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Park News - (5/23/13) PTC posted pictures of the four new trains they built for La Ronde’s Le Monstre on Facebook earlier today, which may disappoint a few of you. All four of the trains (Green, Yellow, Red and Blue) have had large padded ‘wings’ added to the sides of the passenger compartments.  (Green Train / Yellow Train).
    According to a response from PTC about these new “Monstre”ous additions, this was an addition requested by the park to ‘protect the riders’. I’m not entirely certain what they are protecting them from, though one comment on Facebook did suggest that PTC trains are wider than the retired Morgan trains, and thus may have increased how far riders can reach out during a ride, possibly putting them in potential contact with the structure.  (NOTE: Riders on The American Eagle at Six Flags Great America are used to these ‘wings’, as they’ve had them on that coaster for many years now.)
    Between the high side “wings” and the new high seat backs, a ride on Le Monstre this season is going to be a pretty different experience from what you may have experienced in the past. It’s a shame they are blocking the riders view so much, as it does takes away from the ‘racing’ visual element of the ride.
    (2/18/13) According to the official PTC website, they have created four new trains for Le Monstre to use for the 2013 season, which will feature 6-car long trains with 2-bench cars. Previously Le Monstre ran with Morgan’s “California Style” trains.
    (12/20/12) Accroding to this article, a policy change has been made on the La Ronde website. The park will no longer allow guests to bring their own food into the park. There will be dedicated picnic areas outside the park for guests who wish to bring their own food instead. This makes sense, as it’s a common policy for any park to ban outside food from being brought it, so I was kind of surprised to see that until now La Ronde still allowed it.
    (7/9/12) In a very sad story, an employee at La Ronde was struck and killed by the park’s Vampire coaster on Friday. (Vampire is a B&M Inverted coaster.) The employee was a 67-year old man who entered a locked restricted zone. It is unknown why he entered the restricted zone at all and police have not ruled out that this could have been a suicide. Vampire will remain closed during the investigation, which could take upward of six months. Our sympathies to the family, staff and guests at La Ronde who have been greatly affected by witnessing this horrible event transpire.

2013 - Aqua Twist - (5/20/13) La Ronde is now open for the season and you can get your first peek at the new Aqua Twist ride in the last second seconds of a local TV news update about the changes made to the park this season.
    (8/31/12) I was close… the new ride will be called Aqua Twist, and is actually the first Mack Twist ‘N’ Splash ride in North America. In essence, it’s kind of a mixture between a Splash Battle and a Tea Cup Ride, except instead of spinning your cup, you’ll be armed with water cannons. Guests watching off to the side will also be armed with water cannons as well to join in on the fun. You’ll walk across a dry platform to load into your six passenger craft, but once the ride starts the floor lowers and the water rises up. Check out this video of the same ride system installed in the UK with a Spongebob theme last year.

    (8/30/12) I really don’t know the details, but the name AquaBlast was sent my way in the quest to find out what La Ronde is up to for 2013. It sounds fast and sounds wet… but I’m fairly certain this isn’t an Intamin AquaTrax either, so I guess we’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out more. On second thought, I wonder if this could be another Splash Battle style ride?
    (8/27/12) La Ronde has mentioned on their Facebook page that they too will have a new attraction announcement on August 30th. With no reports of site prep or survey work at the park this season, I can only assume that whatever is on the way will be either modest in size (ie: flat ride) or perhaps more entertainment related. Stay tuned!