TPR's 2012 China Trip!

[singemfrc]

I'm really enjoying all the love Vekoma is getting via the Chinese knock off SLC's

[robbalvey]

Today was an interesting day.... first we visited "Victory Kingdom" which is a brand new park! So new that I don't think there were any photos or reports online about it! Cool place...although it did have another Knock-Off SLC! lol

 

Then we visited to "city parks", the first being Tianjin Youth Center and then Langfang Children's Paradise for some credit whoring. Here's what happened....

 

Today we are at the new Victory Kingdom. Apparently Loch Ness Monster is here! Lol.

 

Oh, joy...another "Chinese Knock-Off SLC!" At least this one is a different layout!

 

They have an "In Somalia" area of the park that included a pirate themed ride and no food. Not making this up!!!

 

Park map! Yay! For some reason this park had a "Chinese Knock-Off Rainbow Magicland" feel to it...

 

"Please put your organisms in here!"

 

Apparently "Steamed Rice" is an attraction at Victory Kingdom! Lol.

 

Yes! We totally sound "Steamed Rice!"

 

Knock-Off SLC opens at 10am! GET EXCITED!!!!

 

Apparently, this part of the park is called "Passion Amusement Park." Yup....

 

Golden Horse Spinning Mouse...

 

Closed! Oh, well!

 

Chinese Knock-Off Top Spin Waikiki Wave thingy....

 

LOL! They have a "4D Market!" - Everything you buy comes flying at your face!

 

Apparently, some people count this as a credit! Go figure! lol!

 

Good luck to the ultimate sad and pathetic credit whores!!! (We love you, really!)

 

There they go!

 

Oooooh! Look at that yummy malaria lake water!

 

The split second before splashing down into malaria lake!

 

SKLOOOOOOOSH!!!!

 

"Hooray! We all have malaria!"

 

"Hello, TPR, I am the evil Chinese knock-off SLC...welcome to my world of hell and torture.... MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

 

Remember how the wheels say "Vekoma" on the real ones? Yeah...

 

Doesn't it look *JUST* like a real SLC? There so many of these Chinese Knock-Off Vekomas now.

 

Hooray! We survived! It wasn't the worst one...but it wasn't good!

 

Engrish!

 

Yay! Chinese knock-off giant Frisbee!

 

OMG! It's the "Arc of Victory!" I think? I guess???

 

"Barrels Equal Theming!"

 

This park was so new that not all of it is actually finished yet!

 

Not sure if this isn't done yet, or if the "Western Style Town" is supposed to be an empty ghost town!

 

I AM STOMACH KING!!!! (Actual name of the restaurant!)

 

Oh! Let's go check out this other roller coaster.

 

They are building some sort of a "Chinese Knock-Off Half-Pipe thing here...."

 

Oh...it's not open today. We were told it would be open next month.

 

I'm guessing this probably won't be open next month either?

 

So yeah....U-Shaped Roller Coaster! lol

 

Oh, yeah, CarsLand is here too! Screw you Radiator Springs Racer!!!!

 

Hey, it's JUST like being back on the TPR Italy Trip!

 

BREAKING NEWS!!!! Steamed Rice tastes like Steamed Rice in China...especially at a place called Steamed Rice!!!

 

I love this! The chopsticks come out of a straw dispenser and the straws are kept in a cup next to it! You know, it's the little things like this that make me chuckle!

 

I'm not sure what this is... But a lot of our people rode it... And didn't die! It's the small victories...

 

What do you think today's mystery meat is? (bonus points if you guess the sauce!)

 

"Music Virus" lol. I dunno why... I just found this amusing!

 

Plush poop, anyone?

 

Gelato in China is still milk and eggs, bitch!

 

WTF T-Shirts!!!!????

 

The "main street" area of the park. It looks nice, but I can't help to think that something looks a bit off... Can't figure out what, though...

 

Was a fun day at Victory Kingdom... Despite the knock-off SLC! The park was "interesting" in that it's kind of a "big, new park", but very different from the Happy Valley parks. Not exactly sure what this park will look like in ten years...if it will even still be here!

 

Next up, one of hundreds of small city parks that often have a kiddie coaster or a mouse ride...

 

Well, this one doesn't look too promising, does it?

 

But wait! With the power of persuasion (and a little bit of money), we found some people to open the ride for us!

 

"Line 'em up! Let's ride!!!"

 

Hooray! CREDIT!!!

 

They even let the Dutch guy ride!

 

There was even a powered Dragon Wagon here too!

 

"Yes we are sad and pathetic... But proud!"

 

We came... We saw... We greased the palms... We rode! This is what makes TPR trips awesome!!!

 

Time for "small park #2" of the day! Langfang Children's Paradise! (Doesn't it just LOOK like a paradise?)

 

Believe it or not, this ride is OPEN!!!

 

Another mouse credit!!!

 

More Chinese dilapidated mouse coasters! GET EXCITED!!!!

 

"Just need to give the old girl a push to get 'em going!"

 

Does anyone see anything wrong with this picture?

 

Who needs the brakes bolted to the track? It's kinda hard to tell in the photo, but see that piece of metal kinda sticking up behind the wheel? That's the brake run brakes. They are supposed to be flat, but the back part was not bolted to the track, and when the car would run through them, the brakes would lift off the track! Lol. Oh, we'll, they still worked!

 

Credit whoring... And happy about it!

 

They also had this awesome "dolphin tilt-a-whirl!"

 

...With BOOBS!!!

 

Crack pipe sheep is happy we visited his children's paradise!

 

Sad Marineland dolphin is bummed he missed the boat to Canada!

 

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Edited September 16, 2012 by robbalvey

[australianalex]

Those SLC's make me fear life. It looks like this one is a copy of the Shenlin layout?

BTW the knockoff half pipe that's being built is actually not a knockoff according to RCDB. It's supposedly being built by Intamin.

[robbalvey]

^ Has anyone actually been able to confirm that? I see posts in the Victory Kingdom thread pointing to the Intamin website with the pictures of the different Half-Pipe layouts, and a rumor on Screamscape about it being an Intamin, but EVERYTHING else in this park is a knock-off. The concept art originally showed two Intamin coasters for Victory Kingdom, and the one ended up being a Golden Horse SLC knock-off.

 

Not saying that RCDB is right or wrong, just saying that I think until we see pictures of the actual ride, which we didn't see any track on-site, I'm really not sure....

[_koppen]

The Intamin fly rider track is on site, and it look's very I305ish, except it's triangle, there is no way that it is a Chinese knock off.

 

Concept art:

 

There is also an interview in Park world Magazine, where someone from Intamin mentioned this new ride concept.

Here

[A.J.]

They knocked off the Flying Circus carnival ride? What were they thinking?

 

As for the coaster, considering most Chinese parks' track records, you'd think that they would be building a reverse-engineered monstrosity. HOWEVER...when you consider that Intamin hasn't built one of those so-called "Fly Rider" coasters yet, I'd say that it's a slight possibility that the new coaster may be the real deal.

[theonetheonlyJT]

I'm really liking the rust paint schemes, the knock offs, and the weird characters from these photo's.

[bottom_feeder_13]

I just read the Intamin section of the article and it said that there were supposed to be 3 new 10 inversion coasters going in for 2012/2013, where the hell are the second two going?

[_koppen]

One is rumored for a new park in Italy for 2013, one for Hopi Hari for 2012, but that one has been delayed to 2013.

 

For the third one I would guess China,

[Jew]

Sad Marineland dolphin is bummed he missed the boat to Canada!

 

He's probably better off in China...

[australianalex]

^ Has anyone actually been able to confirm that? I see posts in the Victory Kingdom thread pointing to the Intamin website with the pictures of the different Half-Pipe layouts, and a rumor on Screamscape about it being an Intamin, but EVERYTHING else in this park is a knock-off. The concept art originally showed two Intamin coasters for Victory Kingdom, and the one ended up being a Golden Horse SLC knock-off.

 

Not saying that RCDB is right or wrong, just saying that I think until we see pictures of the actual ride, which we didn't see any track on-site, I'm really not sure....

Well I'm hoping and praying that RCDB is right and it's an Intamin lol

But you have a point. Considering the park couldn't be bothered buying a real Vekoma SLC or Maurer Spinner they could easily get another knockoff from Golden Horse instead of a real Intamin.

[larrygator]

They knocked off the Flying Circus carnival ride? What were they thinking? .

 

It's a good knock-off, not a discernable difference from the original.

[Gutterflower]

Great TR as always. Victory Kingdom is one of those parks I've been following for a while and it just seemed like another Chinese park they had grand plans for and then realised that good coasters are expensive. If you want to be worried there is currently a full size Maurer Sky Loop Knock off at the SBL Factory in Beijing. No idea where thats going though.

 

If you cant see the image _koppen posted earlier of the Intamin track then I've added it to this post. The original post was linked to a forum you need to be logged into to see the pic.

 

 

It does look like Intamin track to me although is it a new configuration or do they use the triangle design on Skyrush?

[_koppen]

A question for you Robb, when you are at the new Happy Valley in Wuhan, do you think you can take some pictures of their water park?

[printersdevil78]

More great stuff! I had to look at that "Main Street" photo for a few moments to figure out what was "off" because it looked screwy to me, too. Then it hit me: There are no sidewalks! The "road" goes straight into the shops.

 

I hope I get to do a TPR "Asian" trip at some point before I die.

[Jew]

^^The fake SLC's look like SLC's too! I don't think we can judge just by how the track looks.

[CpBluestreakCp]

Great pictures and trip report so far. I just can't believe how many Chinese knock offs there are of everything.

[robbalvey]

This happened today...

Sneak preview for a future China Trip update!

[ernierocker]

That might be the most epic photo posted on here!!!

[televisedconfession]

This screams awesome!!!! Great shot!!!!!!!

[Noxegon]

I feel duty bound to share this one...

 

[A.J.]

That might be the most epic photo posted on here!!!

It's high-resolution as well! I see a lot of coaster nerds (and Theme Park Review fans) making that photo their desktop background in the near future...

[larrygator]

A question for you Robb, when you are at the new Happy Valley in Wuhan, do you think you can take some pictures of their water park?

 

We did not have access to the water park, it is closed for the season.

[cfc]

"Dualing Dragons" is nuts, and the "High Five" element is insane.

[rctneil]

Dauling Dragons, insane ride! Wasn't sure how the high five would feel when ridden but it's really cool. Love how it's keeps it's speed until the very end!