Flyer", was designed by Joe McKee of New York and built, maintained and operated by Bill Davis of Conklin's Canada Shows. Constructed at a cost of $200,000. On a good day it would carry over 26,000 screaming people. During its 39 years of operation well over 9 million passengers rode the Flyer. Eventually, newer and faster rides found increased favour with the thrill-seeking public and the Flyer's aging wooden frame was demolished in June 1992.
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