[13] They opened for the 2011 season at Canada's Wonderland in Ontario, Cedar Point and Kings Island in Ohio, and Knott's Berry Farm in California.

Cedar Fair (now Six Flags) relocated the Knott's Berry Farm WindSeeker to Worlds of Fun in 2014, where it reopened as SteelHawk.

[8] On September 21, 2012, Cedar Fair announced the temporary closure of all WindSeekers in response to two incidents at Knott's Berry Farm.

[12] On their Facebook pages throughout August 2010, several Cedar Fair amusement parks hinted frequently at a new ride to be opened in 2011.

On August 24, 2010, Canada's Wonderland, Cedar Point, Kings Island, and Knott's Berry Farm all announced that they would be adding a Mondial WindSeeker, to open sometime in spring 2011.

[21][22][23][24] Construction of the WindSeekers at Canada's Wonderland, Cedar Point, and Kings Island began in late October and early November 2010.

To install them, Canada's Wonderland's Jet Scream ride was removed and Cedar Point's Ocean Motion was moved to the former Demon Drop site.

[25][26][27] Construction was scheduled to begin around the same time at Knott's Berry Farm, where the Sky Cabin observation tower was to be removed to make way for it.

At the beginning of October 2011, the hydraulic dampers used on the Knott's Berry Farm model were added to reduce the amount of swing movement even more.

[38] Throughout August 2011, the Carowinds web site had six different QR codes, each of which led the user to a website giving a clue as to what the 2012 attraction might be.

[39] When all six clues were put together, they made a picture that read "Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters, fun soars to new heights... August 24".

On top of the eighth tower piece, there is a steel platform where workers and mechanics can observe the operation of the ride and perform maintenance.

[50] Inside the "red UFO" or the "Crown", a Tuned Mass Damper is hidden which is to counteract vortex shedding vibrations.

Rather than white, blue, and green on the tower, Knott's adopted a color scheme using orange, purple, and yellow to reflect the Spanish California theme of the Fiesta Village section of the park.

It was discovered during testing that the swings could rock back and forth once rotation reached full speed, and were close to hitting each other in some cases.

[50][61] Nevertheless, there were still incidents: on June 14, 2011, the swings on Cedar Point's WindSeeker began to sway in different directions, and some seats almost collided with each other.

[62] On June 29, 2011, Jennifer Valentyne of Breakfast Television Toronto rode the WindSeeker at Canada's Wonderland for her "Live-Eye" spot on the show.

As the ride continued, Breakfast Television hosts Kevin Frankish and Dina Pugliese asked whether the seats were supposed to touch each other, but received no response.

The WindSeeker at Canada's Wonderland underwent repairs for just over a week when it was discovered that one of the 32 pairs of seats had been removed for an unstated reason.

[69] During the 2012 season, all of the WindSeekers except Kings Island's experienced incidents in which the ride stopped, stranding riders in the air.

[18] Two such incidents occurred in September at Knott's Berry Farm, in one case leaving riders stranded at the top of the ride for nearly four hours, prompting the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration to order the ride shut down indefinitely on September 19 pending investigation of both the length of time riders were stranded and the actual causes of the incidents.

[52] On July 13, 2011, Nick Sim, also from Theme Park Tourist, reviewed the ride at Kings Island and made similar remarks.

[72] Tom Sherer of the Sandusky Register praised Cedar Point's WindSeeker for having one of the best views of the park[73] and commented that it "isn't as extreme as a lot of people fear, unless you're afraid of heights.

[75] Another reviewer called the view from Knott's Berry Farm's version "simply breathtaking" and urged readers to "get a ride on it as soon as you can".