La Ronde: It's getting better

With the addition of Goliath, La Ronde now has a very good variety of coasters that serves it's local market perfectly. Is it a destination park for enthusiasts? No, but they come anyway. (Many grey-hairs with name badges, mostly from Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York -- some wearing shirts from Denver's Lakeside Park.) The weather was sunny and hot: 27 C / 80 F. I had to wear my ugly hat -- it looks dorky, but my forehead has grown too big to ignore. We refilled our 1-litre water bottle at least four times throughout our visit (9:45 am to 4:00 pm).

General impressions: The park is cleaner and staff were trying to keep it that way. We were surprised to see staff emptying trash bins throughout the Goliath queue in the middle of the day. Smoking was greatly reduced, but not totally limited to designated smoking areas.

Goliath: It's a great addition. It's smooth and fast. There is no other +70 mph coaster within 500 km (300 miles), so it will be a great regional draw. With two-train operation, we never waited more than 30 minutes.
Enthusiast blah-blah-blah: The ride reminded us of Apollo's Chariot, definitely not as intense as Nitro. The ride was very smooth, with floater air on every hill, plus some ejector air in the very back row. B&M trains have huge headrests, so the view of the drop can only be appreciated from the front row. However, riders can wave his or her feet in the air while riding. (Compare with Intamin trains on S:RoS and MF -- restricted legs but great sight-lines from all rows.)
Operation comments: Sometimes the crew managed to dispatch before the other train entered the brake run, but most of the time there were delays during the restraint checks that resulted in stacking. Also, 'protein spills' on the unloading side of the platform were washed onto the sidewalk/queue below. (Put a bush or something there, please!)

Dragon: great dark coaster, with good sound effects. (The dragons scare my wife every time we ride it.)
Enthusiast blah-blah-blah: SFGAdv was ripped off. The Skull Mountain should be this good.

Monstre: Running both tracks (STO), but not racing. Track 1 was great. Track 2 was a rattler. (I enjoyed it, but the wife did not.) The graffiti wall looks better, having just received it's token coat of paint.

Vampire: Awesome as always. 30 minute wait with STO. 'Protein spills' in the bushes near the exit.

Cobra: STO appropriate for the queue. Delayed 10 minutes to hose down extensive 'protein spills'. The ride was a painful reminder why we avoid most stand-up coasters (ears only partially attached at end of ride).

Pitoune: Fast, but relatively dry log flume.

Splash: Drenching boat ride. Perfect for the hot day.

Toboggan Nordique: did not ride
Boomerang: nice new paint job, but broken down (again)
Super Menage: closed permanently??

*** Edited 5/29/2006 9:36:46 PM UTC by greatwhitenorth*** *** Edited 5/29/2006 9:37:33 PM UTC by greatwhitenorth***

good to hear you enjoyed la ronde!

i went today (monday may 29th):

Park was near empty, never waited more than 10 mins...i gotta say, front row is the best by far(GOLIATH). The ejector air was strong throughout the whole ride. It seemed to be running faster and more intense than on opneing day, a nice surprise.