The Angry Darren Mullins Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 January 24,2017: Fantawild Dreamland (Xiamen, Fujian, China) I went to Fantawild Dreamland in Xiamen today. My first order of the day, before even buying a ticket, was to ask when Oriental Heritage will open. I was told it will open in March. My first ride was Mount Tanggula. This Golden Horse mine train has seen better days. It was very rough and barely made it back to the station. I once thought Golden Horse might be the class act of Chinese ride designers (despite that they copy everything), but their rides do not age well at all. At least Arrow, Vekoma, Herschell, Pinfari and others can make rides that last 40 years or more. Up next was Stress Express. This is a Vekoma Boomerang. This is my 13th Vekoma Boomerang. According to RCDB, 52 have been built. This means I have ridden 25 percent of all of these coasters built in the world. I like the new restraint system on these rides. It makes them a joy to ride. My last coaster of the day was Terror Twister. This is my second Skyloop. This appears to be the last one built (for now). I can see why none have been ordered in the last four years. This ride is terrible. I hate it. I do not like being held upside down like it holds riders and even though the restrain system is comfortable, I do thing there needs to be a belt to attach to it in case the restraint fails. I am not sure if I will ever go on one of these again or not. Back to the first part of the TR, I hope to be in Xiamen in March if Oriental Heritage does indeed open by then. In closing the TR, I will say that workers at this Fanatwild park seemed to be better at checking restraints. This is going to be my 6th Fantawild Park. This big open area is just inside the entrance. Here is some more Fantawild scenery. These double decker carousels are found all over China. Hey look! It's Hogwarts. They will not let adults ride Worm Around.I am pretty sure the management of Fantawild will roast in hell over this decision. This would be my first ride of the day. It is Mount Taggula. This is a Golden Horse copy of a Vekoma mine train. Here is a photo from my first ride on it. I saw this sign in the restroom. This would be my next ride. It is a Vekoma Boomerang. It is called Stress Express. The boat shoot ride here is very nice. This would be my last ride in the park for the day. Terror Twister is my second sky loop. It may be my last. I do not enjoy these at all. This will finish this TR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoinItForTheFame Posted January 25, 2017 Share Posted January 25, 2017 Great TR. Looks like a fun little park. My last coaster of the day was Terror Twister. This is my second Skyloop. This appears to be the last one built (for now). I can see why none have been ordered in the last four years. This ride is terrible. I hate it. I do not like being held upside down like it holds riders and even though the restrain system is comfortable, I do thing there needs to be a belt to attach to it in case the restraint fails. I am not sure if I will ever go on one of these again or not. I'm with you on this one. I am not a huge fan of the Skyloop coasters. The vertical lift is pretty uncomfortable, then straight into the dangling upside down as all the blood rushes to your head. . . Followed by some not so smooth transitions. Not to mention the brakes on the tower are AWFUL! It feels like they are stopping the train when it still has way to much speed left. As for the seat belts. . . It's strange that the coaster doesn't have any. I was pretty sure that X-Coaster at Magic Springs has seat belts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wee.meng Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 (edited) I just went there in June 2018. You can get slightly better priced tickets if you order online (at least 2 days in advance). We went on a weekday in June (Summer) and like any China theme park during non-peak days, it was pretty empty. We were looking for a map upon entering BUT map and showtime is only accessible via the Fangte App. Although it is difficult for foreigners who doesn’t speak English, I find this more environmentally friendly. I took photos of the map and showtimes in the park. Fantawild is home of the Boonie bear, a popular cartoon series in China so I think the tourists here are mostly Chinese. There are lots photo points with the Boonie Bear and friends, although I think they didn’t update some of the fibreglass statues to the latest cute version of the cartoon so some looked pretty ‘fierce’. The live theatre show is vaguely linked to Boonie Bear, which I feel can have re-write to make it more current since it is popular in China now. The volume of the music is WAY too loud and cracking so this makes it really difficult to enjoy the show. To make it even toddler-friendly, there should be a glass room which very small children can watch without all the scary noises. (I didn't see any in China yet) My kiddos really enjoyed the low-tech kiddy rides like carousel and teacups, which are well maintained. I like that they incorporate Chinese culture into a few of the rides and show. The “liaozhai”, a Chinese ghost story uses a super old ‘technology’ of reflection illusion screen but works very well in context for the story. But on the other hand, my pet-peeve about this theme park and many China theme parks is that many of the thrill and kiddy rides lack a storyline, unlike Disneyland and Universal Studios. I have been to at least 8 different theme parks in China and most offer the same rides like flume ride, wooden coaster, top spin and frisbee ride, without a good story. (Let's buy in bulk, because it is cheaper!) With its strong brand of Boonie Bear and other characters in China market, I wished that it can make better use of them to theme the rides. The staff are generally more helpful and informed than the other theme parks I have been to in China. But overall, it is a fun park to go and we couldn’t even cover all of the family-friendly rides, even though the water play area was closed. not so cute boonie bear... one of the newer statues I think... Liaozhai, the chinese ghost story... waiting for tea... Edited July 26, 2018 by wee.meng Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThemeParkJunkie51290 Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 Excellent report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wee.meng Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 Thanks! themeparkjunkie! Will post more of the asia theme park soon. Next one, maybe Sunway lagoon in Malaysia! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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