robbalvey Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 (edited) Part Two - Janfusun Fancyworld posted HERE! Part Three - Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village & Atayal HERE! Part Four - Lihpao Land, Gravity Max, and Shan Grila HERE! Part Five - Leofoo Park and Window On China - HERE! -------------------------------------- TPR is currently in Taiwan! We'll update you as much as we can with some photos & videos. Follow us on Twitter for lots of live updates - or Facebook for a few updates as well - http://www.facebook.com/themeparkreview. On to some photos & video! Here is a view of our bus. This guy has like his office in here complete with a garden of plants. Love it! One thing we love about Asia is all the different "tap to pay" and RFID type of system. They've had "MagicBands" for years! Frozen beer anyone? Amidst all the technically advanced electronics you find in Taiwan...there sits the "Shake Weight!" Yay! One of our first stops... Din Tai Fung! This is one of our favorite restaurants, and you can find them in many places in Asia! (Google it!) Din Tai Fung is like foreplay and... well... everything else for Elissa! The next day we went to visit the third tallest building in the world, Taipei 101! Christmas Card photo! Taipei 101 features the "World's Fastest Elevator!" It actually hits 1,000 at one point! Checking out Taiwan from 1,300 feet in the air! NOTED! In case you forgot how to poop... The bathrooms in Taipei 101 remind you. "Super Big Wind Damper" And there it is! Yup, it's big. Yay! We ended up at Din Tai Fung again! This dude is bringing food just for Elissa! Our first theme park in Taiwan, E-DA Theme Park! Thank you E-DA. We feel very welcomed. E-DA is home to a one-of-a-kind Vekoma shuttle coaster called "Big Air." Unfortunately, the "turning" feature of this ride no longer works, but it was still a lot of fun! It get freakishly close to the end of the spikes! Yup, that's pretty damn vertical! This is what Big Air does to your faces. (Watch the POV above!) Troy, anyone? "Dark Ride" was actually not a "Dark Ride", but actually a custom Vekoma roller skater in the dark! Hello, Vekoma train! Ok, it was all in the dark except this lift hill part. Really, the ride was actually quite good! We found this awesome coin operated, do-it-yourself cotton candy machine! KidTums made it all by herself! awwwww.... They had a "Soarin'" type ride called "Fly Over Taiwan", but it sorta looked more like "bomb Taiwan!" lol The ride system was VERY similar to the one Disney uses... And yep... we flew over Taiwan! This was terrifying... because a huge part of the park was an indoor, multi-level complex, much like Lotte World, they had all these evacuation areas, which included having to jump out of windows!!! They had pretty much every kids ride you could find in the Zamperla catalog! E-DA Park is TPR approved! Love all the awesome arcades you find in these parks! Gotta pay homage to the game where TPR's similies came from! Would you believe the park is OPEN...and has been for over two hours when I took this photo? Their "Splash Battle" ride looked nice... We are going to see lots of pictures like this over the next few weeks! "The CLAAAAAAAAAW!!!" (Seriously, how often do you see a claw game with the actual Toy Story aliens?) We rode in the "Butcher" car! lol This is where I get all my DooDoo from... Never seen that font anywhere before! Had a fun visit to E-DA. Nice family park in an "interesting" resort. Setting off to the next part of our adventure... Edited August 13, 2013 by robbalvey
rcjp Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 Thanks for the update! I wonder how you have time to edit the videos and so on during these trips.
kailisun98 Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 Is the big air coaster Vekoma's only one of the model? Also, are you guys going to ride Gravity Max?
scbt Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 Wow, I never realized that vekoma actually built a hammerhead stall. It looks like it's a lot of fun even without the turning. I wonder why they never built more of them?
ernierocker Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 (edited) Is the big air coaster Vekoma's only one of the model? Also, are you guys going to ride Gravity Max? E-DA is home to a one-of-a-kind Vekoma shuttle coaster called "Big Air." Unfortunately, the "turning" feature of this ride no longer works, but it was still a lot of fun! Haven't seen much on the Taiwanese parks so looking forward to the rest of the updates! Edited June 18, 2013 by ernierocker
televisedconfession Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 So far your trip is everything I expected it to be; pretty, bizarre, and hilarious at the same time! Great updates! Looking forward to the rest!
Meteornotes Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 So jealous! I would love to eat here. Hopefully some day... dt
cfc Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 You're off to a great start with just the dumplings alone. Was Soaring over Taiwan every bit as "exciting" as the Disney original?
805Andrew Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 Great Taiwan pics so far, looks like lots of fun. Glad you got to go to the original country of Din Tai Fung. I've tried the Din Tai Fung in Arcadia, CA and loved it. You need to try 85º C if you haven't yet. I've tried the one in West Covina, CA but its supposed to be all over Taiwan, like the Starbucks of Taiwan.
kailisun98 Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 I would certainly like to go to Taiwan to ride Gravity Max. The one and only tilt coaster in the world. UNFORTUNATELY, it is a Vekoma, a sure sign of quality.....
DanM64 Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 Big Air looks awesome!! Great TR so far- can't wait to see the rest!
shivtim Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 I went to the Din Tai Fung in Seoul... so yummy! Hope you are having fun. Looking forward to everyone's updates from Japan.
RoCo Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 This looks like a pretty cool park! Looking forward to more! What's this track in the upper left? Looks like a mouse coaster on top of a building?
SharkTums Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 ^Its a mouse on top of a building that is on a cliff. It was beyond terrifying!!!
robbalvey Posted June 18, 2013 Author Posted June 18, 2013 Is the big air coaster Vekoma's only one of the model? Did you READ the trip report I posted before asking a stupid question? Also, are you guys going to ride Gravity Max? No, we're going to come all the way out to Taiwan and NOT ride Gravity Max. --Robb "Stop wasting our time with dumb questions." Alvey
robbalvey Posted June 18, 2013 Author Posted June 18, 2013 Here's the video from the "Dark Ride" roller coaster...
Sir Clinksalot Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 That ride looks cool. Dark Ride Coaster > Disneyland's Space Mountain!!!
robinschroder Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 Excellent coverage of the sea-dragon-snake-thing that you got eaten by during the ride!
rcdude Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 I had no idea TPR was doing a Taiwan trip this year. I'll certainly be sure to follow this as I know very little about the parks in that area (I only really know of Discovery World and Janfusun Fansyworld). E-DA Theme Park looks like a nice park, Big Air looks fun and Dark Ride a pretty good junior coaster. I can't wait to see what's next.
robbalvey Posted June 18, 2013 Author Posted June 18, 2013 I had no idea TPR was doing a Taiwan trip this year. It wasn't an official trip. It was an "invite only" trip. So there wasn't any public information about it. It's just 11 of us.
PalmTree55 Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 Here's the video from the "Dark Ride" roller coaster... Love the drop out of the station, looks like a pretty good junior coaster! Big Air was also awesome, lots of floater air!
KBrylczyk Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 The world needs more of these funky rides. Unfortunately us westerners are too caught up in "build it bigger and faster!" rather than "build it fun!" Great stuff, as always, Robb!
CreativeForce Posted June 18, 2013 Posted June 18, 2013 Looks like you're off to a great start! Can't tell you how hard it is to concentrate on work, knowing I'll be joining you all on Monday!
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