A few weeks ago, I continued with my new tradition of “get the f**k out of Asia” for Chinese New Year. Because of some silly timing/lack of research on my part, there was only one park on this trip. It was much more than a park trip anyway, and there would have only been one other park with two crappy coasters, but it was still annoying.
I started in Johannesburg and finished in Cape Town. If I would have looked into it properly, I could/should have done Cape Town first. There’s a park there, Ratanga Junction, but it’s only open at weekends and I ended up there during the week. Honestly, it’s not a sign of good things if a park is only open at weekends in the summer.
Also, I lost a camera right at the end of the trip. I had two cameras with me, having bought a new one especially, but I used my older one for most city stuff and the park since it was smaller and easy to shove in a pocket or bag. I got a few pictures on my phone as well to quickly shove up on Facebook, but unfortunately not many. Anyway…
I got to my hotel in Johannesburg in the mid afternoon and just headed to a nearby shopping area for food and a quick look around. I got a taxi there, but ended up walking back once I realized that it was nowhere near as unsafe as I’d been led to believe.
The next day was the park day. I’d originally thought to get an Uber down to the park, but found out that it’s on the route of one of those open-top bus tour things. I don’t usually bother with those, but since I only had one day here, I thought it would be a good way to at least get to see a bit of the city en route to the park. I took a bunch of pictures on the camera that disappeared, but nothing on my phone. There wasn’t a great deal to see really. Onto the park then.
Gold Reef City
I took an absolute s**tload of pictures here, but only a small handful on my phone which I still have now. It’s so annoying as it really is a lovely park and not somewhere that many people have been to before. The bus dropped off at a casino and hotel complex just across the road, with a bridge leading over to the park, which takes you right past Tower of Terror.
I headed straight for it. It was open, but only runs with a minimum of four riders. The park was dead, I was there just after opening, and there was nobody else around the immediate area, so I ended up having to leave it to go back later.
Instead, I rode Jozi Express first, having the train to myself and getting a quick re-ride without having to leave the station. It’s a custom Zierer and is pretty huge for what it is. It doesn’t do a lot though.
I rode Golden Loop at some point a bit later. It’s just an old Schwazkopf shuttle loop, but these are always worth a go. As with everything else for the whole time I was here, it was walk-on.
There were also a Big Apple and a powered mine train, which I didn’t get pictures of on my phone. The mine train was one of the better ones I’ve done though, with most of the layout being indoors, and with a pretty decent drop, which I don’t remember seeing on any others.
I headed back to Tower of Terror at some point as the park got slightly busier. I’m so pissed off since I actually got some really decent pictures of it running, especially from the Ferris wheel next to it, but nothing decent on my phone.
This is a coaster that I’ve always wanted to ride. Too bad it’s f**king s**t then. The elevator lift and slow push out to the drop are really good, and the drop is ok. The short section after the drop is rough as arseholes though, with some horrible headbanging.
On my second go, we got stuck on the brake run. The first set of magnetic brakes slowed it down so much that it didn’t have enough momentum to move onto the next section. The ride ops had to come and push/pull it to engage with the wheels to bring it back to the station. There were only four of us on it, but it’s clear why they have a minimum number of riders. They shut it down and I didn’t go back to it later.
I’ve just remembered that I bought the ORP, but am at work now; I’ll have to try and dig it out later.
The other major coaster is Anaconda, a Giovonola invert that looks, and rides, like an old-school B&M. Well, apart from the two-across seating anyway. Again, I took a crapload of photos of it; It looks gorgeous in its setting, interacting with the rapids. Annoyed.
I loved this ride. There was a bit of a rattle to it, but it was really forceful with a decent layout. Like I said, it felt very much like an old-school B&M invert.
Unfortunately, that’s it for photos of the park. I was only there for about 3 hours because it was absolutely dead, but I really liked it. The whole thing is built around an actual old gold mine, so there’s lots of old mining equipment around as theming, along with replica(?) mining town buildings. You can also go down into the actual mine, but the timing didn’t really work out for me since I wanted to try and at least see a bit more of Johannesburg. It was kind of like an open air museum with rides, but it all worked really well. It was a lovely park.
Right across the car park was the Apartheid Museum, which was rather depressing, but very well done. From there, I got back on the tour bus and jumped off at a couple of places in Johannesburg.
I finished up at Constitution Hill, the site of an old prison.
It doesn’t seem like it thanks to the lack of pictures, but I’d been out for the whole day by this point. I got an Uber back to the hotel and just had a lazy evening since I was getting picked up pretty early the next morning.
Johannesburg was nothing special really, but it wasn’t at all what I’d expected. I’d been warned to basically not do ANYTHING since it’s so “dangerous”. Obviously, I’m not an expert after a couple of days there, but I spent my time wandering around by myself and I didn’t get murdered once.
There are no more parks, but I’ll shove some other stuff in here later since the trip as a whole was so fab.
I started in Johannesburg and finished in Cape Town. If I would have looked into it properly, I could/should have done Cape Town first. There’s a park there, Ratanga Junction, but it’s only open at weekends and I ended up there during the week. Honestly, it’s not a sign of good things if a park is only open at weekends in the summer.
Also, I lost a camera right at the end of the trip. I had two cameras with me, having bought a new one especially, but I used my older one for most city stuff and the park since it was smaller and easy to shove in a pocket or bag. I got a few pictures on my phone as well to quickly shove up on Facebook, but unfortunately not many. Anyway…
I got to my hotel in Johannesburg in the mid afternoon and just headed to a nearby shopping area for food and a quick look around. I got a taxi there, but ended up walking back once I realized that it was nowhere near as unsafe as I’d been led to believe.
The next day was the park day. I’d originally thought to get an Uber down to the park, but found out that it’s on the route of one of those open-top bus tour things. I don’t usually bother with those, but since I only had one day here, I thought it would be a good way to at least get to see a bit of the city en route to the park. I took a bunch of pictures on the camera that disappeared, but nothing on my phone. There wasn’t a great deal to see really. Onto the park then.
Gold Reef City
I took an absolute s**tload of pictures here, but only a small handful on my phone which I still have now. It’s so annoying as it really is a lovely park and not somewhere that many people have been to before. The bus dropped off at a casino and hotel complex just across the road, with a bridge leading over to the park, which takes you right past Tower of Terror.
I headed straight for it. It was open, but only runs with a minimum of four riders. The park was dead, I was there just after opening, and there was nobody else around the immediate area, so I ended up having to leave it to go back later.
Instead, I rode Jozi Express first, having the train to myself and getting a quick re-ride without having to leave the station. It’s a custom Zierer and is pretty huge for what it is. It doesn’t do a lot though.
I rode Golden Loop at some point a bit later. It’s just an old Schwazkopf shuttle loop, but these are always worth a go. As with everything else for the whole time I was here, it was walk-on.
There were also a Big Apple and a powered mine train, which I didn’t get pictures of on my phone. The mine train was one of the better ones I’ve done though, with most of the layout being indoors, and with a pretty decent drop, which I don’t remember seeing on any others.
I headed back to Tower of Terror at some point as the park got slightly busier. I’m so pissed off since I actually got some really decent pictures of it running, especially from the Ferris wheel next to it, but nothing decent on my phone.
This is a coaster that I’ve always wanted to ride. Too bad it’s f**king s**t then. The elevator lift and slow push out to the drop are really good, and the drop is ok. The short section after the drop is rough as arseholes though, with some horrible headbanging.
On my second go, we got stuck on the brake run. The first set of magnetic brakes slowed it down so much that it didn’t have enough momentum to move onto the next section. The ride ops had to come and push/pull it to engage with the wheels to bring it back to the station. There were only four of us on it, but it’s clear why they have a minimum number of riders. They shut it down and I didn’t go back to it later.
I’ve just remembered that I bought the ORP, but am at work now; I’ll have to try and dig it out later.
The other major coaster is Anaconda, a Giovonola invert that looks, and rides, like an old-school B&M. Well, apart from the two-across seating anyway. Again, I took a crapload of photos of it; It looks gorgeous in its setting, interacting with the rapids. Annoyed.
I loved this ride. There was a bit of a rattle to it, but it was really forceful with a decent layout. Like I said, it felt very much like an old-school B&M invert.
Unfortunately, that’s it for photos of the park. I was only there for about 3 hours because it was absolutely dead, but I really liked it. The whole thing is built around an actual old gold mine, so there’s lots of old mining equipment around as theming, along with replica(?) mining town buildings. You can also go down into the actual mine, but the timing didn’t really work out for me since I wanted to try and at least see a bit more of Johannesburg. It was kind of like an open air museum with rides, but it all worked really well. It was a lovely park.
Right across the car park was the Apartheid Museum, which was rather depressing, but very well done. From there, I got back on the tour bus and jumped off at a couple of places in Johannesburg.
I finished up at Constitution Hill, the site of an old prison.
It doesn’t seem like it thanks to the lack of pictures, but I’d been out for the whole day by this point. I got an Uber back to the hotel and just had a lazy evening since I was getting picked up pretty early the next morning.
Johannesburg was nothing special really, but it wasn’t at all what I’d expected. I’d been warned to basically not do ANYTHING since it’s so “dangerous”. Obviously, I’m not an expert after a couple of days there, but I spent my time wandering around by myself and I didn’t get murdered once.
There are no more parks, but I’ll shove some other stuff in here later since the trip as a whole was so fab.
