better_by_design

Great report and loved the captions! It was a great event!

OK, it's been WAY too long since my last addition to this read, but here goes... On the same work trip as visiting the JinJiang Action Park in Shanghai, I also spent some time in Beijing. Fortunately, I had been there before, and seen the major tourist attractions. I say "fortunately" as this allowed me to visit a sight even more exotic than the Forbidden City: Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park. Now you KNOW a park is going to be awesome when your hotel concierge tries to stop you from going there: "Hi, can you please write down the address of Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park in Chinese for my taxi driver?" "Ummm... why do you want to go there?" "Well, I really like rollercoasters." "Oh. This place is very old. We have a new place called 'Happy Valley'. I'll get you directions there instead." "No, I've been there before, I really want to go to Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park, please." "Sigh. Well, sir, here is the address. Please be careful and have a good day." See? It's bound to be awesome. After taking a taxi past the Forbidden City, we arrived at BSAP. Or actually drove past the entrance, with a lot of waving and cursing from the taxi driver. I won't post pictures of the backside entrance to BSAP, as it would probably scare you off. Know those threads showing pictures of Six Flags New Orleans after Katrina? It looks like that, with less water damage. As in, you should be filming horror movies there. But actually operating! I felt better when a local Dad was buying a ticket for him and his little girl... well, a little better. Anyways, I'll start the photos at the actual main entrance to the park, nearest the local subway station: Wow, what an epic entrance! Admission is very cheap, on the order of $2. However, that's just park admission... you pay for each ride, ranging from a little less than a dollar for small stuff, up to around $5 for the biggest attractions. All of which means REALLY short lines. You can buy tickets at little ticket booths near each ride, or some folks had sheets with different currency coupons (5 RMB, 10 RMB, etc) that ride ops would tear off at the stations. I didn't figure out how to get these though, and just pointed at a ride, and bought my tickets for each. Again, the place was not busy, and this didn't really slow me down. Here's an idea of the high quality nature of this park What would a trip report be without a map to start out with? A high level view of the park. We'll start on the right side of the train tracks. That's literal, not figurative in this case. The entrance area also had a bunch of posters promoting various attractions and events. These serve to get you excited, and raise expectations, in order to better crush them during your visit. A couple examples: This looks great! Unfortunately, this ride doesn't seem to exist. In this form at least. This ride DOES exist, but it isn't operating. What should I ride first? How about 4D hover??? I have no explanation why this is here. It's hot and June. And Communist! Going past the entrance area, the park looks like... well, a park. At least this area has lots of grass and nice pathways, with some rides scattered about: A Spaceshot! Possibly from S&S! Maybe! Maybe NOT from S&S. It wasn't operating, though I was tempted to see if I could engineer a solution. As you will see, the whole place is (like much of China) filled with "local versions" (ie. knockoffs) of famous brands. When buying a cheap watch or purse, hey you get what you pay for. When building a rollercoaster, the same applies... which is why a lot of the rides here kinda sucked. It nothing else, the place was very, VERY unique! The entrance to Canyon Driftage. Actually vaguely impressive. Plus an AWESOME name. Their raft ride was actually pretty decent, and decently themed! See? Actually pretty decent! Another point on the "knockoff" front is that Disney came after them for using imitation characters... and frankly a lot of design elements. More on that on the other side of the park in a later update. Storybook characters! And look, a rollercoaster! The first ride here is a very similar design to the shuttle loop coaster at JinJiang Action Park in Shanghai... except much worse! As was related in a trip report from Robb, when going through an inversion, you don't actually want to feel the train banging against the upstop wheels. This was easily the scariest ride I had been on... to this point in my life. What's not to love about elegant, descriptive ride names like "coaster"? So, funny story... after not dying on 'coaster', I stopped to take some pictures in honor of surviving the ride. The only other non-Chinese I saw that day at the park were just getting on a couple trains after me. To relate the conversation I could hear going on between father and son: "Don, I think I'm going to die!" "Why Dad, what's wrong?" "They just wrapped the seat belt around! And tied a knot!" "It'll be OK Dad! Just hold on tight just in case!" You see, the restraints are typical Arrow-ish OTSR types... with bonus seat belt. But the seat belt goes from the floor of the train to the restraints... and instead of clicking into the restraints like on a B&M inverted for example (or for that matter, the near identical shuttle loop at JinJiang Action Park) they just wrap the seat belt around the restraints. Not exactly a confidence builder. Add this to the shuddering and CLANG feeling going through the loop, and the terror factor is a lot higher than the ride type would indicate. "coaster" lift hill "coaster" loop... aka, The Loop of Death. I mentioned that a lot of this park looks creepy and abandoned, right? Next up was BSAP's mine train... which didn't suck. It was a mine train, with a fake mountain, and was pretty speedy, had some laterals, and both didn't hurt, and didn't imply that it would potentially kill its riders, so win! Mine train station The big bonus was the incredibly creepy "miner" dummies around the station: To add excitement, zombies attack you in the station, so you flee in terror via the coaster. OK, not really, but they were creepy. Also guarding the station was this. Mummified miner? Zombie solider of the People's Liberation Army? You decide! Oh, and interestingly, they used the 'peak' of the mine train mountain as a launch area for ziplines. Going back to the earlier comments on not getting killed this day, I declined to ride them. Low rent Chinese ziplines? No thank you. It was a hot day. Fortunately they had this attraction, the Pink Car Nap Zone. Next up was another bit of oddness... from around the park you could see what looks like (from a distance), EPCOT's Spaceship Earth. Turns out this is actually a low rent version of Soarin'... which adds to the weirdness. It's a darn similar ride system, but with a cheap computer animated "soaring over China" film. Something about Spaceship Earth seems a little off here... "Soarin'" only runs at certain times of day, and I had some time to kill... so I visited this nearby, very unique attraction: Deer World! Awesome! It's like a park-within-a-park concept. Basically you buy a ticket to get into "Deer World", then you pay an ancient Chinese man for several packets of food... and use of a long handled metal spoon to feed the animals. I'm a cute little deer! Please feed me! I'm a big scary ostrich! Feed me or else! OK, so Deer World was crazy and more than a little sad. The whole experience was pretty sad. Though unique! Where else can you feed an ostrich? Overall though, I'd be cheering for PETA or the SPCA to shut this stuff down... clearly the animals aren't living a good life in "Deer World". The American Adventure is right beside Chinese Soarin' Spaceship Earth. And it's about guns & gangsters. Lastly was "American Adventure" which is a grinding ride through several shooting gallery scenes where you machine gun away at various targets. It's a the sort of ride you could build in your spare time in an empty warehouse if you had a few bucks and weren't married and wanted to get a reputation for being super, SUPER creepy. Oh, did I mention it's called "American Adventure" and is right beside "Soaring over China inside Spaceship Earth"? OK, that covers this half of Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park... join us for the next update, where we go across the railroad tracks for more credits, more cheating of death, and yet more WEIRD ASS CHINESE THEME PARK ACTION!

The car is packed - can't wait to get on the road to Atlanta, SFOG, and our first TPR event! Plus, you know, getting to ride what I will refer to as "Anton's other Mindbender" EXCITED!

The mystery of the Space Water Fountains may never be solved. And yes, the Saturn V is a real rocket. It used to sit outside (like the other one in Houston) until they figured out the weather wasn't being kind to it, restored it, and built a building to hold it safely for perpetuity. Which is pretty darn awesome, methinks. Plus it's WAY more dramatic to have a door open, then *wham* see it sitting there. And someone correct me on this, isn't the Launch Control room in the opening part of the Saturn V center the actual old school consoles and such? I seem to recall they kept them after an upgrade and installed them in there. In Houston, Historic Mission Control sits empty as it's a national historic site, so a new control room had to be built nearby. If you want really old school history, they used to (and may still do) offer a "Then and Now" tour of the old Mercury-Redstone facilities, including the blockhouse where they launched Alan Shepard & Gus Grissom from... with battleship steel armor, and electronics that came from 1950's scifi. And a farm-type scale to determine if the rocket was full of fuel. Yes, I'm a giant space nerd.

Hanno, Thanks for whetting my appetite for Japanese Disney once more! I may have a chance to visit for the first time (stopover on a business trip) soon... unfortunately if so, it will be a weekend day. I keep hearing (and seeing!) how big the crowds are at DisneySea... are the lines crazy/FastPass only, or are all the locals there to chase Duffy around? Be brutally honest! I'm trying to set my expectations for how much of this beautiful park I can see in a single day...

Just registered - for me AND my wife. It's our first TPR event, so be gentle!

Love the pics of Olympia Looping! Was fortunate enough to go to Oktoberfest a few years ago and this makes me want to go back... or to any German fair, really. Seem to recall some idea that Olympia Looping was being sold / shut down? It was like coming home, having grown up on West Ed's Mindbender as the only significant rollercoaster near home. Would love to try out Alpina Bahn too!

Very cool! (yes, pun intended...) I've been to the Nashville Gaylord Opryland for their Christmas festivities before, including ICE! and liked it, though it is pretty spendy for each event. The Gaylords all aim at business clients with expense accounts, and their restaurants are ALWAYS pricey. Pretty darn good, but you definitely pay a premium for dining "on property". Which, when I'm there for a convention is fine, but on my own dime, not so much. The Holiday shenanigans are a very cunning way for them to drive tourist business during a time no one is booking conventions. Interesting to see Dreamworks pimping themselves out like this and with their deal with Royal Caribbean on the new mega cruise ships. Where else will they pop up? Beautiful resorts, and always an attraction in themselves just to walk around!

Like everyone else is saying - Congratulations! And thank you for the inspiration - as one who has to work to avoid Big Boy Seats and the dreaded "Walk of Shame" on some coasters, much respect!

So, a brief somewhat cultural interlude before heading to the next crazy Chinese theme park... and technically this does include a coaster! In case you thought bad news headline puns were an American phenomena Shanghai's show off Apple store beats NYC's cube... because the Chinese have tubez. Anyone want some chicken(s)? Xiao Long Bao (Shanghai Soup Dumplings) are one of the greatest culinary creations in the world OK, so there's actually a credit in this! One of Shanghai's most recognizable landmarks is the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. If nothing else, you have to admit it is pretty unique. The locals have a nickname for it - they call it the same name as for a skewer of fresh fruit. The tower isn't just a simple observation tower - admission gets you elevation to either the main top "pearl", or if you pay more, an additional claustrophobicly packed small elevator up to the "pinnacle" tiny "pearl". After taking pictures, enjoying vertiginous views through the massive glass floor observation deck, you then descend to the lower "giant pearl". Here, somehow called "Space City" you enjoy various attractions highly reminiscent of Japan - capsule machines, claw games, 360 degree fighter simulator, motion theater, 4D movie in a box, arcade games, etcetera. The big attraction is Space Switchback, billed as "the world's highest enclosed rollercoaster" which I can't really debate. It's dark, has poor dark ride scenery, but is, indeed a rollercoaster. Indoors. Up in a tower. Space Switchback isn't thrilling, but it doesn't hurt, gets a little speed in places, and mostly just is unique. AND! included in your admission ticket to the tower. Once again, I am not qualified to enter a Chinese attraction. I, for one, am glad our new Chinese overlords see fit to ensure elevator buttons are sterilized. These are currently the two tallest buildings in China. The larger one has a fancy name, but I prefer "God's Bottle Opener". Here we see the world's tallest observation deck, including some of the world's highest observers. The WFC is actually a really striking building. Fun fact: the hole at the top was originally supposed to be round. Circles have a lot of great symbolism in China. Unfortunately, someone figured out that it would also bear a striking resemblance to the Japanese "Rising Sun" flag when viewed from the main part of Shanghai in the morning. Also: The 128 story Shanghai Tower is being built on the next block to these two buildings. When finished it will be the undisputed second tallest building in the world, after the Burj Kalifa in Dubai. You know, until the Saudis, Russians, or other Chinese people get excited about beating the record. Again. Through the pollution is the sight of Shanghai's Expo 2010... the red reverse stepped building is the China pavilion, which will soon permanently open. Tie giant egg is a permanent theater. Also, something I missed the first time I visited the Pearl Tower was the Shanghai City Museum... again, included in admission. It's in the bottom level once you get off the elevators, but before you run out of the tower. Many, MANY models (some impressively detailed) of the city, and lots of well done dioramas portraying the historical life of the Shanghainese. Of course, it wouldn't be China without some Chingrish and some anti-foreign-white-devil-imperialist sentiment. No one likes a city infested by foreign adventurers. The museum is filled with exhibits like this, demonstrating how Chinese women managed to balance work and having a family. See you later Shanghai! Hoping to get pictures of my visit to Beijing Shijingshan Amusement Park up soon! You know any place the hotel concierge tries to get you NOT to go to is going to be great!

No bug issues that day, thankfully. It had been raining the day before, and most of that morning, so that may have kept them under control. And "Engrish/Chingrish" signs (and their other foreign equivalents) are one of my favourite things to document when overseas! I'll be adding to this thread in the next couple days, hopefully folks stick around... it gets weirder! Thanks for the comments!

A month or so ago, I got back from a 3.5 week trip to China & Hong Kong. (Yes, I know Hong Kong is technically part of China, but that's like saying the UK is technically part of Europe - the money is different, and try telling that to someone who lives there. And you still need a passport & visa to go between them, and by the way, there's still a moat full of laser armed sharks separating them). On said trip, I spent some time in several cities, including Shanghai. And when I go places (especially places I've been to before) I try to go to their theme parks. In Shanghai, that should have included Happy Valley, to ride their awesome collection of coasters, including what would have been my first Intamin Megalite, and China's first (only?) wooden coaster. Sadly, I was there to work (stupid job!) and the only full day I had free was pouring rain. Consolation prize? A few hours on the afternoon I was leaving Shanghai... and a quick trip to Jin Jiang Action Park. It may not have the great rides that Happy Valley does, but it does have a certain charm. And more importantly, enough weirdness to make it entertaining. One advantage of Jin Jiang over Happy Valley - much closer in to the city, as it is much older. It's also conveniently located alongside a major freeway and surrounded by apartment buildings... which gives it an odd aura. Not something that happens in the US, much. Admission is cheap, and then it's pay-per-ride. They happily sell a combo ticket that includes 6 rides of your choice, for around US$20. At the back of the park is a typically huge Chinese observation wheel, which has a separate ticket. These pictures make a roughly counter-clockwise walk around the park. The entrance to Shanghai's local neighborhood amusement park: Jin Jiang Action Park! Inside the gate, we discover that the Eiffel Tower is yellow... er... GOLDEN! (and GIRAFFES! Who knows why?!?!?) See what I mean about the apartment buildings? This year is apparently going to bring a new addition, a Giant Inverted Boomerang. I'm sure it'll be named something catchy, like "Inverted Boomerang Rollercoaster" but as the station is yet to be built, who can say? Given the size of the park, this is an excellent call as a new addition: appropriately imposing looking while being very compact. Plus, it's right alongside a major freeway, which is like free advertising. Maybe it'll be named after the road? But then "Middle Ring Road Madness" may not be catchy enough. The new hotness. (Not pictured: I apparently missed taking a picture of their Zamperla Motocoaster. It looked to be a stock traveling fair unit, though fun!) Next up: What I'm guessing is the oldest coaster they have. Mainly because they named it "Rollercoaster". As others have noted on here, a very unique Chinese design - not launched like other shuttle loops I've been on, the train is pulled forward out of the station, up an incline, then across a flat bit of track, then released... flying through the station, loop backwards, incline backwards, forward through the loop, brakes into station. Pretty smooth, all things considered. As old as the trains are, I felt better when the ride ops honed in on me, Mr. Foreign Tourist to ensure my OTSR were locked over my Mr. Foreign Tourist size body, and the seat belt clipped into them properly. This will contrast dramatically with another park later. This was also the first encounter on this trip with the fascinating behaviour of Chinese women on rides - when with their husbands/boyfriends/fathers/girlfriends/whoever, before the ride, they are all giggly, and acting like they are about to faint from the idea even, of going on such an INTENSE, EXCITING adventure. On the ride, they are incredibly stoic and maybe just enjoying it a bit. No screaming. Afterwards, back to giggling, nearly fainting, delirious at having survived. to match up to this, the menfolk tuypically act all Chinese machismo: "Oh baby, I'm strong, this is nothing for me. I KNOW KUNG FU! You're so weak & silly!" And then they start acting like little kids on the ride, screaming and almost fainting. I've sort of started assuming the before and after is mainly an act to make it all more dramatic and the woman appear more delicate and fragile, the man more, well manly. Thoughts? Anyone else notice this? Original naming! This is not just a rollercoaster loading station... it is a loading station for Rollercoaster Not play... if gestation, wenerable age, soak in wine. Next up was a pretty original creation... a powered indoor coaster, the Karst Cave coaster. Hidden away in a decent looking mountain, it offers intriguing twist... not a great ride though. The interesting idea: You go through twice. The first circuit, in the dark cavern. Then, you roar through the station (at like 10 MPH) which has "time travel" lighting effects... then you go through the ride a second time with lights on... revealing DINOSAURS! You have obviously traveled from boring current day cave to ancient prehistoric times through the power of inline Chinese lighting technology! You bravely whoosh past said dinos, and back into station. Cute idea, really. Karst Cave Coaster! No word on coyote trying to kill roadrunner 'round these parts. Nearby they have a well themed looking whitewater raft ride. Past that my friends is one of the things that more than any other theme park ride in the world has tested my sanity and grip on what we generally call "reality". Yes, I speak of JOYLAND. Among other animals, a duck without pants welcomes us to "Joyland" Other, braver souls have documented the interior of this landmark attraction. All I will say is that I was very glad I did not speak Chinese that day. Perhaps only not being able to comprehend the song in the ride saved what shreds of sanity I have left. For a better description of what they were going for, read this sign: YOU MUST READ THIS SIGN! In short, the folks running this park devoted a pile of money and a good chunk of space trying to build an analogue of IASW. And they succeeded, sort of. Kind of like how fake Chinese iPhones look like iPhones, but aren't at all like iPhones. This ride alone makes visiting this park worthwhile for a true theme park lover. I mean, whoa. (On a side note, whenever I think I should try to do something, say, in my yard better left to a professional who knows what they're doing, in an attempt to save money, I can just think back to JOYLAND, and remember to leave stuff I'm not really good at to the professionals. Just a thought. The more you know.) Golden Horse Spinning Coasters are as common in China as fried rice and KFC. Next door to the epic JOYLAND is a staple of the Chinese amusement industry. And they don't suck. Except for the incredibly rough, nay, painful, "straightener" right before unloading. Basically there's a giant bar that whacks the cars straight before you get to the unload spot. Be facing to far out of line, be unprepared, and it's like the coaster car heavy weight punches you in the side. Other than that, fine. They also had lots of fun games. Though food looked a bit worrying. They need this game in the US. At ACE conventions. Or our local Buffalo Wild Wings. The park is surprisingly pretty in spots. Also: A weird obsession with self propelled / pedal type monorail type rides... at least 2 here (plus an actual monorail, SBNO). And a boat ride. Through a tiger. And then, there's this - how many times has a ride gone into a lion/tiger mouth... and then come out it's butt? All in all, an interesting park. Affordable. Easy-ish to get to. And new hotness on the way! WOLVERINES! More to come...

SO, long time reader, infrequent poster... In the past few years, I've been lucky enough to get on several major overseas trips with work. And unlike my, let's say "less funloving colleagues" (and not like anyone on TPR!) if I happen to be near a rollercoaster, I'm going to try to ride it. I'll also probably take pictures of it. And so, I decided I'd take the leap of sharing some of this with you, the kind and polite people of TPR. Be gentle with me. First stop: Shanghai. ---------------------------- EDIT: Added navigation links to the different posts & parks: June 2011: Jin Jiang Action Park, Shanghai: Just A Local Family Park Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower: Observations & Hidden Credits Beijing Shijiangshan Amusement Park (BSAP) Part 1: With Your Arrival, Departs Your Sanity BSAP Part 2: From Bigger Budgets Comes Stranger Things BSAP Part 3: The End! (of the world as we know it) TBA: Fall 2011: Tokyo Disney, Ocean Park, and Shanghai Happy Valley February 2012: Dubai: Wild Wadi & Mall of the Emirates Ferrari World & the Grand Mosque, Abu Dhabi Dubai Mall/Sega Republic & Orphan Elephants May 2012: Coming soon: Europa Park, Porsche Museum, the Jardin d'Acclimation, and Disney Paris. 2013: Coming Soon: Tokyo Disney Sea, Universal Studios Japan, Universal Studios Singapore Efteling (The Netherlands)

Robb, thanks again for all the work in putting up these great updates while on tour! I assume you have somehow mastered the art of not sleeping! Particularly loved the video of the Intamin Gne 1 drop ride... takes me back to my youth spent at West Edmonton Mall on the DROP OF DOOM! "Waiting for the KERCHUNK!"

Sounds like a great trip! And thanks for the extensive photos, I will hopefully be hitting both these parks for the first time this year and appreciate the fresh take on them both!

I've had a Canon DSLR for a few years - my next upgrade will be a new body so I can shoot HD video with my DSLR It's pretty amazing the video quality you can get from the newer (even entry level) DSLR's. Can't wait to get to Holiday World in a few weeks! Last year was my first visit, and I am dying to try Wildebeest - hopefully the Timberliners will be running by then too.