packfanlv

I agree. I think having an RSS Feed for the front page updates is a great idea. If you implement it at all, something simple like that would probably be of most use to people.

Rong Bay a kiddie dragon coaster at Dam Sen Park, Vietnam yesterday.

Robb, I use them to keep up on a few blogs. I am traveling right now and find myself away from the computer for long periods of time and I find it useful to keep track of the posts I have missed since my last visit. With that said, I probably wouldn't use them on a forum like TPR, so I don't know what the benefit would be. I guess each thread could have RSS and then one would only need to subscribe to the thread to get updates, but I think receiving an email when a thread is updated works great for me. I really am enjoying the community. I joined a couple of years ago and have visited regularly, but just now have found the time to start posting. It is wonderful that you are continually working to make the site better. Thanks again. Shawn

I agree that TR is a little crazy. After reading it I still don't have much of an idea of what is in that park and the captions and ordering were a bit off at times. Thanks though. You had some nice pictures. I can tell you put a lot of effort into taking them.

So far for 2008: Luna Park Sydney Warner Brothers Movie World Gold Coast Dreamworld Gold Coast Australia Zoo (Has rides) Genting Theme Park (Malaysia) First World Plaza (Malaysia) Sunway Lagoon (KL Malaysia) Cosmo's World (KL Malaysia) Dream World (Bangkok, Thailand) Dam Sen Park (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) More to come soon.....

Here is my list for 2007 Disneyland DCA SFFT SFOT WDW Magic Kingdom WDW Epcot WDW Studios WDW Animal Kingdom Kennedy Space Center (If it counts!) SFA SFNE SFGAdv La Ronde SFGA CP MOA Adventuredome Luna Park Melbourne (Australia) Xetulul (Guatemala) SFMM Riverside Park SFDK Rainbow's End (New Zealand) Questionable & Waterparks: DisneyQuest Blizzard Beach Typhoon Lagoon Xocomil Waterpark (Guatemala) As you can see, I gave my Six Flags season pass quite a workout.

We started the trip on April 21, 2007 so it has been just over one year. Currently it looks like we will be traveling another 4-5 months as we are starting to get tired. Traveling for this long is really hard work and can be incredibly tiring but is completely worth it!

I visited this area for the first time last year. My family and I went to see the Gaylord Opryland and the Grand Ole Opry building. When walking from the hotel to the mall I saw what was leftover from the rapids ride. Having never known there was a theme park there before I was curious. I eventually went on the internet later on and found out about Opryland. The entire ride is not still there, but I believe most of the area is. It is quite strange since it sits along a walkway from the Gaylord hotel to the mall. The last thing you would expect to see if you didn't know the history was an abandoned theme park ride. The area has become very overgrown with plants and is fenced off. I believe I read last year they were going to remove it to make room for further expansion of the hotel.

Big Mike, Thanks for the truly classic updates. I love the big sombrero and wrestler mask! I was recently in Mexico and would've mistaken you for any other average Joe on the streets. Keep the updates coming! Shawn

Dam Sen Park Part 2: Cool Chinese bridge. They have another nice garden as well! Hey near the kiddie coaster we found the main entrance. It is much nicer! Such a pretty face! What a surprise the car is themed as a dragon. The last coaster is a junior named Rong Bay. It is laid out in an oval shape. An overview of the park. Great views of HCMC. (Saigon) Hey its the Haunted Castle & Roller Coaster Before we headed back to the front of the park it was time to ride the giant ferris wheel. Once again this ride had freaky animatronics that literally came right on top of you. This wouldn't work in the U.S. because people would probably destroy them. It was once again a lot of fun! From the park map: In this park of 110 assorted dinosaurs, you will have the chance to discover unexpected and interesting things about the living of the biggest animals on earth. The second dark boat ride is called Dinosaurs Park. All that spinning made us hungry. Time for lunch. No one spoke English so we had to point. I got beef and rice while Jasmine and Shawn Reece had fried chicken and rice. It was actually really good. Brakes. From the park map: Spinning coaster is roller coaster with cars that are able to spin on rail.... The riders sit back to back and enjoy the extreme pleasure feeling when run over the tortuous curves. Spinning Coaster is a pretty standard spinning wild mouse with cars seating four people back to back. It is rather slow as we felt several sets of brakes on the ride. After thawing out, we headed to the second coaster in the park. The park owners did an exhaustive search and finally settled on the name of Spinning Coaster! Hey, they even have a frozen bhudda! Wearing my snow dress! They have the Mayan Pyramids, Egyptian Pyramids, Great Wall of China, Roman Coliseum & Taj Mahal among others. It is really cool! Description from the park map: Dam Sen opens the new Ice Lantern Arts Show every year with many ice sculptures that bearing hallmarks of both ancient and modern architecture. Sculpted ice works are elaborate, lively and magnificent, each of which is sometimes splendid and sometimes mysterious in its beauty. Finally we have arrived at the Ice Sculptures! Saigon Disneyland? I'll start part two with a pic for all of you bikini lovers. (Look close at the banner!) I guess it's time to go. Goodbye Mickey! Getting crazy lost inside! Before leaving we decided to do one last thing, The Mirror Maze! Of course they gave us gloves so we didn't smudge up the mirrors! but it was closed. They have a water ride....

Here is a list of the parks reported on in this thread and the corresponding page number of their update. Dam Sen Park in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam page 1 (below in this post) Sunway Lagoon in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Part 1 of the update focuses on the theme park and can be found on page 1 while part 2 focuses on the water park and can be found on page 2. Cosmo's World in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - page 4 Universal Studios Singapore Construction Pictures - page 6 Genting Highlands Resort in Malaysia - Parts 1 & 2 on page 6 Hanoi Moon Park in Hanoi, Vietnam - page 7 Dream World in Bangkok, Thailand - page 7 Yoyo Land in Bangkok, Thailand - page 8 Wonder World Fun Park in Bangkok, Thailand - page 8 Pattaya Park Funny Land in Pattaya, Thailand - page 8 Siam Park City in Bangkok, Thailand - page 9 Fisherman's Wharf in Macau, China - page 9 Ocean Park in Hong Kong, China - page 9 Hong Kong Disneyland - page 10 Happy Valley Shenzhen in Shenzhen, China - page 11 Honey Lake Amusement Park in Shenzhen, China - page 12 Donghu Park in Shenzhen, China - page 12 Jing Ying Amusement Park in Guangzhou, China - page 12 Chimelong Paradise in Guangzhou, China - page 12 Wuhan Zhongshan Park in Wuhan, China - page 13 Sun Park in Beijing, China - page 14 Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park in Beijing, China - page 14 Nairamdal Park in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia - page 14 Jin Jiang Action Park in Shanghai, China - page 15 The Olympics in Beijing, China ALL 3 Parts - page 15 Vote to help send me to India on a Press Tour - page 16 Lunapark in Prague, Czech Republic - page 17 Parcul Tineretului in Bucharest, Romania - page 17 Zorky's Planet in Bucharest, Romania - page 17 _____________________________________________________________ I am currently traveling through Southeast Asia with my wife and seven year old son. Since I have had the opportunity to visit a few unknown theme parks, I thought I would post the trip reports here in this thread. Since I am still in Southeast Asia, check back often to see more parks added. The first TR is below. It is from Vietnam. More TRs from Malaysia and Thailand to come soon! We are currently in Saigon, Vietnam and visited Dam Sen Park yesterday. This is the largest theme park in Vietnam and honestly is quite different than anywhere else I have been. Entrance to the park is around $2USD and then tickets for each ride run from $.50 to around $2.00. Unfortunately there is no unlimited ride ticket available. I visited the park with my wife and seven year old son. RCDB states that the park has four coasters, but I looked everywhere and couldn't find the fourth credit. We did manage to feed some crocodiles, visit the seven wonders of the world in ice sculpture form and ride two freaky dark boat rides in addition to the three rather tame coasters. All in all the visit was a success. I hope to upload my Malaysia TRs soon, but figured I would do this park now since it is so fresh in my mind. I also write about my general travels on my website, but you are here for coasters and theme parks so I will get onto the TR. If I have posted to many photos for your taste, let me know. Either way, enjoy! Dam Sen Park Part 1: My best Big Mike impression. Very scary creatures. Actually we really enjoyed the ride because of how many times the animatronics made us jump. The animatronic animals were quite basic, but they leapt so close to the boat it was quite scary. For atmosphere they sunk a ride vehicle in the water. SCARY! The last ride in this back portion of the park is the Amazon River Cruise dark boat ride! From near the crocs we got another view of Roller Coaster. The boat portion was closed, but fortunately we were still able to feed the crocs from land. (There was at least 50 crocs in the pond and they were very active and hungry!) From the park map: With the safe condition absolutely, You not only fish on the bank but also fish from a boat to see lightning quick bites of crocodiles. Following Roller Coaster we came to a crocodile farm. They have boats where you can actually go on the water to feed the crocs. Simulated Greek ruins. Stairs and columns with no building! Fantastic! A view inside of the station. The cars were so small that I had to actually lift my knees as high up as possible during the inversions to avoid the pain. They were designed for the smaller Vietnamese people not a 6'2'' American! More Roller Coaster I wasn't able to capture the car on the tracks since they were only running one cycle every thirty minutes or so. Roller Coaster is a pretty standard double corkscrew coaster with a lift, drop directly into a loop and then a double corkscrew. Following the corkscrews it turns immediately into a brake run. I think I see it. BTW the Vietnamese have come up with clever naming schemes. This coaster is named "Roller Coaster"! The map says the roller coaster is located behind the Haunted Castle! Hey, Mickey and Donald are here too! Ah, Monkeys! Before the coasters we had to walk through an animal enclosure. This is the scariest looking bird I have ever seen! Oh, they allow fishing in the park! Finally we found the lake and began to make our way to the back of the park for the coasters. and on the other side, concrete! On one side you have nicely landscaped gardens.... The park is laid out in a big circle around a lake. Off to the side is this warehouse full of flat rides. And Pluto too!!!!!!! Are those the seven dwarves? Most of the flats are carnival rides. A park map. I guess it is?!? (Later we found out this is a secondary gate.) Is this really the front gate? Saigon traffic on the way to the park. I have been told there are 9 million people in Saigon and 6 million motorbikes! Time to take the bus to Dam Sen Park! Is this it? Oh no, just a carnival on the way to the bus stop!

I am 6'2'' and on Mick Doohan's my legs were pinned in very tight in the small space provided. It wasn't comfortable, but not too painful either. The whole ride was almost pointless though. I am glad that Knott's is advertising it for what it is, a family ride.

Does anyone know what the main ride difference between the Zamperla Motocoaster and the Intamin Motocoaster is? I rode Mick Doohan's Motocoaster at Dreamworld in Australia and found it to be incredibly disappointing. It looks like Pony Express is a little higher, but it is shorter and slower than the Intamin coaster. I fear that people may be disappointed with the ride. For some reason the novelty of the seats doesn't translate into a good ride. Back to the question. Other than the cars being horses, the only difference I can see is that Intamin uses a tire launch. What kind of launch is Zamperla using? I hope this ride proves to be better than the one in Dreamworld. Literally everyone who rode it while I was there left disappointed. Dreamworld markets it as a thrill ride and it amounts to little more than a junior coaster IMO. Mick Doohan's BORING Motocoaster at Dreamworld in Australia. The spot in front is the highest point on the track. They advertise a top speed of 44MPH but it never feels that fast at all.

When we were in the park there literally was a fleet of painters working on various areas of the park. Since it is government subsidized and labor is cheap I am sure everything receives a fresh coat of paint pretty often. The park truly was immaculate in every spot. I kept looking for signs of wear and tear and didn't see any. In addition, for a country that has no other major theme parks, it seems to be run very professionally. I had no idea what to expect when I went to the park and was truly blown away by the time I left.

I believe you are right about it being very similar to Colossus at Thorpe Park. As for the new coaster, from what I can tell it is a Zamperla motorbike coaster, but that information is not confirmed. As for filling out the park, since it is well off the tourist track and mainly used by employees and their families, the park will fill out quite slowly. I wouldn't expect many new things there as they don't draw huge crowds. With what they have, the park makes for a nice day trip and the water park next door is well worthy of a look. I will post a TR of the water park when I can.

I honestly never noticed that in the monkey picture. Wow!

At the time we visited I hadn't heard anything about the new coaster, but did see an empty patch of land where they were doing some leveling work. The park is completely surrounded by rain forest and as long as it is cleared they have plenty of room to build.

I have been traveling around the world with my family for the past year. We are currently in Southeast Asia and I try to get to as many parks as my wife will allow. Last fall we spent two months in Guatemala and I had the opportunity to visit Xetulul. This park is privately owned by a group of businesses who run it as a perk for their employees. While foreigners can purchase all day tickets, employees are able to purchase 10 rides for around $8USD. The park is located in the town of Retalheu, Guatemala about five hours by bus from the capital and close to the Pacific Ocean. Adjacent to the theme park is a massive water park called Xocomil which is also fabulous. Unfortunately the day we visited I brought my really bad camera and the batteries died early in the day. In addition it rained most of the afternoon and I didn't have time to get a lot of the pictures that I wanted to. In looking at these pictures, they really don't do the park justice. The park has many themed areas. In the front is a main street type area. Stemming from that is a Mayan themed area that reflects Guatemalan culture. The entire back of the park is themed around European countries such as Italy, Spain and France. The designers carried the theme throughout the park and everything is maintained quite well. While we were there several painters were keeping everything from looking dull. The attention to detail is reminiscent of Disney, although this park does not compare in scope or size. Xetulul only has two roller coasters, although RCDB says another is under construction. The first coaster is El Choconoy. It is a rather large family coaster in a double figure eight design. The second coaster is an Intamin looping coaster named La Avalancha, most famous for having eight inversions. La Avalancha was very smooth and a lot of fun. Since I am traveling I don't have a lot of time to post trip reports, but will as often as possible. As soon as I can I will post the Xocomil water park pictures because the theming is wonderful. I have also visited several rare parks in Southeast Asia, most notably in Malaysia. As soon as I can I will post trip reports of Genting Highlands, Sunway Lagoon and Cosmo's World in Kuala Lumpur. I hope you enjoy my first TR. If you have any comments or suggestions let me know. If you want to follow my regular travel adventures please visit www.familyrtw.com The following pictures were taken on August 16, 2007. Forgive me for not having funnier captions since I am strapped for time. Also, here is a link to the post I made about Xetulul and the water park Xocomil. There is more detailed information there. Enjoy! Xetulul & Xocomil @ familyrtw.com The rain comes and we say goodbye! The Guatemalans really love this ride! The splashdown boats are themed around Venice. The second train station located in the France section of the park. A large theater located in the France section of the park. More wonderful theming The pirate ship is located in the Spain section. Kid's boat ride. Children's section of the park. Jaguar display. The Gran Jaguar Pyramid. (A replica of the pyramid at Tikal) Nice wormie. El Choconoy station. Choconoy POV. The coaster is located in the park's Guatemala section. El Choconoy (The worm) is the park's second coaster. It is a family coaster with a double figure 8 layout. The park's newest ride. It has a Mayan theme and is located in the Guatemala section. Supports & Tunnel A polar bear sits over one of the tunnels. The car goes into the station after the ride. The first drop. One of the eight inversions! Approaching La Avalancha. The only full size coaster in the park. Entry plaza The entrance to the park goes under the elevated train station. How familiar! The entry price for foreigners. Q7.5=~$1USD Outside the entry gate. The day we visited was not very crowded at the park.

I also have issues with the Vekoma restraints. I am 6'2" and always feel uncomfortable with my shoulders pressing into the restraints. The Vekoma SLCs are the absolute worst. I have never enjoyed a ride on any of them. Other than that, I often find my knees banging against he seat in front of me, but that just goes with the territory.

I believe any talk of imploding the Circus Circus always involved leaving the Adventuredome intact and integrating it as part of the new hotel. I think this is a mute point for now given the state of the economy and MGM Mirage's outflow with their current projects. This park has been extremely successful (unlike MGM Grand Adventures)and they have continued to add rides over the past several years. I have been travelling and haven't been since early 2007, but didn't they add a discus ride last year in place of the clown show? I also agree that they will need to be careful in the construction as to not mess up the "theming" inside of the dome. My guess is that they will have to reconstruct parts of the mountain in order to make everything look right. Either way I am excited about this news.

I really love the Adventuredome and visit there a couple of times each year. The spinning coaster at Nick Universe (MOA) really surprised me when I first rode it. These type of coasters are a lot of fun and I think it is a much needed addition to the park. It seems to me that the Rim Runner has been running seasonally the past few years. It has been hit or miss as to whether it is open or not. I also think removing it will free up additional space than is needed for the new coaster. This will enable them to continue adding rides in the upcoming years. I am still amazed how much they have packed into that little dome. I guess as my "home park" it has a special place in my heart.

I think this is a great addition to the park. I also think the color scheme is great. This park has great theming and a great overall feel. Even though it doesn't have as many coasters as some of Six Flags other parks, SFFT is my second favorite Six Flags park behind SFGADV. Speaking of Poltergeist, does any one else think the spaghetti bowl coasters are pretty lackluster. Poltergeist was my first and the Joker coaster at SFA my second and both were pretty disappointing for me. I got off and thought to myself, "What was the point!"

I agree. The debt is still a huge obstacle, but all the current management can do is provide a better experience and hope that their cash flow improves so they can start to pay down the debt. In following the stock, it seems that a lot of analysts are worried because a good portion of their debt comes due next year. Their credit rating is very low and many people think they will be unable to restructure the debt and will be forced to file bankruptcy. I hope this doesn't happen. Good news like this report are at least steps in the right direction even if the main reason for the increase was because Easter came earlier this year.

I visited ten Six Flags parks last year and have to say other than La Ronde, they all provided great experiences. (La Ronde is a total DUMP!) Most of our visits came before the summer season and when they were short staffed on a Friday, often times the managers were out running the rides with a smile. As for season passes coming with less, they don't charge much for them anyway and if they take away a free day for a friend or something small like that I don't really care. (Last year I paid $50 for my season pass.) I also don't eat very much inside the parks and last year we bought a souvenir mug at SFFT and carried it with us to all of the parks to get $.99 refills. After visiting some of the theme parks in Australia, Malaysia and in Thailand over the past couple of months, I can say that compared to these parks, Six Flags runs a good operation. The parks here in Southeast Asia make me long for the rude ride ops at SFMM. With that said, the parks are far from perfect and they still have a lot of work but I am a believer in the turn around after personally seeing what they are doing in the parks. Shapiro seems to be producing.

I was just at Dreamworld in Australia a couple of months ago and have to say that the Giant Drop was a bit disappointing. These types of ride generally TERRIFY me, but the Giant Drop wasn't too bad. I think the lack of wind on the day I rode was part of it, but I definitely thought the wait at the top would get me but it didn't. (I also have to say that the whole park was a big disappointment but Movieworld was great!) As for Freefall at SFMM it was a great ride. I also think that Goliath at SFMM and Desperado at Primm, Nevada have great drops. Perhaps my favorite coaster drop is Millenium Force, but S:ROS at both SFA and SFNE were great as well and of course Disney's Tower of Terror rides are wonderful.