Using your Platinum season pass to visit Canada’s Wonderland, north of Toronto, is one of the greatest benefits of the program. We make the 5+ hour trek at least once a year and absolutely love visiting Canada’s Wonderland.

Back in the spring for the Yukon Striker media event, we made the day trip up to check out the amazing new roller coaster and Frontier Canada section of the park. Being limited on time, we opted to do something we had never done before, take the Queen Elizabeth Highway (QEW) onto the 407 to skip the bountiful traffic going in and out of Toronto.

We drove the 407 highway for approximately 40 miles in each direction, getting on at the 403/407 interchange and getting off at the 400/407 interchange.

In our vehicles we use the EZ-Pass transponders to save time and money driving on toll roads from Maine to Illinois, including through New York on our way into Canada. It is a fantastic program to avoid having to carry cash.

We also understood that the EZ-Pass transponders do not work in Canada and thus the 407. The highway authority mails you a bill should you elect to drive the 407, and since we see reasonable rates in the States, we figured how bad could it be?

About a month after our visit to Canada’s Wonderland we received a bill from the 407ETR.

$78 CAD (~$58 US) to drive the 407 to Canada’s Wonderland! Are you kidding?

We can drive across the entire state of Ohio for $13.25. This was “highway” robbery, pun intended!

We paid the bill, but were determined to never drive the 407 ever again with the absolutely atrocious price gouging.

So what is the alternative to avoiding the 407?

Driving the Queen Elizabeth Way via Niagara Falls is the best way to make your way up towards Toronto and Canada’s Wonderland. This route is toll-free. However, when you approach Burlington and the QEW/403/407 split, this is where you need to pay attention to the signs!

Avoid at all costs going onto the 407 Express Toll Route! Instead take the 403 QEW and continue to follow your GPS routing to the park. In our experience, especially since they are defaulted to take the quickest route, GPS units and mapping apps typically keep trying to get you back onto the 407. Make sure to tell it to avoid tolls and hopefully help with the navigation.

Note, skipping the 407 will result in an approximate 45 minute rerouting to get up to Vaughn, Canada, and that is if there is no traffic. That is one factor to consider is that Toronto traffic can be nuts, which could increase your commute even more!

If time is money, maybe you want to just hop onto the 407, but be prepared to be robbed when the bill shows up in the mail.

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