The Mighty Canadian Minebuster (often shortened to Minebuster) is a

wooden roller coaster A wooden roller coaster is a type of roller coaster classified by its wooden track, which consists of running rails made of flat steel strips mounted on laminated wood. The support structure is also typically made of wood, but may also be ...

located at

Canada's Wonderland Canada's Wonderland, formerly known as Paramount Canada's Wonderland, is a amusement park located in Vaughan, Ontario, a municipality within the Greater Toronto Area. Opened in 1981 by the Taft Broadcasting, Taft Broadcasting Company and the Gr ...

amusement park in

Vaughan Vaughan ( ) (2022 population 344,412) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increa ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

History

Mighty Canadian Minebuster was one of five roller coasters to debut at the park's grand opening on May 23, 1981. It is also modelled after Shooting Star, a roller coaster that used to exist at

Coney Island Coney Island is a neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach to its east, Lower New York Bay to the south and west, and Gravesend to ...

amusement park in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. It was originally intended to be the centrepiece of a themed area called Frontier Canada, but the idea for the section was abandoned – the section was later built for the 2019 season. Minebuster is an

out and back roller coaster Out and back refers to the layout of a roller coaster. An out and back coaster is one that climbs a lift hill soon after leaving the station, races out to the far end of the track after the initial drop, performs a 180 degree turn and then retu ...

Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters (PTC) is one of the oldest existing roller coaster manufacturing companies in the world. Based in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, it was established in 1904 by Henry B. Auchy and Chester Albright under the name Philadelph ...

, despite a plaque at the operator's booth and several published reports that claim it was. PTC stopped building coasters in 1979. It is likely however, that the construction crew consisted of workers who had previously built coasters for PTC. The two, 30-passenger trains were supplied PTC. Canada's Wonderland's water park,

Splash Works Splash Works is a water park located within the park boundaries of Canada's Wonderland in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. Entry is free with park admission. Splash Works is home to "Whitewater Bay", the largest outdoor wave pool in Canada, and is tod ...

, has four sets of slides that pass over Minebuster. For the 2025 season, 1,000 feet of track was removed and replaced.

Ride layout

Minebuster will be familiar to most coaster riders as a modified out and back wooden coaster, specifically with the addition of an upward spiralling helix at the end as the most obvious modification to the traditional out and back layout. The riders make an immediate U-turn to the left after leaving the station, past the storage depot and head up the chain lift hill. At the crest of the lift, the train makes a very small drop and turns right for the big drop. Riders then go through two negative-G hills and pass under a waterslide before climbing up a larger hill and making a turnaround to the right. The ride then drops down and rushes over three smaller hills before entering a banked turn to the left. For a finale, riders roar through a helix inside a tunnel before entering the brake run which stops the train.

References

External links

* * {{PCW Roller coasters introduced in 1981 Roller coasters in Ontario Roller coasters operated by Six Flags