Paramount Canada’s Wonderland

Canada’s Wonderland is a 330-acre amusement park located in a suburb directly north of Toronto. The park is open seasonally and contains more operates multiple entertainment attractions and rides. It opened in 1981 and was Canada’s first major theme park and is still today the largest and most popular theme park in Canada. Under the ownership of Paramount Parks from 1994 to 2006, it was known as Paramount Canada’s Wonderland. When sold to Cedar Fair in 2007, the park reverted to its original name.

With the increase in residential developments in close proximity to Wonderland, the Ontario Municipal Board held hearings to address community concerns about the Park. One of the outcomes of these meetings was a directive to have the Park assessed for noise.

HGC Engineering was asked to conduct a noise survey of Wonderland attractions and determine whether any sound sources exceeded community limits. After measurements and assessments were conducted it was determined that the Kingswood Music Theatre, a 15,000 seat outdoor amphitheatre on the grounds of Canada’s Wonderland required sound mitigation. The open-air theater consists of  a covered bandshell and exposed lawn seats for the audience. Kingswood brings a wide-range of musical acts to the park every summer, from top pop and country artists to classic rock bands.

HGC Engineering was asked to help direct the redesign of Kingswood Music Theatre, to not only improve the acoustics in the venue itself, but to also mitigate the sound transmitted to the neighboring residential communities.