The company Taft Broadcasting announced plans for an amusement park in Maple, Canada, near Toronto. A swirl of controversy followed, as the Canadian National Exhibition, residential associations, and Canadians worried about the impact of an America amusement park all chimed in. Taft actually flew some people over to another one of the parks in his chain, Kings Island, to show them what impacts it had on the community. But finally, they built a park, and it is now known as Canada’s Wonderland.

After much toil and one explosion, the park opened in an incredible ceremony. In a little section, there was a homage to the World Exposition of 1890, resembling a world fair with expos from countries around the world. And, in 1985, they opened up a ride that has completely nothing to do with any of this in that area as well.

That ride was SkyRider, a Togo stand-up. That’s right; the riders actually traverse the track standing up. It wasn’t the first (That distinction goes to the defunct Dangai in Japan) or even the first in North America (That is King Kobra at Kings Island, also defunct). But it was the first one in Canada, and the patrons were thrilled.

The passengers board their trains, which being stand up, are rather different than the usually lap bar or over the shoulder restraints. With feet firmly planted on the floor, the will-be riders pull two stiff loops over their arms, and another bar near the groin to keep the rider in place, despite accidents on similar rides where the rider wriggled out. Nothing like that has happened on this ride yet, however.

It starts like most coasters-with a chain hill. Upon reaching the top, it takes a right turn before hitting the 84 foot drop. It then takes you through a loop, before rising up again. Next, you go through a 540 degree helix, lying you on your side (Interestingly, the ride has the walkways next to it found in Japan for Earthquake codes. Togo is Japanese, so they obviously did not alter their design much for American use).

Then it pulls out of this helix and then climbs another hill for a dose of feet-of-the-floor airtime. Next is a fairly unique element called trick track. It tilts you to the left side, but rather than turning like this banking usually leads to, it stays there and continues going straight, forcing some lateral forces. It banks back to level, and then over the right for an actual corner this time.

The track rises up during this 180 degree turn, enough for a little drop into two bunny hops, providing more airtime. At last, the train pulls into the break run, and is stopped. Another right turn takes it back to the station, and after a short minute thirty seconds, you leave the ride.

Despite being the oldest stand up coaster in North America, the ride did not make waves in the coaster community. Still, despite being a bit old and a little dated, the stand-up trains thrilled the locals and the ride has stayed at Canada’s Wonderland since, even as Paramount, then Cedar Fair bought the park and the section was turned from the Expo to Action Zone, SkyRider still remains.