The Wonderland project started with one unusual number: 240 feet. That is the length of the rink we installed in the park's fountain plaza — 40 feet longer than a standard NHL surface. When you are building a flagship skating attraction for one of the most visited theme parks in Canada, the brief is to make it feel significant, and 80×240 ft does exactly that.
Converting the fountain area into a fully operational refrigerated ice rink meant building over a space designed for a completely different function. Drainage, surface leveling, chiller positioning, and glycol distribution all had to work within the park's existing infrastructure — without damaging it, and without interrupting the park's transition from summer to winter operations.
The operational window
Center Ice operates from the beginning of November through April and May. For Wonderland, this meant the installation had to be complete and ready for public skating before WinterFest opened — a hard deadline with no flexibility. The chiller systems, glycol distribution, rink floor, boards, and safety elements all had to be in place before the first skater arrived.
Projects of this scale require early planning. We typically begin coordinating logistics months before installation starts, particularly for commercial clients who have their own operational calendars and public commitments.
What it became
Canada's Wonderland's WinterFest has since drawn tens of thousands of skaters each season, becoming one of the most visible outdoor ice installations in Ontario. A summer park with a world-class skating rink in the winter is exactly the kind of year-round destination that refrigerated ice makes possible — and that no amount of hoping for cold weather could deliver reliably.