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China #1 (Guangzhou to Shanghai) - Part 7: Disney

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
Always feel the need for some creds in January, can't go that long without them.
Where could I have gone that will have everything open without fail? China of course.

Day 0 – Universal Studios Singapore

With only a few days in the country I didn’t think I would have a decent (quiet) day in which to revisit this old pal of a park. But a couple of days beforehand I thought **** it and booked evening tickets (17:00 to 01:00) for the New Year’s Eve event. This turned out to be a great decision, even though I expected it to be unbearably busy. Apparently there’s better ways to celebrate the New Year (I can’t think of any) and it was quieter than several ‘off peak’ visits I’ve had.

Perhaps the only disadvantage to this day was that they were handing out party bags to everyone that included some sort of plastic horn, which in the mouths of the masses had the power to be spectacularly irritating. :emoji_tada:

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Operations on the Battlestars had vastly improved since the early stages of reopening. It was now a two train affair and the duelling is back in business, which was amazing to finally experience both on and off-ride.
Cylon has turned from blue to grey. I knew something was off, but it took me a while to notice exactly what. I really like this thing. It sums up what SLCs should have been from the start and has a good mix of forces without any of the roughness.
Human has remained both red and comparatively dull. The whole layout feels like it is holding back which makes it not ride like a big boy coaster. Perhaps this was a consequence of making 2 different ride types duel, where more effort is put into making the layout happen and the individual experience suffers on at least one half.

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Mummy was running as well as ever and my love for it knows no bounds. If I had to pinpoint the moment at which I found the desire to visit parks worldwide, it would be my first time on this thing. It never fails to be ridiculously fun.

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Puss in Boots is a laugh. It’s barely a coaster, but other guests riding it treat it like it’s the most intense thing ever. The stop-start ‘scenes’ seemed to be shorter than I remember and it was all over rather quickly this time.

I don’t do Canopy Flyer any more as it has the worst throughput in the park (other than the pitiful Treasure Hunters) and is a ridiculously short and uneventful figure of 8 layout. Japan had a better idea.

I also don’t do Enchanted Airways unless it’s empty, which it never is. This doesn’t need justification.

Transformers is starting to wear off on me. Once you’re able to see past the spectacle and wonder of the screens and story, it boils down to a ride vehicle shaking you about in an irritating fashion. That’s nothing against the ride really, it’s pretty fantastic when you’re new to it, but I’ve learnt now that too much of it isn’t a good thing.

Jurassic Park in the dark was a new experience and brought new life to the outdoor portion. The boat entering through the huge gates all lit up was rather special. I’m a fan of the lesser spoken about Hafema water rides, everything they do always manages to squeeze in a bit of extra crazy over your average log flume or rapids and this one doesn’t disappoint.

Never seen a Madagascar film and never want to, but in ride form it’s surprisingly good and always worth a visit. Strong attention to detail and a mixture of technologies.

Sesame Street is also a solid dark ride, but I didn’t bother this time.

The effects show Lights, Camera, Action! is usually worth a look as well but I’m not sure if it was even open.

For those who care about food, always venture outside the park into the rest of the resort where there’s plenty of choice. This time I tried a place where you use machines to order all manners of Asian and weird Western fusion from pretend street stalls.

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Apparently the park have set that well contested Guinness World Record (oxymoron) for most lights in a single display. I imagine the record was fun to adjudicate.

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It was visually impressive, but invited far too much “let’s take a picture of ourselves with every single thing we encounter”-culture for my liking.

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After that it was re-rides until the countdown and firework display. It was a surprisingly and mercifully short display, as fireworks as an individual package don't do much for me and my journey out of the place involved a lot of walking where buses would have been an hour earlier.

Best New Year ever - start as you mean to go on and all that.
 
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Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
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Crikey! Six months for the trip report? ;)

However average the rides may be, I've always thought something was really impressive looking about Battlestar Galactica.
 

Coaster Hipster

Giga Poster
There seems to be a lot of reports about Singapore popping up lately. Or maybe is it because I am following 3 different forums? Anyway, I'm not complaining! I have a huge interest in Chinese coasters so really looking forward to the rest of your trip :D
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
Day 1 - Chimelong Ocean Kingdom

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Hello beautiful.

This park exceeded my expectations as an overall package and was possibly the only park on the trip that had that ‘just nice to spend the day there’ atmosphere. It was incredibly relaxed and well run, with a satisfying selection of rides, animals and shows.

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Parrot Coaster is the most accomplished wing rider I’ve graced so far. The theming and interaction is excellent and the layout is simple but fun.
Highlight: Sluggish back row in the first inversion rivalled an RMC stall.
Lowlight: Sluggish inline is a bit of a lung crusher.

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Polar Explorer looks great and floating by the bears is cool, but all in all it’s just a water coaster that fails to stir things up much. Not my favourite Polar Xplorer.
Highlight: Realising it isn’t a clone layout.
Lowlight: Realising it might as well have been.

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Walrus Splash is a similar story, looks great and floating past the various animals is cool. Aside from the animals it’s a bigger, more lumbering water coaster that fails to stir things up much.
Highlight: Walrus Mountain theming.
Lowlight: Better to look at than to ride.

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Great name.

Did Sea Odyssey, which is an Omnimover that weaves in and out of screens with some story about a metal fish enduring some mild peril and some real life aquarium tubes. They also chucked in a big erupting volcano set with ceiling projections at the end. Good fun.

The 5D theatre was a surprise hit as well. You never quite know what you’re getting with your Ds and sometimes they can be a bit of a waste of time. This was the real deal however, with impressive visuals and effects. The story featured the park mascots and went through scenes based on the rides and areas in the park such as flying a parrot through a forest, venturing inside Walrus Mountain, riding the big ass whale thing on top of the aquarium and saving some penguins from evil Mr fire-breathing sea monster (he needs a ride next). Such a committed theme and I loved it.

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Had a few more flights on the parrot and caught a few animal shows at various points, which I don’t have an opinion on, then called it a fine day.

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Day 2 – Chimelong Paradise

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Having made a name for themselves the previous day, this Chimelong was a bit of a step down. Sure it satisfies the locals as a well-equipped park with a more thrill based orientation. It just hurts a little that every cred here can be found somewhere else.
I remember a stupid news article about this ‘deathtrap park in China with ****ed up rides you won’t believe’. It was this park and I probably shouted at the screen for their ignorance and clickbait, knowing every one of those rides existed elsewhere before this park did.
(Nothing wrong with the place really, first-world problems).

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Dive Coaster couldn’t really fail to be good. Predictable and solid fun. Train was never full and I had good picks on various seats to make the most of it.
Highlight: The non-holding drop into the sweet mist
Lowlight: Sweet pollution at 200ft.

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Motorbike Launch Coaster couldn’t really fail to be bad. I just can’t get on with the seating position on these things, as it makes for such mild discomfort. Every hill and turn was filled with the thought ‘why?’
Highlight: Local guest glued to their phone choosing not to ride but unable to operate a rope that separates non-riders from the station. Had a quick glance up from the screen to stare at the rope that said ‘I’m not even going to attempt to figure out how that one works’.
Lowlight: Mild discomfort.

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10 Inversion Coaster rode worse than Colossus ever has, which is quite an achievement. Not offensively bad. Just shout, swear then laugh it off bad.
Highlight: Some girl dragging her bloke along the queue against his will.
Lowlight: My preferred seat was closed off.

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I was a 30m Halfpipe virgin (famous porn film) before this place and could easily have stayed that way. Every time it launches while facing you sideways you could make a false claim for whiplash. The band in front of it was interesting at least.
Highlight: New experience.
Lowlight: Unpleasant experience.

Youngstars are great for family coasters and it’s a shame they’re so outnumbered by other inferior products. Ridiculously smooth and actually gives you a little to think about.
Highlight: Rat in the station.
Lowlight: Rat in the station.

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Alien Attack is one of those immersive tunnel jobs <insert 'what DBGT could have been' joke here>. Visually not as good as I thought it would be, is there any reason for the vehicle to have a roof? I couldn’t really get behind the story either – playful child aliens, overprotective parents destroy your city and kill millions, dismissed as a misunderstanding. The end. Something different I guess.

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Forest Temple walkthrough was fun. It had some impressive animatronic dragons, goblins and stuff. I’m a sucker for a scare maze that doesn’t try too hard, where you can laugh in the face of fear. China is good at those.

Caught a magic show and a stunt show, which were decent enough and managed to clear everything in a surprisingly short amount of time for a park of this scale. Onwards and north-eastwards.
 
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Coaster Hipster

Giga Poster
Watching at Chimelong Ocean Kingdom pictures: "Looks pretty nice and for once the Chinese sky is clean and bright!"
Then seeing Chimelong Paradise: "Oh well, so much for the clean sky.."

Nice report and I like the highlight/lowlight reviewing system. It's surprisingly fun! Ocean Kingdom has some really good theming from what I see and good to know Parrot Coaster was great fun :)
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
Day 3 – Nanchang Wanda Park

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Felt like I moved the earth to get to this place and it was quite the experience for it. Encountered 2 people on the way up to the entrance. 1 trying to sell me ponchos, the other trying to sell me cheap tickets. That was more people than there were inside the park.
I’m no stranger to dead parks but this was in another league. Staff at each ride entrance were overly happy to see another human and would entice you to have a go on theirs.

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Well, if you insist.

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What an animal. I’ve always enjoyed my GCIs but have never been blown away by them. Generally I preferred the smaller ones for their pacing and layout. Well no more. The signature relentlessness is cranked up to the max and the layout works ridiculously well. Other than the tall turnaround which looks like it shouldn’t work, it feels like it just keeps finding speed out of nowhere and chucking you down another 50ft every few seconds. Some rides try to kill you and you love them for it. Some rides try to remove your clothes and you have no choice but to oblige. Some rides have you laughing uncontrollably out of sheer joy. This did all of that, morning and evening, in rain and in more rain.
Mr Wanda rocked up out at some point and rode it while I was mid-marathon. Strange bloke.
Highlight: Standout ride of the trip.
Lowlight: Can’t get a good picture of it.

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Coaster through the Clouds was begging for some attention next. It was another very good ride and I enjoyed it a lot, but it wasn’t a game changer. You’d think they’d be able to nail a ride like this by now, 15 years after various legendary names came into play, but the layout still has its flaws.

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The air time on the first and last hill, both of which pass through the supports and cut your hands off, was unearthly. I found the rest of the hills were rather underwhelming and there was a little too much meandering about, burning speed.
Highlight: Who doesn’t want an Intamin hyper all to themselves?
Lowlight: First time I’ve felt my face wobble from speed and that ain’t a good sign.

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SLC was a bit crap. It’s nice to try a new layout for once, but it doesn’t solve much.
Highlights: Station music.
Lowlights: Not being able to take comfort in the fact that someone else on the train would be suffering more than myself.

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Spinning Porcelain. These things are unpleasant at best, but it is our duty to put up with them.
Highlight: Love the exterior.
Lowlight: Loathe the interior.

Caterpillar cred – Spite! Legend tells us that it needs a full train to run. I’m so surprised I got everything else here. I really am.

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Roto-drop girl was particularly adorable, skipping along the queue with me and chatting away, purely from the excitement of having a customer. Good to know that my presence brings such joy to others. The ride itself didn’t pack as much punch as I would have expected from its type. Maybe it was 40 people short.

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Haunted Kiln walkthrough didn’t disappoint. Does what it says on the tin and made me laugh many times. Success.

There is something quite magical about having all these big expensive toys to play with, but as the day wears on it does start to feel like something atmospherey is lacking. I’m extremely glad that it was all open, despite terrible weather and zero attendance and I look forward to experiencing what else Mr Wanda brings to the table.
 
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gavin

Moderator
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Jealous. When I went, it was really busy, so I only managed two rides each on the Intamin and GCI. Totally share your opinion of both. I would've loved to have been able to whore the woodie.

The SLC was down the day I was there, but I got the kiddy crap at least.
 

Coaster Hipster

Giga Poster
Weird to see a park with two massive coasters being empty like this.

Some good pictures here, despite the grey weather. Every GCI I've ridden so far left me underwhelmed, so your impressions on Python in Bamboo Forest really got my attention. Fingers crossed that it will remain reasonably smooth by the time I get there!

I share your views on Coaster through the Clouds. I really wonder how Intamin ends up being so unconsistent! They clearly know how to make flawless airtime machines yet somehow produce tamer rides like this one. The drop and first airtime hill still look very exciting though :D Otherwise, that weirdly banked hill right before the final bunny hop always puzzled me. How does it feel on-ride?


Keep posting the nice reports ;)
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
^^ A fair trade I think.

^Wouldn't call it tame at all.
Seem to remember thinking that hill feels like a slower version of the twisty ones on a megalite.

Day 4 – Romon-U Park

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Might just be an unfortunate snapshot, but the quality of people and service definitely took a dive in this part of the country. Faced with another almost empty park, the staff here treated my presence as somewhat of an inconvenience to the point that it was just plain uncomfortable to take more than a couple of rides on a coaster. They had decided to abolish the cheaper late entry tickets as of 1 week before my visit. That coupled with the entire outdoor section being closed due to rain and/or maintenance made it a rather overpriced affair (most expensive park so far, fewest attractions)

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Euro Express stopped me from hating the place too much though. What a difference a lap bar and theming can make (take note everyone, everywhere) to a similar ride that was rather uninteresting to me.

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I got lost for a good hour just taking bad pictures.
Highlight: Being able to appreciate the little hill before the loop.
Lowlight: Intatrims on the other little hill.

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Took a wander outside in the rain and got it confirmed by some bloke that Dragon Legend was closed for maintenance rather than rain, which is better. I guess.

Another day, another haunted walkthrough. Mostly amusing again, but one scene was very claustrophobic and actually created some genuine fear. Can’t have that.

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Really didn’t think there was much else worth riding except the tram thing for a few pictures. In fact, most of the time was spent just exploring every corner of every floor of the indoor section and seeing what was and wasn't on offer.

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Park closing show was quite spectacular with water projections on stage and millions of lasers filling the entire indoor area.


Day 5 – Oriental Heritage Ningbo

**** Fantawild.
 
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Coaster Hipster

Giga Poster
Wouldn't call CttC "tame" either, I guess I was lacking a better word. "Less consistently forceful" world be more appropriate, but much longer to write x)

The whole enclosed thing of Romon-U Park creates a really weird, but fascinating perspective. Euro Express looks decent, but I can't help but feel building a Mega-Lite with this amount of theming would have been incredible... Speaking of which, the theming in that park looks gorgeous indeed!
 

Edward M

Strata Poster
These reports are amazing! Thoroughly enjoyed all of them. I especially love the lowlight and highlight sections, very clever idea that had some hilarious moments.
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
Let's try again. No highlights or lowlights here i'm afraid.

Day 5 – Oriental Heritage Ningbo

Already had a reasonable plan for getting to this place, but decided to get some local opinion for a laugh. No one knew of its existence and the best answer I got was ‘I believe that’s an art gallery’.
Stuck to the original plan. Couple of faffy hours later, landed at the entrance plaza.

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Staff in their infinite impracticalness are unable to confirm or deny ride openings (a common theme for the next few days), but weave a tale about weather and outdoor things will open if it gets to 15°C. The bus earlier that morning had said 14°C so there was a chance, I guess. Haven’t come all this way for nothing.

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Having a spruce up for new year, including painting the floor and making it a pain to get around.

Only other guests on this day comprised of a massive, massive tour group of old people from a more ‘rural area’, let’s say. I’m pretty tolerant in foreign lands when it comes to less than ideal people, but these were some of the most disgusting people you could ever come across. Walking around the park in general, with tons of open space, had more than one occasion of them just making a beeline for you and barging shoulders for the fun of it. In queues they would be smoking, shouting, pushing and shoving each other like an angry mob, to then not even achieve anything in terms of gaining time. On the rides they would just talk loudly amongst themselves, really just not giving a **** about where they were and what they were doing. Pretty much all the rides that were open were on time slots, so couldn't really avoid any of this either.

Jungle Trailblazer, Boomerang, water rides and flats never opened. With a bit of further quizzing, the ride staff impression seemed to be that the 15°C rule mentioned is for opening time and after that point they just give up for the day. Right.

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One of these was the indoor cred, Golden Horse mine train clone in the dark with the screams of the damned as ambient noise throughout.

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Jinshan Temple Showdown with the big ass boats and big effect scene at the end.
The showdown in question is between a woman who can become a snake and a demon hunter who is a bit of a dick. Has a bit of a cliff hanger ending, which makes a change.

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Indoor drop tower was disappointingly weak. Didn’t think much of the indoor aspect, and the ride itself has that lame controlled feeling you get when a tower does both uppy and downy stuff, but doesn’t commit to either.

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Tale of Nuwa, Spiderman technology with another Chinese tale.
There’s a hole in the sky and you’re helping out some magic woman with the key to fix it, but big red bloke, big blue bloke and a couple of dragons are out to stop you. The car got a bit confused between scenes and got stuck a couple of times throughout, odd.

Did the Small World ride which was empty, just for a quiet sit down.

Did the History of Chinese Opera dark ride and regretted it deeply, as did some of the old people who got out of the moving vehicle and hobbled off.

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And that was about it.
Had high expectations for this place for some reason, ended up having little positive to say about it. The star attraction being down didn’t help of course, but in my mind it was meant to have some killer dark rides and shows that could have easily made up for that fact. Nuwa was fun, but eh, just didn’t feel anything for the park at all.
 
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Hixee

Flojector
Staff member
Administrator
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Yeah, I mean, I'll be honest... that sounds ****. ;)
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
Day 6 – Jin Jiang Action Park

Not the most glamorous of city parks. Amazing how well a huge flyover blocks the view of a massive Ferris Wheel and Vekoma thing. Took a stab in the dark with tickets, where the staff at the entrance couldn’t possibly tell me what was actually open, even though they insisted on knowing the exact number of rides I wanted to buy up front. Let’s find out.

Turns out big ol’ GIB was closed so I burned through all the tickets in a huff of a hurry.

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Moto Coaster. “Sit on the ride and read the instructions for 10 minutes while I have a smoke”. Ok.
“Feet flat on the floor. FEET FLAT ON THE FLOOR.” Anatomically impossible mate. Dispatch.
What a weird representation of motorbike riding. The transition out of the launch is really awkward and then it meanders slowly downwards and gets stuck on the brakes for a further 10 minutes.
Highlight: +1
Lowlight: Junk

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Spinning Coaster.
Highlight: +1
Lowlight: More junk.

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Karst Cave Coaster – Over the top laterals and a dinosaur to look at. Cool.

Shuttle loop thing – Spite! Would have quite liked to have given this a whirl.
Ferris Wheel was closed.

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Plot twist! GIB started testing at some point and then managed to get stuck partially up the lift. I sat and watched for a while to see how this would play out. After much nothingness, it lowered itself back into the station where parts in the vicinity of the wheels were treated to a bottle of lube. Asked the staff how it was going and was told they’d be ready in a few minutes. More than a few minutes later, after paying Winter Wonderland prices for a single extra ticket, I was sitting in the front row. Killed some time by demonstrating to other guests on how the restraints were to be used while the staff went to buy more lube and then off it went.
Was a lot better than it could have been.
Highlight: Made the park worthwhile.
Lowlight: What a tease.

Oriental Pearl Tower

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It may not be the tallest, but Oriental Pearl Tower is the observation deck of choice in Shanghai, because cred.
The free museum underneath was mildly interesting as well.

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Those ones look a bit taller, but they’re short of something else.

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They’ve stuck VR on this thing and probably jacked the price up for it. 2 creds at London prices in one day. You used to be cool, China.
VR was bizarre, pretending you were on a coaster outside the tower rather than inside it. The imaginary coaster layout was that of a child’s scribble, which didn’t match much of the physical sensation and the default direction of facing didn’t line up with the direction of travel, or your head, at any time. Clever.
Highlight: Instructions on the car.
Lowlight: Rather have just ridden in the dark.

Joypolis

Spite! Burned a few hours ticking off all the simulators and stuff to save doing them elsewhere. The transformer ball one was kinda fun, in an evil way.
 
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HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
Day 7 - World Joyland

After increasing levels of mishaps in the last few days, this day ran like a dream. Joyland seemed like ghost town number 3, with 0 cars in the car park, the shuttle bus running just for us and then abandoning us for the duration and no sign of guests through most of the park until the back half, where a tour group of young adults had formed a queue outside a certain ride entrance.

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Starry Sky Ripper opened a few minutes later and even though I was the latecomer in this scene, I managed to nab the back row of the first train because the locals have no interest in such seats.

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The whole starting inversion sequence was surprisingly intense and very enjoyable, but I felt that the rest of the layout didn’t do enough for me.

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An overall fun ride at least and definitely worth doing. I grabbed a couple more empty trains front and back about half an hour later as the locals have no interest in re-rides either.
Highlight: Those extra 180 degrees came out of nowhere.
Lowlight: Intensity fizzles out very quickly.

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Dragon Roaring Heaven was the next of the staggered openings. Wouldn’t say these were particularly worse than the originals, except perhaps for their age.
Highlight: That dragon on the front of the train.
Lowlight: A lift too many.

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Clouds of Fairyland. Incoming novel:
This was the last of the staggered openings and I was first in line, ready and raring to get this thing out of the way. Queue opened on time, but stood at the station gate for nearing half an hour. Once we were let in, I sat down and habitually pulled down the restraint. Got a death glare from one of the 2 female attendants for this, who immediately went to the control box to reset the restraints. Lesson learnt.
The staff were on the warpath, let battle commence. Everyone else had sat down by this stage but of course hadn’t considered any standard loose item rulings. They were now told verbally and 11 people slowly mumbled away and stood up, fumbling in their pockets and removing an item or two, leaving the train to put them in the designated area. Most of them sat down again, only moments later realising they had other stuff in there, several times. Next it was the physical inspection. The attendants climbed onto the trains and gave everyone’s legs a good squeeze and then all 12 of us were on our feet again. I’d been had for sneaking a tissue on board, others had been had for phones and stuff they'd somehow missed. We were violated and shamed, but we were ready. Almost.
The restraints were applied, one by one, but the last bloke became the first person in Asia to do the walk of shame for size reasons. He wasn’t particularly big, he just had a thick coat on. I considered pointing out that he could probably manage it but had given up on life by this point. The restraints were unlocked, an empty seat has become available. We must fill that seat. Guest number 13 is let into the station, sits down, gets up twice more for various items in his pockets. Restraints are sorted for the second time.
We are now forcefully told to hold on to the thin ribbon hoop things on the sides of the head rest. I was glad for these, having died on many rides previously due to not holding on in awkward positions. I didn’t dare disobey because they probably would have E-stopped me upside down for it.

The ride was rougher than I had experienced on these and only did a single circuit. Worth it.
Highlight: A legendary tale
Lowlight: A large percentage of life gone

The main dark ride has been down for an upgrade for quite a while it seems. Disappointing.

There was a lack of water in the water ride, also a tad chilly.

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Most indoor things seemed to be closed actually, but at least it wasn’t the B&M. Had it all knocked out in very little time. A visually impressive park that lacks a bit of substance.

Having no desire to hang around all day, spoke to the most friendly and helpful guest services on earth who found us some sort of Chinese Uber straight to their rival park, using their personal phones. Fabulous people.


Day 7 - China Dinosaur Park

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Had a minor meltdown at the entrance after being told, as I stepped through a turnstile and handed my ticket over, that the ‘4D coaster’ wasn’t running.

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A brisk walk proved this wrong within a couple of minutes, so just make it up as you go along.

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Dinoconda created anticipation like little else on the very casually paced 200ft backwards lift. While being intimidating, mental and almost unique as an experience, it didn’t leave me absolutely gagging for more, but it sure was a lot of fun.

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The first drop in the position it puts you is ridiculously good, but it feels like the whole ride was planned around this moment and the rest is just a case of let’s see what happens. I feel they’ve only scratched the surface on what can be done with this type of ride, but I also see why people would love the uncalculated wrath of it chucking you around.
Highlight: First drop.
Lowlight: Cred anxiety.

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Whirling Dinosaur, you know the score.
Highlight: +1
Lowlight: Such a low quality package compared to the rest of the park.

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Dinosaur Mountain took me by surprise. Expected a themed version of the same **** from the previous day, but it turns out Motocoasters can have lift hills and interesting layouts. Riding position still sucks though.
Highlight: Pleasant surprise.
Lowlight: Locals following baggage instructions in the dark is a recipe for disaster.

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Did the King Kong ride just cos it pisses all over Bobbejaan’s.

Also a haunted walkthrough with dinosaurs. Didn’t disappoint.

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Desperados shooting ride, dinosaur style, was a refreshing experience after coming across so many standard (and upcharge) versions worldwide. Just a shame they turned the house lights on almost immediately when the final scores came up, so no one knew the outcome.

Had some time for admiring the plentiful theming and a couple of re-rides, just before they started closing things down.

I still can’t believe how well it all came together on this particular day, I had expected either one or both of the major creds to be down and to be forced to spend a whole day in each park just through impracticalities.
 
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Coaster Hipster

Giga Poster
Glad you got the big creds! It's a little sad to see those parks empty when they have some really impressive coasters. I guess considering their reported slow operations this isn't such a bad thing though...

The guest service employee at Joyland sounds fab <3


Love reading your China reports, keeps me interested every day of the trip.
 

HeartlineCoaster

Theme Park Superhero
Day 8 – Shanghai Disneyland

This may be the most brief Disney trip report around. Didn’t really find much to say about it that hasn’t already been covered and I’m sure everyone has seen a few million pictures already.

After turning down a few hundred imitation Mickey Mouse ears on the excessively long metro line, arrived in the outside street bit and bought some tasty cakes for breakfast before heading inside.

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Park wasn’t busy, but Soarin’ was already on 120 minutes and out of fastracks. Great place to put it, gobbles people up for the day.
Nothing else broke 30 mins all day and we only bothered with fastrack on the 2 coasters, out of principle rather than necessity. Rapids and Crystal Grotto were closed all day, somewhat disappointed about the latter. Pirates was also closed, for now.

Peter Pan was a nicely freshened up version of the usual and a good kickstart to the magic.
Didn’t bother with Pooh. Been there, done that.

The walkthrough inside the castle was quite interesting with various scenes from Snow White sung local style and a bit of projection trickery. Didn’t get any other films like I had expected though, with all the different clues to every other Disney film in history in the queue line.

Buzz Lightyear ride was good fun, as it should be. Just a shame the spinny lever didn’t do anything.

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There was also a Star Wars exhibition in this area plugging the release of Rogue One.

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Tron is so visually impressive, inside and out. I have already made my feelings on Motocoasters quite clear. This is obviously the best of the bunch by miles, with a surprisingly strong launch and plenty of pretty things to look at. Just still can’t get on with assuming that position. To further prove my point, we happened to get batched into the disabled car on the back of one of the trains on a re-ride. The ride was much, much better as a normal sit down.

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With some perfect timing, we happened to be walking past Pirates just as it opened and got on the first boat of the day, following a 6 mile casual stroll through the queue while everyone behind was desparately trying to overtake.
Wow. My ‘Disney’s best rides are non-IP’ belief went straight out the window. It is quite the masterpiece of immersion and words cannot really do it justice. Straight up there amongst the very best of dark rides.
Soon after this it closed down again. Later still, we happened to be passing the very moment it reopened for a second time. Skill.

The pirate related show nearby was rather entertaining. It was quite dialogue heavy, but had some good stunts towards the end.

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Canoe thing was a waste of time. Scouted it out quite a bit beforehand and couldn’t see much going on, but thinking of jungle cruise and Disney, I presumed there must have been something special about it. There wasn’t. Just some half-arsed rowing around some open water.

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Seven Dwarves Mine Train is very well themed and ridiculously smooth with those magic cars, but unfortunately it’s weak as a mine train coaster. Didn’t feel the need for more than one go.

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Got hand stamped and went back out to the village via the smaller exit for some food that nearly killed me. Expected better from Disney endorsements.

Gave up on the merch shops because they were stupidly laid out and far too packed. Seems most guests day out consisted of Soarin, Shop, Show.
So settled in for an early wait at the castle for the closing show.

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Everyone was surprisingly civil during the whole build up and the actual event. Being constantly on edge for losing a good spot seemed like a wasted effort. The show was very good of course, couldn’t really place it above or below any of the other standard film and song snippet based closing shows, I imagine it just depends on your personal preference on what films and songs you get. First time I saw Star Wars make an appearance in it, which was cool, if a little odd.

It’s a very nice park, but for now it lacks a couple of extra killer rides for a Disney. I’m sure Toy Story land will fix that…

Then I got MERS or something.
The end.


Bonus China highlight:

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Particularly enjoyed the excessive lengths to which they went to indicate that this cable floor cover was a trip hazard. Yes, that bloke in the brown suit has a megaphone and it is his responsibility to announce 'mind your step' every few seconds.

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I'll throw in a dirty culture pic for a laugh as well. I’m not all fun.
 
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