Sabrina's Brochure Spotlight: La Ronde 2005

Bonjour! Aujourd'hui nous allons à Québec pour visiter La Ronde. Je parle le Français un peu, mais il y a BEACOUP d'ans... Je m'arrête. C'est très mauvais!

Oh thank goodness--This brochure includes both French and English translations! Anybody know the French word for "woo hoo"?

Actually, I just noted one thing that has not been translated into English but I think this one's pretty self-explanatory: "Membre de la Famille de Six Flags". Had they not kept the "Six Flags" part in English, I would have suggested that perhaps La Ronde is embarrassed by this affiliation! But it does sound quite lovely in French, so I'll assume they were just trying to be suave.

We'll learn more about this in a couple pages, but the big new thing at La Ronde in 2005 was "Pays de Ribambelle", a family area featuring the park's new mascot. Pictured on the cover of this brochure is a rendering of Ourson Fripon, one of the new area's featured rides.

Mmmmm, a pyrotechnics exhibition...tasty! I tried to think of something intelligent to say here. (Really, I did!) But all I came up with was the following: FIRE! FIRE! heh heh FIRE! heh heh heh

Alright, alright: I'll try a little harder because this point merits elaboration. L’International des Feux Loto-Québec, otherwise known as the Montreal Fireworks Festival, is widely regarded as the world's largest and most prestigious fireworks competition. And since its inception in 1985, it has called La Ronde home! Each year, the world's best "pyromusical" masters converge upon the park over a period of weeks to compete for top honors and--according to this brochure--"seduce and dazzle" their audience. Ooh la la!! *blushes and giggles*

Okay, so going back to this Ribambelle creature--and by the way, has anyone else noted the conspicuous absence of Looney Tunes characters in this so-called Six Flags brochure? La Ronde is sans Looney Tunes! (Colloquial Americanized use of an otherwise French word intended!)

It's also "sans" a lot of other things, including Batmans and Supermans. Instead, you will find crowd pleasers such as Monstre, Monsieur L'Arbre, and my personal favorite, Autos Tamponneuses!! [Everything sounds fancier in French.] I suppose we did have a "Goliath" creep in there recently, but at least in this case it was appropriate so I'll let it slide. (Just don't let it happen again!)

But in 2005, it was all about Ribambelle and her new "pays". In addition to Ourson Fripon, five other rides were also installed in this area, several of which are pictured here. And if you compare these whimsical renderings to the actual ride photos that appear on La Ronde's web site today, you may have a hard time telling the difference. I mean wow, talk about attention to detail!

Quelle belle brochure! While the whole "circles" motif is reminiscent of other Six Flags brochures, at least this one's got some meat on its bones. Or does it just appear that way because the dual language presentation results in twice as much text? No matter. I'm still enchanted. Or shall I say, enchantée!