I was holidaying in Hong Kong with a friend and we decided it would be cool to check out Chimelong Paradise outside of the city of Guangzhou, across the border in China.
It took us a 2 hour KCR intercity train ride to Guangzhou East Station then a 30 minute ride on the recently extended (in January) Guangzhou Metro (subway) and connecting 5 minute bus trip to get there but it was certainly worth it!
It was a weird experience finding the park through the smog by walking along an empty road from the carpark that the bus dumped us at, desperately looking for signs of crowds visiting the park. We did manage to find the park and get tickets all on our own because there were no crowds! There may have been 100 other people in the park that day which you may think is fantastic but the reality was that we had to wait to ride the rides because the operators didn't want to run them until there were enough people on board!
We managed to ride the 10 Inversion Coaster, the Motorbike Launch Coaster and the Half Pipe. Unfortunately the Shoot the Chute, Spinning Wild Mouse and Kiddie Coaster were all closed that day.
To offset these closures we did get on most rides in what we christened "Zamperla land" - an area filled with every Zamperla kiddie ride imaginable, stretching off into the distance. We also got to ride the rafting ride that ensures all riders get thoroughly soaked by passing under a generous waterfall whilst they squeem, thereby ripping their cheap plastic bag ponchos .
We enjoyed our fun day in this weird little park where there is little that is unique, with the 10 Inversion Coaster a copy of Colossus at Thorpe Park, the drop tower looking like a copy of Detonator at Thorpe Park, the Motorbike Coaster a copy of the original at Toverland and the half pipe concept is in a few parks these days.
Add all the rides to the funny attempts at English language signage and you have a fun day out!
Enjoy the pics below and video in the Professional Amateur Videographer Forum:
Weird tiger entrance plaza - I don't get it.
Sounds like it'll be a fun ride, but check out those warnings.
Twisting track = fun but a bit rough for back to back continuous riding.
What an acheivement. Fun coaster but didn't have me running back to ride it for the rest of the day.
10 Inversion Coaster reaches the top of the hill.
Closed spinning wild mouse coaster.
Bumper Cars sound like fun, if they weren't closed for work.
Look, a cleaner hiding behind a tree - we're not the only ones here!
Didn't hang around for 10 minutes to get a pic of the circular ride vehicle when they finally had enouigh people on board to run it.
Fun coaster but nothing fantastic with a short ride time.
Only part of the motorbike coaster visible from the rest of the park because it's hidden down the back.
Hitting the brakes.
Yay, half pipe!
Half pipe, partially through the tree. Note the person standing at the exit taking the on ride photos for sale once the ride is over.
The "Hawaiian Special" burger is very underwhelming compared to the promotional pictures.
Ice Creams taste better when they come in plastic cones!
10 Inversion Coaster as seen from the middle of the park.
Fun but watch your feet if you aren't as short as the locals!
"Zamperla land" when we left at 6pm, with still another hour to go until park close.
Yes, that's a tree, on the back of a truck going through the park. It was joining the mobile crane and cement mixer that were already rolling around during the day.
Sign in the 10 Inversion Coaster station.
Yes to that.
What ever they may be...
Um, what does that mean?
They managed to get "World Class" right on every ad except this one. Ad in the Metro station.
"Spitting around, pissing and littering rubbishes like pericarp and wastepaper are strictly prohibted and are subject to a fine of RMB 50 Yuan." What is pericarp anyway?
Ye be warned. Got to love the Metro warnings!
