gjp Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 This is a family park that captivated me as a Durban youth... It was built in the 70's and is situated on the 'Golden Mile' - about 5km of sandy swimming beaches warm 11 months of the year. I remember a couple of the rides being added in the late 80's and finding out that Nic Steyn, the parks' owner commissioned them to be built within South Africa as bringing them in from Europe would have been economically impossible. I was there recently on a nostalgic holiday with my camera.... A warm autumn day in Durban. First, the cable car to survey the scene. Awful weather. Three of the eleven official languages of SA - English, Afrikaans and Zulu. Mini Carousel. Mini Dodgems - hours of fun if you're an aggressive 10 yr old. Indian Elephants or Disney knock-offs? Swings, deceivingly hectic ....really. Terrifying theming. For the milder taste. You didn't see this - think it was a mini tumblebug. Gentile... 1 US Dollar is about 9 Rand 1 UK Pound is about 14 Rand Horrible weather. The other side of the park is home to the relative thrills. Prettyful. Home-brewed and awesome. It was a slow day... This half of the park is loosely based on centrifugal vomit. I wonder if ice cream sales are good near these machines? Spinnnnn Static. Innocent? Deceptive. This thing moves unlike most Trabants, more of a whiplash inducer. Tech. Loves his job. South Africa's only home-made breakdancer? Ignore the tape on the green car. Got all the right moves. The star of the 10yr old's show was this swingboat - hardly any restraints, massive airtime. Weeeee Awes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midgetman82 Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 That looks amazing! Not in a "wow, I would never second guess trying any of these" kind of amazing, but in a very interesting view of how someone else makes knockoffs of relatively notorious rides. Those rides sure do look thrilling. Great trip report, and thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ccron10 Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Holy crap, is that only one chain per chair I see on the Wave Swinger, allowing the cars to spin??? The thing looks like would scare the sh!t out of me! Nice TR, I think I really like the skyride as it seems like the only sane ride at that park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted May 2, 2013 Share Posted May 2, 2013 Thanks for the look at a South African park. We rarely get trip reports from there, or any other African country, for that matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 Quite an interesting place, I just added it to TPR's Park Index Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisco Posted May 3, 2013 Share Posted May 3, 2013 Waiting for the TPR trip to South Africa! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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