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Big Mike: Thanks for gracing my thread with your holy presence. Seriously though, after visiting these parks and being disappointed, my wife put a new rule that we couldn't visit any other parks in China that had less than three coasters. So far I have followed the rule, because it takes so much time and energy to get to some of these smaller places when you are traveling independently. JJ: English in China is very rare. In fact, the few people who know anything speak just a few words usually. For the most part we use hand signals and rely on pictures and getting things written down ahead of time, but the Chinese are also very poor at non verbal communication as well. I guess after traveling for as long as we have, you learn to adjust and the situation of not being able to communicate is less stressful. As for in that specific circumstance with the coaster, another employee was trying to help me convince the ride op to run the coaster but failed. All I did was show enthusiasm and say please with my hands, but the ride op just smiled and shook his head. It was raining hard and we were literally the only ones in the park, so I think they just chalked me up to being crazy! Thanks for the great comments guys!

Thanks JZ! The photos truly are gorgeous. Keep them coming!

I just got back from 8 days of riding camels and staying with nomadic families in the Mongolian countryside. (Fantastic BTW!) I apologize for the lack of recent updates. Today I bring to you three small parks in Southern China. Park #1: Honey Lake Amusement Park located in Shenzhen, China is home to two coasters. One of the two coasters (The one over the lake) has been known to be SBNO for several years, but for some strange reason the second coaster was also not operating both of the times we visited. Because of this I didn't bother to pay admission to enter the park. Park #2: Donghu Park in Shenzhen, China is a small amusement park located within a green area that houses the cities large reservoir. In addition to several flats and two coasters, a few minutes away from the amusement section is an alpine slide. On the day I visited, the kiddie coaster was not operating and the employee told me it had been broken for a long time. Park #3: Jing Ying Amusement Park in Guangzhou, China is a place I stumbled upon on accident. It is located in a very famous park in the city and wasn't even listed on RCDB until I submitted it. Since we didn't know it existed, we visited on a rainy day and I wasn't able to ride it because of the weather. So to recap, I will show you five coasters in this update, but I was only able to ride one of them and it was a crappy Golden Horse rip off spinning mouse! The next update will be from Chimelong Paradise in Guangzhou, China. Thanks for the great comments! Keep 'em coming! But the whole area is quite beautiful! I hope you enjoyed the update. and others need work Some were nice When leaving the park we stumbled upon a few hiking trails that had animal figurines along them. This track is for a self powered monorail type ride. These are also very popular in Chinese theme parks. None of the rides were operating due to weather. Just like Donghu, this park is really nice and well maintained, but small. Unfortunately the coaster wasn't operating because of the rain. (No matter how hard I tried to convince them to let me ride!) The park's one coaster is a mouse called Speed Slide. Next up we have Jing Ying Amusement Park which is located in a beautiful large public park in Guangzhou. But it was still a lot of fun! The only thing that stunk was they had the employee ride down in front of me so I couldn't get very fast. Its a long way to the top! Take me up! They also had a roller skating rink, but I couldn't wait to get to the alpine slide. To get a better look we hopped on the ferris wheel. While the park is really small and didn't have much to contain us, it was clean and pretty well maintained. The other coaster in the park is a junior dragon coaster. As you can see it was broken and the car was sitting in the middle of the track. Sexy.......NOT! Oh yes and they have the exact same rip off spinning wild mouse as all of the others. Oh joy! But we finally did find it along with this Chinese Amusement Park staple ride. Next up we have Donghu Park. The park itself is large, but the amusement section is quite small. We thought this was it originally, but it turned out to be a wacked out zoo. And from across the street. You can see it from the very drab park entrance. This is the coaster that is supposed to be operating. It is a pretty standard coaster with two loops. Here is a park map. For some reason I didn't get a picture of the SBNO coaster over the water, but there is another thread on TPR with it if you are really interested. Actually this is the real park name, but for some reason all of the coaster sites have adopted the other, so pick your favorite. The first stop on our tour is Honey Lake Amusement Park. It is located about ten minutes by foot from the subway in Shenzhen.

^Don't get me wrong the Dive Coaster is a lot of fun, but it just wasn't a top level coaster for me. It is a bit of a one trick pony (actually two drops), but doesn't do much else. I will say that on my third ride I picked the middle of the last row and actually found myself in the fat seat (two seatbelts). Since the harness doesn't get quite as tight in that seat I got some incredible air time. As for the puke buckets, they also had barf bags on near every ride. The Chinese seem to have a much lower tolerance for motion. On the halfpipe coaster someone lost it when I was in line and I also saw quite a few people almost pass out after getting off of the 10 inversion coaster.

Great TR. I will have some pictures of the park on my Asia thread when I get some time in the next week or so. I like the park, but the Dive Coaster didn't really impress me. Thanks for posting this!

For those who think this is an alpine slide it is not. For one, it runs fixed on the track. Each car is attached via wheels that run on top and underneath the track like a coaster. While it probably fits into the mountain coaster genre, it certainly isn't an alpine slide. Here is a close up of the wheels sitting on the track. Again this car has no leeway at all, it simply uses gravity to run down a fixed track. Of course as was said before, if you don't count mountain coasters than this probably isn't a credit for you. On the other hand,if you do than count it. I know that I will be counting it! I also have a much better video that I will try to post that gives a better idea of the ride since I was sitting directly behind the brake man. I also got some shots of the great wall in the video which gives a better idea of the awesome surroundings. Thanks for responding everyone! I am enjoying reading all of the opinions and am honestly learning a lot.

^I had to stop using both Coaster Counter and Coaster Fanatics, because in traveling internationally there are a lot of parks missing and often times when I would email them to add a park, they never would respond or add the park to their list. Finally I gave up and started to track all of my new coasters on a spreadsheet. I know, I am a nerd!

Elissa, We actually booked the tour to Mutianyu because of the luge and it being less crowded, but were told at the last minute this morning that they weren't going there today and we would have to go to Badaling. As for the lines, we waited around five minutes going up and ten minutes to go down. It was very crowded today, but like so many other places in China it was with domestic tourists. They also have a cable car, so not everyone uses this method of transport. (Basically I have been told to avoid the weekends at the Great Wall which is why we went today.) There weren't any height requirements, so KidTums should be able to ride with you. As for the cost, it is 60yuan for anyone over 1.2meters or just shy of $9USD round trip. (Less than 1.2 meters is free). If you have any more questions let me know. Thanks!

^and what would be the distinction between the two? In other words what makes it a gravity powered train and not a roller coaster?

^Thanks Larry. I pretty much agree with your points and do consider it a coaster myself. I just thought it would be interesting to see what other enthusiasts think. To help you make a decision here are a few pictures that I took. BTW does anyone know if this is listed on RCDB? I looked, but couldn't find it. If not I will email Duane to see why it isn't listed. Thanks! Back of my head on the way down! Heading out of the station at the top. Getting ready to go down. The track. Lift hill going up to the wall.

Who knows it has a couple of deep drops. I am glad to hear this girl is doing better. At least she was able to learn about this problem and not die from it. This could be a blessing in disguise.

I just got back from the Great Wall of China at Badaling and believe this ride to be a roller coaster. To get up to the wall you take the car up a lift hill and to descend to the bottom they hook several cars together and run them down the mountain. A few points: The cars run on a coaster style track. There is someone in the front car who applies brakes to keep it from going too fast, but the cars run down the hill completely on gravity. Here is a YouTube video! Let me know what you think! My credit count depends on you!

Tikifire- Yes HKDL has an awesome location and the mountains add some atmosphere. The park feels so much like Disneyland in California, (minus a few key rides) but with a completely different setting. I didn't have high hopes for HKDL (given the lack of rides and lackluster reviews), but it was a pleasant surprise. I LOVED HKDL! I can't say that enough! PoisonedPirate - I believe that is the Master Blaster water coaster that you are seeing. It is located in the water park section. Also, Shenzhen is a city of almost 5 million people and it sits right next to Hong Kong with millions more, so it is hardly in the middle of nowhere, but I agree the theming is quite impressive. Larry - Thanks! There are a lot more Chinese parks coming in this thread and at least a couple that TPR isn't visiting on the upcoming trip.

Thanks again for everything David. I really enjoyed your trip reports and can't wait to get to Japan!

^Thanks JJ. Yes I do believe you will visit this park on the trip. I can't wait to see pictures of all the TPR antics in these Chinese parks. When you visit it will be during school holidays I believe, so maybe they will operate all of the rides all day. We visited during a weekday when school was in, but there were so many school groups and youth groups that the park was pretty packed. We are heading to Beijing in two days and I can't wait to see the Happy Valley there. It looks even better!

Wasn't ultra twister damaged during shipping from SFAW to SFA? That's the excuse I've always heard on the net whenever the subject of why the coaster was never installed comes up. Snyder has good reason to keep the park in such an underperforming state & not to sell to another company.He knows that if another company,say Parc management were to come in there & actually fix the place up it would pose a threat to his beloved football stadium right up the road.That is also the reason why he became so fixated(to the point of a hostile takeover) to gain control of SFI in late 2005. Why would this matter? As far as I know the Redskins have amongst the highest fan loyalty and have sold out every home game for a long time now. Am I wrong? Why would a good SFA compete with the football stadium?

Thanks again. I can't wait for DisneySea when we visit in August. We were going to visit Disney on our last few days in Tokyo, but is seems a lot goes down for refurb on September 1, so we will start our Japan trip at Disney. Once again, thanks for documenting your trip for us.

Happy Valley Shenzhen is the first of what the OCT company hopes will be a theme park franchise similar to Six Flags or Cedar Fair. Currently there are only two Happy Valleys (Shenzhen & Beijing), but two more are under construction. (Shanghai & Chengdu) Happy Valley is known for having great theming and this park doesn't disappoint in that department. My only complaint is that they list there hours as 10:30am to 10pm, but stagger their ride openings. When we entered the park at 11am, in addition to the four coasters, they only had kiddie rides open, leaving each of the three adult coasters with a 1-2 hour line. They didn't open up the adult flats until around 2pm, at which time the lines became much more reasonable. For those that don't know, Shenzhen is a booming city just inside Mainland China bordering Hong Kong. In the past 30 years the city has grown from a small fishing town to one of the largest and richest cities in China. With that said, Shenzhen really isn't anything special and the only thing we found of interest in the city was the theme park. (BTW it was really hot and sunny when we visited so some of the pictures are a bit overexposed.) Enjoy! Thanks Happy Valley for some "Happy Times" (Operations sucked but the park is a lot fun!) Every park in China has a double decker carousel where the top section is closed. Random scenery. Ok I just can't resist adding one more picture of the mine train coaster. (Following will be a few random pictures.) Another look at the boardwalk. But this "Float Around the Area On This Round Boat in a Pointless Way" ride was boring. The frisbee was fun. Back to the uninspired boardwalk section of the park. Sorry Rapids Nerd. They were closed on this day. At this point we were tiring so we headed back to the front for a few more rides before calling it a day. The ride itself isn't too rough. (Although I have learned how to hold my head out as to not bang it during an SLC experience) The headrests are extra cushy! I believe it is themed as being in a temple. Next on to the SLC. Almost as good as Thunder Mountain! Its amazing that the whole thing is held up with bamboo! The theming is fantastic. I believe this is the same layout as the new mine train at Hard Rock park. The lines had died down at the mine train. Ok at this point we had seen a lot of park without being on a major coaster. It was time for this to change. An amazing ride actually. Shawn Reece went poncholess and got soaked. Jasmine and I sat it out. The last ride in this area is the nicest themed splash battle I have ever seen. The Magic Castle also has a Santa/North Pole themed shooting dark ride that really sucked. My main complaint about these rides is that they over brake them. This design has six separate spots where the car hits brakes. BOOOOOOOO! Lift hill. Two cars at once. Next up is Wild Elfin. Yes this is just the same Golden Horse spinning wild mouse that is in every other Chinese park. Get used to seeing this ride quite often in upcoming parks. For a kiddie coaster it was a lot of fun! Credit whoring POV. It is actually a well themed figure 8. RCDB only had the new Spinning Mouse coaster listed in this area, but when we arrived we found a bonus opportunity. They also built a "family coaster" that we didn't know about. YAY for Baby Coaster! It is really well done. The area also has a cool underground ball battle area. "Lets get out of here mom before those girls give me a kiss!" Same (They were really friendly.) "Hello, hello ...... hello ...... You speak Chinese? Hello ..... *giggle giggle* Hello .... Where you from? *giggle* America? *giggle giggle giggle* Hello!" Magic Castle is the newest area of the park. It seems to be themed around the mascot seen in the picture. The children here loved saying "HELLO" to us and generally harassing us. They don't see too many foreigners in theme parks. The train had weird hours as well and looked to be a premium attraction so we missed this train credit. =( Yay for theming! I've been working on the railroad....... This was like that audio show with Drew Carey at Disney's Hollywood Studios only good! We took another quick peak at the mine train but the line was still over an hour. Did I mention they were only running one train all day on both of the major coasters! The picture sucks but the theming was nice. America 1 - China 0 Then the team firefighter game. We are now 2-0 after our victory at Legoland a couple of years ago. Next up stay on this spinning wheel as long as you can and please don't throw up. "Dad please don't make me take another goofy photo so you can show it off on TPR!" But the line was to long so we headed to this self powered ride. Oh yah that's it! Give it to me baby. Chinese coaster nerds waiting for the train to take a picture. We soon came to the other major coaster in the park. RCDB has a different name, but the English sign said "Suspended Looping Coaster". (Guess what kind of coaster it is!) Yay for Frog Hopper! Past the splash boats we come to a sandy beach area with a playground and a couple of kiddie rides. The ride itself goes through about five minutes of abandoned fishing town scenery before the climb. Well themed, but quite boring. The poncho just wasn't made for the stress of my oversized American body and had several holes by the time we dropped. In essence, I still got quite soaked. Jasmine and SR didn't want to go so I went solo. Of course I bought a poncho, but it didn't work too well. As you can see the ride is very wet! With the temperature around 104F or 40C I decided it might be fun to ride the splash boats. Chinese people and mining for gold = a good show But this was the line we found so we decided to leave it for later in the day. Next we headed for the Mine Train coaster to get our first credit of the day. It does have a pretty cool looking Master Blaster slide though! The water park is included in the price, but it to did not open until later. Nice landscaping. This is the crappiest 4D film I have ever seen. Basically it is Christopher Lloyd running around a lighthouse in a storm and dubbed into Chinese. We only lasted five minutes before walking out. Our hotel was part of the OCT area and overlooked the park. (Our room was on the other side of the hotel so we didn't face into the park) =-( The front of the park is themed as a boardwalk with a lot of flats including a Disk-O. This area didn't open til around 2pm. The park entrance really isn't anything special. After crossing the border a twenty minute subway ride brings you to the station where Happy Valley is. Emerging to the surface you can't miss this sign! The Hong Kong metro runs all the way to the Chinese border at Shenzhen.

I just visited there a couple of weeks ago. This really wouldn't surprise me given that they have a brand new Dive Machine and the 10 Inversion coaster. I can't wait to see how this park looks in 5-10 years if they keep adding big rides like this.

Water World is great the first ten times you see it. I think it is time they come up with a new show for that space.

^The parks in Dubai are only licensed. Busch doesn't have any ownership of those parks. They are being built by a Dubai company. It is essentially the same as the Six Flags Dubai park.

I just don't see anyone buying the parks. Disney doesn't want to water down their brand by adding six new parks in my opinion. As someone said before, they probably will just spin off the parks into their own company. Lets hope the current management stays in place.

They really only have four rides. The Backlot Tram Tour Jurassic Park The Mummy The Simpsons Ride Then they have a few major shows like: Shrek 4D Terminator 3D Water World And a few hybrid attractions like: Backdraft Horror Maze And also a few smaller shows like: Fear Factor Live Blues Brothers and a few others But to me that just doesn't warrant forking over $50+ and most of the shows like Water World and Terminator have been there FOREVER!

^I forgot about Supersonic Odyssey. As far as action, that has to be up there with the best. About half of the ride takes place before the lift. God I loved that ride!

Great article. It sounds like that reporter has a good sense of humor. Props to him for doing such an article despite his fears. Thanks for posting!