Picture from: https://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/p_344_3086_la_ronde_super_mange

It has been recently rumoured that the classic roller coaster at La Ronde, Super Manège, will be closing down for good at the end of the 2019 operating season. Built-in 1981 by Vekoma, it was the parks first looping coaster, sending riders into two corkscrews. Although it is a classic ride, it is also a very rough and outdated roller coaster and it is time to remove it in my opinion. Being a roller coaster enthusiast and having been on 200+ coasters, I can safely say that Super Manège is probably one of the worst coasters I’ve been on and is probably one of the worst cloned rides too (outside Vekoma SLC’s, like Ednor).

If removed, it’ll be the second roller coaster removed at La Ronde in the past three years, with Cobra biting the dust in 2016. Cobra was a stand-up coaster that was manufactured by Intamin in 1988 and originally in Sweden while being at La Ronde from 1995-2016. The park still has not added anything new in the spot of Cobra, but the case might be different from Super Manège and 2020. The park is rumoured to finally get a new roller coaster in 2020, the first in ten years! The last coaster was Ednor, a Vekoma SLC clone (there’s about 50 of these) that was built-in 1999. Unfortunately, the 2020 coaster (if true) will be yet another relocated roller coaster from a Six-Flags park.

What might be coming in 2020?

Source: https://coasterpedia.net/wiki/Green_Lantern:_First_Flight

The rumoured coaster for 2020 is the now-closed Green Lantern: First Flight coaster currently located at Six Flags Magic Mountain. If it does indeed come to La Ronde, it will be marketed as Canada’s first 4D roller coaster. This will be a huge addition to the park, especially since it will be a first for Canada, but on the other hand, I have some gripes about this ride too. For starters, it’s a fairly unreliable ride. This isn’t a knock to Intamin, but their roller coasters are known to be fairly unreliable. The other issue I have is that this ride is pretty jerky and intense. Because of the tight transitions and the high G-Forces, it makes the ride uncomfortable. When I rode this ride, I was facing the backseat, which is the more intense seat on the ride. I, as well as the person beside me, kept hitting our heads due to the speed, tight transitions and with the spinning of the seats as well. I know Magic Mountain added trims to reduce the speed, but it only helped slightly. If this is our new 2020 coaster, I hope they made the proper modifications to ensure a smooth ride for passengers, since the ride is actually fun and unique. But to be honest, I’d rather Six Flags purchase a 4D ride from S&S since those are much smoother and are more fun than these ones.

POV of Green Lantern: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAv24bRg4Wg

The question is, will this make me buy a seasons pass or visit La Ronde in 2020? Maybe, since this is an upgrade over Super Manège. However, La Ronde needs something new and not a hand-me-down, and something striking. If La Ronde would get an RMC T-Rex, it would put the park on the map. I would also love to see the park get an S&S launch coaster like Maxx Force, which is a very short ride but cheap and can be billed as “the fastest launch coaster in Canada”. One thing is for sure though, the 2020s will be interesting times for La Ronde, and in my opinion, It’ll be a make or break it decade for the park.