ville-marie La Ronde - Nouveaux manèges et autres nouvelles

[Djentmaster001]

I rode this back at SFMM when it was opened... brutal ride. When my friend who has connections to La Ronde told me Six Flags changed their minds last minute (they were going to scrap the ride), I knew it would come here. So they replace an old, crappy Vekoma in Super Manege with one of the worst ride designs by Intamin. Well, I still won't attend La Ronde in 2020, that park has no hope sadly. 

3 hours ago, Chuck-A said:

I saw the same carousel, under the name " The Joker ", at Six Flags New England, near Springfield (Massachussets). My two teenagers, however, liked and I think they will be very happy to do in La Ronde. For my part, I will pass my turn; I'm not too fond of thrills. 

This one is much different than the Zac Spin La Ronde is getting. This one is made by S&S, I find it much smoother and the spinning is controlled. The one we're getting is considered to be one of the worst coasters ever made.

[Rocco]

3 hours ago, Monsieur_MA said:

En fin de compte, les manèges désuets, les mauvais et les quasi dangereux viennent finir leurs jours à la ronde en attendant la ferraille.

Oui c'est ce qui arrive quand un parc d'attraction n'est ouvert que 3 mois par année. Le propriétaire s'en fou, les gens viennnent pareil. Aux USA dans certaines régions leurs parcs d'attractions sont ouverts 365 jours (pas d'hiver comme au Québec) donc ça vaut beaucoup plus la peine d'y investir. Ici ça ouvre en juin et ferme en septembre. Pourquoi y dépenser des millions pour 3 mois par année?

[Djentmaster001]

43 minutes ago, Rocco said:

Yes that's what happens when an amusement park is only open 3 months a year. The owner does not care, people come the same way. In the USA in some regions their theme parks are open 365 days (no winter like in Quebec) so it's worth much more to invest. Here it opens in June and closes in September. Why spend millions for 3 months a year?

that's false, the reason why La Ronde get's the scraps is because it's a failing park. No matter what they add, attendance continued to decline. When Goliath opened, attendance was 1.65M, now it's about 1.25M. You look at Canada's Wonderland, they added a $30M coaster for 2019 and already made more than half ROI and are going to reach 4M attendance this year if all goes well. For 2020, they're adding a kid ride, waterpark addition and are getting a resort. Other small parks in the U.S that aren't opened year round get huge investments as well (Carowinds got a giga in 2015, Kings Dominion got a giga in 2010) other Six Flags parks not opened year round also get decent investments as well, but they aren't like Cedar Fair either. Six Flags is basically like Costco, buy in bulk. I'm sure if Six Flags had a way to break the lease with the city, they would do so in a heartbeat. 

[Rocco]

La Ronde is still viewed as a 1967 offspring. It never got ahead as a contemporary park, rather as a nostalgia gimmick. They havent redone most of the ground pavement around the park since 1984 and some parts still go back to 1967. Some decrepit buildings are still standing since 1967 waiting to get recycled. Jardin des Étoiles is basically empty and sitting there waiting for a purpose. Same with the Alcan Dolphin building. Those are relics from 1967 sitting empty. Why so?? The lake is underused, no waterskiing, no boating, they could make it a major attraction with an underwated ride but they let it sit in the middle of the place. La Ronde is surrounded by the river, but no point gets you to walk by the shores to enjoy the view of the river. So much could be done. If I'd have money to spare, I would buy it in a heartbeat and rejuvenate it completely. 

[mattrga]

1 hour ago, Djentmaster001 said:

that's false, the reason why La Ronde get's the scraps is because it's a failing park. No matter what they add, attendance continued to decline. When Goliath opened, attendance was 1.65M, now it's about 1.25M. You look at Canada's Wonderland, they added a $30M coaster for 2019 and already made more than half ROI and are going to reach 4M attendance this year if all goes well. For 2020, they're adding a kid ride, waterpark addition and are getting a resort. Other small parks in the U.S that aren't opened year round get huge investments as well (Carowinds got a giga in 2015, Kings Dominion got a giga in 2010) other Six Flags parks not opened year round also get decent investments as well, but they aren't like Cedar Fair either. Six Flags is basically like Costco, buy in bulk. I'm sure if Six Flags had a way to break the lease with the city, they would do so in a heartbeat. 

I agree with the reasoning on the lack of construction, but I don't think Six Flags wants to break the lease for the simple reason is that the park is still profitable. In the lead-up to Six Flags bankruptcy in 2009-2010, Six Flags dumped a dozen or so under-performing parks, but it kept La Ronde.

The way La Ronde generates profits is unconventional for an amusement park though. The park has low ticket sales and very low in-park service revenue (food and merchandise), but it generates a TON of advertising revenue.  As of 2011 (I know, my figures are starting to get old), La Ronde had the HIGHEST advertising revenue of all of the Six Flags parks (think of Les feux Loto-Québec, le Monstre Coca-Cola, la Spirale Pizza-Pizza, as well as the huge ads that can be seen from the Jacques-Cartier bridge (Subway on Boomerang, Coca-Cola on the Jardin des étoiles, Loto-Québec on the river, beer ads on Orbit, etc.).  That's part of the reason the park doesn't try to prevent people not on the site from watching the fireworks from the bridge or from the old port - it still makes money on these people.

As long as La Ronde is generating ad revenue, there is unfortunately little incentive for Six Flags to keep upgrading the park other than to keep it relevant. It's too bad - as @Rocco says, there is SO MUCH potential on that site.

Modifié 29 août 2019 par mattrga

[anjou]

Il y a 12 heures, ScarletCoral a dit :

Chronique de Richard Bergeron à l'émission Le 15-18

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/premiere/emissions/le-15-18/segments/chronique/130055/parc-jean-drapeau-ile-sainte-helene-richard-bergeron

Que faire de la Place des Nations?

PUBLIÉ LE JEUDI 29 AOÛT 2019

L'île Sainte-Hélène, La Ronde, le pont Jacques-Cartier, le mont Royal et le centre-ville de Montréal.   Photo : Getty Images / Sébastien St-Jean

 

Le terrain au bout de la ronde est tellement mal exploité

[man with the golden gun]

il y a 35 minutes, anjou a dit :

Le terrain au bout de la ronde est tellement mal exploité

Tout le site de la Ronde est très mal exploité. La localisation de la Ronde est pourtant incroyable. On ne peut mieux espérer, un parc d'attractions situé à un jet de pierres du centre-ville, et qui est bien desservie par une station de métro, et un réseau d'autobus, mais le parc fait pic pic, avec des attractions peu nombreuses et surtout bien ordinaires. Pas pour rien que plus jeunes mes deux grandes filles préféraient qu'on aillent soit au Canada's Wonderland près de Toronto ou au parc d'attractions  Great Escape au Lake George.

[man with the golden gun]

Il y a 5 heures, Rocco a dit :

La Ronde is still viewed as a 1967 offspring. It never got ahead as a contemporary park, rather as a nostalgia gimmick. They havent redone most of the ground pavement around the park since 1984 and some parts still go back to 1967. Some decrepit buildings are still standing since 1967 waiting to get recycled. Jardin des Étoiles is basically empty and sitting there waiting for a purpose. Same with the Alcan Dolphin building. Those are relics from 1967 sitting empty. Why so?? The lake is underused, no waterskiing, no boating, they could make it a major attraction with an underwated ride but they let it sit in the middle of the place. La Ronde is surrounded by the river, but no point gets you to walk by the shores to enjoy the view of the river. So much could be done. If I'd have money to spare, I would buy it in a heartbeat and rejuvenate it completely. 

Tout le site de la Ronde est très mal exploité. La localisation de la Ronde est pourtant incroyable. On ne peut mieux espérer, un parc d'attractions situé à un jet de pierres du centre-ville, et qui est bien desservie par une station de métro, et un réseau d'autobus, mais le parc fait pic pic, avec des attractions peu nombreuses et surtout bien ordinaires. Pas pour rien que plus jeunes mes deux grandes filles préféraient qu'on aillent soit au Canada's Wonderland près de Toronto ou au parc d'attractions  Great Escape au Lake George dans l'état de New York.

[ToxiK]

Il y a 6 heures, Rocco a dit :

La Ronde is still viewed as a 1967 offspring. It never got ahead as a contemporary park, rather as a nostalgia gimmick. They havent redone most of the ground pavement around the park since 1984 and some parts still go back to 1967. Some decrepit buildings are still standing since 1967 waiting to get recycled. Jardin des Étoiles is basically empty and sitting there waiting for a purpose. Same with the Alcan Dolphin building. Those are relics from 1967 sitting empty. Why so?? The lake is underused, no waterskiing, no boating, they could make it a major attraction with an underwated ride but they let it sit in the middle of the place. La Ronde is surrounded by the river, but no point gets you to walk by the shores to enjoy the view of the river. So much could be done. If I'd have money to spare, I would buy it in a heartbeat and rejuvenate it completely. 

Effectivement.  Le site est superbe.  D'un côté on peut voir le centre-ville et le Pont Jacques-Cartier, d'un autre on peut voir le Stade Olympique, d'un troisième on peut voir le majestueux fleuve St-Laurent et finalement on peut voir... Longueuil (bon, trois sur quatre ce n'est pas si mal...).

Pourtant, La Ronde a un énorme potentiel, et Montréal mérite mieux que ça.  Six Flags ne voit pas La Ronde comme une propriété développable qui peut rapporter gros mais juste comme un compte d'épargne à faible taux d'intérêt qui rapporte peu d'argent mais pour lequel on n'a pas à faire d'efforts (et où on peut recycler ses manèges qui ne sont pas encore prêts pour la poubelle).  C'est un des trois seuls parcs de Six Flags qui n'est pas "branded", ce qui démontre leur peu d'intérêt pour le site.  Le parc est négligé et mal opéré, pourtant le potentiel est là.  Il y aurait tellement mieux à faire avec ça.

Rocco, si tu achètes le parc, appelle-moi, on pourra faire quelque-chose avec...  La Ronde n'a pas besoin d'être un Magic Kingdom comme à Orlando, mais ça n'a pas à être un parc d'attraction abandonné où un vilain de Sccoby Doo concocte son plan machiavélique!

[acpnc]

Il y a 8 heures, man with the golden gun a dit :

Tout le site de la Ronde est très mal exploité. La localisation de la Ronde est pourtant incroyable. On ne peut mieux espérer, un parc d'attractions situé à un jet de pierres du centre-ville, et qui est bien desservie par une station de métro, et un réseau d'autobus, mais le parc fait pic pic, avec des attractions peu nombreuses et surtout bien ordinaires. Pas pour rien que plus jeunes mes deux grandes filles préféraient qu'on aillent soit au Canada's Wonderland près de Toronto ou au parc d'attractions  Great Escape au Lake George.

Abandonner la gestion à Six Flags ne s'est pas avéré l'idée du siècle. La Ronde ne se démarque plus des autres parcs du genre et a perdu une bonne partie de son aura et de son dynamisme. Dommage. Ce qui me fait dire qu'on est jamais mieux servi que par soi-même.