Photo TR: (November 1 & 2): Shaxi Park and Ocean Kingdom

[The Angry Darren Mullins]

I got to visit two parks this weekend (November 1&2) and I reached an incredible milestone. I will get to the milestone in a bit, but I would like to tell you about the parks.

 

November 1, 2014: Shaxi Park (Zhongshan, Guangdong, China)

 

This park is in the western suburbs of Zhongshan city in Guangdong. It is a small park with free admission. There is not much to do here other than a small collection of rides, including a powered Dragon coaster. I arrived late in the afternoon, rode the coaster, took some photos and left. This is a typical Chinese park. It is meant for the locals. I discovered it recently and told RCDB about it. Shaxi Park became the 413th park I have visited.,

 

November 2, 2014: Chimelong Ocean Kingdom

 

This park is located in Zhuhai and it just opened earlier this year. I got there early this morning and paid the 350 RMB admission ($56 USD) and went in. I must say that this park seems a bit over priced when you look at the 150-200 RMB for admission to other parks in China. There are nine rides, including three coasters and some animal exhibits. One exhibit is the Whale Shark Aquarium. It is the largest aquarium in the world and features a bunch of animals, including whale sharks. None of the animal exhibits and most of the rides did not open until 11am, despite the fact that the park opens its gates at 10am. My first ride was Walrus Splash. This is a water coaster. It is less of a coaster than Ocean Kingdom's other two coasters, but still has enough coaster sections to count as a coaster. I was on the first boat/car/train out of the station. It is a fun ride and perfect for most of the family. I did not get very wet, but I did get wet enough to make it fun. Walrus Splash became coaster #883 for me.

Next up was Parrot Coaster. This would be my first experience with a wing rider coaster ( I guess the Dinoconda at Dinosaur Land doesn't count, although it would be somewhat similar, except the seats flip on Dinoconda). I truly love this coaster. It has a great first drop. I wish the original name Flying Over The Rainforest had not been dropped in favor of Parrot Coaster, but it is a world class ride. It became coaster #884 for me.

The last coaster I would ride today would Polar Explorer. This coaster is very similar to Walrus Splash, except that it has more coaster track. It is a fun ride and again, like Walrus Splash, I didn't get too wet. I just got wet enough to make the ride enjoyable. It would become coaster #885 for me. After Polar Explorer, I went through some animal exhibits and took another spin on Parrot Coaster. In all, Chimelong Ocean Kingdom is a great park, but it needs more rides. I think that it was too overprice considering how much more can be found at Chimelong Paradise. This park is also not that big. It could best be described as a mid-sized park. With that being said, park operations are efficient. Several boats/cars were in service on both water coasters and neither of them had any wait. Parrot Coaster had a one train operation with a 30 minute wait. The ride ops were loading and unloading the ride as fast as possible. Chimelong Ocean Kingdom became park #414 for me today...and that is what brings me to my milestone that I mention earlier. My first park came when I was less than a year old. For 40 years now, I have been visiting parks and I have visited 414 parks. Some of these parks I have visited dozens of times (Kings Island, Cedar Point, Gyeongju Word, Everland), some I have visited two or three times (Knoebles, Six flags New England, Hong Kong Disneyland, Nagashima Spaland) and some I have visited only once (Chimelong Paradise, Space World, Dorney Park and so on), but if you add up all of my park visites (and I have), you will find that today's visit to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom became my 1000th park outing. That is correct. As of today (November 2, 2014), I have made 1000 visits to 414 different amusement parks. I look forward to the next 1000.

My first park of the weekend-Shaxi Park in Zhongshan city.

This is right inside of Shaxi Park.

This is some of the scenery in Shaxi Park.

A few basic rides can be found here.

This merry go round is here.

Bumper cars are always a favorite with park guests.

A powered coaster is here.

Open wide...

This was during my ride.

I have arrived for my long awaited visit to Ocean Kingdom.

This is a landmark for the park. It is on top of the Whale Shark Aquarium.

Here is a real whale shark.

The lake at Ocean Kingdom is called Hengqin Ocean. The park is located on Hengqin Island.

This is Walrus Splash-my first coaster of the day.

Here is Walrus Splash during splashdown.

This is Walrus Splash from just outside the park entrance.

This mountain houses most of Polar Explorer.

Here is Polar Explorer's big drop.

A Polar Explorer car enters final splashdown.

Here is the star of Ocean Kingdom. This is Parrot Coaster.

Here is one of the lead cars.

Look at how tall that lift is. This is not your standard Chinese powered Dragon or jungle mouse.

Here is Parrot Coaster in action.

Here is one final shot of Parrot Coaster to close out my TR.

[gerstlaueringvar]

Thanks for the TR, glad you liked Parrot Coaster. Was it a smooth ride to you? They got some work done on the train a couple of months ago and the ride has gotten more positive reviews now.

[The Angry Darren Mullins]

Parrot Coaster is very smooth and intense. I consider it to be one of the best B&Ms.

[rcjp]

^Nice to hear. It would be too bad if nothing could be done to solve an issue like this on a brand new ride.