Gutterflower

Another batch of pictures. The park name has been confirmed as Visionland. That Cinema ride in the first pic is enormous.

A kidzania opened in London a little while ago. I'd love to take my Niece along but have always been worried the experience would be similar to how you've described how the USA version went. It does look great but i feel it may not work as well in the British culture. Although at the moment as it's in London I assume they are just teaching the kids how to strike

Some of you may remember the Great Mall of China project being built in ther east of Beijing. First announced almost 10 years ago the project was due to have three fairly major coasters but after years and years of delays it never got off the ground. The park was originally meant to be built by Berjaya the people who own Berjaya Times Square and Supersonic Odyssey in Malaysia but has now had several owners it seems. The history of the project is somewhat confusing but the park was due to open a vertical lift Vekoma coaster seen here Which Vekoma still have track for at their plant in the Netherlands. They were also due to open a Vekoma Motorbike coaster which may have been partly installed and a Premier Sky Rocket 2. The Sky Rocket 2 itself has an interesting history as I've read the ride was fully fabricated for the park but with its continuing problems was sold on elsewhere. I've read in different places the ride ended up as both Sky Scream and Phobia Phear Coaster and never been able to prove either. Anyway a couple of Urban explorers recently went to visit the site of the project and it turns out a few rides were installed and that people are still sort of working on the project. Their visit can be read about here. http://burbex.org/2016/09/26/the-great-mall-of-china-yanjiao-grade-a/ A couple of highlights here. A forlorn looking Zamperla sits in the middle of the giant structure Supports for what could well have been the Vekoma Motor Bike stand like a blue stone henge Another Zamperla ride sits waiting for riders that i doubt will ever come More of what could have been the launch track of the motorbike coaster or maybe a monorail ride of some kind. I highly doubt the park will ever see the light of day now but its kind of weird seeing pics of the place half built.

Bigdipper 80 posted this pic in the happy valley chengdu thread http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=72454&sid=9e20586ee29515dcbea09005210bc4e5&start=10 Doesn't quite match the concept art though

Everyone has been sad about 2017 being a bit of a rubbish year for coasters. I disagree. 2017 outside of the USA and Europe looks pretty strong. There a ton of rides I really am excited about. Including a real many i couldn't include here. The Griffon Clone going to Korea for example and Time Machine/Led Zeppelin opening in Vietnam were both missed off this list. Perhaps the ride I am most excited about and maybe you should be too at Warner Brother Australia wasn't included (its not in Asia). Theres a number of rides I am even more excited about for 2018, The Shambhala inspired B&M hyper at Hotgo park in China and the worlds tallest Wing Coaster at Wanda Wuxi which look stunning. But 2017 means 2017. I have tried to choose a varied list of rides here but there really are many more to look forwards to in 2017 time to get those air fares sorted. 10: Visionland in Liuzhou, China has built a brand new Mega-Lite. It may not be a custom design but a Mega-Lite is always a good reason to be excited. 9: Asia Park in Vietnam bought most of the rides from Hard Rock park in the USA. Maximum RPM was the most unique coaster at the park and it has found new life in Vietnam. Due to open in 2017 this is a ride I will be keeping an eye on. 8: Coney Island's Thunderbolt was not that well received by enthusiasts but Zamperla has managed to sell two more for 2017. One to OWA in the USA and the second to Discoveryland in Dalian China. This ride will ditch the linear layout and will be more triangular in shape. While the rides exact layout is unknown I am still interested in seeing how this ends up. 7: Golden Horse have really started to move forwards this last year. Their new in house track design is a massive step forwards and their new invert at Wanda City in Harbin china actually looks rather good. Sharing a layout (although mirrored) with the Beijing Shibaolai ride at Wanda Nanchang the design was provided by Wanda and executed by Golden Horse. 6: The Sun Tzu Park S&S launched coaster has been dead in the water for two years. Track has been on site for an age but it finally looks like the ride is moving forwards. Similar to the Happy Valley rides this launch coaster will be the first with inversions. Anyone who has ridden the other 3 will tell you how good these are. And why you should be excited. The park may be in the middle of nowhere China but it may well be worth the trip when it is finally open. 5: Not one coaster but two here - Happy Valley has been one of the brand leaders in China and they have begun to expand their existing parks. Happy Valley Chengdu is due to open both a B&M dive machine and a GCI wooden coaster this year. Both look rather good. The Dive machine has a similar layout to the bigger models like Griffon and Sheikra but will actually be of the smaller design like Krake. 4: B&M wing coasters aren't the best loved coasters out there but this design at Happy Valley Chongqing looks like it could be rather special. A huge airtime hill follows the rides starting dive drop and that's just to start. This ride seems to blend non inverting elements and the massive inversions B&M are famous for perfectly. I for one cannot wait to see how this turns out. Also that colour scheme pops like almost no other. 3: Vekoma have really come into their own these past few years and this new design heading to Fantawild in Wuhu, China carries on that trend. The ride shares most of its layout with Formula 1 and Energylandia in Poland but replaces the launch with a lift and extends the ending. Vekoma has even more coming soon. Keep an eye on Tema World in Istanbul for more soon. 2: Another coaster that's been on hold for an ages but is finally moving forwards. Intamins Fahrenheit ride at Hershey Park is finally getting a sister ride at Lingshui Marine Park in Hainan China. The ride will have a custom layout and stretch out over the parks shoreline. A massive Dive Loop starts the ride while six more inversions round off a great looking ride (this concept art is not that representative of the ride I'm afraid) 1: If you had told me last year that a Vekoma would be top of my list for rides in 2017 I would have laughed you out of the room but Vekoma's new firestorm coaster for the new Vin Pearl land in Thu Thiem, Vietnam looks incredible and certainly deserves to be top of this list. There are a number of more rides to look forwards to i couldn't include here. The MVR rides for 2017 haven't been revealed yet but as they have been producing arguably the best traditional wooden coasters in the last few years the new Nanning and Handan rides have me excited too. When I know more on any of these rides and the rides above. I'll keep you all updated

That coaster at Sun Tzu is a bit of a mystery. its on site and theres ground work done but nothing has happened yet. couldn't tell you why exactly but perhaps it will go up eventually.

Looks like the ride is now complete. Another couple of pics from the ski slope. but its tough to see the very end.

Following on from this Vekoma just posted these to their Facebook page.

A nice and shiny almost complete Mega Lite. In other news it appears the park name may have been changed to the easier to handle Visionland. At least thats whats written at the top of the launch tower thats just gone up on site. Source

Another update. Mostly showing the GCI going up. Source

First and second inversions are now both in. Looking good.

Another set of pictures of the Mega Lite as it continues to rise.

No new clear shots. But ive noticed the hyper is near a ski run. So using pictures taken at that ski slope at posted to Weibo I've cropped a couple of useful bits out of some random skiiers photos. so to all the random chinese skiers i thank you. Excuse the random heads and body parts. This earlier picture shows the drop out of the S hill under the bridge and into the next rise Then following that rise theres this really weird flat turnaround seen in these two pics. then an airtime hill over the bridge seen above And then finally after that the track bends around the S bend hill on the way back towards the ampersand end of the ride.

Damn I've suspected this has been coming for a while ever since someone mentioned Venus and Zaturn were put up for sale over the summer. Always a park I've wanted to make it to and visit but have never managed.

That video is the Firestorm model they announced at IAAPA. Theres a version heading to a new Vinpearl park in Vietnam and second one to a park in China.

Update from the park. Including a couple which really get across the mountain location of this park. Could be quite a view. Photos show the B&M wing coaster, GCI wooden coaster and golden horse mine train as well as the large Ferris Wheel currently going up.

^Larry - I've just updated the whole first post to December 2016. I must admit I've not kept as up to date as I do with the China stuff but I think its all there now.

Thanks Sea World for a timely reminder to update this thread as well In a shocking twist the UAE managed to open three of the parks on the list this year. Only one of them fell into the failed list and two more have been announced while one slipped back two years to 2020. a 3 to 1 ratio is certainly better than previous years.

Didn't really want to start a separate topic for this but its interesting none the less. Long Gu Wan Dinosaur Park in Guangxi has added a new Golden Horse SLC which uses the new track system seen at Wanda Harbin. This ride will open first though and is due to open on the 1st of January. Interestingly it keeps the same Kumali/Shenzhen style layout we have seen before but looks a whole lot smoother. Dare I say it even looks good?

While this picture doesn't show anything new it is a nice shot of the start of the hyper coaster This shot Isn't great but shows the start of the next element to the left after the S bend shaped hill. Nice dive under the bridge and the rise into what looks like a dropping turn around.

And now all topped off. Always surprises me how short these actually are yet still produce such a good ride.

Up goes the Intamin Mega Lite

MuziFulun has posted these two pictures of the new B&M wing coaster at Chongqing Happy Valley. While its good to see progress on what appears to be an huge airtime hill as the second element he has perhaps gone a bit overboard on the photo shop sky

The hyper at Dreamworld continues to rise. Ampersand and all.

Up we go I've heard this may be the last ever SLC built using this design with Vekoma switching to a newer design soon.