robbalvey

Today was Happy Valley Shanghai and Jin Jiang Park! This Happy Valley is brand spankin' new having just opened up a few weeks ago. Out of all the Happy Valley's this one hands down has the best coaster collection! They have an Intamin Mega Lite, a B&M Dive Machine, and the highlight of the park, a Gravity Group / Martin & Vleminckx woodie. Let me just get something out of the way right now... FIREBALL IS AWESOME!!! Ok, now that's done, how about some photos? (and don't forget, if you want to follow us live on the trip, add us on FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/robbalvey) I spy a B&M Dive Machine!!! Happy Valley- right turn! Just hosing down Happy Valley! Can't wait to ride Souring Dragon!!! Yay! Gravity Group / M&V woodie!!! Fireball looks awesome! Yummy! A B&M Dive Machine that overlooks an Intamin Mega Lite. That is freaking sweet! This one is very much like SheiKra, which is ok because it does that to you! Dive Machine is awesome! Time for some hot Mega Lite action! I guess this one is named Lisa?!? Lisa has some sexy curves! Lisa does this to you! Yup, there is going to be a lot of airtime here! "I need a few cigarettes!" And now time for the highlight of the park (and really the China trip!) - "Wooden Coaster Fireball!" (We'll just call it Fireball...) We got 30 minutes of ERT and were able to film all over the ride! Just look at how awesome it is! You want to ride it, don't you? Well, if you can't get to China, here's the next best thing... POV VIDEO!!! This coaster really has everything - consistent speed, great pacing, quick changes of direction, and LOTS of airtime! TONS OF IT!!! And to top it off, the ride is VERY smooth! First drop....yay!!!! More drops....yaaaaaay!!!! The Chinese hold on VERY tight! No hands up at all! Just beautiful! Fireball was AWESOME! Tied with Ravine Flyer II as my favorite TGG woodie! M&V have outdone themselves! YES!!! This park also has a clone of the most awesome "weird" dark ride! Shoot all those evil bastards at the north pole! KidTums is just helping keep the dinosaurs extinct! Time for another random Chinese park, Jin Jiang! Maybe we should get the joint ticket? Any park that welcomes you with a severed head is ok with me. Well helllooooo hot naked zombie girl! Chinese knock-off Eiffel Tower! When Chinese elephants make love they produce blue spermy guys. Ninja Jew!! All the goldfish you can catch! They give you a net and you have one minute. See! We are totally serious! "So this is what it feels like to have a big gun between my legs..." They had a kick-A$$ shuttle loop here. Seriously this ride rocked! AWESOME. SPACE. TRAVELERS!!! (actual name of the ride!) Chinese Best Buy!!! More awesome Chinese food. I would totally do #1 and #4. Shanghai at night. HoJo's! Chinese Style! Our swanky hotel in the distance. Crazy Chinese shopping mall. Porceilen Camel anyone? Tomorrow we get to ride a Vekoma SLC with an 'extra bit" on it! (and don't forget, if you want to follow us live on the trip, add us on FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/robbalvey) --Robb

Yes the coaster kicked major ass. I'd say it's a coin flip between Fireball and Ravine Flyer II as my favorite Gravity Group woode.

Fireball POV Posted: [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=fireball_pov_v4rw[/coastertube] I will post a full Happy Valley Shanghai update later.

Time to un-stick this If you haven't checked out this video yet, you should watch it (it's on page 1) and post comments about it. Enjoy! --Robb

^ Yup! That was our footage. Glad to hear it looked good! --Robb

I am not sure with how strict they enforce it, but with any park rule, if you are over the height limit then you should be prepared not to ride if they say you are too tall. --Robb

HUH!??!! ENGLISH PLEASE!!! --Robb

Yeah, they had a crap load of red pandas! You could hold one of those too if you wanted to. --Robb

Today was "Giant Ass Panda" Day! There is only one place in the world where you are allowed to hold a Panda and that is at the Chengdu panda reserve where they breed and raise the Giant Panda. You have to make a $150 per person donation to the reserve and they will let you hold and take pictures with a Giant Panda! They seriously just sit you down and plop a Giant Panda on top of you!! It was totally insane. We also got a bonus credit today, visited a traditional tea house, and some of us even got our ears cleaned! Onto some photos... Gotta lube up for the fisting convention! Today is Giant A$$ Panda day! We all need to play the ring toss game to try and win a Giant A$$ Panda. "Nobody ever wins a Giant A$$ Panda." GIANT. A$$. PANDA!!! Robb and the GIANT. A$$. PANDA Yay!!! You just won a giant A$$ panda! Hello Mr. Giant A$$ Panda. Do you like to eat babies? "Is this Panda kosher?" "Is this old man thinking dirty thoughts about me???" "I just farted." No please don't hurt me! Here, Take my wallet! PANDA PORN!!! Where can I apply for this job???And now for a TPR lesson in Panda anatomy... Boys have a penis... Girls have a vagina.We at TPR hope you have learned something today! Next up was the "People's Park" in Chengdu for a little bit of local culture and a few surprises! The park was beautiful. Lots of people out playing today. Chinese kids toys are awesome. Try getting this through airport security! Now where do we go in case of emergency, again? Lizard on a stick, anyone?And now, guess what we found here? BONUS CREDIT!!! We have found a totally undocumented roller coaster! We will adopt it and name is "Laser Snake Horse on Fire!" This one is MUCH better than the Kings Island version! Quail on a stick anyone? Next up...a traditional Chinese tea house! Headscratch, Shane? Headscratch? Don't you wish, Joey? Shane got a root canal...in his ear!!! "A ColecoVision? Keep digging!" And one more time....GIANT. A$$. PANDA!!! Tonight we head back to Shanghai, and tomorrow...Happy Valley!!! Add us on FaceBook for more updates! http://www.facebook.com/robbalvey --Robb

Well, it does rain something like 300 days out of the year in Asia so it's usually a pretty good chance you'll hit rain at some point during a long trip here. --Robb

^ Yeah, you really should leave the moderating to the mods. We don't have a rule about bumping old threads. I'm assuming this person found this thread by using the search function on the forum. That's better than many of our other readers already! Please do not backseat moderate as it will most likely get you a 24hour suspension from the forums. --Robb

Today TPR returned to the Happy Valley parks! But this time it was the new park in Chengdu, China! This park opened up in December and is home to yet another Intamin Mega-Lite coaster and an assortment of other rides. This Mega-Lite was freaking AWESOME! TPR's first exposure to the Mega-Lite was Kawasemi, and holy crap that ride was amazing! Piraten earlier in the year did't run *quite* as good (I chalk it up to having not run for 5 days before we go there), but this one at Happy Valley, OMG it totally redeemed itself!!! The rest of the park was fantastic. I've felt that all of the Happy Valley parks look GREAT! While the theming may not be *quite* up to par with Busch parks, it's really close! If the Happy Valley parks were in the USA, they would be some of the best parks in the country, no question! Anyway, onto some photos... Miles says "this is the best breakfast yet!" KidTums also approves of breakfast! We are so there!!! Entrance to Happy Valley Chengdu. Mental note - take a different elevator! Bugs...why did it have to be bugs! Hello Kitty and booze! What a great combo! That's right! Intamin mega lite bitches! ERT on the mega lite!!! The ride is going to take your soul!!! It did this Elissa! (Her hair is STILL that way!) Nothing can prepare you for this. Well, ok, maybe some video can...how about some Mega-Lite POV? Here ya go... [coastertube]http://www.themeparkreview.com/coastertube/play.php?vid=Fly_Over_Mediterranean_5fcr[/coastertube] Could the lift be any steeper??? It's not tall, but OMFG is it freaking AMAZING!!! Intamin RULES!!! Awesome. Awesome. Awesome!!! This seriously could be the best layout ever designed for a steel coaster. Yay! Some Vekoma ERT! TPR gives the SLC a little bit of love. ZERO....GEEEEEEEE!!!!! Is everyone in? Are you SURE??? Are you positive you're secure? Joey found a woman!!! Most awesome collection of plush evar!!! Chinese knock-off Vinylmation! (I love the Mario one) Happy Valley parks are awesome. Kind of like "Busch" quality. Yes!!! They have a clone of the Christmas shooting dark ride!!! You shoot the elves, reindeer, and even Santa!!! Didn't you guys learn your lesson LAST YEAR about Happy Valley's water rides? Everyone totally loved KidTums! We came back to Floraland today to pick up that spinning mouse credit that was closed yesterday. My favorite coaster support! We really are dirty dirty whores! OMG! real Chinese food is freaking amazing!Tomorrow we have a "non-coaster" day, but we are going to do some pretty insane stuff...just you wait and see! Tomorrow we have a "non-coaster" day, but we are going to do some pretty insane stuff...just you wait and see! Don't forget, you can get up-to-the-moment China 2009 trip udpates via FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/robbalvey --Robb

^ Panda Reserve is tomorrow! --Robb

Today we arrived in Chengdu! This place is the capital of schezwan cooking and panda bears! We will get to all that stuff later, but first a park with a "Jeff Johnson Credit!" Baked beans and boiled eggs! Breakfast of champions! Yay for breakfast dim sum!!! Seriously though the breakfast was amazing! Huge buffet filled with everything you'd want. When they said "everyone pile into the airport shuttle bus" they weren't kidding! Jetsetting across China on our way to Chengdu! Floraland! First park of the trip! So THAT is where they keep the fortune cookies! This is the most action George is going to get the whole trip! Hey look! An Intamin rocket coaster! Oh wait... BOOBIES!! The Tagada takeover nearly killed at least four people! Objective- sit in a circle. Spin. Ride op bounces the ride until everyone flops into a pile of human in the middle. The more you try to hang on, the worse it kills you! This is NOT an image the world needed to see!!! Just let go and the ride will take you to Tagada heaven... Mystery meat on sticks. Awesome! Oooh...me so corny! They had some KidTums sized rides! (Note she's in the honeymoon car???) Inside this building is roller coaster history! Everything is made of ice and glows like Christmas! In order to go inside you need to wear as "DJ Lance Approved" winter coat! That's right! They have an old school Russian ice slide in here! Just like the ones Jeff Johnson used to ride when he was a young adult! "It rolls, it coasts, it's made of out ice...it's a credit!!!" Damn right it's a credit! Just like the ones I rode in my yout...err...young adul...err...early elder years! Since Chengdu is the capital of schezwan cooking we had spicy food that hurts just as good going in as it does going out! Apparently Chendu is also the capital of genital warts!!! Dan is on fire...no really! Living proof that Joey might actually be a man! (and Jeff Johnson might be Chinese!) Next stop...Intamin Mega-Lite!!! Don't forget, you can get up-to-the-moment China 2009 trip udpates via FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/robbalvey --Robb

ps. if anyone is able to download the video from CP's website and upload it to CoasterTube I'd really appreciate it! That way we can embed it into our announcement post. Not sure why so many parks don't make this easier. It's their B-Roll and they should WANT other media outlets to showcase it. --Robb

I have updated TPR with some of the official information here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=802952#802952 The ride looks great! I'm glad it's not a coaster. That's not what Cedar Point needs. This ride fills a gap that Cedar Point has had since Maverick opened. --Robb

A Whitewater Family Adventure Begins! http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/rides/water/shoot_the_rapids/index.cfm SANDUSKY, Ohio – Grab your paddles and climb aboard the newest river-ride adventure this side of the Appalachians! Shoot the Rapids, an all-new family water ride, will rise above Cedar Point’s rustic Frontier Trail when it makes a splash on Opening Day 2010. During the 2,100-foot-long journey, adventurers will travel through a wooded area and around an illegal still used for brewing sweet-tasting elixir, all while encountering surprise water elements and special effects. Guests will navigate the waters aboard a 10-passenger boat. Riders will be seated in five rows of two and will be secured by individual over-the-head lap bars. The excitement builds when the boats ascend one of two lift hills. The first and largest hill will be 85 feet tall and will drop riders down onto Millennium Island at a 45-degree angle. The second hill will be 49 feet tall and will end with a dramatic “shoot” through water rapids and rockwork. Guests on the Frontier Trail can keep their feet planted on dry land and watch as riders complete their wet and wild trek down the final drop. “Shoot the Rapids will instantly become a family favorite,” said John Hildebrandt, vice president and general manager of Cedar Point. “Our guests wanted another option to cool off on warm summer days. We listened, and Shoot the Rapids will deliver the perfect combination of refreshment, thrills and new memories at Cedar Point.” Shoot the Rapids will cost more than $10.5 million to build and will be the most expensive water ride ever built at Cedar Point. It will have a capacity of approximately 1,200 riders per hour. The ride will last three minutes. A rider height requirement has not yet been determined and will be released at a later date. The ride was designed and manufactured by IntaRide LLC of Glen Burnie, Md., the same company that built the Maverick, Top Thrill Dragster and Millennium Force roller coasters and the Thunder Canyon river-rafting ride. Ready to take a ride? Please visit cedarpoint.com for a computer animation of Shoot the Rapids, plus construction updates and photos, a live construction webcam, video blogs and more. Videos: http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/rides/water/shoot_the_rapids/videos.cfm

Theme Park Review's 2009 China/Japan Trip! Day Zero - Arrival and Sightseeing in Shanghai, China Day One - Arrival into Chengdu & Floraland featuring a Russian Ice Slide! Day Two - Happy Valley Chengdu & an Intamin Mega-Lite POV Video Day Three - GIANT ASS PANDA DAY!!! (This update should NOT be missed!) Day Four - Happy Valley Shanghai, Fireball POV Video, & Jin Jiang park Day Five - Suzhou Amusement Land, Harborland, Hangzhou Amusement Land Day Six - Century Park, Pearl Tower, People's Park Day Seven - Japan Arrival, Lina World, Sendai Highland, and Beneyland Day Eight - Koriyama Dreamland, Utsunomiya Zoo, Tochinoki Family Land Day Nine - Kezoji Amusement Park, Shibukawa Skyland, Gunma Safari Park Day Ten - Suntopia World Day Eleven - Tokyo Disney - Part 1 Day Twelve - Kamine Park & Pleasure Garden Day Thirteen - Tokyo Disney - Part 2 & Monsters Inc Video Day Fourteen - Tokyo Disney - Part 3 Day Fifteen - Northern Japan Arrival, Teine Olympia, Maruyama Kidland, Hokkaido Greenland Day Sixteen - Rusutsu Resort ------------------------------------------------------ Hey everyone! We are back in China again! I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update this thread as our schedule is fairly aggresive, but I will be posting photos live to FaceBook! If you are not a "friend" of TPR you can add us and get live updates! Click here: http://www.facebook.com/robbalvey Here's a few photos from today: Inside those giant bags are the trip participants of TPR's 2009 China trip! Our carriage approaches to take us into the boundless realm of the supernatural. KidTums and Joey try escape the horribleness that is LAX by playing in thier phones. The Alvey chicks get to board first because they are special...like the olympics. Ready for blastenhof? Yay! We get to ride a new GCI woodie on this flight! Yay! We are in Korea! ...for about three hours. *slightly* nicer than LAX! . Seriousy though ICN is one of my favorite airports in the world! It has the "etiquette bell!" There is even a play area for Kristen! They have a lot of 747's here! More pics of ICN. Here's one of the main walkways. Anyone know where that "T" is from? Some random lounge. Food court opens up here in a few minutes. More of the mall type areas. And if you don't have a plug adapter...they will give you one! The Korean Etiquette Bell! It's located in the womens toilet stalls and you press it when you're squeezing out a gnarly, noisy dump and you may need some sound to cover it up! Hooray! Roller Coaster related movies on this flight!!! Part of the Shanghai skyline. The worlds largest bottle opener. Now we just need the worlds largest beer! The Chinese spell beer a bit funny! That tower has a lot if balls! Mr. Fish joined us for lunch! Balls........of ICE CREAM! OMG! Run for your lives!!!! Chinese culture or homeless people? You decide! I'm told this statue represents pregnant women and and coming to the temple to make her offerings helps relax the vagina during child birth. I'M NOT MAKING THIS UP!!!! "Get these damn Americans out of my temple!!!" If you burn sticks you'll have treasures in the afterlife. No, I'm totally serious!!! This is the oldest know living creature in China. He told us stories about partying it up with the Mongols, building the great wall, etc. Elissa has already found her first Shanghai McDonalds! Our last stop in Shanghai was our hotel by way of the worlds only operating MagLev train! Oooh...this is a tough choice! MagLev train or McDonalds? Great! Now we're letting THIS GUY make decisions around here??? TPR on the MagLev! (Try not to look so excited Joey) "Hello, I am Mr. MagLev. If I were a woman Jeff Johnson would be making sweet sweet love to me. Oh, who are we kidding, he's going to do that anyway. If you thought what that woman did to 1001 Naghts was disgusting, wait until you see what Jeff does on the train!" In about 20 seconds we were already going pretty fast. You can't tell by this picture, but things are going by REALLY FAST!!!! Ok, this is impressive. That translates into about 270 MPH!!! When the other train passes at 270 miles per hour, it's like an explosion goes off inside the train!!! "I'm getting married to her next week!" YES!!! We get off the MagLev train and the first thing we see is Chinese KFC! Kick ASS! How many TPR members can we fit into the elevator? This brings our sightseeing day to an end. You guys ready for the real trip to start tomorrow? YOU BETCHA!!! More to come soon...add us on FaceBook for some live updates! --Robb

I think the steepest drop in the world happens right at the point when you are teabagging someone and they wake right up *just* as the balls hit the face. That's steep!!!

The point here is that it was totally lame of someone to say in the first place. Regardless if it made for "Good TV" or not. The point is that if you are invited to participate in something that is supposed to promote one company, you don't go making mentions or comparisons to other companies....especially when you're being filmed ON NATIONAL TELEVISION!!!! Doesn't matter if that person was an ACEr or not. Hell, even if they were a TPR member, I still say they are a rude, inconsiderate idiot for making that comment. That would be like Conneaut Lake Park holding an invite only free event for the Blue Streak and when the press comes to interview the riders some guy says "Yeah, the Cedar Point Blue Streak is much better, don't bother wasting your time with this one." You just don't do that. And if you do. Chances are you're not going to get invited to many more private functions! --Robb

Does WDW even need to upgrade? Just look at how nutso the So Cal Disney fans are going over the "new dragon." My guess is that at any given Fantasmic! show, a good percentage of the crowd have seen the show at least one time before. I'm also going to guess that is not the same for the WDW Fantasmic! crowd who are mostly seeing the show for their first and only time in their life. If the dragon is still a crowd pleaser in WDW does it need to be replaced? Disneyland can easily re-market an upgrade like this to their local So Cal audience and hundreds of thousands will show up just to see a new plastic dragon. But would the upgrade have the same draw in Orlando where to most visitors everything is new to them? --Robb Oh, and ps to scotchTAPE, you should probably read this thread: http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=31454

Just added "Coaster Expedition" Volumes 1 & 2 and "Coaster Footage" Volumes 1 & 2 to our iPod/iPhone downloads: http://www.themeparkreview.com/store/index.php?categoryID=10 --Robb

^ That's pretty much what I had thought, and to be honest, one of the reasons why I haven't seen it in Florida yet. It sounds as though the show works well in the theater venue "if you don't know any better", but the show was originally made for the park props in mind. --Robb

^ I'm just curious, do you think it doesn't work as well there because you've seen it in Disneyland where it's staged "in the park" versus staged "in a theater" in Florida? Think back to the WDW version if you had ever seen the California one? The only reason why I ask is, and keep in mind I've never seen the WDW version, that the only people I ever hear say the "Florida version is lame" is the people who have seen it in California, but the people who have only seen the Florida show absolutely rave about it. Personally for me, I've seen Fantasmic! enough times in California to where I don't feel the need to see it in WDW, and I really don't think any show at WDW can beat Illuminations anyway. --Robb