The Angry Darren Mullins

I went to one of the New For 2016 parks in China today. It is called Snoopy Fun Fun Garden. It is totally Snoopy/Peanuts themed. There are only 8 rides here and a 9th (bumper boats) will open soon. There is a Golden Horse spinning coaster called Spinning Coaster and it is one of 347 coasters I have found before ACE or RCDB. It raises my track record for coasters ridden to 1008 and this park became the 497th park I have visited in my life. There is a small museum inside the gate and visitors can see how the characters have evolved over the years. I really enjoyed the park. The rides are geared towards families. The flume ride has two small drops, but the second does get riders a bit wet. The ride package is enough to keep people entertained for a couple of hours and at roughly $18 USD for admission ($9 after 5pm), the park is good value if you can spend all day there. I met many Chinese people today who love Snoopy. This park is nicely themed and is easily one of the best small/family parks I have visited anywhere. I am visiting Snoopy Fun Fun Garden in Foshan. It opened about two months ago after more than 10 years of planning and construction. This fountain is just inside the gate. This is the Snoopy Museum. This is what Snoopy originally looked like. This little train is the first ride you will see in the park. The flume has only two small hills, but the second drop gets riders wet and it is a fun ride for the whole family. This is a nice little area to cool off while you are outside in the south China sun. All sorts of Peanuts related prizes can be won at the games here. I had to take a spin on this. Yes. The park has one of these things. Here it is in action to finish the TR. I have been on so many of these things.

I thought the theming was a step up from other Chinese parks. At least this park has more of it than other parks.

I do not live in Nanchang, which is a real shame. Yes. This is the site of the old Baohulu Farm. There is a second Baohulu Farm that is still open in Ganzhou to the south of Nanchang. I visited it last year. I was not coming out of where the cars are stored, but I did see some other foreigners. I even said hi to them. I believe I was between Python and Coaster Through The Clouds.

The Chinese have really stepped up their game in the last couple of years or so with new coasters.

I happen to like this coaster very much. I was always a fan of the Vekoma SLCs as I like the barnstorming feel of them. This is the best Chinese made SLC to date.

I believe I was in the last car when that video of the SLC was shot.

The people at GCI have really outdone themselves on this ride.

It does indeed have a great first drop. It seemed very steep. This park has a lot of potential, but the ride ops need to be more efficient.

June 4, 2016: Nanchang Wanda Park I decided to go to Nanchang this weekend to visit the new Wanda Park. I am happy that I went. The park has some neat things that can't be found elsewhere. For one, there is a themed area where pottery is the theme. The Bamboo Forest is a neat themed are as well. The only downside to this park that the employees are not efficient at loading and unloading the coasters. A 20 minute wait at Disney will be a 1 hour wait at Wanda. With that being said, the park still has a lot of rides and is a change pace in terms of ride lineups at parks in China. As for the coasters, the following is five short reviews (one for each coaster): Coaster Through The Clouds: This Intamin hypercoaster is fun and has several spots of airtime. The airtime is gentle and not abrupt, but the ride is fast and has a great first drop. It is one of the best coasters in China. Creep Caterpillar: I scream. You scream. The police came. It's awkward. Spinning Potteries: Typical spinning mouse coaster found at parks in every Chinese city. Soaring Dragon & Dancing Phoenix: The best Chinese SLC to date. It features a custom layout. The original name for it was Kiln Crusher. I wish they had kept that name. Python In Bamboo Forest: Best. GCI. Ever. Best. Ride. Entrance. Ever. It is 6:48am and I have arrived at Nanchang Wanda Park. It is very early, but I am the first one here. My first stop in the park is Bamboo Forest. Creep Caterpillar would be my first ride of the day. Creep is the best name for this ride. Look at that lead car. It looks like it will molest me. Best. Ride. Entrance. Ever. It is hard to get good photos of Python In Bamboo Forest (formerly known as the Viper). Here is a look at the lead car. The ride messed up my hair. Here are some of the rides at the park. I met with some Chinese coaster enthusiasts today. Here is one of the views inside the park. This bumper car ride is total bulls---. I have to include the carousel in my TR. There is an area themed after pottery. It seems every park in China has one of these damned things. They have a Chinese made SLC. It is the best Chinese SLC yet as it is a custom design. It is not a bad ride at all. Here is another view of it. Here is one more look at Soaring Dragon & Dancing Phoenix. Coaster Through The Clouds is a great ride. The lift looks like it touches the clouds. This is one of the best coasters in China. It is a great ride and had a 2 hour wait today. Here is an action shot to finish the TR.

May 11, 2016: Jianghui Amusement Park, Jiangmen, Guangdong, China Today I went to Jianghui Amusement Park. I was here nearly five years ago. The reason I came back was because of the addition of a large coaster with a loop. I found this place and all of the coasters here before ACE or RCDB. Although this park is a bit old, many changes have been made and old rides have been replaced with new rides. The old powered coaster was replaced with a new looping coaster. The looping coaster is called Roller Coaster and it caused me to reach two milestones with one coaster. It became my 900th steel coaster and it also became my 1000th coaster. That is right. I have been on 900 steel coasters and 100 wooden coasters. How was the ride? It is a bit rough. The loop is not engineered properly. It was a joy to reach the milestones I reached and a nightmare at the same time. There are a couple of sour notes for this park. One is that, visitors have to pay 10 RMB ($1.50 US) for a deposit on a card and buy 100 RMB worth of rides. This practice is in place at many parks in China. As you ride each ride, a certain amount is deducted from the card. At the end of the day, at other parks, you can get your unused money back from your card, but not at Jianghui. These people would not refund the unused portion of the money I put on the card. I was only at this park for an hour and didn't have time to stay long due to the train schedule. Another sour note is that the man who was operating the kiddie coaster had too much interest in my wallet. He was trying to look inside my wallet when I went to pay for my rides. I would like to revisit this park and let him take a good look at my knife and then ask him if he wants to see what is in my wallet. I do not care how violent that sounds or if it is an act of terror. He did not have any right to try to look in my wallet. In addition to these issues, the bus that was supposed to take me back to the bus station where I could transfer to another bus to go to the train station never arrived despite me waiting for about 30 minutes for it. The park is in Jiangmen's tourist area. They are going to have to do better with the public transportation in this city. I do not plan to ever go back to Jiangmen. Park management here is s---house and the public transport is s---house. China will never be a world leader when the people can't even do something as simple as run a public bus. I have now discovered 339 coasters before ACE or RCDB could find them. That is a lot and I plan to keep finding AND riding them and visiting the parks. I am going to Jianghui Amusement Park today. I was here about 5 years ago for my first visit. New additions have brought me back to the park. Hello Kitty is watching you. Hello Kitty knows that you are here. There is a nice lake here. These have to be in every park. No ifs ans or buts about it. I rode this on my first visit to the park in 2011. I rode it again today. This was not here when I visited the first time. It is a very tame ride. Here is my on ride shot. Although I didn't ride it today, this was fun when I rode it in 2011. I rode a flume here in 2011, but I can't remember if they replaced it and if this is a new one. This is the ride that brought me back to Jianghui Amusement Park. It is only a couple of years old. The restraints are well-padded. This coaster is called Roller Coaster. The loop looks like it is a near-perfect circle. This is a mirror image of other coasters that I have ridden. It is a bit rough, but fun and it became my 1000th coaster today as well as steel coaster #900.

April 30, 2016: Nanhai Wetland This park is located in Foshan. I discovered this by accident a few years back (before RCDB or ACE). I never got to go to it until now due it being in an out of the way location. The city buses do not even fully reach this park. They drop people off about a 30 minute walk from the park. This park has a lot of trees and a lot of shade is available. It is a nice, but faded park. There is a coaster here. The coaster became #997 for me. Nanhai Wetland became park #493 for me to visit. This park features nothing out of the ordinary, but it is worth a visit. Sanshui Lotus World This park is in Foshan's Sanshui district, which is in the northwest of the city. Sanshui North railway station is about a 30 minute walk from the park. This park is very green. There is a lot of nice scenery here. There is a nice amusement park are with many rides. The mouse coaster (#998) has the same layout as the one I had ridden earlier in the day at Nanhai Wetland. This park is very much worth a visit for the scenery alone. Sanshui Lotus World became park #494 for me to visit. I have arrived in Foshan today. My first port of call is Nanhai Wetland. This is the view just as you enter the park. I have never tried one of these and I never will. I also do not trust these either..... The bumper cars seemed to be the ride most people enjoyed. There is a coaster here. It has a name. I see these all of the time here. They are actually more of a wooden coaster than the Intamin pre-fab woodies. This was taken during my ride. I went a short distance away to Sanshui Lotus World. Lotus World has a lot of greenery. It is very nice. There is a lot of water here. There is a huge Ferris Wheel here. Let's see if there are other rides too. There are other rides here. This is one of the newest rides here. A coaster is here. Here is an on ride shot to finish the TR.

T2 was the first Vekoma SLC. This boomerang was not lost. The history of it just had a couple pieces of bad information which made this coaster appear from out of left field. Duane at RCDB has since determined that this boomerang is the same one that went to Kentucky and New England.

It seems many of us have probably been on this coaster. It was at Star Lake in Zhaoqing. It is the same boomerang that later opened as Vampire at Kentucky Kingdom and is now at Six Flags New England. RCDB originally had the ride listed for Nanhu in Guangzhou. An ACE publication (maybe Guide To Ride), had it listed as being at Riverside Park. With the true history of this ride being discovered, I can take one away from my total of coasters I discovered before ACE or RCDB. My total drops from 336 to 335.

Vampire opened at KK in 1990. It opened in 1985 at Nanhu Park in Guangzhou and may have spent some time in Zhaoqing. I doubt the Chinese were copying boomerangs then.

@ cfc: Hahahahahahaha! I think this park was called Xingfu Amusement Park. I was told by the locals that it closed because nobody went there. It is amazing if they actually had a boomerang (real or copy) there.

http://tieba.baidu.com/p/2473498367 The link I have submitted shows a photo of a Vekoma Boomerang and mentions the city of Zhaoqing. I know this city used to have a park that closed. I wonder if this particular ride is the one they moved to Kentucky Kingdom and later to Six Flags New England.

April 3, 2016: Jiangmen Childrens Park and Heshan Park Jiangmen Childrens Park: This park is located in the city center Jiangmen. It is close to East Lake Park, which has a couple of coasters. Jiangmen's Childrens Park doesn't have a coaster, but there are several rides there. It is an older park and has many kids rides as well as bumper cars. The park had replaced a bunch of rides, so maybe there was a coaster here at one time. Unless you have small children with you, it is safe to give this place a pass. I only checked it out because I could not find much info on it and wanted to see if it had a coaster. Heshan Park: This park is in the Heshan district of Jiangmen. I found it recently and told Duane at RCDB. The spinning coaster here is of unknown origin, but it is the same design as the Golden Horse spinners. This coaster is one of 336 coasters I have found before RCDB and ACE. It became coaster #996 for me to ride. The ride selection at Heshan Park is very basic. There are about 12 rides here. It is a nice park that opened in 2008. The coaster was built in the last two years. I have now visited 492 parks and ridden 996 different coasters. I haved arrived in Jiangmen city. Let's see what is in Childrens Park. The park has a small carousel. There are several other riders here too. About 50 minutes away is Heshan Park. There is a big lake in this park. There are rides here too. There is a coaster here. It is a spinning mouse coaster. It looks like a Golden Horse ride, but it is not. This will finish the TR.

February 23, 2016: Quanzhou, Fujian Province Quanzhou Amusement Park: This is the biggest park in Quanzhou. The coasters here all have a very common design. The biggest one is a loop screw knockoff. There is a Troika knockoff here that I rode. It wasn't has intense as the ones by Huss, but maybe the Chinese version could have a faster speed than what they use at this park. Jiangbin Sports Park: Jiangbin is Chinese for riverside. There are a few rides here. One is mouse coaster that is of the most common design here in China. It is old and rusty. Many of the rides here look like they are in poor shape. There used to be a powered coaster here, but it is gone now. The park seems to have good sports facilities. Donghu Park. Donghu is Chinese for East Lake. This park is an old park, but there are some rides in the northeast corner of the park. There is a small mouse coaster that I got to ride. In all, I have now visited 490 parks and I have ridden 995 different coasters. I have no special plans for #1000. It will happen when it happens, but I would like for it not to be a space car kiddie coaster or a spinning or jungle mouse coaster. Only five more to go until I reach the magic roller coaster. My first park of the day is Quanzhou Amusement Park. This big wheel greets you as you enter the park. Roller Coaster is a loop screw knockoff. I didn't go in the haunted house, but I took a photo of it. These are very common in China. These are very common and this one felt like it would stall half way through the course. The Chinese have copied the Troika. This is not as good as the originals from Huss. A short taxi ride took me to Jiangbin Sports Park. There are a few rides here. There are a few rides here. There have a rusty old mouse coaster. The park is right by the river. Jiangbin means riverside. There used to be a powered coaster here. It is gone now. Only the station and footers remain. Donghu Park would be the last park I would visit. Donhu means East Lake. There are rides here too. There have one of these mouse coasters. Here is a shot from my ride on it. This will close out the TR.

I did go on the mouse coaster twice.

February 22, 2016: Kuishan Park in Shanwei, Guangdong I went to Kuishan Park in Shanwei on February 22. I found this park online recently and since I was going through Shanwei, I decided to stop and check this park out. The park has a very basic collection of rides. There is a mouse coaster here that has different layout from the other mouse coasters I have ridden. This one has a helix. Given that the ride had a different layout made this an interesting experience. It was a bit rough through the helix. Despite this, it is nice to see Chinese designers try something different. It is a step in the right direction. The coaster is called Jungle Flying Squirrel and it became coaster #988 for me. My travels today take me to Kuishan Park in Shanwei in Guangdong province. There is a nice lake here. There are also rides here. Here is the carousel shot for this park. It seems a wave swinger is in every Chinese park. There is a coaster here. It looks like a pretty common mouse coaster until you see the layout. This one has a helix. See. It has a different layout. It was an interesting ride.

A lot of Chinese made roller coasters that have shoulder harnesses also have seat belts that are wrapped around the harness for extra protection. I have also seen these on the fake top spin rides. Restraint failure does happen, but it is very rare. I have taken about 7500 rides on 995 different coasters and have experienced restraint failure on the coasters about four times in 7500 rides. It happened last year north of Beijing on a Golden Horse spinning coaster. I think on the fake top spin rides, the restraints lock all at one time. His opened and the others did not.

I am not being rude, I am just saying not to make a judgement based on what may be faulty info (these translators are not very reliable). This accident could have been: 1. rider error 2. ride op error due to carelessness or improper training 3. lack of maintenance 4. design flaw in the restrain system 5. other There are many small parks and thousands of rides here in China. Accidents are still rare here even if many of these rides are knockoffs. In regards to the restraints, shoulder harnesses are very effective at keeping people in and only small or over-sized riders could be come out of the seat because these restraints were designed for people of average body size. Once, at a park in Japan, a PTC wooden coaster car was on display. The car had been removed from the coaster and I decided to test the ratcheting restraint. It had individual restraints. I pulled it down (it was locked by a Japanese park employee) and then I tried to wiggle free. I simply couldn't. This says a lot about PTC's design. B&M, Arrow and Vekoma coaters use shoulder harnesses and many of them have seat belts that lock to the harness. I have seen these Top Spin copies (and on coaters) in China and they have seat belts as well that are sometimes pilled over the restraint to hold the restraint down.

If the shoulder harness was put down and locked, there is no way the man could have been standing. This is likely a lost in translation moment. Restraints, if used properly, prevent riders from standing. The only way he could be standing is if the ride op didn't lock the restraint or his particular restraint was faulty. In this case, the management of the park would have some degree of fault for the accident. Safety is a joint effort between park guests and park employees (from the management to the ride ops). The only way for a rider to be standing is for the ride op to leave the restraint unlocked or for the restraint to fail due to a lack of maintaining the ride. In short, if the restraint is working or used properly, it is impossible for a rider to stand. If ride op fails to push a restraint down far enough and a rider stands, both the park and rider are equally at fault. Let's wait and see what comes out in this before we make any judgement. A locked shoulder harness makes it impossible to stand unless the rider is of a size that enables them to slip out from under it. Even a simple lap bar that is pushed all the way down on a coaster will prevent a rider from standing. The rider may be innocent and the ride may have had some problem.

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