La Ronde FIRST TIME!

I had never really had any desire to go to La Ronde before but decided that since I was less than 3 hours away and could get in free (Great Escape season pass), it was worth a visit.

I've been very "wordy" in my past Trip Reports so I'll keep this one as brief as possible.

The drive up to La Ronde wasn't so bad. Getting to the park itself was rather tricky but nothing too bad. We got lost on the way but luckily, we were back where our directions left off in no time.

The front gate is really nice and all of the staff seemed friendly and very tolerant of us English speaking folk. At the beginning of the day the park was pretty quiet but it got busy as the day went on.

Vampire:

This was the first ride we went to. We waited in line for about 5 minutes. There was only one train operation but absolutely no need for them to add the second train. The ride was of course, awesome. However, it is MUCH tamer than the earlier Batman clones. The mist is an awesome effect.

Ride Rating: +2 (scale from -5 to +5)

Next we hit up the flats near the Vampire. Their inverter ride was AMAZING as was Disco Ronde (Crazy Dance). Le Orbite (S&S Space Shot) was also very thrilling. This park has the best flats hands down out of every park I've been to.

Le Cobra:

The Ride was a walk on with one train operation. It was pretty rough and the restraints were pretty uncomfortable. Overall though the ride wasn't HORRIBLE. I really love the bunny hill before the break run.

Ride Rating: -1

Next we went to the other side of the park.

Toboggan Nordique:

This was my first wild mouse and was a nice surprise. There was a 10 minute wait but the staff was quick and friendly. The ride itself was fun. NO BRAKING WHAT-SO-EVER :)

Ride Rating: 0

Next we hit up the flat called Maelstrom. What an AWESOME flat. Every park should have one. Next it was on to Le Monstre.

Le Monstre:

This ride had a long line and was only running one train on one side. No big deal though. Probably a 20 minute wait. The ride itself was pretty rough but still enjoyable. Not a top ten woodie but a visual masterpiece and an overall classic ride.

Ride Rating: +1

We next hit up their Gravitron ride. I don't know what it's called at the park but you see them at most fairs. The only difference is that this version had actual seats. It was a forceful and fun ride. We also did the teacups. Another MUST HAVE for amusement parks. We took a spin on the Ferris Wheel, which gave us a nice view of the park and then took a ride on Dragon.

Dragon:

This is a really fun indoor coaster. It's not too thrilling but it has some good themeing. It too was a walk on. Good for the whole family.

Ride Rating: -1

After Dragon we hit up the Condor. This ride ROCKS. Compared to the one at The Great Escape it bullets! It's actually a FUN ride! Okay... I'll stop my rant now.

Super Manège:

This ride was actually pretty smooth. It wasn't too thrilling and the ride itself looks like crap. However, it's not all that bad. Fun times.

Ride Rating: -1

Le Boomerang:

Same Boomerang as them all but this has nice trains. ;)

Ride Rating: -1

At the end of our day we took a few more rides on each coaster and some of our favorite flats (Disco Ronde). We also took two rides on "Bob L'Eponge". I went to SFGAdv. a couple of days ago and decided the ride is much more fun French.

Park Pro's:

-Pretty good coasters

-Very clean park

-Friendly Staff

-AMAZING FLATS (This is the best part of the park)

Park Con's:

-Inner City French Kids (not being derogatory just telling it like it is).

-There were these nasty white bugs everywhere

-One train operation (not that big of a deal)

-The park itself is kind of hard to get to

Overall we had a great time at the park. I've sure I'm forgetting some things (we went a couple of weeks ago) but I highly recommend the park. I had more fun at La Ronde than my first trip to SFDL if that tells you anything. ;) *** Edited 6/18/2004 2:37:55 AM UTC by rentzy17***

Nice report. I was considering a trip up to La Ronde as well and was a little worried about the language thing. Glad to hear it is not that big a problem.

How was the border crossing over there? I have only crossed in Detroit before.

Several years ago I was at La Ronde (it was before Le Vampire opened), and Le Monstre was extremely slow and rough - every bone of my body hurt after I got out of that ride.
I think they must have refurbished it in the mean time.

Great TR! La Ronde is my home park and I just got back from it today. Glad you enjoyed your visit. As the years of SF's ownership go on, the park improves (employees frendlier, cleaner, ebtter rides...), usually by the end of the day the Monster had 2 trains running, donno why it wasnt like that that day. Did you do Manitou? It is the best flat in the park!

PS: Did you find the park was ebtter than you thought? (random question but I just wanna know.)

To answer your question...

YES. La Ronde was 20 times better than I thought it would be.

What is Manitou? I might have ridden it. I forgot to mention that I took a spin on the Observation Tower. What a nice relaxing ride and beautiful view.

Manitou is the Afterburner clone from Zamperla between Supermanege and Boomerang. I got to admit... best flat ride in the park is tough! Back when Tornade (Top Spin) had a good program with 7-8 flips, its was the best, but now, Vertigo (Hawk 24 from Zamperla, the inverter ride near Vampire) and Manitou are the best.

ill be goind to SFDL and LaRonde in a couple of weeks, we love SFDL because of the campground. were from Mass. so were looking forward to seeing a new park besides from SFNE, but do love SUPERMAN, even thou millennium force is better! glad to hear your trip was worth it, i had bad feelings about it.But am definetly looking forward to it now. How was border crossing, this i must ask, last time was before 9/11? will be there for canada day, anyone any suggestions?

Danov, please write a TR! Suggestions: If u want to do The Vampire (B:TR), do it first, then do Orbit, Cobra. Head to the other end of the park and do Manitou( a must ride), Boomerangd. After this, if you're lucky you can get on Tobboggan Nordique, Splash and Vertigo with minor line ups. The monster's line up usually runs quickly, 30-45 mins (If you only have time to do one side, do the second one first, in my opinion its better). Get to the park before it opens, the crowd in front of the gate is huge and people really race to get into the park first. For food: Eat in the medival(?) village, near the ferris wheel, kinda a long walk but you could you the monorail. If you want, you can go on a saturday and watch the amazing fireworks but those days are usually very crowded. Have fun!

If you're going to buy a Fastpass, do it in the morning because for soem odd reason, LaRonde sells out of fastpasses very quickly (I never knew there was a limit)

A good site for other suggestions is http://www.lpadventures.com/laronde/main.htm

Glad you had a good time.

You described La Ronde as a "very clean park", while when I did my own TR a couple weeks ago, I described it as "a giant ashtray". I sincerely hope you're saying that La Ronde was finally cleaned up, not that Great Escape's cleanliness has deteriorated.

I believe, that except for the cigarettes, La Ronde is a very clean park, I've seen much worse. Every year, the park gets cleaner and cleaner...

Don't worry, The Great Escape is not at all deteriorating. La Ronde was pretty clean though.

About Manitou... I did ride it and it was awesome. They have this same ride at Martin's Fantasy Island. It's REALLY powerfull. I think I enjoyed it more than Delerium at PKI... ;)