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First Drop Fluidité Layout

This ride starts out a bit bumpy on the lift hill but then it has a steep first drop and is fairly smooth and comfortable while still giving you that rough wood coaster experience. It’s got and interesting layout that is unique and you can tell it’s gotten new lumber here and there to help it run more smoothly. The park on a sunny July Saturday afternoon was mostly empty so I’m afraid this won’t be long for the world so make sure to get over there and give it a few rides. It’s a wonderful wood coaster and you can tell the owner cares. It’s more than I can say for the wood coasters at Canada’s Wonderland with it’s mega budget or a lot of other parks in the northeast for some reason.

This thing is evil. I assume its designer was briefly paid to work from their padded cell at the asylum with the instructions to make a ride that provides the most unpleasant experience possible. I mean, you’re placed in a cage facing down and then pummeled with the most curvy and bumpy track imaginable.

It was a standard Vekoma SLC so by now I know to push my head back as much as I can against the headrest to minimize injuries. The comments from other riders as it was ending were funny because it was a bunch of people saying “Ow! that hurt!”

It’s your standard Vekoma boomerang so that means lots of dizziness and head trauma.

I thought it was okay as a family inverted ride. It actually did have a surprising amount of intensity and speed and no discomfort.

Inconfort

The coaster is sort of a family/kids wood coaster that isn’t going to wow anyone but I have to caution adults, just don’t ride this thing. My poor legs and knees were banging into the tiny little car seat the whole time and it’s rough too. Just avoid this and send your least favorite children on it instead of spanking them.

Inconfort

The Arrow lover in me wants to embrace this but it’s just honestly not a great ride at this point due to the pain it inflicts on its riders.

Inconfort

Another painful wood coaster because its owner is an incompetent greedy corporation that hasn’t a clue how to maintain a wooden roller coaster. Like, it needs new lumber to be able to ride it. It’s barely safe in its current state.

A fairly good wild mouse (if such a thing can exist). It’s got just the right amount of sharp turns and quick drops for those desiring such things.

It was a fun family coaster ride that spent most of its time inside the dark mountain. There wasn’t much going on in there that I could see but the ride itself was fun and low intensity.

Confort

I found this super comfortable (love the trains and wish every wood coaster could get trains with this level of comfort that blows the PTC trains away!) and the ride itself was a smooth and fun ride that I would recommend to anyone just to take a break from the intense stuff. The problem with this ride is going to be the slow single-train operations but if you come back here late in the evening then the little monsters are much fewer in number ;-)

Inconfort

Here is another wood coaster with a decent layout that clearly needs a re-track to make it enjoyable. In its present condition, it’s just painful.

Sans intérêt

It’s not really a roller coaster, I guess technically it is but to me the point of a coaster is to travel with some speed and excitement.

This is just an okay ride with a short launch at the beginning and then I just sort of brace myself to get to the end. It doesn’t help that the theming elements are all turned off but the ride itself is not great.

This Arrow suspended coaster felt the most out of control when compared to the ones at Cedar Point, Kings Island, and Magic Mountain. They each have a unique layout and integration with the terrain so they really are such wonderful works of roller coaster art that everyone loves. It’s baffling to me why these coasters haven’t been improved upon and continued to be installed in more parks but maybe Arrow’s patents prevent something similar from their competitors. Anyway, this one really swings you fully from side to side with a frightening amount of energy and speed and it’s really a smooth and exhilarating experience.

I did not like this at all, it was just way too forceful and gave me a headache. Griffon at BGW is the best B&M dive and this is the overly intense version of a dive.

I thought Behemoth was okay, it’s sort of like a standard B&M hyper with lots of airtime. I like the scenery and water.

Airtimes Fluidité

Until riding Leviathan I didn’t think B&M could execute a good giga but it turns out they actually could and I love this one. For whatever reason, I never could get into Fury or Orion much beyond a couple rides but this one I just spent the evening riding over and over and over and it puts a huge smile on my face every time. The rush of speed, the massive amounts of airtime, the super long weightless 300 ft first drop, it all just works. I was riding it thinking that it makes me feel like the first time I rode Millenium Force back in 2003. It’s just pure bliss and I never want it to stop.

It was the usual Vekoma Boomerang clone, so I was quite dizzy afterwards. One interesting thing, the second lift chain seemed to really move fast compared to the couple other boomerangs I’ve ridden recently.

I actually enjoyed this SLC, though at this point I always brace my body and head to avoid the dreaded ear banging. This brought back memories since it seems like it has original style SLC trains with the ear bashers.

It’s a standard wild mouse, mercifully with no spinning. The one thing going for it is the unique international themed cars from different countries shaped a little like toboggans.

Théma Bonne suprise !

Since La Ronde has so many clones of rides from other parks, the real two unique rides are the wood coaster Monster and this Dragon indoor dark ride and I definitely enjoyed this ride. Like most indoor coasters, the track has to weave around inside a building but within the constraints it’s a wonderful family coaster that is smooth and has fun dragon theming inside. I definitely prefer this to any other indoor coaster I’ve ridden, including the new Intamin indoor DarKoaster at Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

Monster is another 5 star wood coaster that is brought down by the park management’s refusal to properly maintain it in like new condition with fresh lumber and partial rebuilds it needs every year. As it is now, it’s barely enjoyable because you just spend the entire time bracing your body for each rough bang and jolt. Waiting in the queue you are surrounded by rotting ancient wood supports that look unsafe. It’s a shame and it’s unfortunately all too common at amusement parks consumed by shortsighted greed.

I usually really enjoy the Batman clones but this one just seemed a bit more forceful and crazy than previous ones, which many folks here would love I guess but to me was not great. It’s not very re-rideable for me.

Confort

Goliath is a fairly standard B&M hyper that is good but not great. It’s smooth and fun and has decent airtime.

Vitesse Fluidité Trop court

I got a chance to ride a brand new wood coaster with green lumber and it was super smooth and fun. The ride itself is a small family wood coaster. The park did a wonderful job integrating the landscaping including a wonderful water cascade and gardens around the ride. The queue is located in the center of the lift hill and first drop giving a wonderful view while waiting. There’s a great visual scare head-chopper moment after the first drop and then you’re sort of racing through bunny hops and curves. There’s not much intensity but it’s a lot of fun and can be re-ridden with no fear of pain. The restraints and trains are very comfortable too. Big kudos to Great Escape for building a new wooden coaster at this park.

I’ve ridden too many of these boomerangs by now but this one was not bad and almost made me want to re-ride it. It’s a fairly standard version of the ride with the old horse collar restraints but it didn’t hurt my head like usual, just made me dizzy.

Steaming Demon is another older Arrow coaster originally built in 1978 and then moved to Great Escape in 1984. I’m usually a huge fan of Arrow Custom Looping Coasters (CLCs) and so I saved it and rode it as my 250th credit. Unfortunately it was as rough as any Arrow coaster and gave me a pretty bad snap in my neck entering the corkscrew.

This ride originally from 1972 and refurbished and moved to SFGE in 2003 is an interesting piece of history and is still pretty fun and smooth all things considered. Most Arrow mine trains are pretty rough at this point but this didn’t seem too rough and had a fun first section after a quick lift hill and then a second larger lift hill with a dramatic triple helix finish. It’s a great introduction for kids and it’s great that the park was able to save it from the scrap heap and keep it going.

Airtimes Longueur

Comet isn’t the most intense coaster but I found it to be the most interesting ride at Great Escape with its old school steel structure and airtime hills. It’s a bit rough on my back on the low point of each drop so I just brace myself but it’s fairly minor for a wooden coaster. I noticed the lift hill had fresh lumber so I’m giving props to the park for maintaining this well.