China (The Changsha Circular) - Part 14: Cred & Summary

[HeartlineCoaster]

I couldn’t come up with anywhere else to go at this time of year for a major coaster fix so I ended up caving and getting myself another Chinese visa.
Using scientific method I have previously proved that the best time to visit in order to be spited least (unless you’re going to the seasonal regions - beware) is actually January.

Spites:
January 2017 - 5/32 (15.6%)
September 2017 - 15/52 (28.8%)
January 2018 - 3/11 (27.3%)
April 2018 - 29/61 (47.5%)

But did the science hold?

The most notable area of the country I hadn’t yet covered was the South West so we flew into Changsha which is sort of in the middle and worked from there. It wasn’t the most welcoming of returns with the immigration kicking up more fuss than they ever had before about 2 weeks in this unremarkable city?! That’s unprecedented. Well no, we’re going to other places too…

Changsha has one of the world’s few operating Maglev trains running out of the airport, I’ve always thought it was a cool bit of tech and seen it as a bit of a set to complete outside the world of coasters. The one in Shanghai is impressive but is still a bit disappointing in the fact that the regular high speed trains in China currently outperform it.
The rest of them (including this one) just potter along at a measly 100km/h and it seems entirely unjustified, so it feels kinda like collecting Powered Dragons at this stage. Which we'll also get to, don't you worry.

Day 1 – Window of the World Changsha

Another new year spent in another theme park. Admittedly not quite in the same league as my Universal Singapore or Magic Mountain from previous years but they gave out wearable foam red noses at the entrance here and amazingly the Lost Gravity theme was played at some point during the night (so better than Walibi Holland).

They’re building an S&S launch here and taking forever to do so, as is the trend at the moment. I figured there was a slim possibility that it had slipped under the radar and actually been completed by now, you never know with China. Sadly it didn’t quite look ready to receive me, unless it turned out to be a shuttle coaster.
It loomed high over the park at the top of the hill, mocking me. Reminding me how much of a tease this country is.

Other creds then. This is one of those unusual Zamperla Motorbike things with a lift hill instead of a launch. There’s an indoor one at Dinoconda park that caught me off guard before, though this one is a little more obvious.

It’s alright. It had quite an exposed feeling at certain moments which I don’t remember from the other models as they’re so compact. Runs out of steam very quickly though. More comfortable than the Vekomas (and Intamin…).

Chinese Reverchon spinner was next. The layout is far less adventurous for reasons I assume to be either manufacturing limitations or laziness. Stuff like the janky double up is just a straight line and the vicious little air time bump on the final diagonal is missing, sadly.

Which left Chinese SLC.
OCT (Happy Valley) operations were back in full force here. You get batched into the station to unload your gear and select your seat, sit down but DO NOT touch the restraints. Once everyone is seated, you all get out again and stand to the side of your seat facing out at the queue. And yes, you then have to do an exercise routine while they watch.
I just want this over with.

It’s the layout that hasn’t yet graced the western world as far as I’m aware. The one you see pictures of with hilarious transitions and awfully shaped inversions. I'll have to dig into my stock for an example.

That one.
They’re a bit more ironed out on this particular installation which I’ll put down to it being newer, but it’s still rather awful.

Creds complete we took a wander up to see the spiteful S&S. As I mentioned in the construction topic I gave them every opportunity to have it ready for ‘2019’ by being here on the very last day but they’re just soooo slow. I’m not even sure if that other one I tried to ride in April 2018 has actually opened yet.

The remaining track is just lying on some grass to the side of a path and you can walk up and touch it, which I did. I do love these things, when they exist.

The observation tower took forever to load, but offered some decent enough views. It was from here that it struck me how different this park is to the other Window of the World in Shenzhen.

(Bad glass, bad weather, not ideal for pics).

It’s much more ride focused with a large amusement section and the ‘World’ bit, being the big replicas of famous landmarks and monuments from around the world, seems secondary to that.

The fact that they’ve bought this beast shows a further commitment in that direction I guess.
The other park with the same name has one indoor themed cred which is meant to fit into part of the world stuff, a Bobkart in some trees and then is 95% landmarks.
I suppose it also sits pretty much over the road from a Happy Valley though, and this one is combining the two.

So here’s some of that landmark stuff.

Found a weird old simulator in a semi-abandoned shack. Seemed deserted, wasn’t sure if it was closed for the day but then staff appeared out of nowhere and let us on.
One of those old school ones that’s just a warehouse with a couple of 16 seater pods in front of a big cinema type screen and 3D glasses.

It was so bizarre I’m not even sure if I can describe it properly (I guess 'hi-tech quintessence of the 1990s' does that for me).
The video was about some sort of submarine floating through a load of stuff but it kept crashing into minor threats like say, an eel, that would stop your vehicle dead, then start moving its jaw slowly while you shake about as if you’re being viciously attacked.
For a prolonged period of time. Then you’d move on.
Then it would happen again.
And again with a fish.
And again with an octopus. To the point of comedy.
Then I think we got stranded in the arctic and died so it ended.

Some more landmark stuff.

Tasteful as always.

Took a spin on the wheel for a few more grim views.

The city ain’t much of a looker.

Called it a night after that, too tired for parties and more important stuff to come.

Up next – my old friend Fantawild.

 

[Gavin]

I wasn't a fan of Changsha at all, either as a city or for the parks. I'm not sure that the S&S is enough of a draw to get me back there.

Sent from my Redmi Note 7 using Tapatalk

 

[Hixee]

The one in Shanghai is impressive but is still a bit disappointing in the fact that the regular high speed trains in China currently outperform it.

I was under the impression the Shanghai one still wins when they wind it all the way up to 430kph. Doesn't do it all the time though - if you want the 'record holding' ride, you've gotta time it. They did crank it all the way up to 500kph back during the testing phase, which is a bit nuts, really.

Park looks bleak though - without the S&S I'd have called it a day at the gate.

 

[Howie]

Up next – my old friend Fantawild

I hope you got me a dragon?

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

Doesn't do it all the time though - if you want the 'record holding' ride, you've gotta time it.

That's lame in itself really. I've done it twice and it never even hit the 300 mark which is supposed to be the lower top end run. I've had 340ish on the regular trains.

Park looks bleak though - without the S&S I'd have called it a day at the gate.

I had a league to win

I hope you got me a dragon?

They didn't have one, I do apologise.
I bought a Boonie Bear for myself instead.

 

[roomraider]

Good report shame the S&S is taking an age to go up. it does look like a pretty fantastic little ride though. Those low to the ground rolls should be taken at some speed.

Always found it weird they switched out the mouse for an almost identical ride. But i guess its another +1 for when i eventually return.

I wasn't a fan of Changsha at all, either as a city or for the parks. I'm not sure that the S&S is enough of a draw to get me back there.

Sent from my Redmi Note 7 using Tapatalk

I didnt mind the city too much but only spent a day there before flying out. Theres a new model Vekoma looper at the new Fantawild there now as well which I'd like to do.
But think I'll be waiting for Evergrande to open and see what they do with that until i return.

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

Theres a new model Vekoma looper at the new Fantawild there now as well which I'd like to do.

Hey, spoilers!


Though I said more important stuff to come, this isn’t a particularly good example. It was a right royal clone fest for me and done more for the sake of completionism (and to find Howie’s dragon).

Although this is called the Zhuzhou resort it’s in the middle of nowhere almost equidistant between its namesake city and where I was, only a 30-40 minute drive from the high speed rail end of Changsha so I only bothered consider doing it from there as it has better transport links and other stuff. No one needs you, Zhuzhou.
The weird thing about this is that there’s now a Fantawild resort specifically for Changsha as well and it’s even further out from the city than this is, in a completely different direction. We’ll get to that later in the trip.

A familiar Fantawild setup here – 2 parks on one resort. One with the good stuff and one with the crap stuff. The 2 park 1 day ticket is offensively similar in price to a regular 1 park ticket so it’s almost rude not to try at least some of both (creds), though if you were new to all of it you may well end up missing a fair few attractions due to how they run things.
After having a particularly stressful day when I was in this situation before, I opted to start on the good stuff rather than the cred run to eliminate any unnecessary anxiety.

Day 2 – Fantawild Dreamland Zhuzhou

Not that it mattered in the end. Walked to the Woodie to find it closed off. A friendly staff woman came over and informed us that it wasn’t ready yet, it rained earlier this week (oh here we go…) BUT, it WILL open later today, they’ve just gotta check the track.
I’d make some comment here about the fact that most parks do this before guests arrive, but it just seems normal to me now.

Same story at the Boomerang, so dark ride time I guess.
Except half of them weren’t ready either, we were told we ‘should have gone round the park the other way’ cos when there’s like 10 guests on park (most days) they expect you to travel in a little tour group together so they can open one ride at a time for you in sequence when they can be bothered.

Ended up in this 3D painting building burning time for a while.

Then Qin Dynasty Adventure opened (Indiana Jones style ride themed to Terracotta Army).
I never quite absorb enough of this ride to know if they’re all exactly the same or not. It always seems a little fresh to me each time, but that’s a good thing right? It’s really good at what it does theming wise and for some reason here they said don’t bother with the seatbelts so I was almost being thrown out of the vehicle in places. And we had it all to ourselves so it’s super immersive.

Rumble Under the Sea/Dragon King’s Tale does feel the same every time now and the magic is starting to fade on me a bit, especially when they don’t have the preshow and water tunnel working properly. It’s a slower boat like vehicle that isn’t actually a boat with movement limited to forwards, rotation and backwards. Same old story.

Found a ride I somehow haven’t managed to do before called Havoc in the Heavens.

I’ve done the system – rotating platform with several screens around the perimeter and under a giant dome ceiling screen but this has a different story.

It’s the prequel to the Journey to the West story found on the ride Devil’s Peak, which features the Monkey King again. That was also here, but wasn’t open.

Here’s how I’d tell the story then – some higher up guy gives our man Monkey King the task of cleaning the royal stables, which he doesn’t like.
He goes to a Peach Festival and gets mocked by many beautiful women for it, so flips and wrecks the joint.
For this, his monkey home gets firebombed and all his friends and family die. Harsh right?
So he goes up to heaven and wreaks havoc there out of revenge. Gives the higher up bloke a mouthful before smashing tons of buildings and trolling the hell out of some guard who tries to stop him.
Things get out of hand and a buddha bloke gets involved saying you’ve gotta calm down mate. He doesn’t calm down (and who can blame him), so buddha kicks his ass, sends him back to earth and buries him under a ton of rock.
The end.

Not the best of rides really, potentially quite boring. The platform of seats just keeps rotating backwards and forwards without any gusto and you have to keep craning your neck round to see the action. Wouldn’t do it again.

White Snake Maiden’s Fury/Jinshan Temple Showdown was about to start so couldn’t say no to that one. I’ve raved about it on here before and it’s still spectacular as ever.

So much to look at during the ride sequence with the massive boat, aside from the live actors appearing out of nowhere.

You all get off and watch a show at the end with water effects, projection, fire and actors again and it just generally kicks ass. Proper world class theme park attraction.

Something else I’ve never managed to catch before is this show, Eternal Love.

It has a gorgeous queue. Something that's often hard to appreciate at these parks cos you just blitz through them.

There's 4 seating areas looking through transparent projection screens around a stage. The screens interact with some dancing performances going on in the middle of it. There’s not much to the story really, just a bit of falling in love, getting spited then reuniting again. It was kinda cool. Wouldn’t do it again.

With all that out of the way, the Woodie was finally open. They were doing the classic sit you under a shelter in the queue for 15 minutes at a time, waiting for a walkie talkie call to send you up to the station, but there was never even a trains worth of people so that’s as good as you can expect. For laziness sake they were also sending people up the exit stairs as they’re closer than the entrance.

I was worried that it wouldn't open to be honest. The very first experience I had with this chain where I had the absolute worst time I can quote them saying 'it was less than 15°C when the park opened, so we aren't going to bother opening ANY of the outdoor attractions today'.
Yet here we are, it's about 2°C and it drizzled on me on the lift hill of the first lap. I respect them a lot more now.

This Jungle Trailblazer is a clone of Fjord Flying Dragon at Happy Valley Tianjin. A ride which I love. Like top 20 love. So I was a bit nervous.
I don’t like this whole clone business, aside from the fact that it detracts from the status of a ride to me personally, having to ride more always leaves you in a certain degree of doubt about your experiences.

I parked myself in the back seat and let it do its thing to me. I needn’t have worried. Still loved it.

I kept giving myself a ton of room with the lap bar and the amount of ejection I was getting over the first drop should be made illegal. Has a ride ever made you involuntarily laugh/scream out loud through pure fear? That feeling right there.
Air-time galore in the rest of it, of all shapes and sizes. I just love the variety in this layout – the sections of straight underneath the structure with 2, 3, 4 out of your seat moments in a row. The side by side twisted hills that brutally throw you into the cushy edges of the train. It doesn’t really have a dull moment, and that makes it a top tier Gravity for me.
It has a roughness to it, but it’s just at the perfect level for me on one of these, plenty to give you something to think about but nothing to detract from the experience. It can even get a little physically exhausting after a few goes. Personally I admire that in a ride.
Even though it was a good 35°C colder here, I’d say it easily has the potential to run the same as the original.
As much of a pain to take pictures of though.

Managed to tear myself away from that to tick off the boomerang. Vests over OTSRs = good. Braking dead in the station over overshooting = bad. Sucks.

And then sadly I had to tear myself away from it forever to go do the other park.

Fantawild Adventure Zhuzhou

There was a time when I’d vowed to never do one of these Adventure parks again, but here I am sucking it up for the hobby.

They had this fake snow stuff out which was quite a cool effect, but a pain to walk through and it got in your shoes easily.

Literally didn’t look at the map to see what they had cos I’ve been there, done that, and it so isn’t worth it. The park was as dead as the other one so no issues there.

Marched straight to the SLC. Worst ride of the trip (and there's a lot of crap to come). Oh it was awful. The restraints are the massively over-henched ones made out of concrete that are deeper than your head and touch your ears at all times no matter what you do.

It’s the Kumali layout so it does the big drop into that tight corner at a speed these rides shouldn’t go and that’s exactly where the pain happened. Two proper nasty punches to the side of the head. The type of stuff that’s clearly beyond acceptable roughness on a ride and make you deeply question why you even put up with it. Managed to keep it together and endure the rest of it without incident but seriously, burn it.

Walked even quicker to the bastard Mine Train clone. There’s soooooooo many and it’s soooooooo lazy at this stage. Every park in the bloody country has this layout. Hats off to Quancheng for breaking the mould.

Went to the shop to see if I could find Howie’s dragon and for some reason 95% of the shelves in the main shop were completely empty, something I found a lot over the coming days. Worrying for the future of these parks yet?

So I left.

Up next - spite.

 

[Howie]

Went to the shop to see if I could find Howie’s dragon but...

Thanks for trying though, bruv. I know you'd have got me one if they had any.

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

Thanks for trying though, bruv. I know you'd have got me one if they had any.

There's always next trip. We'll get him.


They seem to have got more proactive about ‘restricted’ items on the big boy trains now. Apparently a can of deodorant in sealed luggage is too much of a fire risk these days so that’s a pain.

Took a morning train down to Anshun, dumped the bags in the station and hitched a ride to

Not so Great Xingdong Tourist World

I fully expected this. It was yet another case of random hope, it may have slipped under the radar and be ready now. It wasn’t.

There was an even more eery silence than usual for Chinese parks around the entrance. None of the turnstiles were manned or open. The ticket office was open, seemingly empty, but a woman appeared out of nowhere, behind a ticket desk, to tell us the whole place was closed.
It’s a pretty laughable situation so we straight asked the question why are you even here?
She laughed too and appeared to contemplate her life for a second, thought we had broken the ice, but then she turned back into a robot and gave some made up scripted excuse like the weather or maintenance.

There’s this A4 bit of paper up, the gist of it being it's closed for 'equipment inspection, weather, etc.' We’re still working to turn this place into a wonderful experience for everyone. You can now pay a nominal fee (50p) to get the Gavin experience – walk in, look around and take pictures of nothing running. We'll let you know the opening time on 20th November.
Right.

A group of locals also rocked up to the park after us, only to be disappointed and start kicking off at the woman before walking off again. The communication levels are really bizarre.

I didn’t particularly go out of the way for this, so I’m sort of at peace with it. The city was directly on route this day and there was backup stuff to do here so the time wasn’t wasted. I know it's a lot of interesting looking rides, but none of them are gonna be life changing are they?

I started using Didi on this trip, and that was pretty life changing. You can say up front on a map in the app exactly where you want to be picked up, exactly where you want to go. It’ll tell you how much it’ll cost and then find you someone for it. There will always be someone miraculously 2 minutes away. They’re incentivised to give a good impression and get good ratings. They have better cars, they don’t smoke in your face continuously and they don’t try to rip you off.

And the most important thing? It meant I had the means to get proper down and dirty with the creds in this country. Something I’ve always held back from previously. Let’s go.

Shen Jun Ecological Culture Town

A place of many layers. The outskirts of this place is a construction site. Within that, there’s these fancy looking buildings.

Within that, there’s what looks like your regular Chinese amusement area, but much more shiny. Within that, a window to load your top up card. And creds.

The Jungle Mouse was a great start. These places always look deserted until money changes hands and then people start appearing out of the woodwork to get things going.
So we were giving the eye to a couple of blokes on benches near the ride as we approached, any one of which could have been the ride operator.
Turns out they were just strangers chilling, as we reach the top of the stairs a young girl wakes up from her nap inside one of the mouse cars, cuddling a stuffed toy. There’s the operator!

The main course was the classic powered dragon. The Changsha Maglev of the coaster world.

And for dessert, this bad boy.
They’ve had the sense to pad the hell out of the restraints on these things with really soft, comfy stuff so it’ll never try to hurt you like that mean SLC.
What it will do is shake your brain uncomfortably around in your skull. Can’t be good for you.
Is any of it?

There’s a half finished hotel next to this ride, implying the whole resort is still a work in progress. I wonder if this amusement section is just filler until something more significant actually gets done. They should band together and set one up inside Xingdong while no one is looking.

From there we booked our next ride.

Ruofei Park

Starts out with some monument stuff where you can often think is there really something here?

Always have to dig a little deeper.

Ashamed to say this was actually my first one of these Worm things. I’ve been turned away from ones that aren’t pay per ride. Money talks.

Legit ducking was required each time it cycled through the apple tunnel. Like that support on Fury 325.

Second Jungle Mouse of the day. Place your bets on what total we'll reach.

Mickey Mouse and anime girls in perfect harmony.

Park was a bit of a tease in that there was an old map outside implying they had once had another big looper thing. I went for a closer look at the area it was supposed to be in, but just got shouted at by a bloke because it had turned into some paid zoo area for which I hadn’t paid. Gotta make sure.

+5 then. Pretty much all the city has to offer at the moment.
Back to the station and onwards to Kunming!

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

Unusually photo heavy day for me here, but this place deserves it. Proper impressed.

Day 4 - Colourful Yunnan Paradise

Come on in.

That looks awful.

That looks amazing.

Obviously first port of call was the B&M and I loved the whole area for this thing.
There's a sinister sounding heavy rock soundtrack intertwined with Tibetan monks singing and when combined with the visuals it makes for a great atmosphere. Beautiful ride.

Snow leopards watching you closely.

Suppose I'd better talk about the actual ride experience. It's good. Not great.
Something many rides of this type lack for me is a proper wow moment. It goes through the motions, does its thing. You enjoy it, but it doesn't really get you going.

The wingover drop is par for the course these days, then it hits an airtime(?) hill that's far too big and sluggish to do anything at all. Some corners and inversions follow, it does the classic bouncing around in the outside seats that's a bit of laugh.
Think the highlight for me was the above pictured keyhole inversion. It looks like those dumb slow inlines these things have, yet somehow it's even more drawn out and at the same time much more comfortable. Like the world's longest Zero-G. It doesn't crush you or leave your shoulders falling into the restraint even though it holds you upside down for laughably long amount of time.

Next cred was the saaaaaaaame oooooooold mine train. With the newer track style.
At least the scenery is different.

Just some kids area.

That water coaster with the big ass tigers. Tiger Leaping Gorge. I found out from this park that it's actually named after a real place.

Tiger Leaping Gorge - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I turned down paying a pound for a poncho in the queue thinking I've done a couple of this layout before, it ain't that wet. The ride host seemed surprised at this and double checked to make sure I didn't want one.
Ok, should I be nervous now? Nah, let's do this. Boat to myself.

Drop was fine, as expected, time to drift slowly back to the station.
KABOOM. Huge geyser goes off. Rains down on me moderately hard. Aww, really?
KABOOM. Not again.
KABOOM. Getting uncomfortably wet now.
KABOOM. Just seen a bunch of locals watching me - KABOOM - "look at the white man riding the" - KABOOM - "water ride." Ahhhh.
Station staff looked smug on my return. Good thing it was considerably warmer down this end of the country.

Blue Fire was spiting for now, they didn't know when it would open.

So found a flying theatre.
Don't have enough fingers and toes to count the amount of these I've done now so they all blend into one a bit. It was alright.
Specifically it was about all the sightseeing attractions of Yunnan province, which is meant to be the pretty part of China.
From this park alone, I'd agree.

The monorail in the park was less than ideal. Took almost half an hour for it to turn up as it only had one train. Then it wasn't stopping at all the stations, defeating the purpose of it as a transportation ride. Then it also kept slowing almost to a halt and juddering vigorously at several seemingly random points during the circuit.

Had some good views though. And there was no rush. Happy to just chill in this park.

Rapids looked a little lacking compared to the rest of the place. Didn't do it.

Hey, Blue Fire is running.
I like these. The original always faded a bit in my mind, leaving me thinking it was a bit something and nothing. So each time I ride one it's a pleasant surprise.
The loop is cool, the airtime in and/or out of the midcourse and on the twisty hill is fun and the final inversion kicks ass.

Main difference here is the big elephants and the pre-launch section contains a load of historical pots and weapons scattered about with seemingly little thought.

Did this show next. Very cool.

Two tribes fighting it out. One of them is doing well in life and resides inside this fort, the other aint doing so well and wants a piece.

Had some cool horse stunts and trickery. Perhaps a bit too dialogue heavy for me overall.
It sucked that they left the doors open so people were still rocking up three quarters of the way through to then sit on their phones.

Ending was amazing. The tiger god rose up into the sky, breathing fire and wrecking both tribes because he was angry at their dispute.
So they got scared, everyone became friends and they all did a jig together to finish.

Ferris Wheel for more views. Huge.

Fallen in love yet? I had. Contender for my favourite park in the country. As a place to be, rather than for things to do.

But things to do? Lots more of this.

Got one last ride, completely alone, just as it got dark and they'd switched all the lights on around the park. Had one of my magical theme park moments on the lift.
But it wasn't really the ride this time, just, everything else.

For the evenings entertainment they had 3 back to back shows.

First one was a light show on the wheel. Visually very impressive, got a bit repetitive.

Then there was a water projection one.
Story about a bloke with a bow basically having 3 boss fights to win back his woman.
Cool thing was - one of the boss fights was against the elephants from Launch Coaster.

More fire!

Last up was these hundred-odd drones doing their own light show.

Never seen something like this before, so I thought it was really decent.

Happy 2020. Yes, I'm starting to think so.

Farewell peacock. It's been a pleasure.

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

I’ve always been tempted by this place, even though it seemed slightly out of reach. What didn’t help this time around was the degree of uncertainty about it all. They didn’t update their 2020 calendar/opening dates until the 4th January 2020 (the night before we flew), until which it just said we’re open 10:00 – 19:00 from 1st July 2019 to 31st December 2019. Helpful.
I threw caution to the wind and booked flights anyway, I was reasonably confident given the part of the country it was in that it was gonna be a 365 day a year job, but you never know. I’ve already personally been on the receiving end of every single excuse this country can throw at me to not open something.

I love taking the big trains everywhere in China so it sucks that it had to be a plane in this case – they’re such a faff, and more expensive, and less refundable. And planes are the only option here unless you want a 9-16 hour coach drive (I’d rather walk). I believe from what we saw out the window they are working on some trains down here, carving their way through absolutely everything. Might be easier in future. Might be gone.

So we jumped on a plane first thing.

Goodbye Kunming.

Hello Jinghong.

Or should I say Xishuangbanna.

Had our first ever female taxi driver in China to the park, which was a welcome change. They clearly do things differently round here.

Slight confusion at the ticket office as tickets were so offensively cheap (£9) I wasn’t sure whether they included the rides or just admission. They did.

Day 5 - Xishuangbanna Sunac Land

And it’s another pretty start.

Also a very typical start. Arrive for opening but have literally nothing to do but mince around for the first hour, I guess having a laugh with friends and thinking ‘I’m in a theme park!’, because none of the attractions are open yet.

Exciting sounds. The sole reason I made this journey today. She’s testing.

I tried not to look at the layout too hard while watching. I still wanted to be surprised by this thing. To the untrained eye, it’s a Superman clone, and they suck. I most likely wouldn’t have come if it was one of them.

But it’s not, and it’s awesome. It hits the pretzel which kicks your ass, winds you, messes with your head and is amazing all at the same time. Then it doesn’t end. It maintains that intensity through another corner in a similar vein to Acrobat/Manta by which time you’re shouting 'ahhhhhhhh I cant stands no more.' Then out of nowhere – weird airtime on a flyer, it whips into an unexpected drop over the water.

Sadly (or perhaps not, it could have shot disease into my face) the water effect wasn’t working, the whole water around the area with fake animals and stuff in it looks a bit… forgotten.

From there it does a cool inversion (not an inline as RCDB would have you believe) and then it’s like the best bit of Air where you swoop down really close to some grass before the finish. And no spit on the ground.

So I loved it and I’m really glad I went. The experience made the plane ride worthwhile alone. As a bonus I’ve now got every flyer layout in the world.
I could leave now.

But let’s see what else this quaint little place has to offer.

Round the corner is one of these things. Bit shorter than the original.

The first splashdown was off and overall much less wet. Lift is cool, is what it is.

Last cred is in the Tea Horse Trail area.

The name Storm Rider makes it sound much cooler than delivering tea, but it's not.

Figure of 8 with a launch on some horses. Shorter than the time it takes to walk through the queue.

And that was that really. As with the other Wanda/Sunac places I’ve done so far it lacks in certain ride categories – namely dark rides and leaves you feeling a little short around halfway through the day.

But we were stuck here all day until the flight that evening, so chilled out and made the most of it.

Stooped to a few kids rides for a laugh. No kids on them, might as well entertain the operators.

Found Xishuangbanna cat.

There were a couple of ‘cultural’ shows throughout the day. Some traditional dancing by this lot – I approve.

Some more traditional dancing by these two – I approved until the other guests joined in and made a hash of it. The blokes with the bamboo poles basically act like robots for 30 unflinching minutes, moving them in and out to a rhythm. You have to get your timing right and step between the poles without tripping up.

Rapids opened up later on – it was alright. Didn’t do a whole lot.

So many more rides of this beast.

Amusingly it might have the most ghetto exit of any B&M out there. You’ve got competition, Six Flags Great Adventure.

The park was dead, as ever, and it was a weekend as well so it got unnervingly quiet at the end of the day.

They said there was one last show at closing time, outside the entrance and what this consisted of was all the performers from earlier lining up to do a bit of a jig and wave goodbye to everyone as they left the park. But despressingly, there was almost no one to say goodbye to. They outnumbered the remaining guests at this stage.

I liked it though. Quirky and special, fitting for the park as a whole.

It was an easy ride back to the airport, no flight issues, no complaints.
Surprisingly really. Something's got to go wrong soon.

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

The next point on the circle was Nanning.

Took a morning train down and minced around a mall for a while.

Then went to another mall, where a duck said there was a cred.

I recognise that name.

Day 6 - Nanning Wanda Theme Park

That panda keeps creeping me out when I look at it. It could almost be someone in a costume, but that I never noticed in person.

The park is a free entry, pay per ride set up. And not quite what I was expecting.

The reason I was here - Flower Bloom.

No, the Adverture of Phoenix.

Otherwise known as that Golden Horse with the drop track. Drop tracks are a set that keeps eluding me - I ride one and another appears.

It has a terribly weak layout that trundles around some rocks, surprisingly poorly.
The drop itself is reasonably powerful and makes it worth a couple of goes, if only for the novelty.
It happens inside a mine looking bit and there's a crude projection of a phoenix, followed by what I believe to be a projected written warning of what's about to happen. The wusses.

Here's some pics of what the park looks like. Don't have much to say about the place to be honest. Bit something and nothing, less significant than I had imagined.
I would have done a few other creds in the city first before coming here, but I didn't want the cred here to be on some dumb timings even though the park was open late.

Insert joke about Chessington's Elmer ride here.

This poor bloke was bumping cars on his own.

I'm having to stoop to dodgy translations on signs now.

They've done a Happy Valley here and got completely the wrong ride sign outside some things.
This was in fact a spitey 4D simulator which had 3 minutes until the next hourly time slot but they could only take payment via an app and I'd have to run back to the entrance. They said they categorically wouldn't wait for that even though there were absolutely no other guests involved.
So we left.
The start of the fall of Wanda.

 

[emoo]

That flyer at Xishuangbanna Sis on my bucket list and does look very out of the way. Other than get a plane and taxi as soon as possible, any advice to get there?

The Colourful wing coaster was not but looks gorgeous.

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

That flyer at Xishuangbanna Sis on my bucket list and does look very out of the way. Other than get a plane and taxi as soon as possible, any advice to get there?

Not really. Like I said you can take a coach from Kunming. It'll cost you about 10p, but takes at least 9 hours each way and sounds vile. Or wait for the train to be built.

Jinghong Transportation: By Air, Train, Bus, Taxi, Bicycle

Bordering with Burma in the south, Jinghong is an important port city linking China with the Southeast Asian countries and regions

www.travelchinaguide.com

Sail up the Mekong?

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

This place was a day trip out of the city via more big boy trains.

I'd sort of forgotten what it was about other than a Megalite and was thinking to myself halfway through the journey was this really worth the bother?

Clue is in the name - dark rides. We'll see about that.

Day 7 - Visionland

The entrance had a really long road leading up to it that took forever to walk, so it was giving me Six Flags vibes.

Other than the fact there was absolutely no one around, again.
Just these two having wedding photos taken. Good taste? Maybe.
They were still hanging around doing more of the same when we left many hours later, so dedicated at least.

This confuses me.

I guess while we're enjoying signage, I'll chuck in a few more.

Think this one is my favourite.

Enough! Ride time.
First up was the Megalite.

Themed to Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, the German Labour Front and Lamborghini.

It ran with a bit of a rattle, but noticeably more forceful than the most recent 2 I've done.

The first corner in particular was proper intense and the faithful twistys packed a good punch. You can tell it's better when it shifts you around uncomfortably in your seat and you have to brace a bit.
Still ain't no Piraten for some reason.

It looks a bit weird over the water. There's a splash effect after the big hill but it was off.

Staff were cool. Letting me just chill in the station and reride it a bunch.

But what else do they have?

This thing reminds me of some motorbike simulator thing that was closed. So not that.

This reminds me of some dinosaur thing.

Called Crazy Bus. It was odd.
Simulator vehicle in a bus station that trundles forward into a 180 curved screen. Best examples I can think of off the top of my head are the Joypolis ones and the Pan Em thing at Motiongate.
Film that plays is a variation of an immersive tunnel video I recognise from other places. Dinosaurs attacking your vehicle, falling off a cliff etc. The subtle difference was that this didn't show other vehicles full of people getting attacked on screen, which I clearly remember from the previous. PG edit?
It only got about halfway through this however, then the screen opened up! The ride moves forward again and up a slight incline, now looking at another screen.
Second video plays, end of the world in dinosaur times, destruction, driving around, death.
Then it slowly lumbers backwards through both sets to the bus station.

So it wasn't very good. This poster provides a good reaction shot.

Spitey worm. Children only. Bah.

This Bonk Choy provides a good reaction shot.

Shooting dark ride called Car School. Mostly screens.
Either shooting these yellow blob people, evil versions of them, or both. Couldn't tell and there was no score at the end to shed any light on it.
So it wasn't very good.

That thing I said the other day about empty shops keeps happening.

Starting to think this Motocoaster/Test Track hybrid is just for decoration now.
There's only this section and one other bit that goes through the show building of a separate dark ride, but the system for that then crosses over it and it makes no sense whatsoever. And then where would it go from here? Too much plaza.

It was also here that we learnt the 2 year old Ferris Wheel had been 'closed for a long time due to concern over the integrity of some bolts.'

And then the park turned into a public construction site.

Ooh, excitement. What are they choosing to focus on developing now?

Oh, some rainbow stairs.

Onwards from there, this mine train was closed. That's what I get when I keep cursing them I guess.
First legit spite of the trip. You don't count, Xingdong.

There was a bunch of other stuff in the same area - dark rides and/or shows, but they were all closed too. Mine land is a write-off.

This looked good, but no thanks.

New favourite.

Could have done with one of these over by the construction site.

Now we're talking. This was really good.

Time slots as always. Had to sit here for a while. Could be worse.

It's based on our mate Nuwa again. The sexy creation god. Just this time without all the fighting.

Flying theatre meets dome theatre and is then taken to the next level with this massive arm thing that can put you on your back or on your face as opposed to just gently listing from side to side. Best ride here, if Megalites are old hat to you.

3D cinema with a female Nemo that fights some crabs and then turns into a mermaid. As good as it sounds.

Last dark ride opened really late. Spiderman tech, bit of a step up from previous OCT attempts but still not quite all there.
Following some wizard bloke in his escapades around the destruction of a city. I was getting quite into it but then one of the last screens was completely broken, leaving the car just sitting still, on board audio playing, nothing happening.
We told them about it. They didn't care much.

Not sure what to make of this place. It's either only half done and they're taking their time on the rest of it, or it's already screwed. For an attempt at a more studio-esque park than their Happy Valleys, it wasn't quite all there for me. You'd hope the other attractions would make up for the more lackluster coaster lineup, but other than Myth, I wasn't impressed.
Nothing else I tried here came close to surpassing a simple shooting ride at HV Chongqing, which still sticks out in my mind as one of their finer creations.
Maybe there's some other stuff, maybe it's closed.
I didn't dislike the place as such, it was kinda fun and interesting if only for the novelty, the exploration. But if they're rolling out a bunch more of these parks and they don't step their game up (the next one seems to already be just Golden Horse creds), it may become a bit of a Fantawild Adventure situation and I'll start to resent it a bit more.

Onwards to creds!

Queshan Amusement Park

This one was sort of on the way back to the station. Looking good.

Jungle Mouse of course.

And another one of these devices.

I do like how they've done a bit of a history of the rollercoaster on the sign here. At a quick glance it looks like it's claiming they were invented by Amanda Thompson.

Shame it's not a worthy tribute.

Up next - magnificence.

 

[Gavin]

Starting to think this Motocoaster/Test Track hybrid is just for decoration now.
There's only this section and one other bit that goes through the show building of a separate dark ride, but the system for that then crosses over it and it makes no sense whatsoever. And then where would it go from here?

It's not a separate dark ride. They're the SAME ride. Where the system crosses over is where it's supposed to switch to the coaster track, but they never got it working, so now you're left with that weird bit where, on the dark ride, you're moving slowly (backwards at that point if I remember correctly) alongside the coaster track and bypassing it instead of switching to it.

Interesting that you found the MegaLite more forceful than some of the others. I found it to be the weakest of the 5 and definitely the roughest.

I skipped that dinosaur thing - well, I'd queued for it but got cut off right at the front and didn't want to wait another half an hour, so ditched it - so I'm glad to hear it was s**t.

Sent from my Redmi Note 7 using Tapatalk

 

[cocoa]

"fear is the head of the enemy"... were they trying to write "fear is the mind killer" from Dune? still a very weird thing to put on a building but they're eerily similar words. great report though, I can't figure out if these chinese parks honestly spook me more or make me stressed more about being spited if I were to go (knight valley got me good with wooden coaster... trauma) . would make a great ghost town horror movie vibe.

 

[roomraider]

Great report again. Theres a second Visionland about to open down in Changde so interesting to see if it carrys on with the excellent sign writing.
The park also had a dark ride/coaster hybrid but having failed with the original it will be interesting to see if they've learnt lessons. (to be fair to China they often try to open a new ride type, Fail, then open an improved version at another park)

As for the fear of closed coasters. I have almost accidently visited twice during Golden Week. The pretty much enforced national holiday they have in China. Crowd wise its a nightmare (Saw a 4 hour queue for a knock off SLC in Zhengzhou but turned out i had a fast pass i didnt know i bought) but every coaster has been open both times. Didnt have a single miss during those 2 trips apart from a Worm which was kids only.
I would never advise visiting during Golden Week as getting trains/flights its almost impossible unless you book really far in advance (I did) and the parks are crazy busy but every ride was open both times.

Hey, spoilers!

Still waiting for that Spoiler

 

[emoo]

"A Little Dangerous" is charming. Realising I no longer have all the megalite's is not.

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

It's not a separate dark ride. They're the SAME ride.

Weird. That makes even less sense.

knight valley got me good with wooden coaster... trauma

I feel you. Took me three visits to get it. 100% worth it.

Still waiting for that Spoiler

It's all one big circle. Got a few more days to go yet. We'll get there.


So here’s something I was properly excited for. I already miss the time when Fantawild parks were a new experience. The magic of trying out all the new rides they had to offer. (Yes I’m still going to be moaning about clones again today).

Day 8 – Fantawild Asian Legend

Rather than being themed to Chinese history and legends, this park represents the countries of South East Asia, each with their own impressive architecture and ride or experience.

First interaction I think I’ve ever had upon entering a park like this was with some blokes trying to rope you into one of those ‘take your picture, get a free key chain!’ deals that waste a lot of your time before revealing that it isn’t free, you have to buy something and you feel under the pressure of the moment you may as well go for it.

This was dismissed with a wave of the hand. No time for that – rides.

Being bored of flying theatres and as it appeared to break the mould of the country theme, decided to skip past one and start in the Phillipines.

There was time of course. First ride. Time Slot. Half an hour. Now we have to ride with other people. Eww.

Manila Manila is a 3D cinema with a rotating platform of seats, many screens and most interestingly some interchangeable scenery which pops up and down when you’re not looking, based on what’s going on around you at the time.

It’s generally just a good time with fun visuals and music – the singing manatee really brings the party to life. Strong start.

We were very intrigued about the Singapore ride. Armed with more local knowledge than the park we were ready to pick the hell out of it. It wasn’t difficult.

Potentially the weakest ride of the day - being a small 8 person simulator in front of a screen, with an awkwardly cramped waiting room experience (other people again, ugh) that has the safety rules played 5 times over. You’re following our old Fantawild pal Boonie Bear who is parachuting into the country. Mischievous escapades and crashing through a ton of stuff follows.
Halfway through they just run out of Singapore things and you end up in something that looks like Sugar Rush from Wreck It Ralph.
You find the Merlion. He’s better in real life.

There’s a gap in the theme after that, with a fantasy children’s area containing a Boomerang. Hey, at least it’s not blue.

I got stuck in the empty queue for 10 minutes not knowing if they were running or not, until my saviour appeared, something you never really see, a friendly guest on his own (they’re never alone) who spoke a little English.
He was bold enough to just shout up at the station and then told me to follow him up there. I did and the staff were just milling around ignoring us basically. We sat in the front, sadly.
In a human equivalent of all these signs we keep laughing about, he turned to me and in trying to say ‘are you scared?’ it came out as ‘do you feel the fear?’
Which is better in my opinion.
'No, not really.'

The thing that topped it off was that he said ‘my head hurts’ when it was over. 'Yes, they’ll do that.'

While he got lost in the delights of the remaining children’s rides, my lust for creds had suddenly been reawakened, so surged through a large portion of the park and headed out to the woodie.

Of course it ain’t ready yet, come back at 11.

Ended up in Vietnam from there. Ha Long Bay in fact. Skipping past a bunch of the park had worked in our favour as well, with not another guest in sight.

There’s this ride in the Oriental Heritage parks about the history of Chinese Opera. It looks cool, has these huge trackless vehicles. But I didn’t like it. It’s immensely boring, keeps stopping, feels like it’s sucking the time out of your day and at the time it was full of old guests shouting at each other, ignoring their surrounding and behaving like a pack of animals.

This fixed absolutely everything about that and was gorgeous. Nice story, great scenery. Even the smells – there’s a lively city/nightlife section and you can smell the food, it’s just spot on.

Went back to the Woodie at 11, it aint ready yet, come back at 11:30.

Which meant we’d just missed an 11 time slot for one of the other bigger rides. Spite.

Try Brunei then. Their small world ride system and people based on the rainforests and Mosque (singular) of the country.

Nice theme, good scenery. Another step up from their other iterations of this thing.

Third time lucky, they’re letting me wait for the Woodie.

So here I am, sitting at the foot of a clone of my 3rd favourite ride in the whole world.
And it’s a bit of a crisis.
I should be excited right? If it was the original I would be. It’ll be amazing, I’ll rekindle my love with it.
But another one? I’m nervous.

The call comes.
It’s already not the same, there’s people smoking in the queue. They sit in the middle of the train, but they aren’t intimidated by the staff description of the ride, which doesn’t happen.
The seatbelts don’t come out of the same place!
I sit in my favourite seat at the back. I get the perfectly framed view of the drop. A slight tingle.
But I’m not timidly told to hold on to the restraint.
And at this level, that stuff matters.

Alright, it was still amazing. No, it didn’t quite live up to the original for whatever reason but it’s still clearly my perfect wooden coaster package and it only got better as the day went on.

The vicious, vicious multi-directional ejector on the non-straight first drop.
The stupidly placed, most effective speed hill on the planet. Take note RMC, Intamin, B&M, even Gravity couldn’t pull it off again (Xiamen). That’s how you do one of them.

The aggressive whip in and wrench out of the first 90 degree hill.
The perfectly contrasted flop in the second 90 degree hill. Sideways hangtime.
The most continuous and effective sequence of back to back wild, twisty, shouty, bumpy, ejecty hills on and on and on ‘til the brakes.
Everything I love about Gravity summed up in one ride.
The only sacrifice is that it’s a bit shorter than the others, but it uses it oh so well.

So part of the crisis remains. And a serious question to readers. Have you ever ridden a clone of something in your top coasters list you take seriously and what did you do about it?

As far as I can see, there’s three possible outcomes and two things you can do with each:
A. It’s better
1. Place it above the other one in your list – I don’t like the idea of one layout using up 2 precious slots, but objectively the original one should remain better than everything else you had below it.
2. Place it where the other one was in your list and relegate that to just outside the numbered list – feels harsh, but the cleaner option. The original one was only better than all those other rides when it was unique, now it’s a cop out ride.

B. It’s exactly the same
1. Place it the same as the other, have them joint – I don’t like the idea of rides losing identity this way, it just feels awkward to say something like ‘My top ten coasters are: Number 5 – The Megalites’
I already take issue with things having the same name and having to specify which one in the world you mean, it just feels awkward to say something like ‘My top ten coasters are: Number 5 – Goliath, the one at Six Flags Great America’
So put that all together and end up with ‘My top ten coasters are: Number 5 – One of the Jungle Trailblazer layouts, the one found at both Fantawild Dreamland Zhengzhou and Fantawild Asian Legend Nanning’
And then you feel silly.
2. Pick one that has the slightest circumstantial edge to represent and relegate the other one to just outside the numbered list – feels harsh, but the cleaner option.

C. It’s worse
1. Place it below the other one in your list – I don’t like the idea of one layout using up 2 precious slots, with the added difficulty of saying how many other things it’s still better than, even though it’s not as good as the first one.
2. Relegate it to just outside the numbered list – feels harsh, but the cleaner option. The original remains better, this one isn’t unique, it’s just a cop out ride.

I would make a topic about it, but the answer is inevitably either ‘no’ or ‘because the people in Zhengzhou don’t go to Nanning your opinion doesn’t matter.’

Where was I?

Hero of Malacca’s next time slot had opened up. This had big shoes to fill, being a fresh version of Jinshan Temple Showdown.

The queue is even more immensely themed and has a pre-show, introducing you to one of the two pirate clans from the story.
As you take your seat on the giant boat, some action is going on screens in the surroundings, keeping it all a little more engaging.
And I found this to be true for the whole ride portion. There’s a couple more stand-out scenes including a giant ship shooting at you with geysers going off and a stormy wind tunnel section while Krake attacks you.

The end show however is a little less spectacular. You reach the other pirate clan’s base out in the middle of the sea. Without the magical powers aspect of the story – flying snakes and priests, they don’t have use for the water projection action sequence, it’s just a couple of pirate blokes shouting at each other.
Eventually Krake attacks the base, both clans die and you get the same amazing flood sequence to finish.
So I’d put them on par really. Both one of the best in the world.

Puppy Coaster was now open, in the shadows of the beast. Give the kids something to aim for.

The last of the creds. Very cute. Watching his tail while it does the Wacky portion of the layout is amusing.

I’ll do one of my shout outs to the visuals in this place cos it really was lovely. Lots of care and attention into the upkeep was clearly visible as well, which is rare to see around here.

They were jet washing the plaza areas around certain rides.

They were actively cleaning the intricate facades of several attractions with wet rags on sticks.

They were painting all these service gates to make them blend into the areas nicer. Top marks.

There was a singular show that day called Dancing Islands. I believe they had a similar thing at Wuhu under the name Bubble Ballet, but it spited me twice.

Had a lot of fancy dancing and stunts in it. Then these magic balls on wires made all sorts of cool shapes, eventually with the performers coming out and dodging them with an amazing display of timing.

Aside from the costumes and stuff, to make it Indonesia, it had a couple of traditional songs from the region and then the remaining music kept coming back to the word Indoneeeeeeeeeesia, in comical fashion by the end.
It was cool.

Unfortunately then got followed by a herd into Pha That Luang.

Most striking thing here – it doesn’t have seats. Just awkward wooden back rest type things that were deeply uncomfortable in any position. Is this how they sit in Laos?
It was another rotating platform, multi screen 3D experience about the history/legend of it’s namesake temple. Quite interesting but even more uncomfortable than the seating was the other people again, having shouting matches across rows, letting their kids run around and watching their infinitely more fascinating than anything else in life - phones.

Rama and Sita was really good. Legend of Nuwa with a fresh story.

6 armed evil demon man steals Sita – go fight him to get her back type affair.
All the pre-shows were up and running which was rare to see for this type of thing here. Making the most of the epic queuelines.
Rama is another bloke with a bow and befriends a big grey monkey man before setting off on the quest. You tag along, get into some peril and watch it all unfold with varying degrees of violence from the vehicle.
At the time I thought it surpassed the rest but, you know, spoilers.

That was the last of the major stuff I wanted from the place so I got a bit hungry for more goes on the woodie. The rapids opposite looked a bit more interesting than usual so gave them a go as well.

Foolishly declined ponchos again and had a similar situation. It had a decent rapids section and a baby drop, but none of that was the issue. There were three or four of what looks like those trick water curtains that turn off just before you go through them. None of them turned off. They’re just evil things that get you good and proper, right on the head. Chuck in a couple more KABOOM geysers at the end and you’ve got yourself a wet ride.

Sadly it was time to part ways with the back end of the park and see what was left to dust up near the front in the last hour or so.

Getting headaches from too much 3D and poor timings meant Angkor Wat was a no.

This area never opened. Think it’s another show.

So just that flying theatre left. It’s quite an appropriate ride to do last really. It takes you around the sights of all the countries represented in the park so it’s a nice little summary, a reminder of some of the amazing rides you’ve done that day.

I'm 100% sure I took a picture of a full sized bed in a shop on the way out, but I can't find it anywhere.
I was going to caption it 'For those who weren't satisfied with the merch in Chinese parks, you can now buy your bedroom furniture there'.
Still no dragons so as previously mentioned we bought a Boonie Bear for the collection.

Really liked this place then. Looks fantastic. Lots of high quality attractions to fill your day right up and honestly just a breath of fresh air in the Chinese theme park scene for me at this stage.

All came to an end with exactly the right amount of time to spare to pick up the bags from the hotel and catch an evening train to the next city.
Guangzhou.
Why did I just shudder?