Canada's Wonderland- May 23rd, 2018

Today, Scott, our Mom, and I made our third visit of the season to Canada's Wonderland. After spending a great weekend at La Ronde, it was nice to be back "home". The weather was nice and sunny, with the temperature not too warm, but warm enough to ride some water rides such as White Water Canyon and Timber Wolf Falls. The park also was not busy, so we had gotten on many of the rides. Of interest, today had marked exactly 37 years ago that Canada's Wonderland had opened.

Below are photos of the great day we had, so be sure to check them out! :-)

It was nice to be back at Canada's Wonderland on this sunny and warm late-May day.

Today we had happened to capture the amazing landscaping crew setting up the Canadian floral flag on International Street for another season.

Last time I had mentioned that Spinovator's center had received a repaint. Since our last visit to the park a couple weeks ago, they had added this interesting centerpiece to top it off. It looks quite nice.

In the morning we had rode White Water Canyon a couple of times. By the time the afternoon had rolled around, the sun was out, making it quite hot at the park. So, Scott and I decided to take a ride on Timberwolf Falls to cool down. 

Unfortunately Riptide was constantly down today. But, I did happen to notice they it had received some very nice restraint covers this year.

The blossoms were fully out on the trees around the park. Since it was slightly breezy at times, they were blowing onto the ground and into the water around the park. Here is the waterfalls in front of Timberwolf Falls, which is quite beautiful and serene at times like this.

Here is a look at Vortex through the tree branches.

Far off in the distance you could see visitors enjoying a ride on the Mighty Canadian Minebuster!

Since it was a nice day, construction for Canada's Wonderland's next surprise was well underway!

Here is a special SledgeHammer update for one of my readers! Unfortunately SledgeHammer was still closed, but at least it was put back together since our last visit. I am hoping it will be up and operating by our next visit!

After an amazing day at Canada's Wonderland, we decided to call it a day and head home!

On our way to the exit, we checked in on the progress of the landscaping crew. The floral Canadian flag was almost complete! Thanks for taking a look of our great day at Canada's Wonderland! Happy 37th anniversary, Canada's Wonderland! :-)

La Ronde- May 19th and 20th, 2018

Over the Victoria Day Long weekend, my Mom and I ventured to Montreal to visit La Ronde for the first time! We arrived in Montreal on Friday May 18th and visited La Ronde on May 19th and 20th.

During our first day at La Ronde (season opening day), the crowds were light due to the great chance of rain, which allowed me to get on many rides before the rain had arrived around 4pm. Also, that day, I had gotten my first ever Six Flags Gold pass processed which will come into great use later this season! On Sunday, the crowds were a little heavier as it was mostly sunny and quite warm. Throughout Sunday, I was able to re-ride many of the rides and coasters that I had rode the previous day. Also on Sunday afternoon, I had met up with a fellow amusement park enthusiast, Marc. We rode rides and discussed amusement parks up until the park closed for the evening. Now, on to the photos of our trip!

We arrived bright and early for our first visit to La Ronde. The park opened at 10:30am that day. Here we are waiting for the parking lot to open.

From the Village parking lot at La Ronde, you can get some great views of Goliath, a B&M hyper coaster.

Here is a look at Goliath's lift hill and first drop from the parking lot.

Here is a look at La Ronde's second entrance, the Village entrance.

Here is La Ronde's gondola wheel, the Grande Roue. It is a Giant Wheel manufactured by Vekoma of the Netherlands. It has been offering visitors great views of the park since 1984.

A view of Goliath's first drop through the trees!

During our trip, we discovered that the Red-Winged Blackbirds were quite aggressive in Quebec. We were swarmed by many on Friday and Saturday! Here is one jumping down from a barrier in the parking lot.

While waiting for the park to open, I took this creative shot of the entrance looking through the side mirror of my car.

La Ronde had some very nice landscaping, especially in front of the back entrance.

Nearing opening time, Goliath began to go through some test runs. 

After the park opened for the day, I had rode Goliath, making it my first ride of he day and at La Ronde. It is a roller coaster with a ton of airtime. Manufactured by B&M, Goliath has been operating at La Ronde since 2006. It stands 174.8 feet tall, making it the tallest coaster at the park. My Mom had captured this photo while I was riding Goliath.

After riding Goliath, we began to head in the direction of the Season Pass Processing Centre. Along the way, I managed to get on a couple of rides. Here I am on Demon.

The Demon is a phenomenal thrill ride manufactured by Mondial. While a used ride, the Demon came to La Ronde in 2014.

Being a "Roll Over" model, the Demon flips and holds passengers upside down on many different angles throughout the duration of the ride.

After riding the Demon, and the all-new for 2018, Tourbillon, we went and got our passes processed. After a short wait at the season pass processing centre, we were on our way to more rides once again! Somewhere up there way up high, I am up there on the Vol Ultime, a 148 foot tall Star Flyer manufactured by Funtime.

After a ride on Vol Ultime, it was time to take another sky high ride, this time on the Orbite. The Orbite manufactured by S&S, launches passengers 192 feet upwards upwards in a matter of just seconds. It has been operating at the park since 1999. If you look closely, you may be able to see me on there!

After riding Orbite, I went right to Disco Ronde, a classic HUSS Breakdance ride which has been operating at the park since 1986. As the ride operates, heat pounding music plays to complete the overall ride experience. If you enjoy rides that spin, this one is for you! While on the Disco Ronde, my Mom had captured this photo.

After riding the Disco Ronde, I then went to Vampire, a rather forceful and enjoyable inverted coaster manufactured by B&M.

After riding Vampire, I went next door to Titan, a Zamperla Giant Discovery Frisbee ride. Here is a view of the impressive entrance to the ride. 

After getting on many more rides and attractions around the park, we decided to take a relaxing ride on the Mini Rail, an original attraction that dates back to the days of Expo 67, which turned into La Ronde the following year.

The Mini Rail travels around the park, giving passengers a nice view of the park. Monstre, the park's wooden coaster stands tall in this photo.

Here is a view of Ednör - L'Attaque from the Mini Rail, the park's Vekoma SLC which has been operating at La Ronde since 2010.

Here is a nice close-up view of the Toboggan Nordique from the Mini Rail.

Also from the Mini Rail, I was able to get a view of the Gravitor, a Chance Falling Star ride added to the park in 2016 in the Adventure Avenue section. The Gravitor goes back and forth before going over the top, giving riders a sense of airtime! The Gravitor had originally operated at Six Flags St. Louis until 2015 as the "Rush Street Flyer".

Here is a view of the classic Condor, another one of many rides from the HUSS collection. The Condor takes passengers on an 88 foot high spinning adventure while giving passengers a nice view of La Ronde.

Here's a look at the Demon while taking a relaxing ride on the Mini Rail.

Before arriving at the station located at the park of the park, the train on the Mini Rail slowed down. It allowed me to get a perfect shot of passengers enjoying an exhilarating and airtime filled ride on Goliath before hitting the final brake run.

After taking a ride on the Mini Rail and boarding a few of the other rides, I headed over to La Ronde's original looping coaster, the Super Manège. This coaster, manufactured by Vekoma has been operating at La Ronde since 1981, flipping passengers upside down, not once but twice through its corkscrew inversions. If you look closely, you can see me riding up front as the train headed down the first drop. It surprisingly gave a decent ride with a bit of unexpected amounts of airtime.

After riding Super Manège, I ventured over to Boomerang. The Boomerang was one of the first Boomerang model coasters manufactured by Vekoma when it had opened in 1984. It unfortunately has not aged too well over the years, giving a somewhat uncomfortable ride. Thankfully, the Bat at Canada's Wonderland (opened 1987), the same ride model, had aged much better than the Boomerang at La Ronde. I am somewhere on the Boomerang when this photo was captured.

After riding the Boomerang, I rode the Manitou. This ride, manufactured by Zamperla provides a swinging and spinning ride while seated facing inwards. Manitou opened at La Ronde in 2003.

Here is a back view of me on the Toboggan Nordique, La Ronde's wild mouse coaster. The Toboggan Nordique was manufactured by Zamperla and opened ta the park in 2003.

Up next was a ride on Le Monstre! As Canada's longest wooden coaster (both tracks of 3,996.1 ft and 4,025.6 ft in length, respectively) and Canada's only dueling wooden coaster, Le Monstre provides an excellent and amazingly smooth ride as the train races along the track through the tangled wooden structure. Backseat rides are truly amazing on this underrated wooden coaster that dates back to 1985 and 1986!

Here is the Phoenix, a Flying Scooter ride manufactured by Larson. It is located in the Avenue Adventure section of the park.

La Ronde's new for 2018 attraction is the Tourbillon. It is an awesome new version of the Tilt-A-Whirl which spins a lot more than the older models which were manufactured originally by Sellner Manufacturing. The Tilt-A-Whirl is now manufactured by Larson. Since I am a huge fan of Tilt-A-Whirl rides, I greatly enjoyed it! 

The blue train on Le Monstre can be seen here racing along the twisted wooden track.

Unfortunately the Spirale was closed all throughout the weekend during our visits. It would have provided a great view of the park, but it unfortunately was not ready for the season just yet. The Spirale is reported to rise 330 feet in the air as the observation cabin rotates up the tower, providing a panoramic view of La Ronde from high above. The Spirale was manufactured by Von Roll and dates back to 1967.

After getting a ride on La Ronde's indoor roller coaster, Dragon, the rain began to come down quite steadily. Luckily, the crowds were light on opening day, so I was able to ride a lot of rides before the heavy rain had arrived. After this photo was captured, we had left for the evening even though the rides were still operating in the pouring rain. It was great first day!

Our second day at La Ronde started out somewhat cloudy, which kept the crowds away. On Sunday, the park opened at 11am, so we had waited a while before we were let in.

Once the park had opened for the day, we were greeted by this large interesting sculpture which is located at the front entrance. 

At La Ronde's main entrance, there were two large water fountains lining the pathway which had two fountains in both. Interestingly enough, they sort of looked like swimming pools. I guess that is why the park had put a "no swimming" sign on them.  ;-)

Along the fountains were some beautiful tulips.

At the front entrance of La Ronde is a very large map.

As we were waiting for the rides to open for the day, I noticed that the former log flume's lift hill, La Pitoune was still standing. I was informed that it will be left there as a memorial to commemorate the former iconic ride as it was an original attraction of Expo 67 and had operated there for 49 years.

Here is a view of Vampire before it had opened for the day. It was manufactured by B&M and is a clone of the other "Batman" model coasters at other Six Flags Parks. What makes it unique from the other "Batman" model coasters is that it is mirrored. It provides a very forceful ride along its compact track as it sends you head-over-heels five times.

Here is Vertigo, a ride manufactured by Zamperla that loops upside down many times. It hadn't quite opened yet for the day at the time of this photo.

Here is one of the two trains on Vampire sending passengers through a corkscrew inversion. I made Vampire my first ride of the day. It sure got my blood flowing!

Here is Vertigo operating. Just like any Zamperla Hawk, it has some nice looping and hangtime action!

Here is Titan in full swing against the cloudy sky!

Gravitor is a nice flat ride for thrill seekers of all ages.

Passengers also get flipped upside down for a total of five times on Ednör - L'Attaque. This coaster began its life at the former Six Flags AstroWorld as "Serial Thriller" when it debuted in 1999. Once the park closed in 2005, it was then shipped to Great Escape in New York where it was stored until it was then shipped to La Ronde where it opened in 2010. While Vekoma SLC's are notorious for being rough, Ednör - L'Attaque gave a decent ride with little to no discomfort.

While it was too cool to ride water rides this time of our visit in my opinion, some visitors of La Ronde took the plunge on Le Splash, a splash boat ride. It definitely provides a soaking experience!

In the mid-afternoon, the clouds had cleared and made way for a nice sunny day for the remainder of our visit. Here is the Carousel which is located near the front entrance of La Ronde.

This photo showcases some of the original theming of the park from the days of Expo 67. Fort Edmonton was a rather interesting section of La Ronde. It felt like an old western town. 

Here is another view of Fort Edmonton at La Ronde.

Looking from Fort Edmonton, you can see the lake which is in the middle of La Ronde. The Grande Rue, Catapult, and Ednör - L'Attaque line the edge of it, making it rather picturesque.

Here is a closer look at the Ednör - L'Attaque which goes over a portion of the lake.

Orbite may be small in comparison to the other power tower rides out there, but it still packs a punch!

Marc had eventually arrived at La Ronde by mid-afternoon. Since he had to go to the Season Pass Processing Centre to activate his dining pass, my Mom and I waited nearby. While we waited, I happened to notice that the sign for the park's former stand-up coaster was still up behind a fence. The Cobra had operated at La Ronde from 1995-2016. It was eventually demolished during the 2017-2018 off-season. Prior to operating at La Ronde, it had operated as "Stand Up" at Skara Sommarland of Sweden from 1988 to 1994. Cobra was only one of two remaining Intamin stand-up coasters while it was still operating.

The Mini Rail runs above paths and nearby other rides.

Here is a view of some of La Ronde's classic rides, which are the Pirate and the Condor.

After taking a couple rides on Vampire, Monstre, and Goliath, Marc and I decided to take a ride on the Grande Roue to get a nice view of the park. Manufactured by Vekoma, the Grande Roue rises over 140 feet tall as it overlooks the nearby lake. The Grande Roue has been at the park since 1984.

From the top of the Grande Roue, you can get a nice view of La Ronde and the rides which operate there.

Here is a look at the other side of the park from the top of the Grande Roue with the Monstre, Super Manege, and the Boomerang roller coasters standing out.

Here is a closer view of the Titan and the Vampire from the Grande Roue.

As the other cars were loading, we had the pleasure of being stopped at the top. From there, we were treated with some nice views of Goliath. Being on an island does have its benefits as you can capture some unique photos.

Here is one of Goliath's trains cresting the airtime filled hills as seen from the Grande Roue.

Once back on the ground, we sat around and talked for a little while before we went and finished our day off at La Ronde with another ride on Monstre and Goliath. Here is a look at a cow outside of one of the Moozoo ice cream booths at La Ronde. They serve great soft serve ice cream! 

After another great day at La Ronde, we said goodbye to Marc as the park was closing for the evening. Just before we left La Ronde, my Mom and I took this photo to end off our amazing trip. The following day (Monday), we made our way back home. I thank you for checking out our photos of our fun weekend getaway to La Ronde! :-)