The Angry Darren Mullins

December 2, 2017: Chashan Park in Sihui, Zhaoqing, Guangdong, China I went to Chashan Park this weekend. The park is located in a small town called Sihui. It is actually a small town by Chinese standards. It is part of the city of Zhaoqing, but it is located almost an hour away from the Zhaoqing city center. Sihui railway station is located about a 40 minute public bus ride from the Sihui town center and is in the middle of farm land. After arriving at the last bus stop, I walked 10 minutes to Chashan Park. This park is a little bit faded. There are about ten rides here, including a powered coaster called Gliding Dragon. There is a lake with boats and some games. When I saw the rides and the lack of people around them, I wondered if they were open. They are. I rode the powered coaster. One ride consists of three circuits. It was 10 RMB (USD $1.50) to ride. In all, this park is certainly not worth going out of the way for and is more for entertaining the locals. If you do find yourself in Sihui, check it out just for fun. Sihui is not a known tourist destination, but based on info in my hotel room, there are some nice places nearby that include a waterfall and some historic buildings. One thing that may keep it from blossoming as a tourist area is that the only bus from the train station does not run very often and the fact that the city is a bit far from places like Guangzhou. One downside to the motel, although it was a very nice place, some guy kept pushing cards under the door all night to promote the services of women. I also dealt with a very dishonest driver who wanted to charge 100 RMB ($15 USD) for a 5 minute taxi ride. When I refused, the driver told me not to worry about the 100 RMB as I was a foreigner. It is about 5pm and I have arrived at Chashan Park in Sihui, Zhaoqing, Guangdong. This is stage is the first thing visitors to the park see. Turn to the left after you walk past the stage and you will see the rides area. A powered Gliding Dragon is here. I see these all of the time here. Here is part of the layout. I think I will take a ride. Here is an onride shot to finish the TR.

In response to what happened with Golden Horse, a couple of years ago, the authorities showed up to inform them that they were being sued for making knockoffs. Beijing Jiuhua's people immediately packed up and left upon learning this. To be honest, with Chinese parks not willing to admit westerners on Chinese made rides in China, why would Chinese companies even bother showing up?

Just a quick question...did the Chinese companies show up to sell things to western parks that westerners can't ride in China? Seriously...I want to know...or did they stay home because of what happened with Golden Horse a few years ago?

November 11, 2017: East Lake Park in Jiangmen, Guangdong, China Today I would visit East Lake Park in Jiangmen for the second time. This park is also known as Donghu (East Lake in Chinese) and I visited it the first time in January of 2011. Before I offend everyone, I would like to say that this park is a very nice place to visit. It is a bit old, but they seem to be keeping up the rides better than when I visited in 2011. A powered coaster, Ferris wheel, jungle mouse and other assorted rides are here. The powered coaster replaced a nearly identical unit that was here when I visited in 2011. As near as I can tell, the jungle mouse is the exact some one I rode nearly seven years ago. Now...for the offensive stuff....when my wife and I got off the train in Jiangmen, a private driver said something in Chinese. As I have learned some Chinese, I understood exactly what he said. What he said amounted to "f---! I hate to see a Chinese woman with a foreigner". Now what he said was not racist at all. It is only racist if a white person says something like that. See...I am trying to be open minded and show respect to other cultures. I am visiting East Lake Park in Jiangmen today. Someone is going with me. More on that in a bit. This is the lake that gives the park its name. Another day...another powered coaster. This is actually a replacement for the powered coaster I rode here in 2011. It was built in November of 2012. This is its 5th year. A nice flume ride is here. They recently replaced the restraints on this top spin ride. I wonder why... The mouse coaster is still here. I like these types of mouse coasters. Here is the mouse in action. I said earlier that someone was with me. Meet Debbie. This is a bonus photo of Debbie and I. It is not from today. I hope you enjoyed the TR.

It is funny that you say that as I was thinking of Conneaut when I was at Xiaoxiang.

Actually, much of the park, away from the rides and water park was very clean. The water park has been closed for a couple of months, but does have a nice gate, which I did not get a photo of. I think the park is undergoing renovation. Maybe in a year or so, it will be much nicer.

November 5, 2017: Xiaoxiang Park in Yongzhou, Hunan, China Xiaoxiang Park is located in the city of Yongzhou. It is the biggest park in the city and has a temple, water park (with a wavepool) and two areas of amusement rides. One of the rides areas is apparently defunct. As this ride area has a kiddie coaster of the type that has only appeared on the scene in the last few years, it is not a good sign that it is already closed. This particular area was closed off to the public, but I was able to get a photo of the coaster thanks to an opening in trees. This became coaster #396 for me to find before ACE or RCDB. The second area of rides is in the northern part of the park. Most of the rides are kiddie rides, but there is a jungle mouse here. It is like many others I have ridden. It is one of the 396 coasters I have found. It became coaster #1105 for me to ride and Xiaoxiang Park became park #561 for me to visit. I will make a quick visit to Xiaoxiang Park this morning. They have a waterpark here, but it is closed for the season. There is a big wavepool here. A small section of amusement rides is apparently defunct. It has this kiddie coaster with spinning cars. This temple is located in the middle of the park. There is another section of amusement park rides. This section has a mouse coaster. That is a wave swinger in front of the lifthill of the coaster. Other than the coaster, the only other real adult sized ride here is the pirate ship. The minature Ferris wheel is one of the may kiddie rides here. Back to the coaster, I see so many of these... Here is another look at the mouse. Here is the mouse in action to finish the TR.

Yes. The mite mouse coasters follow a similar footprint. They are a bit smoother though.

Photo TR: Huyan Park in Yongzhou, Hunan, China (November 4, 2017) I am in Hunan province this weekend and decided to visit a park in Yongzhou. I went to Huyan Park. This park is not on RCDB yet, but it soon will be. The park is all rides and not much of anything else. They have a large Ferris wheel and a powered coaster on a hill overlooking the rest of the park. Putting the wheel in this location makes it look taller than it really is. A mite mouse coaster is here. These are not as common as the jungle mice and spinning coasters. I like to find these. Huyan Park has been around for a while and some rides are showing their age, but it is a fun place and the people in Yongzhou are friendly. The rides here are dirt cheap at 10 RMB per ride (the wheel is 20 RMB). In all, it is not a tourist park nor is Yongzhou a tourist city, but the Huyan Park is fine for local families. One minor complaint is that there is supposed to be a bus 182 in this city, but I have not seen it despite going to bus stops where it is supposed to stop. Maybe they need to update some info. As of today, I have visited 560 parks, ridden 1104 different coasters and found 395 coasters before ACE or RCDB have found them. I just found this place a few days ago when I was researching the city of Yongzhou. This little display is just inside the park. A powered dragon is here. They are everywhere in China. I have been on so many of them. The haunted house is walk through attraction. I always have to include the carousel. There is a nice little train here. A mite mouse coaster is here. I love these. I do not get to encounter them as often as spinning mouse and jungle mouse coasters. They are fun coasters. I like the design of the cars on this ride. Here is a photo as I was headed up the lift. This will finish the TR.

Most parks in Shanghai and Beijing are near the metro stops. Go to Xian North railway station and take a taxi to Lewa. It is about $10 USD for a taxi to Lewa.

This is in regards to the the 5 feet 7 inches height limit on the loopscrew. This particular ride was made by Beijing Shibaolai Amusement Equipment. They also built a copy of this ride in Cuba. My question is this: Why, if this ride can't handle a westerner of average height in China, does the company sell one to a park in the west? This tells me that the height and weight requirements on rides here in China may be the result of parks not knowing what they are doing with the rides. If the height and weight requirements are because of safety issues with the rides, shouldn't Chinese manufacturers forget about selling their equipment to parks in the west? You can access a list of loopscrews sold by this company in the link I am including. https://rcdb.com/r.htm?ot=2&mo=11980 I like to offend, therefore I ask questions that make sense.

I have been to Shanghai Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo Disneysea and Hong Kong Disneyland. It may surprise many people to know that HK Disney is my favorite of the four parks. All four are nice parks, but HK Disney is nice because I can spend all day there and marathon the whole time-even on weekends. Operations are efficient-even when the park is not busy.

Some other negative stuff about this place from my visit(I tried posting this earlier): The website said they were open until 8pm. All of the rides and everything else had a 7:30pm closing time AND many of them stopped at 7:20 the night I visited. The rides on the island, including Dragon Legend were all scheduled to close at 7:30pm, but at 7:00, the whole island was closed off for some type of show. I waited around until about 7:04 and the show had not started, so I went inside to TRY to enjoy what time remained. I am sorry for those I offended with my initial comments, but the misleading information at the gate about Euro Express and what I mentioned above is not how you run a business. Well....you can run your business that way, but remember...people have other alternatives.

One thing to make note of here is that it is somewhat common for parks to use similar artwork and yes, even photos from other parks. This is true even in America. The year Steel Phantom opened, the coaster pictured in the Kennywood Brochure was Viper at Six Flags Magic Mountain. I am sure that when these parks open that they will not be copying much of anything. BBC will likely not copy much of anything in terms of buildings or rides. It may also be a safe bet that the rides and parks will operate at a western standard due to the fact that foreigners who live in and visit China will likely want to check these places out. These parks, along with Chimelong, Disney and Six Flags should set a new standard for Chinese parks. The more Chinese people are exposed to parks operating at a western standard, the less impressed they will be at places like Happy Valley. I am just sad that Jeremy Clarkson will not be represented at the Top Gear park. BBC messed up big time there. At least we will still have the Stig.

Now now now...let's be careful. we have Chinese people on this board who can see this. Racism and hate do not translate into Mandarin very well either. Racism is the belief that one race is better than another race. In Mandarin, racism and hate means exposing the truth about dishonest practices in China on the Theme Park Review...or least this is what I understand it to mean according to a couple of Chinese enthusiasts...

Here is some info for those going to China: Weight Limt at Romon U Park: The weight limit on Euro Express is not to keep anyone from over 6 feet tall from riding as the height limit is 195 cm (see the photo I posted earlier). Hotels: Hotels that will not accept foreigners can be found in every major city-including Beijing and Shanghai. Trust me on this one. List of Parks With Stupid Weight/Height Polices: Chuanlord Holiday Manor (Shunde, Foshan, Guangdong): You not allowed to ride the Skyloop or Loopscrew here if you are more than 90kg. The kiddie coasters are available for your enjoyment. Huagudeng Carnival (Bengbu, Anhui): There is a 186 cm height limit for the SLC. I am at 185 cm and they questioned me about this. I got to ride though, but beware. Tin Yat Park (Yuncheng, Shanxi): Again, there is a 186 cm height limit. At 185 cm tall, I got denied this credit. Hefei Wanda Park (Hefei, Anhui): There is an 80/90 kg weight limit for the tilt coasters and there may be a 90 kg weight limit for the Intamin, but hey...you can enjoy the Wacky Worm knockoff until you are blue in the face. Romon U-Park (Ningbo, Zhejiang): 80 kg weight limit on Euro Express Century Park (Zhengzhou, Henan): 90 kg weight limit on most rides Jin'e Park (Yueyang, Hunan): 60 kg weight limit on the alpine coaster (not slide), although after much b----ing, they let me ride Beijing Shijingshan (Beijing): The restraints on the SLC are so well-padded that most westerners of average height can't be strapped in and therefore are not allowed to ride Lewa Adventure (near Xi'an, Shaanxi): If you are taller than 5 feet, 7 inches, you will be denied the loopscrew, although Flash may be enough to get you to pay the admission.

Your post sums up Chinese business practices perfectly. Why buy Puma when you can buy Tuna(clothing brand here in China)? Why eat at Pizza Hut when you can eat at Pizza House? Intamin, B&M and other companies should be aware.

The park feels very much like it was copied from Lotte World. It even has a monorail running from the inside to the outside and both outdoors sections at the parks are on an island. Given the fact that China likes to copy things, it would not surprise me if they did make a visit to Lotte World. The now closed Suzhou Amusement Park had buildings that seemed to copy Everland and even used Everland's characters. I swear, from the above, that critical thinking and engineering in China is taught with a Xerox machine... Do you live in the same Korea where a bunch of adults left 300 children to go down with a sinking ship?

Many thanks Robb. That was the point I was trying to make earlier. I was basically told at the gate (before paying the admission fee) that I could ride. After paying, I was told I couldn't ride. This is very poor business practice from a park in a country where everyone wants to own a business. For those of you critical of remarks, I have an assignment for you: 1. Get on a plane 2. Go to China 3. Put up with finding a hotel that accepts foreigners (imagine if Robb brought a group of people here and they paid for the motel in advance and then, upon arrival, they were told they couldn't accept foreigners) 4. Deal with the stalking drivers who want to over charge you and tell you that there are no buses, trains or planes available. This happened to me at Shenzhen railway station when a driver told me there were no trains. I showed him my train ticket and he told me it was a fake. I bought it at a train station and knew better. Also, the Zhuhai ferry terminal has a bus stop across the street. A bus can pull in and pick up passengers and these idiot drivers will tell me that there are no buses from the terminal while I am watching passengers get on the bus. To top it off, they are standing a few feet away from the police who do nothing to stop this. 5. Deal with the fact that 88 common food products found on supermarket shelves across China are unsafe. 6. Try to say something positive about all of this. No offense to my Chinese friends and family, but your country needs to step it up a bit. I also think that many of you need to know what racism is. Racism is the belief that one race is superior to another. Racism is not calling out a country where stupid things are the rule rather than the exception. Chinese is also not a race. Asian is the race and Chinese is an ethnicity. Nowhere in my posts did I say anything against Asians. in fact, in regards to the Japanese, I think they are better than white people. In regards to Intamin. I did get an email saying that it "was up to the park". This indicates that this is a park decision. I have been turned away from two loopscrews and an Intamin in 2017 and I have been allowed to ride many kiddie/family coasters here. How backwards is that?

I have just now uploaded a photo of what the healthy weight should be of a person who is 195 cm tall. This height is still good to ride Euro Express (according to info on the park map and the sign outside by the ticket booths). The ideal healthy weight of a person who is 195 cm is 184 lbs. 184 lbs=83.4 kg. This clashes with the 80 kg weight limit. As I have already said, I want to see some Chinese parks win industry awards, but it is not going to happen under circumstances like this. Only Chimelong stands a chance. As for most parks only having a spinning coaster or powered dragon here, I am fine with this. It is all many people can afford. Even children from poor families deserve to know the joy of an amusement park. The healthy weight of a person who is 195 cm tall is roughly 83.5 kg. The weight requirement and height requirement of Euro Express clashes.

I am glad I have provided useful info here. I am also happy to rub it into to people how many parks I have visited and how many coasters I have ridden.

October 5, 2017: Harborland (Ningbo, Zhejiang, China) I went to Harborland in Ningbo this morning. This park is way out in the eastern part of the city. I had a great time there. Flight Of The Phoenix became coaster #1102 for me to ride. This is an eight inversion Intamin ride. It is a bit rough towards the back of the train, but the front of the train offers a great ride. Park operations here are decent for a Chinese park. Lines moved at an acceptable speed. No waiting 10 minutes between arrival and dispatch for the coaster. The park is also clean, but many buildings could use a paint job. Although it is about an hour outside the city center, the park is worth visiting and has easy access from the metro line. Harborland became park #559 for me to visit and provided a much better park experience than the hellhole I visited yesterday. It also had more visitors than that hellhole. Good! I hope Harborland puts that place out of business. The only downside of my visit to Harborland was at the ticket booth when the woman ahead of me tried to pay for her tickets with her phone. Doesn't anyone carry cash anymore? I will also add that this is not the fault of Harborland. Romon U-Park can suck it. I am at Harborland today. I hope is much better than crap stain I went to last night. They have tried to do a good job with the theme of the park. They have a nice Ferris wheel here. Here is one of the many rides that entertains guests at Harborland. This is a nice little boat ride. It is a good way to relax and it is very popular judging by the long line. The rapids ride here is great. This is what I came here for. It is a shorter version of the Intamin at Chimelong. It is a decent ride in the front half of the train, but in the back, it is a bit rough. It is called Flight Of The Phoenix. It is a fun ride. Here is a shot of the loop to close out the TR.

I just added a copy of the riders guide for the rides at Romon U-Park. You will notice that it says nothing about a weight limit for Euro Express. I looked at this before buying my ticket. Basically what happened was I was told before buying my ticket that I could ride Euro Express and then, after I paid the entrance fee, I was told I could not ride. Chimelong is wonderful-both of them and today, I went to Harborland (photos coming soon) and had a decent experience in a park with efficient operations and a fun Intamin ride. I also noticed that Harborland had more people than Romon U-Park. I am very happy to see that. At 160 RMB for Harborland versus 230 RMB for Romon U-Park, it is better value anyway. I am not trying to be racist. I am a bit tired of poor park operations, being denied lodging and being called "big fish" by taxi drivers looking to overcharge me. One last note about Chinese parks and awards, Chimelong (either of them) could easily win the Applause Award. Ahhh...yes! Here are the ride requirements posted by the ticket booths at Romon U-Park. Notice that it says nothing about a weight limit. This is very misleading.

I am not trying to be racist, but these idiotic policies are becoming more common. I actually sent an email to Intamin suggesting that maybe they could contact the park and educate them about the weight limit. What if the designers the designers of Euro Express visit the park? Would it make sense to turn them away from their own coaster? They should know more about it than the park does. I also have no problem with Chinese parks competing with western parks for things like the Applause Award, Golden Tickets and so on, but they can only compete if they offer an experience similar to what the western parks offer. The Wanda Park in Hefei is very interested in the Golden Ticket Awards, but they have that stupid policy that allows me to ride the wacky worm and not the tilt coaster. How much more backwards can they get? I have not visited the Wanda park in Hefei because of this. There is also a desire in China to bring in "top foreign talent". There is nothing wrong with this, but they had better be able to accommodate them. Here is the typical trip report from me (you can choose my fate at the end): I went to catch a bus to the train station, but the bus was late because some Chinese driver was watching TV and didn't show up in time for work. Once the bus arrived and took me to the train station, it took the Chinese lady selling me the ticket 20 minutes to check my passport, print the ticket and take my money...oh and she typed in the wrong train number and initially said there were no tickets-all of this with me being the only person in line. Once I got to the city I was going to, Chinese drivers tried to over charge me for a taxi ride. After getting to my motel that I had booked online, I was told they could not accept foreigners. I finally make it to the park and when I get to the coaster: A. it was rusted to pieces. B. they didn't want me ride it. C. I waited one hour with only 100 people in line as they were dispatching the train once every ten minutes. Once again, I have no problem with letting Chinese parks winning industry awards and with Chinese people being portrayed as being intelligent. They must make an effort.

Listen folks...I have a mainland Chinese wife. In regards to racism, here is a little story to tell you. In August of 2016, my wife and I got off of a train at 4am in the city of Kunming. We went to several motels because we had trouble finding one that would accept a foreigner. To top it off, the workers said that my wife could stay there without me-basically MY MONEY WAS WELCOME BUT I WAS NOT! I am also tired of Chinese blocking my links to family and friends back home BECAUSE THE CHINESE CAN"T DO NOT LIKE FOREIGN WEBSITES COMPETING WITH THEIR COUNTRY'S WEBSITES. The internet cafes here will only allow you online if you have a Chinese ID card. This means foreigners can't have access at these places (although a few places will occasionally break the rules and let me in). Even buying train tickets is a mess here for foreigners. This is not just about Euro Express at Romon U-Park. This is about an entire country's racism towards foreigners. The sign outside the entrance says that Euro Express can be ridden by guests from 145cm tall to 195 cm tall. Let's face it, this is a bit misleading as someone who is 195 cm tall would probably be above the weight limit they are enforcing. Also, many westerners are above 80 kg. This policy is racist in that regard as most foreigners can be turned away-making it an exclusive thing only for the locals. Back to other things in China, one of my friends had a life threatening condition earlier this year and when he went to the hospital HE WAS REFUSED TREATMENT BECAUSE HIS CHINESE EMPLOYER FAILED TO SIGN HIM UP FOR INSURANCE. THIS WAS AN ILLEGAL MOVE BY THE EMPLOYER. I have used my trip reports to try to showcase China as being fun and to encourage others to visit, but now, when I post a report, I am going to tell of bad experiences (if any). I have actually kept quiet in the past. As a side note, one time, while I was living in Korea, a Korean teacher had sex with a young student. The school district relocated him to another school. Foreign teachers will be fired in Korea if they teach one boring lesson. Asians are very racist. It is time to stop taking the high road with these idiots. Hollywood needs to stop portraying them as having high IQs and such. Intellectual copyrights are a farce over here. Look at all the loopscrew/powered coaster/SLC knockoffs made in this country. Can't they think for themselves? The fact that they will not let westerners on a western designed coaster shows that they are not thinking right. I am all for safety, but I am not going to tolerate BS. Enthusiasts who visit China can now plan on skipping Romon U-Park. They can run their parks their way and I can take my money to other countries. A Christian website criticized South Park for showing that hell was a livable place. I can't imagine what they would think of a country that routinely mixes in plastic when making rice and noodles-hence my earlier remark about going out of mainland China to buy groceries. I recently watched the film Idiocracy. One phrase I heard in that was "I like money". Nobody in that time period could do anything and yet they wanted money. It reminds me of Hefei Wanda Park wanting to win Golden Ticket Awards with an 80 kg weight limit on the tilt coaster. I am not being unreasonable at all. What is unreasonable is that I can ride a fruit worm, a powered dragon and a Wacky Worm, but I am turned away from a loopscrew. I am off to Harborland this morning. I will have my wife ask at the gate if I can ride the coaster. If not, I will WAVE THE MONEY I WOULD HAVE SPENT FOR THE ADMISSION FEE IN FRONT OF THEM AND TURN AROUND AND WALK AWAY WITH THE MONEY STILL IN MY HAND.