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Park News - (7/27/10) The thought has crossed the mind of most coaster riders at one point or another… what would you do if your restraint popped open in mid ride?  It happened this past week to a 12 year old on the Boomerang at La Ronde just as the train began it’s backwards plunge into the second half of the ride. He tried to close it again, closed his eye and hoped for the best… and as designed, the centrifugal force kept him in his seat through to the end of the ride. Apparently the restraints released on two other riders in the same car as well, though the riders departed before they could be identified as part of the incident.
    (5/25/10) A train full of riders became stuck on La Ronde’s Goliath coaster from a bit after 9pm according to this news report. There isn’t much in the way of details, so I assume it simply got stuck on the lift hill for awhile, so really a non-event. Must have been a slow news day.
    (3/27/10) Details about the Terminator X Laser Battle attraction have been posted to the official website. It’s laser tag in a themed environment, but in addition to the two teams, you also have to deal with SkyNet who wants to take you all out. The attraction is produced by the same group behind last year’s The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and will actually take over the same space.
    (5/20/09) According to this news article a train on Le Monstre became stuck going up one of the coasters hills. Riders sat in the train for upwards of an hour before rescue workers could remove them all from the coaster.

2010 - Ednor L’attaque - (5/10/10) A view showing off Ednor making a test run has been posted to YouTube this week, and embedded below.

    (4/17/10) Okay, I may be clueless, but it has been pointed out that Ednor is Ronde spelled backwards. I know I didn’t see that the first time… I kept seeing Endor and dreaming of the sea creature gobbling up endless Ewoks…
    Anyway… I also forgot to mention that once the lake is refilled and the coaster is running, riders will fly only 3 meters away from the surface of the water at times. You can also see the great logo for the ride near the start of this new animated preview video (below) they made for it that also shows off show close you’ll get to the water. As for the creature, I don’t think we’ve seen the last of it... there are too many more Ewoks to eat.

    (4/16/10) La Ronde announced the name of their new inverted coaster on Thursday, calling it Ednor, named after the sea monster spotted last week briefly in the St. Lawrence River. From the sound of the article, the monster had been living in Lac aux Dauphins, but escaped when the small lake was drained for the coaster’s construction. 
    (4/5/10) La Ronde has posted some new information on their Facebook page regarding that first video clip added on April 1st. According to the official description of that first viral video, “A mysterious creature has probably emerged from Lake Dolphins at La Ronde on the evening of March 30, frightening two men who were busy on the construction site of the new armory.  A short video found on the cell phone Mon underresourced them suggests a beast bigger than all those with known up to today lexistence in the vicinity.”
    In an April 2nd entry, they post a video interview with one of the two construction workers at the park who saw the sea monster. Of course this video is all in French and I have no idea what he is saying. Translation anyone? Either way… it’s clear that the theme of the new coaster is likely to be connected to this sea monster sighting.
    According to one reader, Canada has their very own Sea Monster mythical creature called the Ogopogo… also referred to as “Lake Demon”. The basic Ogopogo descriptions and sightings are kind of a mixture of something resembling the Loch Ness Monster and a traditional Sea Serpent style creature, which the later of which matches up a bit better with the first video clip.
    (4/2/10) I’m not sure if this is officially conntected to La Ronde or not, but it looks like a fun viral video that could be used to promote their new inverted coaster. Anyone know more?

    (3/25/10) New construction pictures for La Ronde’s new Vekoma SLC coaster have been posted to their Facebook page. It’s also worth mentioning that during the Six Flags Q&A call Monday night Mark Shapiro mentioned that the park was getting something called “Terminator X Laser Battle”.  Anyone have a clue what this is?
    (3/1/10) New construction pictures of the Vekoma SLC at La Ronde have been posted to their Facebook page. The coaster has been repainted to have yellow supports and orange track, but unfortunately we still don’t have a name for it yet.
    (2/10/10) La Ronde has put up a new webcam showing off the construction site for the new coaster that will travel over Lac Des Dauphins.
    (2/5/10) While La Ronde has yet to announce the final name for their newest coaster, I’m told that construction for it has begun not too far away from the Ferris Wheel.
    (10/1/09) La Ronde has confirmed that they will add the former Serial Thriller coaster to the park, which should be ready to open by May 2010. They just haven’t come up with a new name for it yet.
    (9/21/09) As rumored, the first pieces of Serial Thriller track has arrived on site at La Ronde. Pictures have been posted to ThrillZone showing off the freshly painted red track and yellow supports.
    (7/18/09) When I first heard the rumor, I told quite a few people to stop smoking crack... because the very idea just seemed insane. Now... I have confirmed it with various Screamscape sources that Serial Thriller, the former Astroworld Vekoma SLC coaster, is being shipped from it’s storage site at The Great Escape to La Ronde for the 2010 season.
    While a new coaster coming to any park is typically a good thing, I really do have to question the logis of Six Flags over this particular move. After all, the park has a mighty fine B&M Batman clone already by the name of Vampire. With your park guests already accustomed to the smooth and ultra-intense B&M Inverted coaster experience on Vampire, why would you subject them to a a Vekoma SLC “Hang & Bang” coaster?  I could perhaps adding a B&M Inverted to a park that had only had the Vekoma, but going the other way around seems a bit... well.. stupid. 
    The move is almost a double slap in the face... both to La Ronde, by giving them a used Hang & Bang that has been sitting in a field rusting away since late 2005, and to The Great Escape by clearly telling them they aren’t worth the money to put together a coaster that they’ve been storing and waiting to install for themselves now for 4 years. After all, The Great Escape is the only park in the current Six Flags system of parks that has no inverted coaster design of any kind. Even Six Flags Mexico has one...
    While La Ronde is certainly deserving of a new coaster as the last one was Goliath in 2006, I do have to wonder the price difference between shipping in, repairing and installing a used Vekoma SLC and buying a new smaller ride or coaster... like perhaps a copy of Tony Hawk’s Big Spin. Or even something else... a few flat rides, a Splash Battle, a dark ride, etc...

2011 - No new rides are expected to be added this season.