There is! And I rode it too! In between the tilting coasters and the Intamin.
China - March 2018 (Day 10 – Suzhou + Summary)
- Thread starter Hixee
- Start date
Day 10 – Suzhou Tourism
Time to get this closed out, then.
Way back when I started this trip I planned on having a big final day and heading down to another “ancient water town” in Shanghai first thing (to beat the crowds), before getting a train to Suzhou for the afternoon.
Once I was actually there on the ground though, I realised I just couldn’t be arsed with another early start. I decided to instead spend the morning taking it easy, picking a few bits and pieces from the shops, and then leisurely making my way to the station for the train to Suzhou.
Pleased I did in the end, really, as I think it would have been a bit of a faff otherwise.
Train to Suzhou was easy, and my first stop was to Giant Wheel Park to see if Stingray was running. Simple enough trip on the metro (getting off at Times Square), with the wheel visible from the station exit. A short walk through a fairly new feeling shopping/office area, got me to the park entrance.
As I’ve said in the other thread – no chance:
A little disappointed, admittedly, but I’d resigned myself weeks ago that I wouldn’t be getting the cred. So tantalising seeing it standing there though! Hopefully someone is able to relocate it.
I’d already factored in a bit of a contingency plan in case the park was closed, which it was now time to enact. Another metro ride to a fairly non-descript station, but after a short walk you get to some traditional style streets with small canals running between them.
It was absolutely heaving (I assumed nice weather plus weekend), but for the most part was a pleasant enough stroll for an hour or so.
I’ll shove all the pictures now.
Very busy in places!
I rather like this one.
I had half planned on going to the Humble Administrator’s Garden, located at the end of this street, but by the time I’d got there they were starting to close down the entrance, so I carried on the short way back to the metro.
Metro back to the train station, train back to Shanghai, dinner and bed. All pretty straightforward! Ended up being a relaxed final day to the trip, meaning I was feeling well rested that night.
Day 11 – Travel
Painless flight home. Happy days.
- - - - - - - - - -
Summary
Let’s start with the stats.
New creds: 25
Total creds: 54
New parks: 10
Milestones: None
Best Park: Shanghai Disneyland. I mean, it couldn’t really go to much else. The quality of the rides is a step above a lot of the rest of the world, frankly, not just China. Plus, Pirates and TRON. <3 If I had to give it to a non-Disney park (hear that batted around from time to time) it’d probably be Oriental Heritage in Wuhu. The quality was really impressive.
Best Cred: Dinoconda. Without a doubt. Terrifyingly amazing.
As for the route:
Yellow = Park, Red = Night.
I suppose finally some closing thoughts…
Weather was, as you’ll have gathered from my pictures, pretty good all round. Ended up bringing out the shorts for a couple of the middle days! Operations are tragic pretty much everywhere I visited. Awful procedures, one-train operations and excessive faffing really are a burden. Also, why can’t Chinese people hold their heads up on coasters?! Is it a Chinese thing, or an Asian thing in general? I noticed it first at Disney, but became increasingly more obvious on the more intense coasters. As soon as there’s any forces, their necks just give up and their heads flop downwards. Really, really strange. Anyone else notice this, or am I going mental? Does maybe add some merit to the neck stretching though, it can’t be comfortable riding like that!
So, my first time in China. Looking back on it, I can see that it really wasn’t that big of a deal. Not necessarily harder than many other countries to travel in, truth be told. Sure, language barrier was an issue at times, but nothing a bit of patience (and text-to-speech-translate) couldn’t fix. Food the same, really. For anyone thinking about giving China a crack, I’d recommend it. Start with something easy like Shanghai (not least because Shanghai is a pretty cool city), and go from there.
Thanks to those who helped me with tips and advice – it was all invaluable! And thanks to those who’ve read this far!
Until next time.
Time to get this closed out, then.
Way back when I started this trip I planned on having a big final day and heading down to another “ancient water town” in Shanghai first thing (to beat the crowds), before getting a train to Suzhou for the afternoon.
Once I was actually there on the ground though, I realised I just couldn’t be arsed with another early start. I decided to instead spend the morning taking it easy, picking a few bits and pieces from the shops, and then leisurely making my way to the station for the train to Suzhou.
Pleased I did in the end, really, as I think it would have been a bit of a faff otherwise.
Train to Suzhou was easy, and my first stop was to Giant Wheel Park to see if Stingray was running. Simple enough trip on the metro (getting off at Times Square), with the wheel visible from the station exit. A short walk through a fairly new feeling shopping/office area, got me to the park entrance.
As I’ve said in the other thread – no chance:
Link
A little disappointed, admittedly, but I’d resigned myself weeks ago that I wouldn’t be getting the cred. So tantalising seeing it standing there though! Hopefully someone is able to relocate it.
I’d already factored in a bit of a contingency plan in case the park was closed, which it was now time to enact. Another metro ride to a fairly non-descript station, but after a short walk you get to some traditional style streets with small canals running between them.
It was absolutely heaving (I assumed nice weather plus weekend), but for the most part was a pleasant enough stroll for an hour or so.
I’ll shove all the pictures now.
Very busy in places!
I rather like this one.
I had half planned on going to the Humble Administrator’s Garden, located at the end of this street, but by the time I’d got there they were starting to close down the entrance, so I carried on the short way back to the metro.
Metro back to the train station, train back to Shanghai, dinner and bed. All pretty straightforward! Ended up being a relaxed final day to the trip, meaning I was feeling well rested that night.
Day 11 – Travel
Painless flight home. Happy days.
- - - - - - - - - -
Summary
Let’s start with the stats.
New creds: 25
Total creds: 54
New parks: 10
Milestones: None
Best Park: Shanghai Disneyland. I mean, it couldn’t really go to much else. The quality of the rides is a step above a lot of the rest of the world, frankly, not just China. Plus, Pirates and TRON. <3 If I had to give it to a non-Disney park (hear that batted around from time to time) it’d probably be Oriental Heritage in Wuhu. The quality was really impressive.
Best Cred: Dinoconda. Without a doubt. Terrifyingly amazing.
As for the route:
Yellow = Park, Red = Night.
I suppose finally some closing thoughts…
Weather was, as you’ll have gathered from my pictures, pretty good all round. Ended up bringing out the shorts for a couple of the middle days! Operations are tragic pretty much everywhere I visited. Awful procedures, one-train operations and excessive faffing really are a burden. Also, why can’t Chinese people hold their heads up on coasters?! Is it a Chinese thing, or an Asian thing in general? I noticed it first at Disney, but became increasingly more obvious on the more intense coasters. As soon as there’s any forces, their necks just give up and their heads flop downwards. Really, really strange. Anyone else notice this, or am I going mental? Does maybe add some merit to the neck stretching though, it can’t be comfortable riding like that!
So, my first time in China. Looking back on it, I can see that it really wasn’t that big of a deal. Not necessarily harder than many other countries to travel in, truth be told. Sure, language barrier was an issue at times, but nothing a bit of patience (and text-to-speech-translate) couldn’t fix. Food the same, really. For anyone thinking about giving China a crack, I’d recommend it. Start with something easy like Shanghai (not least because Shanghai is a pretty cool city), and go from there.
Thanks to those who helped me with tips and advice – it was all invaluable! And thanks to those who’ve read this far!
Until next time.
HeartlineCoaster
Theme Park Superhero
You're not mad, the head thing is hilarious. It seems to be an instinctual reaction combined with lack of experience.
Antinos
Slut for Spinners
So...I apparently missed this thread entirely when I was deep in "grad school and robotics mode," but thankfully I found your link in Gavin's topic.
It certainly looks like one hell of a trip! Disney really sounds like the place to be, especially since I was recalling our conversations from your August trip while reading the report. It seems like you got spited quite a bit on this trip...bummer on that. But it certainly looks like Tron, Pirates, Dinoconda, and Soaring with Dragon were well worth the trip! Great report and great photos, as always!
It certainly looks like one hell of a trip! Disney really sounds like the place to be, especially since I was recalling our conversations from your August trip while reading the report. It seems like you got spited quite a bit on this trip...bummer on that. But it certainly looks like Tron, Pirates, Dinoconda, and Soaring with Dragon were well worth the trip! Great report and great photos, as always!