OldJJman

OK. We're now in Guangzhou after flying in from Beijing earlier today. But, I have yet to do "Day 1" pictures, so I'm gonna try and get some of that done. We started out at Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park. After getting our brains and bodies severly bashed on the fake SLC, we ended up doing a bit more culture. We visited Tien'amen square, and the walked (again) the length of the Forbidden City. (Too bad they let us in. That was a lot more walking!!) Our day ended touring a Gov't run silk factory, complete with a fashion show! OK. So some culture may be good. I have no idea how far I'll get. But, we're doing different hotels every day for the next 4 days, so I'll get to it when I can. On to the pics: Robb's POV will teach you new curse words, yet again!! More to come. While in pain, no one can put on a fake smile like Elissa can! Apparently, that's "Batman". Well themed. Still sucks! Oh CRAP!! This turn is gonna hurt! Notice the nice rounded corners! Time for their newest coaster: Spinning Batman. It was very well done. This was the entrance to the new kids area. NERD SHOT! (Call me a plagiarist. whatever.) We've moved along to "Roller Coaster". Whoopee!! Next up was "Spinning Mouse". NOT! It was down all day. Something about missing a part. Oh goody! Elissa was devastated. Chinese Top Scan rip-off. Some of the credit whores were a bit slowewr today. For the lifthill and "Worm" POV enthusiasts. Since the torture device was not open yet, we hit the "Worm Coaster" It looks like your ordinary painful SLC, but the Chinese have managed to make you pay money to use their torture device. Alright. Two coasters down, eight to go. To get to the rest of the park, you had to go across this bridge. First they almost shoot you off the end of the track, and then go so slow through the inversion that you almost fall out. Fun times! This coaster was kind of unique in that you went forward first, so that your first inversion would be going backwards. It's technical name was "A Circle Reciprocal Coaster". Also known as a shuttle loop. Next up, the Feng Shen Coaster. Apparently, the complete name didn't fit on the marquee. Evidently, Chinese miners wore ties, smoked pipes, and had hot chicks to support them. This is Bob and myself. Bob is the "Hoffman Girl's" father. Either thank him, or fear him! First up was the aptly named "Mine Coaster" Cool! We been magically transported back to Epcot. No Butterflies. Ok. Nice map. Other than it was out of proportion and rotated 90 degrees making it strange in the beginning. The entrance to Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park.

I did. I've done a few of various things so far. Of course, a couple of the wall. I'll probably do quite a few over the trip. But, I won't be posting them till sometime after I get home on the 17th. (Besides, I KNOW I wouldn't have finished this one by then anyway! No effort. No effect. Didn't bother me at all. (Except that I couldn't smoke on the wall!!) JJ

Pizza Hut in Beijing was AWESOME!! Anywho, to continue... If you've read this far, Thank You. JJ Day 2 and some (gasp) coasters coming up soon. Even the "Great Wall of China" is not as big of an attraction as KT!! Strengthing US and Chinese relations! Needless to say, it was pretty damn cool!! Hi There!! What you lookin' at??? It got pretty steep for her. KT wanted to do it on her own! The real thing. I am feeling kinda blue and distorted. Kinda like the Chinese version of the "Escalator Ride" at Parque Espana. Being TPR, there was no way we were going to walk up there! So, we opted for the "Alpine Train". Once at Bod-a-ling, you have to walk past this bear exhibit to get to the Great Wall. NOT! Evidently, that is part of a secondary wall built to protect Beijing. THERE IT IS!! Aparently, their never-finished castle is still bigger than Disneyland's. We passed an amusement park that never was completed. Apparently, they ran out of funds and just left it sitting there. Time to hit the road to see the Great Wall of China at a place called Bod-a-ling. Instead of doing the usual inlays in copper, this one is inlaid in gold. They look pretty cool when finished. Time for a quick stop where "Ming" vases were made, and then lunch. These vases are damn inticate! The wall went all around this hill where the emperor is buried (with all of his gazillions of dollars worth of gold, etc... This is the great wall of 3 Ming Tomb.

So after walking a bit, we hopped back on the bus and headed for the tomb of the 3rd emperor of China. IIRC, it's the only one actually open to the public. You can see some of the other tombs in the pics. Let's get cultured! Last building. (This PTR is being interrupted by TPR Pizza Hut TAKEOVER!!) More later Gold ingots from another tomb. (Evidently, the tomb we were at has never been, and will never be excavated) Doesn't this make you believe that Robb was an emperor in the Ming Dynasty in a previous life?? Second to last building. (YAY!) Ornate ceiling. This is our awesome tour guide for Beijing, Frank. He's showing us where we've been, and where we're going. Some building in the middle. The actual entrance. I wonder when they actually figured this out. No caption needed.

Tommi - We left LAX on a 12:30 flight. It was about 12 hours to Seoul, a 2 hour layover, and then about 1.5 hours to Beijing. Day 1 - Culture Day Yes, you read that right, culture. A totally new and strange concept to TPR, and it's readers. Well, let's see what's transpired. Early morning found a few of us wandering around at 5am. The air is clean, and the hotel, definitely cool! Only to be greeted by huksters selling all kinds of crap! (Wait till you see Robb's video!!) More later. ...finally reaching the end! and walked... and walked... So we walked. (Culture my A$$) At least it's Robb approved. This was some sort on famous walkway that emperors made a yearly ritual of walking. Yep. Security check. This is the ancient gateway to the valley where 13 of the 16 emperors from the Ming Dynasty were buried. We are here! This was a cool roundabout we went through. On the way to the Ming Tombs, we passed by the Olympic Veladrome. $11,500 Seriously!! Solid jade. Yours for only $5000! First stop of the day: a jade factory. I love how they can't even afford to enclose this silly building! Evidently, they had some major sporting event here recently. It was odd to see this whole bridge covered with the colorful flags. On the way to our first stop of "culture", we saw some interesting buildings! While waiting for the bus, KT looks into a future career as a veterinarian. If you know what Rich had for breakfast, goody for you! The sun dawning on a perfect day!

Greeting from Beijing!! Unlike Dave, I'm not a writer, so I won't write too much. I do have a tendency to take a lot of pictures, but won't subject you to looking at all of them. I will also try not to get my ugly mug into any of them. Sound good? OK. On to the pics: Day 1 - Culture Day Ming Tombs and Great Wall of China Day 2 - Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park Day 2 - Culture Stuff - Tien'anmen Square and the Forbidden City Day 2 - Last bit of culture stuff Day 3 - Beijing Sun Park Day 4 - Happy Valley Beijing Day 5 - Flight to Guangzhou, Nanhu Amusement park and "BONUS" park Day 6 - Chimelong Paradise Day 7 - Mysterious Island. Day 7 - Pearl Land Day 7 - Bonus credits!! Day 8 - Happy Valley Shenzhen, Honey Lake & Donghu Day 9 - Hong Kong and Ocean Park Day 10 - Ferry to Macau and Macau Tower Day 11 - Hong Kong Disneyland I'll end this part with Robb and his "Green Tea Fanta". Whatever. Look!! We have a "Kentucky Fried Canine" right around the corner! Our rooms had a view of the Brijing Tower. It has an incredible lighting package at night. Unfortunately, the observation level is only open from 8am-5pm. So no pics. As per usual, Elissa sticks us Int'l peeps in hotels where we're told we may only see 5 stars at night. For Joey, it was BEER!! First order of business: FOOD! There is no escaping it!! The TPR goody bags arrived safe and sound. As did Rich's CHECKED luggage! Okey Dokey. This was the awesome mural that greeted us on the way down to baggage claim. I swear. No matter where we go in the world, there is always an "Angry Robb" statue to be found. As always, Elissa's planning is perfect! We're here in between the Olympics and the Paralympics. The Beijing airport was pretty cool, and very modernized. Unlike that craphole we left from, LAX. Now why would you spend $11 to see a crappy movie in a theatre, when on KAL, you have an awesome VOD library, you can spend $1600+ to see the same crappy movie - on a 7 inch screen!! We're in the air. Only 11.5 more hours to go! Of course, if you're old, they stick you in the last damn row of the plane. Another tip - If you fly to the Asian countries, fly Korean Air! These people rock! TPR tipsaver #1 - never pay full price for a child. Make sure you can fit them into an overhead compartment!

Great thread!! I almost always try to ride train rides at every park I've been to. The only one to completely elude me is the one at Disneyland Paris. (A total of 7 days there, and never managed to get on. Lines were always way too long. Sad.) Here are some ones that stand out to me: Animal Kingdom - Great theming, and a nice ride to the zoo. Electric train though. Busch Gardens Europe - Probably the most beautiful trains running. Just love 'em. Lakeside (Denver) - Great, long ride around the lake. Best when ridden at night! Little A-Merrick-A - Great, long ride past makeshift farm and roundhouse. Probably the best of the smaller park trains. Port Aventura - Great ride with great views of the park, and themeing only for those on the train. Also gives unique views of the coasters. Sliverwood - Another long train ride that takes you outside the park, along the highway, and back into the woods for a corny western show. Also has an on-ride commentator that can be very funny. JJ

Here ya go BM. Not the best stitching job, but you get the idea.

I just got around to checking out this PTR. Awesome stuff! Thanks for sharing. Yeah, whatever. You're forgiven. Actually, you never ended the sentence! (no period) JJ

Wow. Biggest slam on this park yet!

Good stuff once again!! Knowing that you're a huge dark ride fan, I think I'm gonna love your review of Winnie the Pooh from TDL. JJ

^Complex vitamins such as Centrum's "Performance" or "Sport" can also help bring the body up to speed for those early morning ERT's. JJ

^ John, you couldn't have picked a much better milestone coaster!!! JJ

I'm no expert, but I am considered the "old" man here so.... You mentioned that it was your second ride that got to you, not the first. I'm assuming that they were some time apart. Perhaps you didn't eat in between?? The one thing I can surely suggest is, contrary to popular belief, make sure you're not riding while on an empty stomach. Obviously, don't gorge yourself, but stay well balanced throughout the day, be it snacks, meals, water, soda, etc.... An empty stomach always has bothered me while riding. Especially during extended ERT sessions. JJ

By the way, where the hell was "IceBat" during all this fun? Huh??? JJ

Once again Shawn, great up date! The information you're giving will be very useful when we get into China next weekend. It will probably save lives at some point! I know that Elissa is LOVING the news about all of the parks having the spinning mice! She loves 'em! JJ

30 Euros?

Wonderful recap Chuck! Almost makes me want to do a PTR! JJ

Dave, as always, wonderful reading. I'm just wondering what you'll really do when you find the carnivorous bees! JJ

Why am I the answer to a trivia question? Again? Heck, I'm not even there!! JJ

I do believe this is true. However, when SF stepped in and bought it, there was a much higher potential for success, as the population base (within less than an hour's drive, I might add) and demographics of the area were/are much more conducive to the Six Flags name. Hence, the success and staying power that the park now enjoys. There are people here that think that the former Jazzland/SFNO was a successful park. It wasn't, and it failed. Hurricane Katrina just sealed it's fate. Hard Rock Park suffers from the same problem that Jazzland/SFNO did. The local population couldn't support Myrtle Beach Pavilion, yet someone thought it was a good location for HRP. Again, the local population cannot support this park. The tourists, aside from perhaps spring break, are generally not going to MB to visit an amusement park. Look at what actually thrives there. Golf courses, beach front hotels and retirement communities. Not amusement parks. JJ

There's nothing wrong with the company that's running it. It is in a VERY BAD LOCATION! The demographics of the area will not support a park of that size. Just like Jazzland/SFNO! Get it through your head. Jazzland was a failure from the beginning. When SF stepped in and bought it, all it did was prolong the inevitable. Just like how the people on the Titanic kept dancing, and the band kept playing. It still sank!! No. Nice try. JJ

Actually, we did ride a couple of these AWESOME Pax rides at Parc Saint Paul just before the beginning of the TPR European trip this year. You can see the pics here. It may look and sound like a kiddie coaster..... BUT, if it's anything like the two that we rode at Parc Saint Paul... It will be awesome!! Those things had SCARY ejector airtime!! I'd ride these in a second! I would love to see more Pax coasters built!! JJ

Wow! I can't believe I forgot Rampage! I rank it higher than KR, and believe me, IMO, Visionland (Alabama Adventure) has NO other redeeming qualities! Good call Joe! JJ