The Angry Darren Mullins

Give a Chinese person something to do and they can mess it up without fail...

I need to be aggressive. It seems that all Chinese people can do is take my money. They do not want to offer service. I even have to leave mainland China to buy decent groceries, do my banking and buy guitar strings. This country can't even do basic things.

They use the honor system. I weigh 218 lbs. This was too much for them to accept. Yes. It appears to be a clone with a lift hill. Stupid China!

Yes...and it is becoming a common thing here in China. To top it off, they want westerners to give Chinese parks awards like Golden Ticket Awards. They will not get far at this as long as they operate parks the way they operate them.

October 4, 2017: Romon U Park I got to Ningbo, Zhejiang, China late this afternoon and decided to go to Romon U-Park for the evening. It was somewhat of a waste. It seems that the Intamin made Euro Express, which I was looking forward to, can't carry passengers weighing more than 80 kilograms. This is not the fault of Intamin. This is the result of Asian paranoia. Here is a coaster made by a western company whose coasters carry millions of average-sized western riders without incident each year and goddamned China chinks it up. This country can't do anything right it seems. Intamin needs to be in touch with the idiots at Romon U-Park on how to operate the coaster. Dragon Legend is a fun ride. It is very smooth. It became my 1100th coaster. I rode Poseidon Adventure. This turned out to have a surprise. I thought it was a log flume. It is actually a combination of flume, dark ride and coaster. There are two sections of dry track as well. The second section follows the second lift and makes a u-turn as it slightly drops. The first section is what makes this a coaster. The section of track starts with a dry drop and then a small hill and a short drop into the water. This section is enough to qualify the ride for being a coaster. I consider it to be coaster #1101 for me to ride. To be honest, Romon U-Park has the potential to be a great park, but this craphouse weight limit on Euro Express is ridiculous. I will not be visiting the park again-even if this policy is done away with. In the past 13 months, I have made 3 trips outside of China because of garbage like this. I was permitted to ride the kiddie coaster at Ningbo Childrens park in 2015. This makes no sense at all. It supports my statement that China is a backwards country. No offense to my Chinese friends, but your country needs to do a lot better. China is going to have to offer something other than overpriced taxi rides if the country wants my tourism dollars. Romon U-Park became park #558 for me to visit. I will check out Romon U-Park tonight. The castle has many lights on it. I have to get in the carousel shot for this park. Indoor parks are interesting. Here is Poseidon Adventure. It looks like a log flume, but there is a section of coaster track on this ride. Euro Express looks like fun, but thanks to Asian paranoia, nobody over 80 kg can ride. I would have enjoyed this. It is too bad this place will not get anymore of MY MONEY!

I am not surprised about this at all. It seems that the in a few years, a coaster is done for here. What does surprise me is that the parks didn't replace these coasters with identical coasters. This appears to be common practice here.

Yes. I also went on the carousel and Dumbo rides.

October 2, 2017: Shanghai Disneyland and Heping Park I got up very early this morning (5:00 am) and started making my way to Shanghai Disneyland (park #557 for me to visit). This is the National Day holiday that lasts for one week here in China. The park would get 60000 or so visitors today. I arrived at Shanghai Disneyland at 7:25am and there must have been a mile long line just for the bag check. Once past the security check, I found there were no lines to purchase a ticket at the park, but that there was an hour wait to pick up tickets if guests purchased them in advance. I am glad I bought my ticket at the park. After entering the park, I went to Tron Lightcycle Power Run first. I waited 30 minutes and I liked the train design and the launch on this coaster. It is much cooler than using a wild mouse as a space themed coaster in a building. It became coaster #1097 for me to ride. After Tron, I immediately headed for the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (#1098)).What did I think of this ride? I like mine trains and I like suspended coasters. I thought the rocking of the cars would make this ride a combination of the two. I was wrong. The cars hardly rocked at all and the ride was way too short. It is my least favorite mine train by a western company. Any of the Arrow mine rides easily beat this one. The same goes for Big Thunder Mountain in Tokyo and Big Grizzly Mountain in Hong Kong. I really liked both of those too. In short, Shanghai Disneyland is a very nice park and is very big. I do hope they will see fit to add another big coaster in a few years and some more rides to increase capacity. On the way back to the hotel, I stopped at Heping Park. A new family coaster has been added. It became coaster #1099 for me to ride. The old Space Car coaster I rode here in 2011 is still here, but it did not appear to be open. I finished today having raised my park count to 557 parks and my track record to 1099 coasters(103 wood/996 steel). I have two milestone coasters coming soon. One will be coaster #1100 and the other will be my 1000th steel coaster. I will start my day off with my first visit to Shanghai Disneyland. This will be park #557 for me to visit. They did a nice job with the castle here. The carousel is the first ride to greet visitors. Guests can enjoy canoe rides here. Tron would be my first ride of the day. This is just after the launch. This is a fun ride. I love the train design. Shanghai Disneyland is working on an expansion... The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is a nice family ride. After Disneyland, I went back to my hotel, but not before popping into Heping Park for a quick visit. A nice lake with boats is here. The Space Car coaster I rode in 2011 is still here. I just have to get in a wave swinger shot. There is a nice little train ride at Heping Park. This was not here in 2011. There are two of these apples that the train passes through during the ride. It is a nice little ride for the family. This will finish the TR.

October 2, 2017: Shanghai-Day 1 Century Park/Peoples Park/Zhongshan Park I visited three parks today. I visited them all in 2011, but all of them replaced their coasters with new coasters. This meant I had to go back again. Can you think of a better reason? First up today was Century Park. It has its own metro station. There are several family rides here, including a Golden Horse family coaster. It is a step above the Golden Horse Space Car rides. It is very comparable a Vekoma Roller Skater. It became coaster #1094 for me to ride. A short subway ride later brought me to Peoples Park. This park has a small collection of rides. They recently added a Chinese made copy of a Zamperla family coaster. I enjoyed this ride (#1095), but notice that the train seemed to have a problem going over the lift. I bet the Zamperla originals do not have this problem. My last park of the day was Zhongshan Park. It is one of many Zhongshan Parks in China with rides. The old Wacky Worm type coaster has been replaced with a twin helix dragon coaster that is not a powered coaster. It runs on gravity. It is a bit choppy. It became coaster #1096 for me to ride. There was a light mist when I visted each park, but they kept the rides open. This is great. It is also only day #1 of my 2017 Shanghai trip. Stay tuned... This is Century Park. It is my first park of the trip. These trees are probably very nice in the summer when temperatures soar. The lake is very nice at Century Park. A Golden Horse family coaster is here. I love the colors of this one. A short subway ride brought me to Peoples Park where I would ride this. It is a knockoff of a Zamperla ride. It is a fun little ride, but there seems to be a major design flaw in the chainlift. It sounds like the train is being ripped loose from the chain as the train goes over the top of the lift. A lot of people at Peoples Park were enjoying this ride. My last park of the day would be Zhongshan Park. This is one of the few rides here. A twin helix GRAVITY powered dragon coaster replaced the old wacky worm type ride that used to be here. Here is an onride shot to finish my first day of coastering in Shanghai.

It is still too early to say for sure what happened. He may have taken a wrong turn. He may have jumped over something into a display or maybe a door the staff should have closed was left open by mistake. Any of these is a possibility.

Hong Kong is becoming more like mainland China, but still has some way to go. It is also important to note that I made that post shortly after I saw it on the news. The "wrong turn" they mentioned may have been him climbing over something or may not have happened at all. It is common for there to be conflicting reports shortly after something like this. Here is the link: https://www.google.hu/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjh6Lbfh6vWAhWILcAKHQFKB7EQqOcBCCkwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scmp.com%2Fnews%2Fhong-kong%2Fcommunity%2Farticle%2F2111489%2Focean-park-closes-halloween-attraction-after-man-found-dead&usg=AFQjCNHE3vL7xbiM0xjAPjmxfu6bxbdaCg

A man has died while experiencing a Halloween attraction at Ocean Park in Hong Kong. This was just on the news in Hong Kong. The think he took a wrong turn and entered a restricted area as he was hit in the head by a fake coffin that was being used in the display. I did not see anything on here, so I thought I would pass it along. The guy who died was getting a preview of the attraction as it is not open to the general public yet.

August 31, 2017: Dream World (Thailand) I visited Dream World just outside of Bangkok today. I must say I was pleasantly surprised. The only downside is that I visited during the annual refurbishment of Sky Coaster. Agggghhhh! With that beings said, I got to ride the other two coasters and several other rides and had a wonderful time. The park made me feel like I was in an American park. It is easily one my favorite parks in Asia. It feels like a traditional park that made it into the modern era. There is also a good misx of family and thrill rides here. Black Hole Coaster is an indoor Vekoma ride. Speedy Mouse is a kiddie coaster that packs a punch. both were enjoyable. I also enjoyed a nice rapids ride that I got very wet on. Speedy Mouse became my 1092nd coaster and Black Hole Coaster became my 1093rd coaster. Dream World (park #556) is the best park I visited in Thailand but then all three of the Thai parks were great. I went to Thailand because I am fed up with China's lackluster park operations. It boggles the mind that Chinese parks want to win Golden Ticket awards when they have the crappiest service of all of the parks on the planet. It appears a plane ride is necessary for to enjoy a roller coaster. China parks shot lockers are empty and their powder is spent. They can't fire a shot for they're choked at the vent (Cruisin' Round Yarmouth-Irish Rovers version inspired comparison). I have arrived at Dream World. It is just outside of Bangkok. I am from Ohio. I had no clue that Ohio was this close to Thailand. There is a nice lake here. This boat is no longer in service. It would be nice if they restored it. The waterfall is nice to look at here. This was my first ride here. It is called Speedy Mouse. This was during my first ride on Speedy Mouse. There is a decent number of family rides here. The rapids ride gets riders very wet. I had fun on it. This is a popular ride here. This is my favorite here. It is all indoors, so I couldn't get a decent photo. It was made by Vekoma. Sky Coaster is a Vekoma suspended coaster. It is too bad it is currently closed for refurbishment, but I did see people painting it. It is a good sign this ride will last a bit longer unlike some suspended coasters. I hope I get to ride it on my next visit. You can get a good view of Sky Coaster from the bumper boats. This will finish the TR.

August 30, 2017: Siam Park City (Bangkok, Thailand) Today I went to Siam Park city. This park is nearly 37 years old and is showing its age a bit, but I still had a great time. The one thing I thought of the whole time was that this park made me think of the Great America parks. While I have not been to Great America in California, I have visited the park in Chicago. My reasons for saying this are as follows: 1. The double decker carousel just inside the entrance (all three parks) 2. The three major types of Boomerangs have been found in all parks at one time or another-Siam has a boomerang, SFGA had a GIB and Great America in California had an invertigo. All three parks combined have made the Boomerang family a part of their lineup. 3. Vekoma SLCS-The two Great America Boomerang type coasters were SLCs and Siam has an extended SLCs. 4. The use of the name Vortex at Siam and California's Great America. 5. The Condor ride-I am not sure if SFGA still has one (they did at one time), but Siam has one. 6. Loop The Loop at Siam Park is SBNO and has a layout similar to the the Great America Tidal Wave coasters which also are defunct. 7. There are sky towers in each park. Comparisons out of the way, Siam Park is fun if you like coasters and I had a great time there. Two sour notes would have been that the Grand Canyon coaster was closed today and a major lack of family rides. I think family rides are needed to round out a park. I am not sure what is up with Loop The Loop, but the ride looks to be in good condition. I mean it doesn't appear to be rusting to pieces and looks just as good as the coasters that currently operate in the park. The trains are done for on it. Boomerang and Vortex brought my coaster count to 1091 coasters and Siam Park City became park #555 for me to visit. Today I will visit Siam Park City. What?????? Did I just step into one of the Great America parks? Boomerang is just inside to the right of the entrance. It would be my first ride today. Boomerangs with this type of train are no fun at all. Loop The Loop looks like it would be fun. I will never know. It hasn't carried passengers in more than 10 years. Here is some scenery in the park. I will try Grand Canyon next. It is a large powered coaster. This is probably a fun ride...but... It was closed today. The flume here is fun and has reverser turntables. I have only been on two of these, but I like them. This is one of my favorite rides ever. The haunted house was nicely themed. Hmmmm.....Am I at a Cedar Fair park? Vortex is an SLC. These aren't so bad after riding the Chinese knockoffs. Seriously, after so many Chinese knockoffs, I loved every headbanging second of this ride.... Here is an action shot to prove the ride is still in service. Here is one more action shot and this will finish the TR.

August 29, 2017: Yoyo Land (Bangkok, Thailand): I am in Bangkok, Thailand for a few days. I made my way out to the Seacon Square shopping mall this afternoon to visit Yoyo Land. This park actually was a surprise for me. I was expecting a bunch of games and a roller coasters, but I actually found a nearly full scale park on one floor of a shopping center. There is a roller coaster called Roller Coaster (#1089 for me to ride), a log flume for families, long train ride, 4-D ride, bumper boats and several others. Roller Coaster only had one real drop and was not all that exciting, but I got a pay one price deal for $5.41 USD and rode the coaster 26 times and also rode a few other rides. A single ride on the coaster is $1.50 USD. Yoyo Land became park #554 for me to visit and my first park in Thailand. It was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon. I have arrived at the Seacon Square Mall and there is an amusement park here. This train goes through the whole park and takes a decent amount of time to go through the whole ride. A 4-D attraction is here. Riders can choose among 4 different films. I went on this three times. It is actually a fun ride. Yes!!!!!!!!!!! What? It is not a mouse or a spinning coaster or a powered coaster? The elevation doesn't change much on this ride. The track slightly rises and falls in most places. It does have a few turns. This is the only real drop on the coaster. This will finish the TR.

Yes. It is a drop tower. It is called Sky Drop.

August 21, 2017: Ruofei Park in Anshun, Guizhou, China I went to Ruofei Park in Guizhou today. It is in the norther part of the city of Anshun. I was told the park had been renovated some time back, which may explain the loop screw on the park map (which the park does not have-at least not now). The park map seemed to indicate some changes in the layout of the park have been made. The rides here are basic Chinese fare. There is a mouse coaster with a style of track that is a bit different from the other mouse coasters I have ridden here. It follows the same layout as other mouse coasters, but the track style is different and this one is much smoother. It became coaster #1087 for me to ride. There is also a fruit worm coaster (#1088) here. I rode it on the way out of the park. The two coasters were the only rides I would go on as the rides are basic rides found in most Chinese parks. Anshun is a small city and this may be the only amusement park here. I did see the aquarium and it was pretty basic, but it did include some big sea turtles, a couple of sharks, a python and two crocodiles along with some fish. If you are ever in this part of China, Ruofei park makes a nice little stopping point and the two coasters here bring my total to 1088 coasters ridden and 383 coasters that I have discovered before ACE or RCDB. Ruofei Park became park #552 for me to visit. I am at Ruofei Park today. Let's see what is inside. It appears, from the park map, that the park has a loop screw. These are among the first rides to greet visitors. it isn't a park in China without a wave swinger. A haunted walk through attraction is here. A loop screw is not here, but a mouse coaster is. It follows the footprint of many mouse coasters, but has a different style of track. It is a very smooth ride. I took this shot heading up the lift. I would finish my visit on this. It became coaster #1088 for me to ride. This will finish the TR.

July 26, 2017: Window Of The World (Changsha, Hunan, China) I visited the Window Of The World in Changsha today. It would be my second visit to this park. My first time here was in 2010. Some things have changed. Some rides have been removed or closed and more rides have been build. The loopscrew has closed and is being used a a war games simulator. That is kind of cool use for an old worn out ride. The newest coaster to open here is Moto Coaster (#1085) and I enjoyed this very much. It is a Zamperla ride. It is nice to ride the real thing when there are so many knockoffs in this park. I also rode the spinning coaster here by Beijing Jiuhua. There is a new Chinese SLC knockoff being built. I have included a couple of photos of it here. I like Changsha's Window Of The World better than the one in Shenzhen. They are more models of landmarks in Shenzhen, but the park only has about six rides. Changsha's Window Of The World is more of a full scale park. Both parks are owned by OCT. I will visit the other Window Of The World today. This one is in Changsha, Hunan province in China. I have just entered the park. These double-decker carousels are all over China. Moto Coaster would be my first ride of the day. It is a fun ride. This was right before I got to ride. It became coaster #1085 for me to ride. I rode this on my first visit. It is now closed forever. A war games role play is here now and it uses the coaster as part of the scenery. The flume had the longest line of anything today. It has been very hot this summer. This train shuttles guests between the rides area and the water park. I rode this spinning coaster in 2010 and I rode it again today. It is a Beijing Jiuhua knockoff. They are building something here..... It is a new roller coaster. This will finish the TR.

They are brutally honest without being rude. That is the beauty in this. Most people can never master this.

Lateness is the reason I do not like to socialize with people. Each time I am going out with a group, a couple of people are always late AND when they do show up, the whole group has to decide what they are going to do.

I have actually found 380 coasters before ACE or RCDB. That is more than most people will ever ride.

Hunan Provincial Forest And Botanical Garden (July 25, 2017) I went to the Hunan Provincial Forest And Botanical Garden today. This park is just south of the city center in Changsha in Hunan province. This park is build on a hill. I told the taxi driver to take me to the north entrance as the rides are a five minute walk from there. He took me to the west entrance instead and I had to walk over a hill carrying my luggage all the way. Along the way, I took a wrong turn and walked about 30 minutes out of my way thanks to the maps in the park not always being very clear. Many of the maps only show a small section of the park and not the whole layout of the park. I finally reached the rides area. There is a jungle mouse here (#1084) and a bumper car ride with some obstacles on the floor that drivers have to drive around. This could have been interesting if there were other people there to ride. The rest of the rides are basic rides that are found in every Chinese park. If you visit this place, be sure to tell the taxi driver you want off at the north exit so that you do not walk for an hour to find the rides. I have arrived at the west entrance of the Hunan Provincial Forest And Botanical Garden. The taxi driver took me to this entrance instead of the north entrance like I wanted. After a very long walk, I finally arrived at the rides. This unusual bumper car ride is the first ride I saw. Several rides can be seen here. This is basic Chinese fare. The flume is actually in the water park next to the rides. Yes! They have a coaster here. It is another Chinese jungle mouse. This become my 1084th coaster. This will finish the TR.

They swing ever so slightly.

July 23, 2017: Qinling Happy World, Xian, Shaanxi, China This park is located south of Xian's city center. It is next to, but not part of the Qinling Wildlife Park. This park is a 10 minute walk past the ticket booths for the wildlife park. There are three coasters. Four Ring Roller Coaster is a double loop and corkscrew that is getting a new train. it was not open today. CHINA! Hanging Roller Coaster is a Golden Horse suspended mouse coaster. This is the second one of these I have experienced. It is a fun ride for what it is. Nothing too thrilling, but I like suspended coasters. A Golden Horse Space Car coaster is here too. This park is very small, but the placement of the rides allows it to offer many rides for guests. I think it is a nice park. I just wish that the big coaster had been open. It seems that coasters are either closed for maintenance or they do not want westerners to ride them. If CHINA! keeps this trend up, I may have to take my money to coast elsewhere. I have now visited 551 parks and ridden 1083 coasters. This will be the last park in my Xian adventure. I return home tomorrow. Let's start with the carousel. Nothing new here.... They have a breakdance type ride and beyond that, a Golden Horse suspended coaster. I do not see these too often. This is only my second one. It is a fun little ride due to it being a wild mouse that hangs from the track. The flume here has a layout that can be found in many parks in China. This is the biggest coaster in the park. It is an extended loopscrew. The train is being replaced on it. This means it was not in service today. I wish I could have ridden it. This will finish the TR.

July 22, 2017: Tin Yat Park and Meitian Amusement Park (Yuncheng, Shanxi, China): Tin Yat Park: This park opened in 2013 and still looks very new. I was one of only a few people here. The rides area seemed totally empty until I found some workers who would run the coasters. There is a loopscrew called Roller Coaster and a mite mouse coaster here. I rode the mite mouse (#1080). After this, I was told that I may be too tall for the loopscrew. I asked them to check and see if I would fit into the car. They let me try. It was a perfect fit, the OTSR came down and I was comfortable and secure, but they didn't want to risk letting me ride. This resulted in me walking away disappointed. My advice to Chinese parks-use some goddamned common sense. Allowing adults to ride a family sized coaster and then turning them away from the big coasters is about as backwards as it gets. To Chinese ride manufacturers-do not go to western countries and try to sell your shit there. Westerners expect to ride things when they go to parks. Westerners aren't like the Chinese and will not settle for just getting their picture taken in front of the ride. If your rides can't accommodate westerners, you will never get far. A six year old child would do better than this. Meitian Amusement Park: This park is a gated amusement park and admission has to be paid to enter. it rundown too. The rides are rusty. Weeds are growing everywhere. There is a loopscrew (#1081) here. It is the same damned design as the one at Tin Yat, except that the OTSR is much smaller and it is not very comfortable when it is pulled down. With that being said, Meitian amusement park operated this thing right and let me ride. Meitian may be a shithole, but at least they got it right-ya hear me Lewa and Tin Yat? The most unusual ride at Meitian is a double top spin. I have a photo of it in the TR. I have arrived at a park that is less than 5 years old. It is Tin Yat Park. This is the view after visitors enter the park. Here is a view of the lake while I was walking to the rides. It is the hottest summer on record here and the damned flume isn't open. They have a loop screw here. The idiots would not let me ride it despite meeting the height requirement and fitting into the seat and being able to lock the restraint. The did allow me to ride this thing. It is a mite mouse. I like these. A taxi took me on a 20 minute ride to this place. It is Meitian Amusement Park. This will tell me where I need to go. This certainly puts a new spin on things. Here is Meitian's carousel. They have a large Ferris Wheel like most parks here do. The flume here also is not in service. Meitian has a loop screw just like the one I was denied riding at Tin Yat. I would get to ride this one twice. This will finish the TR.