Beijing: What to do Theme Park-Wise

[Tonality]

Maybe moving to Beijing with my wife and kids in about 6 months and one thing I haven't had a chance to research (because of bigger priorities, obviously) is what there is in terms of theme parks / water parks in the city and the nearby area (say within 1-2 hours or a bit more I guess).

 

Obviously Happy Valley Beijing but that's all I know really.

 

I see some Beijing parks mentioned in the index but what else is there that's fairly easy to reach? And how practical is it to get to Hong Kong for Disneyland/Ocean Park? And Shenzhen?

 

Also, how much is admission and what about annual passes? How much are they? HVB I'd definitely buy an annual pass to!

 

Any links would be appreciated too.

 

Also: this is off-topic but are Western movies screened with Chinese subtitles or do they get dubbed with English subtitles? And what about video game/handheld/console releases compared to the rest of the world?

 

Thanks guys. I know this is asking a lot from a first post but i'll happily share my own tips and trip reports etc once i get over there.

[MayTheGForceBeWithYou]

There's a few parks in Beijing, but they can get pretty ghetto. Happy Valley is the main park in the city.

 

There's also an alpine slide/toboggan going down the Great Wall at Mutianyu that's pretty fun.

[Tonality]

Yep, have heard about the slide at the Great Wall - what a way to get some culture!

 

And how much for an annual pass? What about outside of Beijing and relatively nearby?

[packfanlv]

The great thing about China is that they have a lot of cheap airlines offering flights around the country and most of the major cities have shiny new airports. Shanghai is an overnight train away from Beijing and most other major cities can easily be reached by plane. When I was traveling around the country I used ctrip.com to book a few flights. (It is a Chinese travel site.) Also, if going down to Hong Kong, it is often cheaper to fly into Shenzhen and just cross the border via train. Elong.com is another good Chinese travel agent site! With all of the Happy Valleys opening this is a great time theme park wise in China. It really is a fantastic country!!!

[MayTheGForceBeWithYou]

Found Happy Valley's website. English option leads to a 404 error, so feel free to translate it.

 

http://bj.happyvalley.com.cn/space/axwslgs.shtml

[Tonality]

Mmm. Very hard to work out what the admission prices are.

 

What other parks and attractions are there?

 

And are Western movies shown in English with Chinese subtitles or the other way around?

 

Thanks.