captain

Okay, now for a little theme park/ coaster break, I`ll post some random photos from our days in Beijing. it´s now deep in the night here in germany and so I`ll go to bed, but in the next parts I`ll post reports and photos from: Chime Long Paradise, Guangzhou Parks of Shenzhen Pearl Land Zhuhei Parks of Hongkong and much, much more Tip8: the Summer Palace is also a great way to escape the city Tip7: letting someone do the work while you sit in the back and relax Tip6: watching the older people doing weird things to stay fresh and use one of the longest (4 miles) and most beautiful slides to get down!!!! Coasterfriends Tip: But don`t take the cable car to get to the peak - try the chairs to get up Tip5: Visit the Great Wall of China Tip4: eating some candy fruits on the stick (but be sure not to eat the larvae on the stick!) Tip3: Doing some culture things and visit some temples, like the must-see temple of heaven or the Lama temple Tip2: Eating Beijing Duck (but be prepared how to eat it!) Tip1: Visiting the monuments of power and strength: the Tianmen Square and the Forbidden City

Sorry, you`re too fast for me

Part 1: Parks of Beijing Part 1.4 Chaoyang Park or Sun Park This park is located in one of the biggest city parks of Beijing, kind of central park. We`ve visited the park on a sunday, and it was quiet full. You pay about 50 cent to get in, and than you pay per ride. 4 coasters are in this park, but all are well known if you`ve visited the other beijing Parks before: the strange mine coaster (Shijingshan Park), the spinning coaster (Shijingshan), the old, crazy mouse (Shijingshan) and the corkcrew (guess? - Yes, Shijingshan). There are some more flat-rides, but they are not worth to mention. The funniest thing to see was, how they use their outdoor pools in the spring - see the photos to believe how they use it! This park is more a big playground in the middle of a natural park, but we kind of liked it (maybe we get used to this kind of amusement in china). Otherwise, it was our first sunny day, and so everything looked a little brighter. the Sun park in the middle of the Chaoyang park you wanna get married in Las Vegas or Walt Disney - forget it - try Sun Park and than get your dinner on a lovely lake! kiddie fun park overview Oh, I`m so happy to ride this world famous coaster! the mine coaster (this one was better than the one @ Shijingshan) some Coaster looked bad, but they had a safety tag! the Spinning Coaster more Jungle Coaster the Jungle Coaster this is the corkscew and this a shooter! this is a toilet or put the water out of the pool and do something else see how to use a pool in spring - treat your child like a hamster the chinese love to exercise in parks entrance plaza

Part 1: Parks of Beijing Part 1.3: Beijing Amusement Park Okay this is the lamest of all the park names, and it was one the lamest parks too. This park is right in the middle of the city, and our tour book said: it can get very crowded (HAHA - we counted about ten people in the whole park this day). This park is built around a big lake, with some flat-rides around the lake and in the middle on a large island. The park offers two coaster, Nr.1 is a Togo corkscrew coaster and the other is a strange roller coaster which is not big, high or even fast. There´s also a cart track (you`ve to pay extra) and some older flat-rides. We think the park is a great possibility to get some fun on a nice summer day, doing some boating on the big lake, doing a nice summer stroll or watching your youngsters playing the rides for the kids - but for an cold off-season day this park was nothing more than some credit whoring. thanks Beijing Amusement Park for some 90 minutes of fun (kind of...) the Togo corkscrew maddness... Hey, we know this guy from somewhere the older flat-rides... Okay, it was boring and so we did some racing... the second train is in real good shape the strange coaster the BA skyline a caroussel on a swimming boat? this is the layout of this city center park

Hi, we`ve visited the park on a real off-season day (midday end of march), and we`ve heard that Happy Valley really gets very crowded in the summer (Beijing has the same weather like New York, cold winter and hot summer). And the managing company has a lot of money to play!

Part 1: Parks of Beijing Part 1.2 Happy Valley Beijing Okay, this was the newest park on our tour, the park which was featured around the world last year because of the great theming - and yes this park is deeply themed. This park is managed by the OCT company which also owns the Happy Valley park in Shenzhen (see the upcoming parts for or review) and they`ll open up a Happy Valley in Shanghai. OCT knows how to build parks, because they try to get some of the biggest international creative heads and some of the well known international ride manufactures. So the signature coaster is the B&M flyer Crystal Wings, which flies through a massive mountain area (it reminds me a bit of the rocky area @ Disney Seas Mysterious Island). But we were so unlucky, they`ve closed this coaster for the whole week that was the saddest part of our holiday. The other three coasters are the Vekoma Inverted "Snow Phoenix" (it was smooth!), a spinning coaster by golden horse and last but not least a Vekoma Mine train (a copy of the Walibi belgium mine train), which was highly themed. Highly theming - yes this park knows how to theme - even an ugly shoot- the-chute or a top spin ride. Also try the nice walk-through ghost house or the drop tower. The kiddie ants area is also a real eye popping example of good theming. Overall we can recommend to visit this great looking park - but don`t expect to get entertained the whole day - sadly they need one or two more rides and then this park will become a major league park. Yes, we really liked Happy Valley Beijing and the best looking shoot-the-chute ever a great looking Top Spin more theming show stage theming it is a copy from the mine train @ Walibi Belgium Vekomas superb themed mine train Vekoma goodness (this one is really smooth for a vekoma) with an ants caroussel this is the great ants land the nice spinning coaster by Golden Horse "Oh, I`m a chinese guy and I`m too lazy to go around the park" theming theming the back side of "Crystal Wing" the kind of "Mysterious Island" looking part where a 4-D theatre and the B&M flyer is located here we go - Happy Valley Beijing - one the best looking parks in Asia

the photos of the Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park... another random photo random street photo what goes around goes around weird flat ride the other wild mouse style coaster one of the cool wild mouses (with an adventurous feeling to ride these coasters) the water ride wasn`t ready for a soaking effect (okay it was freezing cold) the corkscrew seems to be rough, but wasn`t the spinning coaster was a bit rough, but okay there´s the layout of the park Yes, you`re right - it was the worm coaster you`ve to pay for every ride - but the ticket boxes where kind of nice (themed to every ride) - and now guess what I rode? china is famous for copying everything - even this coaster is a 1:1 copy from vekoma`s SLC you remember the detail in the middle of the park? the lame mine coaster (it just goes round in the fake mountain) the spaceship earth imitation with the feature 4D film "soarin in the sky" some lame shuttle loop from the chinese manufacture Beijing Shibaolai Amusement Equipment the way to our first chinese credit... Okay, now for you park lovers the first visit on our trip: Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park Our visit was end of march, but they prepare for x-mas right now? for our first chinese snack we didn`t choose these yummy sticks! flying some 10.000 miles and ending in the netherlands??? welcome to China the trip started in cold munich with a flight to Dubai and on to Beijing, China

Hi Guys, it`s been a while since my last trip report on TPR, but I`ve to run our german forum @ www.coasterfriends.de/forum but I`ll never forget the greatest of all message boards and so it`s time now for a review of our great China and Thailand tour (we called it the Thai-Chi Tour) with some parks in Beijing, Guangzhou, Hongkong, Macau, Zhuhei, Shenzhen and last but not least Bangkok, Thailand. We`ve made over 2.000 Photos, but I`ll only upload some 200 to 300 photos in the next days, because I`ve a normal job to do So don`t be too angry that I need some days! For the german guys on this forum: you can read the whole trip in our forum in german. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Part 1: Parks of Beijing Part 1.1: Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park So the pure stats are looking great: 8 coasters, a lot of flat-rides and 2 $ entrance fee (you pay per ride), but the park lacks a lot of atmosphere. The coaster: Feng Shen, a wild shuttle looper, a lame chinese mine train, an old corkscrew coaster, an inverted coaster (a real copy from vekoma`s SLC), two mouse style coaster (they`re looking really crazy and are kind of interesting), a worm coaster and spinning coaster. Most of the coasters are from the chinese manufaktur Beijing Shibaolai Amusement Equipement, which is not really well known (and I know the reason why). So the park is not really themed at all, but features a castle in the middle of the park, some kind of spaceship earth building (inside they show a 4D film called "soarin in the sky" wtf?), a dark ride shooter (the targets didn`t really worked at all and the ride took about 10 minutes with a car speed of less than 0,0000005 mph). The layout of the park reminds me a bit of the Nagashima Spa land in Japan, but just the layout (of course without the signature rides). Overall it was not the thing we waited for, but it was okay for a half day tour through the park.

I`m real lazy in posting these days, but this thread is way too important: so congratulation and all the best for you three guys, Elissa, Kristen and Robb - straight from munich, germany from me and my wife. Andy

Sorry Werner, but I also have to say that Europapark is too busy on a weekend, and I`ve so many visits to this great park (even my wedding was their) - so I`ll never would hit EP on a saturday/sunday if I can avoid it (but most times I can`t avoid it). BUT as wrebbit said, the german holidays depending on the regions. So if you`ll like to hit some parks in the middle of germany like Phantasialand or the Movie Park you`re more lucky because this region called "Nordrhein-Westfalen" has to begin with school on the 6th of august. And you don`t have to be too frightened about our holiday time because nothing is closed and you`ll have probably the most wonderful weather. And all parks don`t have so long queues like in the states! And by the way our south german site www.coasterfriends.de has also a international message section - and yes, we`re friendly too So if you`ve further questions just let me know! Greetinx Andy

I`ll go with Tokyo Disney Sea and I`ll do the Tower of Terror. Why? Because with only one attraction to ride I`ll gonna choose the most beautiful park in the world to just stroll around and have a good time!

Hello Nicole, sorry - no one got this absolutely amazing "Derek stunt" on tape or photo! He first fall on the table and than did a dive with his head first to the other side of the table, right under the table - first we were really shocked and we were a bit frightened if he`s injured - because it looked so strange. But after we saw a smile under the table we knew he`s allright! Man, Derek you should sign a contract on the next Jackass Movie! By the way for Derek, Janna, Dave, Tim, Greg and all who are interested: we`ve added over 140 photos from this evening on our sites (www.coasterfriends.de/forum) And Robb & Elissa: I wanna see you guys visiting Oktoberfest and get some beer with us!

Hi to all you crazy guys and girl(s), thanks Derek, Janna, Dave, Tim and Greg for the real nice words - it was a big, big pleasure meeting you guys and showing you around. Sadly it was way to short and rainy. It`s always great to meet some international TPR members and celebrating with them - so anybody who`ll like to meet up for Oktoberfest 2007 just pm me (if you`re early enough I might can save you some places). And Derek - what a great TR!

1 Beer is about 7,5 Euro that`s 9,5 US$! by the way thanks for Mr. Morgan for posting these great pictures. It`s always funny to see reactions from non-bavarian people visiting the Oktoberfest. I grew up in munich and visited Oktoberfest about 300 times, so we see a lot of things as normal.

Ya, you`re absolutely right! And he did this in nearly 4 hours! I think not a lot of foreigners are used to this!

Hi Guys, first of all I`ve to say that we really, really like Derek, Greg, Tim, Dave & Janna and we didn`t want to make fun about the beer drinking abilities. Maybe it was my fault because I ordered a last round for them. So please Derek don`t be mad about our photos! To some questions: Normal german beer is about 4,5 % to 5 %. Oktoberfest beer is about 6 % to 6,5% plus you`ll drink it even faster than you normally drink beer because it`s really hot in the tents and I think a lot of foreigners forget that it is a 2,1 pint glass (in Europe 1 litre or 34 us ounce) and not a normal glass! So Derek had nearly 4 glasses. So you can recalculate it in Budweiser! 4 glasses is good for a lot of foreigners, but for germans, especially bavarians, it`s really not that big issue. But don`t understand me wrong: we`re no alcoholics! By the way if you wanna try real strong beer you`ve to come to munich end of march. There`s a 4 weeks festival where you`ll get "Starkbier", it has about 10% - 12 % alcohol! And Derek, if we`re coming to the states next september we`ll bring you a bottle of this "Starkbier"

No I`m really sorry for Greg but he just had to drink something called "Spezi", that`s a mix between Coke and Lemonade - and it didn`t make him drunken - so he was the only guy to show all the others the way to the hotel...! Next time I hope everyone is staying until the end!

Hello Nicole, don`t worry about Derek I think Greg brought your man to bed (I hope so)!

Hi this is Andy at 1 am in the morning after a great day at the oktoberfest. Today we met Derek and friends, and I`m totaly drunken so this photo story is damn short. It was the worst weather day of all oktoberfest days so far but that didn`t matter - we had great fun. I told especially Derek that the Oktoberfest beer is much stronger than the normal US Beer but he didn`t want to hear. So I`ve some amazing photos, but missed that dive Derek did over the table! Derek and all the other guys will post all their experience later, but I`ve to say we had a lot of fun! So enjoy these first photos - I`ll post some more on our site in the next days. damn, we loved you guys from the states - but next year listen to our words: THIS BEER IS STRONGER THAN YOU THINK! and this was the place this evening... Oktoberfest is great... okay, so we enjoy ourselves even my girl wasn`t drunken at this time! Hey Derek wake up - this is Oktoberfest, and 4 beer are okay! 9 pm - I told Derek this Munich Beer is much stronger- so look how he listened to me! and the whole tent is enjoying the music... my girl is enjoying the camera... but Derek enjoys his beer... oh I love these girls - I hope my wife isn`t looking... gimme five for this great event... and also Derek... me and my girl are in the right mood also with the big beer glasses Derek is having fun... Welcome the US crew to Oktoberfest 2006

Hi Derek, nice TR so far. Have fun @ Phantasialand. Everything is ready to meet you guys in munich, but sadly it looks that it will rain the whole day (damn we had nine nice sunny days of oktoberfest weather so far and tuesday maybe the first rainy day). But beer will help you to forget the weather outside the tents So see ya Andy

@Derek: Damn - so I`ve to be a nice guy while you`re visiting munich Thank you both for the answers. I think I can handle to miss Rollersoaker and other water rides. When I`m finished with planning this trip I`ll all let you know the details, so you all can tell me your opinions. Thanks again Andy

Thanks Derek for the great photos. I`m planning to hit Hershey next year on my Halloween US Tour. Can you tell me about Hershey`s Halloween: What about the rides (esp. on fridays) are they all open or do they close some rides for Halloween?

So after my last years short TR (you can find it in the trip archive http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19244&highlight=oktoberfest) I`ll know that some of you (esp. Derek and friends) are looking forward to this years Oktoberfest. Today I did a short walk over the grounds (to pick up all my beer and meal vouchers for the upcoming days) and made some photos to give you a small piece of construction atmosphere. Most of the rides are ready, most of the tents are finished and only smaller things have to be fixed. Only one of the new attractions for 2006, the biggest transportable water raft wild`n wet (what a great name ) has to hurry up because in exactly 59 hours it`s time for the biggest fair in the world. The other new additions are the two Walk-Through houses Hoffreuhaus and Futureworld. This years Oktoberfest is going to be the longest with exactly 18 days (normal 16 days) - so this year`s Oktoberfest is maybe going to break some records, depending on good weather conditions. For the first days I`ll visit saturday, monday and tuesday so I`ll post some more photos after these days. See Ya at Oktoberfest 2006 Andy a shot from the back side of the fair last testing for this high-rising attraction the mouse is also waiting the new Futureworld it`s the biggest water raft worldwide the new wild`n wet isn`t (59 hours pre opening!) this ride is ready! the drop tower has to add some seats Olympia Looping is ready for some action todays streets are packed with trucks - on saturday over 500.000 first day visitors will crowd the same streets... the new walk-through "Hoffreuhaus"

Hi, Cop Car Chase is NOT going to close soon. At the moment they`re repairing some things at this ride because it`s in really bad condition (like the whole park). So it`ll be no wonder if they are going to close it in the near future but at the moment they`re trying to reopen it as soon as possible. Greetinx Andy

I visited both parks for a couple of days in april and I would choose Tokyo Disney Sea for the whole day experience and the Disneyland for the second day - why? Disney Sea is one of a kind and Disneyland isn`t. You can do a lot of unique things in Disney Sea, like Journey to the Center..., 20.00 Leagues under, Auqatopia, storm chaser (I can `t remember if it`s the right name) and Sindbad. Also you got those great Trhill Rides Tower of Terror, Indy (Anaheim Version) and Raging Spirits (Indy Paris Version with more theming). So Yes, it`s a lot to do here. But if the park isn`t packed you might have enough time to ride some attractions twice or more. You said you`re not in shows - but don`t miss the nighttime show in the lagoon - it`s really great. By the way, you can do more rides in Disneyland and you might need more time to do everything in Disneyland, but Disney Sea is this unique park. Have Fun in Tokyo Andy