booink

Good news came in today! La Ronde has confirmed that Vipère (Green Lantern) is cancelled. According to this article (in french) https://www.narcity.com/fr/montreal/la-ronde-donne-des-nouvelles-de-la-montagne-russe-vipere-qui-devait-ouvrir-en-2020 Translation by me:

^Despite what the website says, Le Monstre has been open for most of the summer. My last visit was in late August and it was open. So unless something happened recently that I'm not aware of, you should be able to ride it.

Good to hear that you had a good time and that Le Monstre was running well! I have been dreading this coaster in the last few years, perhaps I will give it another chance next time I go.

I have no way of confirming this (I don't work at the park nor do I know anyone that does... pure speculation on my part). I believe that Le Monstre has been closed the last two years because of COVID restrictions, not because of poor maintenance. It had actually started to run fairly reliably again in the last few years before the pandemic hit. I think they're keeping it closed because the capacity of the PTC trains is only 20 riders per train at best, and they usually ran a single train per track, alternating dispatches to lower stress on the structure, so the capacity was atrocious. If they were to run it with an empty row in-between rows of riders, the capacity would be 5-10 people per train. The lines would be insane. However, I wouldn't care if it was demolished and I would love if it was converted to an RMC, (a man can dream). I used to like Le Monstre, but as you stated its new trains ruined it.

It's hard to say, they have not announced anything regarding closed rides this year. Last year there was a list of rides closed for the season on their website, but the list is gone now. If I had to guess, Le Monstre will probably stay closed again for the year, which is fine with me, it sucks with its PTC trains.

It could be worst, imagine if Vipère was also opening The canadian-american border is still closed though, so La Ronde will have to do (for me) for the moment...

The Ferris Wheel at the Great Escape is possibly one. Someone in the GE thread noticed it disappeared from the park's website late last year.

^Yes, I believe they also received all of the track, supports and cars, and they already started to repaint the track. At this point they might as well finish the project when they'll have the funds, instead of leaving an unfinished concrete slab over there.

^I think the main complaint is that they removed another coaster when there was already space available elsewhere to build it (Cobra's old spot, near the Batman clone if you're not familiar with the park). Imo this location is a good move because Super Manège was a rough, dated ride, it looked horrible in its last few years and it sat in a very busy part of the park, whereas Cobra's old location is tucked away in a corner where nobody went. So they get to fix an area of the park prime and center that really needed some TLC in the process.

It will be installed where Super Manège used to sit, between Le Monstre and Chaos (Larson Loop). I posted a pic of what the construction site looks like a few months ago. As for "Are they removing a superior ride", I guess that's a matter of opinion . Personally, I wasn't fond of Super Manège, I did not ride Green Lantern at SFMM but I'm aware of its reputation... I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt until I get to see it for myself. Hopefully they fix it and it runs like the Zacspins in Europe.

Green Lantern haters rejoice, looks like Vipère won't be opening in 2021 They only posted the message in french on their Facebook page, but it says (roughly, translation by me):

I got to go to La Ronde yesterday for the first time this year (and it will probably be the only park I will visit this year considering the Canada/USA border is closed indefinitely), so here's a small update for the park, although if you follow Screamscape, very little of this will be new to you The COVID measures are the same as in other Six Flags parks and very similar to other non-six flags parks as well, so there isn't much to discuss on that matter. Many rides are closed this year due to COVID related reasons: Minirail, Spirale, Aqua Twist, Catapulte, Dragon, Bateau Pirate, Monstre and two kiddie rides. If Screamscape is to be believed, Spirale might never reopen, which honestly wouldn't surprise me at all as it's been more closed than open in the recent years, I don't think it even operated at all in 2019. Vipère is postponed to 2021 and its construction hasn't continued since the last pictures I posted here in March. They also started to repaint the track pieces in lime green and they look fantastic. They are in a restricted area so I don't have any pictures of them, but there are a few on Screamscape. So if the coaster's issues aren't fixed and it ends up sucking as much as it did at SFMM, at least it'll look a lot better than Super Manège .

Here are the missing sign pictures for Gravitor and Aquatwist at La Ronde : And another small update, Super Manège permanently closed in 2019

Not much to see yet but construction has started on Green Lan Vipère (sorry for the not-so-great picture, the sidewalk on Jacques-Cartier bridge isn't open yet)

^Nice to have a confirmation of Outlaw's location, up until now I couldn't see where they would fit it in. I'm also glad that they'll fix the animatronics in the Plunge, they all seemed to be broken in the last few years and it looked pretty depressing. Blizzard's dome being repainted is great news as well.

^After reading the article, I am under the impression that they will let the park build the ride but they will have to do a bunch of studies afterwards to check for noise and environment. Now I don't live in the area, but how loud can (maximum) 8 people scream for Glen Lake residents to be able to hear them? Sounds like these guys weren't against the location of the ride, they just hate the ride in general.

I haven't seen it for myself, but my brother crossed Jacques-Cartier Bridge recently and told me that they started digging a big ditch for the foundations of the ride. I'll try to get some pictures eventually but it'll have to wait a bit as the sidewalk on the bridge is closed during the winter, and it's pretty much the only good spot from which we can get pictures of the construction outside of the park itself (and anything interesting will probably be covered in snow anyway).

^It seems like there is a model available that is 40 meters high (roughly 130 feets), which would respect the height limit. Vomatron on the manufacturer's website. If it isn't too late for TGE to modify their order maybe this could be a good compromise.

^I hope they will be able to reach a compromise, Ghost Town desperately needs this new ride. Obviously regulations are regulations but considering ADK Outlaw is basically just a long, thin arm I'm having a hard time seeing how it would be such an annoyance to local residents, from Glenn Lake they would probably barely be able to see it.

As La Ronde is (somewhat) close to my university, I took some time off my notebooks this afternoon to photograph everyone's favorite coaster :

Super Manège is gone and they installed a big sign to advertise the new ride next to where it will stand. I've also seen on pictures on other forums that they have received some track pieces and cars, but as these pictures aren't mine I won't share them here. I'll try to go get some myself later this week.

I hope the rumor is true, IMO The Super Manege isn't the worst coaster in the park considering how much Le Monstre sucks with its PTC trains, but its area looks very depressing and the coaster itself is in a desperate need of a coat of paint, which I think will never happen. Considering La Ronde improved the surroundings of every new ride they added in the recent years, a new attraction replacing this coaster - whatever it is - plus a bit of new concrete and paint would be great. There used to be a waterpark at La Ronde in the 90's (before Six Flags bought the park), but it has been gone for more than 20 years. I'm not sure why it was removed (a little bit of research would probably give you the answer) but I would guess the venture wasn't worth it considering there are at least 3 other water parks within a 1 hour drive from La Ronde. Not my picture, it was taken from La Ronde's timeline on Facebook

They don't, usually it's only open on busier days ; considering you said you were going on Wednesay, it might be open considering it'll be a fireworks day. If the parking at the back of the park is open then the back entrance also is, so assuming you're going to the park by car try to go as far as possible once you enter the front parking, and eventually there'll be a sign that tells you to park at the front if the back parking lot is closed on that day.

I might just have been lucky, but in the last two years I'd say, I've been to La Ronde several times where the lines were fairly manageable even on days where I expected crowds. However it is probable that there will be more people on a Wednesday, especially in the evening, as it's a fireworks day. It is also true that if you go right at the opening you will have to wait in line for a while to get in the park, so unless you're pressed by time or really want to spend a lot of time at the park I would suggest you to wait one or two hours after opening to go. I showed up midday and had to wait 2 hours to get in the park. I have photos to prove it. I learned later in the day they had a back entrance too. Is that one less busy? The back entrance is not always open, but when it is, it's definitely less crowded than the front entrance. As a bonus, if you park in the back parking lot you also get great photo ops of Goliath

I might just have been lucky, but in the last two years I'd say, I've been to La Ronde several times where the lines were fairly manageable even on days where I expected crowds. However it is probable that there will be more people on a Wednesday, especially in the evening, as it's a fireworks day. It is also true that if you go right at the opening you will have to wait in line for a while to get in the park, so unless you're pressed by time or really want to spend a lot of time at the park I would suggest you to wait one or two hours after opening to go.