David H

I did a fairly complex set of uploads with my latest China PTR update, and everything went smoothly in Chrome. I used a bunch of pictures from both my camera and phone, which had different file naming schemes. Since I'd rather not go to the trouble of renaming all of my files, it was a good test to see how well the multi-uploader was working. I uploaded batches in all sorts of combinations of files (i.e. 3 from the camera and 2 from the phone, then just three from the camera, etc.), including one or two using the old solo loader. Everything loaded in proper order, adding the new files to the end of the list in alpha-numeric order. I also changed a couple of the orders manually. Everything previewed correctly and posted correctly.

Imagine the steel rod of death on a Vekoma!

^ There was an actual haunted dark ride (not "Dark Ride". the coaster) in the indoor section, but it was closed when I tried to ride it. The water coaster was nice, but nothing special. I didn't count it as a credit, though i wouldn't argue with anyone who did, since it did have more than a little coaster track. But ultimately, to me, it was more shoot-the-chutes than anything. I'm not very whorish in my counting.

Day 22, part 2: Wuhan Peace Park and Wuhan Zhongshan Park. This update will be shorter than most, at least in the words department (well, for me at least!), because I probably used up my quota of words on the last update! Seriously, though, we visited two small parks in Wuhan to get a bunch of credits, and by this point in the trip, all of these small parks started to blend together. So, there aren’t that many interesting stories to tell about them. Both city parks were actually quite nice, with ponds and art and decorations. But there wasn’t anything special about the amusement parks in those city parks. Both parks seemed somewhat old and falling apart. The sad thing is that most of the rides were less than 10 years old. First up was Wuhan Peace Park, although the tour guide seemed to think it was called Paradise Park at Heping Park. Probably the most eventful thing that happened at this part of the day was getting to our first coaster – a kiddie oval -- and finding it a rusting mess, overrun with plants! The train was sitting out on the track with giant ferns that had grown through the track and were blocking the train! We obviously didn’t get the credit (though I think some of us held out hope!), but honestly, seeing the ride like that was probably more entertaining than riding it! Eventually, we found the park’s Jungle Mouse, called Jungle Flying Squirrel, which was actually pretty decent, better than most of them on the trip. We also rode the powered Gliding Dragon, but nothing else really. From there we headed to Wuhan Zhongshan Park. There are actually a whole bunch of parks named Zhongshan Park. In fact, we’d be visiting two more in Shanghai and Shenzhen, although this one had Wuhan in the name, while the others were just Zhongshan Park. Unlike most city amusement parks, this one actually had a full sized adult looping coaster, even if it was just a Chinese knockoff of an Arrow double loopscrew by a company we’d never heard of (Hebei Zhongye Metallurgical Equipment Manufacturing Co., according to RCDB.) Then we rode the park’s Golden Horse crazy mouse called In the Woods Flying Mouse. Finally, we rode the park’s Flying Saucer spinning mouse. Others had ridden one on the pre-trip add-on day, but I missed it. I actually thought it was a decent ride, though I may have been saying that to help justify skipping more rides on Dauling Dragons! Since the park was bigger than the other, we spent a bit of time here, though I don’t think I rode anything other than the trashy dark ride. Several of the rides here were closed and rusted and didn’t look like they’d run in years. Ultimately, I enjoyed these parks more than I expected to, but again I may have just been thinking that to help justify my decision not to stay at Happy Valley Wuhan. If I go back some day, I’d definitely stay there and skip the credit whoring. But it was my choice, and it worked out ok. A bridge we crossed to get to and from Happy Valley. Wuhan isn't as big as some Chinese cities, but it has a nice skyline. Walking through the first park. Does this count as theming? This doesn't look good.... Not at all.... No, I don't htink we'll be riding this! Still, it made for unique, funny coaster pictures! Well, maybe not so unique in China! Now, THIS looks like an active amusement park! Hooray! An OPERATING coaster! Bill highlights the parks extensive safety protocols, by eating the seat belt. Gee, a powered dragon knockoff. We haven't seen any of these before! If I'd counted these, I'd have gotten a ton more credits on this trip! Now we're in the second park. I like this little police kart! There's construction everywhere in China, as people move from the farmlands and small villages into the cities. Culture! Ooh, I see ride track! An Arrow loopscrew knockoff is about as good as it gets for Chinese city park amusement parks! But it's Cheryl's #900! Um, you're supposed to change when you get out of the hospital. Or are these just his PJ's and he thinks the bracelet is fashionable? Arrow knockoff goodness! Damn! Missed the train going through the loop! If this hunk of rust were open, would you ride it? Pay very careful attention to the safety instructions! More jungle mouse action. I appreciated their attempts at theming. Robb doing his thing. It's a pretty neat design for a spinning mouse car. I'm thinking the coaster wasn't THAT exciting... Gay monkey voguing? What's up with this weird monkey on the kiddie ride?!? Wuhan has some neon, but not as much as Chengdu. Cool building. Our hotel. Our hotel. People in China, particularly women, often do complicated group dance routines in public places for exercise. I guess it's cheaper than the gym! I'd later join in one night in Shanghai! Cool building. Ditto.

When I first saw the glow with the show mouse ears at Disneyland Paris this Summer, I thought it was a stupid, overpriced gimmick. But when i saw a whole bunch them changing colors during different scenes of the closing show, I had to admit they looked pretty cool. Leave it to Disney to figure out a way to get the customers to pay to make part of their show!

Nice report so far, Neil. Did you guys ride Flume Ride, the Golden Horse water coaster? It had enough coaster track for many to count as a coaster, though I chose not to count it. It had some very nice theming, too. Also, did you do the park's dark ride? If so, how was is? I wanted to ride it, but didn't know that it closed earlier than the rest of the park, so I missed it. Just wondering how it was. In fact, ALL of the rides closed earlier than the park, some earlier than others. I literally JUST made it to the walkthrough ghost ship as they were about to close it!

Yeah, Happy Valley have only been doing it for 16 years now. Give them time! But you're right. And with no major competition until lately, there was really no reason for them to improve.

Day 22, part 1: Happy Valley Wuhan. We had one goal in Wuhan: to visit Happy Valley, mainly for their new Gravity Group high-five woodie. Anything else was a bonus. Technically, we were in Wuhan for three days and two nights, but effectively, it was only one day, since we arrived the previous night and left the following morning to give us the full day in Wuhan. Wuhan’s Happy Valley was at the time the chain’s newest park. (They’ve since opened one in Tianjin, near Beijing a little over a month ago.) Unfortunately, the park wasn’t yet complete, with 2 of its 6 coasters not yet open. We already knew this before going, so it wasn’t a surprise. Luckily, however, the high five coasters had already opened! For those who don’t know, the high five coasters are actually called Dauling Dragons. Yes “Dauling” Dragons, as it’s misspelled on at least two different signs in the park, including the huge one by the ride’s entrance! You’d think the chain would pay someone to proofread their giant signs, at least, or even asked the manufacturers to take a look at the translation of the ride’s name. It’s gotten the moniker of “high five” because of a world premiere “high five” element, where both trains are racing side by side and turn 90 degrees on their sides facing each other so that the riders in opposite trains could almost high five each other, if the trains were just a little bit closer. Sure, it’s a gimmick, but it’s a hell of a gimmick! And it’s one that Gravity Group has promoted somewhat heavily. Unfortunately the park itself doesn’t seem aware of this feature of their rides – or at least doesn’t seem to care about it – because they almost never run both coasters at the same time, completely defeating the purpose of buying dueling coasters in the first place, as well as making the high five element pointless. It’s Happy Valley, after all. And I’ve already discussed several times in this report how poor their operations are at all of their parks. Never mind the fact that two of the major coasters at the park aren’t yet open. Let’s keep another one closed, too! The Chinese have a lot to learn about customer service and customer satisfaction, though to be fair, the operations at this park didn’t seem as bad as at their other parks. That was why our filming session on the coasters was so crucial. We weren’t even sure if both coasters had EVER run together, except when Martin & Vleminckx was taking pictures back when it opened. But Robb was filming these coasters for Gravity Group and Martin & Vleminckx who very much wanted video of them DUELING (or is that “dauling”?), so that they could show off the high five and dueling elements to prospective buyers. Both Robb and the manufacturers had contacted the park to make sure that we would be able to film on (and ride!) both coasters while they dueled. We got to the park quite early to ensure that we would have plenty of time to film. This was, after all, one of the biggest highlights of the whole trip. After waiting a while for the park to finish their maintenance, and watching them walk the track, we were finally given the go ahead to ride – ONE SIDE! AARGH! The park PR woman – who Robb had been talking to much of this time – seemed really confused that we actually wanted to ride both sides – as we’d repeatedly asked to! After discussing the matter with maintenance people, she told Robb that they wouldn’t be able to inspect and walk the track on the other side if the first side was running, so we might as well go ride one side now, because otherwise we would have to wait at least half an hour or more. Robb told her fine. We’ll wait. Huh? She was confused. You’ll wait? Yes. We want to ride and film on BOTH SIDES TOGETHER. Huh? Why don’t you just go ride one side now, since it’s ready? I swear, I don’t know how Robb managed to keep her cool with her and the park maintenance people! So, we sat there while they inspected the other side, with us waiting around taking pictures of the coaster, the two smoking locomotive train cars in front of the ride, the inspectors, and some of the rest of nearby areas of the park. Eventually they got it ready for us, though it wasn’t quite as long as they said it would be. Robb set up his cameras and put the people where he wanted them for his filming, and we filled as much of the trains as we could with thirty-odd people (including two newcomers, who’d been to China previously and were joining us early for the second half of the trip, plus Wuhan for the new park) and two trains to fill. And we were off – for an extended riding/filming session, during which we all got many, many rides on both sides, switching seats often, and switching between the sides only once to save time and maximize our rides. We definitely got well over a dozen rides, which wouldn’t have really been possible without our filming time. But how was it? Well, I thought it was awesome! The high five is definitely a gimmick – but it’s a hell of a gimmick! It just looks really cool while you’re riding or watching, if they get the timing right. And it was definitely fun reaching towards the other train, even if we’d never really come close to actually high fiving. One small problem, though: the design of the ride is slightly off so that if they get the timing of the high five just right, then the timing of the rest of the dueling moments is somewhat off, and vice versa. But I guess this isn’t a problem for the park, since they don’t generally duel them anyways! And we got enough rides to get both experiences, with either the high five or the rest of the dueling moments timed right. They’re Gravity Group coasters. They’re crazy and violent and totally give that out of control feeling. Most of the airtime is in short, violent bursts, rather than in long sustained drops. I LOVE that in a coaster. Others don’t as much, and didn’t enjoy Dauling Dragons as much as I did. There were very differing opinions on which wide was better. I preferred the red left side a bit more, because it seemed just a bit crazier, but others preferred the right blue side as not quite as violent. Ultimately, I put them at #7 and #8 on my woodie list, just beating out Fireball as the best woodie in China, mainly due to the high five. Without it, I’d probably give Fireball the slight edge. Apparently, most people liked them, though, since they both ranked in the top 10 in Mitch’s poll. As to the eternal enthusiast question: is it one coaster or two? I tend to count dueling coasters as two, but racing coasters as one, with some exceptions, based on how different the profiles are, but I take each pair on a case by case basis. (I count the Dueling Lightning Racer as one, for instance.) I’d say Dauling Dragons are a solid borderline case. I’m going slightly with two, mainly because the first third of the ride has a fairly different profile. Even the start is different, since the left side drops under the right side’s lift hill, while it hasn’t dropped yet. The park let us extend our filming time into the regular park operating day (mainly due to their late start), which was great for us, but probably sucked for the general public. At this point, there was exactly one adult coaster in the park open, Hidden Anaconda, the Maurer Sohne Skyloop, and it had a pretty long line accordingly. Luckily, the park’s PR person got us onto the ride via the exit for a quick filming sesison, cutting the whole queue! You gotta love the VIP treatment! From there, we went to Monte Carlo Racetrack, a nicely themed Golden Horse family coaster, but since there weren’t many people there, we didn’t need an exclusive filming session to get a bunch of rides. Again, the other two coasters (an S&S air-launched coaster and a Maurer Sohne launched X-car coaster) in the park were not open, though we took lots of pictures. That made zero for two with the Happy Valley S&S launched coasters on this trip so far, with only one more chance at the end of the trip in Shenzhen! One weird note: all three of the adult steel coasters in the park are painted red, which is kind of odd. After that, we split up and explored the rest of the park. We decided to spend some time with the park’s flat rides, most of which were in the circus area of the park. I know we did the Disk-o, the adult Frog Hopper, the Top Scan, but I can’t remember which of the others we rode. We definitely did the park’s Haunted House, which was well done, but I don’t recall if we rode the “Magic Baby” shooting dark ride. Eventually, I split off to get a last ride on the Dauling Dragons before it was time to leave. Of course, one side was closed. It’s Happy Valley. Before the meeting time, I checked out the merchandise for sale. But I was surprised to see that unlike any of the other Happy Valley parks that I’d been to, they actually had a bunch of HAPPY VALLEY merchandise, including several different t-shirts! Woo hoo! I wondered if other parks in the chain had started with them, and sold out, or if this was a mostly new addition. We’d see them again at their Shanghai park, which was their next newest park. But they really should get some more of their own chain’s merchandise at all of their parks. At meeting time, I really wanted to stay a bit longer. After all, we had a world class Gravity Group woodie to ride, and I probably shouldn’t have spent so much time on the flat rides. But this was a group of true credit whores, and not one of them wanted to stay. To be honest, if anyone else at all had wanted to stay or if both sides of Dauling Dragons had been open, I’d definitely have stayed. Robb actually encouraged me to stay, and said he’d actually have more respect for me if I chose a woodie I loved over being a credit whore. And I seriously considered it, especially since our hotel wasn’t a very expensive cab ride away. (Cabs are cheap in China!) I’d have to find my own food for dinner, since I’d miss the group meal, but that wouldn’t be too hard in a big city. But ultimately, I didn’t want to be “that guy” who goes against the group on his own, and decided to stay with the group. Ultimately, this Happy Valley park seemed incomplete, and not just because two of their coasters hadn’t yet opened. They needed another themed area, and at least a few more rides to really seem like a full theme park. Speaking of theming, it’s usually one of Happy Valley’s strongest points. But it didn’t seem like the theming here was quite on the same level as the other parks. It seemed closer to what you’d expect from a Six Flags or Cedar Fair Park that what we’d come to expect from Happy Valley. Maybe they’re cutting corners on their newer parks? Hopefully, this new Happy Valley park will improve over time. But ultimately, the Dauling Dragons are more than enough to be worth a visit to the park. The entry plaza. (These next few pics are actually from when we left the park, which is why we're walking away from the park, but they made more sense to put here, at the beginning to show what you'd see when you enter the park.) Another Happy Valley park doing their magic festival thingy, which we never saw any part of. On our way! There's some manmade lakes in this section to try to give it that wharf feeling. Yes, DAULING Dragon Let's see that up close.... The steaming trains look impressive, and give us something to take pictures of while we're waiting for them to open the coasters for us. 69. Walking the track. The magic "high five" moment! Too bad I didn't get any good pictures of it in action! Luckily, Robb and Hanno got tons! Well, since we can't ride yet, we might as well take some pictures! You can see the not yet open Magic Express there in the background. And there's OCT Thrust SSC1000, also red. Also closed. Happy Valley's uniforms are very fashionable! From the station. And then, I put the camera away to actually RIDE these awesome coasters! Hidden Anaconda, kind of a funny name for a coaster that sticks straight up out of the midway, not at all hidden! It's red, but it's actually open! Artsy overhead shot. Time to try to get a few more pictures of the Dauling Dragons while they're still "dauling". AARGH! I had the perfect picture all set up and waiting for the trains to go through the high five. Then Brian put his hands up to take video RIGHT in my view JUST as the train was coming. This was moments after. With the slow Happy Valley operations and one train on each side, it would take forever to get the trains here again, and we had to leave the area to ride other things! The only actual "dauling" shot I managed to get! I'm not at all clear of what those white poles are supposed to be. Tent poles? Monte Carlo Racetrack. It's a weird mashup of theming. You've got paparazi taking pictures... palm trees and race car divers... odd-shaped race cars... A truck that's on fire. Or is it a fire truck? And a video game remote control. Or is that what a race car steering wheel is supposed to look like?!? That's a member of the Roller Coaster Dream coaster club of China riding with Neil. More of that coaster with the lovely name, OCT Thrust SSC1000. This is Magic Express. You can tell from the black supports. You can also see the adult frog hopper on the right. These guys should look familiar from yesterday's haunted house at a different Happy Valley! Put the theming on the hotel wall! It doesn't look very hidden to me! But that pier looks mighty auspicious! Back to the now non-Dauling Dragons. Note that there are only 4 coasters operating in the park (counting the Dragons as two), but one's already closed and the other dueler closes by 6 PM. Nope, no dauling.

Sorry, I thought this was a discussion forum, not Twitter. My bad. All awards are nonsense. Because we all have different opinions. Period. Who's defending anything? I don't agree with just about any of the awards either. But I do find it interesting looking at why certain things win certain awards and also why people disagree with me. It's called discussion.

^ Huh? That doesn't even make sense. How would that even be possible to find people who have only hit "big" parks? I can't think of anyone I know who hasn't been to at least some big and small parks. Even if I'm not sure if you mean "big" as in the biggest chain parks, or "big" as in the most popular enthusiast parks (including smaller places like Knoebels or Holiday World.) But either way, I'd point to Mitch's poll, which has no criteria at all for participating. The parks with the most riders in that poll are the most popular parks among enthusiasts. (Cedar Point, Holiday World, SFGAdv, Kings Island, Knoebels, Universal, etc.) Because more of us tend to go there. That's why they're popular among enthusiasts. ANY park and coaster poll is going to tend to get more enthusiasts who have been to those parks, because more enthusiasts have been there! In fact, if the poll didn't have lots of riders who had been to those parks, then it probably has a very flawed panel of voters. Do people really think that that AT is really trying to find people with certain riding criteria before they let them into the poll group? That they're trying to fix the results towards certain parks? The only criteria they've asked for is that they be well-traveled enthusiasts with a preference towards those who have traveled internationally (to try to fight the inherent bias against non-US parks, because so few enthusiasts have been to them.) Is there anyone who has actually been rejected when asking to be part of the poll? (Chuck, I'm assuming that your not getting a ballot was an oversight or that it was lost. I'd suggest contacting them to find out what happened.)

Do we even know if the Golden Ticket has more voters than Mitch's poll? Millennium Force finished 14th in that one, so I think it is safe to say there are plenty of people out there who don't list it as their favorite coaster. The number of total voters isn't all that important. What's important in the GTA's is the number of people who have voted a particular coaster in their top 10. Clearly, there are more, from the results. But look at Mitch's poll data for my point. It uses a completely different algorithm to come up with the results, and as such gets completely different results. It's also a very common algorithm, used in many different polls. But look at the actual data and the ballots from Mitch's poll. If we're looking at sheer number of votes, If Mitch's poll used the GTA's algorithm, MF would win there too. If doesn't matter in the GTA's in any way how many people DON'T list a coaster as their favorite -- or in their top 10. All that matters is how many people DO. In Mitch's poll, those who vote it lower will negatively impact on its results. All you really need to look at is the ridership numbers in Mitch's poll to understand why MF has a huge advantage in any poll using the GTA's algorithm. . In last year's poll, 246 people ranked Millennium Force, 146 people ranked Bizarro and 101 people ranked Expedition GeForce. That means that MF has nearly twice the riders of Bizarro and 2.5 times the number or riders as EGF. If you're only counting the number of top 10 spots each ride gets, and counting those points accordingly, that would mean that MF only needs to half about half as many riders AS A PERCENTAGE actually rank it in the top 10 to win. I did a quick search of last year's Mitch steel ballots, and found that: 79 out of 246 -- or 32% -- people ranked MF as their #1. 38 out of 101 -- or 38% -- people ranked EGF as their #1. 43 out of 146 -- or 29% -- people ranked Bizarro as their #1. I'm going to guess that the rankings for the rest of the top 10 are relatively similar. However I have seen that most of those who love MF LOVE it and have it as #1, so it's possible that doesn't have quite the same percentage of votes in the rest of the top 10. In fact, I'm willing to bet that there are a lot of people who don't love MF who ranked it significantly lower than people did for EGF or Bizarro, or MF would rank higher in Mitch's poll. (I put EGF at 4, Bizarro at 6, and MF at 91, so I'm certainly not arguing for my own personal opinion here!) But with around twice as many actual votes as either of the others, MF would have gotten twice as many points if Mitch's poll were counted the same way as the GTA's. As to goatdan's question of why certain parks constantly win, it's simple. Those are the parks that more coaster and theme park enthusiasts are likely to have visited. Other than Disney and Universal, which are cultural icons that people often visit with their families from a young age, where does every coaster geek want to visit? Cedar Point. It's the most universally known coaster park in the world. After that, you've got SFGAdv (at least now that El Toro is there), Kings Island (mainly because of its large number of coasters and its proximity to Cedar Point, making it easy to hit on the same trip), Holiday World, Kennywood, Knoebels, maybe Magic Mountain (for its sheer number of coasters and the fact that people can hit it on a trip to Disneyland), probably Dollywood in recent years. These are legendary parks in coaster enthusiasts circles. Europa Park is finally getting there, as are the Tokyo Disney parks. It's not surprising that more of us have been to these parks. As such, they're going to win more votes and do better in any poll that uses the total number of votes cast for a ride or park in their methodology. On a similar note, why do Schlitterbahn and Holiday World always do the best in the water park parts of the poll? Because most coaster geeks aren't major water park fans? Because most of us are smart enough not to go to Orlando in the Summer, so most of us have never experienced Disney's water parks? (I've been to each of them once.) Because Schlitterbahn is the biggest water park in the world, hosts an awesome enthusiast event, and often has add-on days before or after major coaster events? Because since Holiday World includes the water park in their coaster event, it's one of the only water parks that many of the voters have ever been to? All of these and more. I wouldn't take too much stock in the rankings for water parks. Not enough people on the poll have been to more than a few of them. Admittedly, I have, and I'd have to say that Schlitterbahn easily deserves its win every year. But I'm not sure that Schlitterbahn Galveston's win for indoor water park is really fair, since 3/4 of the park is outdoors, and the indoor part is only mildly impressive.

^^ Millennium Force clearly wins from sheer number of votes. Like it or not, there are way more people who like MF and list it as their favorite coaster than any other coaster on the planet. Personally, I disagree, and it barely makes my top 100. But I know way too many people (even many well travelled enthusiasts) who truly love it and put it as their undisputed number one. I think it hits that sweet spot with being fast and somewhat intense without being too intense, like a lot of the B&M hypers, particularly Nitro. Bizarro, on the other hand DOES have that intensity. In the 11 years Mitch has done the steel poll since Superman/Bizarro opened, it has ranked at #1 in 7 of them, and #2 in the other 4. Last year, it came in second place by just 5 votes out of 37 mutual votes cast. Intimidator 305 came in #4 on Mitch's poll. Leviathan came in #18. ^ And I'd definitely be curious to see what would win in a TPR awards.

I stopped reading after this because there is no point. I would have zero respect for anything else you would say following that statement. The problem with the Golden Tickets is you have a bunch of roller coaster weirdos voting on "theme parks" that cannot separate the fact that "Top Thrill Dragster" doesn't make a "theme park", and Amusement Today is either too stupid or too scared to have two different categories. There is simply no other explanation for such an obvious flaw in the awards. Tokyo DisneySea and Europa Park should *NOT* be in the same category as Cedar Point or Knoebel's. Actually, I completely agree, which if you'd bothered to read the rest of my post you'd see. I even said that I'd vote for Europa Park above either of those parks because it's one of very, very few parks that actually succeeds and excels as BOTH an amusement park and a theme park. I repeatedly said that Disneysea was one of the very best parks in the world and the very best THEME PARK. But ultimately, the category is "best park", not "best theme park" and I care more about rides than theming, although I really appreciate both -- which is why Europa would actually get my vote. They're very different goals and experiences. I think you broke it down well yourself in your description of the difference between an amusement park and a theme park. Ultimately, an amusement park is more about the rides themselves, whereas a theme park is often more about the theming and the overall experience, which is effectively a show. For that reason, I agree that the categories should be separated. But as of now, they're not. There are people who are more "ride people" and people who are more "show people". Show people are the types that will want to ride a Disney ride again and again many times per visit and per year. With their favorite Broadway-type shows, they'll want to see them again and again. I can certainly appreciate a good show. I was just on Broadway two weeks ago when other plans got cancelled. (And dammit, Newsies sold out with the person just ahead of me in line!) I've been to NINE Disney parks and three Universal parks in the past 12 months. Obviously I enjoy them. But ultimately, I don't find the time to go to that many shows. I'd rather see a different show than the same one multiple times. And at Disney parks, for all but the very best "show-y" rides, I'm happy to ride them once or maybe a few times, but then I'm ready to move on, and don't need to go back for a few years. Ultimately, In most cases, I want to see the pre-show -- once -- and then I'd honestly rather just skip ahead to the ride. Call me a "roller coaster weirdo" all you want. But as much as I enjoy both experiences, I'm more of a "ride person" than a "show person". I love a great roller coaster over the most immersive ride experience, with a mediocre ride attached. If that makes me worthy of "zero respect" from you, then so be it. But it's not an inexperienced, uneducated opinion. If you can't respect my different opinion, then again so be it. Ultimately, as much as I enjoy both experiences, what gets me most excited is a good thrilling ride or coaster. And when you strip out the "show" elements of DisneySea (which, of course, no one would ever want to do), ultimately they have a (surprisingly improved) mid-sized coaster, a freefall, a peoplemover, a video game ride, some transport rides, some kiddie rides, and a bunch of shows. Of course, you can't strip out the show elements, and that's why if they allowed multiple positions, I'd easily put DisneySea in my top 3, despite its lack of multiple really thrilling rides. I'm not even a huge fan of Phoenix, but I'd much rather ride it again and again and again over anything at Disneysea. Luckily, in the real world, I don't have to choose between the two. I'll go to DisneySea AND Cedar Point AND Europa Park AND Knoebels over the years. It's easy enough to get a mix of parks on most vacations. That said, I agree with many of the other comments. Epcot has amazing food (although Tivoli actually has more top-rated restaurants.) I suspect that most people don't vote for it in this category because they most of them are owned by outside vendors, like those at Tivoli. Blizzard Beach absolutely is one of the top water parks in the world, though I'd definitely give the edge to Schlitterbahn in overall rides. (Again, rides vs show.) The concept of Knoebels having the third best Halloween event in the world is ludicrous (even if they did expand it to the whole month.) And shouldn't Universal Hollywood be on that list? Ocean Park's event is world class, too! But does anyone even in the industry care who came in third or fourth in any category, besides coasters? As to the concept of the poll as a popularity contest, isn't that what most polls are? I mean, when you ask someone in a poll who they're going to vote for, you don't generally ask people to rank all of their qualifications. You're asking who they like, and who they're going to vote for. If you took a poll of "best song", you wouldn't ask people to describe the keys and melodies and other technical stuff; you ask them which they like. The GTA's go out of their way to try to get a more experienced, well traveled poll panel. But generally, with the vast majority of poll methodologies, the winner is the one who gets the most votes. These are ultimately industry awards. They're not even for "us", really. They're for the parks to brag about winning an award in some of their advertising. We already have Mitch's awards for US.

^ Actually, I was pleasantly surprised to see Holiday Park promoting Expedition GeForce's win in Mitch's poll this year. I think they just called it an internet poll or something.

Perhaps they need to separate out a best "amusement" park and best "theme" park category. Cedar Point might be the best "amusement park", but when you see Tokyo DisneySea at 6%, that alerts me that this system is obviously flawed. As much as I might like Cedar Point there is no way... NO WAY someone who has been to both would vote for Cedar Point. I just can't take these awards seriously. --Robb "And Epcot doesn't even make the list???" Alvey You're going to hate me for this Robb, but hear me out. If I had to vote between Cedar Point and Tokyo DisneySea, I'd probably give my vote to Cedar Point -- by a hair. It would be a really tough call for me, though, because everything DisneySea does they do amazingly well -- and I mean everything. But ultimately, I'm a coaster and thrill ride junkie. And if you asked me to ultimately say if I'd rather be on Raptor and Magnum and Maverick and the dozens and dozens of other coasters and rides at Cedar Point vs the admittedly awesome Journey and Tower and Sindbad and Fantasmic and the dozen or so full sized attractions there, I'd probably have to give the very slight edge to CP. To be clear, though: I've loved my visits to DisneySea and absolutely will be back! If I were voting solely on theming, nothing would come close to Disneysea. But I'm not. That said, I'd vote for Europa over either of them because they strike a better balance between awesome theming and thrill rides and a balance of rides overall, with a huge park with tons of attractions and great food and some of the best park operations on the planet. The new Arthur area is gong to give the park an even bigger boost in the kiddie department with what looks like an incredible new themed area with a state of the art kid's powered coaster/dark ride combo. I'm glad to see Europa finally getting the recognition in this category, almost toppling the mighty Cedar Point. And, no, Epcot wouldn't even make my top 20 list. Probably not even my top 40. They just don't provide what I'm looking for in a park. Then again, I'm not that much of a foodie when I'm traveling, and food is a big part of the Epcot experience. I enjoy the place, for sure. But it's a park I visit when I'm already down in Orlando for the other parks. Ultimately, there isn't even one attraction at the park (including Illuminations, as nice as it is) that I'd be upset if I never got to experience again. Everyone goes to parks looking for different things. I try to appreciate each park for what it does well. And Disneysea is absolutely in a class of its own when if comes to theming and an immersive experience. But in the end I'm a thrill ride and coaster junkie. That's what's going to get the very highest rankings from me in polls. Ultimately, though, in any poll that counts the number of votes a ride or park gets, Cedar Point is going to have a huge advantage. They are simply the most popular park in the world among enthusiasts. More enthusiasts have been there than any other non-Disney/Universal park. And more enthusiasts WANT to go there than any other park either. But enthusiasts tend to be more impressed with thrills them theming, for better or for worse, so Disney is never going to score all that highly in most categories. I agree that maybe it's time to split "amusement park" and "theme park". It would definitely shake things up and make for some interesting battles. As to everyone out there who disagrees with the results -- and I'm certainly one of them -- vote. That's the best way to make your voice heard.

Interestingly, the article at the link is now quite different. For one thing it's shorter. (Usually articles get longer, as more information is discovered.) But now it no longer says that people fell, which makes a lot more sense. The injuries seem to have come from the seats crashing into each other as the ride suddenly stopped. As for the people who were injured, "All but one were treated and released" by 8:26 PM when the amended article was posted. The current text:

I think too many coaster geeks go to Japan and spend all their times on the tours at parks -- and if they stay extra time, they spend it at Disney. That's certainly what I did on my first Japan trip, and it's probably one of the reasons I didn't enjoy the trip as much as I might have. While more time at Disney is always a good thing, I think it's important to take some time to just wander around some of Japan's cities and soak in the culture. I made sure to do that on my visit last fall, and appreciated Japan so much more for having done so. Ironically, one of the best places to soak in the culture in Japan is Asakusa, which happens to have the country's oldest amusement park! Double win! I get the feeling, though, that the rides are often closed there. I missed at least two of the haunted attractions you hit on my visit. They weren't on the English map I got either, so I'm guessing they were closed for the time. I'd been to the park before, and I remembered them having a bunch of haunted attractions. I specifically remembered a walkthrough, though it wasn't there and/or open for my visit. And I specifically asked for it. Just curious. Was that the one that ended with the peeing statue, or was that a different walkthrough? I distinctly remember that from my 2005 visit. I also didn't get to ride the indoor dark ride, although I did ride an outdoor one that you didn't seem to. I don't think it was the same one as the one you rode, which started with an outside section, because I seem to recall it being totally outside. I even asked several people there about scary rides, and all they said they had were the outdoor ride and the attraction with the headphones. I did do that one, but I thought it wasn't as good as the one at Joypolis. (Admittedly, both of them would probably be much better if I knew what the heck they were saying!) However, I did get to the park shortly before closing, so it's possible that those attractions were open, and I missed them. I'm enjoying your TR so far!

Another reason to visit the park. But let's be honest: with Expedition GeForce there, do you really need another reason?

I was at both parks on weekdays last year around the same time as your visit (Sept. 5-7.) I didn't get to either park until later in the afternoon for various reasons, and visited Everland twice, because I found out that they were starting their Halloween haunt the next day (Friday), and I also wanted more rides on T Express, since I hadn't realized that it closed early. The lines were quite short on everything at both parks, at least compared to what you have experienced -- although I didn't try for the safari. The big coasters at each park -- T Express and Atlantis Adventure -- had about 40 minute queues during peak times, but were also shorter later in the day. The other coasters were under 30 minutes. Some of the bigger flat rides at Lotte World had 15-30 minute queues. Otherwise, everything else was close to walk-on. Even the haunted mazes were walk-on by later in the evening, but it was also the very first day of the season.

kailisun98, if you want to hold a panda, start saving up now. It's not cheap! (Plus, you'll probably need to get to Chendgu, or elsewhere in Sichuan.) Bill, yeah, it was quite expensive, especially for so short a time. But with so many people lined up to hold the panda, I guess I can see why they kept the visits short. Otherwise, we'd have been waiting hours! (And who knows how long the pandas would remain calm. They switched one out right after my time.) I was debating spending that much money for a while, even if I was pretty sure I would end up doing it. But it was one of those once in a lifetime experiences that I could now cross off my bucket list, even if I'd not known until the trip that such a thing was possible. Before the experience, I asked on my Facebook page if people would spend the money for the experience themselves, and just about everyone said that they would. The final deciding factor was the fact that the money wasn't just going to some huckster, overcharging for a tourist experience. It was a (mandatory) donation that was going to the panda sanctuary itself, to help keep the pandas safe, and help keep the species alive. So, I was both helping the pandas AND getting an awesome experience for myself. So what the hell. You only live once, as SFMM likes to remind us! Yeah, it's a trite, overused phrase, but I think it applies here. As much as I enjoyed the experience and all of my time in Chendgu and am very glad I went, I'm not sure it's a city I'll ever visit again. So, the opportunity may never again present itself.

I originally tried my latest update doing everything you suggested above. Every time I hit preview, it would show the pictures in random order, even when I manually numbered the orders. Eventually, I manually added the pictures, but it still showed them in random order in the preview. But when I posted the update, everything was in the right order. So just ignore the previews for now.

Day 21: PANDAS! Warning! This update contains absolutely no amusement parks or roller coasters. Instead, it’s full of furry, adorable pandas! And equally adorable (well, almost!) TPR people holding them! And a few black swans and fish. Today was a day for a unique experience that you can only get in China. The Sichuan province (along with a few in two other Chinese provinces) is home to most of the world’s pandas. Since pandas are endangered, China has set up several panda sanctuaries to try to preserve them and also to breed them to keep the species alive. One of the largest such sanctuaries, the Woolong National Nature Reserve near Chengdu, was devastated by an earthquake in 2008, and is still rebuilding. Luckily, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding – much closer to the downtown area we were visiting – is still open! This reserve is one of the most successful panda sanctuaries in the world. They started with six pandas from the wild, and now have built up their numbers thanks to successful breeding to around 100! (Most of the data online are over five years old!) More importantly for us, as far as I know, this sanctuary is one of the only places in the world where you can actually hold a giant panda – if you can afford it! Since we’d be flying out that night, we checked out of the hotel and loaded the bus before heading to the sanctuary. It was going to be another rainy day, though luckily it wasn’t too bad for most of the day. And if it was going to rain for most of the day on any of the days of our trip, this was a good day for it, since it wouldn’t cost us any coasters! The sanctuary was a lot bigger that I had expected, quite well wooded with lots of bamboo and other trees. It would be easy to get lost there. They even offered trams to get around the grounds. It’s apparently one of the biggest tourist attractions in Chengdu, which was evident from all of the people visiting – most of whom were white. We headed straight for the area where you could hold the pandas, but saw other pandas along the way. First we saw a few of them sitting alone up in trees, away from the main walkway, and out came all of our cameras! Soon, we walked by an area where there were dozens of tourists gathered around taking pictures of eight young pandas sitting and eating bamboo. Well, lying lazily, rolling around and eating bamboo, more accurately! This is probably the most pandas you can see in one place, since in nature they’re solitary animals who only meet up with other pandas to mate. This was possibly the most adorable sight in the universe! Eventually, we got to the area where you can hold the pandas. And we each had a decision to make. It was VERY expensive: about $220 to hold a young panda for maybe 2-3 minutes. But this was one of those once in a lifetime “bucket list” type of experiences. And with this trip already costing so much, I wasn’t going to skimp out on the chance to hold a panda. I knew I’d be sorry later if I did. The money supposedly went to the sanctuary to help preserve the pandas, so I didn’t feel like I was just throwing the money out, since it was a good cause. Close to 90% of the group opted to pay to hold the pandas, which gave the others a bit of free time to warder the sanctuary, since there was quite a long line. We paid our money, and filled out some forms and got a badge, and waited in line. Eventually, we put on full surgical gear, with gowns, gloves and even booties over our shoes. I’m not sure if this was more for the panda’s protection, or for that of us and our clothes! But before long, it was that time! And I have to admit, it was awesome! The panda was way bigger than I expected. They use toddlers of various ages for this, but by 1 year old, they’re over 100 pounds! Ours was definitely on the bigger end of the spectrum. They’ve pretty much got the whole process down to a science. They send in groups of 5-6 people as the previous group is winding down. You give one guy your camera(s) when it’s your turn. Once the person in front of you is done, you sit next to him, and two guys lift the panda up and onto your lap. The panda practically takes no notice of you, too busy eating his bamboo. They hand him more bamboo periodically and snap a ton of pictures of you. And after about 3 minutes, the next person sits next to you, they move him onto his lap, and you get up and take off your surgical gear, and you’re done. (Although I forgot to take the booties off right away and got teased for it!) I felt bad for Brian, who came after me. After a couple of minutes, the panda got a little fussy, and the handlers immediately grabbed him up, one on each side, and quickly hauled him out, while the panda made a hideous shrieking sound! They quickly got a replacement in, and kept the procession going. At $220 every 3 minutes, they weren’t going to let a fussy panda spoil the money! After we held the panda, they gave everyone bags with a certificate thanking us for our donation, a DVD video of pandas, a “panda love” t-shirt (which I now can’t find!), and other assorted goodies. Afterwards, we looked around the panda nursery, which had a handful of adorable baby pandas of various ages that were born on site, some of them still in incubators. When pandas are newborn, they’re pinkish-white, before they start to show the trademark black. We then went to explore more of the sanctuary, before our scheduled meeting time. We saw more pandas in the trees spread around. The sanctuary also had a few red pandas, which are only distantly related to giant pandas (even though they were named pandas first, historically), and are a completely different genus and family. They look more like raccoon, and are related to weasels. Elissa wasn’t a fan, and teased those who liked them by calling them the red headed stepchildren of pandas! After the meeting time, on the way back, we stopped by Swan Lake at the sanctuary, home of gorgeous black swans – and tons of koi! Missing my own fish, at home I had to feed them and the swans, causing a massive feeding frenzy! On the way out, we stopped at the sanctuary’s small panda museum, which had various displays of pandas and other local animals, their history, their lives, etc. Of course, there was a gift shop and even a post office where you could send panda-related mail from the panda sanctuary. Then it was off to the airport, to fly to Wuhan. Again, everything went smoothly at the airport, and we had time to kill before flying on to Wuhan. And that was it for Chengdu. Coaster enthusiasts visiting China might opt to skip Chengdu, since for coasters, it really only has a bunch of clones, even if one of them is an Intamin Mega-lite (which you can ride elsewhere in China.) But between the quirkiness of Floraland with its awesome Tagada and flat rides, the great theming of Happy Valley with what I thought was the best of the Mega-Lites, and the amazing once in a lifetime experience of holding a giant panda at the panda sanctuary, Chengdu turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip! Here we are! Even if it's miserable and rainy! Lots of bamboo for the pandas to eat! Oh, I spy with my little eye.... something beginning with "P"! The first panda of the day! These kids mainly only stay together because they're still young and not yet territorial! Is this too much cuteness in one place? Be warned, the next picture is possibly the cutest thing you'll ever see in your entire life..... You were warned! If you're not loudly going "awwww" right now, you're not human! Another cutie! This makes us offical panda handlers! Get those booties on, kids! TPR modeling their fashionable booties! Getting pictures of Holger holding the adorable panda/ A trio of lovely ladies with adorable pandas! Isn't this why you came to TPR today? I got to hold his hand! I admit I was debating whether or not to spend the $220. But who could say no to this face?!? Brian! Don't scare the panda! They use HUMAN milk?!? Say it with me: aaaawwwwwwwww! But it gets ever better! AWWWWWWWWW! They must still be pretty young, or they wouldn't stay that close. Pandas are very territorial, except when they're mating. (Pandas haven't figured out sexting yet!) China's mighty proud of its pandas! The red panda. It's not even a bear. but it was actually called a panda before giant pandas were called it. Looks like a raccoon to me! See? Swan Lake. Pretty swans! Time to feed them! FEEDING FRENZY! In case you were wondering, how pandas do it, they explain it in the museum! Hopefully, this wans't one of the pandas in the sanctuary! Awwww. I wish we could have seen that live! The museum has more than just pandas. They talk about other animals from the region. And even more fish in the museum!

They made me go back to the locker to put a KLEENEX in! Seriously! I still can't believe Neil did the whole Haunted Hospital! Good job! And great PTR, as always, Chuck!

Why? Because it's Happy Valley! Did any part of their operations make any sense? I mean, they made everyone stretch before they'd even load the train. Whatever reasoning they had for the stretching, fine. But instead of having people start stretching after the last train went out and once people were loaded into the row queues, they almost always waited until the next train was empty and ready to lead before starting the stretching -- in front of an empty train. Only once did I see them actually start the stretching early so that they could load the train soon after it arrived. There was a picture on the DVD that Robb sent us that someone took of the people waiting in the station, stretching in front of an empty train. That pretty much symbolized Happy Valley operations in one picture!

I got injured there! I went down the big mat slide on my stomach, but my mat didn't! My elbows and knees got ripped up, but not that badly. While I was in First Aid, someone came in who'd wiped out on the alpine slide. He was pretty badly ripped up. I took it as an omen. I was actually heading over to the alpine slide next. If I hadn't been in First Aid, I'd probably have gone all out and would have been even more badly hurt! Before you got on the slide, they not only told you multiple times to make sure to use your brakes or you'd be badly injured, but they showed you a sign with pictures of someone whose arms and legs were BADLY ripped up!