exmouse

Here's photos from my day at Sun Park in Beijing. The indoor coaster has gone as they're using the building to install a 4D cinema. I'll add photos from Happy Valley Chengdu next week. You can even make a genuine Ming Vase whilst at the park. Hook a goldfish. Hire a fishing line for 1RMB/minute and what ever you catch you keep. Not quite sure ALF would approve of this method of winning goldfish, in the UK most towns have banned winiing them buy throwing a dart at a playing card. Bumper boats with laser canons, and on the lake were mines which sprayed water when shot. And in the background inflatable sausages on water. More of those strange Japanese ride on thingys. One of the kiddie coasters with Disney's Tarzan themeing. Magic Carpet that sounds even worse than the one at Thorpe Park. Crazy looping ride. These were in just about every park I went to in China. A childrens play area that had been converted to allow an interactive shooting ride to drive around it, whilst the play structure is a Laser Quest arena. A fun interactive flat ride which had the Pirates of the Carribean song for a theme tune. Another fake Disk 'O Ouch!!!!!! And yes the gate was still open. The new Ring of Fire from Beijing Shibolai Amusements

Recently got back from a 3 week tour around parts of China. It was mainly a sight seeing tour, yawn, but I did get to visit 5 parks. First up is a previously unknown park called Beijing Carnival. It's on some unused grounds next to the Olympic Birds Nest Stadium. It's mainly made up of travelling rides and there are 2 coasters there. The park has a 2 year lease to see how things go. The park cost 100RMB, about £10, to get and included 10 ride tokens. Each ride needed a different number of tokens. You could buy more tokens for 1RMB each. The most expensive ride, a reverse bungee, would therefore have cost 12 RMB, about £1.20. Enough wittering, on with the photos. Fortunately I survived. Rather worringly the seatbelt was set for sumo or ACE size passengers and couldn't be adjusted. And the over head never locked. And it has a loop Yay another credit. Strange Japanese ride along thingys. Apparently she's a celebrity. She had an entourage with her and everyone kept stopping to get a photo of her. So thought I better join in. Baby Top Spin Top Scan Extremely fast Wave Swinger with strange themeing. The ride op was so excited having a Westerner on his ride he couldn't stop taking photos of me. Huss spin n spew Crazy Huss spin n spew Over view of the far end of the park, where there's also a circus. View of the Birds Nest from the smaller of the 2 Big Wheels. Crazy inflatable volcano thing. Adults and kids have to wear a safety harness attached to a rope and pulled by a firend or sensible adult. Sadly I didn't ahve a snesible adult with me to risk my life trying it out. A replica of Michael Jacksons favourite ride The bigger of the 2 big wheels in the park 1 of 2 Rangers in the park, no not a Thorpe Park Ranger Non Zamperla Disk 'O And oh joy it's a Chinses dragon coaster. Name sign for the first coaster in the park. Park map Park entrance.

I've had a relatively quiet year so far but have lots more parks still to come. My list so far Paultons Park - UK Thorpe Park - UK Parc Saint Paul - France Plopsaland De Panne - Belgium Sun Park - Beijing, China Beijing Carnival - Beijing, China Shijinghsan Amusement Park - Beijing, China Happy Valley Chengdu - Chengdu, China Space City - Shanghai, China Jin Jiang Action Park - Shanghai, China Trips still planned for later in the year Flamingoland - UK Toverland - Holland Billybird Park - Holland Phantasialand - Germany Fort Fun - Germany Bobbejaanland - Belgium Bakken - Denmark Tivoli Gardens - Denmark Sommerland Sjaelland - Denmark Legoland Billund - Denmark Tivoli Frieheden - Denmark Djurs Sommerland - Denmark Karolinelund - Denmark Farup Sommerland - Denmark Wiener Prater - Austria Vidampark - Hungary Disney World - USA Sea World - Florida Universal Studios/ IoA - Florida Busch Gardens - Florida Tibidabo - Spain Port Aventura - Spain I've also started plans for the 2010 season which is set to be an even busier year for me.

That's not the case any more, Maure Sohne has come up with a way around this, Formule X their first launched coaster installed at Drievliet uses a system to reduce the power load. Here's a quote from their press release. The ride comes with an energy storage system which cuts the top power requirement to 125 kW and helps to further reduce running costs.

When's the planned opening date? Hope it'll be open for my trip to Germany next month.

Yes, as far as I'm aware it the only off the shelf spinning mouse that has an extra drop immediately before you hit the brakes. I didn't ride it as the currency exchange rate is so rubbish it was to expensive to justify riding a fairly bog standard coaster.

1 - Nemesis - Alton Towers 2 - Black Mamba - Phantasialand 3 - Raptor - Cedar Point 4 - Talon - Dorney Park 5 - Dueling Dragon Ice - IoA

I think I've been spoilt. Having been to the likes of Oktoberfest in Munich, Volksfest in Stuttgart, Goose Fair in Nottingham and Foire Du Midi in Brussels. I'd been wanting to go to Foire Du Trone for years, so may have over hyped it in my own mind. Hopefully the same won't happen when I go to Tilburg in July.

A couple of weekends ago I headed across the English Channel to check out Parc Saint Paul, Plopsaland and the massive Foire Du Tronne fun fair in Paris. Here's some of the photos from my trip to the fair. Unfortunately I was less than impressed by the fair, by far the worst I've been to in Europe. The atmosphere was non existant, and there was a nasty vibe on the Bumper Cars. In fact there was nearly a punch up on the Bumper Cars as a gang kept riding and picking on individuals. And I've never seen so many people puking on the rides. One guy puked on himself and went round hugging strangers. Any how, on with the pix. I leave you with a look at the rear end of the King of France. I still have no idea why this non looping coaster needs over head restraints. They spoilt the ride as you get bashed around the neck. It's a fiesty coaster that would be fun if it wasn't for those pesky over heads. Look out the King is coming. Well themed log flume. Although not up to Wild Wasser Bahn. Zamperla's take on the Star Flyer. Quality prizes on the Hoopla stall. Only in France. Me wondering if this is the best barrel roll element on any ride. Infernal Toboggan, the tunnel was crazy loud and filled with mist. Very cool addition to this bog standard coaster. It was only let down by the poor ride operation, German Showmen would be shaking their heads in shame. The King of France European Spin n Spew at its best. Can anyone spot the unique element on this not so off the shelf spinning mouse? A generic mouse Lost in translation. Mind you a lot of Chavy Brits wouldn't notice this mistake. A Booster Beater? Well it makes a much nicer noise. Nicely themed walk through.

Here's an email I've received from Thorpe Park that might be of interest to those who were left disappointed on the 12th. Hi Coaster Enthusiast, On behalf of THORPE PARK I would like to apologise for any disappointment that you may have experienced on Thursday 12th March when you were invited to the Park for a Coaster Club preview of SAW – The Ride. Unfortunately the rollercoaster was experiencing teething problems, as can happen with new rides, and the Park have had Gerstlauer on site to rectify the problems that have incurred since they installed the ride. As a result we did not open SAW – The Ride that day and also cancelled our media event in the morning. As an official spokesperson for THORPE PARK for the launch of SAW – The Ride, Andy Hine was present to explain the situation to you and to let you know that Colossus and Rush would open for you to enjoy. Everything was being done at the time to get SAW – The Ride up and running for you and due to the efforts of the Park staff to reopen the rollercoaster, the area around it had to be closed. If you could please pass this email and our apologies on to the fellow enthusiasts that you invited to the event from your coaster club, I would be very grateful. Sarah Morris PR Executive THORPE PARK

Isn't that exactly the point of news, it's suppose to be impartial. News is suppose to give both sides of an argument and allow the public to make up their own mind by being provided with the facts. Although I have to admit sometimes news doesn't end up being impartial, whether intentional or not. In my mind the addition of the brain expert helps to hype up the ride. As well as telling of the potential dangers it leads people to believe this ride is a bit edgey, a bit dangerous and therefore even more exciting. I think they've done Thorpe a favour. Of course by my comments I could be seen siding with one thing, I do work for a large news broadcaster.

If it is the Glorious Britain store in Heathrow's T5, or I think in any of the terminals, then they are in the departures lounge not the arrivals. Which means that Heathrow must be a stop off point for the next leg of their journey. So their next stop can't be Thorpe Park for Saw the Ride. With all the hints of Saw could it be a red herring and we're actually looking for another ride that would be linked to Saw, perhaps a ride that needs a saw to be built like a wooden coaster. So could they be headed to Freizeitpark Plohn for El Toro.

The Saw media day is on Thursday 12th. There aren't really any other parks open to fill the time between now and Thursday. Paultons Park which is in the reach of Thorpe Park with their new ride Edge is only open on weekends. So I doubt they've gone straight from MoA to the UK. Robb and Elissa I guess might see you on Thursday.

Rage at Adventure Island is also built on unpainted steel beams. http://www.rcdb.com/ig3573.htm?picture=7 As is Typhoon at Bobbejaanland. http://www.rcdb.com/ig2229.htm?picture=37 I suspect the reason is to keep costs down. Putting in properly located and constructed footers must add more to installation costs compared to a flat concrete surface. There would be no additional design costs as the park is buying an entirely off the shelf ride, with no need to alter supports to factor in terrain changes. Plus should the park decide to sell or relocate the ride it makes it far easier to do so. Or this could just be the way Gerstlauer likes to build compact Eurofighters.

Does anyone have an update on when AHppy Valley Chengdu, and Happy Valley Shanghai will open. Working on a trip to China next year and want to work out if detours are need to get a rest from cultural stuff. Hoping both will be open in time.

My list so far this year in chronological order is Isla Magica Phantasialand Movie Park Germany Toverland Six Flags Over Georgia Lake Winnie Dollywood Nascar Speedpark Magic Springs Celebration City Silverdollar City Adventureland Valleyfair Park at MOA Mount Olympus Timber Falls Riverview Park Knuckleheads Six Flags Great America Kiddieland Parqu De Attraciones Madrid Parque Warner Madrid Paultons Park Southend Drievliet Duinrell Toverland, again Walibi Belgium Bobbejaanland So 28 parks so far. Got another 8 confirmed parks that I've booked to visit before the end of the season Alton Towers Thorpe Park Oakwood Drayton Manor Park Connyland Skyline Park Steinwassen Park Europa Park I'm sure I'll sneak in some more at some point. Want to try and get to a few more UK parks before the year is out, maybe Pleasurewood Hills and Great Yarmouth. Determined to reach my 600th coaster before the year is out.

That's an interesting statistic. I'm a journalist and always on the look out for an interesting story. Where did you find the evidence that supports that statistic. Until more information is released we shouldn't speculate that it was his fault. We do not know the full circumstances. Did he fall from the car, did he fall off the track while working on it, was an appropriate harness supplied if required etc. I'm sure we'll know more soon. Hopefully he pulls through and gets better soon. And our thoughts should be with him and the family at this difficult time.

I used a gold Qbot at SFGA earlier this year and it was almost too good. Basically with the Gold Q Bot it reduces the queue time by 70percent. If a queue is 1hr it will allow you to return in 15 minutes, if the queue is 20 minutes you can return in 5 minutes. The standard Q bot makes you wait the same time as the real queue only you don't have to stand in the queue, so if the queue is 1hour you return in 1 hour. But while your Q bot is queueing for 1 ride you can go off and ride another. The problem we found was some rides had relatively short queues, we didn't have enough time to run off to reserve our slot for another ride before we were due to get on a previously reserved one. In fact we missed a few reserved rides as the queue on the station platforms were too long. It did help us do several Goliath rides in quick succession and those who didn't want to ride a particular ride didn't have to wait around too long for the rest of the group. I'd say only get a gold one if the park is absolutely heaving and you are desperate to ride everything.

In some ways I'm pleased it's coming down but in others I'm not. The trouble is that having now visited lots of parks around the World I've discovered that the Spaceship Earth structure is far from unique. In fact there are quite a few of them dotted around the place. At least the wand and arm made it unique and different from the rest. However I did look completely out of place and not in keeping with the look and feel of Epcot, so I guess it's a good thing to see it coming down.

Cypress Gardens have kind of got the water ski show market sewn up in Florida.

Perhaps someone should print out those PDFs and stand outside the park selling copies for 25p.

So other than that an interesting post.

Judging by the video it wasn't on a drop tower but a Top Scan.

I was there about a month ago and really liked the place. Thought the locals were a bit odd but generally was impressed with the park. OK non of the coasters are outstanding but it was still a great day out. I thought the woodie was fun and had a few good pops of airtime. I liked the X Coaster but it is way too short and much prefer the Xtended version like abismo in Madrid. This year they've added help yourself soft drinks machines around the park like Holiday World. The rides had little to no queues and most people were hitting up the water park. While I wouldn't rush back there I would still recommend a visit.

I don't think it would be wise for anyone to say on here that it is safe for you to ride roller coasters. Even if someone has hypertension and rides coasters themselves it doesn't mean it is safe for you as individual cases vary. Only your doctor can really advise on this matter. How would someone feel if they told you it was safe and you subsequently suffered problems. In this day and age you might be within your right to sue anyone who said it was safe. Hopefully a doctor can put your mind at ease and you can enjoy riding coasters for years to come.