Fantawild - A Complete Guide

[Gutterflower]

Below is an article I wrote yesterday for my site. I've tried to format it as best as possible for the TPR forums but I couldn't figure out a way to get all the picture comments in. Anyway Hopefully it will help people out. The original article with a couple more pictures is here.

 

 

Introduction

 

Fantawild is a company I refer to a lot on this site, perhaps more than any other company and with good reason. Fantawild may now be one of if not the biggest theme park companies in the world in terms of number of parks owned. They show no sign of stopping either with plans for at least another 6 parks already out there.

 

During my research into these parks over the years it’s become clear that the sheer number of parks and the speed with which they are building them has left many people confused. A number of different park types and a general sharing of rides between these types doesn’t help much either.

 

This guide is an attempt to break down the parks into easier to handle categories and sections which by the end should leave you with at least a rudimentary handle on the massive Fantawild chain.

 

Park Types

 

One of the main reasons for confusion is that Fantawild has several different types of parks, Many areas have two or more of these park styles but all the parks can be slotted into one of several simple categories.

 

Fantawild City Parks

 

Currently there are only two city parks. These are smaller than the usual parks and are located in more populated areas. The first park built under this model is Fantawild Sci-Fi park. It’s wedged in the corner of a retail park in Chongqing but there is a decent set of rides crammed in.

 

These rides are mostly similar to rides found at the adventure parks seen below and as this was actually the first ever Fantawild it could be considered a prototype park.

 

The other park in this category doesn't carry the Fantawild name but is called Nantong Adventure Park. The small park is again crammed into a small space next to a shopping mall but was built in 2013. The park has one Maurer Sky Loop coaster, a giant ferris wheel and a few simulator rides. A water park was added in 2015.

 

 

Locations:

Chongqing (2007)

Nantong (2013)

 

Fantawild Adventure

 

By far the most common type of park in the chain is the Fantawild Adventure style. Often the first type of park in any location it includes a broad selection of rides with no real overarching theme. The parks often feature a number of simulator and tracked rides featuring various different applications of 3D technology and interactive screens.

 

These parks tend to have a less exciting selection of coasters than the later parks, with Golden Horse SLC and Mine Train clones common. In recent years the newer parks have often (but not always) built some western coasters including Maurer sky loops and Vekoma boomerangs. Details of these can be found in the coasters section below.

 

 

An interesting addition to the chain is the 2015 park in the northern city of Jiayuguan. The park uses many of the same rides as previous parks but adds a northern twist to architecture. For example the Fantawild Adventures ubiquitous central castle is noticeable influenced by Russian and Mongolian architecture. Check out the two images below for a comparison.

 

 

Locations:

Wuhu (2007)

Guangdong (2010)

Tai’an (2010)

Zhuzhou (2011)

Shenyang (2011)

Zhengzhou (2012)

Tianjin (2014)

Jiayuguan (2015)

Datong (2015) – Goes under the title “Fantawild Theme Park”

 

Fantawild Dream Parks

 

The second most common type of parks and often the second park built in a resort. These parks come under a number of different names including Fantawild Dream Kingdom, Dreampark & Dreamland but all comprise of the same themes and ideas. At first the differences between the Dream Parks and the Adventure parks are tough to spot. And to be honest there’s not much difference.

 

Ride types are similar if not identical to the Adventure parks but often with a different spin. For example the Adventure parks almost all have a Spiderman tracked simulator style ride themed to Dinosaurs attacking a city where the Dream Parks feature the same ride system but themed to a wizard school (sound familiar?)

 

Coaster wise the parks have traditionally featured similar if not identical rides as the Adventure parks. As a rule of thumb the first Fantawild park in a city whether its an Adventure or Dream Park will feature either the Golden Horse SLC and mine train pairing or Maurer built sky loop and Vekoma boomerang pairing.

 

More recently where the dream parks have been the second parks in a city (Zhengzhou and Zhuzhou for example) where they have been built with new Martin & Vleminckx & Gravity Group wooden coasters.

 

 

Locations:

Wuhu (2010)

Qingdao (2011)

Xiamen (2013)

Zhengzhou (2015)

Zhuzhou (2015)

 

Fantawild Cultural Heritage Parks

 

The newest of the currently active Fantawild park styles is the Cultural heritage parks. The first of these opened in Jinan in April 2015 and there are ones to follow within the year in Wuhu and Ningbo.

 

These parks are a radical departure from the more modern themes of the Adventure and Dream parks focusing on traditional Chinese culture and mythology. There is a whole set of new rides and simulators which have been designed for these parks but as the first one opened less than a month ago I am yet to see a review of any.

 

 

Coaster wise all three of the first parks have opened with the same coaster line up, Indoor mine trains themed to volcanoes, Vekoma Boomerangs and Martin & Vleminckx & Gravity Group wooden coasters. Perhaps most surprisingly all three wooden coasters are not clones but feature original layouts. These are covered in much more detail in the coasters section below.

 

Locations:

Jinan (2015)

Wuhu (2015)

Ningbo (2015-2016)

Xiamen (2016)

 

Fantawild Movie Parks

 

Fantawild movie parks are a set of planned parks that are soon to go into the construction phase. While no parks have been officially announced there are holding accounts on Weibo (Chinese twitter analogue) reserved already for parks in Qingdao and Shenyang.

 

Fantawild Water Parks

 

Fantawild has recently expanded some parks with the addition of a water park. These are pretty small when compared to international parks but have proved very popular with the locals. They usually have at least two slide towers and a large wave pool. They aren’t as easy to follow as the theme parks so the list below may be incomplete.

 

 

Locations:

Wuhu (2014)

Zhengzhou (2014)

Zhuzhou (2015)

Nantong (2015)

 

Resorts

 

The observant among you will have noticed that several cities in the lists above have more than one gate and that Wuhu in particular is currently home to four. I’m not sure why Wuhu is quite so central to Fantawild’s plans but they own a massive tract of land just to the East of the city with plans for up to seven parks.

 

Here is a quick breakdown of which cities currently have more than one park. Click on the park names to see a satellite image of the resorts in question.

 

Wuhu (4)s

Fantawild Adventure (2007)

Fantawild Dream Park (2010)

Fantawild Water Park (2014)

Fantawild Cultural Heritage Park (2015)

 

Zhengzhou (3)

Fantawild Adventure (2012)

Fantawild Water Park (2014)

Fantawild Dreamland (2015)

 

Zhuzhou (3)

Fantawild Adventure (2011)

Fantawild Water Park (2015)

Fantawild Dreamland (2015)

 

Xiamen (2)

Fantawild Dreamland (2013)

Fantawild Cultural Heritage Park (2016)

 

There are a two parks with vacant lots already waiting for second gates these can be found in Qingdao and Shenyang.

 

Roller Coasters

 

Like the parks the rides can be sorted into various categories which are repeated in most of the parks. In recent years Fantawild have begun to expand their horizons in terms of roller coasters and there are a few outliers but the main rides are summarised below

 

Golden Horse Suspended Looping Coaster

 

Usually called Flare Meteor in English these rides are built by the Chinese company Golden Horse and are a direct clone of the Vekoma SLC layout first seen on Golden Wings in Snowfield at Happy Valley in Beijing. The ride can be found at most of the older Fantawild Parks and there is usually at least one in a resort. The latest one was built at the Fantawild Theme Park in Datong which opened in April 2015.

 

 

Locations:

Fantawild Adventure – Wuhu (2008)

Fantawild Adventure – Tai’an (2010)

Fantawild Dream Kingdom – Qingdao (2011)

Fantawild Adventure – Zhuzhou (2011)

Fantawild Adventure – Shenyang (2011)

Fantawild Adventure – Tianjin (2014)

Fantawild Theme Park – Datong (2015)

 

Golden Horse Mine Train

 

The Golden Horse mine trains are perhaps the most common of the Fantawild rides coming in several different guises. Most importantly they all share the same layout which has been ripped off the Vekoma model’s found at Walibi Belgium and Happy Valley Shenzhen.

 

The rides often come set within a mountain which varies in style depending on the location of the park but recently the Oriental Heritage Parks have built their mine trains indoors with a theme to a mythological Volcano.

 

This has lead to the slight odd situation where in Wuhu you can find two rides with the same layout in neighbouring parks, one indoors and one outdoors.

 

 

Locations:

Fantawild Adventure – Wuhu (2008)

Fantawild Dream Kingdom – Qingdao (2011)

Fantawild Adventure – Zhuzhou (2011)

Fantawild Adventure – Shenyang (2011)

Fantawild Dreamland – Xiamen (2013)

Fantawild Adventure – Tianjin (2014)

Fantawild Adventure – Jiayuguan (2015)

Fantawild Theme Park – Datong (2015)

Fantawild Cultural Heritage Park – Jinan (2015) – Indoors

Fantawild Cultural Heritage Park – Wuhu (2015) – Indoors

Fantawild Cultural Heritage Park – Ningbo (2015) - Indoors

 

Vekoma Boomerang

 

Vekoma Boomerangs are one of the most numerous rides on the planet. While not always popular with enthusiasts the Fantawild rides at least feature the new restraint system which eliminates the head banging from the older models.

 

These rides can be found at a number of the newer Fantawild Parks under two different names. In the Fantawild Adventure & Dream parks they go under the name Stress Express. In the Fantawild Cultural Heritage Parks they go under the name Polar Express. These rides are all painted the same blue and white colour though and are essentially exactly the same ride.

 

 

Locations:

Fantawild Adventure – Zhengzhou (2012)

Fantaworld Dream Park – Xiamen (2013)

Fantawild Dreamland – Zhuzhou (2015)

Fantawild Cultural Heritage Park – Jinan (2015)

Fantawuld Cultural Heritage Park – Wuhu (2015)

Fantawild Cultural Heritage Park – Ningbo (2015-2016)

 

Maurer Sky Loop

 

Another of the more recent additions to the Fantawild chain is a line of Maurer sky loop rides. Currently there are only three operating but with a number of new Fantawild parks coming online in the next few years I doubt they are the last. They all operate under the name Terror Twister and all sport exactly the same bright yellow and purple paint scheme.

 

 

Locations:

Fantawild Adventure – Zhuzhou (2011)

Fantawild Adventure – Zhengzhou (2012)

Adventure Park – Nantong (2013)

 

Martin & Vleminckx Wooden Coasters

 

The most exciting addition to the Fantawild chain in recent years has been the arrival of several Martin & Vleminckx Wooden Coasters. Designed by the Gravity Group these two companies have dominated the market for Chinese wooden coasters in the last few years and have introduced a string of great designs to both Happy Valley and Fantawild chains.

 

The first of the Fantawild woodies was expected to open at the Cultural Heritage Park, Jinan in April 2015 but has been delayed to May 2015. There are another three due to open this year.

 

All the Fantawild rides are unique within the chain so far. Although the Zhuzhou ride is a clone of the ride found at Happy Valley in Tianjin. The rides at the Jinan and Wuhu Fantawild Cultural Heritage Parks both feature a single corkscrew inversion each. It is currently unconfirmed if the rides at the sister parks in Ningbo and Xiamen will also feature inversions.

 

 

Locations:

Fantawild Cultural Heritage Park – Jinan (2015)

Fantawild Cultural Heritage Park – Wuhu (2015)

Fantawild Dreamland – Zhengzhou (2015)

Fantawild Dreamland – Zhuzhou (2015)

Fantawild Cultural Heritage Park – Ningbo (2015 – 2016)

Fantawild Cultural Heritage Park – Xiamen (2016)

 

Other Coasters

 

There are a number of other individual rides at parks in the chain which don’t fall into the categories above including a random assortment of kiddie coasters and an inverted wild mouse. While I won’t go into too much detail, below are some pictures of the more notable ones. From left to right a Loopscrew in Wuhu's Dream Park, a

suspended wild mouse in Shantao's Adventure park and a suspended family coaster at Zhengzhou's Dreamland

 

 

Conclusions

 

Hopefully this article will have cleared up some of the (well founded) confusion surrounding the parks within the ever expanding Fantawild chain. To the best of my knowledge all information provided here is correct at the time of writing and I will endeavour to keep this article updated whenever I can. However things move fast in the Fantawild world so please let me know if there are any errors at any time.

 

A big thanks to Gavin Jones who kindly let me use some of his pictures and imparted some knowledge from visiting a few of the more obscure Fantawild parks out there.

[SharkTums]

Wow, crazy good article and terrifying at the number of parks in China!

[larrygator]

Thank you for shedding light on this growing chain. I'm completely bewildered whenever I hear of a new park or installation with this chain. Do you happen to have these locations all plotted on a map?

[Jess64888]

Hey there,

 

I am going to Fantawild Xiamen in June - A few questions I have that maybe you can shed some light on or I can visit a page (in English) to get more info -

 

- How many rides are there at this park and what are they?

 

- Is the Terror Twister open yet?

 

- How far is it from the Port of Xiamen (where the cruises get in)?

 

- Is it worth going? I like unique different rides...

 

Thanks!

 

Jesse

[Gutterflower]

Hi Jesse

 

- Ride wise the park has fairly unoriginal coasters but its certainly worth visiting if you've not been to a Fantawild before. The dark rides are what sets Fantawild apart from other parks in China and theres a ton of interesting types to ride. However if you've been to a Fantawild Adventure before they'll be very similar.

 

- I believe Terror Twister is open but I'll look into it and see what I can find out.

 

- It's about 30 minutes drive from the port I believe. The Metro isn't operational yet so Taxi is really the only way. However Taxis are cheap as chips in China. I'd advise having the park name and your return address printed in Chinese though to show any Taxi drivers who dont speak English.

[robbalvey]

This is amazing! Thank you for doing this!

[viking86]

Fantastic post! While I knew that Fantawild was expanding rapidly, I had no idea how big the company is getting. The parks themselves are also looking pretty good.

[Jess64888]

Great, thank you for the info!

 

Do you have a list of the all of the rides, including the unique dark rides and any details on the rides or maybe there's a link that I can visit that his a description of all of the rides in English? Also any suggestions of your top faves and the ones to absolutely not miss to hit?

 

Jesse

[Gutterflower]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

 

Thank you for shedding light on this growing chain. I'm completely bewildered whenever I hear of a new park or installation with this chain. Do you happen to have these locations all plotted on a map?

 

This is the closest i have, Its a little out of date but close enough until I can make a better one. It lists all the major parks but Fantawild is in Red.

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=z2_C9zJ0zbu4.kIuCmHrUYKHg

 

Great, thank you for the info!

 

Do you have a list of the all of the rides, including the unique dark rides and any details on the rides or maybe there's a link that I can visit that his a description of all of the rides in English? Also any suggestions of your top faves and the ones to absolutely not miss to hit?

 

Jesse

 

I dont have an English website although if you can use Google translate to translate this page it lists them http://xiamen.fangte.com/parkshow.shtml

 

in short the main ones are.

 

Over The Limit - Disney Soaring style ride

Battle For Jinshan - Special effects show with fire effects.

Qinling Adventure - Dark ride with 3D screens

Fair Universe - A bit like the Toy Story Mania rides with 3D interactive screens and trying to score points with your light guns.

Little Warriors Universe - Another shooting dark ride.

Light Of Life - Big IMAX style screen ride.

Ghost - Unsure on this but appears to be one of those weird things where you sit with headphones on and it sounds like spooky things are going on.

Escape From Dinosaur Island - Big splash boat ride.

Mount Tanggula - Mine Train coaster

Stress Express - Vekoma Boomerang

Terror Twister - Maurer skyloop

Magic Castle - Spiderman style ride with a story ripped off of Harry Potter.