The Angry Darren Mullins

Today I went to Dongguan to Fenggang town to visit Yanhu Park. This is a very nice park with a small collection of rides. It is like most parks in China. It has a lake and many shaded pathways. There is a mouse coaster here and several basic rides. I rode the mouse coaster, the powered coaster, took some photos and left. There is a brothel just around the block from the park right at the bus stop. One could easily have fun after a visit to Yanhu Park. With today's discovery, I have now found 180 coasters before ACE or RCDB could find them and I have ridden 834 coasters in total. I have arrived in Dongguan at Yanhu Park. The lake is just inside. This pagoda looks neat. There are rides here. There is a merry go round and wave swinger. A twin helix powered coaster is here. This train looks very old. Kids enjoy the rocket ships here. The haunted house here is a walk through. There is a wild mouse here. No. The lift is not curved. I like how this picture turned out. Here is one more shot of the mouse. There is this small brothel located just around the corner from Yanhu Park right at the bus stop. You can have a good time here.

I think they will replace the bumper cars very soon or maybe use that area for something bigger. The whole area could open up a lot of space for them. The biggest loss would be the maintenance building as, if I remember right, it is right beside the bumper cars and was the main maintenance area for the park. If the equipment there was damaged, this could be a liability to the park for a while.

This morning I got up and went to Suzhou. I had a great time visiting the Zoo and Suzhou Amusement Land. I went to the zoo first because I knew there were a few rides there. I found a powered coaster and several other basic rides including a carousel, pirate ship and bumper cars. After the zoo, I went to Suzhou Amusement Land. This is a full scale, western style park that has four coasters. Suspended Looping Coaster is a custom Vekom design with a layout that is slightly modified from the original SLCs. Max Speed is a Chinese knockoff of a Japanese designed shuttle loop. This is my first Chinese version of this and as I loved the three Japanese versions of this ride, I had high hopes for an excellent ride. What I got was a very rough ride through the loop both forwards and backwards. The Chinese version has lost something. Maybe it is because the cars are designed slightly different. Small Whirlwind Coaster is a standard Chinese kiddie coaster and Jungle Flying appeared to be the same design of portable coaster as Coney Island's (in Ohio) Pepsi Python. In all Suzhou Amusement Land is a great park and is one of the best parks I have ever visited. Before I left Amusement Land, I went to the tourist info center in the park and found info on sites in Suzhou. One place I picked up a brochure on was Gelin Country Garden. This place has some ride rides and has a coaster called Crazy Mouse. It is on not on RCDB or on Ace's census. This brings my total number of coasters found before RCDB and ACE up to 178. I have now visited 355 parks and ridden 832 roller coasters. Pay no attention to the dates on these photos. I accidentally reset the camera to factory settings and forgot that the date would be rest and would show up on my photos. I have arrived at my first place to visit today. The Suzhou Zoo. There are a few rides here. A custom powered coaster is at the zoo. Here is the powered coaster in action. A pretty lake with boats is also at the zoo. I have arrived at Suzhou Amusement Land. These fountains are inside the gate. I started my day at the park with Jungle Flying. Jungle Flying appears to be the same model of coaster found at Coney Island in Ohio. The Space Shot is really tall here. This building houses a 4- D film based on Yogi Bear. There is a lake here. The lake even has a small beach. Max Speed is based on a Japanese design. It has a loop. Here is the reverse point for the return trip on Max Speed. Small Whirlwind Coaster is just like other kiddie coasters I have ridden here in China. One more shot of the kiddie coaster. Here is Amusement Land's carousel. These gliders go over the lake. This waterfall is in the park. Amusement Land's SLC is a custom design that is modified from the original layout. It is a little bit rough, but I like SLCs. Suspended Looping Coaster in action. Here is one more dose of SLC porn to wrap up the TR.

I didn't bother with the walk through as most of theme here are not very good. By not very good, I mean they aren't even cheesy.

I do not think there are any regulations for cleaning the water in the flume rides here. Some Chinese parks can be pretty dismal, but others can be very clean.

Today I visited Jingcai Happy World in the city of Yangzhou. It is in Jiangsu province in China. This is the city's newest park and has many rides, including a looping coaster. Although most of the rides are standard Chinese amusement park fare, the park had a nice entrance gate and most rides were either new or well-maintained. I took several photos and rode some rides. This park is located next to a large shopping mall and makes for a fun outing. I hope you enjoy the photos. I have now ridden 827 coasters at 353 amusement parks. One thing I included a photo of was the restroom sign. What the hell is a smoorter? I have arrived at Jingcai Happy World. I had to go to the restroom and instead went to a smoorter. Here is the station for Happy World's powered coaster. It is a dragon themed powered coaster. There is a double decker carousel here. The flume enters splashdown. Many parks in Asia have large Ferris wheels. This kiddie swing ride is at Happy World. The haunted house is a walk-through. There are many midway games here at Jingcai Happy World. The first of five shots of the coaster to finish off the TR. One shot of the coaster taken from the midway. The corkscrew element is rough. The lift seems to reach the sky. The last photo to end the TR.

I visited two parks in Hefei in Anhui province this morning during a long layover in my travels. I went to Xiaoyaojin Park and then to Xinghua Park. I found these parks last year, but didn't get to visit them until now. I knew each park had a spinning mouse coaster. The mouse coaster at Xinghua is a taller and longer version of the one at Xiaoyaojin. I also found aditional goodies as well. The first park was Xiaoyaojin. This is Hefei's most popular park and has several rides. Many of the taller rides were hard to photograph due to the trees blocking the view, but Xiaoyaoin Park is a beautiful park. Xiaoyaojin has a spinning mouse coaster and about a dozen more rides. The second park was the nearby Xinghua Park. This park is not as popular as Xiaoyaojin and it doesn't have as many trees. Some of the rides were in bad shape. There is a log flume ride that is closed off and will likely be removed. There is a powered kiddie coaster that was missing its train. There was a wave shuttle. This is the best Wave Shuttle I have ridden. I was getting nice little pops of airtime on it. I also rode the spinning coaster. Both parks are very close to each other. I had a great time. There is a loopscrew in Hefei as well at another park, but I will have to get that one on a future visit here in a few weeks as I didn't have time to visit today. I start my day at Xiaoyaojin Park. The park is already busy and it just opened for the day. A beautiful lake is located in the park. The carousel looked great here. The spinning coaster is my reason to visit this park. Here is one more shot of the spinning coaster at Xiaoyaojin Park before I leave. I have gone down the road a bit to find Xinghua Park. Chinese parks sure love to have lakes. This is the largest Ferris wheel in Hefei. The carousel at Xinghua Park is very basic. The dark ride has a cool building. This is a ride through. The flume ride here has already closed. The powered kiddie coaster was missing its train. A rare wave shuttle coaster is here. I only know of these to exist in China. Although they all look the same, this one gives more airtime than the others. Here is Xinghua Park's Spinning Coaster to finish out the TR.

I am in Hengyang in Hunan province this evening. I visited two parks here to ride coasters. RCDB lists only Yueping Park, but there are three parks in this city that have coasters. They are Yueping Park, West Lake Park and Pinghu Park. Due to arriving late in the afternoon, I only had time to visit two of these (Yueping and West Lake). West Lake was first and has two coasters and several other rides. It is one of many West Lakes in China. The mouse coaster is a shorter version of similar coaster I have ridden here in China. The kiddie coaster is called Shuttle and is like the Outer Space Flying Car coasters elsewhere in China. After West Lake, I went to Yueping Park. Upon entering the park, I noticed a sign proclaiming it to be Hengyang Anti-Japanese Leisure Spot. There are a few rides scattered throughout Yueping Park, unlike other public parks in China where they have one or two amusement areas tucked away in a corner, the rides here are located through the park, but there are not many rides. I will have to visit Pinghu Park on a return visit. I have now ridden 822 coasters and I have found 175 coasters before ACE and RCDB could find them. As it was late in the evening, some of the photos didn't turn out too well. It is late in the afternoon and I have arrived at West Lake Park in Hengyang. Let's see what is inside. There is a lake here. That is why they call it West Lake. There are rides here. The mouse coaster is very short, but fun. A kiddie coaster called Shuttle is here. A carousel shot is always mandatory. A log flume is here. This is an off the shelf model that seems to be found in many parks in China. This little kiddie ride is here at West Lake Park. Yueping Park is still open although it is getting late. A mouse coaster and large ferris where were the only two rides still open. Most of the rides had already closed for the day. It was getting dark when I took this photo, so I will finish the TR here.

What was so great about that ride? Eagle's Fortress at Everland just so happens to be the greatest terrain coaster ever built in addition to being the greatest suspended coaster ever built. The ride, at its highest point was never more than 25 feet or so above the ground, but delivered a great ride that would envy Cedar Fair and Six Flags. As the lift of Eagle's Fortress was on a hillside, most of the major parks in America could not duplicate this ride experience.

Eagle's Fortress is my favorite. No more needs to be said.

It is a very nice zoo. Vietnam is a lovely country.

From one particular coaster website (the name of the site shall not be mentioned here): If Cedar Point has a problem, Crap Happens. If Six Flags has a problem, it is poor customer service. Remember that the next time you have a complaint in a Cedar Fair park or a Six Flags park.

On February 22, I went to three parks in the city of Shantou in Guangdong province in China. Shantou is a city that doesn't get a lot of foreign visitors. I was here to visit Fantawild Adventure and Zhongshan Park. As Fantawild didn't open until 10am, I checked out a small park nearby called Huaqiao Park at 9am. Huaqiao Park is very nice and has some rides, but no coaster. I took some photos and left. My next stop was Fantawild Adventure. Fanatwild Adventure became the 346th park I have ever visited and became my 900th visit to an amusement park. There is a suspended wild mouse here called Hanging Pulley and a family coaster called Space Vehicle. I rode Space Vehicle first and then Hanging Pulley. Hanging Pulley is smooth and a bit boring, but the drops are fun. There is even a small coaster for kids called Worm Around. Adults are not permitted to go on it. There is also a space simulator called Space Station with a building that reminds me of Space Mountain at Disney. I also rode a wave swinger that is in a building that looks like a big green apple. After Fantawild, I went to Zhongshan Park in Shantou as I knew they had rides there. Zhongshan Park is a very beautiful park and is my favorite Zhongshan Park that I have visited. There are more than 80 Zhongshan Parks in the world and some of them have amusement rides. There is a small powered coaster, a log flume and some other rides here. I had a great time. I have now discovered 158 coasters before RCDB or ACE could find them. I have arrived at my first park of the day-Huaqiao Park. Let's see what is inside. They have a small model of the Awful Tower here. A Ferris wheel is the biggest ride in the park. A carousel can be found in nearly ever park as it is found in Huaqiao Park. A paratrooper ride is here. I have arrived at Fantawild Adaventure in Shantou. I have been wanting to come here for a long time. Fantawild's suspended mouse called Hanging Pulley is just inside the entrance gate. Here is another look at Hanging Pulley. Here I am in front of Hanging Pulley. A double decker carousel is here at Fantawild Adventure. There is a wave swinger in the big green apple. Worm Around is the kiddie coaster at Fantawild in Shantou. RCDB and ACE do not know of this one at the time I am posting this TR. Space Vehicle is a fun family coaster. Riders are having fun on Space Vehicle. Fantawild has this Dinosaur themed dark ride. This is Fantawild's lake. The Monkey King film is shown in this building. Space Station is also called Space Mountain on some of Fantawild's media. There is no Indiana Jones ride here. I wonder why they have this sign. Maybe it should read Indiana Jones and the Last Radiers Of The Temple Of The Crystal Skull. Up next was Shantou's Zhongshan Park. The lake at Zhongshan Park is very nice. I like this little bridge at the park. There is an area with rides in Zhongshan Park. There is a log flume ride here. A powered coaster is at Zhongshan Park. Here is one final look at the powered coaster to finish out the trip report.

I like the Hello Kitty Angel Coasters in Japan. They cant be beat.

The park was not that expensive. It actually had fixed prices and the prices were very cheap. The employees were over charging and pocketing the money. This is why supervision is very important. First the employees of this park convinced me to pay $5 for the coaster and, to get more money, they convinced me that the park was the site of an emergency sisterectomy (to get a donation), then they convinced me there had been a case of severe butt-rot in the park (I gave another donation) and then they convinced me the park had been the site of a leprechaun fight (I gave yet another donation). After that, they tried to tell me the cost of a ride on the Frisbee was $25 USD. How stupid do they think I am?

I am about to finish up nearly a two week vacation in Vietnam. I have visited my last park here for now. It is Ho Ban Nguyet Park. It is very close to the site of the defunct Saigon Wonderand park which closed following the death of a patron on one of the rides. The rides area in Ho Ban Nguyet are separated from the rest of the park which features a nice lake. The rides area is very poorly maintained and I was charged $5 USD to ride the roller coaster (normal price is $1 USD). They tried to get me to ride the Frisbee knockoff and wanted $25 USD for one ride it and I told them point blank to go f--- off. The ride ops were just taking money for rides. They would over charge and then pocket the money for themselves. Maybe instead of Hollywood portraying Asians as honorable and intelligent, maybe they should portray Asians as greedy, self-centered pigs who think they are intelligent when really they are not. Sorry, but this attitude is the result of trying to charge someone $25 USD for one ride on an Asian knockoff that was not even a coaster and even if it was a coaster, it would have still been too much money. In the past two days, I have learned of this park, along with two others (outside of Ho Chi Minh) that have coasters not known to RCDB or ACE. The coaster at Ho Ban Nguyet is the latest coaster I have found before RCDB or ACE and brings my current number of coasters discovered to #152. Many of the rides here no longer work. I have arrived at Ho Ban Nguyet. This little merry go round looks flimsy. Here are two of the rides here. The Crazy Wave was not open today. The drop tower was also not open. Here is the Frisbee knock off. They thought I would be stupid enough to pay $25 USD to ride this damned thing. God only knows what they would have charge if I had asked to ride the Trabant. Ho Ban Nguyet has this coaster. Here is the lead car on Ho Ban Nguyet's coaster. Here is some lift hill porn. I was expected to pay $5 USD for this. It is a good thing I like roller coasters.

Today I went to Suoi Tien Park. This park is about one hour away from the Saigon city center by bus. This is a large park with a lot of beautiful scenery. In fact, this park is my favorite park in terms of landscaping and scenery. The park's big coaster is High Speed Roller Coaster and it is a dud. There is also a powered coaster called Secret of Sorcerer's Forest and a kiddie coaster which was actually the best ride in the park. The grounds are beautiful and there is a stream that runs through the park. The park clashes with the surrounding area, which is very poor. Later tonight, I stopped in at Tao Dan Park in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) and found a new amusement area had been added. Most of the rides are for small children, but there is an octopus/monster ride and a knock off Trabant ride. I have not seen any Trabant/Casino knock offs until coming to Vietnam. The Vietnamese version of the Trabant is very tame. Enjoy the photos. I have arrived at my first park of the day. It is Suoi Tien. This view greets you as you enter Suoi Tien. Here is some of the nice scenery here. Here is some more scenery. Here is a small bridge over a stream that runs through Suoi Tien. The kiddie coaster is the best ride in this park. One of Suoi Tien's many rides. A powered coaster is inside this building, but the neat thing was the line itself. It doubles as a walk through fun house. The Ferris Wheel is huge. I like the looks of this carousel. Here is High Speed Rollercoaster. This is one of the hills on High Speed Rollercoaster. High Speed Rollercoaster lift. The train on High Speed Rollercoaster was cooler than the ride itself. By the way, those OTSRs do not lock. After Suoi Tien, I went to Tao Dan Park. Here they have some basic rides, including this small merry go round. This is the a very slow monster/octopus ride. I will close out this TR with a photo of Tao Dan's trabant ride. This is Vietnam's take on the Trabant.

Today I continued my exploration of parks in Vietnam. I went to the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden after learning that they had a few rides there. I got there and found about eight rides. Six of them are for adults. There is a drop tower here, a few spinning rides and a coaster called Roller Coaster. RC is a family ride that could actually thrill most enthusiasts.. I rode the coaster(3 circuits for $1 USD) and the Swing Around ride. I walked through the zoo and looked at animals and then left. It is an old zoo and some of the exhibits are showing their age, but it is still a nice place to go. Admission is only 60 cents in American money. The coaster here is not on RCDB or ACE's coaster census so that makes it the 149th coaster I have found before ACE and RCDB. Enjoy the photos. *As a side note, the sex trade is as alive in Vietnam as it is in other parts of Asia and close to the zoo is the foreigner district with massage parlors and all sorts of bad characters. Today I was propositioned in a way I had never been propositioned before. First, it was women. Then it was ladyboys. Today, it was Vietnamese men. I have now reached a milestone. I have now been propositioned in 5 countries (six if you count Hong Kong and China as two separate countries). They are: USA, South Korea, Japan, China (mainland and Hong Kong) and Vietnam. 5, count em 5 countries. I have arrived at the Saigon Zoo and Botanical Garden. This lotus greets visitors who arrive through one gate. Here is the zoo's merry go round. This is a very basic kiddie ride in one area of the zoo. Swing Around was a bit slow and boring. A Vietnamese made drop tower is located at the zoo. A roller coaster called Roller Coaster is at the zoo. It even says roller coaster on the lift. Maybe it is for people who do not know what a roller coaster is. The train picks up a lot of speed through the helix. Here is an action shot of Roller Coaster to close out the trip report.

I am currently on a little vacation in Vietnam. I went to two parks today in Ho Chi Minh City, also know as Saigon. My first park was Dam Sen Park. When I got there, I was asked why I chose to go to Dam Sen Park. I said I wanted to ride some DAM roller coasters. This DAM park has a very big lake, four coasters and many other rides. At $9 USD for a pay one price wristband, it is pretty good value. The four coasters are Roller Coaster, Spinning Coaster, Flying Draging and Fruit Worm Coaster. All are pretty common designs. Roller Coaster is a DAM loop and cork based on the early Arrow designs. Spinning Coaster is from a company in China called Golden Horse. I didn't even photograph it as I am sick of these DAM things. The Fruit Worm Coaster and Flying Dragon are kiddie coasters and they were closed today, but the two big coasters were open so I rode those DAM things. After Dam Sen Park, I explored the little know Le Thi Rieng Park. A new amusement park area has been added here. There is a family coaster called Roller Coaster and despite its small size, it was a good ride. I rode the coaster here, walked around and took some photos and then left. As a side note, Le Thi Rieng Park is not on RCDB or Ace's Coaster Census, but will be soon enough after I inform Duane or the park's existence. The coaster at Dam Sen Park is the 148th coaster I have found before ACE or RCDB. I had a DAM good time today. Dam Sen Park should hire me to work in marketing. I have arrived at my first park in Vietnam. It is Dam Sen Park. I have been dying to go to this DAM place. This is the large lake in Dam Sen Park. The Ferris Wheel is huge. This kiddie ride is one of the few kiddie rides that was open today. I didn't go in the Haunted Castle, but it looks nicer than similar attractions in China. They have a display of ice sculptures at Dam Sen. Here are more ice sculptures. Here is the DAM station for the DAM Fruit Worm Coaster. The DAM Fruit Worm Coaster was not open today. The DAM Flying Dragon was closed too. Here is the entrance to the DAM Roller Coaster. Here is a view of the DAM coaster. Here is what what the DAM Roller Coaster looks like from across the lake. This small bridge was in Le Thi Rieng Park. A carousel is here at Le Thi Rieng Park. Here is Le Thi Rieng's coaster. It has an ad for the #1 PC game Roler Coaster Tyoon. Here is the lift for Roller Coaster at Le Thi Rieng Park to close out the TR.

I like Tagadas. I got hooked on them in Korea.

All four parks were open, but only very few people were at them. If you look at the photos of Yangzhou Zoo, you see people entering the park and on the coaster. At Greenbo Garden and Universal Carnival, you can see people (ride ops) in the photos. At Technology Fairyland, the ride ops congregated around a game stand as there were only a couple of people enjoying the rides. I had to ask one of the employees to run the powered coaster for me.

I just consider kiddie/family coasters to be a part of the experience. All coasters seem to serve a purpose, unless they are SBNO.

Yes. The Chinese like inertia and sliding in their ride names. One thing I do like about being around Chinese people at parks is that, unlike many coaster enthusiasts, the Chinese people really enjoy the rides for what they are. They go into a park and ride a knock off SLC or a rusty old mouse and they have a great time. Parks are built for the locals/general pubic anyway.

Not sure what the translation means, but in China, some coaster have the word pulley in their name and many kiddie coasters with a worm-themed train have the word worm in their name.

I rode Rolling X-Pain several times at different points in the day during my many visits to Everland to see if I could get a good ride on it. It was crap no matter what time I went on it. EF was consistently fantastic. The last time I was there was in 2010. I didn't go much after it was clear EF was not going to reopen. The ferris wheel was closed on my last couple of visits. The park likes to use the economy as an excuse not to fix things. Maybe people should use the economy as an excuse not to visit the park until they learn to keep the rides open.