insanecoastervids
Hyper Poster
Re: Guangzhou PTR Day 2 Pt 1: Chuanlord Holiday Manor
I love hearing reports of the unknown land, and you do it well Gavin.
I love hearing reports of the unknown land, and you do it well Gavin.
Guangzhou PTR Day 3: Cred Whoring
- Thread starter Gavin
- Start date
Re: Guangzhou PTR Day 2 Pt 1: Chuanlord Holiday Manor
Chimelong Paradise
Originally, I wanted to try to quickly hit up a small park, called Country Garden Farm, roughly halfway between Chuanlord and Chimelong. However, since I got out of Chuanlord later than I hoped, there were just two crappy kiddy coasters at Country Garden, and I was doubtful that anybody would know it, especially as it doesn’t even show up on a Google Map search, I decided to sack it off and head straight for Chimelong.
I say straight to Chimelong, but it didn’t exactly work out that way. First of all, because Chuanlord is set off by itself away from anything else, there were no taxis around. None. A fifteen minute walk up to the main road didn’t really help, since you end up at the exit of a toll road; no empty taxis are going to choose to pay a toll. There was, however, a bus stop, so I figured I’d just jump on a bus headed in roughly the right direction, get off when we hit a more urban area and get a taxi from there.
I was quite pleased with my great plan, until the bus reached its final destination less than five minutes later: some big temple complex that actually looked really nice, or would have done if I wasn’t so pissed off. Despite it being really busy, there were no taxis around there either – lots of buses though - so I fell back on the old trick of paying roughly double the going rate for some potential rapist/murderer to drive me.
Anyway, 25 minutes and £10 later I was at the South Gate of Chimelong Parasise, paid my £20 entrance fee, and was immediately confronted with this beauty:
I was worried at first since the gate had a few ride closures posted and I wasn’t seeing any trains going round, but a few minutes later:
This was still under construction when I went to Chimelong before; I think I missed it by about 3 months. I needn’t have worried about rushing to get here since the park was really quiet, much quieter than Chuanlord even though it was a Saturday afternoon. I think it’s probably because I was there in the brief period between Christmas and Chinese New Year, when I’d imagine the place gets a lot busier.
My first ride had this massive queue:
After that mad rush, Dive Coaster was walk on, which was obviously amazing, so I got a total of two front-row rides, a middle row and two back-row rides in the space of around 15 minutes before moving on. I loved it. Oh, and in the station they had the overture from Carmen playing on a loop all day, which was epic as I **** ing love it. I’m sure someone will take absolute delight in correcting me, but I’m pretty sure it’s basically Sheikra, a coaster I haven’t ridden yet.
Directly opposite was the other new-for-me coaster at the park, a Mack Youngstar coaster. Like Dive Coaster, this also had a highly imaginative English name:
This is the third one of these that I’ve ridden now, and I actually think they’re pretty great family coasters. They’re basically Mack’s answer to Vekoma’s Roller Skater model, but they’re just a lot better.
Close by was the construction site for this year’s new ride:
There’s a news topic for it here: http://www.coasterforce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=37321
I didn’t bother with Ice Age 4D, partly because I haven’t seen any of the Ice Age films, but mostly because I find 4D cinemas to be a total bag o’ w@nk.
There were lots of signs around for Forest Temple, which I knew nothing about. It turns out it was the park’s new-for-2013 attraction, having just opened in October.
This is what Th13teen’s queue should’ve looked like:
There was a sign at the entrance instructing not to take photos, so being the nice, compliant person that I am, I didn’t take any. It’s a pretty major walkthrough, with lots of different scenes and animatronics. There’s some kind of story, but I obviously couldn’t follow it. There are staff in costume, dotted around to guide people in the right direction (not to scare people), and they didn’t mind at all that people were taking pictures. I decided to just enjoy it for what it was first time around anyway.
Some pictures of other s**t:
I’m assuming this was leftover from their Halloween event:
Motorbike Launch Coaster – I think you can work out what it does – was closed.
I’d ridden it before, so no big loss really. It’s a clone of the one at Toverland if anyone wants a point of reference.
I had a quick go on the Giant Frisbee, which for some reason I didn’t enjoy all that much. I’ve been on a bunch of these before, including this one years ago, but it did nothing for me this time around. I’ve just realised I didn’t take any pictures of it, so have an old one, not that you can tell the difference.
I skipped the stupidly wet water ride, the splash battle and the rapids this time around.
I did give this a go though; they’re a lot better than a generic Top Spin. Again an old photo. Don’t know why I didn’t take any of it.
Now for some “Is it a cred?” discussion. These were closed this time around, but last time I was here, I rode all five. However, I didn’t add them to my count.
The reason for this was that even though I thought they were coasters, when I got home and checked, I saw that they’re not listed on RCDB. Back then, I didn’t really make my own judgement calls on what is, or isn’t, a coaster. I’m more clued up about the whole thing now though, and I’d completely forgotten about them until I saw them again on this visit.
I still haven’t added them yet, but I think I probably will. For all intents and purposes, they’re no different to a half-pipe/shuttle coaster. The only difference is that they’re powered differently, there’s an electric cable that drives each car rather than a magnet or tyre thing. They still “coast” back down the inclines, like plenty of other rides that are labelled as coasters. They’re sure as s**t more of a coaster than those Butterfly things at any rate.
Here’s a picture from last time to show you what they do, which admittedly isn’t a great deal:
Speaking of half-pipe coasters, Half Pipe was just as gross as I remember it.
I caught the parade, which was a bit crap.
The best part was seeing the other whities in the parade, who couldn’t help but look desperately ashamed when they caught your eye.
There’s a huge circus that operates nightly an hour after the park closes. I haven’t seen it – it’s supposed to be very, very good - but my guess is that the parade performers are actually from there and forced to do this as well. They looked **** ing miserable, which entertained me no end.
While we’re on the subject, I should just point out that Chimelong Paradise is actually just part of a much larger resort, which includes Chimelong International Circus, Chimelong Safari Park (again, haven’t done, but I think I will next time as it’s huge and looks pretty epic), Chimleong Water Park and Chimelong Crocodile Park. I’ve got quite a few kiddy coasters to mop up in the area still, including one in the Safari park, so I’ll likely try some of these other parts of the resort at some point in the future.
There are also a few shows around Chimelong Paradise, none of which I’ve seen, but a couple of which look pretty large scale, including one that seems similar to Universal’s Waterworld.
I hadn’t seen the Colossus clone running. Again, I’d ridden it on my last visit, so it wasn’t too much of a blow, even though I actually really liked it.
Having said that, despite its fairly big size, it’s not really visible from most of the park. Although there was no sign of life, the entrance was open, so I thought I’d just have a wander in and take a few pictures. I wish they’d make it slightly more obvious from the name what this thing actually does though.
Walking the queue line, this happened:
So yay! It was a bit late in the day by this point, meaning that an already quiet park was getting quieter and quieter. They were waiting to try and fill the train up a bit between dispatches. I got front row, which I haven’t tried before on either this or Colossus, and had to wait about 10 minutes before they sent it off.
I still really liked it. I quite like Colossus though - I haven’t ridden it enough to get the hatred for it that a lot of people have – and this clone is a fair bit smoother.
I had another walk around Forest Temple, which I now had pretty much to myself. This time, I took pictures though.
This goblin thing popped up in a few different scenes.
This water maze thing was really cool. On my first time around, a guy in front of me got totally drenched accidentally walking straight into/through one of the “walls”.
I’ll just shove a few more pictures in. Pretty much everything moved and did stuff as you went around, along with voices/commentary at some points. Some of the scenes were actually pretty huge.
By this point it was about half an hour until closing. They were starting to get stuff ready for Chinese New Year.
I had another couple of rides on Dive Coaster on my way out. Still an amazing ride.
I’ll leave you with this rather terrifying picture, which I didn’t notice until I was having a look through for this report.
And that was it. I had a great time at Chimelong thanks to it being so quiet. I was anticipating only really having enough time to grab the two coasters that I hadn’t ridden before, and maybe re-ride a couple of old things, but I managed to have a full “day” in the four hours I got here, as well as finding an epic walkthrough which I never knew existed.
There’s another day of this report to come, but I’m away now for a couple of weeks so might not get chance to finish it for a while. I’ve uploaded the pictures, so if I get a lazy night in a hotel at some point, I might have a crack at it.
Chimelong Paradise
Originally, I wanted to try to quickly hit up a small park, called Country Garden Farm, roughly halfway between Chuanlord and Chimelong. However, since I got out of Chuanlord later than I hoped, there were just two crappy kiddy coasters at Country Garden, and I was doubtful that anybody would know it, especially as it doesn’t even show up on a Google Map search, I decided to sack it off and head straight for Chimelong.
I say straight to Chimelong, but it didn’t exactly work out that way. First of all, because Chuanlord is set off by itself away from anything else, there were no taxis around. None. A fifteen minute walk up to the main road didn’t really help, since you end up at the exit of a toll road; no empty taxis are going to choose to pay a toll. There was, however, a bus stop, so I figured I’d just jump on a bus headed in roughly the right direction, get off when we hit a more urban area and get a taxi from there.
I was quite pleased with my great plan, until the bus reached its final destination less than five minutes later: some big temple complex that actually looked really nice, or would have done if I wasn’t so pissed off. Despite it being really busy, there were no taxis around there either – lots of buses though - so I fell back on the old trick of paying roughly double the going rate for some potential rapist/murderer to drive me.
Anyway, 25 minutes and £10 later I was at the South Gate of Chimelong Parasise, paid my £20 entrance fee, and was immediately confronted with this beauty:
I was worried at first since the gate had a few ride closures posted and I wasn’t seeing any trains going round, but a few minutes later:
This was still under construction when I went to Chimelong before; I think I missed it by about 3 months. I needn’t have worried about rushing to get here since the park was really quiet, much quieter than Chuanlord even though it was a Saturday afternoon. I think it’s probably because I was there in the brief period between Christmas and Chinese New Year, when I’d imagine the place gets a lot busier.
My first ride had this massive queue:
After that mad rush, Dive Coaster was walk on, which was obviously amazing, so I got a total of two front-row rides, a middle row and two back-row rides in the space of around 15 minutes before moving on. I loved it. Oh, and in the station they had the overture from Carmen playing on a loop all day, which was epic as I **** ing love it. I’m sure someone will take absolute delight in correcting me, but I’m pretty sure it’s basically Sheikra, a coaster I haven’t ridden yet.
Directly opposite was the other new-for-me coaster at the park, a Mack Youngstar coaster. Like Dive Coaster, this also had a highly imaginative English name:
This is the third one of these that I’ve ridden now, and I actually think they’re pretty great family coasters. They’re basically Mack’s answer to Vekoma’s Roller Skater model, but they’re just a lot better.
Close by was the construction site for this year’s new ride:
There’s a news topic for it here: http://www.coasterforce.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=37321
I didn’t bother with Ice Age 4D, partly because I haven’t seen any of the Ice Age films, but mostly because I find 4D cinemas to be a total bag o’ w@nk.
There were lots of signs around for Forest Temple, which I knew nothing about. It turns out it was the park’s new-for-2013 attraction, having just opened in October.
This is what Th13teen’s queue should’ve looked like:
There was a sign at the entrance instructing not to take photos, so being the nice, compliant person that I am, I didn’t take any. It’s a pretty major walkthrough, with lots of different scenes and animatronics. There’s some kind of story, but I obviously couldn’t follow it. There are staff in costume, dotted around to guide people in the right direction (not to scare people), and they didn’t mind at all that people were taking pictures. I decided to just enjoy it for what it was first time around anyway.
Some pictures of other s**t:
I’m assuming this was leftover from their Halloween event:
Motorbike Launch Coaster – I think you can work out what it does – was closed.
I’d ridden it before, so no big loss really. It’s a clone of the one at Toverland if anyone wants a point of reference.
I had a quick go on the Giant Frisbee, which for some reason I didn’t enjoy all that much. I’ve been on a bunch of these before, including this one years ago, but it did nothing for me this time around. I’ve just realised I didn’t take any pictures of it, so have an old one, not that you can tell the difference.
I skipped the stupidly wet water ride, the splash battle and the rapids this time around.
I did give this a go though; they’re a lot better than a generic Top Spin. Again an old photo. Don’t know why I didn’t take any of it.
Now for some “Is it a cred?” discussion. These were closed this time around, but last time I was here, I rode all five. However, I didn’t add them to my count.
The reason for this was that even though I thought they were coasters, when I got home and checked, I saw that they’re not listed on RCDB. Back then, I didn’t really make my own judgement calls on what is, or isn’t, a coaster. I’m more clued up about the whole thing now though, and I’d completely forgotten about them until I saw them again on this visit.
I still haven’t added them yet, but I think I probably will. For all intents and purposes, they’re no different to a half-pipe/shuttle coaster. The only difference is that they’re powered differently, there’s an electric cable that drives each car rather than a magnet or tyre thing. They still “coast” back down the inclines, like plenty of other rides that are labelled as coasters. They’re sure as s**t more of a coaster than those Butterfly things at any rate.
Here’s a picture from last time to show you what they do, which admittedly isn’t a great deal:
Speaking of half-pipe coasters, Half Pipe was just as gross as I remember it.
I caught the parade, which was a bit crap.
The best part was seeing the other whities in the parade, who couldn’t help but look desperately ashamed when they caught your eye.
There’s a huge circus that operates nightly an hour after the park closes. I haven’t seen it – it’s supposed to be very, very good - but my guess is that the parade performers are actually from there and forced to do this as well. They looked **** ing miserable, which entertained me no end.
While we’re on the subject, I should just point out that Chimelong Paradise is actually just part of a much larger resort, which includes Chimelong International Circus, Chimelong Safari Park (again, haven’t done, but I think I will next time as it’s huge and looks pretty epic), Chimleong Water Park and Chimelong Crocodile Park. I’ve got quite a few kiddy coasters to mop up in the area still, including one in the Safari park, so I’ll likely try some of these other parts of the resort at some point in the future.
There are also a few shows around Chimelong Paradise, none of which I’ve seen, but a couple of which look pretty large scale, including one that seems similar to Universal’s Waterworld.
I hadn’t seen the Colossus clone running. Again, I’d ridden it on my last visit, so it wasn’t too much of a blow, even though I actually really liked it.
Having said that, despite its fairly big size, it’s not really visible from most of the park. Although there was no sign of life, the entrance was open, so I thought I’d just have a wander in and take a few pictures. I wish they’d make it slightly more obvious from the name what this thing actually does though.
Walking the queue line, this happened:
So yay! It was a bit late in the day by this point, meaning that an already quiet park was getting quieter and quieter. They were waiting to try and fill the train up a bit between dispatches. I got front row, which I haven’t tried before on either this or Colossus, and had to wait about 10 minutes before they sent it off.
I still really liked it. I quite like Colossus though - I haven’t ridden it enough to get the hatred for it that a lot of people have – and this clone is a fair bit smoother.
I had another walk around Forest Temple, which I now had pretty much to myself. This time, I took pictures though.
This goblin thing popped up in a few different scenes.
This water maze thing was really cool. On my first time around, a guy in front of me got totally drenched accidentally walking straight into/through one of the “walls”.
I’ll just shove a few more pictures in. Pretty much everything moved and did stuff as you went around, along with voices/commentary at some points. Some of the scenes were actually pretty huge.
By this point it was about half an hour until closing. They were starting to get stuff ready for Chinese New Year.
I had another couple of rides on Dive Coaster on my way out. Still an amazing ride.
I’ll leave you with this rather terrifying picture, which I didn’t notice until I was having a look through for this report.
And that was it. I had a great time at Chimelong thanks to it being so quiet. I was anticipating only really having enough time to grab the two coasters that I hadn’t ridden before, and maybe re-ride a couple of old things, but I managed to have a full “day” in the four hours I got here, as well as finding an epic walkthrough which I never knew existed.
There’s another day of this report to come, but I’m away now for a couple of weeks so might not get chance to finish it for a while. I’ve uploaded the pictures, so if I get a lazy night in a hotel at some point, I might have a crack at it.
Mysterious Sue
Strata Poster
Re: Guangzhou PTR Day 2 Pt 2: Chimelong Paradise
Wtf even is that in the last picture?
Wtf even is that in the last picture?
TilenB
Strata Poster
Re: Guangzhou PTR Day 2 Pt 2: Chimelong Paradise
How does Chimelong even survive? In every trip report that I've read from there, most of the rides were a walk-on, even on the days that should be busy (like the day you visited). And judging by the low entrance fee, I can't imagine the park being too profitable...
How does Chimelong even survive? In every trip report that I've read from there, most of the rides were a walk-on, even on the days that should be busy (like the day you visited). And judging by the low entrance fee, I can't imagine the park being too profitable...
Mysterious Sue
Strata Poster
Re: Guangzhou PTR Day 2 Pt 2: Chimelong Paradise
Whatever it is, it's terrifying.
I don't think £20 is cheap. It's on par with other parks in the region, including the big chains Happy Valley and OCT.
No Idea why it's so quiet as the park is not far from the big city of Guangzhou. I'm sure Gavin knows more. Perhaps it's missing out to the other parks.
Chinese parks are generally quite quiet though, until weekends or national holidays when they become rammed with tour groups *shudders*.
Whatever it is, it's terrifying.
I don't think £20 is cheap. It's on par with other parks in the region, including the big chains Happy Valley and OCT.
No Idea why it's so quiet as the park is not far from the big city of Guangzhou. I'm sure Gavin knows more. Perhaps it's missing out to the other parks.
Chinese parks are generally quite quiet though, until weekends or national holidays when they become rammed with tour groups *shudders*.
Re: Guangzhou PTR Day 2 Pt 2: Chimelong Paradise
Yeah £20 is the same as Happy Valley. Yes, it's cheap by Western standards, but their staffing, maintenance and overall running costs will be much, much lower. I'd guess that the profit margins are similar.
It was busy the first time I went. It actually made sense for it to be dead on the weekend I went this time. The Christmas period had just finished, and there were a couple of weeks until Chinese New Year. Both those periods, especially Chinese New Year, would be extremely busy, but it makes sense for the period in between to be very quiet.
They've built queue lines to accommodate a **** load of people. I think it's a case of western enthusiasts having common sense and hitting it up outside of holidays and normal weekends. Plus, Chimelong's operations are a LOT better than Happy Valley, which always seems busy even with next to nobody there.
Yeah £20 is the same as Happy Valley. Yes, it's cheap by Western standards, but their staffing, maintenance and overall running costs will be much, much lower. I'd guess that the profit margins are similar.
It was busy the first time I went. It actually made sense for it to be dead on the weekend I went this time. The Christmas period had just finished, and there were a couple of weeks until Chinese New Year. Both those periods, especially Chinese New Year, would be extremely busy, but it makes sense for the period in between to be very quiet.
They've built queue lines to accommodate a **** load of people. I think it's a case of western enthusiasts having common sense and hitting it up outside of holidays and normal weekends. Plus, Chimelong's operations are a LOT better than Happy Valley, which always seems busy even with next to nobody there.
EnigmaHyena
Hyper Poster
Re: Guangzhou PTR Day 2 Pt 1: Chuanlord Holiday Manor
DRAGOOOOOONNNN! <3
Great trip report as always Gavin, always nice to read a detailed one that isn't just full of in-jokes. Question about Dive Coaster; I've heard a lot of people say that other Dive Machines aren't as intimidating as Oblivion or their drop isn't as intense. I'm guessing that's just typical enthusiast **** but I just thought I'd ask for your comparison. Regardless, it still looks amazing though.
Oh and that clown totally knew exactly how to discreetly photobomb your picture. The face says it all. Joker!
DRAGOOOOOONNNN! <3
Great trip report as always Gavin, always nice to read a detailed one that isn't just full of in-jokes. Question about Dive Coaster; I've heard a lot of people say that other Dive Machines aren't as intimidating as Oblivion or their drop isn't as intense. I'm guessing that's just typical enthusiast **** but I just thought I'd ask for your comparison. Regardless, it still looks amazing though.
Oh and that clown totally knew exactly how to discreetly photobomb your picture. The face says it all. Joker!
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Guangzhou PTR Day 2 Pt 2: Chimelong Paradise
Another great addition. I always like to ask a few questions and today is no different
Would you say the Colossus clone is smoother than Colossus because it is warmer? I find Colossus much more enjoyable, and smoother in the summer when the coaster expands, do you think this is a factor?
Also that top spin, (I assume it's still called a top spin?), are there any European versions of it? Want to know if there are any 'local' ones
Another great addition. I always like to ask a few questions and today is no different
Would you say the Colossus clone is smoother than Colossus because it is warmer? I find Colossus much more enjoyable, and smoother in the summer when the coaster expands, do you think this is a factor?
Also that top spin, (I assume it's still called a top spin?), are there any European versions of it? Want to know if there are any 'local' ones
Re: Guangzhou PTR Day 2 Pt 2: Chimelong Paradise
^^ I tend to agree about Oblivion to be honest. Yeah, it's a drop and **** all else, but it does that job perfectly.
There's an element of "oh crap" hanging over the drop of the other models as you can really tell how high you are. It's the not knowing with Oblivion that makes it better.
I found Dive Machine and Griffon to be a lot of fun, but not particularly intimidating. It's really hard to explain.
^ I really don't know to be honest. It's a couple of years younger for a start. It is definitely a warmer part of the world, but I've got no clue how or if that affects things. I'd hazard a guess that it doesn't take the hammering that Colossus gets either.
That flat ride is not a Top Spin as the two arms move independently of each other. It does flip though. They're kind of like a cross between a Top Spin and those old Waikiki Wave things, whatever they're called.
There's one at Movieland Park in Italy - at least I think it's the same - but that's the only one I think I've seen in Europe.
^^ I tend to agree about Oblivion to be honest. Yeah, it's a drop and **** all else, but it does that job perfectly.
There's an element of "oh crap" hanging over the drop of the other models as you can really tell how high you are. It's the not knowing with Oblivion that makes it better.
I found Dive Machine and Griffon to be a lot of fun, but not particularly intimidating. It's really hard to explain.
^ I really don't know to be honest. It's a couple of years younger for a start. It is definitely a warmer part of the world, but I've got no clue how or if that affects things. I'd hazard a guess that it doesn't take the hammering that Colossus gets either.
That flat ride is not a Top Spin as the two arms move independently of each other. It does flip though. They're kind of like a cross between a Top Spin and those old Waikiki Wave things, whatever they're called.
There's one at Movieland Park in Italy - at least I think it's the same - but that's the only one I think I've seen in Europe.
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
Re: Guangzhou PTR Day 2 Pt 2: Chimelong Paradise
I've done a bit of research. It is generically a top spin but a variation called a Windshear. The ride at Movieland Studios in Italy is called Tomb Raider: The Machine.
I've done a bit of research. It is generically a top spin but a variation called a Windshear. The ride at Movieland Studios in Italy is called Tomb Raider: The Machine.
JamesB
Mega Poster
Re: Guangzhou PTR Day 2 Pt 2: Chimelong Paradise
Great report Gavin, I enjoyed my visit to Chimelong last year however I don't think the forest walkthrough was open when I went, where abouts in the park is it?
The half pipe is probably one of the most painful rides I've ever ridden. Ouchies. And you didn't miss much on the ice age ride either, actually the things that 'tickle' your back are also pretty painful.
Great report Gavin, I enjoyed my visit to Chimelong last year however I don't think the forest walkthrough was open when I went, where abouts in the park is it?
The half pipe is probably one of the most painful rides I've ever ridden. Ouchies. And you didn't miss much on the ice age ride either, actually the things that 'tickle' your back are also pretty painful.
Re: Guangzhou PTR Day 2 Pt 2: Chimelong Paradise
I’ve got a while to kill at the airport, so I thought I’d get this finished off before the next round of trip reports. I had a train booked to get back to Hong Kong in the early evening, so had a day to kill with some crappy little parks.
Guangzhou Zoo
This place was just a short walk from the hotel. I’d planned to just grab the creds and go, but I got there a bit too early for the rides, so had the pleasure of looking around the zoo for a bit first. The amusment park section is pretty much right inside the South entrance to the park.
Some animals what was in the zoo:
There was a separate aquarium and dolphin/beluga show that I didn’t have any inclination to see.
It was annoying that the keepers just lazily chucked the bamboo into the inside area of the panda house rather than putting it outside so people could see them. It’s obvious that pandas will just sit there hidden all day, secretly munching bamboo more happily than Oprah secretly munches carpet.
The was “ok” for the most part considering it was in China, but the facilities for the carnivores were really gross, basically just empty concrete cages. Have some upsetting pictures!
How much do PETA pay for photos, and where do I send them?
There was a nice goldfish area though.
They even had a “Great World Gunnes Record” for “The Most Great Fish Show”, which was very impressive.
Of course there’s the obligatory “catch your own” attraction:
By this time, around 11ish, the rides were running.
They had these same Rainbow Shuttles as Chimelong. I’ve decided not to count them after all – my reckoning is that the cars themselves are powered, rather than getting their propulsion from the track – but I rode them anyway in case they become more of an acceptable cred later.
The two coasters here were just this crappy kiddy coaster
And an ultra-rare Jungle Mouse:
It was slightly annoying that I had to spend almost two hours here due to getting there too early – could’ve done with the lie in after going out the night before to be honest – but anyway: plus 2.
There were a couple of parks outside the city, but fairly close to each other, with two coasters each, so I headed out on the Metro to the first one.
Foshan Amusement Park
It took a while to get out here, but it wasn’t difficult and was right next to the station. It was just a patch of concrete with some s**ty rides shoved on it.
The coasters here were well worth the effort getting out there though. There was this kiddy coaster:
They also had a Jungle Mouse. Joy!
Yeah, after an amazing 5 minutes or so at the park, I jumped in a taxi up to the next place, which was about 10 minutes away.
Zhongshan Park
This was just yet another typical city park with a few rides shoved in. It was actually pretty nice though.
The actual ride area was, obviously, right at the opposite end of the park.
A close up of one of those hammer-to-head-shooting-dodgems that I’ve covered in an earlier report:
I missed out on the officially licenced 3D/4D/5D/6D/whatever-number-of-Ds-this-one-had attraction
I decided to give the rather fab log flume a go since it was just really different from others I’ve seen.
There was a separate zoo, which I really didn’t want to put myself through.
The first coaster here was a powered dragon. F**kin’ awesome.
Which was followed up with, go on have a guess…
JUNGLE MOUSE!
I kind of screwed up getting back to the city. Instead of getting the Metro back, with stops every couple of minutes, I got a taxi to a main train station, which was just one station away from Guangzhou, and would’ve taken just 15 minutes to get back into town, over the almost 90 minutes the trip out had taken. However, the queue to get tickets was about 100 people deep, with 10 minutes until the train, so I just got a taxi back about half way, to a station on the same line as the next park.
Jin Ying Park
This place was inside an enormous city park called Yuexiu Park, which has got a load of old s**te in it. It took ages to walk through and get to the amusement park.
Eventually, I saw a rather impressive Frisbee ride, which I wasn’t expecting.
I was also really pleased to find out that it’s officially an Outstanding Amnsement Park.
You can imagine my delight at discovering that the park’s sole coaster was a Jungle Mouse.
I missed the fishing game, even though the rules couldn’t have been simpler.
Somebody was rather disappointed with their prize.
On the way out, I had a quick look at the 5 Rams Statue, which is apparently some kind of symbol of the city.
I wish it was the last thing I saw at the park, but unfortunately I had my retinas burned by this monstrosity immediately after.
My original plan was to head over to Children’s Park. It only has one kiddy coaster, but it’s near an apparently really nice area with a bunch of old colonial buildings and stuff. I worked out that I didn’t really have time to make it over there and have a decent look around before I had to collect my bag from the hotel and head out for the train. Instead, I opted for a park that was a 10 minute walk from where I already was.
Liuhua Lake Park
Yep, another city park. As the name quite cryptically suggests, it’s made up of mostly lakes. Again, it was rather pleasant.
I almost got in trouble. Due to my rather long, statuesque legs, it’s rather hard for me not to stride.
Anyway, onto some rides.
The goldfish fishing experience was rather less immersive than at the previous parks.
I saw this and s**t myself.
Luckily there was another train on the track so I managed to get another kiddy-fruit-worm thing under my belt.
Then I got a taxi back to the hotel, and on to the train station. All in all, it wasn’t a bad trip really. 22 new coasters, including an excellent B&M, the world’s highest drop towers and a Great World Gunnes Record attraction.
There are still quite a few kiddy coasters to mop up in Guangzhou, and I really want to check out some of the other parts of the Chimelong Resort, so I’ll probably end up doing another weekend up there at some point.
EDIT - I've just seen how blurry and **** the photos are. I stupidly uploaded them to a crappy resolution, but I'll be **** ed if I'm doing it again. Sorry 'bout it.
I’ve got a while to kill at the airport, so I thought I’d get this finished off before the next round of trip reports. I had a train booked to get back to Hong Kong in the early evening, so had a day to kill with some crappy little parks.
Guangzhou Zoo
This place was just a short walk from the hotel. I’d planned to just grab the creds and go, but I got there a bit too early for the rides, so had the pleasure of looking around the zoo for a bit first. The amusment park section is pretty much right inside the South entrance to the park.
Some animals what was in the zoo:
There was a separate aquarium and dolphin/beluga show that I didn’t have any inclination to see.
It was annoying that the keepers just lazily chucked the bamboo into the inside area of the panda house rather than putting it outside so people could see them. It’s obvious that pandas will just sit there hidden all day, secretly munching bamboo more happily than Oprah secretly munches carpet.
The was “ok” for the most part considering it was in China, but the facilities for the carnivores were really gross, basically just empty concrete cages. Have some upsetting pictures!
How much do PETA pay for photos, and where do I send them?
There was a nice goldfish area though.
They even had a “Great World Gunnes Record” for “The Most Great Fish Show”, which was very impressive.
Of course there’s the obligatory “catch your own” attraction:
By this time, around 11ish, the rides were running.
They had these same Rainbow Shuttles as Chimelong. I’ve decided not to count them after all – my reckoning is that the cars themselves are powered, rather than getting their propulsion from the track – but I rode them anyway in case they become more of an acceptable cred later.
The two coasters here were just this crappy kiddy coaster
And an ultra-rare Jungle Mouse:
It was slightly annoying that I had to spend almost two hours here due to getting there too early – could’ve done with the lie in after going out the night before to be honest – but anyway: plus 2.
There were a couple of parks outside the city, but fairly close to each other, with two coasters each, so I headed out on the Metro to the first one.
Foshan Amusement Park
It took a while to get out here, but it wasn’t difficult and was right next to the station. It was just a patch of concrete with some s**ty rides shoved on it.
The coasters here were well worth the effort getting out there though. There was this kiddy coaster:
They also had a Jungle Mouse. Joy!
Yeah, after an amazing 5 minutes or so at the park, I jumped in a taxi up to the next place, which was about 10 minutes away.
Zhongshan Park
This was just yet another typical city park with a few rides shoved in. It was actually pretty nice though.
The actual ride area was, obviously, right at the opposite end of the park.
A close up of one of those hammer-to-head-shooting-dodgems that I’ve covered in an earlier report:
I missed out on the officially licenced 3D/4D/5D/6D/whatever-number-of-Ds-this-one-had attraction
I decided to give the rather fab log flume a go since it was just really different from others I’ve seen.
There was a separate zoo, which I really didn’t want to put myself through.
The first coaster here was a powered dragon. F**kin’ awesome.
Which was followed up with, go on have a guess…
JUNGLE MOUSE!
I kind of screwed up getting back to the city. Instead of getting the Metro back, with stops every couple of minutes, I got a taxi to a main train station, which was just one station away from Guangzhou, and would’ve taken just 15 minutes to get back into town, over the almost 90 minutes the trip out had taken. However, the queue to get tickets was about 100 people deep, with 10 minutes until the train, so I just got a taxi back about half way, to a station on the same line as the next park.
Jin Ying Park
This place was inside an enormous city park called Yuexiu Park, which has got a load of old s**te in it. It took ages to walk through and get to the amusement park.
Eventually, I saw a rather impressive Frisbee ride, which I wasn’t expecting.
I was also really pleased to find out that it’s officially an Outstanding Amnsement Park.
You can imagine my delight at discovering that the park’s sole coaster was a Jungle Mouse.
I missed the fishing game, even though the rules couldn’t have been simpler.
Somebody was rather disappointed with their prize.
On the way out, I had a quick look at the 5 Rams Statue, which is apparently some kind of symbol of the city.
I wish it was the last thing I saw at the park, but unfortunately I had my retinas burned by this monstrosity immediately after.
My original plan was to head over to Children’s Park. It only has one kiddy coaster, but it’s near an apparently really nice area with a bunch of old colonial buildings and stuff. I worked out that I didn’t really have time to make it over there and have a decent look around before I had to collect my bag from the hotel and head out for the train. Instead, I opted for a park that was a 10 minute walk from where I already was.
Liuhua Lake Park
Yep, another city park. As the name quite cryptically suggests, it’s made up of mostly lakes. Again, it was rather pleasant.
I almost got in trouble. Due to my rather long, statuesque legs, it’s rather hard for me not to stride.
Anyway, onto some rides.
The goldfish fishing experience was rather less immersive than at the previous parks.
I saw this and s**t myself.
Luckily there was another train on the track so I managed to get another kiddy-fruit-worm thing under my belt.
Then I got a taxi back to the hotel, and on to the train station. All in all, it wasn’t a bad trip really. 22 new coasters, including an excellent B&M, the world’s highest drop towers and a Great World Gunnes Record attraction.
There are still quite a few kiddy coasters to mop up in Guangzhou, and I really want to check out some of the other parts of the Chimelong Resort, so I’ll probably end up doing another weekend up there at some point.
EDIT - I've just seen how blurry and **** the photos are. I stupidly uploaded them to a crappy resolution, but I'll be **** ed if I'm doing it again. Sorry 'bout it.
Jordanovichy
Credit Whore 2016
^^I agree, so good.
Liuhua Lake Park looks so peaceful. I've noticed in previous reports, the parks with lakes just look so calming, picturesque. Despite the rides not being as 'thrilling' as a big park it must be nice for the easy day.
Liuhua Lake Park looks so peaceful. I've noticed in previous reports, the parks with lakes just look so calming, picturesque. Despite the rides not being as 'thrilling' as a big park it must be nice for the easy day.
^ Yeah, it's kind of like what a lot of zoos at home used to be like back in the 60s.
To be fair to Guangzhou though, it was only really the bears and cats in the concrete cages, and there was major construction going on right behind it, possibly to replace the old exhibits.
The newly done zoo at Chuanlord was nice, and apparently Chimelong Safari is stunning.
There were also quite a lot of anti animal cruelty posters around on the Metro.
Yeah, they've still got a way to go, but it seems like there are definitely steps being taken in the right direction.
To be fair to Guangzhou though, it was only really the bears and cats in the concrete cages, and there was major construction going on right behind it, possibly to replace the old exhibits.
The newly done zoo at Chuanlord was nice, and apparently Chimelong Safari is stunning.
There were also quite a lot of anti animal cruelty posters around on the Metro.
Yeah, they've still got a way to go, but it seems like there are definitely steps being taken in the right direction.