David H

Day 11, part 1: Seoul. Children’s Grand Park (sort of.) This will be a quicker than usual update (for me, at least!), for reasons that will quickly become obvious! Well, every trip has an epic fail day, where things get all messed up. Last year, I overslept in Venice by only 20 minutes and missed my train for what would have already been a quick stop at Gardaland to ride their world premiere B&M wing coaster, and later that day passed out drunk in my hotel and missed almost the entire night at a nightclub in Ibiza that that whole leg of the trip was scheduled around (which I’d already paid about $50 for!). Although I guess dislocating my shoulder on a trampoline at one park on that trip and being rushed to the hospital in horrible pain should probably count as a bigger epic fail, but since I didn’t miss any credits, it says something about my priorities that I don’t count that as a bigger fail! This part of this day would probably be the most epic fail of this trip, which wasn’t actually too bad. Again, I slept a bit late, and had two parks on my agenda today. The first park was Children’s Grand Park, which is an amusement park in a city park of the same name, which you can get to by taking the subway to the station of the same name! You can also take the subway to the Achasan stop, which takes you to the back end of the park, which is actually closer to where the amusement park actually is. So, I entered the park and soon found a park map, which showed where the amusement park was – with a sticker over it, which said some Korean words, with the dates of “(2012.6 ~ 2014.3)”, followed by the dreaded words “Under Construction”. Oh, crap! I kind of went into denial about this, hoping that they were just referring to some construction for maybe a new ride or something, and proceeded to walk across the large park to find the amusement park section anyways. Along the walk were a bunch of statues that I took pictures of, since it would be the only real “culture” of the day. Plus, if I didn’t get to ride anything, I could console myself that I got some culture! When I got to the amusement park, I discovered that it was, indeed, the entire park that was closed for renovations. There were fences up to keep people off the site. I couldn’t get any good pictures, though, to be honest, I didn’t really try, since I was kind of annoyed at the situation. Would it have been so hard for the park to put it in an obvious place on their website that they were closed? I could understand if they had just closed a week or two ago, but if the dates I mentioned above were true, they’d already been closed for three months! There definitely was no mention of it on their English website at the time, and if it was on the Korean website, it wasn’t easily obvious, at least when using Google Translate and Babylon. Admittedly, the amusement park is only a small part of the larger park, which includes a zoo area, which was open, so it’s possible that there was a big notice somewhere on the site that I didn’t see. But I managed to get the park hours on the site, even though it wasn’t open. At least hopefully some other enthusiasts can learn from my mistake, since RCDB has been updated to note that the park will be closed until at least March 2014. Well, there wasn’t much I could do about it at that point. I probably should have just taken the sign’s advice and not walked all the way through the large park, but I’d have kicked myself if it had turned out that the park was indeed even partially open, or at least the coasters were open. So at this point, I decided to make the best of things, and at least see some of the zoo exhibits, were mostly the usual zoo animals, leopards and cheetahs and zebras and kangaroos (which seem to be more of a staple of Asian zoos than in the US.) Eventually, I got totally lost and ended up outside the park far from the subway entrance I needed. So, I walked all the way around the park to get to the subway, so I didn’t get even more lost. Oh well, at least the animals were nice. And that counts as culture, right? Speaking of culture, after the trip, I learned from RCDB that the scene in Psy’s Gagnam Style video (a song I’m pretty sure I never actually heard while in Korea!) where he’s in front of a carousel was filmed at Children’s Grand Park – in case you’re interested in pop culture appearances of amusement parks. I definitely could have used this time for more rides on T-Express later that day, but sometimes these things happen on trips especially when you go overseas, and you just have to roll with them. This was always planned as just a quick side trip anyways. Children’s Grand Park is not a major park, in any sense of the term. But it had two credits, a Meisho looping coaster and an Interpark mouse. And it was more or less on the way to Everland, with just a quick detour. Once I found the subway, I made my way back to the Jamsil stop, which was familiar, since it's the stop for Lotte World. I quickly went to the park area to pick up a couple of souvenirs that I hadn't managed to get before the stores closed the previous night. And when I went outside to catch the bus to Everland, I snapped some pictures of Lotte World from outside. So, at least there are a few more amusement park-relevant pictures in this update! Coming up next: Everland, with T-Express, one of the world’s best wooden coasters. Plus, some surprisingly early Halloween decorations for September 6th! One of the many entrances to Children's Grand Park -- the park itself, not the amusement park. Some cute statues and a sign. Just to give you some idea of how big the park itself is, the amusement park area is in the small light green area under the word "park" in the upper right area of the sign. The subway stations are on the far left and the upper right of the sign. Somehow, I eventually accidentally ended up in the lower area of the sign, exiting there, and walking around the park to find the subway. Note the ominous construction sticker. Statues. At least I could get some culture here! More culture. Hey, you're not gonna see coasters in this update (well, maybe a peek through the trees and fence), so I gotta fill this with something, right? This is not looking good for my chances to get some credits.... At least I got to see some coaster track! That's the looping Meisho coaster: 88 Train. A nice pagoda in the park. I might as well look at some animals in the zoo. These elephants were pretty active. A restless cheetah on the hunt. Some horny guys. A nice looking building. At this point, I had absoultely no idea where I was! Hi, Divv! I took this picture for you! I'd have tried to save a bag for you, but I wouldn't be seeing you for another two weeks, with 4 flights in between. In my tight suitcase, they'd have never lasted! I'm not even sure what this flavor actually was. But Lotte distibutes them in Korea. Lotte is everywhere in Korea! Ah, I seem to have found the park again. A nice bridge I saw on the subway. Seoul really is a big, sprawling city. It's on both sides of a river. Seoul Land, Lotte World and Everland are on the south side of the river, across from the downtown area. The Lotte Department Store that I'd walked through the previous night. Lotte World is far behind there. Some funky statue. Lotte World's big sign. You'd think they'd prune the tree in front of the park's logo, right?

^ As someone who rode it as BMR-X at Kobe Portopialand, let me agree wholeheartedly with this! Not that I'd hold my breath for it.

^ I'm not sure how many there are, but I didn't ride it. The line seemed to be longer than for the Gyro-Drop (which I did ride, and also was taller with a better view), probably because of the higher capacity on the Gyro drop, and it was over in a section of the park I only walked by once or twice. By the time the line would have likely been short enough to be worth riding it, I was trying to get in a few more rides on Atlantis Adventure, which was on the other side of the outside section of the park, before the park closed. Next time I'm there, for sure!

Lawrence Welk! LOL! As for the purple bits, they're actually the arches behind the track that you can't see well in that pic, with their purple lighting. Check out three pictures back from that picture in the original post. And yeah, Lotte World is bigger than I expected, too! I didn't actually cover everything, just what I rode. It's probably not clear from the pictures, unless you notice that sort of theing, but they have TWO drop towers, one older one, and a Gyro-Drop. I don't think I got any good pictures of the Gyro Swing, which I didn't ride because it had long lines the whole night. And there were another half dozen or so flat rides I didn't have time for. Not to mention a bunch of kiddie rides. I probably should have given the place another hour or two. Luckily, it wasn't too busy! But it was a Wednesday in September. I haven't been putting days or dates in my TR's, but if anyone is curious, this day was Wednesday, September 5th. I smartly planned my Seoul sightseeing days for Friday and Saturday, when the parks would be busier. Plus, if I got rained out on any of my park days, I had them for leeway days for rescheduling. As it was, I ended up going back to Everland on Friday night after the DMZ tour to go through their Halloween walkthroughs and get a few extra rides on T-Express.

A few random notes: Apparently that tower in the first pic on this page is one of the tallest in the world and has the highest viewing deck in the world. (I think it's supposedly a couple of feet higher than the one at the Tokyo Skytree.) If I'd known, I might have tried to get out there to visit, but I suspect that we didn't get back in time to go before it closed. I recognized it when looking up some info on the Skytree for my Asia post when I was talking about the Skytree. I snapped a pic or two of it, too. Yeah, the Gothenburg Ghost Ship at Chuanlord was AWESOME! One of the best I've done anywhere. Now I wish we'd been able to schedule a level 8 scare! And I love the fines they have on the sign. Has any other park threatened to asses a specific fine for breaking the rules on an attraction before? I'm confused about the looping toboggans we visited on the trip. Was the closed one at Chuanlord looping? I remember there was the one at the Fisnerman's Pier. Where was the second one, if not here? They're less memorable for me, becuase I didn't fit on them. But I don't want to accidentally have one on my list if I didn't ride it! The glass-walled-off group meal was the place where we saw all the appetizing mold on the ceiling!

Day 10, part 2: Seoul, South Korea. Lotte World OK, kids, I'm back with a new update, and a pretty big one this time, featuring an amazing theme park! I had hoped to try to squeeze in Children’s Grand Park today as well, but that would have required me getting up early and heading out and rushing around, none of which I really felt like doing. So, instead, I went straight from Seoul Land to Lotte World on Seoul’s efficient metro system. I'd have time to visit Children's Grand Park either tomorrow or on Saturday. Lotte World is a world class theme park. In fact, it’s one of the busiest parks in the world. In 2011, they hosted over 7.5 million visitors, which is more than ANY park that’s not Disney or Universal. In fact, that’s more than double the attendance of any Cedar Fair park and more than triple that of any Six Flags Park. And with about half the rides! Or almost the same as Islands of Adventure, even with Harry Potter. It’s somewhat of an odd setup for a park, with half of it inside a mall, over four levels called the Adventure section, and the other half outside in the MAgic Island. Most of the bigger thrill rides are outside, although there is a big looping coaster indoors, along with a log flume, rapids and a bunch of dark rides and flat rides. For dark ride fans, the park has an especially good collection of world class ones. They even have an ice skating rink. The indoor part of the park is considered the world's largest indoor amusement park, according to Guiness. it's part of a huge complex with a mall, sports arenas, hotels and much more that they were building while I was there -- there were a lot of buildings going up in the area. You can easily get to Lotte World by subway. It’s right on the main subway lines 2 and 8, at Jamsil Station. When you get out of the subway, you’re right in the mall that Lotte owns. The term mall is a bit different from in the US, because they own the mall and pretty much all of the stores in that mall, except possibly some of the restaurants. You can almost think of the entire mall as one big department store. Inside that mall is Lotte World, which continues outside. After quite a bit of walking, I bought my ticket and headed inside. I planned to head right outside for the bigger thrill rides, but ran into the Adventures of Sindbad dark ride on the way, which had no wait, so I hit that up. I’d heard that the dark rides had low capacity, so it could be a good idea to ride early, but most of the minimal crowds in the park turned out to be waiting for the thrill rides, so I never actually hit any wait for any of the dark rides. Sindbad was really well done, a lot like Pirates at the Disney parks. From there, I headed outside. You cross a bridge to get outside, and in front of you is a gorgeous giant castle, similar to that at the Disney parks, complete with Disney-rip off scenes inside. I was going to head straight for Atlantis Adventure, the park’s signature Intamin coaster, but the line was pretty long (45-60 minutes or so), so I decided to walk around and hit up some of the rides with smaller waits first. But this is always a gamble, because you never know when a ride might break down. But with three more days in Seoul, if disaster struck, I could always go back to the park to ride, if necessary, although it would cost me the high admission price – but at least I’d be able to ride it. The park was relatively busy, but nothing compared to what I’ve heard it can be like. The only ride indoors that had much of a queue was the coaster, but there were some 30-45 minute waits for the coasters and thrill rides outside. None of the dark or wet rides (except for Atlantis Adventure, which wasn’t really wet) had much, if any, wait. Instead I headed over to the Fantasy Dream dark ride, which was really bizarre. Think a mix of Small World, with lots of candy and toys. Then I hit up the Gyro Drop freefall ride and the well done Ghost House walkthrough. I headed back inside to try to ride Pharaoh’s Fury, an Indiana Jones ride rip-off, only to find that it was closed for renovation! Then I headed to the cultural museum, only to find that it closed early! No culture for me, today! But my luck improved when I ran into the park’s excellent indoor parade, which features characters from many of the park's rides and is well lit, much like the Disney Main Street Electrical Parades. It’s kind of odd though that a park with a large outdoor section puts its parade indoors, but I guess that makes it possible to hold the parade in the winter, too. I snatched a ride On French Revolution, the park’s oddly themed indoor Vekoma looping coaster, which travels all around the indoor section, with a lift hill that hugs the wall and comes very close to it and the ceiling! It’s an ok ride with some nice helices around fountains and other nice theming, but nothing special -- and certainly not worth waiting in the queue for again. Then I hopped a ride on Jungle Adventure, the thankfully not very wet, well themed indoor rapids ride. Then it was time to brave the 45-minute queue for Atlantis Adventure, the park’s signature attraction, an Intamin Aquatrax coaster with some amazing theming. Speaking of the queue, they had a weird way of dealing with the large number of people waiting for it. They kept most of the people waiting in temporary queue area outside the main entrance and queue area of the ride, and only let in groups of people at a time into the main queue, which remained mostly empty. I read online that this was to try to keep down grafitti in the queue. Atlantis Adventure ranked at #12 in the last Mitch Steel poll, and has ranked in the top 30 every year. While I personally wouldn’t rank it as high as #12, it will probably make my top 30 when I try to figure out my rankings next. However, it should be noted that the ride is supposed to have water spraying on the tracks, which may give it a speed boost that my rides didn’t get. Since it was a cooler September day, they didn’t have the water on, and most of the pools under it were drained. So, I might not have gotten the best rides on it. Still, it’s a world-class ride. The ride starts off with a launch into an indoor top hat and a bunch of twisty sections (similar to Maverick at Cedar Point) that go both indoors and out. In the middle, there’s a cave with some awesome theming, including some really weird looking creatures. Then there’s a lift, and big drop with some more twists and turns. There’s some decent airtime and laterals on the ride, too, a lot more than you’d expect from what would seem to be a themed family ride, but is actually much more of a thrill ride. From there, I braved the next longest queue in the park, for Comet Express, an Intamin spinning indoor themed coaster. (Later on the trip, I’d ride another version at Leofoo Village in Taiwan.) I’m not actually sure if this qualifies as a coaster with my definition, since I THINK it is powered. Normally, I’d notice the power rails on a coaster right away, but I didn’t really consider that a coaster like this might be powered. But about two thirds of the way through the ride, I looked back, and could clearly see what looked like the power rails. By the time I got back into the station, there weren’t any power rails on the track there. So, does anyone know if Comet Express is powered or not? Even RCDB isn’t sure, saying that they’ve gotten reports of it being powered, but it’s not believed that Intamin has ever built a powered coaster. I asked Elissa about it later on the trip (since she’s the Intamin expert), but she remembered TPR having a discussion about it on the TPR Korea trip, but couldn’t remember what they’d decided. Either way, it was a great ride, with some decent space theming and a whole lot of spinning. I was sitting in the back car, and towards one side. My unbalanced car spun like crazy, to the constant amusement of the girls in the car in front of me! If it is a coaster, it’s possibly the best spinning coaster out there. Intamin does it again! After that, I headed back to Atlantis Adventure, and kept riding a few times until the park closed. Luckily, the line had gotten significantly shorter! From there, I headed out, but unfortunately, most of the park’s stores were closed, so I wasn’t able to get many souvenirs. Luckily, I’d be taking the bus to Everland from the same train station the next day, and the store that had a few things I wanted was in the mall, but outside the park proper. One nice thing about Lotte World and Everland is that, unlike most parks in Asia, both are usually open later in the evening (until 10 PM on these days) -– a good thing for a night owl like me! All in all, I think I timed my day pretty well. I probably could have used another hour or two for another ride on Comet Express and 2-3 more on Atlantis Adventure. But I was pretty satisfied with my day. From there, I took the subway back to the Itaewon neighborhood I was staying in. I really enjoyed staying in this neighborhood, but probably for all the wrong reasons. This is not the place to go if you’re looking for a true Korean experience! It’s really sprung up as a western alternative for tourists and soldiers. There’s a US military base relatively nearby, and stores, restaurants, bars and more have sprung up here to accommodate them. Not to mention brothels, strip clubs and a whole gay street! And they say it’s the only place it Korea that fat westerners can find clothes that will fit them, since most Koreans are TINY, and so are the clothes that are made to accommodate them! As a result, a large percentage of the Westerners who visit Seoul stay here, or at least visit. And the locals who visited here were more westernized and were looking for more of a western experience. And to be honest, that was exactly what I was looking for, during a 7 week trip to Asia. It was nice to have familiar food, people who spoke good English to talk to, and just to have more of a feeling of home for a few days. Well, not exactly home, since the area caters more to Europeans, particularly the British. But it was close enough. I had dinner at Outback Steak House, which was actually open after midnight, which is handy when you’re at amusements parks until after 10 PM. Yeah, it was a bit weird being an American having Australian steak in a restaurant in Korea, but it was nice, too! From there, I wandered the streets, checking out various stores and bars and clubs, although I didn’t really drink that night. A block from my hotel was what they call “Hooker Hill”, a long street filled with brothels, much like Amsterdam’s Red Light District, with hookers who weren’t shy in inviting you into their place. Even the bars on that street were pretty much brothels, designed to lure you in for a drink with pretty Asian ladies, who then take you out back afterwards. The side streets in this area are very hilly, which is why “hill” is part of the name. You're literally climbing up the hill as you walk down the street! In fact, if you get more than a block or two off the beaten path, the streets become a real maze, turning into back alleys and stairways, where it’s easy to get lost. In fact, I did get VERY lost one night and had to take a taxi to find my way back to my hotel, and one aggressive young lady (likely a hooker) bummed a ride with me, and tried to go back to my hotel with me! She had to settle for a free taxi ride. Interestingly, the next block over from Hooker Hill is “Homo Hill”, full of many small gay bars and nightclubs – over half of the gay bars in the city, actually. Apparently, the first major celebrity in South Korea to come out of the closet as gay opened up a very successful restaurant in the area, which was followed by a bar and then more, and soon, it became a whole gay street. I only walked around for a bit, though, checking out the scene for future visits the next nights. Amusingly enough, between Hooker Hill and Homo Hill are a handful of bar/brothels featuring transsexuals, as well. They cater to all needs in this area! Or it's one stop shopping, if you're bi! One funny spectacle was seeing US Military Police doing the rounds on both neighboring Hills, making sure that US troops were abiding by the very strict 1 AM curfew for soldiers in Korea that was imposed on the troops after a series of high profile rapes of local women in 2011. So, the MP’s do a few sweeps per night, hitting all of the bars and clubs on the main street, as well as those on both Hooker Hill and Homo Hill. I bet it’s awkward when they find a soldier in a club on the latter hill! After a little walking around, and watching the spectacle, I headed back to the hotel for some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be one of the highlights of the trip. After a quick stop at Children’s Grand Park (quicker than expected, actually…), I would be visiting Everland, another world class theme park, to ride T-Express, one of the best wooden coasters in the world! The entire Jamsil station area is well-themed. Here's a little taste of Italy, before I even get to the theme park. The entire mall is basically the Lotte Department Store. Some of the neat characters near the entrance of the park. You can see from this picture how integrated the park is in with the mall. Under the gorgeous dome ceiling, you can see the park above many stores. Note the coaster track for French Revolution on the left and the balloon ride in the ceiling above it. You can also get a good sense of how well themed the entire park is. Look at how close the pirate ship ride comes to some of the hotel rooms! Speaking of pirates... ... it's time for The Adventures of Sindbad! Sindbad is a well-themed boat dark ride that owes a lot to the Disney Pirates rides. Complete with wenches! The awesome theming continues outside in Magic Island. You can walk across this bridge, or take the monorail track overhead. On the left is part of the castle. On the right is the amazing Atlantis Adventure building. A closer look at the castle. The Fantasy Dream dark ride is really trippy -- like Small Word, but with teddy bears and candy. Cuteness overload! The castle, drop ride and Atlantis Adventure, with buildings and mountains (and a lake) all around. Try to tell me that's not amazing theming for a coaster! Admittedly, the skyscrapers behind it kind of kill the illusion of being in an ancient building, but that's hardly the park's fault! A nice view from the park of the lake, surrounded by more skyscrapers and mountains. One more look outside, while the sun is still out! Back inside, as crowds start to line up for the big parade. You can see the ice skating rink down below. One weird anomaly in the park is the plain blue walls of the park, behind all that great theming. It's especially weird on the indoor coaster's lift hill, which I didn't get a good picture of. It's time for Pharaoh's Fury! ... or not! And I only missed it by a little over a week. (It was Spet 5 on this day.) Notice that the renewal was scheduled to take 3 months. I wonder if they're adding more to the ride? The indoor log flume. With TGI Friday's overlooking it. The park's excellent parade features rides and characters and other icons from the park all lit up. You could even call it an Electrical Parade! Some Sindbad theming in the parade. Dragons make everything better! Park mascots in the parade. I guess this was as close as I'd get to seeing Pharoah's Fury. If the ride was half as impressive as the float was, I missed something special. The French Revolution looping coaster. Some helices around a colorful fountain. The coaster goes all around the indoor section of the park, making it hard to get a good picture with much of the ride in it. I probably should have taken the ballon ride to get pictures, but I didn't really have the time. Jungle Adventure, a very themed, but thankfully not very wet, rapids ride. Back outside, to the nicely lit castle. Atlantis Adventure's awesome entrance. Nnote the queue extending outside of the entrance. The park isn't THAT busy. They apparently just keep most of the people outsode of the main queue (which is mostly empty) in an effort to keep down grafitti. A closeup of the entrance statues. While waiting in the queue, I saw this weird sign posted. I assumed that the suggestion to stretch before riding was mostly a joke, and was probably put there to keep lawyers and/or insurance companies happy. Not one was actually stratching. But later in the trip, at some of the Happy Valley Parks in China, we'd see the park require riders to stretch before riding! A first look at the awesome station theming. More theming in the station. Overlooking the station on the way out of the ride. My old camera takes really crappy night pictures, although this one came out kind of cool. I really like this shot, even if you can barely make out the blurry train under the castle in the back. So, it was cool enough that they didn't really have much water in the pools on the ride at all -- and none on the track at all. But, for some reason, they had the misters on in the outer line area? Maybe they were just trying to ruin my shots? The did a good job of it! I think this would have been a particularly nice shot, if not for the misters. Everyone always seems pretty excited coming back into the station. The sure sign of a great ride! Comet Express, a praticularly good spinning coaster. These trains of individually spinning cars seemed to provide for some exceptional spinning, particularly in the back car! Back inside, as the park is closing. There are still a few people skating in the rink. Thanks, Lotte World, for an awesome day! Even the escalators in the mall have Lotte World theming!

OK. Here's my list. Larry and I tied for numbers of woodies (I put my favorite steel at 3.5, while he gave it its own ranking), although if you count the woodies no longer on the list, I might pull ahead. The only new woodies for me this year were in China and Korea, but that's because the only coasters I rode this year were in my epic Asia trip, including TPR China. I kind of feel bad that I can't truly rank the Chinese coasters fairly on an even playing field. All of the other top ranking coasters on my list are based on my best rides on them, which is usually late at night during ERT or at least at park closing (except for Aska, because we left that park in the early afternoon) when woodies almost always run faster. Most of the rides in my top 20 would be several notches lower based on just the rides I got earlier in the day. But with the tightness of our schedule, we always got morning rides on the woodies, though I did get some afternoon rides on Fireball and the left Dragon. On the plus side, the Dauling Dragons gets the benefit of our having ridden them truly dueling, which it's believed they've never done otherwise. And the dueling aspect, particularly during the spectacular high five element, really enhances the ride, and definitely gives it a few notches on my list. I may have only gotten 5 new woodies this year, but 4 of them ranked in my top 10 and the other ranked at 30. (I seem to be one of the only ones to not consider Wood Coaster at Knight Valley to be a top 10, though it still makes my top 30.) So I still had a pretty good year for woodies! Abrupt Airtime_____________________________,y,y,1 Floating Airtime___________________________,y,y,5 Lateral Forces_____________________________,y,y,4 Out of Control Feeling/Directional Changes_,y,y,3 Positive G's/Loops_________________________,y,y,2 Sensation of Speed_________________________,y,y,6 COASTER NAME PARK LOC <--Please leave this The Voyage Holiday World IN,y,n,1 Tremors Silverwood ID,y,n,2 Aska (S) Nara Dreamland JP,y,n,3 My Favorite Steel Anypark Anywhere **,y,n,3.5 El Toro SFGAd NJ,y,n,4 T Express Everland KR,y,y,5 Rampage Alabama Adventure AL,y,n,6 Dauling Dragon-L Happy Valley CN,y,y,7 Dauling Dragon-R Happy Valley CN,y,y,8 Fireball Happy Valley Song CN,y,y,9 The Legend Holiday World IN,y,n,10 Twister Grona Lund SE,y,n,11 Shivering Timbers Michigan's Adventure MI,y,n,12 Ravine Flyer II Waldameer PA,y,n,13 Tonnerre de Zeus Parc Asterix FR,y,n,14 Megafobia Oakwood UK,y,n,15 Balder Liseberg SE,y,n,16 Georgia Cyclone SFoG GA,y,n,17 Boulder Dash Lake Compounce CT,y,n,18 Comet Great Escape NY,y,n,19 Raven Holiday World IN,y,n,20 Coaster Playland BC,y,n,21 Hades Mount Olympus WI,y,n,22 Cyclone Luna Park NY,y,n,23 Prowler Worlds of Fun MO,y,n,24 HellCat Timber Falls WI,y,n,25 Boardwalk Bullet Kemah Boardwalk TX,y,n,26 Cyclone Lakeside CO,y,n,27 Phoenix Knoebel's PA,y,n,28 Ozark Wildcat(SBNO) Celebration City MO,y,n,29 Wood Coaster Knight Valley CN,y,y,30 Thunderhead Dollywood TN,y,n,31 Twister Knoebel's PA,y,n,32 Cyclone SF New England MA,y,n,33 Cheetah Wild Adventures GA,y,n,34 GhostRider Knott's Berry Farm CA,y,n,35 Twisted Twins-S (S) Kentucky Kingdom KY,y,n,36 Timber Terror Silverwood ID,y,n,37 Colossos Heide Park DE,y,n,38 Grand National Blackpool UK,y,n,39 New Mexico Rattler Cliff's NM,y,n,40 Wild One SF America MD,y,n,41 Excalibur Funtown USA ME,y,n,42 Great White Wild Wheels Pier NJ,y,n,43 Renegade Valleyfair! MN,y,n,44 Thunderbird PowerPark FI,y,n,45 Timber Wolf Worlds of Fun MO,y,n,46 Wildcat Hersheypark PA,y,n,47 Hell Cat Clementon Lake NJ,y,n,48 Kentucky Rumbler Beech Bend KY,y,n,49 Viper SFGAm IL,y,n,50 Twisted Twins-L (S) Kentucky Kingdom KY,y,n,51 Thunderhawk Dorney Park PA,y,n,52 Cyclops Mount Olympus WI,y,n,53 Thunderbolt Kennywood PA,y,n,54 Loup Garou Walibi Belgium BE,y,n,55 Swamp Fox Family Kingdom SC,y,n,56 The Boss Six Flags St Louis MO,y,n,57 Thundercoaster Tusenfryd NO,y,n,58 The Beast Kings Island OH,y,n,59 Lightning Racer - L Hersheypark PA,y,n,60 Lightning Racer - T Hersheypark PA,y,n,61 American Thunder Six Flags St Louis MO,y,n,62 Cornball Express Indiana Beach IN,y,n,63 Thunderbolt SF New England MA,y,n,64 Gwazi-Tiger Busch Gardens-Tampa FL,y,n,65 Gwazi-Lion Busch Gardens-Tampa FL,y,n,66 The Grizzly Kings Dominion VA,y,n,67 Thunder Run (SBNO) Kentucky Kingdom KY,y,n,68 Roar SF America MD,y,n,69 Zeus Mount Olympus WI,y,n,70 Rebel Yell Kings Dominion VA,y,n,71 Big Dipper (SBNO) Geauga Lake OH,y,n,72 Yankee Cannonball Canobie Lake Park NH,y,n,73 Dania Bch Hurr (S) Dania Beach FL,y,n,74 Blue Streak Cedar Point OH,y,n,75 Racer Kings Island OH,y,n,76 Predator Darien Lake NY,y,n,77 Wild Mouse Blackpool UK,y,n,78 Son of Beast (SBNO) Kings Island OH,y,n,79 Roar SF Discovery Kingdom CA,y,n,80 Robin Hood Walibi Holland NL,y,n,81 Pegasus Mount Olympus WI,y,n,82 Outlaw Adventureland IA,y,n,83 Hurler Carowinds NC,y,n,84 Regina Tobu Zoo JP,y,n,85 Falken Farup Sommerland DK,y,n,86 Colossus S.F. Magic Mountain CA,y,n,87 Wildcat Lake Compounce CT,y,n,88 Le Monstre La Ronde QU,y,n,89 Racer Kennywood PA,y,n,90 Giant Dipper Belmont Park CA,y,n,91 Giant Dipper Santa Cruz Bch Bdwk CA,y,n,92 Skyliner Lakemont PA,y,n,93 Mean Streak Cedar Point OH,y,n,94 Hurler Kings Dominion VA,y,n,95 Lost Coaster of SM Indiana Beach IN,y,n,96 Silver Comet Martin's Fantasy Is. NY,y,n,97 White Canyon Yomiuriland JP,y,n,98 White Cyclone Nagashima Spaland JP,y,n,99 Grt Am Scrm Mach SFoG GA,y,n,100 Stampida Port Aventura ES,y,n,101 Tornado Adventureland IA,y,n,102 Jupiter Kijima Korakuen JP,y,y,103 Rattler Fiesta Texas TX,y,n,104 Rolling Thunder SFGAd NJ,y,n,105 Judge Roy Scream SFoT TX,y,n,106 Blue Streak Conneaut Lake Park PA,y,n,107 Kingdom Coaster Dutch Wonderland PA,y,n,108 Big Dipper Blackpool UK,y,n,109 Jack Rabbit Kennywood PA,y,n,110 Tomahawk Port Aventura ES,y,n,111 Rutschebanen Tivoli Gardens DK,y,n,112 Coaster Thrill Ride Puyallup Fair WA,y,n,113 Big Dipper Camden Park WV,y,n,114 Tornado Stricker's Grove OH,y,n,115 Screamin' Eagle Six Flags St Louis MO,y,n,116 Elf Hirakata Park JP,y,n,117 The Legend Arnolds Park IA,y,n,118 Wolverine Wildcat Michigan's Adventure MI,y,n,119 Hoosier Hurricane Indiana Beach IN,y,n,120 Comet Hersheypark PA,y,n,121 Thunder Road Carowinds NC,y,n,122 American Eagle SFGAm IL,y,n,123 Rutschebanen Bakken DK,y,n,124 Magnus Colossus Terra Mitica ES,y,n,125 Cannonball Lake Winnepesaukah GA,y,n,126 Vuoristorata Linnamaki Park FI,y,n,127 Wild Beast Canada's Wonderland ON,y,n,128 Cyclone (SBNO) Williams Grove PA,y,n,129 Nickelodeon Streak Blackpool UK,y,n,130 M.Can.Mine Buster Canada's Wonderland ON,y,n,131 Coastersaurus Legoland Florida FL,y,n,132 Arkansas Twister Magic Springs AR,y,n,133 Twister II Elitch Gardens CO,y,n,134 High Roller Valleyfair! MN,y,n,135 The Grizzly Great America CA,y,n,136 Rollo Coaster Idlewild PA,y,n,137 Ghoster Coaster Kings Dominion VA,y,n,138 Underground Adventureland IA,y,n,139 Jack Rabbit Seabreeze NY,y,n,140 Roller Coaster Great Yarmouth UK,y,n,141 Zach's Zoomer Michigan's Adventure MI,y,n,142 Lil' Dipper Camden Park WV,y,n,143 Comet Waldameer PA,y,n,144 Woodstock Express Kings Island OH,y,n,145 Meteor Little Amerricka WI,y,n,146 Little Dipper SFGAm IL,y,n,147 Woodstock Express Carowinds NC,y,n,148 Sea Dragon Jungle Jacks Landing OH,y,n,149 Teddy Bear Stricker's Grove OH,y,n,150 Ghoster Coaster Canada's Wonderland ON,y,n,151 Blue Flyer Blackpool UK,y,n,152 Tyrolean Tubtwist Joyland UK,y,n,153 Scenic Railway (S) Dreamland UK,y,n,154 Leap the Dips Lakemont PA,y,n,155 Dragon Coaster Playland NY,y,n,156

I've always liked the Deja Vu's -- when they're actually running and maintained and aren't rough as hell. But this one was definitely the best of them all, and I've now been on all 5, although they're building another one in Russia right now. I was in the back rows with Elissa on this ride. We both cracked up when we broke it!

Thanks, Larry! And just so you know for the index, Gyeongju World is officially spelled that way now. They've taken down any signs that I could see with the Kyungju World name. Apparently,South Korea has over the past few years made a serious effort to standardize and modernize the English spellings of various cities and landmarks and other things. Gyeongju is now the official spelling of both the city and the park. Just to confirm, I haven't abandoned this PTR series. I've just been working a ton. I work in a restaurant in a mall in touristy downtown Boston, and things really die starting tomorrow for a couple of months. So, I've been working a ton, to stash some money so I can pay the bills and still have money for my next big coaster trip! (Probably Germany, though TPR Mexico is very tempting!) And the even bigger one after that. (Possibly 'round the world!) I've already started working on the next update, with more to come! There's still a few more days in Korea left, including Lotte World next, followed by a quick stop at Children's Grand Park -- which turned out to be closed! -- two stops at Everland (including their Halloween celebration, very early, the first week in September), an amazing tour of the demilitarized zone between North and South Koreas, and some sightseeing. And that's just the next 4 days of the trip. After that is the three weeks of TPR China, including an extra night at Ocean Park for their amazing Halloween event, plus Macau. Then almost a week each in Taiwan and back in Japan! Stay tuned! Lotte World is almost ready! ON another note, one thing I've been pondering. As I was writing this last update and have been thinking about it, I realized that I have absolutely no memory of the mouse at Seoul Land. Nor do I have any pictures of it. When I do these updates, I use the TPR park index and RCDB to help refresh my memory and to keep the various parks straight. But for the life of me, I can't really remember this weird mouse with the Arrow-style track and cars, which is odd enough that I should remember it. And while it's not at all like me to accidentally skip a coaster, I'm starting to wonder if I did just that here. I was pretty tired at this point, and kind of rushing around to get to Lotte World with time to ride Atlantis Adventure a bunch of times. So, it's possible that I missed it, though it would be a first for me, since I usually travel with a park and coaster list cut and pasted from RCDB in my back pocket. but it's possible that as I was bouncing around, I accidentally missed it. So, since I'm not sure, should I take it off my list? The only other coaster I've probably ridden that I'm not sure about is the Galaxi that was at Paragon Park. I can't imagine that there's any way I didn't ride that back when I was a kid, but since I can't remember it for sure, I don't list it. Thoughts? What would you do?

Mitch told me that someone else had volunteered to organize the steel poll ballot this year, and passed my name on to him in case he needed any help with the China/Asia parks. I haven't heard anything yet. Let's hope he can get the ballot done before it's too late for 2012, even if it's a bit late. I actually proposed shortening the steel ballot. As mentioned above, it gets reall y cumbersome, and does anyone really care where a coaster ranks, once you get much past 100 or so? With the wood poll, I always list them all. It's not that hard, since I just add the new ones, and there are never more than a dozen each year these days. (It's pretty hard for me to take a trip that will net me more than 5-8 new woodies these days.) But with the steel poll, I list my top 100 or so, then just rank the rest with a number rounded to the 100. Basically, I grade everything else as 200, 300, 400 or 500, based on about where I'd put them on the list. That way, the good coasters and bad coasters get the recognition they deserve, without my having to spend hours deciding if a coaster really belongs at 368 or 370, which no one cares about, not even myself. But it also gives a lot more valid pairings for the overall statistics.

It's not the most amazing or intense coaster ever, but it's quite good. And with the whole shooting dark ride section, it's a great overall attraction.

Why only American? Especially since Nemesis, Katun and Pyrenees regularly rank higher than any of the US inverteds on Mitch's steel poll. (Although I'd still put Montu above any of them.)

Note that Dauling Dragons in China is now listed as two coasters, as it should be, IMHO. I'm not sure how Mitch will handle all of the replies that he's gotten so far. I'd imagine the fair thing would be to count the one listing for both of them. For those who've been on it, you might want to ammend your ballot. I know that a lot of us had a preference for one side or the other. I seemed to be one of the few who preferred the left side.

Just a few months too late for the TPR China trip! By the way, the water ride that we were discussing in this thread turned out to not have coaster track in it, but I rode the water coaster at E-Da park in Taiwan after the China trip, and it did. I didn't count it, because it was mostly a shoot-the-chutes, IMHO, but you could legitimately count it, since it has coaster track. I may reconsider that decision, but we'll have to see.

Chuck, no idea why they called it Black Hole 2000 coaster, since none of it is black, and there isn't any hole that I can remember! And it was built in 1990! It's Korea. It doesn't have to make sense! As for pizza hut, yeah, the weird creations were pretty cool. I think that the favorite at the tables I sat at with TPR during the China tour was the grilled steak one, which I believe also had corn and some other veggies in it for some reason. Some of us even had that at the knockoff pizza hut in the mall in Shanghai. I don't remember what the name of the pizza place was, but it had pretty much exactly the same menu as the Chinese Pizza Huts, but it had a different name. I'm not sure if it was a linked company or a Chinese knockoff! Chinese knockoff pizza hut! The funny thing for me is that I pretty much associate Pizza Hut with coaster trips in my mind. I live in downtown Boston, and we don't get a lot of low to middle end restaurants in the city, probably because rent is so expensive that they can't afford to operate and make a profit, while paying a franchise fee. There aren't any Pizza Huts in either Boston proper or in Cambridge. The nearest one is in Medford, which is only around 5 miles away. But when you don't have a car, that might as well be in another state. In fact, with a car, I could get to Canobie Lake amusement park in New Hampshire faster than i could get to the Pizza Hut 5 miles away from me by 2 subway lines, plus a bus or walk! The Boston subways aren't anywhere near as efficient as the ones in Korea or Japan. Most of my previous Pizza Hut experiences were in Orlando, since there was one right down the street on International Drive from the hotel I used to stay at near Universal. I'd usually get a large pizza (or two, if they were running a second pizza for $5 special) and keep the leftovers in the hotel fridge for late night snacking all week when I got home. And sometimes I'd run into a Pizza Hut on the road on coaster trips. In fact, I don't think I've ever had a Pizza Hut pizza when NOT on a coaster trip! But on this one trip to Asia, I easily had more PIzza Hut than I've had in the past 3-5 years combined! For those who weren't on the China trip, you don't know how nice it was to have western food after day after day of Chinese food on spinning lazy susans! Not that the food was bad or anything. It was just nice to get a taste of home (even if for me, it's not really from "home") and something familiar.

I've offered to help Mitch with the steel poll, to make sure if gets done this year. No word yet on what he's decided. Also, shouldn't Dauling Dragons in China be listed twice, since all of the other dueling woodies are?

Day 10, part 1: Seoul, South Korea. Seoul Land. I’m going to backtrack for a bit to the end of the previous day. It made sense to talk about arriving in Seoul here, with the rest of Seoul. I arrived in Seoul on the high speed (KTX) train from Gyeongju. When I got there, it was lightly raining, which kind of dampened any enthusiasm I might have had for any of the sightseeing I’d hoped I might be able to get done that night. And to be honest, I’d already seen more history and touristy stuff in one day in Gyeongju that I’d be able to see in all of Seoul combined. But when I got out of Seoul’s main train station, I saw a sight for sore western eyes, after over a week in Asia: a Pizza Hut! Little did I know that I’d actually be eating pizza hut more times over the course of this trip than I have eaten in the past decade of my life! (There aren’t any pizza huts in high-rent downtown Boston, where I live, and I rarely venture out of the city.) I opted for a more “Korean” version of pizza hut with a sweet potato cheese stuffed-crust pizza that was half Hawaiian and half Korean barbeque, which oddly came with a béchamel style cream sauce for dipping the outer stuffed crust into. (See the picture below.) Then I made my way by subway to the Itaewon train station, where my hotel was near. It was on this journey that I was amazed that two different Korean women at different times helped me up stairs with my bags without asking, even though they spoke no English and I spoke no Korean. I also want to point out that the Seoul Korean subway system, like its Japanese counterparts I’d already utilized on the trip, is very modern and efficient and very on-time. And what’s even better is that most of the stations have monitors that tell how long it will take for the next train to approach. And all of the trains have monitors that alternate English with the Korean. Not to mention English signs on the train maps and in the stations! And people were always willing to help a confused looking white person find his way, whether I needed help or not! All of these made it very easy to navigate Seoul’s extensive subway system. My hotel for the next 5 nights would be Hotel D’Oro, which is technically a love motel, like my last one. But other than the signs which advertised the hourly rental possibilities, I don’t think most people would realize it. It certainly didn’t share any of the tackiness of its Gyeongju counterparts. I’d already decided I wanted to stay in the Itaewon area for two reasons. First, because of its relative proximity to a US military base, it is the main center for tourists, with a ton of hotels, restaurants and stores that cater to westerners. And secondly, because it’s one of the gay centers of the city, where many of the city’s gay bars and nightclubs are located. And I planned to do some clubbing, particularly on the weekend! I took a gamble with hotel D’Oro, because it was the most reasonably priced hotel that quite a few people online recommended, although it was harder to find information about it, because they have virtually NO online presence and are not listed on any of the hotel booking sites I’ve seen. But the nearby Hamilton Hotel that all of the tourists seem to stay in was nearly twice as expensive. And everything else I saw online in this area seemed to be either more of a hostel or a badly rated love motel. And honestly, having stayed there, I’d guess that 2/3 of the clientele these days are just regular tourists looking for a cheaper hotel. But if you want to book it, you’ll have to call the hotel directly, and don’t do it more than a month or so in advance! But on this night, I didn’t really explore the Itaewon neighborhood, since it was raining and I was tired. The next day, I kind of putzed around, not getting up or out as quickly as I should have. I’d kind of hoped to try to get in three parks this day, but understood that that was a bit ambitious. I still kind of hoped to try for it, but it soon became clear that Seoul Land and Lotte World would be all that I could really visit, unless I wanted to rush through each park and not enjoy any of them. Which was fine, because my schedule was loose for this leg of the trip anyways. Everything I wanted to do was pretty close to downtown Seoul. So, I made my way by subway to Seoul Grand Park (which has a subway station that shares its name and is only around 20-30 minutes from most downtown areas) a giant park, which hosts a large zoo and Seoul Land amusement park. The park is actually a decent 20 minute or so walk from the subway station, but there are trams that run around the park. Unfortunately, they run in the wrong direction, so taking the tram probably wouldn’t have saved any time. And along the walk, I ate a couple of pieces of KFC that I got from the location near the station! Seoul Land is a neat medium sized park, though it’s far from a destination park. But it’s definitely worth a stop if you’re going to Seoul, especially since it’s in the city (although across the river from the main downtown areas) and has 4-5 coaster credits, depending on whether you count powered coasters. But I doubt many traveling enthusiasts would spend more than an hour or two there. It’s actually a pretty big park space-wise, with a decent collection of rides, though nothing that’s an absolute don’t miss. There is also a lot of nice theming and plants, and the park overall looks really nice, especially the large long entranceway. The coaster collection is fairly weak. Columbia Double Looping Coaster and Black Hole 2000 are two somewhat painful looping coasters, the former with two vertical loops, the latter with two corkscrews. Crazy Mouse was a weird hybrid of a mouse, but with the normal tubular track and cars with over the shoulder harnesses, much like any typical looping coaster. Kiddy Coaster was a credit with a winking Speedy Golzalez on the front of the train (which you’d think would be more appropriate for the mouse), which goes through “Maria’s House”, whoever Maria is. And for the credit whores, theres Rudolph 2 Loop Coaster, a powered Zamperla “coaster”, with (again) the two “loops” being just helices. Honestly, the coasters were so uninspiring that I actually forgot to get pictures of Columbia Looping and Crazy Mouse! The park also had a decent collection of small flat rides, but several of them were closed on this very slow day. Probably the most notable attraction in the park was the walkthrough haunted house, which involved going through an underground crypt, led by ghostly figures that tell you a story about the place in Korean, which I obviously didn’t understand. There weren’t that many scares, but the theming was pretty nice. They send groups through every so often, and don’t have anyone there to let you know what’s going on., Luckily, a young Korean couple explained I’d have to wait a few minutes to be let in, since it outwardly appeared that the house was closed, though it wasn’t. The park also has a shooting dark ride with the “Den of Lost Thieves” theme we’ve seen many times in the States. The park was absolutely dead. I could walk through whole areas without seeing more than a couple of people. I basically went clockwise around the park, starting with the haunted house, and then hitting all the coasters, ending with the shooting dark ride. I’m trying to remember now if I even bothered to ride any of the coasters twice, even with no wait. I think I probably rode the two big coasters twice, but they obviously weren’t that memorable! On the way out of the park, I just happened to catch the tram as it was approaching, though I had to rush to get a ticket before it left, which is always a challenge when you don’t speak the language. From there, I took the subway to Jamsil Station to visit Lotte World. But more on that in part 2.... Seoul's main train station. The KTX high speed rail and the airport train both stop here, and the subway station is right next door. Seoul is a huge modern city. This building across from the station had impressive LED lighting, at least at night. It was more sophisticated than just spelling out letters. I liked the moviing starfield the best, although I didn't manage to get any good pictures of it. Now we're seeing signs of REAL civilization! In Gueongju, I didn't see a single restaurant that I could identify. But right out of the Seoul train station, I ran into Pizza Hut! Little did I know how much Pizza Hut I'd be eating on the trip, mainly in China. This was my weird Pizza Hut pizza. The crust is sweet potato bread. The "stuffed crust" is that outer ring of stuffed rings, with a creamy/cheesy dipping sauce for it. Half of the middle is Hawaiian pizza; the other half is Korean barbeque. Does this count as eating exotic local food? From my hotel window, I could see the N Seoul Tower, if I zoomed the picture in enough, where I'd be visiting in a few days. It was kind of weird seeing Dunkin' Donuts, which was founded and is based near where I grew up and where I live now in Korea! they have some of the usual flavors, and some unique creations that you won't find in the states, too. More signs of civilization! I gabbed a few pieces of chicken for the long walk to the park. The entrance to the zoo section of Seoul Grand Park. Tha tram can save you a lot of walking! Whic, of course, is why I didn't take it! Still, it's a scenic route, since Seoul and this area is surrounded by nice mountains. I spy with my little eye.... Could that be an amausement park? Here we are! I like the smiley face ticket booths! The park has a really nice entrance area. I want a ride! No, it's not Epcot! Read the buoy. Pretty flowers! Fountains and mountains. This about as close as I got to getting a picture of the Columbia Double Loop Coaster. This is the part of the entrance. You can see some teal track in the background. A closer look. I somehow completely forgot to get any other pictures of this or the fairly unique mouse. Oops! Black Hole 2000. A mediocre somewhat painful looping coaster. Both of the big coasters at the park are fairly big and spread out behind other attractions, which makes them hard ot get good pictures of, unless it's from above, on another ride. The coaster's signature corkscrews are behind some buildings. For the flat ride fans. The Hi Roller was closed. You know, I'm not sure if, with all my amusement park travels, I've ever actually managed or gotten around to riding one of these! Neat theming! Does this technically count as a carousel? Rudolph 2 Loop Coaster. Aka a powered "coaster". The "loops" are just helices. Still, it's kind of funny that there are two coasters at the park that each have two loops in them, but the one named "2 loop coaster" isn't actually one of them! Some floats for a parade that I doubt they'd be holding on such a slow day. Yum! Butter baked dried cuttle fish! Too bad they were closed! NOT! How cute! Speedy Gonzalez on the Kiddy Coaster train. Kiddy Coaster is brought to you by Pocari Sweat! Den of Lost Theive should be familiar to many of us. This Adventure Land kiddie play zone with ropes and nets and bridges and the like was the park's new attraction for 2012. I couldnt' tell if it wasn't open on this day, or if there just weren't any small kids there to play on it! Theming! Not the first or last time I'd see Italy (one of my favorite countries) on this trip! The real thing doesn't lean quite so much! More fountains and mountains on the way out of the park! The park's haunted walkthrough attraction. Note that there is no one anywhere in sight. Not customers. Not staff. No one. They just come out when it's time to let people in. Most of the attraction is underground. (This was supposed to be higher up, but I accidentally used the wrong picture. Does anyone know a way to move this up in the post?) While it's nice to know that they're prepared for emergencies, it's kind of creepy to see gasmasks in every subway station! And I guess it's good to know that if there is ever an emergency that requires the use of gasmasks that 23 people in a busy train station will survive it! I'm guessing that more people will die in the fights over those 23 gasmasks than from whatever disaster is requiring those masks!

Day 9: Gyeongju. Gyeongju World, Seokguram Grotto, Bulguksa Temple, Gyeongju National Museum. Today was going to be another crowded, challenging day. Or more specifically, the afternoon was going to be crowded and challenging. My main goal was to get to Gyeongju World amusement park, but I also wanted to hit the major sightseeing sights in Gyeongju before I took the high speed rail (KTX) to Seoul. The problem is that I’d been warned that at least one of the coasters at the park doesn’t open until 1 PM. And the three major sights I wanted to visit all closed at 6 PM, with admission ending at 5:30. And they weren’t all that close to each other, either, especially by slow moving Asian busses. By the way, a quick note for those trying to visit Gyeongju on your own. You can find most of the info out on your own. But there is a tourist desk right across from the two bus stations that usually have English speaking workers. They are very helpful and can give you maps with English, as well as lots of tips and the latest bus info. Also, when searching for info about Gyeongju (and just about anywhere in Korea) online, note that the English spellings of many cities and places was standardized and changed a few years back. So you might see Gyeongju listed as Kyongju or Kyungju or several other spellings – which makes Google searches more difficult. Since time in the morning wasn’t tight, and I was correctly guessing the park wouldn’t be busy on a Tuesday in September, I slept a bit later than I might have. That might have turned out to be a big mistake, since as I was riding the bus to the park, it started raining lightly, despite the forecasts having something like a 20% chance of rain. In fact, when I got to the park, they seemed anxious to find someone who worked there who spoke a little English to tell me that if it rains, the big coaster (Phaethon) wouldn’t be open. They were trying to talk me into coming back the next day, but I was leaving for Seoul that night! I asked if it was open NOW, and they said yes, so I rushed over to it! Gyeongju World is a mid-sized park with basically one claim to fame: Phaethon, a pretty good B&M inverted coaster with excellent theming. In fact, the theming is actually very similar to that of Dueling Dragons at Islands of Adventure, before they rethemed it to Harry Potter. They also have two other crappy coasters, a looper and an indoor coaster. The park has some excellent theming, mainly in the kiddie areas and for Phaethon. They have a decent selection of rides, including a freefall ride, a couple of water rides, a haunted house (which is a small upcharge from the POP, although you get a discount), a fun house, and a Tagada! In the winter, they have a big hill for sledding on. It’s outside the city’s downtown area, in the tourist area of the Bomun Lake resort, which is where ALL of the decent hotels in the city are located. Apparently, most of the tourists stay here. There are busses that run from all around the city, but it’s faster to take a taxi, which are quite cheap in Korea, unlike in Japan. You can get most places in the city, despite it being very spread out for under $10, and the taxi drivers are very happy to wait for you. You can even rent one for the day for around $70-80. If you go in the off-season, as I did, you can do most of the park in a few hours, though you may have to wait to ride for there to be enough people. And that’s exactly what I encountered when I got to Phaethon. The park was very deserted, with a few dozen people walking around. And they don’t like to run their rides for only a few people. I’d seen Phaethon run once, which reassured me. But then when I got there, I had to sit in the station waiting for more people, all the while afraid it would really start raining, and they’d shut it down before I got to ride! Also, the ride ops also didn’t seem to understand why I’d want to sit in the back row, when they were loading from the front, but once they let me sit there, others wanted to sit there as well, which only confused them more! Each time I wanted to ride, I had to wait at least 5-15 minutes for more people, which was frustrating. But I got to ride. And it was a good B&M. Not as weak as some of the more recent ones, but not as powerful as Katun or Pyrenees or Montu. But B&M inverted coasters are my favorite kind of steel coaster, so even an average one is a good ride to me! Of course, but the time I was done riding for a bit, it had mostly stopped raining! After a few rides, I walked around the park, taking pictures and riding what I could. I was REALLY disappointed to see the Tagada closed and to hear it wouldn’t open, because the park was so slow. It had looked like a crazy ride in the videos of the TPR Korea trip. I didn’t know if there were any others of this ride anywhere, but luckily, there’s was one later in the trip at Floraland with TPR. And it was as amazing as I’d hoped! Of course, I headed straight to the other two coasters. Space 2000 wasn’t open yet. There was a sign saying that it would open at 1 PM. Space Tour, which I’d been told opens at 1 PM, was actually completely down. I’m not sure if it was seasonal maintenance or if it was broken down. But it was actually the first denied credit of the trip. Given that it was a week into the trip, I guess that’s not too bad, especially since it was supposedly an unremarkable coaster. Especially since there had just been the distinct chance I’d have missed the one important coaster that was the entire reason I was in Southern South Korea! And Dragon 2 Loop Coaster is actually just a typical powered Dragon “coaster”, which I don’t count, and don’t even always ride, unless I’m with TPR, and everyone is riding it, like I did often in China! The “loops” in the name were apparently just the helices, kind of like in those supposed “looping” water slides. The haunted house walkthrough was decent, with a lot of skeletons. The fun house was ok, but several things were broken. After touring the park, I headed back to Phaethon for a bunch of rides, always in the back, except for one front seat ride. I also found an open gate on a path that led to the Bonham Lake, which was nice for taking pictures, both of the lake and of Phaethon. As 1 PM approached, I headed over to Space 2000, to find a decent sized line. It was probably half the people in the park, but it was still only a train or so worth of people. It was a painful looping Meisho coaster that I really didn’t need to ride again. After a few pictures, I left for sightseeing. Now, it was going to be tricky. I had less than 5 hours to see three major sights, all of which were about 30 minutes away from each other by bus – IF I’d caught them all with perfect timing. I decided to take a taxi, since they’re cheap and it would save a lot of time. The driver even offered to sit and wait for me to visit the Seokguram Grotto and then take me to the Bulguksa Temple, without charging me a waiting fee. Andmission to both major tourist sites was under $4 each. The Seokguram Grotto is a temple that was built in the 8th century into the side of a mountain. It’s considered to be one of the finest examples of Buddhist art in the world, with a big Buddha and other statues and art around it. A wooden entrance that looks more like a traditional temple has recently been added, probably to make it more picturesque for the tourists. To get to the grotto, you have to walk a long, winding path through the woods. As I was walking, I passed several large groups of young students in their uniforms who get bussed in from all over the country and seemed very excited to see a white person (presumably American.) Many, many of them were very excited to show off their English skills by waving and saying “Herro” and “Hi” to me! It was kind of surreal. Korea doesn’t see a whole lot of white tourists outside of Seoul, although touristy Gueongju probably sees more than any other city. But these kids probably came from all over to see these temples that are major historic treasures for the country. And I was possibly the first white person they’d ever seen in person and not on TV. There was also another temple and the obligatory gifts shops, as well as a giant bell by the entrance of the area which you could pay a donation to ring to have your wishes come true. The temple was nice, but I didn’t honestly see what all the hubbub was about. From there, the patiently waiting taxi driver took me to the Bulguksa Temple (also from the 8th century of the Silla dynasty era), which is actually a whole complex of temples and bridges and other structures. There’s actually a lot to see there. In one area, there were a whole ton of piles of rocks piled on top of each other, with what I assume was some religious significance. It was really neat, though it seemed a little creepy to me, for some reason. Since it takes a while to see the temple complex, the driver had gone on his way, which presented a big problem to me. I hadn’t taken the bus there, so I didn’t know where the bus stop was, and there were no taxis anywhere in sight. I tried asking many people where I could find a bus or taxi by asking “bus” and “taxi” and shrugging my shoulders and looking around lost – with absolutely no luck. Tome was running out, since the Gyeongju National Museum was closing soon, and I had no way to get there. Eventually someone pointed in one direction, and I walked what had to have been 10 minutes to the bus stop. With time running out and the bus I needed not coming, I managed to hail a taxi, who got me to the museum 25 minutes before they closed, but 5 minutes after they stopped letting people in! I begged to be let in, and the nice guy did! I did a whirlwind tour of as much of the complex as I could see, before it closed. Inside were a lot of treasures from this area, mostly from the Silla era, including many of the treasures from the burial mounds I’d seen the day before. After the museum closed, I was still able to see the many outdoor displays of pagodas and statues and other art, including a weird display of headless Buddhas, which they weren’t sure if they were headless because the necks of the statues were fragile or if they were defaced my the later Confucians. From there, I took the bus back to the bus station, stopped by the hotel to pick up my bags and took the bus back to the high speed rail station and the train to Seoul, catching up on the latest Doctor Who episode and audio stories on the train. All in all, Gyeongju was a city I really enjoyed visiting. It gave me a chance to see a very different side of Korea, both in the important historical sites, and in seeing a much smaller city. I'm not sure I'd be in a hurry to go back. But I'm really glad I went. And a special thanks to Jeremy for insisting that I allow more than a day in the city. The history and culture of Gyeongju is more significant than anything in Seoul, and having seen this lessened the pressure I'd feel to do more sightseeing in Seoul in the following days. Next installment: Seoul, a city I was mainly visiting for the coasters, but which I ended up enjoying quite a bit, although much of it for its western influences. Strangely enough, on the bus to the park, I saw a bunch of different places selling replica statues of the area's sights. Unforunately, none of these would fit in my suitcase. I even ran into a replica of the observatory I saw yesterday that was covered with flowers. More importantly, that unexpected rain was looking ominous for my chances for getting on the coasters! Pheathon dominates the whole park. You can even see it from the front, even though it's all the way in the back. Some nice fantasy theming. In Korea, I think "Americana" means hamburgers. Which, I guess makes me really Americana! Phaethon: B&M goodness with IOA-level theming. Not TOO IOA here! But hey, if the original isn't going to keep the awesome theming it had, there's always the one in Korea! This really is impressive theming for a mid-sized park! Certainly better than anything Six Flags has ever done! Even the station is well themed! The theming on the rapids ride looked funny, since it was drained. More wizard-y theming. Could someone who counts powered "coasters" as coasters please explain to me why you wouldn't count one of these too? Isn't it just more or less a compact powered dragon "coaster"? Space Tour. AKA indoor closed credit I'm not getting! From the upcharge haunted house. Riding the painful looping coaster kind of felt like this! Dinner is served! Back to Phaethon. Near the entrance, they tell the story of the demi-god Phaethon, for those who aren't up on their Greek mythology. They have cartoonish drawings of many Greek gods in the station. Bomun Lake, a big tourist area where all of the nice hotels in town are, plus the amusement park and some other touristy stuff. This area allowed for some nice pictures of Phaethon, too! The park also had a decent freefall tower with nice views of Pheathon, the park and the lake. B&M inverted goodness! It's a fairly standard B&M inverted coaster, but that's a good thing! I like this angle. Like many parks in Asia, there's also a small zoo section. A neat way to serve a combo mini-meal. Mini chicken nuggets sitting on top of a cup of soda. I was so disappointed that the Tagada was closed, and I'd miss this relaly cool ride experience that I'd never had. Luckily, I'd get to ride one later on the trip with TPR at Floraland in China! An old-fashioned funhouse, the kind you rarely find in the US any more. Unfortunately, several of the tricks weren't working and the slides were closed. Space 2000. Aka painful looping thing I never need to ride again! Seokguram Grotto up above, and another temple below it. The facade was actually added somewhat recently, probably to make it more photogenic for the toursists, since pictures aren't allowed inside. Did I say pictures weren't allowed inside? Oops! I only discovered this after taking a few pictures! This is supposedly some of the finest Buddhist art in the world. The grotto was built into the side of a mountain. After taking a bus or cab or car way up past the Bulguksa temple, you have to walk 10-15 minutes through the woods on the mountain to get to it. Inside the other temple, where you are allowed to take pictures! The bell you can ring for a small donation (I think is was a couple of dollars) for good luck. With 6 more weeks to go, all outdoors, I could use all the luck I could get with the weather and my health! On to the Bulguksa Temple complex. I relaly liked these warriors/gods/whatever. Especially the little guys at their feet. The stone gates to the Bulguksa temple. The Bulguksa Dabotap, a stone pagoda from 751 AD. The bright colors and amazing details of the many Buddhist temples I visited on the trip were really impressive. I think this is the ACTUAL Bulguksa Temple, but there were a bunch of temples in the whole large complex, so I might have gotten them confused. Making use of my telephoto, since you can't take pictures inside the temple. Ok, so maybe I'm making use of a technicality. Sue me! There were hundreds, if not thousands, of these piles of stones all over this small area of the complex. You can even see them on the surrounding wall in the background in the upper right of the photo, and they were all around this area. I'm not sure what they were supposed to signify, but I found them kind of creepy. And on to the Gyeongju National Museumm which actually has more historic Korean artifacts than any other museum in Korea. I'm just glad they let me in, since they were closing soon, and stoped letting people in 5 minutes before I got there! These were some of my favorite statues there. A crown from one of the burial mounds, like those i visited yesterday. A stone pagoda in the outdoor section of the museum. These headless Buddhas were kind of creepy. There were a whole bunch of them on display, too! At the Gyeongju high speed rail train station. For the train lovers out here. The Korean KTX/high speed rail was fast and efficient, and reasonably priced. Now if we could only get that in the US!

No, I haven't forgotten this PTR. I've been busy with work and Black Friday/Cyber Week shopping! Gyeongju World and Gyeongju sightseeing coming up very soon, for fans of Korea!

Coaster Expedition. Especially if you did one of the TPR China trip! I've always prefered these videos, from way back when they started out as your family vacation videos. And I'm not just saying that because I was in them! They give more of a story of a day in the park, rather than just POV of a coaster ride. While the raw videos are ok, especially now theat you're editing them a lot more and changing up the style to more than just POV, I'd rather ride the coaster than just watch it.

As for eating in China, I'm not at all an adventurous eater, and I did fine. As long as you can eat chicken, beef and/or pork, you'd do ok. Every one of our meals had some, if not all of that, although often it was with some sauces. Plus, there were McDonals, Pizza Huts, KFC's and more almost everywhere. I even found a Burger King, which was playing the video of "F*ck You", and not the "Forget You" version that's radio friendly. The only really scary meal was the one on the creepy farm in the middle of nowhere. And even that had a few edible things.

I rode it a couple of weeks before the TPR China trip. It's actually pretty good. There are a few pictures of it in my "David's epic Asia Trip" thread. Unfortunately, it's really hard to get good pictures of it, since the lighting all around the short section of the ride that's viewable from the main park area is really bright, which messes with pictures. And I found out why it's called "Veil of Dark: The Shooting Coaster", (although it's not actually called the whole thing on the park's signs). It's ALSO a shooting dark ride! See my description of the ride and a handful of pics here: PTR: David's Epic Asia trip: Tokyo Joypolis It was a pretty good ride, especially as an overall attraction, with the shooting section and a decent coaster section. As with everything at Tokyo Joypolis, with low capacities everywhere, expect to wait a while for it. but I thought it was worth it, especially for such a unique combination of elements in one attraction. Also, don't expect to see any videos of the ride, unless Robb gets special permission to film on it next year. They don't let you bring anything on the ride, and make you put everything in a locker. It's not particularly crazy of a ride, but the section you can see in the video is in the main part of the park, where people can walk underneath the coaster. So, the only part you can film is the very brief section that's in the main area. But be assured that there is MUCH more to the ride than what you've seen here.

Am I the only one who thinks that the inverted spike on the Conny-land Cobra is a brilliant idea? A totally different sensation from any other coaster I know of on the planet. Also, since the lift hill is at an angle that's more than vertical, would that count as technically the steepest lift hill in the world?

^ That's Wonder Rakutenchi. I was actually just going to post that. It was in the last Japan day of my ongoing epic Asia trip report that I posted last week. In fact, that's my picture from the PTR! There are also two other mountainside parks in Spain with funiculars (but not with cats or dogs on them!) up to the park: Tibidabo and Monte Iguedldo. However, at neither of those parks is the funicular the ONLY way to get into the park, like it is at Wonder Rakitenchi. You can drive or take a bus up to either of those parks also. As for the comment earlier about th park in Hong Kong, you're thinking of Ocean Park, which technically doens't count, according to the rules of this thread, since both the cable car and the underground train ride are within the park itself, which is in two sections. However, you could almost count it since all of the rides are in the upper section of the park. The lower section is all animal exhibits, mostly marine animals, plus pandas. (And Halloween mazes and shows during their awesome Halloween event.)

^ Normal? LOL! There's no such thing as normal! And I should know!