packfanlv

Thanks for the TR Jahan. I agree with you that USH doesn't have enough attractions. I think last time I counted they had eight major attractions and that just doesn't cut it considering what they charge for admission. With that said, I do enjoy the park and the backlot tour is fascinating. (I remember being picked to ride on the bike with E.T. when I was a kid!) I don't know if I will go back there for a long time though. At least not until they build a few more attractions worth visiting. For my money, Disneyland is a much better value and I will visit USF to see The Simpsons Ride.

I also have to go with Scooby Doo and Superman at Movie World in Australia. The pre lifts on both of those rides blew me away, especially the dark ride section of Scooby Doo. Why can't they build something like that in America. That is the way to build a mouse!

Mechanic, RCFreak, arrowfanman & jew thank you for the nice comments. I really enjoy doing this thread tremendously and hearing from you makes it that much better! Team Thriller - Most of the shows are in Cantonese, Mandarin & English. For example Turtle Talk With Crush and Stitch Encounter which are interactive CG shows are done at different times in all three languages. At the front of those attractions they have a sign with the show times in each languages. Other shows do it differently. The Golden Mickeys is in Cantonese with two screens on either side, one in English and one in Mandarin. The Festival of the Lion King is narrated by Rafiki in English, but he speaks to two monkeys who relay what he is saying in Cantonese. It is rather brilliant. The other spot in the park where this comes in is the Jungle Cruise. Just like with TTWC and SE they have three lines here with one each for English, Cantonese and Mandarin. We found that the jokes don't transfer well in English, since it is usually the skippers second or third language. As for the signs, I believe they are in all three languages, but am sure that they are at least in English and Cantonese. Everything is very English friendly and most of the staff also speaks some English so there shouldn't be any problems. PoisonedPirate - The Muppet Mobile Lab was cool, but they were only doing it in Cantonese, so we couldn't understand anything. As for Crush, the show is with a screen that has crush on it. He interacts in real time with the audience. During the show he has a few kids ask him questions. My son was picked. HKDL is actually cheaper than other Disney parks. While the food may be about the same, admission is around $40 USD which isn't too bad. The two hotels on property aren't cheap, so I would suggest staying in Kowloon where you can catch the subway out to the DLR. This is what we did. As for Ocean Park, they now have a small ferris wheel, but the wheel in the drawing looks to be much bigger and will be in that area on the top of the mountain that is still under construction. I agree the view will be fantastic. Thanks again everyone!

^Love the pic of Rich & Larry. Thanks Big Mike! I get back to the U.S. in September and hope to be able to meet up with you on your west coast swing in October. Keep it up!

http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/07/09/news/local/13728357.txt It is probably just Serial Thrill from Astroworld. What do you think?

I really don't understand why anyone bashes Hong Kong Disneyland. Yes it is a bit small, but the park is definitely Disney and is a lot of fun. Admittedly I am a big Disney fan, but I don't think that clouds my judgment too much. After visiting, I honestly don't see how the locals could favor Ocean Park to Disneyland. In this TR I will just post random photos since most everyone on the boards has seen this park before. I will also post some photos of the construction going on in Adventureland that is rumored to be the Haunted Mansion and of course It's A Small World. We visited the park on June 20, 2008. Enjoy! I am not feeling too well and don't feel like sorting through all of the photos. If you want more, I have updated over 200 photos onto Flickr sorted by their location. Here is the link. http://www.flickr.com/photos/familyrtw/collections/72157605878888765/ Thanks for reading! The area they have for construction is enormous. I'll close with the Adventureland construction. As you can see they have built a railway bridge. We really enjoyed HK Disneyland, but I am getting tired of sorting through my photos. This year they have added The Muppet Mobile Labs, Animation Academy, High School Musical, Turtle Talk With Crush and Its A Small World. Not bad! The Golden Mickeys show is Fantasyland is also a lot of fun. Bush Lightyear is similar to the Disneyland version as well. Adventureland is very lush. Looking down Main Street. *sigh* I can't wait to get to Tokyo for their Pooh ride. I took way too many pictures and find myself having a hard time sorting through them to do this update so here they come in random order. This is Autopia from the train. The king. The jungle cruise dock. Now off to Adventureland. The Festival of The Lion King is in HK is better than its counterpart in the US. Those umbrellas now come in handy to block out the water from the Water Works Parade. High School Musical has landed here as well. See, I told you! Jasmine loves the Mexico scene. She loves to see her former country represented and the Three Caballeros are soooooooooooooo cute! It's Pinocchio! A classic has arrived! This is my favorite version of Space Mountain. At least they used more than star effects in HK. I don't know why they didn't use the same effects in California. Tomorrowland is quite small here, but laid out in a convenient way. They have shows in 3 different languages throughout the day. Since there were only three other kids at the English show Shawn Reece actually got to talk to Crush. It was a dream come true for him, since it his many other visits to this attraction in other places he has never gotten the opportunity. I believe this version uses the former portable submarine vehicle used in various parks. Turtle Talk With Crush is new this year and looks like it was thrown in at the end of Main Street. A TPR tradition! I just couldn't resist. The castle also looks small. Boo for the Fire Department being used for stroller rental. Where is the fire truck that I fell off of when I was a kid at Disneyland? This Main Street looks almost identical to Disneyland's. Now that is pretty. The Disney photopass photographer took this. I am not too impressed. Get your umbrellas ready it a sunny day and the park is about to open! Oh & I forgot the fountain. It is much cooler in person that in the pictures. The railroad was only running from Fantasyland to Main Street because of the construction going on in Adventureland. Ticket booths Welcome to Hong Kong Disneyland

^It looked like they were shooting at targets made to look like men, although I never gave it much thought and really didn't see their equipment that well. I assumed that they had a bebe gun like us.

Captain Hook's left hand man!

After having been on coasters with 8 and 10 inversions, I can say that fifteen would be horrible and highly unlikely for any ride. Having that many inversions would make for a fun time watching the people getting off.

I disagree with this as well. S:ROS at SFA may not quite be up there with the version at SFNE, but it is still one hell of a ride with a lot of speed and airtime. IMO it is worth it to go to SFA just for Superman. (Of course Batwing and Roar are good coasters as well) Now on the other hand, I really don't see how anyone likes Joker's Jinx. Both Jokers and Poltergeist at SFFT are slow and pointless to me, but that is just my opinion.

LMAO with KidTums and the shirt. I am sure she had so much fun with that permanent marker! As always I am enjoying the updates. Thanks Big Mike.

Great updates. It really looks like everyone had a great time. KidTums is so darn cute as well.

I have to agree with Kingda Ka. Just looking at the height of it was enough to make me quite nervous getting on. Of course the launch was great and after getting off I was ready to go again!

Yah we never made it over to the tower because we ran out of time. I know they have bungee jumping there, but am not sure what else. Macau is a lot of fun and we enjoyed simply walking the streets. Thanks for the nice comment.

Thanks again for another great update. Mt. Fuji looks so dominating in the background. I look forward to seeing your DisneySea update. I will be in Japan from August 24th to September 5th. I can't wait. (Even if I am going to go broke!)

The Superman flying clones are alright, but don't even come close to Tatsu. I think that if you go in expecting anything near Tatsu you will be disappointed, but it is still a fun ride. As for the TDK, on the basis that it is just a mouse in the dark with some theming does it disappoint? I am of the opinion that most people wouldn't wait more than 20-30 minutes for a mouse anyways and TDK shouldn't be any different.

Here is my first update from China. This update is of my visit to Ocean Park in Hong Kong about two weeks ago. It was rainy on and off all day and to be honest Ocean Park really failed to impress me. Even with the lackluster rides and shows, as Robb has said here before, it has probably the finest setting of any theme park I have been to. I hope you enjoy the update. (Please forgive the picture quality as the weather in this region is not very good right now!) (I also want to note that one of my camera's memory cards failed while at Ocean Park and I lost quite a few photos. I still believe I have enough to show the park and there are plenty of other trip reports from Ocean Park on TPR!) I will also throw a couple of photos of Fisherman's Wharf in Macau in at the end of the update along with a few sights from around Macau. The roller coaster at Fisherman's Wharf appears to be now gone, so it probably doesn't warrant its own update. As always keep the comments and feedback coming. I have been to 9 parks so far in China (4 Big & 5 small) and probably will visit 5-6 more before it is all said and done, so there will be quite a few more updates in the future. Enjoy! I hope you enjoyed the update. But the real reason to visit Macau is the Portugese architecture. The final Las Vegas namesake casino is the MGM Grand Macau. Inside the shopping area the Wynn Macau. The tower looks just like its Las Vegas counterpart, only it is about one fifth the size. They also have the Wynn in Macau. Out front is a nice water and fire show. Venetian at night. The resort itself is similar to Las Vegas and yes it has gondola rides and canals. Building going on across the street from the Venetian The Venetian is on a new area of Macau called the Cotai Strip. In the next few years several new resorts will be built there. And you can see the massive Sands casino in the background. Since we have so many Las Vegas fans on this board I will post a few pictures of the Las Vegas style casinos in Macau. You can climb the volcano though and get good views. You can see a lot of the architecture of Fisherman's Wharf in the background. There also used to be a coaster here. It was inside of this volcano along with a raft ride. When we visited all signs referring to the coaster had been taken down and the volcano was closed. According to RCDB there was an accident on the coaster in 2007 and it has been SBNO since then. On the way out I spotted people going into the urban warfare area. I was a bit jealous. After that we got our equipment on and shot the pellet guns. They even have a picture of Osama painted on the wall. Once inside the entrance a man dressed in military garb takes you down a long corridor. Originally we thought that we were getting to do the street simulation, but it turns out we only bought the shooting range. It has a few kiddie rides, but the draw for us was the military training range. On one side of the area they also have a small theme park with children's ride. It is themed to the middle east. Finally I bring you a few pictures of Fisherman's Wharf in Macau. Fisherman's Wharf is a large shopping mall built over the water. It houses several different themed districts with architecture from around the world. This is a replica of the Roman colisseum. Ocean Park was fun, but speaking from the future I don't see how the locals prefer it to Hong Kong Disneyland! A view of the construction in the back of the park from above. The mine train coaster and backdrop. And then we headed up to the sky tower to take some photos of the park. It was almost time for the park to close, so we headed to the second aquarium in the back of the park. This one houses all shapes and sizes of jellyfish. A picture of the tunnel emerging at the construction site in the back of the park. Just as we were about to head back on the cable car, we noticed this large tunnel that is being built. When we got to the back of the park, it took a while, but we found that it indeed does go through the entire mountain. I wonder if they are building a train from the front to the back of the park. While I preferred the Toto The Loco train that goes by musical clowns ride. Shawn Reece's favorite part was the rock climbing wall. They also have a kids section called Kids World. It is bright and colorful like Wiggle's World. Part of the construction will also bring more Panda fun to the front of the park. They have four pandas, but only two were on display when we visited. Besides the giant balloon, the main draw in the front is the new Panda exhibit. The line was an hour long to go on the balloon, so we just settled for these photo ops instead. Concept art for the new areas in the front of the park. The front looks like it will double in size when the construction finishes. (Also note the aerial balloon) Descending into the front of the park we saw even more construction. This ride could be an attraction onto itself. After the show we decided to catch the cable car to the front of the park. The locals did seem to like it, so that is all that matters! The show was average, but we still had the spectacular view! Before getting on the cable car to the front we decided to watch their dolphin show. They even had a preshow with an all white band! Hey we found Nemo! They also have a couple of aquariums in the back of the park. After making our circles on the rides we did what any good American in Hong Kong would do. We ate lunch at McDonalds! And they also have a pirate ship. View from the Condor ride. Take that Big Mike! We also enjoyed the condor ride. All of their flats seem to be designed to help you enjoy the wonderful view. Between rain we also managed to get on the drop tower. At this point in the day we often had to duck under cover to avoid brief rain showers. While we were on the swings it started to pour. Going around the swings in the rain is sure to get you soaked. (The pictures died along with the memory card!) Yes that's right, it was painful! The ride itself was typical for an Arrow Looper. The trains are colorful. Our first stop here was Dragon, the park's second coaster. After checking out the construction it was time to head to the main rides area. They are also building a large warehouse style structure near this area of the park. Another view of the construction. The concept art for the new area shows a giant ferris wheel, disk-o, giant frisbee and a coaster among other things. They are still busy cutting into the mountain so this should still take a while. We also got our first view of the park's main expansion. They are spending a ton of money over the next 5 years to double the park's attractions. After riding the mine train twice we headed up more escalators to the Pacific Pier region of the park. This is the home to their sea lions. The helix. I pretty much agree with everything that has been said about this ride. The view was incredible, but the ride itself was disappointing. Here is the view while going up the lift hill. The ride has a stunning setting on a cliff overlooking the water. After passing the log ride and a small flat, the next ride you come to is the Wild West Mine Train. From the back entrance you ascend on escalator the ride up to the park. It contains four very long and slow escalators. A park map. We actually entered the park from the larger back section since that is where the bus dropped us.

I really believe this park is now beyond fixing without putting a lot of money into it and I don't think Six Flags can or will. It is a shame because Superman is such a great ride and I really enjoyed Batwing and Roar as well. I visited 10 Six Flags parks last year and this was by far the worst of them all. (Ok, La Ronde was in the same category!) I do wonder what the company has planned for the park, but it can't be to simply continue on like this, can it?

I definitely think that a visit is worth it for a theme park enthusiast. You can usually get half price tickets at a few outlets on the strip as well. The first attraction is a bid dated, but still well done and the newer Borg attraction is awesome. My son was so freaked out when the borg came right at us to assimilate us! I am so sad that I won't be back home in Vegas before this is closing!

I now close out the Southeast Asian parks for this thread. I am considering whether to start a new thread for the Chinese parks I visit. What do you think? Well onto the final park. Siam Park City is the second largest theme park in Bangkok behind Dream World. The park is undergoing major renovations, as they have added two new coasters in the past year along with quite a few other rides. Many of you may remember this as being the park with the log flume that killed someone last year. That ride is now gone. Parts of the park are run down and in bad shape, but the newer parts seem to be pretty well done. This gives me hope that they will eventually redo everything. Ok, on with the pictures. I hope you enjoy! On a side note: DubaiDave also did a TR recently on his thread about this park if you want more pictures! Oh and did I mention that I finally got 200! Thanks for taking the time to read this TR. The China parks are coming soon! I know some TPRers that would love to get their ****s on these oversized statues. Look mom, no hands! Caged monkeys Area between the theme park and water park. Signage! This flat is also new and is heavily advertised around the park. Not too bad. Now I leave you with some random shots from around the park. They also have a large wave pool, but that was it so we spent about an hour swimming before heading back to the park for some rerides. The other ancient slide tower had four slides, but only two were open. The water park only had two slide towers. Those speed slides in the background were SCAAAAAAAAAAARY! Next up we decided to put on our trunks and head over to the included "water park". and primeval boobies. (But it still sucks!) It has dinosaurs... They use real jeeps during the ride. Ok, we actually went to their Jurassic Park jeep ride. Next up, bombed out train tracks the ride! Goodbye log flume of doom. Hello new ride. After riding Vortex we made our way up to the observation tower to take a few photos. I had to add the 200 back in on the computer because the sun canceled out my makeshift sign. After five go arounds I did have a headache! Pretty good ride, but it is still an SLC. This is by far the smoothest SLC I have been on. It is incredibly intense though. Off to go ride #200! Of course by this time I was dying to get to the second coaster Vortex. You see, Boomerang was my 199th credit, which means Vortex was 200! Their new drop tower is also in the area. (I love taking this shot of drop towers for some reason!) Nearby we see the former site of the log flume of doom. A new attraction looks to be heading there soon. Oh yeah and there is also this ride which basically just bumps you up and down like hydraulics on a car. There were a lot of Thai school girls in their uniforms with short skirts on. They had to hold their skirts tight as to not give any of the guys peep shows! Yay we are upside down! But they also have the hamster wheel flat ride! And this simulator ride which ends when your spaceship crashes and you die! There is the Spaceship ride. From there we moved into this large covered area with a bunch of small flat rides. It sits in one of the scruffier sections of the park. Unfortunately the ride has been closed ever since they installed the two new coasters. Following this we spotted the park's old shuttle loop coaster so we headed over to investigate. This is pretty much your standard Boomerang. Turn right at the carousel and you come to the first of the park's two new coasters, Boomerang! The double decker carousel is the main draw of the entrance plaza. One unique thing about this park is they have a bathroom reserved specifically for ACErs. Once away from the roof, the nice architecture continues. Inside the entrance a "main street" awaits. The attractive building exteriors are sort of covered up by the large roof over the area. Finally we reach the entrance which is quite large and impressive! Apart from the rides the parking lot area looks a bit scruffy. The log flume of doom also seems to be here, but I think it is headed for the dumpster. Arriving in the parking lot several rides are just sitting around waiting to be assembled.

I am glad to see that you took care of your readers by including a picture of Larry, Rich, Melanie, and Kristie. As always I am enjoying the reports. Thanks Big Mike!

^Don't worry, I saw another article that did mention five or six other incidents in the companies history, so they aren't missing their chance to take a shot!

Thanks again for the great TR. I am really enjoying your pictures.

^Amen. A human life is very valuable. Lets not discount that here. Sure it was a dumb move, but it is just a horrible tragedy.

Sure the kid shouldn't have been there, but to say he deserved to die? Come on! Some of the comments on here make me sick. This is a horrible accident and I am quite sure that any lawsuit will be thrown out of court. I know there has been precedent set in cases before this that say the park is not liable at all if safety requirements are met. It is quite possible that a judge will look at this and dismiss it immediately. Lets hope so!