Photo TR: Coasters and Parks of Vietnam

Last summer (June '09) my wife and I went to Vietnam to visit some of her family and friends. I forced her to take to me to a few of the parks that we knew about and we even found a couple of parks we did not know about. I am sure there are many undocumented coasters in the country. Most of them I imagine are small and not worth the work in finding. One of the first trips into Ho Chi Minh City we drove past a large stadium near the airport and I noticed a small city park with a small roller coaster. I asked if we could stop but the coaster looked closed and I was told we did not have time. We could never find it after that day and I swore I saw a donut shop but we could never find it as well. If you go to Vietnam you need to look around the airport for the coaster and donut shop. In almost every city and town we visited had a small park with some kiddie rides and a circular train. This will not be a great photo trip report because we did not get to spend as much time in the parks as I would have liked so I had to be quick with the camera and then run to catch up. We hired a driver ($30-$50) for most of our trips and the driver stayed with you the entire day and took you where you wanted.

Parks Visited:

Suoi Tien (This post)

Dai Nam

Dam Sen Page 2

Phu Dong Park Page 2

Vinpearl Page 2

Da Lat - Valley of Love Page 2

The first park we visited was Suoi Tien on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh. I was hoping we would get to spend some time at the waterpark before seeing the rest of the park but we did not have time. The website showed pictures of people in the gerbil ball things in the wavepool (I wish I could have seen if this was true). My wife and two of her sisters went along as well as four nephews and three nieces. Like most of the parks in Veitnam it was a pay-per-ride so we only rode a few of the rides. The roller coaster was very slow (there was not much speed to be found anywhere on this thing the lift hill alone took over two minutes). The park had a viking ship ride, drop tower, paddle boats, bumper boats, two ferris wheels, teacups, and some smaller kiddie rides. There was a lot of Buddhist statues, fountains, and art throughout the park. I really wished we had time to go back for a second visit like we planned Here are the pics of Suoi Tien.

Entrance to the park. You walk upstairs then walk back downstairs.

Just inside the park before you walk back down stairs.

The waterpark side. I wish we went over there. It looks neat.

The roller coaster car. The seats remind me of my friend's 1980 Pontiac (they do not recline).

From the lift hill you can see the drop tower and viking ship.

Two minutes after the start of the ride we are almost to the top.

Another look at the roller coaster.

Random crazy flat ride with my nephew.

Flat in motion.

The big Ferris Wheel

Not so big ferris wheel

Every park in Vietnam had some Disney reference

I thought this was a chicken. It is not a chicken. This housed a water dark ride.

Inside the dark ride that shows the history of man.

Naked souvenirs.

Dragon turtle thing and coaster.

Jim - Good to see that you got to visit your wife's homeland and take in some parks also. Feel free to post as many photos as you want when it comes to these parks that are rarely scene by many of us on TPR.

Was the lift hill on the coaster slower than The Ultimate?

I will try to post some pictures from every park we visited. It was interesting to see Vietnam and where she grew up and went to school. We ate a lot of fruit around her house as it literally grew on trees.

That lift hill made The Ultimate look fast.

A few days later one of my wife's friends took us to Dai Nam with two of our nieces. You can check out miniviews on his trip to get more information about this park as it will be real interesting when they finish this complex. The amusement park side was not that big but it is a good start. They looping coaster hurt but it looked nice. The rides were pay-per-ride and my nieces wanted to go to the waterpark so we did not ride much. They had an indoor snow hill and it was a lot of fun. Vietnam is hot and this was a great place to get out of the heat. My niece got super cold so we did not stay too long. We only visited the amusement park and the waterpark. The waterpark side was really just two wave pools. One with fresh water and another with salt water. I was impressed with the size of this complex and all the construction going on. On to the pictures.

Kind of an entrance, not sure exactly.

Drop tower thing.

Bumper boats

Roller coaster, it hurt.

Coaster entrance.

Coaster through the loop.

You can rent tandems to get around the park.

Spinning coaster, yea!

View of spinning coaster.

I rode alone

Trucks driving through the middle of the park.

Hmm food, the pictures look good. We did not eat in the park but I wanted to try the hamburger

Scary snowman or nerdy snowman could not figure it out.

Indoor snow hill. The bump made for some interesting spills.

This is also not a chicken. I do not know what is in there. Sorry.

Freshwater wave pool.

Construction around the complex. I would like to visit when it is all finished.

Great pics! Really interesting. Thanks for posting this!

Great report! Looking forward to more of your reports.

Vietnam is a beautiful country with lovely people. If I'm in Vietnam again, I'm taking a 2 wheel adventure during the non-rainy season. And thanks for the link to my trip report. I wish I experienced the indoor snow hill at Dai Nam; my friend would have really loved it.

^^^Jim - I edited your link to Mike's PTR (miniviews) to make it a clickable hyperlink.

Scary snowman or nerdy snowman could not figure it out.

I vote for "both."

These parks actually look very nice--good landscaping and theming.

^ I agree. It's great to see parks in countries that aren't normally covered.

Thanks for sharing!

^^ Suoi Tein was pretty heavily themed and the rides seemed like they were just placed there but I felt all the parks were very nice and there were many photogenic places (if that made any sense). I could have walked around Suoi Tien all day taking pictures.

Next park was Dam Sen. You can check out Packfanlv's report for more pictures and information. This park featured a waterpark but we did not have time to visit . We took all of our nephews and nieces to this park and we had a really good time. The coaster was better than the coaster at Dai Nam and the park was larger than Dai Nam with more things to do. They have a laser water fountain show thing but we were hungry and left to eat at Kentucky fried chicken (the kids love KFC, it is a real treat for them). They had some real interesting gardens and statues throughout the park. There was a couple getting married at the banquet hall at the park and another couple taking wedding pictures around park (near the gardens and statues, not near the rides). There were some monkeys, birds, snakes, alligators, and a cactus garden. The park featured a good collection of flat rides as well. One of the attractions was an indoor ice sculpture attraction thing. It felt nice to go inside for a while. Like every park they did have some subtle Disney references. On to the pictures. Be aware the first picture was found on the way to the park.

I was hoping that was a menu.

Waterpark as seen from the outside.

magic carpet ride

Monorail. Everytime I see one I think of the Monorail song from the Simpsons.

Not so magic carpet slide thing.

101 Dalmatians or 14 random dog-like creatures with spots.

Four dwarfs and one eating boogers and one hiding in the bushes.

Sign for roller coaster

Roller coaster through the loop.

Roller coaster from across the lake

Snake area

Kiddie bumper cars

Vietnam Memorial statue found in the park. Notice the cigarettes.

Entrane to the Ice palace thing (Ice latern).

Flume ride thing.

Spinning coaster sign

Spinning coaster. Did not spin as much as the one at Dai Nam

Giant Ferris Wheel

Keep them coming Jim. I can't wait for the last 3 as they will be new to TPR. I'm not even sure if they are all amusement parks, but should still be interesting to see

From Ho Chi Minh we drove approximately 220 miles to Nha trang in a little over 10 hours. The speed limit was around 30 miles and hour for most of the way. You can fly from Ho Chi Minh for less than $100 and if I knew that I would have asked to fly back to Ho Chi Minh after our visit. The beach area was very pretty and there was a lot of things to do in Nha Trang like visit the hot springs, SCUBA, snorkeling, parasailing, banana boat, jet skis, fishing, Vinpearl resort, and we even found a small park right on the main street next to the beach. Nha Trang was a big higlight of the trip. We took a Taxi boat thing to get to Vinpearl and along the way we stopped for lunch. You literally pick what you want to eat right out of the ocean and they cook it for you. Phu Dong park is really small and is mainly for kids but it does have a credit and since Vinpearl is across the bay it is worth stopping for a visit. The coaster is small but they let you go around three times. Here are the pics from Phu Dong.

Before the trip we went shopping for snacks. Hmmm, edible roller coaster steak flavored.

Entrance to Phu Dong Park

The credit!

We rode the coaster at night so I went back during the day to get some pictures. The rider was not open at 8 am.

Helix of doom or something.

Ferris Wheel

Children's ball pit, they have big balls in there.

The 3D Phim, I wish we watched it.

Vinpearl was a really neat place to visit. When our boat taxi docked at Vinpearl we had to choose a package and pay to enter. I am not sure of the cost but we were able to do everything. Vinpearl had a water park, amusement park, an aquarium (pretty nice), and a laser water fountain show thing at night. We went to the aquarium first and then to the water park. The water park was quite fun with a lot of rides and you can even swim in the ocean. The amusement park was really nice with a good collection of rides and attractions. The roller coaster was very good and we must have rode it 20 times. Unlike the other parks you can ride as much as you want. If I ever get to go back to Veitnam I am going to make sure we got back to Vinpearl. Here are the pictures from Vinpearl.

From our boat as we arrive.

Entrance to the waterpark.

Rainbow slides provided some good airtime.

This thing hurt, but it was fun.

Condor ride thing.

On the compact coaster.

Coaster doing its thing.

Coaster sign rules!

Another view of the coaster

Carousel

Mouse bumper car and a cow right behind.

Screaming game, it was set to free play I could not talk after playing.

Screaming game. My wife won, I am soo proud.

Toddler area with a Disney theme.

Crazy bike ride thing. I wanted to try this but it was not open at the time.

Dumbo, I mean elephant ride.

I wish I had a better picture of this ride.

This is how we got home after our visit.

I think it is a law to take a picture of this ride at night.

Last view of Vinpearl.

The teming is there so cool!

Nice country, Nice Themeparks

The SkyRide over the water looks cool

The SkyRide was pretty cool, I kind of wished we rode it during the day. At night it was cool to look down on the city and back at Vinpearl.

After suffering in the heat and humidity of Ho Chi Minh we drove to the city of Da Lat in the Mountains. The weather was around 70 degrees and it felt very nice. During our visit in the mountains we found a place called Valley of Love. It is hard to describe Valley of love. It is not an amusement park but a place for people to go and see gardens, view a lake from the top of the mountain, paddleboat around the lake, take pictures of statues, swing on a bench swing, and ride some rides. You could say it is romantic with a few kiddie rides and a coaster. The coaster was small and they let you go around two times which makes the second time really interesting. I really felt like I was going to fall out. They had a whole section of the coin operated rides that you find outside a grocery store and a place to shoot a bow and arrow. The hill tribes of this region reminded me a lot of the Native Americans with the clothing and feathers. Many of the attractions in the area were very pretty and very scenic as there are many lakes and waterfalls in the region. On our way home we stopped at another attraction in Da Lat that had an alpine coaster that took you down to a waterfall so you could walk around and then you rode it back to the top of the mountain.

I really enjoyed my trip to Vietnam and would recommend others to visit. Like most things, Vietnam is not for everyone and a laid back approach is the way to go. If you decide to go knowing some locals really help. I would love to go back and if you want a tour guide I can try to convince my wife into going again and please feel free to contact me about anything.

I really enjoyed my trip to Vietnam and I hope to return. Here are the pictures from Valley of Love and the alpine coaster.

Valley of Love

The credit, I was really surprised to see this.

I barely fit, and I was scared.

The second time around I felt like I was about to fall out.

The wheels speed up the coaster before the turn.

Worm train thing, with a small hill.

The small hill

Poster for the alpine coaster, I did not get a good picture of it so here is a poster.

Looking back up the mountain at the alpine coaster. It is in there somewhere.

Alpine coaster in action.

Alpine coaster's lift. Best way to get back to the top.

Random game found at a mall in Ho Chi Minh.

You get to keep the goldfish if you ctach it! Wow

Great TR, it is really interesting to see all of the things that you would never see in the States. It seems like every park had a standard looper!

LMAO! Catching Goldfish with an arcade crane!

This is really ironic, I just read about all of these parks in my latest ace magazine. The lift on that coaster takes forever from what I've heard. Also, alot of those building double as temples! I heard the gardens are great too!

Wow! Really cool to see this stuff. It looks like a lot of money is spent on themeing, but not a lot spend on the actual rides. Some of the coasters and slides and stuff looked so run down, but the themeing around them was awesome.

Thanks for posting!

These trip reports from far away places are really special; thanks for sharing these great photos! That sky ride has to break some kind of record...

^ And don't forget the sky ride over Ocean Park in Hong Kong! That really is pretty spectacular.

One of the most interesting things I've read about some of these Vietnamese parks--at least about Suoi Tien and Dam Sen--is the opportunity to go crocodile bobbing. Apparently guests board a boat, stand behind a protective barrier and they are given sticks with raw meat tied to them. They dangle the sticks over the water and the crocs gobble up the meat. Did you see any of this when you visited the parks?

As for that picture of the "history of man" dark ride at Suoi Tien--can you imagine trying to have something like that in a U.S. park? Creationists and evolutionists would be at each others' throats! Do you remember how this particular history of man was portrayed? Obviously every culture interprets it differently, and as a former anthropology student, I love hearing about that stuff, so I'm curious how Suoi Tien shows it if you remember.

As I said before, thanks for sharing these experiences. I love learning about new parks in countries that are "off the beaten path" of parkgoers!

I have to echo everyone and thank you for these awesome TR's of parks that most of us will not get to visit. Great to see the differences and similarities with foreign parks. Some rides looked a little sketchy - any time you didn't feel safe?