jynx242 Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Thanks for the trip report Divv - it is great as always! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Gotta go to Changzhou one day! Dinosaur Park looks very nice. How was the operation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Dinosaur Park was a nice place. All they needed was a ride like this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kzwFgn7NKA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vuurvogel Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 Love the report Divv. Those chinese parks always look interesting. Dramatic theming from afar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFChris Posted May 7, 2014 Share Posted May 7, 2014 On the 'Jurassic Park money shot,' what is that strange path going into an elevated building in the background. Weird elevated paths intrigue me lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted May 8, 2014 Author Share Posted May 8, 2014 Following our visit to Dinosaur Park we were due to take an internal flight to Guangzhou. However, with China being China there was a slight issue in that our flight got cancelled right before we were about to board. All hell broke loose amongst the Chinese travelers but Robb took the calm and collected approach and managed to get us into a hotel that night so that we could take an alternative flight the next morning. I went through a similar experience before the 2011 Japan trip when I ended up spending a night in Beijing so I don’t know if it’s me that causes this bad luck but I’m grateful that Robb & Elissa continue to allow me on their tours regardless. Speaking of our tour hosts, what a great job they do at taking account of these unfortunate circumstances and making sure we don’t miss anything. No sooner than arriving at our last minute hotel did Robb have a backup plan ready to go that meant we wouldn’t lose any time at the parks that were originally scheduled for the following day – Chimelong Paradise and Chuanlord Holiday Manor. Instead this day was substituted for a credit whoring day. How Robb managed to pull this plan together so quickly and effectively I’ll never know but it really is great to have tour guides like this to take care of you! With this in mind here’s some photos of our credit whoring day! Following a cancelled flight our group ended up spending a night in a local hotel. It was all good as Robb was already putting backup plans into place. The next morning we were off and made our way to southern China! As a result this day became credit whoring day! Here’s your Guangzhou Zoological Garden entrance photo! Hey look, a map! Parts of this park weren’t quite finished when we visited. But hey, at least the credit whores were satiated! Speaking of the credit whores... They must have been loving this... OCTOPOOOOOSSS! Remember, everyone: Mono = One, Rail = Rail. James loves a ride in a creepy looking mouse. This was one of the bigger coasters on today’s menu. Who needs Shanghai Disneyland when you have locations like this? Tianhe Park entrance photo! Russ is excited to add another to the coaster count. Watch out for the trees! Doesn’t that look fun? Random Chinese Ghost Train! Certainly an interesting ride vehicle on this one! But who cares about weird ghost trains when there are kiddie credits to be had? Not any kind of kiddie credits – POWERED kiddie credits! At this point I can only assume that rollercoasters have some kind of special drying powers that we don’t know of in the West. How else can you explain how often we saw clothes drying on rollercoasters here? Two parks down! Let’s keep this going! Xiaofantain. This park didn’t have an entrance of any kind so here’s a photo of flat rides. Here’s Larry, lapping up every waking moment of credit whoring day. Get a room you two! The ghetto walkthrough in this park was unexpectedly fun. I mean it was all the usual crap you see at these places but it made me laugh! I’m pretty sure Larry crapped his pants in here too. He does that sometimes. Alright, add another to the list. Movin’ right along... Amazing World! Amazing World, Amazing Entrance. It’s really a mall with a big indoor park attached. I wasn’t lying about the name of this place! Chinese Peena Puu will eat your children. YES!!! A Vekoma!!! Where else in the world are you absolutely delighted to see a Vekoma in front of you?? This one uses the “traditional” Roller Skater theming. Weee! Enough of the semi-decent coasters. Here’s some spinning Zamerla pish... Never ones to pass up on a haunted walkthrough we had to spend some tickets on entering this guy’s mouth! It was of the usual high standard of Chinese walkthroughs. Not for me, but Chinese bouncy bouncy clearly was a highlight for many of the group. There’s also some outdoor attractions at Amazing World. Liek this Total Wipeout style course. I can only imagine you would die a horrible, horrible death if you fell into this water. There was a cool drop tower in the outdoor section. Somehow we managed to gain quite an audience of locals whilst we rode this. I guess they don’t see many Westerners around here. After a tiring day of credit whoring a dinner stop at Pizza Hut is always much appreciated! Although I forewent pizza for this pumpkin/bacon lasagne thing. What was this again, Larry? I remember liking it a lot! Of course, passing a McDonald’s with a unique menu item is not something I can miss! The Sweet Taro Pie is nothing compared to Japan’s Bacon Potato Pie, however! Thanks for the pie, Ronald! Alright, that brings credit whoring day to a close. Hope you’re still with me! Next up – Chimelong Paradise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 Thanks Divv for documenting another credit whore day that will NOT be repeated! (Except for maybe Amazing World since they have a Pizza Hut AND McDonalds!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JK Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 Great trip report! Brings back lots of memories. My favourite ride at Amazing World was the amazing but strange 'half JCB' flat ride. - James. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 Except for maybe Amazing World since they have a Pizza Hut AND McDonalds! Amazing World is a great place for Moser lovers as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 ^Wait . . . there are "Moser lovers"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 ^ Moser fanboys? Is that a wrong way to say it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted May 8, 2014 Share Posted May 8, 2014 ^Just kidding. Moser is the source of Busch Gardens' notoriously unreliable Mach Tower ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brneff99 Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 This has quickly become one of my favorite TPR Trip Reports...I'm forever jealous of some of these trips...have to get on one...have to get on one...have... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFChris Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 Thanks Divv for documenting another credit whore day that will NOT be repeated! (Except for maybe Amazing World since they have a Pizza Hut AND McDonalds!) These comments are why I was so happy to sign up for the very first Mexico Tour. Although you guys vow to not go to these parks again, I feel that the adventure you took going to them in the first place is a more exciting memory for me than going on a perfectly tuned trip. That could definitely be just me, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 ^I don't really see any connection between the Mexico Tour and China terrible credits. We didn't credit whore in Mexico, we DID in China. The China trip was also about 3.5 times longer than the Mexico Trip! It was just too much crap! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rctneil Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 ^I don't really see any connection between the Mexico Tour and China terrible credits. We didn't credit whore in Mexico, we DID in China. The China trip was also about 3.5 times longer than the Mexico Trip! It was just too much crap! I remember getting to Shanghai and suddenly realising that, OMG, we are only half way through the trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted May 9, 2014 Author Share Posted May 9, 2014 Next up was one of the “bigger” parks on the tour – Chimelong Paradise. This park was more or less a Chinese version of a nice Six Flags park. Imagine a Six Flags park with some nice landscaping, questionable food choices and a B&M Dive Machine. That’s more or less it. The park also offers a Thorpe Park Colossus clone which was a nice relief in that it’s a least a few years behind Colossus in the rattle stakes. All in all it’s a nice park but bucks the Chinese trend in that it doesn’t have any knock-off dark rides. Maybe that’s for the best when you look at it from a Health & Safety point of view. Also, this park wins the award for best ride names in China... Another park, another entrance photo! We’re at Chimelong Paradise! All the park map enthusiasts can get their fix before they even enter the park! We arrived in the park prior to opening and were transported around by these fine drivers. First up, the imaginatively titled 10 INVERSION ROLLER COASTER! It’s like Colossus but not as deadly! Just wait a couple of years and this thing will kill as many people as the English version. I might be a fan of this ride but I love this photo op! Next up we rode the Intamin credit that I don’t count as a credit. I prefer the non-spinning Disney version. Chimelong next provided us with a Vekoma Booster Bike to hit up. It was indeed named “Booster Bike”. Can I just take a moment to point out the brightness of Larry’s shirt today? I mean look at the glow actually coming off his shirt!!! Anyone need to use the Giant Frisbee? The” Flying Horse Family Coaster” might have been my favourite name for a coaster in this park. Ben loved his front row ride with the random Chinese chick! You can see where Chimelong got the idea for the name of this ride! Hmmm... Wonder what this ride is like? Yay, Sheikra clone! Just like Sheikra, Dive Coaster has a signature skloosh moment! Hey look, I made it to random middle of nowhere Chinese park! It’s always exciting when you find food in a Chinese park that looks safe to eat! Larry demonstrates the best way to deep throat a dumpling. I don’t have the exact information to hand but I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that this ride is called “Splash Battle”. As you can see, it really was a busy day when we visited Chimelong Paradise. Kind's Land, where all sorts of magical stuff happens. Day-Glo Larry was really excited to see the show and was disappointed when it appeared there would be no show today. So he put on his own stand up show. He’s being really funny here. (Note the visual cue for laughter) I’ll never understand why people would want to cycle their way around on one of these. Probably just my laziness! Where I will always be happy to expend energy however, is on a Fire Truck attraction! Check out Neil and I putting in huge amounts of work for Team GB! Team USA didn’t stand a chance. Top Spin, that’s it name. That name again... Top Spin. Who cares if it’s a scene from Ice Age 3 – it’s indoors! (It was a very hot day!) Neil was dying a slow death following his Fire Truck exertions. I don’t understand why he was feeling so awful, as I felt absolutely fine! The lights might be off but Larry’s shirt is making sure we can see! Huge crowd for the stunt show at Chimelong Paradise today. Oh my! This looks good! YES!!! FIRE!!! EVEN MORE FIRE!!! Who’s hanging with the hotties now?!? Looking awesome, Scottish. As always. So that’s Chimelong Paradise. In all honesty it’s a very nice park with a solid line up of coasters. If China had a Six Flags park it would probably be Chimelong Paradise. Though this park looked a lot nicer than any Six Flags park you’ll ever visit. Chuanlord Manor is next! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gerstlaueringvar Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 Glad to hear that you like my home park even though Chuanlord is even closer to my home (too shamed to call it my home park). Chimelong Paradise does provide some great food, their curry chicken combo is fantastic. Did you guys stay at Chimelong's hotel? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rctneil Posted May 9, 2014 Share Posted May 9, 2014 Glad to hear that you like my home park even though Chuanlord is even closer to my home (too shamed to call it my home park). Chimelong Paradise does provide some great food, their curry chicken combo is fantastic. Did you guys stay at Chimelong's hotel? Chimelong was a really nice park. The Dive Coaster is a really nice ride and the Flying Horse coaster was not bad too. No, we didn't stay onsite at the Chimelong hotel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
larrygator Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 (edited) Divv, I can't remember what you got at that Pizza Hut outside Amazing World, but my pumpkin and bacon lasagna was good, 3rd time on the trip. I loved every time the guides tried to force a Chinese meal upon us The Alveys insisted on Pizza Hut. My $1 day-glo shirts were almost worth the price. I think this was the first day of the trip I felt sorry for Neil. He's a sorry chap to begin with, but I really thought the poor boy would melt into the ground between this point and the end of the trip. Those shrimp dumpling at Chimelong Paradise were insanely good, went back for seconds. Edited May 10, 2014 by larrygator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cfc Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 That was one seriously hot day . . . or was it just Larry's radioactive shirt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 What is Cheryl munching on, behind Scottish Steve? (second photo back) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rctneil Posted May 10, 2014 Share Posted May 10, 2014 Divv, I can't remember what you got at that Pizza Hut outside Amazing World, but my pumpkin and bacon lasagna was good, 3rd time on the trip. I loved every time the guides tried to force a Chinese meal upon us The Alveys insisted on Pizza Hut. My $1 day-glo shirts were almost worth the price. I think this was the first day of the trip I felt sorry for Neil. He's a sorry chap to begin with, but I really thought the poor boy would melt into the ground between this point and the end of the trip. Those shrimp dumpling at Chimelong Paradise were insanely good, went back for seconds. Yes, it was exhaustingly hot that day and for the rest of the trip. The great people at Chimelong helped out tremendously by providing bottles of iced water earlier in the day too. The Fire Truck attraction pretty much killed me as you saw above but thankfully the UK won out there! I'm trying to remember if the day I had at Janfusun Fancyworld was hotter than the Chimelong day. I think it was rather close. But thanks for dragging me through those last few days! When I got back home after the trip I needed pretty much the same amount of time to recover as the trip had taken up! That was one seriously hot day . . . or was it just Larry's radioactive shirt? Chuck, you could be right there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted May 10, 2014 Author Share Posted May 10, 2014 Divv, I can't remember what you got at that Pizza Hut outside Amazing World, but my pumpkin and bacon lasagna was good, 3rd time on the trip. Yeah, that was it. I had the same as you. Really good! Although, I think that was the evening the Pizza Hur staff forgot about us and brought everyone their pizzas way before ours! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Divv3k Posted May 10, 2014 Author Share Posted May 10, 2014 Chuanlord Manor coming up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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