TR: An evening at La Ronde (08/17/04)

Associated parks:
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After work, I took the subway and bus over to La Ronde, expecting a quiet night with plenty of rerides...

Surprise! Not the case... I got in, went over to Boomerang, which had its line almost full and Manitou (2003 Zamperla Discovery, which is an Afterburner 24 clone) had to get its waiting line extended...

The park dark ride, Le Moulin de la Sorciere is SBNO for this year and the park mentionned its would come back in 2005.

I then passed in front of Splash (new for this year Intamin Shoot the Chutes) and saw a full line. Supermanege (1981, Vekoma Corkscrew with helix) had one train running with 2 switchbacks full, so the line was too long for that piece of junk...

Monstre track 1 for some reasons had only a 3 cycle wait, while track 2 was a 20-30 minutes wait, so I jumped in the 6th car, back row.

God... I want to cry. I mean, the track is perfect. Its doesn't washboard or shuffle. Those Morgan trains ruins the ride! You'll say, "well, we know that since years!", but its was my first ride since I got to experience my first Millennium Flyers (on Lightning Racers) and with Millennium Flyers and one minor reprofiling (removing that boring flat piece of track, behind track 1 waiting line and adding a hill there), Monstre could be one of the best woodie out there...

Right now, what you got are Morgan cars with small seats, that are even worst now, due to the fact they added individual seatbelts and that they have two pieces of metal to hold them... one of them bruising your a**, litterally. The train shakes at the bottom of the drop and thanks to the single position lap bar, which staples anyone but small kids in (and even then... they can't ride for the most part, since the height restriction is 52 inches!), your thighs and a** hurts.

After riding that mess, I walked over to the medieval village side and noticed lines even for the Tour de Ville (Zamperla Flying Carousel) and a long line for the park family coaster, Dragon (1994 indoor Intamin family coaster).

I walked back over to the other side of the park and saw a nightmare: the park wild mouse, which is a Zamperla Zig Zag, which is small and only has 4 cars... The park had one car on the transfer track and the ops were dispatching a car only when the other was getting into the final brake run! Add that they dont call for parties of 1 or 2 and most cars had only 2-3 people in and you got a ride with a PPH of not more than 150-200 per hour... the waiting line was full, so from a friend who waited that once, its 2 hours!

Orbite (12 passengers S&S Space Shot, first generation) for the first time in ages had its line use the switchbacks and so the line was well over an hour.

Vampire had 2 trains running with one waiting line sector (the switchback section under the roof) full, so its was 45 minutes wait.

Cobra (Intamin Stand-up, near clone of Batman: The Escape at SFAW) had one train running with a 30 minutes wait.

I walked on for a short, boring ride on Tornade (1997 Huss Top Spin) and then left the park, as I had a bus to take back home.

I visited the park for the first time last week and found Monstre to be one amazing ride, even with the Morgan trains. I didn't find them offensive in any way. I did sit in the front row so perhaps that had something to do with it. I am not sure.

-Sean

Well, are you tall or rather... big boned? If you're not, then they're fine. If you're either... forget it, its feels like I described.
Great TR,

La Ronde's my home park so its good to hear it drawing crowds. I'm going this weekend so I'll tell you how it goes. Thx

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