OldJJman Posted September 23, 2008 Author Share Posted September 23, 2008 Day - 5 Flight to Guangzhou, Nanhu Amusement Park and a possible bonus park! Today we left the wonderful city, and experience, of Beijing. It was fascinating to be in a city/culture with such a rich sense of tradition and pride. Not to mention, such a centerpiece in world politics and the recent display of the Olympics. I truly enjoyed every bit of Beijing. Thanks again goes to Elissa for her wonderful timing of our trip, and her meticulous planning, that had plenty of flexibility and no flaws whatsoever. If you've never done a TPR trip, take it from a semi-experienced traveler, the woman has her act together, with pretty much EVERY contingency plan accounted for. Once underway, Robb leads everyone thru that plan. It has always worked. All I have to do is show up at the right time and have a great experience. (BTW - That's NOT a$$-kissing, it's the truth!) Let's let the rest of the day be told in the pics, OK? Enjoy! Our next stop: Nanhu Amusement Park. More pics soon. Nothing says quality restaurant, like an indoor bug zapper!! Of course, TPR's first order of business - FOOD!!! And, perhaps a bit busier! Of course, it was a bit warmer than expected! It was a ways down south! It wasn't exactly a trip to be taken by bus! ...and the inside. Both on the outside... The terminal at the Beijing airport was damn impressive itself! It was an early morning as we had to be on the bus at 5am. There was an opportunity to take some good pics of some interesting buildings on the way to the Beijing airport. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted September 23, 2008 Author Share Posted September 23, 2008 Day -5 continued... NOT a real space shuttle! You could tell by the Nanhu logo on the tail fin. Que sera sera. More pics soon. The grounds around the coaster were nicely landscaped. Damn, I look old! Rich looks a bit worried about this Arrow/Vekoma thing we were riding! (We all were!) That's Bob's head in front, and our 10x better than Frank tourguide, Yang! He had the greatest attitude, said "Chiner" and "Pisser". He was GREAT! Translated: "Crazy Coaster" Falling Star (with boobs, no close-ups. Sorry.) I think that the only people in the park besides us were the people on this boat. That's George, and a powered coaster. Ya know, you can take the whore out of the man, but you can't take the man out of the whore. (Damn, that's bad!) Our major credit was over the hills and far away, so some opted for something a little less... It that a real space shuttle? (Oh c'mon, you knew it was coming. Hi Chris!) Ooooo... Could it be??? The rusty themeing was top notch! The main street pavilion looked quite futuristic (for 1975!). You could buy proper wristbands according to the Mickey height checker. It had a pretty impressive entrance! Nanhu Amusement Park Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted September 23, 2008 Author Share Posted September 23, 2008 Day -5 Bonus Park! I just can't picture Rich driving one of these. Day - 5 final pics soon. It even had a nice small stadium. It was quite a nice park! They even had KT sized rides! Thru the trees! It had a pretty cool, unique (but brutal) layout! My guess is that this was some sort of mouse coaster. Uh....ok? Safety tip: Always, always, always.. Mind your sreps! ... and got the honorary first ride! George was right... Not to mention having the air force standing by. I always feel safer (in China) with a howitzer protecting me! Not that they appeared to need one! They even had their own police station. That's nice to know! George was convinced that somewhere in this city park was a coaster, so we gave it a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted September 23, 2008 Author Share Posted September 23, 2008 Day -5 Drive to the awesome Guangzhou White Swan hotel. So ended "Day -5" Day - 6 and Chimelong paradise coming soon. Thanks for looking! The storm blew thru, and it cleared up nicely. So here are some night shots from the hotel. Elissa sure knows how to pick 'em! Jade pagoda. Inside the hotel, it was pretty swanky! There was a BIG A$$ storm moving in! I'm a mailman. I needed the picture. Deal with it. I do have a certain appreciation for "Ming" vases now. Figures. I forgot to take pics of the outside of the hotel. But the buildings around the delta area were quite nice (and better at night!). Apparently, no credits here, so we passed on it. (Note to self: When taking a picture, make sure to avoid the "emergency exit" sign. No escape. Absolutely none! Yeah. Like we'd see lots of these on the streets of Guangzhou! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kamikazewatermelon Posted September 23, 2008 Share Posted September 23, 2008 Wow! That may be the single most themed park I've ever seen! shame they had horrible operations. Hey! this post used to be right after the happy vally update! What gives? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted October 9, 2008 Author Share Posted October 9, 2008 Back to normal now. So hopefully, I'll be more regular with the updates. This is "Day 6" when we went to Chimelong Paradise. Chimelong Paradise was a very nice park that reminded me of the Busch parks. Nicely landscaped, quite a few shows and a B&M Dive Coaster! As always, I took quite a few pictures. Let's see how this day went.... Next up was the "Dive Coaster" More pics shortly. Keep Smiling! Well, Bob and Ginny don't look too excited. Miles is just wearing his typical "hungover smile". OK. "Be a Brave Soldier", "Ride the High Speed Motorcycle" and "Fly Like an Eagle". WTF? Does it fly off the track or what? "Extremely Exciting?" Otay! Next up on the ERT schedule was the "Motorbike Launch Coaster". ... this one. Why am I so picked on? Elissa thought that this was the perfect shot for me. Until..... The original "Orgiastic Scream" This is one of the 10 inversions. If you know which one.... goody for you! Steve is busy trying to count the inversions. Unfortunately, he wasn't sober and didn't realize that most of them were behind him. Obligatory lift-hill shot. I really wouldn't think of leaving it behind! Typical Intamin trains. ERT on the aptly named "10 Inversion Coaster". Time for ERT, so in we go! Obligatory pic of the park map. The entrance to Chimelong Paradise. Cool Bridge. On the way to Chimelong, (through the fog) we could see what will be the world's tallest building, when it's completed in 2010. Before hitting the bus, Bob and I stocked up on necessities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted October 9, 2008 Author Share Posted October 9, 2008 More Pics... I found it odd, that in China (famous for taking credit for everyone else's originality) had this sign explaining how the "Immelman" came to be known. Random walkway picture. It just serves as a segway to the more pics coming later. Twister Coaster. Oh effen Joy. Rich held his ground and got the coveted front seat. Surprise, surprise. Look who's first in line for the kiddie coaster. Time to whore out the rest of the park. Yup. Half-Pipe. Whoop-de-do! "Puke Bags Available Upon Request!" Heading over to the "Half-Pipe" coaster. Proper translation: "Leave your crap here, and we'll steal it" KT is having a hard time getting out of the seat after her ride. The quickly approaching ground! Natasha looking at.... Two hot chicks, surrounded by the old and young Jeff's. The fairly simple station. Skimming across the water. Bottoming out on the first drop. Lift-hill shot. Pretty blue trains. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted October 9, 2008 Author Share Posted October 9, 2008 More pics... Final inversion of "10 Inversion Coaster" and final pic of this update. We tried to hit a bonus park this day, but we were rained out. Fortunately, we got it in the next day, which you'll see in the next update. Thanks for looking. Purrdy! Their Splash battle ride. This is the Aussie chick that was in the show. The set was pretty damn big! World's largest? Could be. It was pretty big. It was pretty much a rip-off of every Universal stunt show ever done, all in one show. Ask Joey for details. Just proving that diseases spreads quickly. The "Spread the Malaria" splashdown ride. Yet another double-decker carousel. This is the "Lucky Shot" of the trip! Guy, you're welcome!! Lumberjack shows are always better when they have cheerleaders!! We opted to check out the lumberjack show. Entrance to one of the show stadiums that featured white tigers, Tunnel for second drop. Second drop. First drop. Some random "Dive Coaster" shots. If you stand in front of this sign too long, you will get "dabbled". If "Dabbled" means "so wet that a frogs a$$ can't stay dry" they're probably right. Right Bob?? You gotta love their signs! Elissa!! That's right!! A junior inverted whip. Guess who has this as her favorite ride?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeemerBoy Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Thanks, Jeff. This continues to be an awesome thread. I think that building will actually still be some 600+ feet shorter than something they're currently building in Dubai, if memory serves me correctly. Still, a very impressive structure though. And is it just me, or do the following pics look like you're riding a full scale model of the Dive Machine? All it's missing is plastic figurines standing on the walkway. LOL. The ground just looks so fake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy T. Koepp Posted October 9, 2008 Share Posted October 9, 2008 Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRapidsNerd Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Another great set of updates. Lots of good moments you captured and more Dive Machine goodness. Awesome! Agreed, Natasha is a pretty lady...and well spoken for I see. Beemer: And is it just me, or do the following pics look like you're riding a full scale model of the Dive Machine? It's only a model.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkStitch626 Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Well honestly I love the pictures but one stood out. These statues look like they are throwing up lol. Its Sneeze no evil, Barf no evil and Heimlich no evil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted October 12, 2008 Author Share Posted October 12, 2008 Day 7 Today we visited Mysterious Island and Pearl Land. We even managed to make a return trip to The South China Mall for some bonus credits! Take a look! House of Booty!! More pics shortly. House of Booty? Passing thru various parts of the park on our way to "Skycar" It looked to be nicely taken care of. Lots of palm tress for those that like those sort of things. Mysterious Island. (Does this qualify for the department of redundancy department?) It was lightly raining when we got to... Island Boobs! On the way to Mysterious Island, we were subjected to some nice views and a single thunder cloud! Though having an airplane in the parking lot was a bit odd. There were quite a few nice hotels in the area. It was another wonderful place. Last night, Elissa put us up in the fabulous Zhuhai Harbor Hotel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted October 12, 2008 Author Share Posted October 12, 2008 ...continued Time to go explore the rest of the park. More soon. Why? Why? Why? Why? OH WHY? Oh. My. Fu*^$#*^@. GAWD! OUCH! Nice. ... repeat. Very boring, and quite painful! ... rinse ... Upside down. Up on top. Kind of a steep lift hill. It "looked" interesting. Next up was the death trap. (aka; Screaming Squirrel) Not too tall either. Coaster porn. Hi Derek! Zoom, zoom! Station and launch track. Cute little Intamin trains. First stop: the Intamin launched "Skycar" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted October 12, 2008 Author Share Posted October 12, 2008 ... continued. I leave you with the Robb fantasy statue! Pearl Land coming up later! Thanks for looking. Nice view. Virtual reality, or stupid senses. A couple more shots of Skycar. Steve, Rich and Miles on the flume. Overlooking the entrance plaza. A couple of things from IOA's makeover has already made it to China. TTTTT! (Topple Tower thru the trees.) The farther away we got from the Screaming Squirrel, the better it looked! Splashdown ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted October 12, 2008 Author Share Posted October 12, 2008 Our second park of the day, Pearl Land. OK. We're outta here. Next stop, the South China Mall. Pearl Land's signature fountain. What's shop? No pearl necklaces, no pearls. Just junk. But it did have a/c. This ride just screamed pain! Nothing spells excitement like a helix before the first drop. Whatever. Pretty aptly named! A long, stupid walk-thru, with ONE great gag at the end. They even let the frumpy little Jew ride without an adult! Meanwhile, Elissa's had another "orgiastic" experience! Leo looks like he's giving up. He's had enough. Or is it called ...??? Next up... Sign of quality. Challenger. No, not a Space Shuttle, but a Chinese frisbee rip-off. It had such a complex layout! Lift hill POV. Said Kiddy Coaster. Oooo! Kiddy coaster! It even had a second tunnel!! But, it did go on forever! And a tunnel! It actually had a pop of airtime! "The" had the latest in OTSR. I guess the name of this coaster is "The". Random steam engine. It looks like it was used for photo ops. Whatever. Wimpy, posing with some statue. Pearl Land was more like a city park, with rides randomly scattered about. Entrance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheRapidsNerd Posted October 12, 2008 Share Posted October 12, 2008 A couple of things from IOA's makeover has already made it to China. Awesome! TTTTT = Win! Yep, another great update. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted October 12, 2008 Author Share Posted October 12, 2008 After being rained out yesterday, we managed to make it back to the South China Mall. Trust me, Robb and Elissa continue to work their magic. Hooray for bonus credits!! One last look at the park at South China Mall. That was the end of this day and the end of this PTR. Next up: 3 parks in a day: Happy Valley Shenzhen, Honey Lake and Donghu. Thanks for reading! JJ At least one place in the world has an economy worse than the USA. Two double cheeseburgers, large fries and large coke, about $4.20 US. Yes, I counted this one too. Why - I'll even take POV for all of the TPR faithful!! I'm so "sad and pathetic" that I'll count this one. Credit or not? You decide. Some counted this as a credit. I didn't. Elissa gets to ride with the king of whoredom, Richard. It was a fairly descent, long ride. I couldn't help but laugh when a random Chinese girl jumped in with me! Credit whores ahoy!! The roller skater went outdoors as well. Flume ride. Obviously, a Confucius saying. One that I will never understand. Drop tower. It was kind of a nice indoor/outdoor park. At least there was a KFC and a Mickey D's, so we wouldn't starve! Even Godzilla was part of the sign for the South China Mall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted October 13, 2008 Author Share Posted October 13, 2008 Day 8 - Happy Valley Shenzhen, Honey Lake and Donghu Parks. Enough chit-chat. Enjoy the pictures. I imagine the only way Christopher Lloyd could be funny, would be in Chinese! More soon. I like how the side of a nearby apartment building, facing the park, was painted. Like HV Beijing, they had a stupid staggered opening policy! We saw quite a few closed rides on the way back to the mine train. Where do we go now? Great. More bugs. Park entrance. They were celebrating their 10th year of operation. While walking to the entrance, we saw a big-a$$ snail! Entrance plaza to Happy Valley Shenzhen. I think we need to be over a couple of lanes. On our way to Happy Valley Shenzhen. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? OK. So where are the trains? The largest train station in Shenzhen was right across the street. Our final night on the mainland was spent at the wonderful "Shenzhen Shangri-La hotel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted October 13, 2008 Author Share Posted October 13, 2008 Still at Happy Valley Shenzhen... I don't think that these goobers know. More soon. It's gotta be up there somewhere. Heaven's Crack. Otay Banky. Yummy! (Gag, ack, barf!) Due to the "KT swap", I got to ride with my favorite credit whoring partner! Artsy shot. Evidently, mine trains have a strange effect on Rob and Mike. EXCEPT "Hard Rock Park", which couldn't afford to theme theirs. Whatever. It's just like every other standard Vekoma mine train in the world... After all, we don't want to miss the obvious! A couple of signs for Chris. It's your standard Vekoma mine train. Aha! Found it! That's a bunch of bull! "Western" themeing. We had a way to go to get to the mine train. I did like the park's banners. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted October 13, 2008 Author Share Posted October 13, 2008 Still HV Shenzhen... Evidently, the ProgPower shows have been moved to China. More soon. Wandering thru the kiddy area. The two Leo's waiting their turn. As usual, Elissa is having an "orgiastic" experience! Carol, with Robb getting his POV. "Young" Jeff and Ginny on the spinning mouse. Your standard "Wacky Worm" on top of a building. First up was the Joey..I mean "Baby Coaster". LOOKY! Two more credits!! Another beautiful carousel. Shrubbery bugs. Oh effen joy. Evidently, this was the pick axe used to dig out "Heaven's Crack". Mailman. Post Office. Get it? Whatever. It may look nice, but it still sucks! It didn't help. So now, Elissa and I now know how to officially ride an SLC. Somehow, the others in front of us weren't subjected to the "How to Ride an SLC" training class. Only this one you put out the fire on a crashed plane. Yeah. While Elissa and I tried to catch up to the others at the SLC, we passed one of those "Fire Academy" attractions that you'd find at Legolands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 Yup. Still HV Shenzhen... Hey, I found it to be quite a photogenic park. Deal with it. I'll leave you with this shot of the SBNO "Over Water Roller Coaster" Coming up: Donghu Park Yes Chris, it's a real space shuttle! Surprisingly, the coaster was smooth and quite intense! I liked it a lot! Even I had plenty of legroom. I'll ride with a Jew. I'm not racist. Rich and Miles demonstrate the enormous leg room on the "Double Loop Roller Coaster". (I swear, Cedar Fair MUST have a Chinese division!) For a coaster that "supposedly" opened in 2006, the modern station themeing didn't really work. We decided to pass on the log flume. Apparently, the park had seen better days. Plastic wildlife. Next up for us was Honey Lake Park. Evidently, it has themed lands and model architecture from around the world. On our way to Honey Lake Park, we passed the other park in the area, Window of the World" (no coasters there). Leaving the park. Nothing says you had a good time like buying your child a machine gun from Happy Valley Shenzhen! They also had a very nice looking train. But, it was an upcharge attraction. The outdoor portion. Guarded by BUGS! The "Magic Castle" area of the park had both indoor (air conditioned!) and outdoor areas. Their splash battle ride. For Scott. This was actually a city monorail that went over to another park in the area, called "Window of the World". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldJJman Posted October 14, 2008 Author Share Posted October 14, 2008 Day 8 (still!) and Donghu Park. Donghu was a nice city park at the other end of Shenzhen. So the sun sets on the 8th day. Tonight we'd transfer over to Hong Kong, and those pictures will be up in a few days. Thanks for looking. JJ Bob may be smiling now, but in about 3 minutes, he ate it BIG TIME!! But, the absolute hit of the day was the ginormous alpine slide! They even had a powered coaster for the biggest credit whores! Though it did have the spinning mouse, and the Disk-O, it was mostly a children's park. We actually attracted a crowd. Our credit awaits! (Notice the cop is first in line. Again.) Evidently, Donghu was a peaceful place. Not the first overloaded bicycle we saw on the trip! Along the drive to Donghu, there were some cool buildings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisco Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 I'm bummed there isn't pictures of the accident. Still have a few scares and my ankle still hurts a little! Glad to see you did something useful on your day off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfne2005 Posted October 14, 2008 Share Posted October 14, 2008 The cop is first in line because he is smart....the capacity is horrible on those kiddies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts