gerstlaueringvar Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 (edited) A lot of my classmates have been to the park and they said it was just "good". So I wasn't expecting too much. Actually I was expecting something like an ocean themed Chimelong Paradise that is the similar to Happy Valley parks but with much better park management. Turns out it is at the same level of Disney and Universal Studios in my heart for their excellent theming. I visited with Candice and Coaster King from Roller Coaster Dream. While we had a lot of fun, this day was the nerdiest park day I've ever had. But first of all, let me say something about Flying Over the Rainforest. Please let me say a sorry for posting about this one being forceless on the forum before I ride it. The first half was pretty forceful, much more intense than X-Flight and GateKeeper. First drop has some amazing air at the back(slight ejector), the twists after the Dive Loop and the twist before MCBR is relatively violent. however the second half was kind of lame just like GateKeeper. The train goes very slow during the inline twist. On the other hand, while you can't expect roughness from most B&M coasters but do prepare for this one. I was ready for roughness but this is even as bad as GateKeeper. Outside seats gave me a terrible headache. The dive after the Inline Twist and the final helix was terribly rough. If sitting in the back, you can see the train shakes at a big range. I can say it's a love or hate coaster, even GP are turning into two groups. One says it's the best coaster ever(can't judge the GP about "best coaster ever", right? ) while the others complaint about the vest harness and roughness. To me, it's an average coaster but I rank it slightly higher than X-Flight and much higher than GateKeeper, possibly my top 30 steel coaster. But for wing rider fans, do not miss this one because it's very different from the other wing riders out there. Being a coaster nerd, I love love love love backstage tours. Walrus Splash and Glacier Adventure weren't open because Chinese amusement ride department took a holiday for Lunar New Year. But while Mack's engineers were testing the ride, we entered the station area with the park's permission and had the opportunities to see the ride testing. We took tons of nerd shots and had a great time. Mack and Zierer's staffs are very nice, one of them told me he thinks B&M is the best coaster manufacturer (Isn't Bluefire ranked higher than 95% of B&M's?) We weren't allowed to see some of the testing process but it's already great enough to make a day. Deep Ocean Odyssey is a very nice themed aquarium attraction built by Mack. It might be the only way to see Manta in China if you don't want to wait about 2 hours for the walking aquarium at the top of the ride. Animals in the aquarium are the same so we skipped the walking aquarium attraction. The park is not very big in size, pretty much the same size as Sea World San Antonio. Crowd was insane because this is a new park. Parking lot space ran out in the morning and traffic jam came all the way to the bridge connecting Hengqin Island and Zhuhai. But interestingly, Flying Over the Rainforest's line had never exceeded over an hour. I assume 60,000 visitors were at the park and most of them were there for the aquariums with their young kids and aged parents. Again, the park has excellent theming, Chimelong did an amazing job and most importantly, everything is original! Ocean Kingdom's theming focused on details and quality but other Chinese parks seemed to be copying the whole Disneyland with low quality theming that will quickly fade away as time goes by. Honestly I think Chimelong could be the Chinese Herschend because their staffs are very well trained , their theming and atmosphere are excellent just like Silver Dollar City But still a lot different because a new park doesn't have its spirit like Silver Dollar City, which has a historical value as well. Personally, I would put it among my top 8 parks with SDC, SFGAm, SFFT, CP, Disneyland, DCA and USH. About their hotel, it seriously is the most luxurious hotel I've ever seen. Words cannot describe so I took some photos of it. Similar to Guangzhou's Chimelong hotel which is themed to land animals, this one is themed to marine animals. Most standard room costs around $450 but if you like fancy hotel that really stands out, don't miss this. Finally, some tips about visiting the park. Food are not allowed to take in but a bottle of water below 400ml is allowed. Food and drinks in the park has a reasonable price, about the same as a regular Six a Flags park. But merchandise, especially T-Shirts and Hoodies are very expensive. A regular T-Shirt costs around $25 and a regular hoodie costs around $58. As a merchandise whore, I surprisingly didn't buy anything at all! Possibly because they don't have anything towards a specific ride. Another thing that saves my money is they use Pepsi products so I only drank water that day. Ocean Kingdom doesn't have a lot of food choices just like Chimelong Paradise. English version of park map are not available yet and Flying Over the Rainforest photo booth wasn't ready to open as well. Most bathrooms gets extremely crowded with a long line but the one at Amazing Amazon where Flying Over the Rainforest located is always empty. Ocean Kingdom's one day admission ticket costs around $46 before Feb. 28th and price will raise to around $63 for long period. The park also offer Ocean Express- their fast lane/tour guide system. Prices are around $33 for one single ride, around $49 for all rides and around $145 for all rides with a tour guide (I don't think it's needed, it's a theme park, not a wild safari!) Ocean Express literally means no wait at all because you enter from either the exit or a special lane and I don't think GP in China are used to fast lane system as fast lane systems are only available at Chimelong parks. If you don't mind spending the same amount of money of SDC's front of the line pass on a particular ride at Ocean Kingdom, you can marathon on it till you have a headache. Their fancy hotel's guests can get the all rides Ocean Express for free. Line jumping didn't happen during our visit but people like to push forward. I believe TPR China tour members have experienced it. This situation is a lot better in southern China but still could be annoying during holidays. Best way to solve the problem is to put one foot back a bit to prevent the people behind you from getting uncomfortably close. Please forgive me for the low photo quality because they were all taken by my iPhone. Some of the photos at the backstage area were not allowed to be posted so almost 70% of my backstage photos are staying in my phone. Sorry for that because one of Mack's engineers told me not to post them very seriously. We are here, with roughly 60,000 visitors Their gorgeous hotel, photos coming on part 2 Construction site for probably their world's tallest woodie. Pleeeese be an RMC! Wow! Clean water at a Chinese park! That's how you know it's a Chimelong park! Walrus Splash looks amazing! See the crowd? Welcome to China, a country with 1.4 billion people. I can't breathe!!!!! Oh, hi! Imagine a black track RMC Topper track woodie themed to Blackfish! Again, I support Sea World. Tickets! Yep, I printed out the Mitch Hawker poll's result, I'm a nerd. I just love how they put so much effort on details like this. Crowd, crowd, crowd. I spot a credit! Love how their trees are placed. Closer, closer and closer. A bird with a blue whale Kind of remind me of GateKeeper. Hopefully it won't be as bad as GateKeeper. Green B&M track looks nice. Twisty Twisty! Have to say I love the color scheme. Look! A train! Crowd crowd crowd! Another train! Inline Twist is the worst part of the ride. Entrance looks amazing already... The queue line is even better! Wow! Queue's color really matches the color scheme of the ride. Station! How could the nerdiest coaster day be the nerdiest coaster day without a nerd shot? Take a closer look Here is the logo on the station roof. But all nice looking queue started to change into Guangzhou Chimelong's style in here. Now looks better. Sun was really "bright" that day. Painting on the station wall. More painting. They even painted the support! Birds! Now that B&M supports finally looks nice. I see you, little Parrot! Also the fourth B&M wing rider themed to birds. Details make Ocean Kingdom a truly amazing theme park. Fly! I can even hear the complain about the vest harness from here. This huge tree is actually the exit of a fresh water aquarium. Come here! Take the penny on my hand and fly back. I've heard they will install water effect like those on Shambhala and Manta here so the straight track is at least not a waste of steel or completely holding the point of breaking GateKeeper's length record. Zero G Roll, much more like a Zero Airtime Roll. At least it looks nice. Then we headed to my favorite section of the park. This place is so heavy themed. More details. Sorry but I can't provide more backstage photos. I don't want to make trouble. We stayed at the station for around two hours and it was one of the most meaningful two hours in my life. The park is very photogenic This pool will have some Walrus and the glass section is a part of Walrus Splash. Imagine riding a Mack Super Splash with Walrus swimming around during the pre-lift section! That Zierer Kontiki is a nice surprise, a lot more intense then I expected. More park should install this thing. In case you forget how awesome Walrus Splash looks. Airtime! Again, welcome to China. This is their children area. Look! Matterhorn! Nope, it's a giant Mack water coaster. Queue! Kind of remind me of Efteling even though I haven't been there yet. Again, this is the only backstage photo of Glacier Adventure I'm allowed to post. Beautiful! Chimelong means clean water. Giant blue whale and a pirate boat. Hi, we are coming back for you! But only after we grab this awesome Mack aquarium where you can see Manta! A preview of part two. Edited February 19, 2014 by gerstlaueringvar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeFaller Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Nice trip report! Thanks for sharing! China is definitely on my list to visit! Seems to be a very interesting country! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike541x Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Great TR. I love the theming to this park, especially FOTR's queue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperShawn Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Thanks for the thorough update. Been curious about this park and all the sea theming. Looks like it doesn't disappoint based on the photos, review and the crowds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Thanks for the thorough update. Been curious about this park and all the sea theming. Looks like it doesn't disappoint based on the photos, review and the crowds. It's definitely Disney level. Photo explanation updated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrlittle Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Great TR. The park looks nicely themed. About how long did you have to wait for the rides? Also, very cool they allowed to do a tour of the closed rides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_koppen Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 That looks amazing! I don't think the pictures we have seen earlier have made this place justice. It looks a lot more Impressive with the photos from inside the park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Note to self - Never go to China during Chinese New Year! Those crowds are insane! Weird questions, does this park/aquarium happen to have an Ocean Sunfish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Chimlong's new park looks good, and I enjoyed myself at Chimelong Paradise during TPR's trip in 2012. Thanks for the photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Great TR. The park looks nicely themed. About how long did you have to wait for the rides? Also, very cool they allowed to do a tour of the closed rides. Wait time was okay surprisingly. We skipped those aquariums because we spend around four hours on backstage tour and there's not too much time left. One of the park staffs took us to the special lane so wait time wasn't a big problem. Note to self - Never go to China during Chinese New Year! Those crowds are insane! Weird questions, does this park/aquarium happen to have an Ocean Sunfish? I went to Mysterious Island the morning and find the place dead. Sad to see an awesome Intamin being forgotten. Everybody was at Ocean Kingdom. What is Ocean Sunfish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiMiT Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I'm very impressed with this park! At first, I was worried that this was going to be a big project that generated little attendance like the knock-off Disney parks. But it appears as if this park won't have attendance issues for a while. Also, the queues have to be some of the best themed I've seen. And FOTR has one of the coolest station buildings! I can't wait to see more of what Mack can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 ^^A very weird looking fish. Kristen really likes them and there are probably less than 15 in captivity in the whole world so it's hard to find them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 ^^A very weird looking fish. Kristen really likes them and there are probably less than 15 in captivity in the whole world so it's hard to find them! I don't think they have it. It might be a protected animal that no private parks are allowed to own one. Is there any park in the world has some of those fish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LiMiT Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 I remember catching a fish like that in Animal Crossing! So...is that fish really that large compared to the diver or is that just just perspective messing with me? I'm a fan of the whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Not to distract the thread further, but yes, you catch that fish in Animal Crossing and yes they can grow VERY large. They're actually the worlds largest 'bony' fish. (Not cartilage like sharks). There are private aquariums that have them, but they are very hard to take care of which is why there are not a lot in captivity. Thanks Yin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcjp Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Very nice report. The park looks astonishing! I have to admit I've never been a "theming person" as I usually pay a lot more attention to the rides themselves but in this case it's just insane. I really liked the look of FOTRF's queue a lot as well as pretty much everything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattnz Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Thanks for sharing Yin. What an impressive-looking park, and as always I love the Chinese coaster names (Flying Over the Rainforest!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ccron10 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Wow, Ocean Kingdom looks really detailed! From the photos I've seen with Flying Over the Rainforest, it seems that the ride makes up for it's lack of a keyhole effect with it's really close to the ground dives and tunnels. I'm guessing the park is somewhat like a SeaWorld since I don't think it looks like there are any flat rides. Great trip report, Yin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Sabo Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Those photos are beautiful. I bet the GP is eating up the FOtR coaster. Nice looking park. Thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geauga Dog Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Wow, everything looks stunning! I was afraid this was going to be one of those Chinese parks where the theming is "nice" but with a closer look would be cheap looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philrad71 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Thanks for sharing, Yin...this park looks amazing! It will be interesting to watch it expand in the coming years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kailisun98 Posted February 4, 2014 Share Posted February 4, 2014 Great TR! The park looks amazing. Are the operations better than the Happy Valley parks in China? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted February 5, 2014 Author Share Posted February 5, 2014 Great TR! The park looks amazing. Are the operations better than the Happy Valley parks in China? Much better. Happy Valley-Chimelong parks is like SFOT in the past summer-Cedar Point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GigaG Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 I remember when Elissa called FOTR's trains Wild Parrot. We should give each wing coaster a Wild name. X Flight > Wild Bird (generic) Wild Eagle > Wild Eagle (derp) Swarm > Wild Flies (I know that "swarm" in this case has nothing to do with insects, but still) Raptor > Wild Velociraptor(Again, completely unrelated, but modern-day raptors are more like eagles, and we already have a Wild Eagle) Gatekeeper > Wild Seagull (or Angry Seagull, as I heard it called once) FOTR > Wild Parrot (I just said this...) Flug der Damonen > Wild Demon (SO original) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YoshiFan Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Great pictures and report. The park looks very nice and themed well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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