Site icon Globetrotting Grandpa

Ronde and Ronde

Globetrotting Grandpa

lr0

Montreal Canada’s La Ronde is one of North America’s most unique theme parks. Today we explore the park and some of the qualities that make it so.

La Ronde theme park is owned by Six Flags but doesn’t use the company brand name. While technically not a theme park per se, because it doesn’t really have themed areas the fact that it is in Quebec and is bilingual it really feels very European (as does most the province). The park is situated in the middle of the Saint Lawrence River on Saint Helen’s island. The land was reclaimed from the river and added to the island. Much of the layout and a couple of the buildings are leftover from the 1967 World’s fair. (also known as the Expo 67, which the former baseball team the Montreal Expo’s also took their name from.)

The entire park is only 146 acres in area but has ten roller coasters and is densely packed. 
The business center of Montreal is located on the North side of the Saint Lawrence River, and the whole park can easily be seen from the banks. In the rest of Canada and the US, most theme parks are in the suburbs.
As you cross the bridge the entirety of the park can be seen.
One of the most popular rides in the park is their wooden coaster “Le Monstre” The park also features several steel coasters. 
Le Monstre

 

 

 

 

The double back steel coaster “invertigo’.”

 

Cobra, one of several massive Steel Coasters the park has the also have Vampire and Goliath. Goliath has speeds of up to 68mph making it one of the world’s fastest. 

 

The children’s section

 

You can almost forget you are just feet from downtown or on a tiny island in the middle of the river once you start riding the rides. 

 

The entire  Saint Helen’s island is worth exploring. The island has “The Biosphere” a museum covering environmental issues and an aquarium as well as live music in the summer. The park is pricey (about $70 Canadian). While I think the park is a lot of fun, you may have just as much fun exploring the rest of the island and saving the money for some of the many other fun things to do in the rest of Montreal.  I will have some more posts in the future about the rest of the province including the gorgeous Quebec City. So stay tuned. 

Exit mobile version