Skycoastin Steve Posted September 21, 2011 Author Share Posted September 21, 2011 I'm really taking too long to get these updates over with. Here's La Ronde. I don't have too much to say about La Ronde, other than it might be the worst park in North America. It has a beautiful setting ruined by filth, crappy employees, and slow operations. As usual, I had a great time there thanks to TPR, but I can pretty much imagine how much I would hate life if I went there on my own. The only real redeeming qualities of the park were the Batman clone, Goliath, crepes, and the fact that they sold liquor at drink stands! It's the only place I've been where you can get a Jack and Coke at a theme park, so they got an A+ from me on that one. Goliath made it above Nitro on my list of B&M hypers (even though it's shorter than 200 feet, we'll still call it a hyper), but below the rest of them (which isn't a knock on Goliath, the rest are just awesome). Overall, it's in my top 20 steel. If I remember correctly, the back had better airtime than the front, which seems to be the case for most B&M hypers. The return run in the back row was especially good, your butt hardly hits the seat! Anyway, onto the pics, please comment! Thanks for reading! Full batch of pics can be found on facebook here. As you can see, La Ronde is settled on an island in the middle of a river. We got to park in a super secret parking lot behind Le Monstre. You know you're in French Canada when...... High voltage en Francais! The cereal themed monorail. The way Six Flags themes their rides is brilliant! B&M mini-hyper. Yes. It's the credit roller coaster! It has twisty bits of airtime. Le Crap-stre. Oh Mondieu, it's all in French! This was actually a good wild mouse. What's the French word for "disgusting"? Hello Hans! Why yes, yes I am American! Oh, there's a back to your shirt.........Nope! Not nice at all! Gravy and cheese curds on fries. Odd but tasty. Like I said, full bar in a theme park. For the ultimate win! Best indoor coaster ever? You roll into a dragon's mouth and he poops you out into the station! An S&S tower that doesn't launch to the top. I gotta say, what's the point? La Ronde's "new hotness," a used SLC. It pretty much hurt just like every other SLC. Almost seems as if it was sitting in a field for five years before it came to La Ronde...... Nice ride sign, though. Vekoma corkscrew, this actually wasn't as bad as everyone thought it would be, but it was still boring. Ugh, the stand up looms over there in the corner of the park. But it's time to ride the Batman clone first! I can get artsy, even in French Canada. MISTYYYYYY, THE RIDE IS MISTYYYYY, WEEEEEEE!!!!!! This was definitely the best Batman clone I've been on, and I honestly don't even like Batman clones that much. LOOP DE LOOP! Twisty piece of track, I just thought it looked cool with the blue sky. I'm also a photography dork in case you didn't know. "Excuse me while I kick the sky!" beeeer-neeer-neer, ba-neer-neer-NEER, ber-neer-NEER!!! Crappy Canadian beer and the park flag. Is it just me or does this cobra look FABulous?? The overgrown weeds really give this ride lots of charm. If you could get inside the brains of everyone on this train, they would all be praying for a quick death rather than finish the ride. More overgrown weeds, this place should win Best Landscaping instead of BGW! At least you get a nice view of this beautiful bridge from the Flash Pass queue of Cobra. OUI! ALLONS-Y! Kinda disappointed the tower says "Pizza Pizza," and not "Le Pizza Pizza." Looking at this picture, you wouldn't think the park was gross! And there was a nice little marina behind the park. Doesn't quite stack up to the one at CP, but it's nice. Yeah why don't we just go ride that one again? Ya know, I wonder if when we keep saying "weeee!!!" on all these rides, if the French Canadians wonder why the crazy Americans keep saying "yesssss!!!" on the rides. Crepe time! Délicieux! Random art at the front gate. When your debt goes up, your score downs down, when you pay a little off it goes the other way 'round..... It's just the same for everybody, every boy and girl, the credit roller coaster makes you wanna hurl! So throw your hands in the air and wave 'em around like a wanna be frat boy tryin' to get down..... Then bring 'em right back to where your laptop's at, Log on to freecreditreport.com stat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jojo19799 Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Thank you Steve, I now want a crepe. The Nutella, banana and strawberry one that I had was oh so delicious. La Ronde wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. Nice park, but crappy operations like most have said. If they ever build a new coaster, then I'll consider visiting again. But for now, I want to stay far away from French Canadia as possible. They're so primitive there, our hotel didn't have electricity but we had water, oh yeah and tons of alcohol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skycoastin Steve Posted September 21, 2011 Author Share Posted September 21, 2011 ^They better build Leviathan 2.0 there if they want me to go back. I think my crepe was banana, vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream, and it was amazing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hilltopper39 Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 For a park that seemed like a pretty decent place to pick up a bunch of credits all the reports from the NE Trip make me really not want to visit, which is a shame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skycoastin Steve Posted September 21, 2011 Author Share Posted September 21, 2011 ^If you wanted to pick up all the credits, I would recommend a Gold Flash Pass. And even then, there's no guarantee you'll get them all in one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paiging_jen Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Vekoma corkscrew, this actually wasn't as bad as everyone thought it would be, but it was still boring. Best part of the ride by far was the ride op doing the restraint check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperShawn Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 ^ was that the op doing the tip toe strut walk? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paiging_jen Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 ^ was that the op doing the tip toe strut walk? The one and only! Neil does a great impersonation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperShawn Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 Neils impression was priceless which makes me sad I missed the actual op doing it. I'd say the highlight of that park for me was the dragon coaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jojo19799 Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 ^ was that the op doing the tip toe strut walk? The one and only! Neil does a great impersonation. Very true. He was doing it during DSB and I nearly peed myself. Oh and I saw the scariest drag show video. Edit: Now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure Neil and I greeted each other at DSB by walking on our tip toes saying "check". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSchwitek Posted September 21, 2011 Share Posted September 21, 2011 I was also fortunate enough to see Neil's amazing restraint check re-enactment at DSB. It was spectacular. La Ronde is a very strange park. I was there a couple weeks after the TPR trip and actually got on all the coasters, but it took nearly all day. The Freecreditreport.com: Exceeded expectations. 600th coaster. The French Attack: A used SLC. No more to say. The Pooping Dragon: A pooptastic good time. The Monsters: Old, unexciting wood. The Super Nicki Minaj: Decent, but looked like it came from a carnival. The Toboggan Mouse: Its a mouse. The Millapede Kiddie: Boring. El Boomerango: I actually loved these when I was a kid. Batman The Vampire: Solid ride. Queen Cobra: This ride looked like it was in an undeveloped country section of the park. Keep the pictures coming dawg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skycoastin Steve Posted September 22, 2011 Author Share Posted September 22, 2011 ^I'm glad you at least got to meet up with Neil at DSB, he's close to taking away your spot as my favorite male coaster enthusiast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David H Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 ^If you wanted to pick up all the credits, I would recommend a Gold Flash Pass. And even then, there's no guarantee you'll get them all in one day. I got really lucky on my quick visit this year. And by quick, I mean just over an hour, although that wasn't the intention. I planned a nice layover in Montreal on the way back from Europe at the end of July. I should have gotten there early in the afternoon, had most of the day to spend at La Ronde, and still had time for dinner and some clubbing before heading home to Boston the next morning for work. But then Air Canada canceled the only direct flight to Montreal that day (and rebooked me for a flight the next day that would have actually arrived an hour AFTER my connecting flight home!) So, I had to decide whether it was still worth it to stop in Montreal, if I was going to lose about 4 hours, since I'd have to connect in Toronto (flying right over Montreal on the way!) But once I have something in my head, I make it happen, so I stuck with it. That was gonna leave me like 2-3 hours tops for La Ronde. But luckily, I'd already been there several times, and Goliath was my main reason for going. Then of course, my flight was late, AND I JUST missed the bus from the airport AND the subway AND the bus to La Ronde from my hotel -- all of them by a minute or two! The good news was that I was able to check my suitcase at the airport, so I could make do with a backpack and not have to lug the suitcase around the city! The bad news was that I only ended up with around 80 minutes at La Ronde. All I could hope was that they were dead and that I might be able to get 2-3 rides on Goliath for my troubles. Luckily, the park was DEAD. And by dead, I mean maybe a 1-2 train wait tops for Goliath. 10-15 minutes for Le Monstre, but only because they were only running one train on one side -- and loading it slowly, at that. Even with only only 80 minutes at the park, I still managed around 6 rides on Goliath (and that's with having to walk all the way around every time, even when the station was empty!) and a ride on Le Monster. And that was on a Friday at the end of July! If I'd gotten there maybe 2 hours earlier, I could have most likely ridden all the coasters in the park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PKI Jizzman Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 I was also fortunate enough to see Neil's amazing restraint check re-enactment at DSB. It was spectacular. . Hahaha I remember that and now see what you're talking about hahaha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
traincrossin Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 How did I miss this tip toe walk checky thing?! Gotta say I was disappointed with La Ronde. Some parts of the park looked great and taken care of, but the rest was full of overgrown weeds. Anyone remember the flash pass line for Cobra? It didn't even seem like a path. Great pics Steve! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jojo19799 Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 ^Patrick, it was pretty easy to spot, you really couldn't miss it. I have the urge to walk around my office on my tipy toes now saying "check". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supertrooper Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 I didn't see it either, Patrick...and my Flash Pass group consisted of guys that definitely would have noticed. Maybe he was on break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jojo19799 Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 I wonder if Neil would record a video of his impression of "tippy toe check guy" and post it in the thread. That would be amazing. I'd just like to say that the ONLY good thing about La Ronde (besides the alcohol and crepes) was that their boomerang was closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skycoastin Steve Posted September 22, 2011 Author Share Posted September 22, 2011 ^Somebody had a video of it, I want to say it was uploaded on facebook. Edit! Antonio has it on his facebook if you want to look for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrisrad Posted September 22, 2011 Share Posted September 22, 2011 Perfect review for LEEE Ronde. If it weren't for the incompetent, lazy employees, lack of gardening, and a seemingly non-existant maintenance/paint/custodial crew, it would be a neat park. It just seems that there are different expectations up there.. Also, freecreditreport.com reference FTW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skycoastin Steve Posted September 23, 2011 Author Share Posted September 23, 2011 Moving right along, it's time to get back in the good ole U-S-of-A. The last official day of the trip was a stop by The Great Escape in upstate New York, and also a bonus credit whoring run that would turn out to be the most epic credit whore stop.......maybe ever. But sticking with Great Escape for now, I actually REALLY liked the park, which made me feel dirty since I loathe Six Flags so much. The Six Flags was apparent in many ways, yet it seems the park has resisted getting fully "flagged" so far. There was beautiful landscaping all over, lots of charm left over from the Storytown days, and it just didn't "feel" like a Six Flags park in several areas of the park. However, it still had the slow operations that plague most SF properties, but that didn't matter too much since the park wasn't overly crowded. As for the rides, Comet was most definitely the best coaster in the park. I will say that it didn't quite live up to my expectations, but I still thought it was one of the best traditional out and back coasters I've been on. Once it warmed up during the day, the airtime in the front row was fantastic, and the back row even had some good spots of airtime (as they typically don't as much on out and backs). I will say that one of the drops coming out of a turn around nearly ended my day during ERT when I rode in the very back, as it jackhammered enough to make my lower spine feel like someone has smacked it with a sledge hammer. It took me a little while to recover from that one. Besides that one drop, it was pretty smooth all around. None of the other coasters were really that noteworthy. There was an Arrow mine train (boring), a Boomerang (typical), a kiddie coaster, a rather painful Intamin bobsled, and probably the most painful Arrow loop-screw I've ever been on. The log flume was pretty fun, and we got blasted by fellow TPR members on the water cannons (bastards!). The rest of the stuff I can cover in captions. Here come the pics, and as always, my full album is here. Comments are very much appreciated, thanks for reading! Whoa, nice sign. This can't be a Six Flags property, can it? Whoa, nice entrance. This can't be a Six Flags property, can it? Time for Comet ERT! Um, Gary, the ride is over, you can put your hands down. Neil gives Comet two thumbs up. Or is he giving me two thumbs up? That electrified wood will get ya every time! This is the proper time to have your hands up, Gary. Jen, Neil, and Garbels look like they are about to have a good time. Piers looks like he is about to puke. Jen, Neil, and Garbels looks like they are having a good time. Piers looks like he is about to puke. Full hour of ERT rocks! I swear we need a caption contest for this one. "I hear he likes to handle big wood." Intamin doesn't always make awesome rides...... Kinda hurt. Apparently this was on its way out, but has had an 11th hour stay of execution. There was still a lot of Storyland stuff left over that Six Flags hasn't razed to the ground yet. Alice in Bondage-land? This creeped me out, and I was on a trip with 90 TPR members! 350th credit! With Ice Bat! Sources have confirmed that this Cinderella's castle is indeed larger than the one at Disneyland. Arrow mine trains always bring the pain! Um............. Yep, coat hanger engineering at its finest. Time for the Arrow loop-screw. Not sure if I've ever ridden one that didn't hurt. But they always take nice pictures! The log flume with the incomplete name. Ok, who made the itinerary with all the boomerangs?? I don't think this one was horrible, but it's hard to remember with all the boomerang carnage that was going on during this trip. One thing I did love about this trip was the abundance of S&S towers. Google Earth was there! We rode the Skycoaster, my 9th credit on those! The two of them were shaking in their boots. But getting a Skycoaster credit with Skycoastin Steve is worth the fear! Jen already has a few with me, but it never hurts to get another one. Manly pose on a Skycoaster, pretty much as badass as it gets. Honey badger isn't even as badass as that. Time for a few bonus shots of Comet. The GP doesn't go hands up like we do. As I said, a high-quality classic coaster. Not the greatest, but still tons of fun! Trannies on the Musik Express??? We're both Sasquatches, so this picture made sense. Bonus credit run! Little did we know what horrors awaited us...... Santa in August? Early Christmas?? Score! Well I guess we ARE in New York. Words, I have none. Doesn't this technically mean the fry dude is eating himself??? This kinda looks like one of those Wii characters. Pedo clown? I'll have to invent a new word for the creepiness exhibited here. At least the kids get to drive tanks! Astronauts. Of all the things we rode, this might have scared me the most. Apparently the coaster missed its lunch break today, as evidenced by the video below....... Success! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 Pretty sure that Arrow Mine Train was the roughest of any mine train I've ever been on. It just proceeded to repeatedly kick your ass in every direction. Ouch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon8899 Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 I kinda like the Intamin Swiss-Bob far mor than the ordinary bob-trains - yes they bang a little into the blockbreaks but the single cars give a far more accurate bob feeling. Believe me I've ridden a real bob down an ice-canal at Winterberg - still unsure if real bobsled rides are a credit.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skycoastin Steve Posted September 23, 2011 Author Share Posted September 23, 2011 Pretty sure that Arrow Mine Train was the roughest of any mine train I've ever been on. It just proceeded to repeatedly kick your A$$ in every direction. Ouch! My vote for the roughest I've been on goes to the one at SFGAd, but this one was definitely up there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSchwitek Posted September 23, 2011 Share Posted September 23, 2011 This kinda looks like one of those Wii characters. Viewed 33 times Did this guy get a new paint job since I was there last year, or were there multiple Wii characters roaming around the park? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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