The Angry Darren Mullins

Bruce Lee is still very popular here in China. All of the young people here seem to know who he is.

They replaced the track on the corkscrew of Rolling X-Pain and painted it white. Otherwise, it is exactly the same. Sadly, it will outlive Vortex at Kings Island thanks to Ouimet having a thing for removing coasters, but that is a different topic for another time.

Everland needs to do something about those god awful Vekoma trains on Rolling X-Pain. This thing was a walk-on with one train in operation while Eagle's Fortress would have a 90 minute wait with two trains in operation. I will never understand why the Koreans wouldn't fix Eagle's Fortress. Koreans aren't as smart as the people to the east (Japanese) or west (Chinese).

Eagle's Fortress needs to be discussed here. It is currently closed, never to reopen...because of the wear and tear placed on it from being such an extreme ride. Perhaps the most famous coaster in all of Korea was lost at only 16 years old. This isn't how things are supposed to work.

In regards to the Interpark Wild Wind, I rode one in South Korea. It was pretty intense. I can see why they are not welcome in American parks.

Today I visited Guangzhou. I went to Liuhua Lake Park after learning there were some rides there. Liuhua Lake Park is about a five minute walk from Yuexiu Park. I have been to Yuexiu Park twice and I have been in this area several times and didn't know there were more rides to check out until a couple of days ago, so I went to see what the park had. The park has a very nice lake with a motel built over the lake. I have a couple of photos of the motel included. The amusement rides are mostly for kids. There is a paratrooper, bumper cars and a wave swinger. These would be the only adult sized rides in the park. There is a very small carousel and some kiddie rides and a family coaster that seems to either be called Lovely Fruit Worm Pulley or Bullet Train, depending on which sign you believe. The sign at the entrance calls the ride Bullet Train, but signs on the ticket booths call it Lovely Fruit Worm Pulley. This coaster has a layout that I have not seen before. It has a worm style train like other family coasters I have ridden in China, but the layout is different. The last one third of the ride is vicious. It reminds me of Lost Coaster Of Superstition Mountain at Indiana Beach. The last turn before the brake run is taken at a higher speed that what is usual for a coaster of this size. The lake here is very beautiful and the park is very nice. In all, it is worth a visit and if you combine it with a trip to Yuexiu Park just a short walk away, you can keep yourself occupied for at least a few hours. As both parks are close Guangzhou railway station, they are good to visit if you have a long wait for a train. The coaster here is the 144th coaster I have found before RCDB or ACE and it became coaster #805 for me to ride. Here is the entrance to Liuhua Lake Park. At least it is one of the entrances. This motel sits on the lake. Here is another view of the lake and the motel. Boat rides on the lake are a must have for Chinese parks. A very small merry go round is at Liuhua Lake Park. Bumper cars are here. I like the looks of the bumper car building. This small train ride entertains the youngest visitors to Liuhua Lake Park. The Paratrooper is a popular ride here. This was the view I got as I entered the amusement park area of Liuhua Lake Park. Here is the station of Liuhua Lake's coaster. Here a view of the coaster. Here is the lift on the coaster. The coaster is either called Lovely Fruit Worm Pulley... ...or Bullet Train. I am not sure what the hell this coaster is called. I do not even think park management knows the name of it. Whatever it is called, it is a fun coaster and here is an on-ride shot to finish the TR.

This past Sunday, I went to the former Shunde Ecology Park, which was built near the ancestral home of Bruce Lee. Although Bruce Lee probably never visited the city of Shunde (he was born in San Francisco to parents from Hong Kong), the park has been converted into the Bruce Lee Paradise. The entrance to the park is all new and there is a huge statue of Bruce Lee near the front of the park. There are also some buildings that house displays of things like Bruce Lee's poetry and a smaller statue of Bruce Lee. The entrance plaza is nice. There is a hillside that has been made over with some Chinese writing. I didn't know what the words said, but it was nice to look at. After the entrance, the newness of the park is over once you walk passed the statue. The rest of the park is the remains of the former Shunde Ecology Park. As the Shunde Ecology Park had been around several years, the rest of the park is faded a bit from the entrance. There is a big lake here with boats. There is an area with eight amusement rides. The rides are left over from the ecology park. They are old and rusted. There is a mouse coaster and a powered coaster as well as a pirate ship, bumper cars, go karts, train ride (with cars that look kiddie coaster cars), haunted house and rocket ships. The rides are very basic and the rides area clashes with the front of the park. The rides area is the back of the park in a corner. More rides, including a log flume and a bigger coaster were to be added, but this park simply doesn't do enough business to build more or bigger rides. The current ride lineup will do. The cost of admission is 30 RMB($4.50 USD) without rides and 40 RMB ($6.00 USD with a ticket that includes one ride on each of the eight rides). It is a nice place to visit, but do not expect any spectacular rides. I rode some of the rides, took some photos and left. Honestly, this is a very big park, but there really isn't much here. I have now discovered 136 coasters before RCDB or ACE could find them. Ignore the date on the photos. My camera is new and despite me resetting the date, it still doesn't work right, so I do not fool with it anymore. I have arrived at the Bruce Lee Paradise. The park has this big statue of Bruce Lee inside the entrance. This was taken inside the gates. This hill was inside the gates. I didn't go to the top, but if I had more time, I would have. This building houses some small displays, including some of Bruce Lee's poetry. Here is a small display in one of the buildings. Boats on the lake are common in all Chinese parks. Bridges like this are also common. Here is a sign directed guests to the rides. Here is the rides section of the park. The rocket ships was fun, but old. This was not a coaster. It is a train ride, but the this type of train can be found on kiddie coasters in China. The bumper cars were very slow. They are among the slowest bumper cars I have ever ridden. These powered coasters are common in China. It is a twin helix ride. A mouse coaster is here. This mouse is like others I have ridden, but it is a bit shorter. The mouse is very basic. I like these, but I have been on so many of them. They are fun little coasters. This shot features both the mouse and the powered coaster to finish off the TR.

I was thinking the same thing when I was at Yueyang Paradise. It is very much like a North Korean park. At least Yueyang Paradise had that nice piece of eye candy taking tickets outside the front gate. Screw the coaster, I would have liked to have added her to my track record.

Many smaller parks in China and South Korea are like this. They seem to be built with no expansion plan in mind. It appears that they build many rides at once and never add anything else. When a ride reaches the end of its life, it just sits there rusting away.

The smaller launched coaster will open very soon at Happy Valley while the larger one will not open until 2013. They do not even have a queue area yet for the big one and one train still has not been put together.

Actually, rumor at among some of the higher ups at Lotte World was that Maverick would be an aqua trax. I think someone on TPR said it may have started out as an aqua trax in the design phase. It is plausible Maverick was originally going to be an aqua trax as Cedar Point had removed a water ride and later did build a new flume.

The coaster at Jine is on the side of a mountain. I guess it could be called an alpine coaster as the cars are similar to those on a alpine slide, but there are some short, steep drops on the way down as the track winds down the mountain side. The cars are on wheels and the track is a complete circuit, so I count it as a coaster as it runs on gravity.

I have spent the last four days in China traveling to the cities of Guangzhou, Zhuzhou, Wuhan and Yueping. I visited eight parks and I have photos from seven of them. One park I visited was Shennong Park in Zhuzhou. Since I had posted a TR from there a couple of months ago, I didn't include any photos this time. October 2: I left home and went to Yuexiu Park in Guangzhou while I was waiting for my train. There is a jungle mouse here called Speed Slide. I had visited the park and ridden this coaster before, but decided to ride it again. October 3: I woke up this morning on a train in Zhuzhou. I went to Culture Park and found a few rides. One was a kiddie coaster called Fruit Worm Train that is not on RCDB. I also went to Shennong Park just to see if any changes had been made in the few months since my last visit. Everything was the same. I got on a fast train to Wuhan. I visited Qingshan Park to find a rusted old mouse coaster that never runs anymore. This coaster is not on RCDB. I also went to Wuhan Peace Park to ride the new rides that were added since my last visit. October 4: I went to Happy Valley today in Wuhan. Since I count the two very different tracks of Dauling Dragon as two separate coasters, the blue side became my 799th coaster and the red side became 800th coaster. Both tracks on Dauling Dragon are insane. Needless to say, I really enjoyed both of them. I think the red side (left lift hill) is more intense. Hidden Anaconda was my first Sky Loop coaster and I enjoyed the experience. Monte Carlo Racetrack is a fun mine train by Golden Horse. It is based on Vekoma design. Happy Valley's two launched coasters still are not open yet. October 5: I went to two more parks to finish up this trip. The first was Yueyang Paradise. This park looks like it was very nice at one time, but now many attractions and rides are no longer in service. The coaster here is a standard jungle mouse that is like many other coasters in China. It closed years ago. A few rides here are still open. My last park was just down the street and it is called Jine Park. It has an unusual coaster located on the side of a hill there. The coaster is a full circuit coaster with a lift hill that uses a cable to pull the cars up the lift. There are two loading stations. If you board the coaster at the top of the hill, you encounter the lift hill last. If you board at the bottom of the hill, you encounter the lift hill first. It may be consider more of an alpine coaster by some, but I count it as a coaster as it has a lift, runs on gravity and completes a full circuit. The cars have wheels that are locked to the top and bottom of the rails and you can control the speed of the ride like on an alpine coaster or alpine slide. In all, I had a good trip. I have now discovered 135 coasters before RCDB or ACE could find them. My first park of this trip was Yuexiu Park in Guangzhou. Here is one of the carousels there. Here is a kiddie ride at Yuexiu. This nice pirate ship is located at Yuexiu Park. Here is one of Yuexiu's kiddie rides. Speed Slide is Yuexiu Park's coaster. Here is another shot of Speed Slide. I have arrived at Zhuzhou Culture Park. This is one of the many bridges that can be found in Chinese parks. There are rides at Culture Park. There is a kiddie coaster called Fruit Worm Train. Here is a view of the coaster. Here is the carousel at Zhuzhou culture park. Here is Qingshan Park in Wuhan. Qingshan Park has this little carousel. There is a wild mouse at Qingshan Park, but it is not open. The coaster is rusty. This shot reveals that the coaster is indeed closed. Next up, a short distance away from Qingshan is Heping/Wuhan Peace Park. Here is a new carousel. Peace Park has a huge ferris wheel. The flume at Peace Park is fun. The Gliding Dragon is like many other powered coasters I have ridden. The Jungle Flying Squirrel is like many other mouse coasters I have ridden. It is still a fun ride. My next park of the trip is Happy Valley in Wuhan. Many rides are at Happy Valley. Coming in 2013 to Happy Valley: Ravine Flyer II. I like these carousels that are found at big parks all over China. Caesar's Palace is in Wuhan. Many people were at the park today. I like the themeing on Monte Carlo Racetrack. Here is another view of Monte Carlo Racetrack. You can get some snacks here, but I wouldn't call it supper. The chutes ride is very tall. The S&S air launched coaster is still not open. It looks like it will be a fun ride. Here is another view of it. The Hidden Anaconda doesn't appear to be too hidden. Happy Valley's family coaster has inversions. Dauling Dragon-I count this as two coasters as one dargon can't "daul". Another shot of Dauling Dragon. This is where the "high five" element is on Dauling Dragon. This is not at Happy Valley, but it is Wuhan's Yellow Crane Tower. It is the most famous sight in Wuhan. My last day of the trip started off at Yueyang Paradise. This little bridge is nice scenery at Yueyang Paradise. The coaster is no longer operational here, but it is like many others I have ridden. Here is another look at the coaster. The coaster hasn't carried passengers in years. Here is one last look at the coaster at Yueyang Paradise. I bet the disko at Yueyang Paradise is a knock off. The flume is not running anymore. These water slides closed a long time ago. This ride is also closed. The paratrooper is also closed here. This is one of the few rides that was open at Yueyang Paradise. Here is my last park of the trip. Jine Park in Yueyang. The carousel here is nice. Jine Park has a lake just like other Chinese parks. Here is the life for Jine Park's coaster. Here is one more shot of the coaster a Jine Park to close out the trip report.

Ocean PArk will continue to expand. I think they will add more rides and coasters in the future because of all of the competition in the area. There are several parks, including OCT East. Happy Valley, Window Of The World, the new Chimelong Park in Zhuhai, Chimelong Paradise and HK Disneyland all in the region. This will keep things interesting.

I went to Ocean Park in Hong Kong this morning. This was my 6th visit to this wonderful park. I went to ride the new Arctic Blast powered coaster from Mack. I was last there in February to ride Hair Raiser. Since then, two new areas have been opened, including Old Hong Kong and Polar Adventure, which is themed after the South and North Poles and features Arctic Blast. Arctic Blast is a fun powered coaster with a train that recalls the Anton Schwarzkopf coaster. It isn't exactly the same, but it reminds me of those old coaster trains found on Anton's looping coasters. I rode Hair Raiser and then worked my way to the Dragon and Wild West Mine Train. Today, I got my first decent ride on the Dragon as every ride I have taken in the past has been horrible and rough. I sat in the middle of the train for a change and actually got a decent ride. The Wild West Mine Train is a fun ride with three large drops that aren't found on most mine train coasters. Ocean Park has some nice animal exhibits in addition to the coasters. All of which are worth checking out. The rain forest exhibit is very nice. In all, this is one of the best parks in China (Hong Kongers can just shut up now-Hong Kong is part of China, so get used to it) and has beautiful views of the ocean. None of my photos from today show the ocean as I was focused on getting good shots of the rides and some of the scenery. Ocean or not, Ocean Park is one of the best parks in the world. It gives a Disney-like experience without the Disney-like admission prices. My adventure today will be at Ocean Park in Hong Kong. The aquarium is very nice. It is a must see at Ocean Park. The Old Hong Kong area is nice. Thrill Mountain looks very bright and colorful. Hair Raiser thrills riders. The Flash is one of the newest rides in Ocean Park. This is part of Ocean Park's Halloween festival. Here is Arctic Blast. Arctic Blast thrills riders. Another shot of Arctic Blast. This little display is a good photo op. Wild West Mine Train is one of the best mine trains. Here is the Dragon. Here is a shot of the Dragon in action to finish the trip report.

I speak and understand and even read some Chinese. I also like how high rise apartments can be seen right next to parks.

I got up this morning and headed to Bailiandong Park in Zhuhai. This park is known for having a large lake and some temples. It also has a small rides area with a merry go round, powered coaster, bumper cars, a few family rides and a live animal exhibit. Although the rides are basic here, the park is very nice. It is a good place for families to have a nice outing or to go for a walk. As the park is small and the ride collection very basic, I only rode the powered coaster (three laps for 10 RMB/$1.57 USD), took some photos and left. I have arrived at Bailiandong Park in Zhuhai. Let's see what is inside. A beautiful lake is inside. Chinese love putting lakes in their parks They have a merry go round here. A Jeff Johnson credit exists alongside the bumper cars. This polyp/spider style ride is very colorful. Here is one of the newer rides at Bailiandong Park. Here is the station for the powered Dragon coaster. The train looks like a long dragon. The layout of the coaster is the standard twin helix layout that many powered coasters have.

In the fall of 2010, I went to the city of Zhongshan in Guangdong province to visit Zimaling Park. I found two coasters there and both, along with the other rides were SBNO. This past February, I made my second visit to Zimaling and found that all of the rides had been removed. It seems this was only a temporary situation. The owner of the previous rides retired and sold all of the rides. Someone new has been brought in to run an amusement area for Zimaling Park. Many new rides have been brought in. Two of these are coasters. One is knockoff of a Zamperla spinning coaster and the other is kiddie coaster commonly known as Fruit Worm Train at other parks in China. I have been denied rides on two of these fruit worm rides recently, but today I got lucky. They allow adults on the one here at Zimaling Park as long as you can fast the seat belt. One ride consists of three circuits for one 5 RMB (75 cents American). It became coaster #791 for me. The spinning coaster is not yet open. They were painting the ride today and the train has not been installed yet. It probably will not be ready until 2013. The other rides here include a disko, pirate ship, haunted house, carousel and many others. Most of the rides are geared towards families, but it is great to have rides back at Zimaling Park. The two coasters here are among the 125 coasters I have discovered before ACE or RCDB could discover them. I have arrived for my third visit to Zimaling Park. Inside Zimaling Park. This lake is one of a couple of lakes inside Zimaling Park. I love the appearance of the new carousel. Here is Zimaling's disko knockoff. This is the station for the former cycle monorail from the original amusement area in Zimaling. This is the world's most colorful frog hopper. The bumper cars are brand new. The haunted house building is a leftover from the the original set of rides, but the entrance has been redone. The balloon ride is one of many kiddie rides here. The wave swinger is like many others in China. These rides sit where Zimaling's first kiddie coaster once sat. The teacups thrill families to Zimaling Park. This pirate ship is a little bit smaller than most such rides. Here is the train ride. Here is the new kiddie coaster at Zimaling. They allow adults to ride this one, unlike at other parks in China. One ride consists of three circuits. The spinning coaster is a knock off of a Zamperla design. It is a new ride, but it isn't open yet. I would have liked to have ridden it. One more look at the coaster to finish off the trip report.

My job is to seek out unknown Chinese parks.

The Golden Horse rides are very faithful copies of the rides they copy. The mine trains and SLCs both provide an identical ride experience to the Vekomas.

This park not only looks great in photos, it is a great park. Most parks in China are part of larger city parks. In these parks, the buildings are kept in good condition while the rides rust away. In parks like OTC parks or Fantawild, the rides are kept in good condition. Modern parks in China are really awesome even if they tend to copy coasters from other parks.

Today I made my first visit to a Fantawild Adventure. I visited the Fantawild Adventure in Taian, which is in Shandong province. This park is a very nice park. The castle and main street area seem to copy Disney with a few modifications. There are two Vekoma knock offs here. Vesuvius Volcano is a mine train made that copies the Vekoma mine trains at the Happy Valley parks here in China, but it is made by a company called Golden Horse. Flare Meteor is an SLC by Golden Horse. It is a mirror image of the Vekoma SLCs at the Happy Valley parks. Flare Meteor was rough, but I still enjoyed it. Vesuvius Volcano is a very good mine train. I love mine trains and I love this layout. There is a smaller coaster called Climbing Train. I was denied the credit for this one as I am too tall. Climbing Train is not on the RCDB or ACE Coaster Census. This is the 123rd coaster I have found before ACE or RCDB. I tried to get on this coaster and the exchange of words went like this: Darren: I want to ride this. Ride Op: You are too tall. Darren: ...but I'm a manboy. Ride Op: Your brain has a problem. Needless to say I was all heartbroken at being denied the credit. Another ride at Fantawild in Taian is Mystical River. It is a combination of a chutes ride and a coaster that features gravity propelled drops and sections of dry track-complete with two chain lifts. Other rides include a wave swinger that is enclosed by some odd structure and a handful of 3-D attractions and simulators. In all, I was impressed by my first visit to a Fantawild park. The park clearly tries to be Disney with a few thrill rides added in, but it has a unique atmosphere of its own. I have arrived at Fantawild Adventure in Taian. This huge castle is inside the gate. Here is my obligatory carousel shot for this TR. This is Conch Bay. It hosts a 3-D film that is a lot of fun. This is one of the more popular rides at Fantawild. Here are a couple of other rides. The wave swinger here is covered by an odd structure. This restaurant serves up yummy food. This houses a dinosaur attraction. I like how this building is upside down. This kiddie coaster is called Climbing Train. It is a cute little coaster. Climbing Train packs a lot of fun into a small space. Too bad adults are not allowed to ride. Here is the entrance to Vesuvius Volcano. Here is Vesuvius Volcano in action. The large drop on Mystical River was covered. It was a dry drop(no water on the drop) with a wet splashdown. This is Flare Meteor as seen from across the lake. Here is another look at Flare Meteor. Flying through the loop. Here is an action shot. Here is one final action shot of Flare Meteor to close out the TR.

This coaster at Huagudeng seemed only a little bit rougher than the mirror image from Vekoma that I rode at Happy Valley in Shenzhen. I still enjoyed this one. The SLCs with original layouts by Chinese companies are a total nightmare. They give airtime which throws the riders into the OTSRs and on some of the inversions, the trains slow down almost to a stop.

I forgot to add that this park is planning to build a mine train later on.

This morning I got up and headed to nearby Peixian to visit the Peoples Park there. This park is really standard Chinese fare, but it seems odd. One reason for this is that some of the rides look brand new while other rides are rusting away and falling apart. The coaster is a mouse coaster and it is very rusty, but it has a new chain lift on it. The lake is all stagnant and smells very bad. The rides are basic rides and the park is in an out of the way location, but I had fun there. One thing I found odd was the lack of a swinging pirate ship. It seems every park in Asia has one. The mouse coaster here is very smooth. It looks like an Allan Herschell mouse with Japanese designed mouse cars. It was probably made by a Japanese company in the 80s. There used to be a powered kiddie coaster here, but it has been removed. As this park is not on the RCDB or ACE Coaster Census, I have now found 122 coasters before either one of these databases could document them. The city of Peixian is very polluted and you can see this in a couple of my photos on the TR. In all, the park is worth checking out if you are in the region. Peixian is in a very out of the way city in China and not too many foreigners go there. Many people were surprised to see a foreigner at the park today. I have arrived in the city of Peixian at Peoples Park. Let's see what is inside. I am through the entrance gate. Here is the big lake at Peixian Peoples Park. The air was very polluted today in Peixian. Here is one of the many nice bridges you will see at a Chinese park. This tiny merry go round is ancient. This is probably the smallest Jeff Johnson credit in the world. This net climb is in a large play area. I bet this plane helped win the Korean war for the Chinese and North Koreans. It could be argued that the Americans lost the Korean war. Here is a family ride at Peoples Park. This is another family ride here. This is the Ferris wheel as seen from the other side of the lake. The large carousel here has seen better days. This rusty old mouse serves as the fastest thing on rails in Peixian. The lift on this ride is very fast and the chain is new, but the coaster itself is old. The mouse is actually very smooth. Here is an on ride shot. Here is a photo from inside the loading station. Here is the mouse in action to finish off the TR.