Going to Happy Valley Shenzhen, need some advice

[JDo217]

So I'm in Hong Kong right now and planning to take a train to Shenzhen. I'm going with a group of classmates and we're probably going to spend a night there.

 

Now I've heard some pretty nasty things about Happy Valley operations. Is this a full-day endeavour? We're not looking to spend the entire day re-riding stuff and are probably just going to ride everything once then leave. Should we get there right at opening or does it not really matter? How would the crowds be on a Saturday? I know many Hong Kong and Chinese don't have off Saturdays so Sundays everything everywhere is much more crowded

[robbalvey]

Yes, get there before opening. Get tickets as early as you can to get to the front of the line entering the park. They do this "staggered opening" of rides, meaning that one ride will open at 9:00am, then the next at 9:30, then the next at 10:00, and so on.

 

The crowd basically goes from one ride to the next. If you are in the BACK of the line, you could have a 30-45 minute wait in front of you for each ride. If you're in the front of the line, you'll walk on to most stuff without much wait.

 

Lines don't seem to get much shorter as the day goes on.

 

This is how it was for us at least on our last visit.

 

--Robb

[JDo217]

Thanks

 

And does anyone know if the Bullet Coaster is open yet? I know rcdb says it's under construction but I'm assuming that the news for many of the Asian parks is outdated.

 

edit: also, I was planning to bring my dslr and take some shots of the park. Do they have lockers or should I pack lightly? When TPR visited, did you guys stay in a hotel or were you just passing through? Any recommendations for hotels in the area? Some of our group speaks putonghua so language won't be an issue

[Fry]

I'd certainly say get there as early as you can, because the operations are horrible. It wasn't even busy when we went last month, but, we still had to queue two hours for the SLC because the operations were so bad. We got caught out by arriving quite late, and were lucky to get on the credits before closing, but, we did what Robb suggested at the Beijing park, and it worked out really well. I'm not sure how busy it'll be when you go, I think we hit it during school holidays, but, I would avoid a weekend if you can. Especially Sundays!

 

I wouldn't count on Bullet Coaster being open, but, about three weeks ago some guys from S&S were there working on it. They were having to re-do a lot of it, but, I don't know how far along they were when we were there... Basically, don't count on it, you might get lucky but it will have only just opened if it is open!

[SharkTums]

I don't remember the name of the hotel we stayed in, but it was very nice and right near the main train station. However, if you left the hotel you were pretty much solicited for something illegal the second you stepped foot on the street. The city was the only place we felt 'uncomfortable' the whole time in China. You could just tell it was a bit more seedy and transient than the other big cities.

[The Angry Darren Mullins]

The SLC will open at noon and the other coasters will open when the park does-at least this is how is was on my last visit. I think the hotel near the train station that SharkTums mentioned may be the Shangri La. It is expensive. Home Inn offers a good deal on rooms and there are several of these in Shenzhen.

 

I was just in Shenzhen this past weekend and while I can see some validity to SharkTums comments on the city, I would like to share an experience I had there this past Saturday night. I went with two friends to a karaoke place and while I was there, MP3 player fell out of my pocket. I walked out not knowing this. I went out of the building crossed the street and someone tapped me on my shoulder. I turned around to see a worker from the karaoke place holding my MP3 player. He followed me to make sure I got it back. I also remember meeting some very cool people (other guests) at the parks there who were very helpful.

 

Lastly, I remember being popular with the ladies as they all were wanting to do something with me-see the comment about being solicited for something illegal.

 

Bullet Coaster is being advertised on commercials, but I am very certain it isn't open yet. Enjoy Happy Valley's one train operation on each coaster.

[JDo217]

Haha, I haven't found HK/China to be dangerous. I've never been to Shenzhen but I've been to some of the "sketchier places" in HK and it was pretty amusing. My friend took me to Sham Shui Po and you could buy some ridiculous things there - military equipment, military-grade surveillance systems, signal jammers...

 

My friend was booking the hotels and mentioned City Inn. But I'll check out Home Inn and Shangri-la too. City Inn was nice since it came out to ~40 USD/room which was pretty good for us since we still have big places to travel to.

 

Also, on the subject of Asia, I have a slightly off-topic/disgusting/hilarious story from Macau. I had some weird milk tea dessert drink and I guess my body reacted pretty badly to it because I got incredibly nauseous/upset stomach from it. We were at the Ruins of St. Paul so there was only one public bathroom. The stalls were squatty potties without toilet paper (this is definitely not the norm in HK). I had these applewood-scented handkerchiefs with me... anyway, the floor of the stall was sopping wet with what I hope was water. I spent two miserable hours there and at the end, I guess I lost my footing. I landed asscheek first into the squatty potty