La Ronde’s uncertain future
Six Flags, the American company that was handed La Ronde on a plate some years ago, is facing hard times, making the future of the amusement park uncertain.
Thinking aloud here, would this be so terrible? Maybe once the rides were taken out, that part of the island could be re‑greened, or else the concert venue aspect of the island transferred to the La Ronde side, and the St‑Helen’s side re‑greened. There could be wins.
Tangentially, the Gazette has an op‑ed Tuesday about the lack of showmanship in the current campaign, and the failure of anyone to present big new shiny projects for the city. Raphaël Melançon even goes so far as to praise Denis Coderre’s urge for the spotlight. Too bad that making the city livable for its residents is never going to be as flashy as a car race or a granite stump.
Joey 09:30 on 2025-10-21 Permalink
It would be a shame to lose the city’s amusement park. Besides, it sounds like the problem has to do with the corporate merger of La Ronde’s owner (no surprise to see it got loaded up with debt and is now looking to sell off assets), not that the park per se is on the decline.
Kate 09:44 on 2025-10-21 Permalink
I haven’t been there in years, but it has gradually lost all the features that made it distinctive.
Aren’t amusement parks, as such, a pretty 20th-century idea? Is anyone building new ones anywhere?
Taylor C. Noakes 10:21 on 2025-10-21 Permalink
Isn’t it under an emphyteutic lease agreement? So if Six Flags bails doesn’t it revert back to the city?
The city getting out of the amusement park business was in line with the privatization fad of the 80s/90s, but considering the success they’ve had running other municipal attractions, to say nothing of the ample local talent in the events mgmt & entertainment/tourism sectors, I think they should try to run it themselves. Maybe they could bring ticket costs down, or try to revive some of the elements that made it distinct from other amusement parks.
La Ronde’s pretty decent for a small amusement park. It has some great rides. There’s a lot of stuff for younger kids too. It would be great if they revived the Jardin des Etoiles as a live music venue.
I’d like it if Parc Jean-Drapeau and the next city admin got working on an improvement plan for that whole tip of the island, because the big parking lot at the very end is a waste of space that could be an amazing public park. There’s also the pavilion inside the bridge support structure that hasn’t been used for eons. And the threatre in the basement of the Canadian pavilion (on Ile Notre-Dame) that’s similarly been mothballed. Endless potential, it just needs a master plan and for the people running it to really conceptualize of the entire space as one massive attraction for the entire metro region. It feels to me that since Man and His World closed, it’s been a big space used by many diverging and disparate interests, and, outside of some marketing efforts, rarely planned and conceived as a cohesive whole.
And to answer your question Kate, yes indeed, Universal just opened a new theme park in Orlando, and, reflecting the times we live in, it has apparently traded in the conspicuous consumption of the traditional midway for… plants. Lots and lots of trees, shrubs, bucolic landscaping.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91339682/universal-new-epic-theme-park-plants-outnumber-rides
So integrating Les Floralies with La Ronde, and making a new La Ronde 2.0 more like the Botanical Garden, would in fact be on the cutting edge of modern amusement park design.
The times, they are a-changin’
jeather 10:21 on 2025-10-21 Permalink
I don’t think they’re making a lot more, but amusement parks are really popular and get a lot of upgrades (faster/taller/upside downer roller coasters etc) instead of new ones.
Joey 10:25 on 2025-10-21 Permalink
I’m not sure ‘distinctive features’ matters a whole lot to most amusement park visitors, especially kids. As the article explained, most of the new focus is less. Apparently there are 50 new parks built globally each year, with most of the new parks in North America being indoor to allow for full-year operation (also, presumably, to make waiting in lines bearable in extremely hot places). The most high profile expansion seems to be more experience-driven than ride-driven (like the new Universal Epic Universe park in Florida that ‘immerses’ visitors in themed areas, including a Harry Potter thing and a Super Mario thing; Disney added Star Wars ‘worlds’ to its parks in the last 10 years). Source: https://zipdo.co/amusement-park-statistics/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
walkerp 11:16 on 2025-10-21 Permalink
I’d be much more bummed about losing La Ronde than losing le stade Olympique.
DeWolf 11:58 on 2025-10-21 Permalink
I’m not an amusement park guy but they are still extremely popular, and there are a lot of people who *really* like amusement parks.
Plus there’s the heritage question. Le Monstre is one of the world’s largest wooden roller coasters and even if the park shut down, it should be preserved in some capacity. You can’t just knock it all down.
Kate 12:02 on 2025-10-21 Permalink
Taylor C. Noakes: “There’s also the pavilion inside the bridge support structure that hasn’t been used for eons.” Taylor, as far as I’m aware it has never been used. How much vibration does that space get from the traffic going past above it? It certainly carries a lot more traffic, and heavier vehicles, than were originally envisioned by the Harbour Bridge design.
Taylor C. Noakes 14:28 on 2025-10-21 Permalink
@Kate – I thought it was used briefly when the bridge opened but I could be wrong.
Either way – might be a great place for a rock venue
Taylor C. Noakes 15:38 on 2025-10-21 Permalink
So I looked it up and holy smokes, that building is massive, and has been completely empty since the beginning. They wanted it to be a casino! And its main halls could accommodate 6,000 people
Joey 15:48 on 2025-10-21 Permalink
I know you can rent the Canada Pavilion for events – is the basement not included?
JanSolo 17:16 on 2025-10-21 Permalink
If SixFlags were to quit La Ronde and hand it back to the city, I wonder if they would request that their two biggest investments (Vampire and Goliath) be dismantled and transferred back to some other SixFlags park. Since these are the biggest and best rides at the park, it might make it non-viable for the city to keep the site running as a themepark without them.
Regardless, I think it’s probably a good thing for Six Flags to go. They have chronically under-invested in La Ronde for years. Whoever takes over will face a bill for several dozen million dollars just to bring the park back up to a standard that is competitive with other regional amusement parks.
Josh 17:33 on 2025-10-21 Permalink
I’ll just say that an amusement park that you can ride public transit to pretty easily to is a tourism asset. Other than Coney Island in New York, I struggle to think of any others in North America that are as close to a mass transit station as La Ronde is. I bet it’s at least a contributing factor for some families who decide to vacation in Montreal.
Kate 17:44 on 2025-10-21 Permalink
Funny thing, many amusement parks were initially built as trolley parks. Privately owned streetcar companies built the parks or encouraged them to be built at the far end of long routes to give their passengers a reason to take the streetcar on weekends and holidays. Montreal had several of these – Sohmer Park, Dominion Park and Belmont Park.
Ian 19:37 on 2025-10-21 Permalink
The old rides are pretty decrepit, sadly, but there are some great new(er) rides. I’m a roller coaster fan so I am happy in that regard. I do miss the monorail as an easy and pleasant way to get from one end of the park to the other especially with smaller kids. though.
Goliath is a great ride but then again, so is the Monster!
Jeremy Aubin 18:47 on 2025-11-19 Permalink
As a theme park fan, I see great potential in La Ronde. Even if Six Flags were to keep it. I’ve seen good improvents over the last 2 years in regards to cleanliness and ambience. The main issue in my eyes as to do with it being viewed as heritage by the city and lobbying groups instead of infrastructure. A theme park is not meant to stay the same forever. Attractions aren’t meant to last past a certain point and rundown buildings with asbestos (Probably) need to be dealt with eventually. The current dynamics make it hard for Six Flags to do anything worth while. I’ve been to many other Six Flags and most of them are really nice and lots of fun.
Matt G 17:51 on 2026-02-11 Permalink
This park will not close. Maybe it will go private, back to the city or fold into another company. It is super busy, expensive and has not had major investment in years. The children’s section is probably due to for a good upgrade and the adult higher end thrill rides could use some new action. The park is generally very busy so they would have closed it long ago if it was the problem. Additionally, my family prefers to day trip to Great Escape rather than wait in these terrible lines. We would go Laronde on a busy or not so crazy day and do 5 to 10 rides, great escape 10, maybe 20+ rides in a day,
I say bring in more water rides, kids rides, thrill rides and bring back the waterpark…too bad they can’t have a 4 season (indoor waterpark). I know nothing about running an amusement park!