captain

Congrats for this amazing Photo TR. I think I`ve to go on one of these cruises. Can anyone tell me what you`ve to pay for extras? Food and Drinks are included, right? And for the ones that did the bahamas cruise? Is their enough time to visit some places on your own, like the Atlantis waterpark?

it`s definitly clear: I`ll vote themepark fan. Coasters are great, but for me the most important thing is that I can chill and relax and forget the rest of the world in a great themed park, like Islands of Adventure, Disney, Europa Park, Port Aventura or Blackpool (okay this one is more enjoyable because of the coasters). But I guess most of the great themeparks can`t exist without good coasters!

Hi, great pictures of the park and the hotel. But honestly I`ve to say that I don`t like the look of the hotel too much. It looks a bit cheap inside (okay the shower looks great) and outside it reminds me of some ugly office building. But hey, don`t judge a hotel from its facade - I`ll gonna visit it in the future and maybe change my first opinion.

Hi Guys, Germany is quicker than I thought! Your postcard (stamped on the 23 of may) arrived today, tuesday the 29th of may 10.33 am (3.33 am EST) at my house. It`s even greater if you think that in between was a holiday weekend with a national holiday on monday without any postal service!!! So thanks for the card and maybe see you in october! Andy Here we go! Germany in my hand

Hi Scott, thanks for the wonderful TR - what a great work! I think I`ve to wait some days to receive your card here in germany, but I hope I`m not the last person who`ll get it (maybe our postal service can beat the french one ). Andy

Are the blacked-out numbers already sold out? blacked-out = no horror night!

Mid May and Universal is ready for the first infos for the 17th HHN event. check out: http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/orlando/index.html I`m so happy that I`ll come to this years HHN for my second time after 2004

Hi Dave, thanks for the report and the great pictures. I was to lazy doing photos from the inside of space mountain and haunted mansion - but nice to see them from you! Greetinx Andy

Hi, yeah Shijingshan Amusement Park in Beijing has some disney copies like the castle or the "spaceship earth building" with a 4D film inside called SOARIN (with the picture of the real soarin). And yes, there is also some disney, warner or universal merchandise available and yes, the park main page is advertising: But I can say that most of the park is more unique (although it`s more creepy than unique). And you are right: Nara Dreamland, Japan was an even bigger copy of Disneyland with a main street, the castle and a matterhorn blitz coaster. And by the way a lot of parks in china are using the disney figures like Pearl land in Zhuhei or the Beijing Amusement Park. But I think they`ll pay a lot for the licence

Some of your commenst/questions: I don`t know why robb hated the Ocean park mine train so much, but we really enjoyed the ride on the mine train (okay the view is so awesome that I just ignored the not so thrilling ride itself). Yes, Pearl Land has a walkway with a lot of copied figures like Mickey, Minnie, Bugs Bunny and other characters from disney or warner. Really weird! I`ve been to Nara Dreamland last year and I def. must say that I felt the ghost of Nara at some of the chinese parks And it`s really sad but true, Hongkong Disneyland can`t compete with any of the other disney parks because it really lacks to much attractions and overall theming.

thanks Dave for the photos. As I wrote in my last update I can`t imagine what you liked about Siam Park City. I think this park has some tropical vegetation, but this is thailand. Normally this park should close down for some months, because there`s to much construction going on at the moment. I`m sorry that I also have no photo from the running loop coaster, but I was kind of lucky to ride this piece of s*** (me and my girl were the only people in the park who liked to ride this coaster). But thanks for all the photos, you did a lot more photos than we did (after some 2000 from china we were a bit laid back in Thailand).

Part 4.3 Random Thailand Photos Okay, to end my long photo trip report I add some photos from our two last stops, the island of KOH SAMUI and PHUKET. Both destinations are great for a relaxing stop, Koh Samui is more beautiful and more to chill but Phuket offers more activities. I would like to thank all of you for your comments - I was really happy that some of you liked my trip reports. Lookout: Maybe I see some of you again in october, because me and my girl are coming on a big Halloween east coaster tour through the united states with some 22 parks and 150 coaster to see. We`ve planned to visit the areas of Montreal, Lake George, Boston, New Jersey, Philly, Washington, Williamsburg, Pigeon Forge, Atlanta, Charlotte, Tampa and Orlando. thanks for all your great comments and I hope you liked my reports. And last but not least I hope to see some of you guys on our october halloween east coaster tour! I`ll end this photo report with some photos from our hotel what a great way to learn thai cooking but just relaxing is not our business and so we decided to visit a half day cooking course after Samui we flew to Phuket, which is not so beautiful like Samui but there`s more to do... Samui is like heaven on earth one of the famous attractions on Samui: those two stones are called grandfather and grandmother stones (just look real hard for the grandmother stone - it`s hard to spot because of the shadow:-) also the pool area was really great plus an indoor jacuzzi this suite was not bad with 106 square meter, a private terrace and an outdoor jacuzzi they were overbooked and so they had to upgrade us to a royal suite... our hotel welcomed us with a cool coconut drink, but had bad news for us... terminal 1 and 2 on one picture the airport of Koh Samui is really small, this is where you get your luggage After busy Bangkok we flew to the lovely island of Koh Samui, which is one of the greatest beach destinations in the world If you need a great hotel in Bangkok, you can choose the Bangkok Marriott Resort because it is in the middle of everything but has a cool garden area where you can relax from the city buzz

Part 4: Parks of Bangkok Part 4.2: Siam Park City The way we liked Dream World, the other way round we hated Siam Park City. There`s everything missing here we like at a theme park: good rides, nice theming and good atmosphere. The parks looks right now more like a construction area than a theme park. The only coaster in the park is a 26 year old loop the loop coaster, which is in a very bad shape. But hey, they`ve bought two Vekoma coaster from a park in the Brunei, so this problem will be fixed. something more to offer? Yes, some ugly kiddie areas under a roof, a real ugly entrance plaza and a real lame dinosaur hall. But two things are better than the rest: There`s a newer attraction called Jurassic Adventure, where you tour on a man driven jeep through a dino land - that`s quiet okay. and the best thing at Siam Park City is the walk through haunted house - why? It`s good themed and it is one of the only houses where you`ll have to find your way in pitch black (not in every room) - that´s really spooky. Okay, I read that dubaidave liked this park, but I really don`t know why. So Dave, maybe you can post what I didn`t get in this park??? so I think they should try to speed it up! this is the second vekoma they bought from the park in Brunei, and they want to open it this year... another kiddie area Yeah, the Jurassic time was great blahblahblah I also liked the movie blahblahblah But these are only plastic dinos and I`m really thirsty so please hurry up with your tour! one of the nicer things was the man driven jeep safari through a dino land this walkway looked better than in some parks - but hey, we`re in Thailand and the easiest thing to do is to get some great green plants in your park maybe this ride can help: the new bought Vekoma coaster (right from the Brunei) one of the children areas I rode some 400 coasters so far, but this one was in real bad shape this is the rough loop-the-loop coaster some 8 months to go - but hey, you can`t prepare early enough after you`ve entered the entrance through the castle you get greeted in this hall Welcome to our last theme park on our trip: Siam Park City - what an uninteressting park to end this trip

After my weekend I`m ready for the last update of our China/Thailand trip. Part 4: Parks of Bangkok Part 4.1: Dream World Bangkok Coming to Bangkok in march/april is quiet hard, because it`s about 100 degrees fahrenheit (38 celsius) and it`s hot, hot, hot. Dream World is a little bit out of the inner city, but with a taxi easy to reach. We were amazed about this little park, because we didn`t expect a nice themed park overall. The park features three coasters, nothing special at all: a swinging coaster by Vekoma, which is really rough as hell, a kiddie Junior Nessie coaster, and an indoor coaster called "space mountain" by Vekoma. The park also features a medium size raft ride, a smaller splash, a nice walk trough haunted house, a special effects stunt show, some flat-rides and a big area where you can make "pre-fixed" pictures. So the park is nothing special at all, but you feel like in a real park with some nice walkways, some theming and a lot of flowers and plants. We enjoyed our day and we really liked Dream World. this is the little kiddie coaster the entrance to the raft ride a little splash get`s you soaking wet the vekoma swinging coaster was rough as hell! yummy a nice walk-through haunted house this was the stage for the animal actors show it`s one of the only parks in the world where you can walk next to an elephant this park was really nice, but the only downside were the toilets! they had about 40 of this pre-fixed photo opportunities! it was damn hot on this day (100 degrees fahrenheit or 38 celsius) nice gardens for the romantic ones entrance plaza theming Welcome to the nice Dream World, Bangkok

Now it`s time for the last chinese park, before we`re heading to Thailand. Part 3: Parks of Hongkong Part 3.3: Ocean Park Hongkong This park was our biggest surprise of the whole trip. Ocean Park celebrates his 30th birthday and is now in the middle of a big, big rebuilding plan which will cost 700 million US $, so this is more expensive than most of the themeparks in the world had cost. But I`ll begin with the themepark in the year 2007, which is already so beautiful. There`s a lowland part with the main entrance gate, a kiddie area and a sea lion show. Then you can take the amazing cable car to get to the highland section of the park, where all the main rides are located and most of the shows and aquariums. A third section of the park is located some way down again from the mountain peak, so it`s kind of a second lowland part. But you don´t have to remember all the details because the park is changing everything and will be finished sometimes between 2010 and 2012. The two coaster are not the greatest coaster at all, but both are so special for their lookout that I deeply loved them (especially the mine train from Zamperla). So what else to say? This park is now some kind of small Sea World with one of the most beautiful sceneries in the world. After the 700 million rehab it will def. become one of the most attractive parks in the world and a must-see for any coaster fan! look carefully at this picture and don`t ask again! Ocean Park is so great, and after the rehab it`ll become one of the major themepark hotspots! and maybe one of the best mine coasters in the world...why? the second coaster at the ocean park is this Zamperla mine coaster... everywhere in asia you`ll get squid, I hate squid! this great aquarium features thousand of jelly fishes. Pacific Pier features sea lions a lot of walking because of the mountain setting this is the big dolphin show, after the rehab they`ll bring some more shows this is the upcoming new coaster, built in the mountains (hey even rcdb.com didn`t list this one yet!) but you can relax and take an eye to this great scenic spot it`s not one of the better coasters... and of course you`ve spotted one of the two coasters: this is the Arrow Looping coaster this is the wonderful mountain part, with most of the rides, aquariums and show stadiums the cable car goes straight to the top with wonderful lookouts on the way to the peak but this year the lowland part is not that attractive and so you can take the cable car to reach the highland part this is the small lowland part with the main gate, but this part will become bigger after the 700 million us$ rehab! Welcome to one of the most beautiful parks in the world

Hello again and sorry for the daily updates, but it takes so much time for every update - but this is the second last. Part 3: Parks of Hongkong Part 3.2 Disneyland Hongkong Okay, I`m a huge fan of any Disney park worldwide, but I didn`t fell in love with the Hongkong Resort. First, it has a strange scenery with all the mountains in the back, but you can get used to it. Second I hate to say it, but this Disneyland is way to small. A lot of our beloved attractions are missing, like the Pirates, it`s a small world, Peter Pan, big thunder mountain, splash mountain, haunted mansion. It only has three lands (tomorrowland, fantasyland, adventureland) and not much to do in every land. But even worser is that I always had the impression that every land has not enough theming and it looked a little bit cheap. It looked like one of those cheap fake shirts or watches - at the first view they look real, but if you look longer you can see the cheaper details. Don´t get me wrong - every Disneypark can be better than a cheap no name theme park, but I think Disney saved to much money (I think they were to frightened after DCA or the big minus in Paris). The only real good things are the great Jungle Cruise and the nice musical show. Also the Stitch Encounter was quiet nice to experience. I hope they fasten up with their future expansion plans (small world 2008, pirates 2009?) and I hope they will add something more unique. you see, even the worst disneyland offers more fun than some of the other theme parks can do! we even had so much time to do a lot of character photo shooting... no way! we had a fun day but if you think our day at disney sucked... here are some parade photos for all the parade lovers... and the best jungle cruise worldwide with water and fire effects but the other attractions are really good, like the wonderful "tarzan treehouse on tarzan island", the festival of the lion king show... no joke - this is one of the listed attractions called "Liki Tikis" last land is Adventureland - but if you are waiting for a lot of attractions I´ve to disapoint you! sorry to say, but so much themed houses are missing - and so many beloved rides (( fantasyland is really sad, it only features: the californian pooh ride, PhilharMagic, a nice Musical show called "the golden mickeys" plus dumbo, the tea cups and the caroussel!!! tomorrowland has the most attractions: Buzz, Autopia, Space mountain, Stitch Encounter, Orbitron only three lands are in this park, the small Fantasyland, adventureland and tomorrowland the whole park is themed like every disney park, but I always didn`t feel like I`m in a "real" Disney park the mountains in the back are shrinking this castle to a toyland castle with the strangest of all sceneries Welcome to the smallest of all Disneylands

Okay, I`m ending my third update today with some random Hongkong photos. Part 3: Hongkong Part 3.1: Random Pictures First we visited a shopping mall for riding a strange coaster on the 9th floor of this shopping mall - but it was closed. Second we discovered a big fair in downtown Hongkong, with 4 coaster and a lot of flat rides. The strangest thing: they all came from germany, and nearly all the ride operators were european guys. You just pay one price and get a wristband for free rides and 30 coins for all the games. Last thing to say about Hongkong: This city is so unbelievable great! It has nothing special at all, but the view from the peak or the shopping experience are absolutely phenomenal. In our last two updates you`ll get Hongkongs two theme parks Disneyland & the beautiful Ocean Park and further on Bangkok´s Dream World & Siam Park City. but what we liked the most in Hongkong: shopping until midnight (this picture was taking at 11.30 pm!) but this fair has the greatest location ever! this one looks really good - but was rough as hell! all the rides came directly from germany with european ride operator - strange... and if you choose the right time a classy fair but also you get a closed coaster on the 9th floor (!) of a shopping mall and the best skyscraper landscaping worldwide delicious food (okay not from this food stall) built with bamboo here you`ll get architecture Welcome to Hongkong - the Asian place to be!

Someone said it before, every city in china has two sides - and so we made the mistake and searched for the other park in Shenzhen. Part 2.4 Honey Lake Amusement Park I had nor real idea where to find this park, and it was really hard. We first found the old part of the amusement park. You ask why old part? As I wrote, Shenzhen is growing real fast, and so someone decided that they need a motorway right through the grounds of this park. And so they had split this park in two halfs, but the one half isn`t existing anymore! The other side isn`t any better! There are only some old, old flat rides and two nearly damaged coaster. I`m really sorry, but I was so shocked that I only took some photos, because we wanted to get away from this park as quick as possible. And I think, this park will die in the next one or two years. After this real shock, we took the fastest way back to Hongkong... time to leave as fast as possible to the border to get back to Hongkong and for the rest of the park I made this great picture the Double Loop Coaster the Over Water Coaster we were actually so pissed, that we just made some more photos - this is the new part (which will not exist more than one or two years from now) but isn`t it charming? the goverment decided to split the park with a new motorway - great idea! but they had no fence, and so we discovered the old part oh okay this was the entrance - this old part is now a ghost theme park! but the entrance plaza looks really weird? Yes, this is the entrance! did we found the Honey Lake Amusement Park? before we found the Honey Lake, we discovered this fair - but it wasn`t open yet.

I`m coming up with another part of our journey but first I would like to thank all of you who liked this TR so far, thanks for all the warm words! Part 2: Parks of the Pearl River Delta Part 2.3 Happy Valley Shenzhen Shenzhen is the border city to Hongkong, but has grown so fast that is now bigger than Hongkong. Take a train from downtown Hongkong, relax for the 45 minutes train ride, take a Shenzhen Visa (all people from the US need a special, very expensive Visa, so do it from the states) and take the new subway for another 30 minutes and than you`re in the world of OCT - oversea china town. the OCT group (also built the Happy Valley Beijing) has bought a big part of west Shenzhen, built houses for some ten thousand people, built a cultural theme park, two miniature theme parks (Splendid China & windows of the world) and most important for us: a classical amusement park. Happy Valley Shenzhen feels like the best chinese theme park but I can`t say why. It don`t have a real signature ride like Happy Valley Beijing but it feels like a real great park. It only has two coasters, a Vekoma SLC (the same like in Beijing) and a great themed mine coaster from Vekoma (also the same Beijing model). It has a real nice looking shoot-the-chute (but way to long ride time), a raft ride, some nice themed flat-rides and a lot of shows! The whole park has a beautiful landscaping, some great theming and best of all: a brilliant looking extra water park in the middle (!) of the park. On our tour day it was about 90 degree (about 32 celsius), but the water park was closed (they`ll open this water park only in the summer - ????). Happy Valley Shenzhen is such a great theme park and if they`ll add one or two signature rides this park will easy become one of my top 20 parks worldwide. Happy Valley Shenzhen, without signature ride, a great park! and some more landscaping... more theming a theme park with a sandy beach, how cool is that? nice landscaping around the coaster the Vekoma SLC on the other side of the lake but the chinese don´t like to get soaked well themed shoot-the-chute more themed rides the great looking Vekoma mine train the western part (US friendly part) it`s not summer season yet !?!? the park wasn`t open (man, 90 degrees / 32 c - and this park isn`t open) the entrance to the great looking water park, in the middle (!) of the park one area of the park stays open until 10 pm, every day the nicest chinese theme park Welcome to Happy Valley Shenzhen

Sorry, it looks really great but on our tour day it was a little bit foggy and so we don`t have any good pictures from this frisbee. Sorry about that! ---------------------------------------- PART 2.3 / 2.4: Parks of Shenzhen Part 3: Parks of Hongkong Part 4: Parks of Bangkok, Thailand are coming in the next days...

Part 2: Parks of the Pearl River Delta Part 2.1: Pearl Land, Zhuhai Zhuhai is located next to Macau, and is a city which has grown from some 10.000 people to 1.5 million in nearly 10 years! The themepark Pearl Land is located somewhere 30 minutes away from the Macau/China border. Pear Land reminds us a bit of Nara Dreamland (RIP) and as you likely can guess - this park sucks! It has four coaster: a Senyo Loop & Screw Coaster (very ugly), one of the ugliest mouse coaster I`ve ever seen, a kiddie coaster and a Senyo Jet coaster which is quiet okay. The parks has absolutely no theming, very old flat rides (for you antique lovers, this is a park for you!) and some creepy walk through houses - that`s it. We conquered the park in 2 hours (a lot of school kids made our day even worser) and reached the border again to say hello to Macau. Part 2.2: Fisherman`s Wharf, Macau Macau is a interesting city to visit: on the one hand it`s very ugly, like a normal chinese city - but on the other hand it was some hundred years under portuguese flag (until 5 years ago) and so this city has a wonderful mediterranean inner city area. Macau is the Las Vegas for all chinese people, and Macau will beat Las Vegas in the next two years when it comes to profit. No wonder that no other than Steve Wynn opened a Wynn casino and the big players like the Venetian and the MGM Grand will follow in the next months. We headed to the newly opened area called Fisherman`s Wharf, a well themed, multi-million dollar (120 million US dollar) complex of shopping, theatres, cinemas, restaurants and las but not least a small themepark complex. There`s a small kiddie outdoor area, but we wanted to visit the Volcano, which houses a real long raft ride and one of the best mine trains, called Dragon`s Quest. The tracks of both rides are combined in this Volcano and are really well themed and they simple bring some joy to your face. At the end we can`t recommend Macau at the moment - maybe in two or three years this city will offer more but now it`s not worth to do the one hour trip from Hongkong. and our way back with the speed ferry to Hongkong Fisherman`s Wharf from the harbour this is the small outdoor kiddie area also the other Volcano ride is really enjoyable it goes through the volcano the entrance to the highly themed mine train "Dragon`s Quest" a mixture between shopping, restaurants and this small Volcano with a raft ride and a mine train but let`s go to the Macau Fisherman`s Wharf or should I tell you, that you can walk on this 260 m edge of the macau tower with only a small rope! time for some sliced meat Jet Coaster station some antique rides the kiddie coaster the ride operator hang their clothes for drying out of the operator window but this Jungle mouse have seen some better days the Jet Coaster was really okay but the Senyo Corkscew isn`t any better or some restaurants you like some more theming.... this is Pearl land theming the layout looks actually better than the park Oh sorry, it was Pearl Land Welcome to Nara Dreamland crossing the Macau / China border to get to Zhuhai

Okay here we go again: Part 2: Parks of the Pearl River Delta Part 2.1: Chime Long Paradise, Guangzhou We left Beijing behind and flew directly to Guangzhou, in the heart of the Pearl River Delta, that`s the area around Hongkong. The Pearl River Delta has a population bigger than 70 million people and is the economical heart of China. So no wonder that new theme parks are growing as fast as the big cities. In the outskirts of Guangzhou there`s this fast growing world of Chime-Long, which wants to get on an equal level like the Walt Disney World Resort - but that`s just a view to the future. At the moment the Chime Long Resort has 6 parts: the Chime-Long Paradise theme park, the Xiangjiang Safari Park, the Guangzhou Crocodile Park, the Chime-Long International Circus & 2 themed Hotels (3-star and 5-star). At the moment they`re building a large water park. We stayed at their 5-star Chime-Long Hotel, next to the themepark entrance, and I can say that this hotel is on the same level as the deluxe WDW resort hotels. The Chime-Long hotel has a safari theming and you can enjoy your breakfast face to face with white tigers. The Chime-Long Paradise theme park is not that big, but for a new 2006 theme park it is really nice. Signature rides are the Vekoma Booster-Bike (way to short, but nice landscaping) and the 10 inversion roller coaster from Intamin (its a copy from Thorpes Colossus, but I liked this one more). The other coasters are the Intamin Half pipe, a Zamperla Kiddie Coaster and the Golden Horse spinning coaster. The park also features the most expensive stunt show in the world (says their media kit) - it`s nearly a waterworld copy - a nice Splash battle, shoot-the-chute and rapid ride and some more flat rides and chinese shows. We really liked the Chime-Long Paradise, it`s not really themed at all but it takes advantage of the great natural surrounding. When they`ll gonna add some more signature rides in the future, this park will become a must-see stop for every coaster enthusiast. But that`s not all for the Chime-Long resort - you`ve to visit the Safari park!!! I`m not a big fan of zoos in general, but this park kicks ass. They`ve over 20.000 animals, 460 species, what makes this zoo the zoo with the biggest animal collection in the world. And most important: the animals have a lot of space! The Chime-Long group likes to set records. Why? Besides the record breaking zoo, they`ve over 50 % of the world white tiger population, have over 100.000 crocodiles in their crocodile park (we didn`t see this one) what makes it 70 % of all chinese crocs. But the main record breaker is the circus show, with the most luxurious stage design, the most star-studded lineup and the most expensive visual effects (I can`t compare it, but hey this circus show was more than equal to cirque du soleil). So yes, we can highly recommend Chime-Long! Oh, I forgot this shot! Chime-Long Resort is great - and don`t forget to visit the Circus (no photos) - this circus is unbelievable you`ve to do it! Xiangjiang Safari park is so great the time has come for the best zoo in the world! the soaking, soaking splash battle... a wet battle... we`re preparing for a battle... you can have fun on a Vekoma coaster! the "waterworld" stuntshow (they said it is the most expensive stunt show in the world ?!?!) but this is the mascot (Andrea said this mascot stinks so much she hardly could stood their for the photo) the white tiger is Chime Longs symbol but I liked this version better this Intamin coaster is a copy of Thorpes colossus and they have this wonderful coaster called: 10 inversions roller coaster (what a great name) which is short, but well set in the nature but, they also have some signature rides, like the Vekoma Booster Bike and the third is Intamins Half pipe "coaster" the second is a Zamperla kiddie they offer five coaster, the first is a Golden Horse spinning coaster it offers no real theming, but is very clean and well set into the landscape let me start with the 2006 opened theme park Chime-Long Paradise enjoy your breakfast face to face with white tigers I`ll start with the great Chime-Long hotel, with great safari theming (equal to WDW deluxe resorts) Hey, before I start with the great Chime-Long Resort I`ll bring you two more hamster ball photos - because you liked this one so much!

this is unbelievable we visited Dream World on the 1st and Siam Park City on the 2nd.

Hi Dave, yeah we just missed us The last two march weeks we`ve been to China and than we came to Bangkok on the 01st of april, stayed three days and moved forward to Koh samui and Phuket for another week.