La Ronde (amusement park) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
La Ronde

Location	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Coordinates	45°31′21″N 73°32′06″W / 45.52250°N 73.53500°W / 45.52250; -73.53500
Status	Operating
Opened	April 1967; 58 years ago (1967-04)
Owner	City of Montreal
Operated by	Six Flags
Operating season	May–October
Area	59 hectares (146 acres)
Attractions
Total	38
Roller coasters	8
Website	La Ronde

La Ronde is a super fun amusement park located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its name means "The Round" in French. It was first built for Expo 67, a big World Fair held in 1967.

Today, Six Flags runs La Ronde. They have a special agreement with the City of Montreal until 2065. La Ronde is the most northern Six Flags park and the biggest amusement park in Quebec! It's also the second largest in Canada, after Canada's Wonderland.

La Ronde is on 59 hectares (146 acres) of land at the northern tip of Saint Helen's Island. This land was actually made bigger by people! The park is near where a smaller island, Ronde Island, used to be. That's how the park got its name! La Ronde also hosts the yearly Montreal Fireworks Festival, which is a cool international fireworks show.

Exploring La Ronde's Location

Entrance to La Ronde in 2017, with a number of amusement rides visible in the background

This awesome park is on Saint Helen's Island, right in the St. Lawrence River. It's on a part of the island that was built up by people. The small Ronde Island used to be there, and it was surrounded by water. When they built the park, they blasted away the old island. The hole it left became Dolphin Lake, which the park now surrounds.

South of La Ronde, you'll find Jean-Drapeau Park. This is a big city park that was also part of Expo 67. You can also find the Jean-Drapeau Metro station and the Montreal Biosphere museum nearby.

You can get to La Ronde from Montreal by using the Jacques Cartier Bridge. Another way is through Cité du Havre using the Concordia bridge. You can also take public transport! The island has a Metro station, and during the park season, there are shuttle buses to take you right to La Ronde.

The park is open from mid-May until late October. The busiest time is usually in July. La Ronde closes for the winter season at the end of October.

A Look Back at La Ronde's History

La Ronde during Expo 67. The amusement park was built as an entertainment complex for the world's fair.

La Ronde was built in 1967 as the fun part of Expo 67. This was a huge world fair that happened in Montreal. The fair was on 400 hectares (990 acres) of man-made islands in the St. Lawrence River. It had many different pavilions and exhibits. La Ronde was a 54 ha (130 acres) area with theaters, rides, and places to eat.

During Expo 67, the rides and restaurants at La Ronde stayed open until 2:30 AM every night! The rest of the Expo site closed earlier, at 10:30 PM. After the Expo 67 World's Fair ended, the City of Montreal kept running the amusement park for the next 34 years.

In 1972, a special train system called the Expo Express used to take people to La Ronde. It closed down permanently in October of that year. The train station was right above La Ronde's main entrance. Even though the train system is gone, La Ronde's main entrance is still built around where the old station was. You can even see an old train bridge in the St. Lawrence River near the park.

In 1992, La Ronde was used as a background for an episode of the TV show "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" The episode was called "Laughing in the Dark." They called the park "Playland" in the show. You could see the park's big roller coaster, a haunted house with a dragon, and an old-fashioned carousel in the episode.

In 2001, Six Flags, a big American theme park company, bought La Ronde from the City of Montreal. They paid $20 million USD for the park's attractions and have a long-term agreement to rent the land. Since then, Six Flags has spent about $90 million to add new rides and make improvements. Some of these new rides include Le Vampire, Splash, Le Goliath, and Ednör - L'Attaque. They also built a new main entrance.

First logo used by La Ronde after its acquisition by Six Flags, from 2001 to 2012

In 2007, La Ronde celebrated its 40th birthday! They had special events to remember Expo 67.

In 2020, the park opened later than usual because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also closed early that year. Only a few rides were open during this short two-month season, from August 3 to October 3, 2020.

Exciting Attractions at La Ronde

La Ronde has many cool attractions, including live shows and amusement rides. As of 2020, the park had 39 different rides, including eight roller coasters! One of the park's roller coasters, Le Monstre, is 40-metre (131 ft) tall. It holds the record for being the highest double-tracked roller coaster in the world.

Every October, La Ronde hosts an event called Fright Fest to celebrate Halloween. During this festival, there are haunted houses and many costumed characters walking around the park. It's a spooky good time! Little kids under two years old can enter the park for free with an adult.

Goliath is one of eight roller coasters at the park. The park's wooden roller coaster, Le Monstre is visible in the foreground.

Awesome Roller Coasters

Several amusement rides around Dolphin Lake, a body of water at La Ronde

Fun Flat and Thrill Rides

The Vertigo amusement ride in motion. Guests riding Vol Ultime is visible in the background

Tour de Ville is a swing ride at La Ronde

Rides for Younger Kids

New Rides and Changes by Six Flags

Entrance to Le Vampire, a roller coaster opened at the park in 2002

In May 2002, La Ronde announced a big new roller coaster called Le Vampire. This was the first major new ride added by Six Flags. It's a mirror image of the "Batman – The Ride" roller coasters you might find at other Six Flags parks.

In 2003, La Ronde opened six more new rides! These included Auto Tamponneuses, Tour de Ville, Manitou, Vertigo, Grand Carrousel, and Toboggan Nordique. Some older rides were replaced by these new ones.

In 2004, La Ronde added Le Splash, a fun water ride, and SpongeBob 3D, a movie attraction.

In May 2006, La Ronde opened its ninth roller coaster, Goliath. This huge coaster is 53-metre (174 ft) tall and can reach speeds of 110 km/h (68 mph)! It's one of the tallest and fastest roller coasters in Canada.

For the 2007 season, La Ronde painted its tall observation tower bright orange. This was to advertise Pizza Pizza, a pizza chain that was new to Quebec. All the pizza stands in the park changed their names to Pizza Pizza.

In 2009, La Ronde announced that it might become a full Six Flags branded park. This would mean they could use characters from Warner Bros. (like Looney Tunes) and DC Comics (like Batman). For example, Le Vampire roller coaster looks like the Batman ride, but it doesn't use the Batman name because of licensing rules. If the park becomes fully branded, that might change!

A roller coaster called Serial Thriller, which used to be at another park, was moved to La Ronde. It opened in 2010 and is now called Ednör - L'Attaque. This ride has cool special effects and is themed around a pretend sea monster that was said to live in Dolphin Lake.

On January 19, 2012, Six Flags announced Vol Ultime for La Ronde. This tall swing ride is 45-metre (148 ft) high!

The Vol Ultime was opened at the park in 2012.

In 2013, the park opened a water ride called Aqua Twist. Then, in 2014, they added Demon, a thrilling top spin ride. For a short time, Goliath was even the first roller coaster in the world to offer a virtual reality headset experience!

In 2015, Six Flags announced a new area called Avenue Aventure. It includes rides like Bateau Pirate and Condor, plus two new rides: Phoenix, a flying scooters ride, and Gravitor, a spinning ride.

On September 1, 2016, Six Flags announced Titan. This is a huge pendulum ride that swings riders high into the air!

In 2017, one track of the Le Monstre roller coaster was rebuilt.

In May 2017, La Ronde celebrated its 50th birthday! They also announced that an original ride from Expo 67, La Pitoune, was closing for good. This water log ride had its last season in 2016 and has since been taken apart.

On May 19, 2018, La Ronde opened a new thrill ride called Le Tourbillon. It's a spinning ride that tilts and whirls you around!

In 2019, La Ronde added a new ride called Chaos. It's a thrilling ride that spins and flips you upside down. It used to be at another Six Flags park.

On August 25, 2019, the Super Manège roller coaster closed down.

In November 2022, La Ronde started taking down the Minirail. This was another original ride from Expo 67 that had been out of service since 2019. It was the last part of a monorail system that used to run around the islands.

In May 2023, La Ronde quietly removed its old Galopant carousel from the park map. This carousel was built in 1885 and had been at La Ronde since Expo 67. Its last season was in 2019.

Images for kids

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  The former Super Manège (1981-2019) at La Ronde. The roller coaster was removed from the park in 2019

• 

  The former La Pitoune (1967-2017). The ride was removed in 2018

• 

  The park's former monorail, the Minirail (1967-2019), as it passed by the Grande Roue, the park's ferris wheel. The ride was removed in 2022

See also

• Belmont Park, Montreal
• Dominion Park
• Incidents at Six Flags parks