roomraider
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Howdy
Its been ages since i wrote a TR so bare with me here.
I apologise in advance for picture quality. I usually travel with an SLR but as I was travelling fairly light this time i just used my phone.
I decided at some point last year probably while drunk that some of the Gulf states like Kuwait and Bahrain would be a good place to visit and in doing so go ride some coasters. So i booked flights to visit Dubai, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait. Needless to say when the time came to fly out it at first did not seem like such a great idea.
However i persevered and at 6am one tuesday morning crawled out of bed and headed to Gatwick.
When booking the flights i discovered much to my delight that the cheapest route to Dubai was via Istanbul on Turkish Airways. Delight as A) Turkish Airways are great and B) Istanbul is one of my favourite cities in the world so I booked a couple of nights there as well. The plan was to hit a few parks while I was there as a bonus.
Once i landed in Istanbul I took the metro from the airport and travelled the well worn route to Cheers Hostel. A hostel I have stayed at twice before.
And this is one of the main reasons why i stay there. The rather awesome view from the rooftop bar.
This is the Hagia Sophia and i urge anyone in Istanbul to go visit and wander round. Its right next to the Blue Mosque and they are both truely stunning to have a look around. The Basilica Cistern is just over the road as well and is a must see.
Following a rather heavy night which involved a rather large number of ill advised shots I decided the next morning to strike out to ViaSea.
ViaSea
ViaSea is the 3rd park in Istanbul under the Via Name after Via Crazy Park and Via Land. I sort of knew ViaLand would be shut but the website for Sea doesnt have opening hours and Google suggested it would be open so I went for it.
From Central Istanbul ViaSea is a easy to get to but it just takes time. About an hour and 40mins. Eventually the metro will reach all the way out to the park but currently you need to get on the M4 metro line heading east all the way to the end and from outside the station you can jump on a bus that takes you almost directly to the park.
Once I arrived I was immediatly struck by Cred anxiety as i didnt see or hear anything running.
Turns out there was a reason for that. It was shut!!
While not entirely unexpected It was a bit of a kick in the balls. I wandered around the outisde of the park and took some pictures before heading into the Aquarium to ask the single staff member if the park would open this evening. nope. Dammit. It was interesting to note I was not the only person to turn up to find the park shut. 2 Families turned up while I was in there and asked the same question. Something a decent information section on the website would stop happening.
Anyhow here are some pictures i took of some very shut Intamin rides and an SBF spinner.
This is Red Fire a very closed Ispeed Clone.
The Intamin mine train here is a clone of Mine Train Ulven at Bakken and the Happy Valley Shanghai Mine Train.
The station has for some reason a load of Chickens living under it.
The third coaster is this SBF spinner. Such a spite!
It was now near midday so i went over the street into the actually very pleasent ViaPort shopping area and grabbed some lunch before heading back to Istanbul and opting to head to Moi Park
Moi Park
Moi Park is another new park in Istanbul and is located within the Mall of Istanbul. Reaching the park again involved a transfer from Metro to Bus at the Ulubatli station. After watching 2 full buses drive past I was almost ready to call it a day but the third bus had room and I headed off to Moi Park packed in like a sardine.
The park is just inside the entrance to the Mall and features a unique Zamperla spinning coaster. The ride uses trains usually seen on the Zamperla wild mice but on a much more interesting layout.
The ride was surprisingly OK considering. Its not going to win any awards but the spinning was bareable and it tracked pretty well. It is fairly short but its in a confined space so I can forgive it that.
The 2nd coaster at the park is this small junior coaster. I had heard adults had had trouble getting this credit but I walked straight on. Being pretty much the only person in the park (a theme that would continue this trip) probably helped as the op looked bored out of his mind.
Overall the park is nicely themed and one of the better small Mall parks out there. Its worth a visit if you are in the area Theres a number of small flats including an Air Race and a ghost train which i skipped as it was getting quite late and i had a date with some beer.
So i headed out of the park and jumped on the Bus/Train/Tram combo back to my hostel and enjoyed an evening with many less shots than the night before.
Day 2 was going to be Vialand but I checked with one of the local tourist shops and found as i expected the park was shut. No worries I had a flight to Dubai late that day so spent the day ambling round one of the most interesting cities in the world. Cant really complain.
Next up Dubai.
Its been ages since i wrote a TR so bare with me here.
I apologise in advance for picture quality. I usually travel with an SLR but as I was travelling fairly light this time i just used my phone.I decided at some point last year probably while drunk that some of the Gulf states like Kuwait and Bahrain would be a good place to visit and in doing so go ride some coasters. So i booked flights to visit Dubai, Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait. Needless to say when the time came to fly out it at first did not seem like such a great idea.
However i persevered and at 6am one tuesday morning crawled out of bed and headed to Gatwick.
When booking the flights i discovered much to my delight that the cheapest route to Dubai was via Istanbul on Turkish Airways. Delight as A) Turkish Airways are great and B) Istanbul is one of my favourite cities in the world so I booked a couple of nights there as well. The plan was to hit a few parks while I was there as a bonus.
Once i landed in Istanbul I took the metro from the airport and travelled the well worn route to Cheers Hostel. A hostel I have stayed at twice before.
And this is one of the main reasons why i stay there. The rather awesome view from the rooftop bar.
This is the Hagia Sophia and i urge anyone in Istanbul to go visit and wander round. Its right next to the Blue Mosque and they are both truely stunning to have a look around. The Basilica Cistern is just over the road as well and is a must see.
Following a rather heavy night which involved a rather large number of ill advised shots I decided the next morning to strike out to ViaSea.
ViaSea
ViaSea is the 3rd park in Istanbul under the Via Name after Via Crazy Park and Via Land. I sort of knew ViaLand would be shut but the website for Sea doesnt have opening hours and Google suggested it would be open so I went for it.
From Central Istanbul ViaSea is a easy to get to but it just takes time. About an hour and 40mins. Eventually the metro will reach all the way out to the park but currently you need to get on the M4 metro line heading east all the way to the end and from outside the station you can jump on a bus that takes you almost directly to the park.
Once I arrived I was immediatly struck by Cred anxiety as i didnt see or hear anything running.
Turns out there was a reason for that. It was shut!!
While not entirely unexpected It was a bit of a kick in the balls. I wandered around the outisde of the park and took some pictures before heading into the Aquarium to ask the single staff member if the park would open this evening. nope. Dammit. It was interesting to note I was not the only person to turn up to find the park shut. 2 Families turned up while I was in there and asked the same question. Something a decent information section on the website would stop happening.
Anyhow here are some pictures i took of some very shut Intamin rides and an SBF spinner.
This is Red Fire a very closed Ispeed Clone.
The Intamin mine train here is a clone of Mine Train Ulven at Bakken and the Happy Valley Shanghai Mine Train.
The station has for some reason a load of Chickens living under it.
The third coaster is this SBF spinner. Such a spite!
It was now near midday so i went over the street into the actually very pleasent ViaPort shopping area and grabbed some lunch before heading back to Istanbul and opting to head to Moi Park
Moi Park
Moi Park is another new park in Istanbul and is located within the Mall of Istanbul. Reaching the park again involved a transfer from Metro to Bus at the Ulubatli station. After watching 2 full buses drive past I was almost ready to call it a day but the third bus had room and I headed off to Moi Park packed in like a sardine.
The park is just inside the entrance to the Mall and features a unique Zamperla spinning coaster. The ride uses trains usually seen on the Zamperla wild mice but on a much more interesting layout.
The ride was surprisingly OK considering. Its not going to win any awards but the spinning was bareable and it tracked pretty well. It is fairly short but its in a confined space so I can forgive it that.
The 2nd coaster at the park is this small junior coaster. I had heard adults had had trouble getting this credit but I walked straight on. Being pretty much the only person in the park (a theme that would continue this trip) probably helped as the op looked bored out of his mind.
Overall the park is nicely themed and one of the better small Mall parks out there. Its worth a visit if you are in the area Theres a number of small flats including an Air Race and a ghost train which i skipped as it was getting quite late and i had a date with some beer.
So i headed out of the park and jumped on the Bus/Train/Tram combo back to my hostel and enjoyed an evening with many less shots than the night before.
Day 2 was going to be Vialand but I checked with one of the local tourist shops and found as i expected the park was shut. No worries I had a flight to Dubai late that day so spent the day ambling round one of the most interesting cities in the world. Cant really complain.
Next up Dubai.
