La Rain, er, I mean La Ronde

Part of this weekend's festivities was to go to La Ronde on Sunday, as our friends from Québec come up once a summer specifically to go to the park... Well as you may have noticed... it was raining here all morning. It stopped around 11:30 am and so we took advantage of the lull in the weather and hauled ass over to La Ronde as fast as we could.

We lucked in, for a while at least. We entered the park and walked straight on to the Boomerang. Then after that directly onto the Manitou. We LOVE this one... so relaxing... no really it is!

This was taken by Didier when it started...
(l-r) Jeff, Stef, Kenny, Me.

And then a few moments later when we were up up up in the air...



So far so good, the weather was holding... almost. As we walked to the Goliath it began to spit rain. By the time we arrived it was a steady drizzle. But, they had not stopped the rides so we went on the Goliath.

By the time we were on the ride and ascending it was raining. And can I just say this... rain, while you are on a roller coaster going 110 km/ph hurts! It feels like hail hitting your face... FAST, and it's not pleasant! I'm really not sure WHY they let the rides go on in actual rain... whatever, it was still ok, but not as good as say, oh, I dunno, when it's NOT raining maybe...

When we got off the ride, it was, yup... still raining , so we got a bite to eat.

The rain let up again, so we went on the Le Monstre. We only waited about 5 minutes and, of course... by the time we were going to the top... rain. Not as much as on the Goliath, but then the Monstre does not move as fast... so who can say...

Fine, it's raining, we can deal. We go to the Bumper Cars... Picture it... five homos on the bumper cars... All I could think of was Grace Jones singing... "Pull up to my Bumper Baby..." That was a hoot and a half!

Thereafter, we tried to wait out the rain in the arcade, but soon realized we'd waste too much money. What I also realized was I'm a pretty good shot, on the shooting gallery. 11 out of 15 was my high score. A close second was Didier with 7, and Stef with 5.

Rain. Oh my god, the place was getting flooded. and in fact the main road to the front of the park did flood, and as we left and were headed to the bus, a car 'drove' through the river (once road) and caused waves the went a good 10 feet past the sidewalks...

The biggest lesson learned here... if it's just a bit of rain here and there, La Ronde is great because there are NO LINES... where there would usually be 90 minute plus line ups. Thank god for Seasons Passes! And really, we got on five rides in just over 90 mins... that's not bad at all!

My guess is we'll be back next week! lol Pray for rain... well just a little!

La La La La Ronde

We went to La Ronde for the second time this season.

Had a blast!

This is our friend Kenny on Tour de Ville.



Didier on Tour de Ville.



Didier and Kenny on Le Monstre.



And me on Le Monstre.



FUN.
FUN.
FUN.

Roller Coasters, Androgynous Cartoon Idols and All the Bugs You Can Eat

...And thus went Sunday Afternoon.

La Ronde opened it's doors LAST weekend, but then what idiots would go over to La Ronde in the miserable cold and rainy weekend that was? No. We waited til this weekend, and boy howdy, did we pick a great day!...

Blue sky as far as the eyes could see, a nice 22'C and not THAT many people... at least the overly obnoxious tweens n snot nosed teenagers were at acceptable levels.

We actually started the day with Brunch at Chez Cora's with Jason and Franco. It was after all Jason's birthday. And he doesn't look a day over 35 [*cough* 41 *cough*], and THEN we went to La Ronde...

We also got Season's passes and got a decent deal too. $75.00 instead of the $81 and change. And if we coulda found two others it would have been only $65, but even still since a daily entry is already $38, we're more than breaking even on the second visit. And considering we'll be there likely 4-5 times... money in the bank!

As this was Jason and Franco's cherry poppin' visit to La Ronde, we bee-lined over to Le Monstre. While the wait was a tad long (about an hour) - because only ONE track of two was open and the asstards only had one car running instead of two, it was well worth it cause it's a great old wooden number.

The only REAL down side is the fact that we are directly at the height f Shad Fly season and La Ronde is on a low laying island in the river. As soon as we made the initial drop, arms in the air, doing our best opera imitations, screaming our fool asses off, I think all four of us swallowed about a pound of the dam bugs. A tough lesson was quickly learned... keep your mouth shut.

We then went on over to the Goliath and were able to go on it twice in about 40 mins, which was great, because the Goliath is the most amazing ride there. And fortunately there were not a lot of Shad there, I guess because this is an extremely open structure as compared to the other roller coasters that twist and wind in on themselves and offer lots of shade for the BUGgers...

After a bit of strolling we rode the Vampire, another great ride, sadly INFESTED with the shad, so by this point we called it a day...

But not before we were able to answer this most intriguing of Animated Mysteries... What does Fred Flintstone wear under that man sized orange and blue fur suit...


...the answer ....



So apparently Pebbles was adopted, just like Bam-Bam... Who knew?!

From there we went home for a wee bit then headed over to friends Kenny and Richard for a BBQ to polish off 4-5 bottles of wine with other friends Ric and John and to again, help Jason celebrate his 35th [*cough* 41st *cough*] Birthday.

Fan-tab-u-lous weekend people.
Fan-effin-tab-u-lous.

So what did y'all get up to?

La La La Ronde...

No rest for the wicked...

Today was La Ronde... Again with friends Joel and Philippe...

It was their first time on a Roller Coaster... They seemed keen at the beginning so we chose 'Le Monstre'
A) because it's a Wooden classic.
B) because it's a rough and tumble one. (If that manage that, then the rest should have been golden...

So after a 25 min wait... not bad for The end of July on a sunny day.... we were on our way up!

Well no sooner were we on our way up then it started to spit rain! We got through the ride, and the Toulousians seemed no worse for the ware.

We got a bite to eat and then headed over to the Goliath. after the rumble of Le Monstre the Goliath would be like a dream... It's soooooo smooth. We made it through that line in about 15 mins... it always goes fast there. But it seems it was a bit too much for Philippe who kept his eyes closed throughout and Joel only barely had his eyes open.

After that we toned it down and watched the Diving show.

And then the Tour de Ville. Not even a roller coaster just a bunch of chairs suspended on changes that go round in a circle... Well. Philippe was out before he was even in! We then hit the Ferris Wheel and enjoyed that for all of the three rotations they give you! But while it's a short ride you do get some incredible views of La Ronde and Montreal...

After that we did a lot of walking... and I mean a LOT. We went over to the Manitou but hey both waited off to the side. It was only Didier and myself... I hate long waits and this was going to be a long one... but we did it and 50 min later we were spinning in the air! LOVE THAT MANITOU!

More walking and then we looked at the Vampire... and Cobra and and and. The Toulousians took the 'value added' 6 minute Helicopter ride and enjoyed it, but I thought the $55 per person ticket price was just a bit much.

We ended the day on the Pitoune... your basic log / flume ride, an original from the 1967 World Expo ...

and then decided to call it a day.

Tomorrow... Ottawa...

Oh Yea! We party-hardy!

Opening Day at La Ronde... *Now Feces-Free!*

Aside from NOT finding N@ today (the only big down point in the day)... today was a fricking whooping riot!

Me and the Man got Season passes... We did so last year and had a blast! (once you hit your 3rd visit you are SAVING money!... We went 5 times last year!) Last year we only got there for the first time in JULY! and that was due completely because of shit weather. It rained EVERY FREAKING weekend in May and June here. THIS year we were blessed with GORGEOUS weather on opening day. We decided that this was an omen and HAD to go.

Now I would have thought opening day would have been disastrous! Long line ups to pay on the outside, and even longer line ups to wait for the rides on the inside... but woo-hoo we were wrongola on that one! We arrived at noon and practically walked in... no line up at the cash... We stayed for 6 and a half hours and had a great time!

...not compared to last year, when we got there for the first time on the first Sat. in July... We waited in line ups to get in (30 mins) When we finally got in we were lulled into a very deep sense of denial. We went straight to the Goliath. It was the first year with the new ride and we only waited 10 mins! What the hell?! We decided to go again right away! we waited only 15 mins! OH MY GOD! we were BLESSED! We were the chosen!, we were never going to have to wait again! and then we went in line a third time. Yup. we pushed it! We pissed off the fates... We wiated an hour and then The ride was closed. We decided that this was not too bad... cause we HAD rode the Goliath twice in under 30 mins so we thought it was a fluke and got a bite to eat and then we went to the Vampire. We waited an hour in the Vampire line only to have it shut down. I went to the rest room only to have to hop-scotch over urine and feces on the floor to get to the urinal. NICE! Then we waited 45 mins for the Boomarang only to have it shut down. What a joke! We went to the Monster waited an hour, rode it once and left in frustration. I sent an email of complaint to the park and received no reply. I then sent 5 subsequent emails on a weekly basis with no reply. Customer servie is one thing they DO NOT have at the Park.

Well my expectations were, as you can imagine, freakin LOW this year...

As I said, we practically waltzed in on arrival. We took a liitle walk around (I was searching for N@ and the MIX crew but couldn't find her) Then we started the day in earnest. We rode the Maelstrom, and then the Twister. And then the Goliath, and then the Monster. All went without a hitch. The lines were short ... well except for the Monster the wait there was about 50 mins but they only had track #2 open... S'ok we accept these small set backs.

We then need a bite to eat. Poutine and a couple of Cheval Blanc for me and Wings and a Sangria for my Man. The two beaver tails. This is where the only un-raveling of the day took place. While I can accept that it was opening day, and some inconveniences are well to be expected. But I'm sorry. Basic training of your staff should not be occurring when the public is there? It took them over 10 minutes, almost 15! to make 2 Killaloe Beaver tails (the most basic of them all! Sugar, Cinnamon and Lemon) Sure there would be some confusion... some delay but training the staff how to make the food items themselves?!?!?! Nope. Sorry. Me no happy. Yes the staff was friendly, yes they were polite, but is it asking too much to ask that they actually be able to provide the fast food they are there to schlep... FAST. No slooooooooooow. F-A-S-T!

Ok what ever. We were having a great day... we WOULD continue....

We went over to the Vampire (after the Goliath, my favourite!) Ok now the fates are starting to play... The wait there was about 75 mins!!! But in line we saw a friend... Pablo. He was with someone else and they were too nice... they would not come ahead and join us. Not like countless other Avril Lavigne wanna-bee's who cut in line next to anything that looked like them... We waited after he and his friend finished the ride, only to discover it was Pablo's first time at La Ronde.. Oh what joy! A Virgin!

Both Pablo and his friend had never rode the Goliath and so off we went... This was a sight NOT to be missed. Both Didier and I have rode the Goliath a good 10+ times... we know what it's like and love it. We relish the ride. For someone that has not been on it before, the first drop is a thing of sheer panic and adrenaline and deep guttural screaming. While it's on an 80 or so degree angle, the placement of the seats makes it appear that as you descend you are going straight down... plummeting... towards certain death! and THAT is why I love it! For Pablo (and his first experience on roller coasters) I'm afraid this one was just a little too much. Seems most of the ride was with eyes closed.

When we finished the ride and went to the souvenir booth where you can see high speed snap
shots form the bottom of the first drop, there you could see Didier and myself, with arms raised above our heads, screaming with the goofiest grins... and next to us, Pablo and his friend. Both white knuckle gripping the handles. Pablo even has his eyes shut.... Now that's a ride! The Goliath with eyes closed! (I'm gonna try it next time!)

I have to say that was a FAB-U-LOUS day at La Ronde.

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One observation... WHY is there so much White Trash at Amusement Parks?! Freaky looking people. Skankily dressed pre (and ) Pubescent girls. Boys with three facial hairs, dressed like rap singers. Middle Aged men and women all with bellies overlapping their belts. ... and countless smiles missing teeth.... If I didn't know any better we spent the day in Hochelega-Maisonneuve...

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N@ Where was ya?