Leaderboard

You are right Le Monstre's layout is not that interesting but its massive structure and nostalgia make it interesting! I know it would be a wonderful and forceful ride if one day they go with RMC which apparently was supposed to happen a few years back but got cancelled! RMCing Le Monstre would be a way to put La Ronde back on the map!

We took a spontaneous visit up to La Ronde yesterday. It is actually the closest park to me as I live pretty near the NY-Quebec border, but I had never taken my coaster buddy, my 14 year old son, up there because... well... La Ronde. This was my first time in nearly 15 years too since no coasters had been built. The last time I went in was the year the SLC was moved there. This means that this was also my first time with Google Maps to lead the way. I remember being somewhat stressed out driving through the city and trying to navigate routes in French on a paper map, but this time it was a breeze. The only thing I found even a little confusing on the day was parking, but we figured that out fairly quickly and were in for rope drop on Sunday forecasted to be dry and in the mid 60s. Vampire - One of my strongest memories of La Ronde was how fast their Batman clone was running the last time we were there. I figured this wouldn't be the case when we hit it cold. We should have had the front seat, but as we went to kick off our crocs on the other side, a few others filtered in behind us and stole our spots. No one's fault, really. The station was empty other than us and we were on the other side of the train. They didn't come up until we had crossed over to kick our loose shoes off and couldn't have had any idea what row we had taken. Oh well. We moved to the back and HOLY BATMAN it was already hauling. I've ridden a bunch of these and never experienced one that moves like this one. We hadn't experienced anything yet, either. The very last thing we did before leaving at the end of the day was circling back to get our front row ride now that the thing was warmed up. After just waiting for a couple trains thanks to the light crowds and four wide, two train ops on this one, we did just that. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. That was one of the most aggressive rides on anything I have ever experienced. It was an absolute blast, but it was also incredibly painful! I have never had blood run to my feet with that intensity. I kept having to rub them together and move them around because they felt like they were going to straight up explode. Incredibly forceful. I do not know what La Ronde does or, maybe more likely given the rest of the place, doesn't do to their common Batman, but that thing is nuts. I couldn't have possibly gotten back on immediately. Just crazy. Toboggan Nordique - This Zamperla wild mouse had a pretty short line that we end up waiting 50 minutes in due to its horrendous capacity made a thousand times worse by the sleepwalking, low effort operations. It is a bad ride too. We had just ridden the same model earlier this summer at Morey's Piers and I am almost falling asleep trying to even write about it. I should have just waited on a bench and let my son go get the credit. These aren't painful or anything, just incredibly... nothing. Boring, I guess. Monstre - Oh boy. I actually had fond memories of this one. It was just so darn weird that I thought it was funny. Kind of like how a bad movie can be so bad that it becomes good, Monstre does so little with its enormous, two track frame that I remembered being entertained by the weirdness. That was a long time ago now, though, so I was curious to say the least. I let my son just the "parcours" (side), and he chose Parcours 2 while I got to make terrible dad jokes about how the line being a parkour course seemed a little unnecessary. A word that I would equally attach to my ride. It isn't that this thing is consistently rough, and yes the bizarre layout is still kind of amusing and still very dumb, but there are now a few serious lateral jolts that are hard to predict and don't agree with my back to say the least. We got off the ride and as I was about to send him to ride the other side by himself (both were operating with one train, but the lines were short), he announced it wasn't worth the credit and that he didn't want anything to do with it. Okay then. Goliath - This is why I finally came back. For all the faults of La Ronde, I have extremely great memories of this B&M not quite hyper. I truly loved this thing. It holds up too. After a marathon walk through the long, empty queue, we got a station wait accompanied by the "entertainment" of watching a trio of young, teenage boys keep trying to sneak back onto empty seats of each train while we waited. Two of them succeeded twice, but the third grabbed the seat of someone who was just off putting their stuff in the bin on accident, caused a scene, and got tossed. His buddies bailed with him when he couldn't try anymore after their last ride. Anyway, Goliath lived up to my memory. We ended up dubbing this thing "The Phoenix of Floater". It is a simple layout. Airtime hill, airtime hill, airtime hill, airtime hill, etc, with a turnaround in there in the middle. They all hit too. From our backseat, with me on the outside, I floated up and over every single hill, often for extended sequences too. Really great. If you like floater, you will love this B&M. If you want something more to your layout, you might be bored. I love floater and in fact really only ride for airtime at all, so this is in my sweetspot. Great ride. After our first ride, we grabbed some poutine next door, which was better than I would expect from Six Flags, and jumped right back into the backseat after. I was in the middle this time and did notice I got a little less sustained floater, while my son said the ride was much better on the outside too, but I still thought it was great. I could marathon Goliath forever. Dragon - I got a little lucky here, navigationally speaking. While my son was still eating, before we got back on Goliath, I decided to go check some nearby signs to see where Dragon was. It wasn't on the sign, so I figured somewhere else, but I did see a sign for some restrooms which I needed. I went back to my son, told him I would be a few minutes in the bathroom, and went to use them. I quickly found them attached to Dragon. Okay then. As for Dragon, my first takeway is maybe take a broom to all the immense cobwebs in the queue. Jeez. Second. after maybe a twenty minute wait, we lucked into the front seat by being the last ones held out of the station from the previous train. I didn't really remember this one and now I know why, but it is kind of cute, I guess. It is a powered coaster that drives you through a few indoor helixes and turns around a couple light up dragon statues, through a dragon's mouth, and back to the station accompanied by loud audio of dragons roaring and shooting fire. It is dated, but I often find that charming. I wouldn't wait very long for this, but with a short queue and my son needing the credit, I am glad we did. Also worth noting, the roaring is very loud even out in the queue. My two youngest, at least until my wife gives birth, are two year old twins. Not that they are tall enough anyway, but I could never get them on this thing as they stand now because they would be scared of the noise. It is a pretty aggressive sound for what ultimately is a kiddie coaster, which is interesting. Le Boomerang - I told my son I would not be riding the SLC after Monstre bothered my back a bit and tried to get him to just go get the credit, but he hates those things and refused without me. We weren't going to bother with the kiddie coaster and had already written off Monstre side one, so the Boomerang was all that remained. After another short wait that wasn't as short as it should have been due to slow operations, we boarded. This is one of the weirder ones for me. First, it barely even has a station. What is that thing? Second, I was scared of headbanging due to it still having the old, original, and terrible Vekoma boomerang trains. Put the vests on all of them, please. I am happy to report my fears were unfounded and I did not bang my head once. Unfortunately, they put on the goold old triangle wheels on this thing. It tracked terribly and was downright rough. I'll take that over the headbanging anyday and the ride wasn't absolutely awful or anything, but it was definitely the roughest Boomerang I have ridden from a wheels bouncing on the track perspective. Still fun though and as intense as always. After Le Boomerang, we circled back for our aforementioned front row Vampire ride and then exited the park for the slightly under two hour ride home. All in all, La Ronde wasn't too bad and we only needed about five hours to do what we wanted. Goliath and Vampire are great. Nothing else is really remarkable, but the crowds were light and the food we had was good. I don't speak French, but I generally find it easy now to navigate places not in a language I understand as I have done it a lot over the years many times now. Plus, even though they often seem to lack confidence and try to avoid using English, most everyone in the Montreal does speak it well enough if you need to address someone in English. I did have some issues staying connected to the GPS satellites on the way home for some reason, but we were lucky in the sense that it kept happening in long stretches of staying on the same road. Plus, once we crossed back into NY, we were literally on the road we live on anyway. 45 minutes down it through a few towns with a bunch of turns, but you can just follow the road number signs at that point. I recommend a visit to La Ronde if you have never been, but you probably won't want to go back just to go back. I'll be back when they finally break their drought someday (RMC MONSTRE PLEASE), or if/when my younger kids start credit whoring like us and need them. Until then, even though we go to Montreal from time to time, au revoir La Ronde. You might not be a very good park, but you're also not as bad as many make you out to be. One final caveat: My two previous trips, again over a decade ago, were full of the worst crowd behaviour I had ever seen at a park. It was more amusing than offensive to me as someone largely unbothered by what other people do, but if people cutting in line or in general being rude bothers you, you would not have enjoyed those trips to say the least. I don't think much as changed, sadly, based on other reports I have read or watched on Youtube over the years since then, but we had such surprisingly light Sunday crowds that we had no problems and only saw the things mentioned above.

Day 2 (part 2): Thorpe Park! We also went and did the "Ghost Train" - which I knew nothing about, but had been recommended by several park employees I had talked to. It's not really a "ride" but rather an experience - an interactive show, with some brilliant special effects and a set that "moves". . so it feels like you trapped on a train that's moving as crazy things happen. It was very cool and I loved it so much I bought multiple Magnets from it. . and was looking to buy a shirt for it (but they didn't have anything I really loved). for some strange reason, I don't have ANY pictures of this ride - I'm shocked myself. I know I was incredibly distracted (or as my friends call it "dickstracted") by a cute bear couple that was in the queue with us - which would explain why I have no pics of the outside of the ride. And you couldn't take pics during the experience. but still. . I'm truly surprised I don't have any pics. . LOL I think it was around this time, that (*I think) we got a message from Robb asking who wanted to ride the Tidal Wave as a group, and if so, meet by the ride. So a whole bunch of TPR folks got together, and our park guild got them to set aside a boat for TPR (plus one family who were added to the back row not realizing a completely full TPR boat was gonna be heavy and get a bigger splash) and off we went. COMPLETELY soaked. . like being dipped into a bathtub. . and I loved it. the following pics are all from either Robb or Andy, I believe: the aftermath. . posing in front of the next boat's splash. with time in the day running out, several of us headed to the last section of the park - seemed to be themed to a lost Jungle/ruins, to ride the flats over there: a giant swing, an Enterprise, a Flying Carpet, and a "claw" the swing was ok, but kind of underwhelming to me because a) the cycle was so short, and b) I've been on the tallest one at SWSA here in Texas. it was fun, but not exciting, if that makes sense. loved the theming over here tho. . .very, very green and "overgrown" looking, but with rides just popping up in the center of it. Zodiac is the Enterprise. the Flying Carpet went down while we were in queue for the Enterprise (had to wait for next cycle), so didn't get to ride that - think it was just too close to end of day for Maintenance to mess with it today . . but it framed Swarm very nicely for a picture I thought and the claw was also over here. see? I LOVE Enterprises (Robb just asked about who loves them on the TPR Facebook page) . . . this one didn't run a great cycle. . and it was really quick considering how long it took the one operator to get it loaded. . but any Enterprise is a fun Enterprise. it was so close to the end of night, that Stacey and I hit a store for shopping before heading back to the Pavilion to meet up with the group. no, I didn't buy this. . but I was VERY tempted. LOL.. if it hadn't been at the start of the trip and I was already worrying about suitcase space, prolly would have grabbed it. as we waited for the park to clear (and more importantly the Hyperia line to clear thru), we headed over to Swarm for our 1st ERT. apparently the theming is an alien invasion. . tho Thorpe park does seem to have a thing for wrecked planes (there were several of them thruout the park as theming. . LOL). but I loved this. and I was actually sorry I hadn't gone over here during the daytime, as I absolutely LOVED this B&M Flyer. my favorite ride in the park, and I think I rode every cycle of our ERT. glass smooth with an amazing diving first drop, and an inversion over/thru the station - which is themed to a bombed out Church. the inversion I mentioned, from inside the station the design of the trains is SO good. . this is the back of the row in front of us! Pic courtesy of Elissa, I believe (or possibly Robb) following pics courtesy of Elissa, Robb, or Andy: whee. . . front row! after 25 minutes or so at Swarm (and I think 9 rides), we headed as a group over to Hyperia. HAHAHAHAHA. . and I actually *did* get a pic of the front of Ghost Train as we walked past it. so good on me. . tho all closed up, doesn't look too exciting. and here is the main course. . ERT on Hyperia. after it had warmed up and was running amazing. Edit: D'oh!!! that's Kristen with her Dad (Robb) in the seats behind me in this pic! She looks so much like her Mom! So this pic must be courtesy of Elissa. I couldn't ride Hyperia over and over, as by the end of the day, it was a wee bit too intense for me (I kept having to tuck my shirt back in after riding)! . . . so I didn't do every cycle, but I did ride 2, then rest, then 2 then rest, then 2 - including last ride. so I THINK I got six rides on it at end of night during our ERT? but some in the group ride every dispatch. . . more power to em! and they look like they are having a blast! end of night pic with our park guides, and the crew. . thank you to Thorpe Park for an amazing day! Pic by Robb and then it was time to head back to the bus for the ride back to the hotel. I *believe* this stunning pic of Stealth during sunset is from Brad. and back on the bus. .everyone is happy. . . except for Robb's plushie. getting back to the hotel, several of us headed back over to WagaMama for dinner. . . not really recalling what this is, but I think Firecracker chicken & pasta? and Gyoza. . so good. and after filling up on Wagamama? back to the room to shower, and crash. we had another busy day tomorrow - checking out of Hotel and off to the next hotel. but along the way? Suprise Park! we were gonna visit LegoLand Windsor for a few hours, and ride their brand new "mini figure speedway" dueling coaster. hopefully won't take me a month for that next update!

Here is a trip report. The Giant Dipper was the first ride of the day we did and it had just one train operation. I did Wave Rider for the first time, where you sit in a roll out rug and slide feet down. It was pretty enjoyable. Surge, which came out this year, is a spinning ride that goes up, down, and sideways. I definitely enjoyed it. Dream Wheel, which also debuted this year, is a gondola like Ferris wheel. It's an open-air configuration that rotates, but it feels like you're stationary as much as you're in motion. The views are quite good, but overall it's just a so-so ride. I did Twirlin’ Teacups for the first time. This is a spinning ride where you control the spin. It's tame, but kind of fun. Lastly, I did Lighthouse Lift-Off for the first time. This one has a unique design. You determine the height of the ride by pulling on an attached rope and then can release it anytime, but for the best experience would want to release it at the top. You can do this multiple times. I liked it, especially for its different approach.

Hi Everyone! Wow...and I thought my homepark's thread was quiet! I'll have to liven it up a little bit! When it came to planning my NorCal trip I knew I wanted to hit CGA, and since I had a rental car and a Six Flags pass I decided I should do SFDK. When looking for what else to do in the area, and being a fan of independent parks in general, I decided to throw in the Boardwalk as a nice bonus. I figured it would be a nice way to kill a few hours before heading to the airport or after spending most of my day at CGA. I man did I regret planning it that way cause was I blown away by this place! I'll kick this off by saying: Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is the best park in Northern California. The whole place made me think of Knoebels, but at the beach! Which to me was like a perfect match! I love the old school feel of Knoebels, and the beach added a whole different atmosphere. I wish it was a little bigger, but the crazy multi-level-ness really added to both the unique-ness and the ride lineup. The star of the show is of course Giant Dipper. Now you here "Giant Dipper" and you think old wooden coaster (with Morgan trains), like REALLY old. And old wooden coasters are hit or miss. Some are fun, some are rough, some are just plain boring. To me though, Giant Dipper is hand's down the best coaster in NorCal and easily the best classic wooden roller coaster I've ridden. It beats out Phoenix, Racer, The Beast, Judge Roy, and Flying Turns for me. The best way for me to some it up is "They don't build 'em like that anymore...". It was totally out of control feeling from the minute we went into the tunnel to hitting the final breaks. I'm pretty sure that if I wanted too I could smack one of the support trusses at 40 mph those tolerances are so tight, and your just flying every which way in your seat. I would not call this ride "smooth" nor "rough", more like I don't know..."smough". It felt like a well cared for old school wooden coaster, lovingly cared for but still having the many engineering and construction imperfections of a ride built at that time and operating for so long. Some might find it uncomfortable, and I unfortunately ran out of time before I could grab a non-back row ride, but for what I like this is what I want in a wooden coaster like this! Oh yeah, they have a Maurer spinner called...uhhh...Underflow? (Check's rcdb) Undertow! Pretty standard family spinner, but my vote for best of it's type. I liked it better than Pandemonium or Sierra Sidewinder. On top of having an awesome wooden coaster, the Boardwalk has not one (but two!) awesome classic dark rides! Cave Train Adventure is a hilarious journey under the boardwalk into a black light filled city of cave men. I got a lot of laughs from this one! The Haunted Castle was a fun old-school haunted house, again on par with Knoebels. I think this one has a few more modern effects than the one at Knoebels, but same kinda of scary but also fun experience. I wanted to ride Logger's Revenge, since I'm a sucker for log flumes, but the long line and my limited time prevented me. I got some custard from a stand next to Haunted Castle (I think) and enjoyed that while watching the ocean. I know most of the vendors here are third party, but dang that was some good custard! And after a few hours my time was up... I really wish I had planned a full day for this park, or even had skipped SFDK and just come down to Santa Cruz for a night. There seemed like so much to do on the Boardwalk and the near by warf. I really REALLY liked this park, and it's probably the only one in NorCal that I legit want to go back to soon. It is a little spendy, but it's also in a resort area and I think it could have been much more expansive. But that's really it's only con in my book. Otherwise, Knoebels on the Beach? SIGN ME UP!!! And that concludes my little trip to NorCal, and my 2023 TR's! I don't have much planned other than a Florida trip this summer, so we'll have to see where I end up this year. See you guys all next time!