milst1

Not really. I managed to load Taiwan maps onto my existing Garmin, and you're right, they were in Chinese. However I had exact locations for the parks pre-entered via latitude/longitude coordinates and the GPS was sufficient to give me "turn left" and "turn right" Cool. For some reason I couldn't get a Taiwan map product for my U.S. and Europe Garmin units (nuvis 770 and 775 - wrote to Garmin and they said not possible), but I was able to take the list of theme parks from the Taiwanese unit and match the Mandarin characters to the parks on my itinerary. Took a couple of hours but it worked just fine. I even had the Chinese female voice on speaker for laughs. Her "recalculating" is much less accusatory than the English voice I usually use.

+1 Awesome!

Just to give a plug for the Netherlands, there are many excellent childrens' parks within a few hours drive of each other. Aside from the world-class Efteling are Duinrell, Drievliet, Hellendoorn, Koningin Juliana Toren, Slagharen, BillyBird Park Helmelrijk, Speelstad Oranje, Duinen Zathe, and Drouwenerzand. All of these have children as main target market. These are the one's I've been to and there are some others that I haven't yet been to, namely De Valkenier and DippieDoe.

Let me publicly credit Richard with advising us on our itinerary and helping us avoid the crazy driving, although there were some difficult stretches, namely to Atayal from Taipei and then from Sun Moon Lake (near Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village) back to Janfusun. All of this will be coming in future installments. Incidentally, Richard, did you have a truly English-language GPS? I bought a GPS in Taiwan with operation buttons that were easily set to English (a nice Garmin nuvi 1300 for about US$150), but all destination listings and street names were in Chinese characters. I managed to work with it and it proved invaluable, but I wondered, did you have pinyin listings? The GPS offered by the car rental firm had the same issue. Just wondering. I was unable to buy Taiwan maps for the two Garmin GPS units that I already had in my possession. Disclaimer: I own shares of Garmin. And yes Indeed, that is an ECC lanyard. And that is my wife Cheryl (thanks, Elissa!). We have a few of those lanyards and we're ECC members, although we've only done a single ECC event. Thanks for checking out the report. As you know, missing credits due to both reasonable and unreasonable circumstances is a big part of this game. Thanks everyone for taking a look.

Nice report, Elissa. I appreciate the kids' perspective. I try to notice when parks put in special little touches for little guests. I think I remember lower sinks and mirrors in the restroom for little boys when we were there in February. Nice stuff. And you really should check out a Star Wars film or two. They're actually good!

Day 1: Farglory Ocean Park, See Below Day 2: ShanGriLa, Window on China, Leofoo Village Day 3: Atayal and Discovery World Day 4: Janfusun Fancy World Day 5: Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village Final Days: E-DA Theme Park, Taiwan High Speed Rail, and Taipei 101 In our never ending search for credits that will (hopefully) not duplicate future TPR trips that we would like to do, Cheryl and I found ourselves going to Taiwan for my Spring Break. Yes, this kind of trip is a major pain in the ass if you don't speak/read Mandarin and you don't have Robb and Elissa doing all the work for you! Nonetheless, we met on the other side of the world, with Cheryl going JFK-NRT-TPE and me going AMS-BKK-TPE. Taiwan is an interesting place. The official name is Republic of China, as opposed to the much bigger People's Republic of China. The ROC took power from the Emperor on the mainland back in 1911, but then had to retreat to Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War when the Maoist Communists revolted in 1949. Since then, Taiwan has been able to behave as an independent country, thanks to U.S. aid, although the U.S. shifted its formal recognition to the PRC in 1979. Taiwan has become a democracy, so the U.S. remains supportive, even while the PRC has threatened to take Taiwan by force. In spite of the ever-present Chinese threat, the Taiwanese are friendly and tolerant. They don't have a seat at the U.N. and they get called "Chinese Taiwan" in the Olympics. Nonetheless, Taiwan is economically successful and industrially developed. We really enjoyed our visit. Day One: A lovely little park called Farglory Ocean Park in Hualien, a city on the eastern coast of the island. Yay! Notice that the women don't wear no tops. Actually, there are a lot of hot springs in Taiwan. Yikes. But apparently just a precaution. Cheryl flew from NRT but didn't have to get checked. The reasonable rate for the hotel made sense when we realized that we had to share our room with the hotel's mascot. The next morning we found ourselves at Songshan, the mainly domestic airport in Taipei. Because, yes, some stupid people will get on a plane for the chance to ride a Vekoma Junior. The drive from Taipei to Hualien is simply too arduous, and the train was too slow for us to do a day trip. Beautiful downtown Hualien, Taiwan. Welcome to Farglory Ocean Park! Most Taiwanese parks have a zany cast of mascot characters. Nice theming. The park is on a mountainside, so everything is on levels like Tibidabo, and you have to take escalators or ramps to get up and down. The payoff is these amazing Pacific views as you get to higher levels of the park. Unfortunately this great looking flume, Pirates of El Dorado, was down. Beach Balls ride. Notice that the park is sort of dead. This was a mixed blessing. Small crowds and short queues were great, but since school is still in session and the weather is good, parks do a lot of maintenance work, which led to more than one credit missed. But we didn't miss this credit. One of the nicest settings for a Vekoma Junior ever! Here it is in action! Here's that sign. Here's that section of the park from the sky ride. Great sky ride views. Swingin' Shells and Castle Alas, the missed flume ride. We did not watch any shows, but the park is big on seal and dolphin shows, plus other aquatic exhibits. Gotta love these views. Ferris wheel and flume. We were very pleased with the merch selection. After the park, we visited the Taroko Gorge, Taiwan's most popular natural attraction. It's within an hour's drive from Farglory Ocean Park. One could easily do a report just on the gorge, but I'll just give you a few looks. It's pretty amazing. Gotta wear a helmet in some places. Tourists have been bonked and killed by falling rocks. There are a lot of shrines and buddhas too. Well, thanks for checking out Day One of our Taiwan coaster tour! Go to page 2 for Day Two at Shangrila, Window on China, and Leofoo!

Nice report, Adam!

Tiger loose on a truck? Great great report!

Ooh, we've run across a honey museum near Janfusun Fancyworld here in Taiwan!

That line about not looking "delicious" had me in stitches. The jet ski ride looked great. And fish detectives? The world needs more of them. Thanks for the swell update, Chuck.

I am very psyched. My next park will be Sunday at FarGlory Ocean Park in Hualien, Taiwan.

You're right, Larry, about AirRace. I'm not really a flats person, so I did overlook that. Good point. And yes, Moose, only a few of the 8 million residents of NYC are going to say "hey, that's not accurate". Thus my rant.

Mayor Bloomberg's office issued a press release yesterday that annoyed me. (You can read it here) It said, in the big headline, that the two new Scream Zone coasters are the first new roller coasters at Coney Island since the Cyclone was built in 1927. What? Two seconds of browsing rcdb reveal that, including those built last year, there have been (at least) 8 roller coasters introduced at Coney Island since 1927. Not surprisingly they have led with the inaccurate but flashy headline. Later on, buried in the text of the release it qualifies the claim and says that these are the first new major roller coasters since the Cyclone in 1927. Okay, the revised claim ignores the Bartlett/Miller Flying Turns coaster that was at Steeplechase Park in the 1930's. Seven of these were built in the 30's and '40's. If Knoebel's ever gets theirs going, this generation of fans can decide if it was "major" or not. The qualification also implies that Zamperla builds "major" roller coasters. Ugh. I guess what this shows is that Coney Island, the birthplace of the archetype of the American amusement park, has fallen on such hard times, and for so long, that the addition of a Zamperla Volare is considered historic, by no less than the Office of the Mayor of the City of New York. Did you see the video (thanks for posting, Adam) of Mayor Bloomberg "releasing" the slingshot? A gaggle of sophisticated New Yorkers who've never seen an attraction that can be found at downscale beach boardwalks. And they think this transforms Coney Island into a world class attraction? One reason I voted (again) for Mayor Bloomberg was the brilliant Coney Island re-zoning and the defeat of Joe Sitt and the Thor Equities plan to bulldoze the history and turn Coney Island into a mall. But the administration's rhetoric implying that Zamperla is the be all and end all of amusement manufacturers and operators is maddening. The only thing world class about Coney Island right now is its history, which the Mayor's Office found fit to ignore entirely. Don't get me wrong, it's my "home park" and I love being there. But Zamperla was not the choice to create world class experience, at least not in the near term. I hope I'm wrong and they go on to build the Zamperla version of Mack's Europa Park. That would be fine by me if Zamperla steps up their game and starts building and installing serious rides. But even the Macks put in a B&M. Thanks for listening to my rant.

Thanks for the new comments!

Witty and clever and informative and entertaining as usual, Chuck!

Yes Larry, I do it to drive you mad! Ha ha ha ha! Sorry, already such a long TR. You can find a number of additional photos with labels starting at http://bit.ly/eVjPWy Thanks for the warm wishes. And thanks for the comments everyone. Elissa, Apiland could be a TPR kids classic. Unfortunately the pacing leaves something to be desired so the magic is gone after the first 15 minutes. Just kidding, it's not that long. I leave you with shocking video containing several bad "bee" puns.

Nice report. I miss home.

I've wanted to check this park out for some time. Might actually get there this season. Nice report. Thanks for the history notes.

Cheryl and I celebrate *both* of our birthdays *and* our wedding anniversary within a 5 day period in early April. The anniversary fell on the weekend so we booked for Paris and went on a credit hunt around the City of Lights. CDG from the Hilton. My license expired on my birthday and I forgot the temporary, so Cheryl's driving this time while I navigate. First stop, Parc Asterix! My kind of Gaul! And the line jumping begins! It's opening day! First stop is Vol D'Icare, or Flight of Icarus. Nicely themed. It's a Zierer Hornet, which you may not have heard of, because there are only 2 of them. Two car trains. I think someone is getting a boob credit. Ahh, Spring! Nice family ride. Nice boat ride. Heide Park has the same model. Across the lagoon lie our next two targets. First up, Tonnerre de Zeus! This is definitely a decent woodie. Non-stop action. One of the better CCI's. Uh, thanks Zeus! Next stop, Goudurix, a Vekoma looper/corkscrew/batwing headbanger. Queue wasn't bad. It was a really nice day. We did not have any interest in riding this again. French food is amazing. Next was the tiny little Zierer Tivoli... ...Les Ronde des Rondins. It's hidden away pretty well but rcdb has good notes on how to find the thing. Don't confuse that Zierer Tivoli with Periferix... ...which is *also* a Zierer Tivoli, but the medium instead of the small. Finally we have La Trace du Hourra... ...which is apparently the only Mack Bobsled that isn't themed as a bobsled. And the only Mack bobsled without white track. A little bit of Asterix shopping. Now we drive into Paris, park, and walk a few blocks. And if you park at the VINCI lot and take le petit train to Jardin d'Acclimatations, you get a discount! Here comes the train. Which takes you to the groovy little park. There was live music, public art, pony rides, and even a little market set up to promote tourism to former French colonies. There are a bunch of kiddy flats, and then there's this Reverchon junior spinning mouse. And this French-built non-powered dragon coaster called, appropriately, "Dragon". Vive La France! We're back on the road. Unfortunately, this roadblock thing prevents direct motoring down the Champs d'Elysee. Paris Marathon is the next day. Cheryl's actually run it before. Stinkiest. Marathon. Ever. You probably can't guess where we're headed because this ticket was printed in Dutch. You guessed! Bienvenue! We're here to score one new credit. It's over here in the new Toy Story Playland section. I'm sure this has been discussed elsewhere, but I would have preferred a major new attraction to the 3 off-the-shelf-rides-with-custom-theming they chose instead. RC Racer is an Intamin Halfpipe. Gorgeous landscaping in the queue area. Note cigarette in hand of teenager. Despite signage. Of course we saw this at other French parks too, but we have higher expectations at certain parks. Cute theming, but it's sparse. You've Got A Friend in Me plays over and over. Unfortunately I didn't get any actual vehicle photos. Let me tell you, even though it's a "minor" attraction in my eyes, they set up a queue-length for a "major" attraction. Even with the short ride cycle (much shorter than I'd experienced on Itamin halfpipes at Elitch or NickU@MoA) and 4 more riders than the standard ride layout that has two 8-seat circles, it's a very slow and boring queue for a 1 minute ride. We waited at least 50 minutes and the queue area was filled to about 1/3 of its capacity. Toy Story Playland also has Slinky Dog Zigzag Spin... ...and Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop. Ooh La La! Do they sell these in the parks back in the States? On to our 4th park of the day, Disneyland Park Paris. Unfortunately we're not staying in the beautiful pink Disneyland Hotel shown here...one night was €500, or US$720! This is why we're here, 5th Anniversary Dinner! I was shooting for something like Blue Bayou at Disneyland Anaheim, but... ...actually this was the full character dining experience. Cheryl with Belle and The Artist Formerly Known as Beast. We also saw Perla, Suzy, Sleeping Beauty, and Tiana. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. It's Day 2, and we've driven aboout 2 1/2 hours from Disneyland Paris to Parc du Bocasse. A new park for the TPR Park Index perhaps? We're out in the French countryside. Looks like a Disk-O. And other flats. Then there was this, Apiland. I see the beekeeping suits and I remember the word "apiary". They had beekeeping tools on display. I thought they might have bees behind glass, but it was just empty hives and honey and stuff like that. A local culture walkthrough? No, it was actually a dark ride! A bizarre and long dark ride. Every scene had these little bee kids. There were dozens and dozens of them, like...like a swarm! Apiland even had a credit. It was fairly elaborate and went on for scene after scene after scene. Interesting home made dark ride. On to the credits. One was an L&T Junior coaster called "Speedy Gonzales". The other was the French-built (Soquet) Train de Mine, which was actually a lot of fun and not rough. Train de Mine station, train, and ride op. Other than the kiddie flats, obligatory 4D adventure, and pirate theming, there was this small water park section. I've noticed that many if not most European parks require bikini swimsuits for men. WTF? Au revoir, Parc du Bocasse! We're back on the road to our final park... The attraction park for the whole family... Parc Saint Paul! Get here early or you'll have trouble finding parking. It was a bit like Knoebel's because of the picnic pavillions and the green woodsy setting, but also like Adventureland in Long Island for the general ride quality. There's a Wacky Worm. Wild Train is built by the Russian company, Pax. Formule 1 is another Pax ride. It's basically a wild mouse with tilted track but themed to Forumla 1 racing. There was also a tiger tamer show and you could see the tigers pacing around in cages behind the tent. We resolved to get the credits done quickly before the tigers escaped. There is also this Zamperla spinning mouse. Mini Mouse Cartoon, a Zamperla mini mouse, was the final credit of the trip. Didn't get to hear this baby going, unfortunately. It's really a decent park. And that's the end...of this report! Six parks and sixteen credits in two days in France. Au Revoir!

Simply brilliant, Chuck! Eatin' it up!

Not sure if I posted the year-end total here in this thread already, but in case I didn't, we did 71 parks in 2010. The link below has one photo for each park visited in 2010. Enjoy, and thanks for looking. http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=53562&start=30#p978022

We're credit whoring in San Diego late next week and we'd like to hit Mundo Divertido in Tijuana. Any advice for a quick commando mission into Ol' Mexico from SD? Bus? Taxi? Tram thing I've heard about? Any insight would be useful. Also, they're not showing any hours on their site, so if you know, do they have late-ish hours like Belmont or early-ish hours like Sea World and Legoland? We're thinking Friday. Thanks!

You're right, and I think that several Orlando parks closed their gates due to capacity limits during this past holiday season and I've heard of it happening at KD too. But Magic Kingdom is $82 (i think) for a one day one park ticket, whether in February or at peak times in December or during summer. But at the same time, the hotels in Orlando are much more expensive during December and summer than in February. It makes sense to do all of that discounting during slow times (weekdays, early and late season), but it makes no sense at peak times. If you charge a premium price on the days that are expected to be really crowded, some people will stay away, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The perfect price would be the price that maintains or improves revenue levels while simultaneously discouraging enough people to make the park pleasantly busy instead of absurdly packed. Let's say the park is not so enjoyable when 85% capacity is reached and you expect 95% attendance for a particular day. It's worth looking at a price increase if the percentage price increase is equal to or greater than the expected percentage drop in demand. If a 15% price increase leads to a 10% drop in demand, you've lowered the attendance to a reasonable level and increased your take at the gate in the bargain.

Thanks Larry and Robb. I haven't picked up a SFGAdv Coke can in years and didn't know that the discount was variable. And I forgot that the POP wristbands aren't always for sale at Knoebel's. It's interesting that the parks all discount off of the "published" entry price, but are loathe to charge a premium when demand is extremely high and the park is expected to approach capacity. I guess the queue products capture some of that demand by visitors who are basically willing to pay more than the entry price to enjoy the park. Of course if you set your prices like the airlines do, you're risking being hated like the airlines are. By offering lower prices mid-week, Slagharen moved some of its weekend overcrowding to the less busy weekdays, and less weekend overcrowding led to shorter queues and more in park spending. Or so it was reported in this article.

Awesome comments, thanks guys. Right now, the only park I can identify is Slagharen, here in NL. If you check their ticket buying calendar, the price of admission on that day is based on predictions of how busy it will be. Thanks for reminding me of hard ticket events like MNSSHP and Horror Nights and such.