PoisonedPirate Posted June 24, 2008 Share Posted June 24, 2008 I am not sure but here is my original picture cropped. You can see the vehicle behind the tree. I am not sure if it was operating, but the ride was complete. I don't have any other pictures of it. It appears to be a ball, but I didn't really pay attention. Looks like Mickey Mouse ears lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packfanlv Posted June 24, 2008 Author Share Posted June 24, 2008 Hey you're right! It is a hidden Mickey. I guess they put more thought into the depressing feel of the park than I thought. It is all just theming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packfanlv Posted June 28, 2008 Author Share Posted June 28, 2008 Ok, so this thread doesn't seem to be capturing anyone's imagination anymore, since everyone has stopped commenting. I am finishing up the thread very soon with the last two parks I visited in Southeast Asia. Once this is done, look for a thread about my Chinese theme park visits starting up within a few days. I have already visited several parks in China and will continue to visit more! This will be great for you TPR China trippers. Ok, back to the trip report. The second to last park we visited in Southeast Asia was Pattaya Park Funny Land. Pattaya is a beach town located about an hour Southeast of Bangkok. It is known more for its "adult activities" than anything else. All around town one can witness old men walking around with drop dead gorgeous Thai women. There are also quite a few resorts in Pattaya. At the Pattaya Park Beach Resort they have a small theme park, water park and an observation tower. I begin the trip report now! With that, I had all I could take for the day so we headed back along the beach towards our hotel! But after I watched a few people go, I finally found the courage. Initially I got all harnessed up and stood out on the ledge, but let my fear of heights get the best of me. After the coaster the only thing I had left to do was zipline off of the 58 story tower. Jasmine chickened out and Shawn Reece was too short. It is more of a nice pool area than waterpark. Moving on, this is the only slide tower at their so called waterpark. But at least for $7 USD they gave me a second go around on it. The ride was pretty rough. Whew! Then you bank back and forth left to right before hitting a few bunny hills on the way back. Then you go over a few hills overlooking the water park. The ride starts with you ascending a spiral lift hill. It is unknown who built Slalom Coaster. I do believe it is the same company that built the SBNO at Pattaya Park and the two SBNO coasters at Wonder World Fun Park in Bangkok. Notice the paint color on all four rides. The Slalom Coaster is the park's main attraction. It isn't very exciting. The park doesn't sell unlimited rides. They have a thrill ride ticket which includes the Tower, pirate ship & roller coaster for 300 baht (~$10USD) or you can just ride the coaster for 200 baht. I opted to just ride the coaster. And some of them were more thrilling. Some of them were kiddy rides. The park has a small collection of flat rides. Moving on from there we passed the monorail and moved to the main section of this little park. Turn it on and I'll give it a ride! The station doesn't look as good as the coaster. It looks like the idea was to go straight up and then back down. Similar to Superman The Escape or Tower of Terror at Dreamworld, but about 1/5th the height. We also got closer to the infamous SBNO, coaster that probably never operated. As we got closer we saw people zip lining off of the tower. So we go to family friendly places like this. But we are traveling with a child so we do our best to avoid these places. I am sure one could get easily lost in sin here. Welcome to Pattaya! Home to seedy hotels and as many women as you can afford! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 That zipline is the coolest/scariest thing I've ever seen. Cool pictures of some rare parks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParkTrips Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 um.. yeah.. but I would totally do it if you did Joey... I'm sure you'd make one hell of a jew noise on that one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbesx2 Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 Thai food is my favorite food in the world and I haven't been able to get any for 2 months now! I envy you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnguy Posted June 28, 2008 Share Posted June 28, 2008 Thai food is indeed awesome. The zipline looks really cool. I'm glad you got over your fear, and did it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packfanlv Posted June 29, 2008 Author Share Posted June 29, 2008 ^I am in China right now and definitely miss the spice of Thai food. Thanks for the comments. The zip line was a lot of fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nursemelis374 Posted June 29, 2008 Share Posted June 29, 2008 I am still reading! That zipline is awesome. After doing one in Jamaica I want to become a Zipline enthusiast. Love the report!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packfanlv Posted July 1, 2008 Author Share Posted July 1, 2008 I now close out the Southeast Asian parks for this thread. I am considering whether to start a new thread for the Chinese parks I visit. What do you think? Well onto the final park. Siam Park City is the second largest theme park in Bangkok behind Dream World. The park is undergoing major renovations, as they have added two new coasters in the past year along with quite a few other rides. Many of you may remember this as being the park with the log flume that killed someone last year. That ride is now gone. Parts of the park are run down and in bad shape, but the newer parts seem to be pretty well done. This gives me hope that they will eventually redo everything. Ok, on with the pictures. I hope you enjoy! On a side note: DubaiDave also did a TR recently on his thread about this park if you want more pictures! Oh and did I mention that I finally got 200! Thanks for taking the time to read this TR. The China parks are coming soon! I know some TPRers that would love to get their ****s on these oversized statues. Look mom, no hands! Caged monkeys Area between the theme park and water park. Signage! This flat is also new and is heavily advertised around the park. Not too bad. Now I leave you with some random shots from around the park. They also have a large wave pool, but that was it so we spent about an hour swimming before heading back to the park for some rerides. The other ancient slide tower had four slides, but only two were open. The water park only had two slide towers. Those speed slides in the background were SCAAAAAAAAAAARY! Next up we decided to put on our trunks and head over to the included "water park". and primeval boobies. (But it still sucks!) It has dinosaurs... They use real jeeps during the ride. Ok, we actually went to their Jurassic Park jeep ride. Next up, bombed out train tracks the ride! Goodbye log flume of doom. Hello new ride. After riding Vortex we made our way up to the observation tower to take a few photos. I had to add the 200 back in on the computer because the sun canceled out my makeshift sign. After five go arounds I did have a headache! Pretty good ride, but it is still an SLC. This is by far the smoothest SLC I have been on. It is incredibly intense though. Off to go ride #200! Of course by this time I was dying to get to the second coaster Vortex. You see, Boomerang was my 199th credit, which means Vortex was 200! Their new drop tower is also in the area. (I love taking this shot of drop towers for some reason!) Nearby we see the former site of the log flume of doom. A new attraction looks to be heading there soon. Oh yeah and there is also this ride which basically just bumps you up and down like hydraulics on a car. There were a lot of Thai school girls in their uniforms with short skirts on. They had to hold their skirts tight as to not give any of the guys peep shows! Yay we are upside down! But they also have the hamster wheel flat ride! And this simulator ride which ends when your spaceship crashes and you die! There is the Spaceship ride. From there we moved into this large covered area with a bunch of small flat rides. It sits in one of the scruffier sections of the park. Unfortunately the ride has been closed ever since they installed the two new coasters. Following this we spotted the park's old shuttle loop coaster so we headed over to investigate. This is pretty much your standard Boomerang. Turn right at the carousel and you come to the first of the park's two new coasters, Boomerang! The double decker carousel is the main draw of the entrance plaza. One unique thing about this park is they have a bathroom reserved specifically for ACErs. Once away from the roof, the nice architecture continues. Inside the entrance a "main street" awaits. The attractive building exteriors are sort of covered up by the large roof over the area. Finally we reach the entrance which is quite large and impressive! Apart from the rides the parking lot area looks a bit scruffy. The log flume of doom also seems to be here, but I think it is headed for the dumpster. Arriving in the parking lot several rides are just sitting around waiting to be assembled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoisonedPirate Posted July 1, 2008 Share Posted July 1, 2008 That park is really weird... one moment its all shiny new and pretty and the next all overgrown and old. It looked really empty apart from the one flat ride with the school girls lol! How many people were there that day? The water slides of death look really steep - do you go down them on your front?! Man that would be intense! I say put the china ones on here but its up to you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dino Posted July 3, 2008 Share Posted July 3, 2008 Fun updates. The centerless ferris wheel at Wonder World Fun Park seems pretty cool and unique. I like how the coaster travels throught the center of it even if it never did operate (whats up with that?). Plus the "self-powered train ride" looked like alot of fun, haha. As for the zipline, it looks like so much fun, but I would probably be at the top of the tower for about an hour or two before I could work up the courage to actually do it. Oh and I hope they build "bombed out train tracks the ride" over here someday . *sits awaiting china updates in this or another thread* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packfanlv Posted July 6, 2008 Author Share Posted July 6, 2008 Here is my first update from China. This update is of my visit to Ocean Park in Hong Kong about two weeks ago. It was rainy on and off all day and to be honest Ocean Park really failed to impress me. Even with the lackluster rides and shows, as Robb has said here before, it has probably the finest setting of any theme park I have been to. I hope you enjoy the update. (Please forgive the picture quality as the weather in this region is not very good right now!) (I also want to note that one of my camera's memory cards failed while at Ocean Park and I lost quite a few photos. I still believe I have enough to show the park and there are plenty of other trip reports from Ocean Park on TPR!) I will also throw a couple of photos of Fisherman's Wharf in Macau in at the end of the update along with a few sights from around Macau. The roller coaster at Fisherman's Wharf appears to be now gone, so it probably doesn't warrant its own update. As always keep the comments and feedback coming. I have been to 9 parks so far in China (4 Big & 5 small) and probably will visit 5-6 more before it is all said and done, so there will be quite a few more updates in the future. Enjoy! I hope you enjoyed the update. But the real reason to visit Macau is the Portugese architecture. The final Las Vegas namesake casino is the MGM Grand Macau. Inside the shopping area the Wynn Macau. The tower looks just like its Las Vegas counterpart, only it is about one fifth the size. They also have the Wynn in Macau. Out front is a nice water and fire show. Venetian at night. The resort itself is similar to Las Vegas and yes it has gondola rides and canals. Building going on across the street from the Venetian The Venetian is on a new area of Macau called the Cotai Strip. In the next few years several new resorts will be built there. And you can see the massive Sands casino in the background. Since we have so many Las Vegas fans on this board I will post a few pictures of the Las Vegas style casinos in Macau. You can climb the volcano though and get good views. You can see a lot of the architecture of Fisherman's Wharf in the background. There also used to be a coaster here. It was inside of this volcano along with a raft ride. When we visited all signs referring to the coaster had been taken down and the volcano was closed. According to RCDB there was an accident on the coaster in 2007 and it has been SBNO since then. On the way out I spotted people going into the urban warfare area. I was a bit jealous. After that we got our equipment on and shot the pellet guns. They even have a picture of Osama painted on the wall. Once inside the entrance a man dressed in military garb takes you down a long corridor. Originally we thought that we were getting to do the street simulation, but it turns out we only bought the shooting range. It has a few kiddie rides, but the draw for us was the military training range. On one side of the area they also have a small theme park with children's ride. It is themed to the middle east. Finally I bring you a few pictures of Fisherman's Wharf in Macau. Fisherman's Wharf is a large shopping mall built over the water. It houses several different themed districts with architecture from around the world. This is a replica of the Roman colisseum. Ocean Park was fun, but speaking from the future I don't see how the locals prefer it to Hong Kong Disneyland! A view of the construction in the back of the park from above. The mine train coaster and backdrop. And then we headed up to the sky tower to take some photos of the park. It was almost time for the park to close, so we headed to the second aquarium in the back of the park. This one houses all shapes and sizes of jellyfish. A picture of the tunnel emerging at the construction site in the back of the park. Just as we were about to head back on the cable car, we noticed this large tunnel that is being built. When we got to the back of the park, it took a while, but we found that it indeed does go through the entire mountain. I wonder if they are building a train from the front to the back of the park. While I preferred the Toto The Loco train that goes by musical clowns ride. Shawn Reece's favorite part was the rock climbing wall. They also have a kids section called Kids World. It is bright and colorful like Wiggle's World. Part of the construction will also bring more Panda fun to the front of the park. They have four pandas, but only two were on display when we visited. Besides the giant balloon, the main draw in the front is the new Panda exhibit. The line was an hour long to go on the balloon, so we just settled for these photo ops instead. Concept art for the new areas in the front of the park. The front looks like it will double in size when the construction finishes. (Also note the aerial balloon) Descending into the front of the park we saw even more construction. This ride could be an attraction onto itself. After the show we decided to catch the cable car to the front of the park. The locals did seem to like it, so that is all that matters! The show was average, but we still had the spectacular view! Before getting on the cable car to the front we decided to watch their dolphin show. They even had a preshow with an all white band! Hey we found Nemo! They also have a couple of aquariums in the back of the park. After making our circles on the rides we did what any good American in Hong Kong would do. We ate lunch at McDonalds! And they also have a pirate ship. View from the Condor ride. Take that Big Mike! We also enjoyed the condor ride. All of their flats seem to be designed to help you enjoy the wonderful view. Between rain we also managed to get on the drop tower. At this point in the day we often had to duck under cover to avoid brief rain showers. While we were on the swings it started to pour. Going around the swings in the rain is sure to get you soaked. (The pictures died along with the memory card!) Yes that's right, it was painful! The ride itself was typical for an Arrow Looper. The trains are colorful. Our first stop here was Dragon, the park's second coaster. After checking out the construction it was time to head to the main rides area. They are also building a large warehouse style structure near this area of the park. Another view of the construction. The concept art for the new area shows a giant ferris wheel, disk-o, giant frisbee and a coaster among other things. They are still busy cutting into the mountain so this should still take a while. We also got our first view of the park's main expansion. They are spending a ton of money over the next 5 years to double the park's attractions. After riding the mine train twice we headed up more escalators to the Pacific Pier region of the park. This is the home to their sea lions. The helix. I pretty much agree with everything that has been said about this ride. The view was incredible, but the ride itself was disappointing. Here is the view while going up the lift hill. The ride has a stunning setting on a cliff overlooking the water. After passing the log ride and a small flat, the next ride you come to is the Wild West Mine Train. From the back entrance you ascend on escalator the ride up to the park. It contains four very long and slow escalators. A park map. We actually entered the park from the larger back section since that is where the bus dropped us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miniviews Posted July 6, 2008 Share Posted July 6, 2008 Great update on Hong Kong & Macau! I'm looking forward to Ocean Park for the scenic landscape myself. At least rain did not defer rides from running. A friend of mine, Chinese gal with family in Hong Kong, highly recommends Ocean Park. For some reason there's a preferred gravitation pull toward Ocean Park compared to Disneyland for the locals. The TPR China folks may have to explore Macau even though there's no credit. The war game at the Fisherman's Wharf looks fun, yet I'm pretty sure we are all drawn to the casinos and extreme activities at Macau Tower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packfanlv Posted July 7, 2008 Author Share Posted July 7, 2008 Great update on Hong Kong & Macau! I'm looking forward to Ocean Park for the scenic landscape myself. At least rain did not defer rides from running. A friend of mine, Chinese gal with family in Hong Kong, highly recommends Ocean Park. For some reason there's a preferred gravitation pull toward Ocean Park compared to Disneyland for the locals. The TPR China folks may have to explore Macau even though there's no credit. The war game at the Fisherman's Wharf looks fun, yet I'm pretty sure we are all drawn to the casinos and extreme activities at Macau Tower. Yah we never made it over to the tower because we ran out of time. I know they have bungee jumping there, but am not sure what else. Macau is a lot of fun and we enjoyed simply walking the streets. Thanks for the nice comment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dino Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Cool update. I liked the vegas style area, seems cool how they're trying to make their own "strip". Alot of the architecture in the area seems really nice. The Military training range seems pretty crazy/cool with the shooting range. I don't quite understand the urban warfare area though, is that like a paintballing type experience? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Johnson Posted July 8, 2008 Share Posted July 8, 2008 Keep these coming, I totally love these updates! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packfanlv Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 ^It looked like they were shooting at targets made to look like men, although I never gave it much thought and really didn't see their equipment that well. I assumed that they had a bebe gun like us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packfanlv Posted July 10, 2008 Author Share Posted July 10, 2008 I really don't understand why anyone bashes Hong Kong Disneyland. Yes it is a bit small, but the park is definitely Disney and is a lot of fun. Admittedly I am a big Disney fan, but I don't think that clouds my judgment too much. After visiting, I honestly don't see how the locals could favor Ocean Park to Disneyland. In this TR I will just post random photos since most everyone on the boards has seen this park before. I will also post some photos of the construction going on in Adventureland that is rumored to be the Haunted Mansion and of course It's A Small World. We visited the park on June 20, 2008. Enjoy! I am not feeling too well and don't feel like sorting through all of the photos. If you want more, I have updated over 200 photos onto Flickr sorted by their location. Here is the link. http://www.flickr.com/photos/familyrtw/collections/72157605878888765/ Thanks for reading! The area they have for construction is enormous. I'll close with the Adventureland construction. As you can see they have built a railway bridge. We really enjoyed HK Disneyland, but I am getting tired of sorting through my photos. This year they have added The Muppet Mobile Labs, Animation Academy, High School Musical, Turtle Talk With Crush and Its A Small World. Not bad! The Golden Mickeys show is Fantasyland is also a lot of fun. Bush Lightyear is similar to the Disneyland version as well. Adventureland is very lush. Looking down Main Street. *sigh* I can't wait to get to Tokyo for their Pooh ride. I took way too many pictures and find myself having a hard time sorting through them to do this update so here they come in random order. This is Autopia from the train. The king. The jungle cruise dock. Now off to Adventureland. The Festival of The Lion King is in HK is better than its counterpart in the US. Those umbrellas now come in handy to block out the water from the Water Works Parade. High School Musical has landed here as well. See, I told you! Jasmine loves the Mexico scene. She loves to see her former country represented and the Three Caballeros are soooooooooooooo cute! It's Pinocchio! A classic has arrived! This is my favorite version of Space Mountain. At least they used more than star effects in HK. I don't know why they didn't use the same effects in California. Tomorrowland is quite small here, but laid out in a convenient way. They have shows in 3 different languages throughout the day. Since there were only three other kids at the English show Shawn Reece actually got to talk to Crush. It was a dream come true for him, since it his many other visits to this attraction in other places he has never gotten the opportunity. I believe this version uses the former portable submarine vehicle used in various parks. Turtle Talk With Crush is new this year and looks like it was thrown in at the end of Main Street. A TPR tradition! I just couldn't resist. The castle also looks small. Boo for the Fire Department being used for stroller rental. Where is the fire truck that I fell off of when I was a kid at Disneyland? This Main Street looks almost identical to Disneyland's. Now that is pretty. The Disney photopass photographer took this. I am not too impressed. Get your umbrellas ready it a sunny day and the park is about to open! Oh & I forgot the fountain. It is much cooler in person that in the pictures. The railroad was only running from Fantasyland to Main Street because of the construction going on in Adventureland. Ticket booths Welcome to Hong Kong Disneyland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mechanic Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 A few posts back you mentioned that the thread wasn't getting many comments. I'd just like to say that I've enjoyed your TRs here, and the more in-depth stories of your travels on your website. You're doing something that many of us will only dream of doing. I guess what I like most is that you're doing it in a very down-to-earth way and I appreciate that you're sharing it with all of us. The best of luck in all your travels. Stay safe and enjoy yourselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCFreak Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Awesome, Awesome, Awesome! I love the pics from Maccau and HKDL!! Definitely two of the places I need to see before I die. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arrowfanman Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Yes!...I've been reading your thread regularly and must say that I'm enjoying every bit of it! -Jahan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jew Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 This thread has got me even more excited for the TPR China trip! Great updates! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Thriller Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 Are the shows in English? How English friendly is that park? Great updates, I love all these unique parks... --James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoisonedPirate Posted July 10, 2008 Share Posted July 10, 2008 OMG BEEEEEEAKER!!!! I LOVE THE MUPPETS! Okay now thats over I can get to the sensible comments lol! That Ferris Wheel on the design sign in Ocean Park looks like its going to be right on the edge. Or is it already there and they are building around it? Either way the view will be spectacular! Also when you said Crush spoke to your son does that mean a man in a suit or was it CGI? I'm aiming to get to HKDL next year but it all depends on cash (I'm moving out this year - scary!) is it really expensive or the same as all Disney parks? And do they have cheap hotels on par with Santa Fe in Paris rather than the big pink castle? Loving your updates! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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