La Ronde (Part One) - July 17th and 19th, 2022

Sunday, July 17th, 2022:

On Sunday, July 17th I drove to Montreal for a five day vacation as my last visit to the city was a little over four years ago. During my time in Montreal, I mostly visited La Ronde as I had greatly enjoyed the amusement park four years ago and thought it would be a great way to get the value of my Six Flags Membership as I hadn't used it in a few years due to the pandemic. 

Also during my time in Montreal, I had spent a day at the beautiful Botanical Gardens on July 18th.

After a six and a half hour drive, I had arrived at La Ronde and stayed at the park for a few hours before checking into my hotel for the evening. Below are some photos of my short visit at La Ronde during my first day of this trip in the city!

It was nice being back at La Ronde as my last visit to the park was in May 2018 for opening weekend.

After getting into the park, I immediately headed to Monstre, the park's wooden roller coaster.

Monstre consists of two twisted thrilling tracks that interact with each other.

Monstre gave an amazing ride, just like it had four years ago! I greatly enjoyed this twisted wooden roller coaster with its steep drops and swooping curves!

The Demon was looping and twisting thrill seekers every which way possible. It was one of my highlights during my trip four years ago. While I didn't ride it Sunday, I did ride it again on Tuesday.

Avenue Aventure was buzzing with activity on Sunday afternoon!

While in this section I rode the Tourbillon and the Condor. Both rides were fun just like I had remembered! It felt great to be able to ride a Tilt-A-Whirl again as I last rode one in September 2019 at the Acton Fall Fair!

Titan was swinging high into the sky, providing a breeze during this warm afternoon.

The Pirate looks a lot better than it did four years ago. I believe it was refurbished during the 2020-2021 off-season.

Le Splash provides relief from the heat...

With a giant splash down, just like any great splash boat ride! I would ride this a few times during my visit over the course of a few days!

Toboggan Nordique looked to still be operating quite well! I would also take a few rides on it later in the week.

With the removal of the Super Manege in 2019, the view of Monstre is even better than ever before! Although one thing I greatly remember about my two rides on the former Super Manege back in May 2018 was the great amount of airtime on a corkscrew roller coaster with shoulder restraints!

My fourth and final ride of the day before checking into my hotel for the evening was on the airtime-filled Goliath! It was more insane than I had remembered!

Its first drop may not be too tall, but it too is still filled with plenty of airtime, as is the rest of the course!

As you can see, it produces a lot of airtime (or hairtime in this case) thanks to its many hills and curved drops! It was great to ride this amazing coaster once again!

Here is Ednor- L'Attaque, the park's Vekoma SLC. As I discovered a few years ago, its setting makes it highly photogenic!

I recalled Ednor to provide a decent ride a couple of years ago compared to some of the other Vekoma SLCs I have ben on. On Tuesday I would see if this still held true! (which it did!)

Here's the green train on Le Monstre going down the first hill on one of its two tracks!

After the first drop, it is a wild ride on Monstre from that point on!

After getting on four rides, I decided to check in at my hotel for the evening. I would return to La Ronde on Tuesday for another fun-filled day. On Monday I visited the beautiful Botanical Gardens!

Tuesday, July 19th, 2022:

After a relaxing day spent at the beautiful Botanical Gardens, it was time for another thrilling day at La Ronde! On Tuesday the park was open from 10:30am to 7pm. It was a bit busier than I had anticipated, but I had a great time nonetheless as I was able to get on many rides, many of which I had enjoyed over four years ago!

After pulling into the parking lot, I headed over to the entrance with determination to ride the very forceful Vampire, a roller coaster which I enjoyed back in 2018!

As you can see, it was a very busy day at La Ronde. It took nearly 30 minutes to get in after navigating the winding queue!

It was busy due to many day camps visiting the park on this beautiful mid-July day.

After I got in, I immediately ventured over to Vampire, the park's B&M Inverted Coaster. While on my way over, I couldn't pass up on a photo opportunity of Disco Ronde, the park's Huss Break Dance ride. I would ride it shortly after. It had received new signage since my last visit to the park.

The Vampire was still as forceful as I had remembered, causing me to grey out as the train barreled through some of its inversions!

Up next was a ride on Titan, the park's Zamperla Giant Discovery ride. I really enjoyed my rides on it this time around, more so than my last visit four years ago.

While in line for Titan, I captured this photo looking towards Ednor and Goliath.

Both roller coasters are very photogenic.

Orbite is a fun S&S space shot ride with great airtime at the top!

Gravitor is quite majestic as it goes around and around.

The Zamperla Flying Carousel Tour de Ville was popular with park goers of various ages throughout the day. When I rode it later in the day, the ride operator commented on my mask as it features a photo that I had taken four years ago of Goliath! :-)

Thankfully the line for Dragon, the indoor Intamin coaster wasn't long any time I had rode it as it is quite the wait as it only operates with one train. Maybe it was just me, but it seemed to have more effects inside than the last time I had rode it four years ago. It was fun regardless!

Up next was the Grande Roue, the Vekoma Giant Wheel. Unfortunately single riders aren't able to take a spin on it, but thankfully I was able to sit with a group of two to enjoy the views that it provides!

This view from the Grande Roue looks different from the last time I visited as the Super Manege was removed in 2019 and the Chaos was added the same year.

Here's a neat shot of the yellow train on Monstre as seen from the Grande Roue.

The Titan swings nearly as high as the Grande Roue, which stands 150 feet tall.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to replicate the shot of Goliath which I had captured four years ago as I was sitting in the wrong direction this time while I rode the Grande Roue. But I did mange to capture this longshot of the Ednor.

After the 2017 season, La Pitoune, the park's log flume had closed after 50 years of operation. When I had first visited in 2018, the lift hill was left standing with nothing else around. Since then, the park added this sculpture of some people and the devil in a canoe at the top of the lift hill.  I am not too sure how to interpret it. lol

I took a ride on the Grand Carousel as I had passed it by four years ago. It provides a good, but rather slow ride compared to other carousels that I have been on.

My final ride of the day was on Goliath! Here I am standing in front of its entrance while wearing the mask!

The front of the park is quite beautiful with its flowerbeds and fountains near the entrance.

The flowers were quite vibrant in colour.

Here's another look at the Grand Carrousel under its large pavilion. Up next are two more visits to La Ronde on July 20th and 21st!

Canada's Wonderland - July 5th, 2022

 On July 5th, my brother Scott and I had visited Canada's Wonderland. It had been over a month since my last visit to the park with my trip out to Edmonton in June. The day started out rainy, with the skies clearing in the mid-afternoon which allowed us to get on many rides throughout the day!

About an hour into our visit, shortly after 11am we ran into Amadeo, a fellow amusement park enthusiast! We hung out with him for the remainder of the day riding rides and laughing our heads off until well after close with our last ride of the night on Leviathan, which by the way gave an amazing night ride! This was the first time in almost a year since I did a 12+ hour visit to Canada's Wonderland, but it was totally amazing spending it with Amadeo!

Below are some photos from our amazing day at Canada's Wonderland!

Scott and I arrived at 9:30am. It was quite rainy at times in the morning, keeping the ride lines nice and short.

The flowers on International Street sure brightened up the dreary morning.

Before running into Amadeo, Scott and I were able to get on seven rides within the first hour of the park being open, one of those being The Bat!

As you can see in this photo, the park wasn't very busy thanks to the rain!

Celebration Canada is a food and live entertainment event happening in Frontier Canada throughout the month of July.

The new dining facility known as the Lazy Bear Lodge has come a long way since my last visit to the park in early June.

It really does look like a lodge from here!

The flowerbeds around the park are very nicely done.

In the early afternoon we decided to go over to Planet Snoopy and Kidzville to ride Ghoster Coaster and Silver Streak. When riding Silver Streak we got stuck on its brake run right before the station. After a little while, they got the train back into the station. After we got off, they handed us these skip the line passes for rides in Kidzville and Planet Snoopy. I ended up keeping mine as a souvenir.

While in Kidzville, Amadeo was able to get on Taxi Jam! There happened to be an odd-number of children in line for it, so he was able to ride!

Amadeo was also able to get on Jumpin' Jet too! Although it is not nearly as intense as Drop Tower. ;-)

The lights strung up above the pathway in Frontier Canada for the Celebration Canada event made the section really feel complete. It is something the park should keep up all year long.

All the rides were either a walk-on or a short wait throughout the day.

The newly constructed Cookie Café location had opened since my last visit to the park in early June. The sign just looks amazing! The blue ice cream they serve there is great too!

Work on the Lazy Bear Lodge restaurant was being done throughout the day.

The wait before the drop on Yukon Striker is always intense!

You can get a nice view of the back section of the Lazy Bear Lodge from the Timberwolf Falls exit path.

The sun did eventually come out later in the day.

Behemoth looks quite faded. Despite that, it still gives an amazing ride!

Even though it was a rainy start to the day, that didn't stop visitors from enjoying the attractions at Splash Works.

A hands-up experience is a must when riding Behemoth!

Yukon Striker was riding amazingly well during our visit!

A small marching band was performing in Frontier Canada for the Celebration Canada event. I strongly believe that marching bands such as this one should be featured around the park even outside of events. It just adds to the atmosphere of the park!

After a long wait, The Fly had opened for the day long after the rain had passed. It was giving an almost trim-less ride which made the cars zip around the tight hairpin turns!

It is nice to see that the flickering lights originally installed in the lamp posts on International Street for Winterfest are here to stay.

As the sun began to set, we began to get some night rides in.

After getting a ride on Yukon Striker followed by two laps on Mighty Canadian Minebuster, we ventured back over to Medieval Faire to be on the last train of the night on Leviathan. The lights in Frontier Canada for Celebration Canada look quite beautiful!

Windseeker always puts on quite the display at night!

Before our last ride of the night on Leviathan, Amadeo and I squeezed in a night ride on Drop Tower. The view from the top looks quite different at night than it does during the day as the surrounding neighbourhoods are all lit up.

Wilde Knight Mares was spinning strong all day long.

After our night ride on Leviathan, it was time to head home. Here is a look at International Street and the Royal Fountain lit up at night.

Here's Scott and I before heading home for the night.

We sure had an amazing day at Canada's Wonderland! It was great hanging out with Amadeo and riding (and re-riding) as many rides as we could thanks to the somewhat rainy weather! In less than two weeks I'll be heading off to Montreal and visiting La Ronde again for the first time in four years! So stay tuned for photos of that trip! :-)