Photo TR : 6/11/08 Gorky Park, Moscow and much more

[Groteslurf]

Last week, not even a week had passed since I returned from our 14 days Usa coastertrip, they asked me at work whether I was prepared to attend a meeting somewhere near Moscow.

As all flights for returning on Wednesday were full, I would only return on Thursday meaning I would have a full day to explore Moscow. So I said yes and my visa was arranged by speed procedure, hotels were booked and flights were booked.

 

Below my Moscow story.

Picture point.

 

Part 2 to follow

Paris ? Kings Island ? Kings Dominion ? No Gorky park.

Kiddie fly flat ride.

Kiddie train

BEER !

Midway

Sbno

Break dance.

Very popular to watch aswell.

Full ride.

Next attraction.

Russians love coasters. This was the first line I saw in the park

I have a request to Mr Coasterfanatics : can you please add the Gorky Park coasters on your site ? I want those credits on my account badly

My first credit of the day.

A themed restaurant.

Russians must love to shoot, as there were about 7 or 8 shooting attractions.

Isn't that the strangest thing you've ever seen ?

Another simulator.

No rule bumpcars.

Gorky Park midway.

Karting track.

Bumpboats.

It looks old. Probably because it is old.

More theming.

Food and drinkstalls.

Swinging flatride with palmtree theming.

Ferriswheel.

Isn't that nice ?

At the other side of the park, you have a view on the Moskva river.

Time to forget the toilets.

The toilets in the park. Unfortunately I had to do nr 1 and I had a close encounter with the dirtiest toilet I've ever seen, by FAR ! For nr 2, you could get some old newspaper sheets from the toilet lady. Yes really ! The lady was nice enough to offer me a wet paper to clean my hands but I had icky hands the rest of the afternoon.

Also sbno.

As said it's a nice place to be.

The train was still on the track though.

Another Sbno coaster.

You had to pay per attraction in the park so I didn't do all rides. No idea what this attraction was but it didn't really look inviting.

Sbno ? No way, they were still in operation.

Simulator attraction. Doesn't that look nice ?

BEER !! (hey Hans )

Wheelchairs need to go on tracks like that on all stairs in Moscow.

It's quite a nice park.

First attraction : electric cars.

Souvenir shop.

Entrance to Gorky Park costed 80 Rub, being approx 3 usd.

Entrance to Gorky Park.

Quick shot of a statue I noticed to the left.

But the coaster next to it was running

Ah, a looping coaster, Sbno it turned out later.

Yes !!!

My first mission was Gorky Park. It was a 30 minutes walk before I arrived at this bridge. Behind this bridge, I should find back Gorky Park.

At 2 pm I was on my own again and finally had time to explore Moscow. But first a word about the traffic lights. While light is still red, drivers start proceeding already on the crossroad. Don't ask me why because once the light pops to green, they are not able to see the green light anymore and they slow down everything. Anyway, this is common use in Moscow and can be seen at every traffic light.

Where in the world don't they have Heineken.

Six Flags, euh I mean Ikea.

Next morning we concluded the meeting and contract with the client so it was time to head back to Moscow. As you can see, highways only have a line in between with the opposite traffic. And this at +100 mph speeds. Crazy, just crazy.

Nearly dark.

When I saw this one, I knew it wouldn't be a good idea to propose a Blair Witch project night walk to my colleagues.

Soccer on tv and stuffed animals.

The resort used to be visited by the russian presidents in the past when they went hunting. In the lounge of the restaurant you could find back some of the animals they've shot. (at the wall. The 2 in the front are my Russian colleagues)

Thanks to my racepilot colleague, we arrived at the agreed time for the meeting. Meeting passed on well but would be continued on Wednesday morning. So we stayed in a beautiful hotel nearby. This was the view on the Volga river from my roomterrace.

Another McDonaldski.

One of the better house along the road.

My colleague turned out to be a racechampion 20 years ago (no joke) and as we got delayed by getting out of Moscow, he speeded up once out of the city to be in time for the meeting. Here he was just going to race through those 2 trucks. He went on zigzagging through traffic at speeds of approx 100 mph and more, while speedlimit was at points only 40 mph. We also 'took' some trucks by driving over the shoulder of the road. Crazy ? For sure but most of the drivers in Russia seem to have been racepilots in a previous life. Really, everybody was driving this way.

McDonaldski.

A lot of cars look like this. Also, approx 10 % of the cars still has their spike tyres on from last winter.

Clear again.

Yes, donkeys !

A lot is being built in Moscow.

Next morning it was time to go to the client with 2 russian colleagues of mine. As the meeting was some 100 miles north of Moscow, I had time to shoot some pics from the car. We were not even driving 2 minutes before I saw this car parked on the right lane of the road. It was no exception at all. I saw hundreds of those.

I was tired so decided to eat in the hotel at the panorama bar on the 23th floor. Similar views as from my room.

Clear. No problem

The ministry of foreign affairs is in this building next to where my hotel was. Very convenient I thought to orientate myself to find back my way to the hotel. Later I found out that Stalin has built 7 of those more or less identical buildings in Moscow.

The traffic in front of the hotel. This went on day and night. Moscow has by far the craziest drivers I've ever seen. But much more about that later.

My room was on the 19th floor, so the view was pretty nice.

Enough stuff to shower 8 times.

The bathroom. There was an additional toilet + bathroom and hall of which I didn't take pics.

The sleeping room.

Only at 5 pm I arrived at my hotel in the centre of Moscow. They've put me in a junior suite so I had more than space enough in my room. Here the living room.

I love to be in those lounges : free food, drinks, internet, newspapers in a relaxed atmosphere.

Monday morning I was already early at Brussels airport. Since I had business class tickets, I had access to the lounge.

[Groteslurf]

Part 2

Thanks for reading.

Moscow airport lounge : here I am.

Traffic as usual.

After a good sleep, time to fly back.

There's the 3rd one I've seen.

The building next to the hotel.

But first had to cross the street again. Now that I knew how it worked, it was easy.

Aaah found my hotel.

How could I know that there was a McDonaldski nearby ?

Decided to eat at a familiar place this time.

I took this street on my way to the hotel. This was a very nice place. No cars, a lot of shops & artists. This must be the Ramblas of Moscow.

Movie theathre. Kungfu Panda was out already.

Mission accomplished.

After 10 minutes I figured out that I enter this and make use of the premetro to cross the street.

Ok, now find my way back to the hotel. First problem : how the hell do I cross this street ? As far as I could see, no traffic lights. Mmmh ? Doesn't anybody at my side of the street has to be at the other side ?

Kremlin entrace which was closed already (it was 7 pm in the meanwhile)

... sponsored by Japan.

The White House.

Walking round the Kremlin.

Stretch limo, sponsored by Japan.

Last shot of the castle.

A concert was scheduled for the evening. Don't know who. But it wasn't Iron Maiden because that was the 19 of June or July or August or ...

Fake wall. Yes Moscow is a themepark.

Kremlin entrance.

So it's a nice square. It's not red !

For those who thought my camera was travelling alone (Hi Beeja ), here I am.

Kremlin

One of the 7 buildings.

Other side of the river, sponsored by Japan again.

Red Square. Red means nice in Russian.

Kremlin

Nice view

Merging traffic.

More traffic jams.

I saw that before.

'Lock trees'. No idea what it stands for.

Nice view.

Cars parked in the middle of the road. Really, nobody was inside of those cars.

Clearly I ended up at the better part of the city.

Police is really everywhere but I think they're all blind policemen.

Look at the 2 cars going to the left in the middle of the street. The first one is a policecar. The second one some smartass rich guy linejumping the traffic jam.

Traffic jams everywhere in Moscow. My eyes and throat were hurting because of the heavy pollution at that time.

Luckily they don't translate the groupnames. So Iron Maiden is doing a concert in Moscow the 19th of one of these months.

After this had happened, I joined a group (running in the middle) to cross the street while light was still red. So after 3 days I already start to feel at home in Moscow traffic. And btw, the light was red for a long time already after all.

Another group starting to run.

Suddenly people start crossing the street. Cars are not slowing down one mile.

Pay attention to the following pics. So light is red to cross the street by foot. Huge amount of cars are passing in all directions at 30 mph.

Stalin statue, sponsored by Japan.

No problem. The ladydriver fixed it in 30 seconds.

Oops. One of the bars lost contact with electricity.

Only trolley busses in Moscow.

Dark ride. As I still had some things on the agenda, I left this small park after 10 minutes.

Maze

When exiting Gorky Park, I noticed there was another small themepark. So far, name unknown to me.

Six Flags again.

Credit 3. The operator didn't understand however that I wanted to ride and since we had a small language problem, I didn't bother and didn't ride it.

Small overview

Another Sbno

The looper a bit closer.

Back of the theming.

Info

Actually pretty good.

Next credit.

Waterrides are also popular.

Swingride.

There is even a wild park.

Occasionally a car drives through Gorky Park.

Another shooting attraction.

Even the Russian space shuttle has landed at Gorky Park.

I didn't dare to enter (I don't know what Russians mean with black holes )

Sbno

Giant parkmap

Or this one

Or this lady

Or Brad Pitt

You can be Jack Sparrow in Gorky Park.

The ride was ok too. Some nice effects inside.

Look at that. After all the old and basic rides, I really didn't expect something like this.

Patatski ! I didn't see that one coming.

[robbalvey]

I have a request to Mr Coasterfanatics : can you please add the Gorky Park coasters on your site ? I want those credits on my account badly

Well, I know we don't have coaster counting feature (yet), but I did add your update to our new parks index page!

 

http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/page.php?pageid=347

 

Great TR, BTW! It's always nice to see reports from parks like this.

 

--Robb

 

ps. Will we see you when we are in Belgium next week?

[Olsor]

Incredible TR, Groteslurf! You really captured the feel of the city. I feel like I've been there now.

 

I loved the billboards advertising the radio hosts (presumably), especially the one spoofing a James Bond poster. That, and the Fresh Step cat litter advertisement plastered all over the bus. We are so different, yet so similar.

[Meteornotes]

Excellent report. You are very brave for attempting some of those attractions. I loved the pictures of all the non-park stuff too. Thanks for posting!

 

dt

[ParkTrips]

Talk about places you don't hear from often! Fascinating, I was really expecting Moscow to be really run-down, and not to say that it wasn't (looks like you spent a lot of time in nice business districts), but its nice to see capitalism is working for some of the people there

[ginzo]

Great TR. Thanks for posting this!

[the ghost]

IRON MAIDEN ROCKS, btw those wheel chair ramps look insane, At DCA one of my friends had a broken ankle and was in a wheel chair, we were about to ride soarin and I was lazy and there was a small ramp like fifteen feet long and not too steep. My friend weighs about 20 more pounds than me and was heavy so i let go of the chair. ( I told him i was going to do so as the ride was at the bottom of the ramp) I swear he went like ten miles per hour down this tiny little ramp. It was crazy.

 

Nice pics BTW

[Erik Johnson]

Thanks for posting this, this was an awesome Photo: TR.

[Kennyweird]

I love TR's of little known, ghetto parks like Gorky. Thanks for sharing this, Groteslurf.

[printersdevil78]

That was awesome! Thanks, Groteslurf!

[TheRapidsNerd]

This is so awesome! And here's why:

 

I just researched this park a couple months ago and have always wondered what Moscow was like. Up to now, Gorky Park was a movie and a Russian metal band. Never knew there was an actual theme park of sorts.

 

There is also Iron Maiden, Lock Trees, and my favorite, McDonaldski.

 

Thank you and outstanding!

[lissa1986]

Great TR. Traffic there is really bad. That is so crazy. I wish I had the money to go to places like this. That hotel looked really nice too. All the rides looked so much fun especially the dark ride. I love Dark Rides

[KrakenKing]

Man, Moscow is crazy. I thought traffic here in Orlando was stupid... nothing can compare to that though.

 

Did you ride the Ferris Wheel, or was it SBNO? I don't think I would've ridden it even if it was working... well, maybe

 

Nice TR, some of the architecture over there is awesome, too.

 

- Mike "I would've peed in the bush before I stepped foot in those portopotties" Redig

[Groteslurf]

^ The Ferris Wheel was indeed not operating that day. Maybe it was because of the moderate to high winds that day, or maybe it was indeed another SBNO.

 

P.s. Thank you Mr Coasterfanatics for adding the park to the list !

[Nosferatu]

Very nice trip report. By the way, the "white house" wasn't sponsored by Japan. Samsung is from south korea

[Sir Reedith]

Blech!

 

Parks like that, that are beautiful in some parts, but then in other parts have SBNO, portable, carnival, dirty rides just plopped down in random spots give me the creeps.

 

Like Nara Dreamland!

NIGHTMARE!

[ChrisCrowder]

Wow that park is really random, but cool. Do you know the reason behind all the SBNO's? And in the subway, were those little shops running down the right hand side? Some parts of Moscow looked like you were going to get mugged in, but other parts looked ok, somewhere I have to visit one time.

 

Thanks for doing this TR, I enjoyed reading it!

 

----------------

Now playing: Muse - Thoughts Of A Dying Atheist

via FoxyTunes

[SLUSHIE]

Wow, I bet nobody in Russia drives a manual. It looks like automotive anarchy. I hardy see any lanes, and it doesn't look like there are any designated parking spaces.

[bobafett]

Great report and pics. My sister went to Russia on a school trip in her senior year of high school in 1988 when it was still a communist country. She said it was a great experience. She brought me back a Russian flag and some pins that the soldiers used to wear. She traded some stuff on the black market over there that she brought over with her like cigarettes, Levis jeans, cd's, a walkman, some clothes and other items. If she would have got caught with that stuff in her suitcase on the way home, I hate to think what would have happened to her. I still have the stuff too. I would love to visit Russia.

[stormrider]

LOL, those Japanese ads all over the place, even near buildings that have national importance... Gorky Park really does look like it is in a nicer area than it deserves That park looks like some of those Japanese parks except with people actually visiting it.

 

Moscow itself looks like it has the potential to be really nice if it weren't for the crazy drivers and all the pollution. But where you went for the meeting near the Volga river really contrasts with the grayness that's in Moscow.

[Guardian21]

looks like it was fun.

 

the parks look interesting, they don't look bad or scary, just different.

 

Like if Cedar Fair was smaller scale with a dash of carny feel.

[ctrdave]

I lived in Moscow for a couple of years back in 02-04. I got to visit Gorky Park once (that was enough for me) and here are just a few observations from the PTR:

 

The Iron Maiden concert is in August.

 

Red does not mean "pretty" in Russian, it means "red". However, both words sound the same. Red being pronounced "Kras-ni" and pretty being pronounced "Kra-si-vwi" in their genitive cases. It's easy to make a mistake as the Russian Vocabulary has 6 different cases.

 

I'm sure the McDonaldski pronunciation was a joke, because really- who can really tell? But the actual pronunciation of McDonalds in Russia is actually MAC-Donalds (and say it with your best Russian accent).

 

The looping roller coaster was running back in 2003 when I visited the park. The loop packs some nice G's.

 

Traffic was ridiculous then too. That's why most people take the metro (subway).

 

Great pictures. They brought back a lot of good and bad memories from the motherland. I will say that I'm glad to be back in the States though. Maybe I'll go back and visit in another twenty years.

 

"Molodyetz!" (Well Done) on a great trip report!

 

Dave

[hansrubens]

Wow that is a huge report. Well done.

 

You must be a very lucky man to do these business trips and combine them with a visit to a themepark.

 

 

btw. That bierbank don't seem very appealing to me.

[packfanlv]

Your description of crossing the street reminds me of Vietnam. Great TR. Thanks for posting!