I've gotten sore feet when I came back home from my trip, but here's what happened.
Leaving the house at 11:43 AM, I took RTL Line 80 to Terminus Longueuil. There, I buy my new month of RTL service on my soon-to-be-expired OPUS Card. After a chilling walk to Champlain College Saint-Lambert, I waited for the Registrar's Office to open at 1:00 PM, wanting to read something in front of the library. As minutes gone by, I heard a song that I never really liked nor loved because it really put me into the nerves of sadness on the issues I have with my friends, even though I am supposed to understand.
It was Taio Cruz's Dynamite. Underneath is the VEVO video of it, embedded in a way for you to watch it at 720p.
Anyway, as soon as I came in, I asked one of the servants over there to make a new college ID card for me. As I waited, seated on a black armchair with leather and cushions, one of the workers saw me and told me about my interview on Global News Montreal. (I am letting you see it here as well, even though I do find it disappointing now because it did made me resign from a group I've joined up. However, I think what started the issue in the first place was me sharing links of my e-book to them, in which they started to consider it as spam)
Once I got the ID card, it was time for me to go to Montreal's only amusement park: SixFlags La Ronde, built on Île Sainte-Hélène in 1967 for the world fair, Expo 67.
I had to actually move quickly because there were dark gray clouds to the west, but I didn't frantically run as I took the time to get across the Jacques-Cartier Bridge; it easily takes people to the northeast side of downtown Montreal.
The walkway the bridge provides is the only one that allows people cross between Montreal and Longueuil, the largest city in the Montérégie Region, without having to use public transit or cars, buses, or trucks. On the side of the asphalt road is a concrete walkway, with a strong steel fence on the edge that have the top of its pickets curled to the bridge. The entire bridge consists of large, heavy-duty independent concrete plates that sit on iron trusses, all hitched by concrete supports from the ground-up.
When you cross the bridge from Longueuil to Montreal, the first thing you see is an inclined ramp.
This takes you to a tall arched overpass; you are going above an entering canal for vessels that are then either exiting or approaching the Victoria Bridge locks about a kilometer away to the south. The arched overpass is simply a steel truss on top all supported by two concrete supports on either side of the canal; underneath the overpass is simply two large grey pipes carrying electricity throughout, as well as a green probe light hanged by a few cables for vessels. Any large-scale boats designed to go through the locks must be underneath that height, because that's as high as the lift sections at Victoria can go.
Anyway, once you go through the overpass, you come down for a bit before being levelled off to going across Île Sainte-Hélène. But you are not limited to crossing the bridge completely; in fact, there are two ramps for the island with one on either side. You can't cross the bridge road to get to one of them. On the right side, it is simply an exit that takes you underneath the bridge after turning and going down an incline, eventually coming up to a split for where to go on the island. (This is part of one of Montreal's parks, called Parc Jean-Drapeau.) On the left side is a simple straight incline. Now, there isn't a walkway on the right-side path, but there is on the left side. The big question is, through, if there are no cyclist and pedestrian lights throughout the entire bridge, when we are on the right side of the bridge going to Montreal, how can we get to the left-side incline?
The answer lies within two of the four intricate towers built upon the island; it is also where a plaque rests to honor Jacques Cartier, the French explorer who help make history; it was made to celebrate the 400th anniversary. From the bridge's official page on Wikipedia, it was built in the late 1920s, though modifications were done. All four towers have wooden doors for access from the bridge, but two of them are locked. However, the other two are open, and they actually provide a walkway for cyclists and pedestrians to either side of the bridge.
So I went all the way to those two towers, having to cross the intersection that makes vehicles travel down the right ramp, go through the walkway accessible from the far right tower, then exiting out the far left, and crossing the intersection with the ramp to get onto the sidewalk going downwards.
Once I've cleared the ramp, now comes time to find my way to La Ronde, I wanted to try the right side since I haven't been there in a long time, so I decided to make my step in that direction. After passing through a fire house, a walkway through a path of trees, and quite possibly one side of the Stewart Museum, I eventually found a shortcut that was something dangerous at least, but I took my will to go down that way. This would take me directly to the far side of the parking lot my parents would usually park in, except for one case. (Then again, the north entrance of the park was closed. I can't tell when it is even being used)
It was a steep dirt incline, along with a few trees grown, all the way down to a protective stone wall that was only four feet tall and didn't had any pickets or spikes on top. I tried all of my might to get my stuff down, along with me with it, down the steep incline with shoes on me. They weren't hill climbing shoes, and better yet, I did not had any climbing gear. I had to get down very slowly and had to grab as much as I can without running into an issue of sitting down on the dirt, slipping, or injuring myself.
Once I got back down, I was courteous to the people around me, that is, until I saw what was happening in Montreal to the west a few hundred feet away; it was a low cloud with so much precipitation that the only way for me to get out of here was to run. My destination was the arcade warehouse to where the only monorail crosses over through a floor installed over the main entrance way. The monorail does not go above it; it's on the side and above, separated by a protective grill. Eventually, when you get to the far side of the track before leaving the arcade area, you will see several arcades down there.
As of right now, the arcades consist of Namco's FIM World Championship 500 GP in its deluxe model (two of them), Gaelco's ATV Track: Quads on Amazon (not a bad game, but very difficult because you are often given not enough time to complete a section; it's very rigid and not flexible enough to let you complete with more than a few seconds to spare), Sega's Super GT, The King of Route 66, Air Trix, Harley-Davidson Motor Cycles, Ferrari F355 Challenge, Club Kart: European Session, Virtua Cop 3, Daytona USA 2, Outrun 2 SP, and Manx TT Superbike (located in another arcade bar to the north of the park.) There was also a Super Shot arcade machine, manufactured by Skee-Ball Inc. of Pennsylvania, in which I didn't play.
The game that stood out the most for me was Namco's Time Crisis 4. I did intend on completing the game, and did inserted extra coins as the "Prologue" message displayed on the screen, but by the time I got to the part where the trio were fighting against two militants in "high-tech reinforced armor" underground in the airport (Stage 1, Area 1), after using three credits, I was out and couldn't continue anymore. I inserted more than $3 (it costs $1 for one credit) to play the game; I can't believe that with six or seven loonies inserted on the left side of the machine, I only gotten three credits.
Anyway, I spent over an hour at the arcade place underneath the roof of a house that the games were in and running. But the weather outside was crazy; intense rain, and it even had some water come in. In addition, people were inside; there was over 80 of us in this enclosed space I would imagine that the space is only 7200 sq. ft. big. And of course, people were attracted to the interest of an electromechanical game where you had to smack a hammer down on a plunge as hard as you can, and the software measures its strength. I even wasn't able to play 500 GP right away; it was only until later in the time I've spent that I was finally able to play it.
For those of you who don't know the deluxe model, it's a stationary motorbike attached to the machine using two spring positions at the front (the springs are actually quiet; they are kept inside two steel tubes running down to the machine's base), a motion axis stand at the back, with a 50'' monitor at the front. Above is an attractive sign with two pairs of red lights and one pair of green lights, supported by two blue metal trusses and two bases at the bottom.
Here's the Japanese website of the game that you can still access today:
https://www.bandainamcogames.co.jp/am/vg/500gp/
And from the link below is a video. YouTube user Mr. T Guru played the game and uploaded his action, as a video, on March 13, 2010. He drives a Yamaha YZR500 at Circuit Paul Ricard in France, under Single Race Mode, for two laps with a total time limit of 3 minutes and 25 seconds, and finishes in 9th place with the racing grade as a "C."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNnAP03Yjq4
You can also race on Honda's NSR500 sponsored primarily by Repsol, or the Suzuki's RGV500 in a blue-like racing livery. Want to give yourself a chance? Why not race in Japan's Suzuka Circuit, one of the world's most recognizable racing tracks, or Jerez in Spain? You also have several viewpoints, and can link up to four for a four-player multiplayer race.
A fancy flyer is right here for your convenience: http://www.gametronik.com/site/rubriques/mame/Jeux/500%20GP/Scans/21226201.jpg
I played the game twice, with one on a three-lap race at Paul Ricard, finishing in 4th place with my racing grade being a 'B.' The AI is realistic, but if you get used to the mechanics of the motorcycle mechanism as well as how you control it, you are pretty much going to be in the winning streak to pole position. The other was a three-lap time trial in Suzuka; I wanted to beat the course record time of exactly 2 minutes 11 seconds, but in one lap, I overshot the last chicane and tried to get back out on the next corner, but a pop-up came up saying "Chicane non-passing" and got a three-second penalty on my elapsed time. The game gave me over seven minutes to complete my three turns of wisdom and power.
Anyway, moving on to my experience at La Ronde's arcade. I played out Outrun 2 SP, in which I did complete one leg of this tree of stages you can come across to at your own convenience. It's a 15-stage tree laid on its side, and every stage you complete, there's a fork to which stage you want to go. The left side takes you to an easy stage, while the left is for a hard stage. For this run, I took the Very Easy route, going through five stages in the Easy direction. I played the game driving a Ferrari F40 topping at close to 300 km/h, while listening to the tune of Splash Wave as a remix from the original 1986 composition.
The King of Route 66 was really loud, but thrilling at the same time. The only thing that disappointed me was, I wasn't able to complete the final job, which consists of delivering a truck-able Ferris Wheel to a fair in San Francisco. I was too short of time and made a mistake at one point where I knew I wasn't going to be able to finish, so I left the cabinet out with no one interacting with it.
Ferrari F355 Challenge is actually pretty cool, especially for a game developed in 1999 with crisp high-resolution graphics and styling that you've never seen before, on a three-screen monitor. It comes with four buttons, and two additional transmission mechanisms; semi-automatic, and manual with the conventional clutch pedal and six-gear shifter. For this chance, I raced in Twin Ring Motegi on automatic, but the opponents were so tough to overcome, and even with two bumps on the walls because I wasn't driving properly, that I only finished in 6th place after completing four laps.
The game actually slows down at certain points, but I know that back then, I didn't experience any rendering issues whatsoever; the game played at a complete 60 frames per second performance. This link takes you to a video showing off a demonstration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Jo3IbW7fE
Sega Super GT is pretty fun, though I did mess up trying to play on Beginner in the Porsche 911 Turbo with 4-gear manual. However, your max speed will be 195 mph (~ 320 km/h) instead of 190. And I was in Time Lap mode.
By the way, some of the games brought in, unfortunately, had widescreen monitors installed, which caused some pixelation issues. However, F355 Challenge was not affected, and so did most of the arcades.
I did try Air Trix, but it turns out I'm not that good with skateboarding arcades; they are making you want to stomp on one of the sides of the board so hard enough for the game to recognize. It even became a bit of an issue for me to follow completely the instructions of how to play the game.
There was one football game I've played as well, but I can't remember what it was called. Anyway, it isn't that much important; want me to head on back and get the name of the game, just for that?
Anyway, when I ran out of coins, it was finally time for me to go and check out what was happening in the park. I actually did went on several rides, and I shall tell you my experience with them. Now, it isn't in chronological order, but I do know the names of some of these points of interests that are yet to be brought on to the readers of this blog.
When I came out, what I did was, I went to a Minimelts stand and brought out a cup of ice cream, in the form of tiny balls, flavored for cotton candy, for $6. It is small indeed, but refreshments and food at La Ronde are actually expensive, more so for the retail price at La Ronde organized by SixFlags. Beyond the shadow of a doubt is that SixFlags meets itself as the world's largest amusement park firm with billions of dollars invested.
The cup of Minimelts ice cream was really delicious. I even saw a vending machine to get a cup for $5 at a bunch of shacks in the north side of the park, outside La Ronde's only wooden roller coaster, Le Monstre.
Going back to pricing, the entire park of La Ronde sits on the north side of Île Sainte-Hélène, which is an artificial island built using leftover rocks bored right out of machinery from making Montreal's subway system, all the way back to 1966. The entire park is worth several millions of dollars worth of investment, and it has taken an incredible amount of effort for the park to get this far as one of the few wonderful attractions in Canada. According to Toronto Sun published as an article on July 30, 2012, La Ronde is Canada's second largest amusement park.
To add to this reason why the prices at La Ronde are expensive but do make sense is, Le Monstre is the world's tallest double-track wooden roller coaster. There's also a free exhibition center for Nintendo enthusiasts, officially titled "L'Experience Nintendo," with an outside wall covered in Nintendo's most recognized characters; Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Princess Peach, Wario, and even Yoshi. Before, the exhibit took place inside a dome, called the Aquarium Alcan Pavilion, that is now decommissioned, but the structure remains as a historic piece of architecture from Expo '67. That's where I went when I was young; all the newest N64 and Game Boy exhibits took place in that building, and by golly, it was such a dream going in there and playing the games.
So, if you think about the way on how the park is set up with the realistic deals that SixFlags has made with retailers and other sort of companies that produce refreshments and such, as well as promotion and how much it costs to build all the rides and everything, the price range actually makes a lot of sense. In fact, La Ronde should be considered more than a bit of luxury; it is really supportive for the city of Montreal, which is the second largest city in Canada, and the only city in the country to bridge the gap between the past and the present. From now on, when you decide to go to La Ronde, be sure to bring some spare money with you, unless you happen to pay over $100 at the beginning of the season for a season passport and a few extra things.
The most important ride I want to talk about, which is the first, is a thrill swinging ride called Vol Ultime, technically called "SkyScreamer" in other parks run by SixFlags. This is the first time I've been on a ride that has a high thrill ride rating, and I gotta say, it was shocking but pretty fun!
What happened was, after waiting for 20 minutes, I placed my black nylon bag in one of the shelves of a green bookcase, then took my seat on the right side of a hanging bench. The entire aerodynamic bench is hanged by eight steel chains with multiple chains running around the swinging carousel in a way that keeps the seats in place, but also allows the seats to be angled along with the lateral G forces.
I was sitting next to a man who was billingual and was from New Brunswick. After calmly taking time to reach high into heights, the carousel started to spin, until eventually, it revolved so fast that I felt a strong G force going backwards and to the left. While I was up there at the top part of this tower, I was sort of shaking, but I was thrilling at the same time, though I didn't get that much adrenaline. We were going around and around several times until we slowed down and came back down gently enough for us to get off of our seats and walk out.
It was pretty fun, but when I got back down, I was feeling a little nauseous and dizzy, but I was okay; I didn't had to vomit, I wasn't crying so bad, nor was I feeling angry or upset. The only thing I have to say is, how am I ever going to accept the strong acceleration and rotation that I experience on this ride? I felt it wasn't going to happen, that is, until I experienced it for real.
I took the time to ride onboard the Grande Roue, a Ferris Wheel built by Vekoma from The Netherlands. What's really cool is, the Ferris Wheel isn't just built for rides. On the side of the wheel facing the attracting scenic lake where one coaster is actually over on, there are strips of light bulbs in many different colors. At nighttime, especially when the summer fireworks go on, these lights are turned on and provide a catching night light display in a rainbow.
There are forty hanging gondolas in this 1984 Ferris wheel; following the conventional design of the wheel with a center axis, it provides a comfortable ride and scenic look for its passengers. The station at the bottom allows five gondolas to board and disembark at a time. A cab sits just a few feet away from the first boarding gondola. The entire wheel is rotated using eight different high voltage electric motors controlled by the cab; they are installed directly close to the wheel's braces. All gondolas are supported to the Ferris wheel by two heavy-duty steel pins that sit well into the holes.
When I went on the Grande Roue, the staff only decided to let the passengers board several sets of gondolas and not all forty of them, because there really wasn't a big line-up. In fact, I didn't even had to wait long for my own turn. All I had to do was to wait for the next set to stop, let the people come off, then board on a gondola. Still, it provided a catching scenic overlook of La Ronde from 45 meters up.
You can bring a family on board, have a group board several or five gondolas at once, or just accompany yourself with a few friends and have a calm ride on this Ferris wheel; it's one of the best landmarks in this entire park.
La Ronde's Minirail is next on my list. Unfortunately, I was only able to ride from the first station to the next. The first station is named after the scenic place to where outlets are, called "Fort Edmonton." It's a Wild West theme attraction for people to enjoy eating refreshments or drinking beer or something.
But what's really cool is, even though it was built in 1967, it is incredibly reliable. This is one of the remains of the monorails assembled and ran during Expo '67; the other had a different route and went through the American pavilion that eventually made way into an environmental museum.
If you look here, this is the livery that was put on the train in the late 1990s. The livery was changed sometime past 2006. http://www.laronde.com/larondeen/ride_detail.asp?ride=24
You can see the same kind of livery when you look it up on Google.
It's a pretty calm ride, especially if you get a chance to even look at the Marina on the north side of the park. The marina has a restaurant with an outdoor deck. I haven't been to it before, but considering that having the Season Passport allows me to go out and come back to the park on the same day, I may want to try taking a look at that wonderful marina and enjoy the fun!
Anyway, what you do on the Minirail is a safe and calming trip across a track that takes you on an 15-minute expedition. When you leave the station close to the main entrance of the park, the first is you will come across a calming turn up to the point where you're about to go through a section of the arcade warehouse I've mentioned earlier. It's supposed to be a tunnel, but you can see some of the bracing the warehouse has, with adequate lighting, and towards your left, at the end, a metal grill to where you can see all kinds of arcades down there with an access pathway to the far side. Next to it is the deluxe version of FIM World Championships 500 GP.
When you come out, you will be taken a tight right turn looking over a walkway, and then another turn again that you will pass by La Ronde's McDonalds restaurant, by the balcony side. Before it, you will see a
Zamperla rollercoaster called Toboggan Nordique painted in light blue and white colors; I haven't been on it because close to the end of the track, there are brakes that take the car to a complete stop. If only if I don't get so nervous of brakes as much as I had experienced the Gs on Vol Ultime.
Next, you will see a few water rides, with one called Le Splash, before continuing on and passing by Super Manège, an orange roller coaster, a few refreshment outlets, along with a game area plus one small soccer and hockey minigame fields, the entrance to Le Monstre, before turning to the right and looking over the emergency garage, eventually going outside the park's fence perimeter.
You will come across La Ronde's marina, called Marina Halte Nautique, an aqua show called L'Agora, passing by a building to where the show "Jupiter" takes place, then going underneath the first and last stretches of track of La Ronde's most popular rollercoaster, the Goliath. The rollercoaster goes out of the park's perimeter to a large parking lot on the far north tip of the park. As you do, the Minirail slows down to climb up the steady incline.
Finally, you will drop down a few feet before arriving at the village entrance of the park. It was closed down when I was there, but when I went with my cousins a few years back, it was actually open.
If you decide to stay on the train, what happens is, when you depart, you will come down a steady incline to the track's only switcher; this links the trains to a garage underneath the station to where workers inspect, or store, the trains. You will pass by Catapulte, a paid attraction to let people fly across through a rope hanged up by an arch; there are two standing posts with motors at the tops to lift the people up before letting go and let the riders experience the flight of fun. Going along MacDonald Drive following along the Saint Lawrence River, you will be able to look out from both sites for looking at Montreal's large port, as well as Lac Au Dauphins, though what's underneath the supports of this antique minirail isn't that exciting. But still, nice view of the attractive park.
Eventually you will come across Circuit Laronde Go Kart, with a price tag of $15, the yellow hanging rollercoaster Vampire, then going across a sidewalk in the air passing through Fines Poutines Plus, Pizza Pizza, Vertigo, Disco Ronde, and Vol Ultime. The last part of the ride consists of checking out one of La Ronde's highlights; it's only single log flume and the most attractive ride, La Pitoune. (I would wanted to try it, but I was scared of the big drop at the end.)
You are then arriving back at the main station.
The monorail is a fun attraction, especially if you still want to take on a ride that is yet to give you a wonderful experience. It's an automated ride; just one push of a button, and the monorail controls itself to travel around the beautiful and thrilling amusement park of the day.
So, if you are a conventional Expo '67 figure, or simply want to get a taste of history, just sit back onboard the Minirail, close your eyes, and let the air come to you as you work your hard efforts to bring thoughts of Expo '67 to your eyes.
Anyway, the next ride I want to talk about is La Spirale. It's a double-deck observation tower in orange, presented by Pizza Pizza. Built for Expo '67 as well, it has nevertheless provided a wonderful view for seekers who wanted to get a wonderful scenic look without having to take the thrills, or this is simply for nostalgia.
It takes you on up to about 70 meters off the ground, and it rotates slowly to give out a wonderful overlook of the surrounding landscape and the Saint-Lawrence River. You can also see the Jacques-Cartier Bridge, Longueuil, Montreal, as well as what's out in the Saint-Lawrence.
When the ride is closed, or when the park is off season, the double decker sits in the middle of the tower peacefully, without any sort of damage or problem whatsoever.
I believe the double decker has its own motor unit that climbs up and rotates peacefully for a few times before calming its way back down to let the next group of people go on and see the wonders of the scenery. You enter one pair of doors when you get in, but when you get out, there are two automatic doors that open and close with the help of an air compressor.
When I went to that ride, only the passengers took the bottom deck and not the top; it would have been fun if both decks were used, but sadly there wasn't enough people to take both decks on.
And last, but not least, my favorite ride of them all. La Ronde's newest ride, Aqua Twist, presented by hydraSense, opened on June 1st, 2013.
Here's a link to the official La Ronde page that describes it: http://www.laronde.com/larondeen/aqua_twist.asp
One of the fun things about the family ride is, when the ride is in progress, by turning a crank, you can shoot water in a soft stream to other boats and even to your bystanders. There are six water-cranking guns outside the ride that are accessible to visitors, but when I was at the park, I've learned that three of them are along the line to the ride. I'm not sure if they were protected from use by three black steel fence gates.
Fancy and hot enough, I've decided to be a bystander shooter for once, and it turns out, it is actually really fun. You get to shoot water ... to each other ... in a fun and in-ter-ac-ting way! The water pistol I had had a stump on the back to make me aim it to the people onboard.
I got there first time, I was reminded of one of the songs from Time Crisis II, where you fight off a boss in Stage 2 Area 3, onboard a train!
Here, let me give you a couple of videos to let you hear the music and see if it does fit the awesome scene from La Ronde's Aqua Twist!
This is the 2001 remix of the song exclusively for the PS2 version of the game.
This is the original song, composed and mastered in 1997 for the arcade game.
When the base of the amphibious carousel, which consists of nine different mounted rafts on a stationary grilled blue floor, came down to let the water go above it, I turned the crank as fast as I can and started firing water to the people onboard. It's actually a thrilling and attractive ride, only to find out to get wet but so refreshed and fun with the cold stream water from hand-cranked pistols designed to shoot water at a low pressure.
It does get tiring eventually to turn the crank really fast, but I can assure that if I can find the best pace line, I'll be able to shoot water out, no matter what. After all, the fun part is being able to get everyone, including me, soaked in a way that the water we end up with evaporates to the air above us. Then again, we need to get ourselves refreshed in the hot heat, so why not?
:D
WHY NOT?!?!
I haven't been onboard one of the carousels, but I can tell you, firing water at a calm stream in a fun battle between families and spectators is so AWESOME!
I wish I can do it to my friends and such; I make them wet, they make me wet. That's the way on how it works! As much as I am a grown-up and enjoy the calm but intense entertainment with people, I have no doubt I'll be exuberantly thrilled about this newest attraction!
Anyway, that pretty much does it for the rides I've rode on, or decided to join upon, during my afternoon at La Ronde. There are certain things that I did prefer trying, but I didn't had the money for. If only if my e-book was selling really well to spend another $40, but that's the reality; at least I got out of the house and had fun!
I spent $30 on my trip and left peacefully a little bit past 5:30 PM. After walking across the Jacques-Cartier Bridge once more, I eventually waited for the bus to take me back home. I arrived peacefully, with sore feet because of water retention, at about 7:00 PM. I was gone for over seven hours!
The things I wanted to do that would consist of paying money before, and at the park, were for a meal at McDonalds, eat up a snack at Fort Edmonton, most likely some nachos or even a refreshing drink or something, go on La Pitoune and get a photo of me screaming, go on go karting, spend some more money on arcades, especially Konami's Racing Jam, Sega's Manx TT Superbike, and the other Time Crisis 4 machine. There were even remote-control boats that you can drive and take control over by inserting $2; the six old-fashioned boat steering wheels, with the boats, installed just outside the Splash's last turn of its track before the station, were made in Birmingham, England. I also wanted to check out the Nintendo exhibit, as well as get myself gobbling up with other refreshments too, though in a way that I spend a full 10 hours in the park and be careful with the diet I were to take.
All right, that finally does it for this blog of my fun experience at La Ronde. Hope to go back again and get myself lots of fun, refreshed, and put myself into the wonderful spectators of people; I even wished I can get so close to watch the fireworks. It's such a fun place to be, only to make way for ultimate fun by the time my public status is up, I got great e-books out, and have fun public support and advice, especially if I were to deliver something really cool at the park directly to the English audience at the park and Montreal's kindly consent.
The park has since been a childhood attraction to me. It started out when I was seven years old, and what I would be doing back then were riding on the rapids (it still exists today, known as Joyeux Moussaillons), the Tchou-Tchou, one of the rides kept from Expo '67, a car ride that has been taken out, unfortunately, in place for a new ride, but I still remember having lots of fun with it, a short roller coaster (La Marche du Mille-pattes), a rotating carousel for kids (La Grande Envolée), and maybe the arcades. I even rode the monorail, but never went up the Ferris wheel, the Spirale,
There was one thing I remember about the arcades though that I am yet to do and check out for once... When I was with my cousins a few years back (probably 2007), there was an arcade that I thought it was cool, but I never had the chance to play it, except when an alternative version came to me while being at Salle de Quilles Champion in March 2009. It was Namco's Ace Driver; what it featured was a swivel seat that moved left and right according to my steering, which gave me the sensation of fast driving.
I even remember once my father asking me if I was to go on the Boomerang, a light blue rollercoaster which, at the top of the coaster on the back side, was a sign that originally said something else than Molson. I said no, and we decided to leave the park in his red Porsche 911 Turbo.
I have gotten a chance to witness La Ronde today. And it is still standing as one of the successful amusement parks in all of Canada. Even though it is French, it will attract numerous Canadians, and maybe even worldwide tourists, or visitors from the United States, and entertain them for the generations to come.
So, if you got over $100 to spend on alone, and want to get yourself a break from your work duties, whether it's physical work or wanting to entertain your family, or simply to get yourself wet, come on down and have a blast at this wonderful amusement park at the heart of Montreal, built on a flat island designed to attract you and your friends or family to excitement and adventure!
Let's have a party! Whatever you do over there for the time being, don't stop it, like what Pitbull says in his video!
This is the original park logo I've seen when I was a kid. I've provided it for you just to see my childhood memories back! |
Bon voyage, et je t'aime, La Ronde!
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