Cobra (La Ronde)
Cobra was a stand-up roller coaster located at La Ronde amusement park in Montreal, Canada. Built by Intamin, Cobra opened to the public in 1988 at Skara Sommarland amusement park, where it operated until 1994, it reopened at La Ronde the following season in 1995, was one of only three stand-up roller coasters manufactured by Intamin. Cobra was removed from the park's website in 2016, demolished in 2018; the roller coaster was relocated in 1994 from the Skara Sommarland amusement park in Sweden, where it was known as the Stand Up. In 2007, it was announced that a colony of Townsend's big-eared bats had settled in the ride's engine room. Le Cobra is a clone of the Shockwave coaster, at Six Flags Magic Mountain, Six Flags Great Adventure, at Six Flags AstroWorld as Batman The Escape. Cobra only has one inversion, a turnaround dive hill, a helix through the only loop. Cobra at La Ronde Official Website
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67, as it was known, was a general exhibition, Category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Canada, from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It is considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century with the most attendees to that date and 62 nations participating, it set the single-day attendance record for a world's fair, with 569,500 visitors on its third day. Expo 67 was Canada's main celebration during its centennial year; the fair had been intended to be held in Moscow, to help the Soviet Union celebrate the Russian Revolution's 50th anniversary. The project was not well supported in Canada at first, it took the determination of Montreal's mayor, Jean Drapeau, a new team of managers to guide it past political and temporal hurdles. Defying a computer analysis that said it could not be done, the fair opened on time. After Expo 67 ended in October 1967, the site and most of the pavilions continued on as an exhibition called Man and His World, open during the summer months from 1968 until 1984.
By that time, most of the buildings—which had not been designed to last beyond the original exhibition—had deteriorated and were dismantled. Today, the islands that hosted the world exhibition are used as parkland and for recreational use, with only a few remaining structures from Expo 67 to show that the event was held there; the idea of hosting the 1967 World Exhibition dates back to 1957. "I believe it was Colonel Sevigny who first asked me to do what I could to bring Canada's selection as the site for the international exposition in 1967." Montreal's mayor, Sarto Fournier, backed the proposal, allowing Canada to make a bid to the Bureau International des Expositions. At the BIE's May 5, 1960 meeting in Paris, Moscow was awarded the fair after five rounds of voting that eliminated Austria's and Canada's bids. In April 1962, the Soviets scrapped plans to host the fair because of financial constraints and security concerns. Montreal's new mayor, Jean Drapeau, lobbied the Canadian government to try again for the fair, which they did.
On November 13, 1962, the BIE changed the location of the World Exhibition to Canada, Expo 67 went on to become the second-best attended BIE-sanctioned world exposition, after the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris. Several sites were proposed as the main Expo grounds. One location, considered was Mount Royal Park, to the north of the downtown core, but it was Drapeau's idea to create new islands in the St. Lawrence river, to enlarge the existing Saint Helen's Island; the choice overcame opposition from Montreal's surrounding municipalities, prevented land speculation. Expo did not get off to a smooth start; the main reason for the resignations was Mayor Drapeau's choice of the site on new islands to be created around the existing St. Helen's Island and that a computer program predicted that the event could not be constructed in time. Another more reason for the mass resignations was that on April 22, 1963, the federal Liberal government of Prime Minister Lester Pearson took power; this meant that former Prime Minister John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservative government appointees to the board of directors of the Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibition were forced to resign.
Canadian diplomat Pierre Dupuy was named Commissioner General, after Diefenbaker appointee Paul Bienvenu resigned from the post in 1963. One of the main responsibilities of the Commissioner General was to attract other nations to build pavilions at Expo. Dupuy would spend most of 1964 and 1965 soliciting 125 countries, spending more time abroad than in Canada. Dupuy's'right-hand' man was Robert Fletcher Shaw, the deputy commissioner general and vice-president of the corporation, he replaced a Diefenbaker appointee, C. F. Carsley, Deputy Commissioner General. Shaw was a professional engineer and builder, is credited for the total building of the Exhibition. Dupuy hired Andrew Kniewasser as the general manager; the management group became known as Les Durs—the tough guys—and they were in charge of creating and managing Expo. Les Durs consisted of: Jean-Claude Delorme, Legal Counsel and Secretary of the Corporation. To this group the chief architect Édouard Fiset was added. All ten were honoured by the Canadian government as recipients of the Order of Canada, Companions for Dupuy and Shaw, Officers for the others.
Jasmin wrote a book, in French, La petite histoire d'Expo 67, about his 45-month experience at Expo and created the Expo 67 Foundation to commemorate the event for future generations. As historian Pierre Berton put it, the cooperation between Canada's French- and English-speaking communities "was the secret of Expo's success—'the Québécois flair, the English-Canadian pragmatism.'" However, Berton points out that this is an over-simplification of national stereotypes. Arguably Expo did, for a short period anyway, bridge the'Two Solitudes.' In May 1963, a group of prominent Canadian thinkers—including Alan Jarvis, director of the National Gallery of Canada.
SkyScreamer
SkyScreamer is an amusement ride located at several Six Flags theme parks in North America. Designed by Funtime, an Australian ride manufacturer, the attraction is one of their "Star Flyer" models. Since 2011, Six Flags has installed SkyScreamers in ten of their parks. Riders aboard SkyScreamer are carried aloft in two-person swing-like chairs attached to a rotating gondola mounted on a central tower; when the gondola reaches the top of the tower, riders are swung in a wide circle at speeds approaching 43 miles per hour, with expansive views of the adjacent countryside. The ride is marketed to both thrill-ride enthusiasts and patrons seeking a more family-friendly experience; the first two SkyScreamers were announced in late 2010 for Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and Six Flags St. Louis for the 2011 season. On May 14, 2011, SkyScreamer opened at Six Flags St. Louis, where it replaced the Riverview Racer. On May 27, 2011, SkyScreamer made its debut at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, adjacent to the Medusa roller coaster.
In September 2011, Six Flags announced the addition of SkyScreamer to two more parks, Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Six Flags Great Adventure. On January 19, 2012, Six Flags announced that La Ronde would receive a Star Flyer tower. On May 19, 2012, La Ronde opened their attraction. On May 23, 2012, Six Flags Great Adventure opened SkyScreamer as part of their new Adventure Alley section, based around the idea of retro-style amusement rides. On May 27, 2012, Six Flags Fiesta Texas opened their SkyScreamer in the Spassburg section of the park. In July 2012, Six Flags New England submitted plans to the city of Agawam, Massachusetts requesting special approval to construct a 385-foot-tall Star Flyer ride, as the proposed height exceeded the city's height limit; the approval was granted a week with an additional conditional approval to build as tall as 410 feet, in case a competing park built a taller model first. The planning documents revealed that the ride would replace the park's Skycoaster, "Taz's Dare Devil Dive" as well as the former spot of "Catapult".
However, when Six Flags announced its 2013 capital investments in August 2012, the Six Flags New England Star Flyer was not included. Instead, two other parks, Six Flags Over Texas and Six Flags Over Georgia, were set to receive SkyScreamer attractions. Six Flags Over Georgia's 242-foot version replaced the Wheelie and debuted on May 24, 2013, after two weekends of passholder previews. Six Flags Over Texas' model, dubbed the Texas SkyScreamer, reached 400 feet in height and opened on May 25, 2013, it Flashback. Texas SkyScreamer was awarded the title of the "world's tallest swing carousel ride" by Guinness World Records. Although reports suggested it took this record from the 117-metre-tall Prater Turm in Vienna, Eclipse at Gröna Lund held the record for a period of a month standing at 120 metres, 3 metres shorter than the Texas SkyScreamer. On August 29, 2013, Six Flags announced that they would be adding the New England SkyScreamer to Six Flags New England in 2014; the over 400-foot-tall ride debuted on May 23, 2014 in the park's North End section.
New England SkyScreamer hold the title for the tallest swing ride. As part of its 2015 attractions presentation on August 28, 2014, Six Flags announced that Six Flags Mexico will be the next park to receive a SkyScreamer, a 242-foot model and the only attraction of its kind in Latin America. Two years after the announcement of Six Flags Mexico addition, Six Flags announced that they be adding yet another Funtime Star Flyer for the 2017 season after a hiatus of building the swing ride back to back. Six Flags America announced on September 1, 2016 that for the following season they will be constructing Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth a 242-foot SkyScreamer; the ride would become one of the first SkyScreamers to be themed to a DC Comics character. Wonder Woman Lasso of Truth will become the tallest ride in the park. On August 30, 2019, Six Flags announced the Six Flags SkyScreamer; the 242 foot tall ride is set to open in May of 2019 at the newly-renamed Six Flags Darien Lake, as Six Flags has re-purchased the operating lease for Darien Lake.
The ride is set to be the tallest ride in New York State. The current holder of said title is the park’s Ride of Steel roller coaster. While the heights of the various SkyScreamer installations vary from park to park, the basic operation of the ride is consistent. Riders sit in one of 16 two-seat chairs connected to a gondola mounted on a central tower, which brings the gondola up and down. A seat belt is placed over the rider's waist to keep them in their seat, a lap bar is fastened into place; when the ride cycle begins, the gondola rises to the top of the tower, beginning to spin around the central tower and picking up speed as it ascends further. By the time it reaches the top, it is rotating around the tower at its full speed of 43 miles per hour, with riders rotating around the tower in a circle 98 feet in diameter; the gondola remains at the top of the tower for a period of time it descends and slows down before returning to the top. At the end of the cycle, the gondola lowers to the ground and slows its rotation such that, by the time it reaches the bottom of the tower, all rotation has ceased and the riders are able to depart.
Optionally, SkyScreamer can be set to rotate in the opposite direction during its cycle, such that riders are traveling backwards. Thus far, the installations at St. Louis, Discovery Kingdom, Fiesta Te
La Ronde (amusement park)
La Ronde is an amusement park in Montreal, Canada, built as the entertainment complex for Expo 67, the 1967 world fair. Today, it is operated by Six Flags; the park is under an emphyteutic lease with the City of Montreal, which expires in 2065. It is second largest in Canada, it is on 146 acres located on the Northern tip of Saint Helen's Island. This is a man-made extension to the island in the space; the park hosts L'International des Feux Loto-Québec, a regarded international fireworks competition. La Ronde is one of three Six Flags parks not to be branded as a Six Flags park Great Escape in Queensbury, New York and Frontier City in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma being the other two The park opens from mid-May to late October, with peak admissions in July. Toddlers aged 2 and under receive free admission. Family rides require a height of 36 in, while most intermediate rides require 44 in and high-thrill rides require 52 or 54 inches. La Ronde closes its season in the last weekend of October. To celebrate Halloween, in the month of October, the park hosts its annual La Ronde's Fright Fest.
The festival has four haunted houses, many costumed performers who roam the park. The park has 40 rides, including ten roller coasters. La Ronde was the entertainment complex built for Expo 67, the world fair held in Montreal from April 27 to October 29, 1967; the exposition was located on 400 hectares of man-made islands in the St Lawrence River adjacent to Montréal, comprised six "theme" pavilions, 48 national pavilions, four provincial pavilions, 27 private-industry and institutional pavilions, La Ronde – a 54-ha entertainment complex with theatres, midway attractions and dining. Visitors could experience the rides and beer halls of La Ronde until 2:30 a.m. nightly. The rest of the Expo site closed down at 10:30 p.m. After Expo 67 World's Fair, the City of Montreal continued to run the amusement park for the next 34 years; the City of Montreal sold La Ronde to Six Flags, an American theme park chain, in a deal completed on May 4, 2001. It acquired all of the assets of the park for $20 million USD and has a long-term contract to lease the land from the city.
Before the announcement of the Six Flags purchase, the city had considered offers from other bidders including Paramount Parks, Cedar Fair, Parc Astérix. Since Six Flags has invested around $90 million in new rides and improvements, such as Le Vampire, Splash, Le Goliath and Ednör - L'Attaque as well as a new main entrance; the amusement park was used as a backdrop in the Are You Afraid of the Dark? Episode "Laughing in the Dark" and was given the fictional name "Playland"; the episode featured the park's iconic giant roller coaster, haunted house with a dragon on the front and its old-fashioned carousel. La Ronde had a Nintendo-sponsored video game centre with the latest Nintendo video games and attractions. Since 2009, the former 3D theatre has housed Nintendo DS and Wii consoles, advertisements and a Nintendo Store. In May 2002, La Ronde announced the installation of a Bolliger & Mabillard inverted roller coaster called Le Vampire, the first major investment by Six Flags, it is a mirror image of the "Batman – The Ride" roller coasters found at many other Six Flags parks.
In May 2006, La Ronde opened its ninth roller coaster, Goliath, a 53-metre high Bolliger & Mabillard mega coaster. It reaches speeds of 110 km/h, making it the third tallest and the third fastest roller coaster in Canada. For the 2007 season, La Ronde painted its iconic observation tower bright orange to advertise Pizza Pizza, an Ontario pizza chain that, at the time, was just emerging into the Quebec market. All of the pizza stands inside the park were renamed from Pizza Ronde to Pizza Pizza. 2007 was La Ronde's 40th anniversary. The park celebrated with Expo 67 themed events commemorating the world fair. In January 2009, La Ronde announced its intention to become a Six Flags branded park, using the rights to Warner Bros. and DC Comics trademarks under the licensing agreement with Six Flags. Le Vampire, a mirror image of Batman: The Ride constructed in 2002, carries no association to the Batman media franchise because the licence with Warner Bros. and DC Comics is not valid in unbranded Six Flags parks.
It is yet unknown if Le Vampire will be re-branded to Batman: The Ride once the branding of the park commences. The Serial Thriller, a Vekoma Suspended Looping Coaster that used to be located at the now defunct Six Flags AstroWorld, was shipped to La Ronde from the Great Escape, another Six Flags property where it lay in storage since 2005; the roller coaster, which opened in 1999 at Six Flags AstroWorld, has been installed over the Lac des Dauphins at the park for the 2010 season and is named Ednör - L'Attaque. It features special effects and theming from an alleged sea monster, reported to have appeared in the Lac des Dauphins. On March 9, 2010, La Ronde announced that Terminator X: A Laser Battle for Salvation, an interactive laser-tag attraction themed around the Terminator series, will be featured in the park for the 2010 season. On January 19, 2012, Six Flags announced Vol Ultime at La Ronde. In 2013, the park opened Aqua Twist. On August 29, 2013, Six Flags announced the addition of a top spin ride, for the 2014 season.
As a world premiere, Goliath was the first roller coaster equipped and exploited with virtual reality headset. On August
Le Vampire
Le Vampire is an inverted roller coaster at La Ronde amusement park in Montreal, Canada, designed by the Swiss firm Bolliger & Mabillard. It is a mirror image of Batman: The Ride, however since this is not a branded Six Flags park, Six Flags' licensing agreement with Warner Bros. and DC Comics is not valid. As a result, the roller coaster has no association to the Batman media franchise and was given an unrelated name and a different cosmetic appearance; the track reaches a height of nearly 32 metres. Riders sit with their legs dangling such as on a ski chairlift and reach speeds of up to 80.5 km/hour and loop head-over-heels five times. The Vampire can carry up to 1,400 riders per hour, it was announced in January 2009 that Six Flags will be commencing the Warner Bros. and DC Comics license in La Ronde, however it is unknown if this will impact Le Vampire. The ride was closed due to an accident on July 6, 2012, it opened for the first time since the incident on August 13, 2012. On September 3, 2015, the park announced that the ride would run backwards for a limited amount of time during the 2016 season and become part of a new section of the park.
Le Vampire was constructed by Vleminckx. Incidents at La Ronde Batman: The Ride Vampire at La Ronde website
Wooden roller coaster
A wooden roller coaster is most classified as a roller coaster with running rails made of flattened steel strips mounted on laminated wooden track. The support structure may be made out of a steel lattice or truss, but the ride remains classified as a wooden roller coaster due to the track design; because of the limits of wood, wooden roller coasters, in general, do not have inversions, steep drops, or banked turns. However, there are exceptions. Other special cases are Hades 360 at Mount Olympus Water and Theme Park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin; the coaster features a double-track tunnel, a corkscrew, a 90-degree banked turn. There is The Voyage at Holiday World featuring three separate 90-degree banked turns. Ravine Flyer II at Waldameer Park has a 90-degree banked turn, T Express at Everland in South Korea with a 77-degree drop, Outlaw Run at Silver Dollar City which has 3 inversions and 120-degree overbanked turn. Once a staple in every amusement park in America, wooden roller coasters began a slow decline in popularity for a number of reasons.
Steel roller coasters, while having larger up-front costs, cost much less in ongoing maintenance fees throughout the years of operation. Wooden roller coasters, on the other hand, require large amounts of devoted funds annually to keep the ride in operating condition through regular re-tracking, track lubrication, support maintenance. Wooden coasters are becoming less marketable in today's media-driven advertising world. Superlative advertising in which the "biggest", "tallest", or "fastest" ride is what brings in crowds cannot apply to new wooden roller coasters since a large majority of record-holding rides are steel. Amusement parks are always looking to add attractions that can be presented in commercials and ads as tall, fast, or extreme, which eliminates many wooden roller coasters. However, the arrival of several new wooden coasters has bucked the downward trend. In 2006, a trio of giant wooden coasters opened in the United States: The Kentucky Rumbler at Beech Bend Park, The Voyage at Holiday World, El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure.
Another wooden coaster, Renegade at Valleyfair, opened in 2007. In Sweden Balder at Liseberg has received much attention and appreciation, it remains to be seen whether or not these new coasters mark the beginning of a wooden coaster revival, but they do indicate that amusement parks continue to show interest in wooden roller coasters. The 1920s was the Golden Era of coaster design; this was the decade. Some of these include the Giant Dipper at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and its counterpart at Belmont Park, the Cyclone at Coney Island, the Big Dipper at Geauga Lake, The Thriller at Euclid Beach Park, the Roller Coaster at Lagoon. All of these rides were built during this time; the decade was the design peak for some of the world's greatest coaster designers, including John A. Miller, Harry Traver, Herb Schmeck, the partnership of Prior and Church. Many wooden roller coasters of this time were demolished during the Great Depression, but a few still stand as American Coaster Enthusiasts classics and landmarks.
The popularity may have come to a short closing, but that did not stop certain amusement parks from building scream machines again, again. Cedar Point built Blue Streak in 1964, a Philadelphia Toboggan Company-manufactured coaster designed by John C. Allen; this quiet age of coaster design following the Great Depression was brought to an end by The Racer at Kings Island, which opened in 1972 and sparked a second "Golden Age" of wooden coaster design that continues today. After their success with the Racer at Kings Island, the Philadelphia Toboggan Company constructed another 9 roller coasters over the next decade. About half were small family coasters, two were racing coasters similar to the Racer, two were out and back coasters with custom designs. One of these, Screamin' Eagle at Six Flags St. Louis, was the last coaster designed by John Allen before his retirement. After these coasters, PTC stopped producing roller coasters, but continues to produce wooden roller coaster trains as Philadelphia Toboggan Coasters.
Their distinctive rectangular cars are used on wooden coasters around the world. A notable non-PTC coaster built during this time was The Beast at Kings Island. After John Allen refused to design the coaster in lieu of retirement, Kings Island built the coaster themselves, with the coaster designed by Al Collins and Jeff Gramke and construction overseen by Charlie Dinn. Rather than a typical out and back layout, the coaster sprawled over the woods at the back of the park, using the terrain to create an elevation change from lowest to highest point of 201 feet though the coaster was only 118 feet tall; the coaster had two lift hills which, while common for mine train coasters at the time, was uncommon for wooden coasters. Opening in 1979, the coaster was, still is, the longest wooden roller coaster in the world at 7,359 feet. Another significant wooden coaster of this era was the racing American Eagle at Six Flags Great America, built by Intamin in 1981, which still holds the records for racing wooden coasters of height, length and drop.
After the surge in the 1970s, wooden coasters construction became stagnant due to the steel roller coaster being much more popular. Most original coaster
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