Qatar, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China - COMPLETE
- Thread starter Ben
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Jake
Strata Poster
Re: Thorpe Park and Florida
Happy Valley Shanghai.
Of the 3 Happy Valleys on the trip, this was the most unique. I felt the other two were fairly similar (they had basically the same rides, areas, theming etc). Whilst Shanghai didn't have as much theming (apart from a couple of rides which had LOADS), the rides were generally better and there were more of them.
This park was also HUGE, probably because it's just outside the city unlike the others, which are more inner-city...
Quite a few of the pics were taken from the Flying Island, so I'll shove that in first.
OK, we arrived fairly early (but still after opening), so some of the rides wern't open yet. The main other beef I have with Happy Valley is that some rides won't open till 12pm or 1pm, then the park closes at 4pm. For example, the woodie here was only open for 3 and a half hours, and it's not even like the park was empty (we queued a good hour and a half for the woodie). So, you've got to plan quite well to get all your creds if it's busy.
I'm pretty sure we headed to the other side of the park to ride the Mega-Lite, stopping off at the vulgar reverchon (it's not a reverchon, but that's what I'm calling it).
Oooh it was disgusting.
Oooh, the back of my head is in this one <3
Next up was the Mega Lite, via some fab pride rock esque theming.
The Intamin is hiding behind it <3.
I thought it was a good ride, but quite over rated. The ejector is fab, but I think not having the height takes quite a lot away from it to be honest. Plus, the cable lift really isn't necessary and ruins what could be quite a fab first drop. Like I said though, the airtime hills were great.
By this point it was 12ish and the B&M was open, so we minced back over to the other side of the park.
I think we had a synchronized 'sweat attack' in this exact location. It was vile. One minute you'd be fine, then suddenly the humidity would hit you and you'd sweat uncontrollably for 5 minutes or so. Ugh.
Obviously, it was fierce. Nothing else to say really...
Outrageous, my cattle pen. Outrageous, on a B&M. Outrageous... weonlyrunonetrainnnn.
Oh, and, it's a Vekoma SLC apparently.
By this point it was lunch, but the woodie still hadn't opened so we decided to do the Gyro Swing quickly and go to Pizza Hut for some aircon. It doesn't look hot in the photos, but it was over 30 degrees with 98% humidity or something...
This was OMGAMAZING. So much better than the Huss ones. <3 <3 <3.
After lunch we minced over to the woodie, but decided to get the othe creds first because the queue was huge.
First was the Intmain Mine Train, which was actually amaze. It only had one lift, but still did quite a lot. It kept it's pace up for the whole ride too. It was also walk on, thanks to the fact that the entrance is impossible to find <3.
Such an Intamin <3
The kiddie was the only cred left (other than the woodie), so we scooped that up too. It was actually quite vulgar and rough.
The only other non-coaster ride we did was the Splashdown, because according to Ben it was 'really famous and has a huge dark ride section!'. Yeah, it didn't. It was just Tidal Wave, lets face it. The hose pipes at the end that gave you a gob full were just icing on the cake.
I was quite suprised to see the Giant Top Spin, as I though Canada's was the only one. They are fab, but we couldn't be arsed.
By this point it was time for the woodie, which still had a huge queue. Well, 'Wooden Coaster - Fireball'.
It overshot the staysh.
We sat in the back, which gave crazy ejector on the first drop (see how tight the crest of the lift is?). The rest of the ride I thought was pretty average, just your standard decent large woodie. Ben seemed to like it more than me. Perhaps I let TPR influence me and I expected too much from it, or maybe after riding Mountain Flyer a few days earlier I'd become spoilt. Meh, that first drop is up there with my favourite coaster moments though...
... and that's what it was, yeah.
Overall:
Fab rides, dire operations. Such Happy Valley </3.
Next part will be... erm... Tourist stuff in Shanghai and some bonus creds. Yeah.
Happy Valley Shanghai.
Of the 3 Happy Valleys on the trip, this was the most unique. I felt the other two were fairly similar (they had basically the same rides, areas, theming etc). Whilst Shanghai didn't have as much theming (apart from a couple of rides which had LOADS), the rides were generally better and there were more of them.
This park was also HUGE, probably because it's just outside the city unlike the others, which are more inner-city...
Quite a few of the pics were taken from the Flying Island, so I'll shove that in first.
OK, we arrived fairly early (but still after opening), so some of the rides wern't open yet. The main other beef I have with Happy Valley is that some rides won't open till 12pm or 1pm, then the park closes at 4pm. For example, the woodie here was only open for 3 and a half hours, and it's not even like the park was empty (we queued a good hour and a half for the woodie). So, you've got to plan quite well to get all your creds if it's busy.
I'm pretty sure we headed to the other side of the park to ride the Mega-Lite, stopping off at the vulgar reverchon (it's not a reverchon, but that's what I'm calling it).
Oooh it was disgusting.
Oooh, the back of my head is in this one <3
Next up was the Mega Lite, via some fab pride rock esque theming.
The Intamin is hiding behind it <3.
I thought it was a good ride, but quite over rated. The ejector is fab, but I think not having the height takes quite a lot away from it to be honest. Plus, the cable lift really isn't necessary and ruins what could be quite a fab first drop. Like I said though, the airtime hills were great.
By this point it was 12ish and the B&M was open, so we minced back over to the other side of the park.
I think we had a synchronized 'sweat attack' in this exact location. It was vile. One minute you'd be fine, then suddenly the humidity would hit you and you'd sweat uncontrollably for 5 minutes or so. Ugh.
Obviously, it was fierce. Nothing else to say really...
Outrageous, my cattle pen. Outrageous, on a B&M. Outrageous... weonlyrunonetrainnnn.
Oh, and, it's a Vekoma SLC apparently.
By this point it was lunch, but the woodie still hadn't opened so we decided to do the Gyro Swing quickly and go to Pizza Hut for some aircon. It doesn't look hot in the photos, but it was over 30 degrees with 98% humidity or something...
This was OMGAMAZING. So much better than the Huss ones. <3 <3 <3.
After lunch we minced over to the woodie, but decided to get the othe creds first because the queue was huge.
First was the Intmain Mine Train, which was actually amaze. It only had one lift, but still did quite a lot. It kept it's pace up for the whole ride too. It was also walk on, thanks to the fact that the entrance is impossible to find <3.
Such an Intamin <3
The kiddie was the only cred left (other than the woodie), so we scooped that up too. It was actually quite vulgar and rough.
The only other non-coaster ride we did was the Splashdown, because according to Ben it was 'really famous and has a huge dark ride section!'. Yeah, it didn't. It was just Tidal Wave, lets face it. The hose pipes at the end that gave you a gob full were just icing on the cake.
I was quite suprised to see the Giant Top Spin, as I though Canada's was the only one. They are fab, but we couldn't be arsed.
By this point it was time for the woodie, which still had a huge queue. Well, 'Wooden Coaster - Fireball'.
It overshot the staysh.
We sat in the back, which gave crazy ejector on the first drop (see how tight the crest of the lift is?). The rest of the ride I thought was pretty average, just your standard decent large woodie. Ben seemed to like it more than me. Perhaps I let TPR influence me and I expected too much from it, or maybe after riding Mountain Flyer a few days earlier I'd become spoilt. Meh, that first drop is up there with my favourite coaster moments though...
... and that's what it was, yeah.
Overall:
Fab rides, dire operations. Such Happy Valley </3.
Next part will be... erm... Tourist stuff in Shanghai and some bonus creds. Yeah.
Re: State of Qatar, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China
Happy Valley Shangz was fab, but, the disgusting operations just killed it <///3
Like, they had a Soarin' rip-off that had something to do with dragons and looked fab, but, it didn't open until 6pm. ACTUAL 6pm, when everything else shut at like, 4. As if we were gonna hang around for that...
I loved the woodie as well, it was fab <3 Bit rough, but, it was fab <3 It's probably in my top ten woodies... Somewhere just below Ravine Flyer II. Probably above Toro.
Also, I feel like since we just threw in my not feeling well on the way to Chimelong, we should just throw in the journey back from Happy Valley. OMG, haha <///3
Happy Valley Shangz was fab, but, the disgusting operations just killed it <///3
Like, they had a Soarin' rip-off that had something to do with dragons and looked fab, but, it didn't open until 6pm. ACTUAL 6pm, when everything else shut at like, 4. As if we were gonna hang around for that...
I loved the woodie as well, it was fab <3 Bit rough, but, it was fab <3 It's probably in my top ten woodies... Somewhere just below Ravine Flyer II. Probably above Toro.
Also, I feel like since we just threw in my not feeling well on the way to Chimelong, we should just throw in the journey back from Happy Valley. OMG, haha <///3
Jake
Strata Poster
Re: State of Qatar, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China
Shanghai sightseeing.
Well, before we did any sightseeing we ran to Century Park to grab the Golden Horse cred, which was my 600th!
Again, you paid a quid or so to get into the park, then there was a small fairground section inside. I like the idea of paying for parks, it creates jobs and keeps the scum out. <3.
The cred...
Yeah, it's a Golden Horse, not much else to say really.
We then sashayed to a view point for some skyline frames <3
I think at this point someone wanted to go for coffee with us because we were white and amazing, so we quickly rejected and ran away... into the CBD <3.
I forced Ben to go up the Shanghai World Financial Center with me. From now on I will refer to it as 'the bottle opener'...
It's one of the tallest buildings in the world, at 1,600ft. This dwarfs everything in Europe, and is over twice as tall as One Canada Square (Canary Wharf). It's also the highest observation deck in the world (the one in Dubai is only like, half way up the tower, whereas this is at the top).
This model is fab <3
...from the top...
20 million people make a lot of smog...
These would all probably be taller than an anything in London...
The observation deck is sort of, hanging from the bit at the top of the hole of the bottle opener...
Glass floors...
Meeee
Yeah, it's **** huge. I thought it was amazing, but Ben wasn't the biggest fan
On the way down we bought some Knockoff Vitamin Water. This stuff was actually nicer <3
Even though we'd already been up the tallest building in the city we still had to go up the Oriental Pearl Tower too because...
They have...
A CRED <3 <3 <3.
This giant roundabout pedestrian bridge thing was awesomeeee.
The Oriental Peal Tower. The cred is in the bottom sphere.
Even though we only wanted the cred, we had to pay full price, so went to the top anyway. The only good thing was that they had a bigger glass floor (and an outdoor area). Of course, it was an anticlimax after just going up the other tower.
So yeah, the cred. It's in a Space themed arcade. It's SUCH a weird place for a cred, and a waste of space really, not that I'm complaining <3.
Gotta love the signage... haha.
It was a custom rollerskater type thing. Here's the staysh.
... and some of the ride...
It was pretty fierce for a kiddie cred actually. Yeah.
We'd now killed enough time and it was dark, so we went back to the viewing area from earlier for some night shots. Shanghai is so gorge at night <3.
Fin.
I can't remember what we did the next day... so next part is a suprise!
p.s, if anyone is interested in seeing more of the city I'd recommend these two videos. It really is an amazing place.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUXXLqKQ2w4[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU_mXe0AChk&feature=related[/youtube]
Shanghai sightseeing.
Well, before we did any sightseeing we ran to Century Park to grab the Golden Horse cred, which was my 600th!
Again, you paid a quid or so to get into the park, then there was a small fairground section inside. I like the idea of paying for parks, it creates jobs and keeps the scum out. <3.
The cred...
Yeah, it's a Golden Horse, not much else to say really.
We then sashayed to a view point for some skyline frames <3
I think at this point someone wanted to go for coffee with us because we were white and amazing, so we quickly rejected and ran away... into the CBD <3.
I forced Ben to go up the Shanghai World Financial Center with me. From now on I will refer to it as 'the bottle opener'...
It's one of the tallest buildings in the world, at 1,600ft. This dwarfs everything in Europe, and is over twice as tall as One Canada Square (Canary Wharf). It's also the highest observation deck in the world (the one in Dubai is only like, half way up the tower, whereas this is at the top).
This model is fab <3
...from the top...
20 million people make a lot of smog...
These would all probably be taller than an anything in London...
The observation deck is sort of, hanging from the bit at the top of the hole of the bottle opener...
Glass floors...
Meeee
Yeah, it's **** huge. I thought it was amazing, but Ben wasn't the biggest fan
On the way down we bought some Knockoff Vitamin Water. This stuff was actually nicer <3
Even though we'd already been up the tallest building in the city we still had to go up the Oriental Pearl Tower too because...
They have...
A CRED <3 <3 <3.
This giant roundabout pedestrian bridge thing was awesomeeee.
The Oriental Peal Tower. The cred is in the bottom sphere.
Even though we only wanted the cred, we had to pay full price, so went to the top anyway. The only good thing was that they had a bigger glass floor (and an outdoor area). Of course, it was an anticlimax after just going up the other tower.
So yeah, the cred. It's in a Space themed arcade. It's SUCH a weird place for a cred, and a waste of space really, not that I'm complaining <3.
Gotta love the signage... haha.
It was a custom rollerskater type thing. Here's the staysh.
... and some of the ride...
It was pretty fierce for a kiddie cred actually. Yeah.
We'd now killed enough time and it was dark, so we went back to the viewing area from earlier for some night shots. Shanghai is so gorge at night <3.
Fin.
I can't remember what we did the next day... so next part is a suprise!
p.s, if anyone is interested in seeing more of the city I'd recommend these two videos. It really is an amazing place.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUXXLqKQ2w4[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU_mXe0AChk&feature=related[/youtube]
Martyn
Giga Poster
Re: State of Qatar, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China
Those buildings are mega. I've never been to a city with loads of massive buildings like that.
This picture:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hp ... 9477_n.jpg
Is particularly mind blowing for me. Don't really know why.
Those buildings are mega. I've never been to a city with loads of massive buildings like that.
This picture:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hp ... 9477_n.jpg
Is particularly mind blowing for me. Don't really know why.
Jake
Strata Poster
Re: State of Qatar, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China
^ Haha, of course, they're doing the United Arab Emirates aren't they...
I mean, the Burj is the tallest building, but it cheats by having a huge spike really. I love the Shanghai World Financial Center because it's just a solid building, it doesn't cheat at all.
Shanghai's observation deck is about 100ft taller than the one on the Burj though, so spiteful <3.
What are TPR saying about the Burj? If they're saying it's the tallest building, fine, but if they're saying it's the tallest observation point then BOOOO!
They're doing a China trip anyway aren't they? Although they probably won't have time to do stuff like this because there are so many parks...
^ Haha, of course, they're doing the United Arab Emirates aren't they...
I mean, the Burj is the tallest building, but it cheats by having a huge spike really. I love the Shanghai World Financial Center because it's just a solid building, it doesn't cheat at all.
Shanghai's observation deck is about 100ft taller than the one on the Burj though, so spiteful <3.
What are TPR saying about the Burj? If they're saying it's the tallest building, fine, but if they're saying it's the tallest observation point then BOOOO!
They're doing a China trip anyway aren't they? Although they probably won't have time to do stuff like this because there are so many parks...
Martyn B
CF Legend
Re: State of Qatar, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China
Not so long ago, a few of them went over to Dubai, I read the reports, and some guy commented on how silly it was having the viewing platform only half way up the tallest building in the world.
Needless to say (and naming no names), someone went mental. Literally flew off the rails into a complete state of rage. I couldn't quite believe it tbh, but I've heard its not un-common over there...
Not so long ago, a few of them went over to Dubai, I read the reports, and some guy commented on how silly it was having the viewing platform only half way up the tallest building in the world.
Needless to say (and naming no names), someone went mental. Literally flew off the rails into a complete state of rage. I couldn't quite believe it tbh, but I've heard its not un-common over there...
Re: State of Qatar, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China
The Bottleopener was FOUL.
I literally hated it.
Wouldn't have not done it though, so fab to be able to say I've done it <3
But, yeah, suffice to say when the **** thing SWAYED in the wind, I was fairly sure death was imminent.
The Bottleopener was FOUL.
I literally hated it.
Wouldn't have not done it though, so fab to be able to say I've done it <3
But, yeah, suffice to say when the **** thing SWAYED in the wind, I was fairly sure death was imminent.
Jake
Strata Poster
Re: State of Qatar, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China
Jin Jiang Action Park & Fisherman Warf.
Jin Jiang is in a pretty gross area of the city. The entrance is basically under a huge road interchange and there are loads of beggers, loads.
We bought a pack of tickets which was enough for the creds + a couple of extra rides.
The first thing you see is the big wheel, because it's HUGE.
Well, it's 350ft. I think it looks taller because the cars are so tiny...
The Zamperla MotoCoaster was just inside the entrance so we grabbed it first. Not much to say here, really not a fan of these...
Here it is again, with the spiteful GIB in the background...
It opened a few weeks later. Spite.
After the spite we went over to the shuttle loop, probably named 'Roller Coaster' or something. I think it actually was.
You go out of the station forwards, up a lift hill, then come down the drop backwards, do the loop backwards, up a spike, then do the loop forward again.
This was the first of three on the trip and was by far the best one. We expected death but got a smooth, intense coaster. It was actually amaze <3.
The only issue is the restraints are designed for shorter people, so our shoulders got absolutely ruined. Not enough westerners <///3.
Next cred was 'Karst Kave Coaster'. It was a powered coaster, but we couldn't tell if it was Zamperla or a knockoff. Half their other coasters are Knockoffs and the other half are 'real' ones, so it's impossible to tell </3. It was fairly decent though, mainly due to the amount of ghetto-fab theming <3.
Our fourth and final cred ar Jin Jiang was ANOTHER Golden Horse...
After the creds we had tokens left, so braved the dodgy rapids. They were pretty sick to be fair. Better than Alton's or Thorpe's.
...and the ghetto ghost train.
Fisherman Warf is quite far out, so we had to take the metro to the end of a line and then get a taxi from there. What a dump.
'It's actually Southend'
The sea was gross...
Got the Jungle Mouse first. One of the scariest, rustiest creds I've ever done...
I couldn't get out because my seatbelt was so rusty it got stuck... that's what you get for trying to use safety equipment in the People's Republic of China.
The woman kept pointing at this dodgy looking Power Surge knockoff next door, so after shouting 'Zamperla haven't been anywhere near that, have they?' we ran over to the powered coaster...
The looping toboggan was closed. Thank god...
That Top Spin <///3. Wish we had a better picture of it <///3.
It took us HOURS to get back into the city as there were no taxis ANYWHERE. We went into this random empty posh hotel and got them to call us one. They gave us free squash too <3.
Next: Suzhou parks (Giant Wheel Park of Suzhou and Suzhou Amusement Land)...
Jin Jiang Action Park & Fisherman Warf.
Jin Jiang is in a pretty gross area of the city. The entrance is basically under a huge road interchange and there are loads of beggers, loads.
We bought a pack of tickets which was enough for the creds + a couple of extra rides.
The first thing you see is the big wheel, because it's HUGE.
Well, it's 350ft. I think it looks taller because the cars are so tiny...
The Zamperla MotoCoaster was just inside the entrance so we grabbed it first. Not much to say here, really not a fan of these...
Here it is again, with the spiteful GIB in the background...
It opened a few weeks later. Spite.
After the spite we went over to the shuttle loop, probably named 'Roller Coaster' or something. I think it actually was.
You go out of the station forwards, up a lift hill, then come down the drop backwards, do the loop backwards, up a spike, then do the loop forward again.
This was the first of three on the trip and was by far the best one. We expected death but got a smooth, intense coaster. It was actually amaze <3.
The only issue is the restraints are designed for shorter people, so our shoulders got absolutely ruined. Not enough westerners <///3.
Next cred was 'Karst Kave Coaster'. It was a powered coaster, but we couldn't tell if it was Zamperla or a knockoff. Half their other coasters are Knockoffs and the other half are 'real' ones, so it's impossible to tell </3. It was fairly decent though, mainly due to the amount of ghetto-fab theming <3.
Our fourth and final cred ar Jin Jiang was ANOTHER Golden Horse...
After the creds we had tokens left, so braved the dodgy rapids. They were pretty sick to be fair. Better than Alton's or Thorpe's.
...and the ghetto ghost train.
Fisherman Warf is quite far out, so we had to take the metro to the end of a line and then get a taxi from there. What a dump.
'It's actually Southend'
The sea was gross...
Got the Jungle Mouse first. One of the scariest, rustiest creds I've ever done...
I couldn't get out because my seatbelt was so rusty it got stuck... that's what you get for trying to use safety equipment in the People's Republic of China.
The woman kept pointing at this dodgy looking Power Surge knockoff next door, so after shouting 'Zamperla haven't been anywhere near that, have they?' we ran over to the powered coaster...
The looping toboggan was closed. Thank god...
That Top Spin <///3. Wish we had a better picture of it <///3.
It took us HOURS to get back into the city as there were no taxis ANYWHERE. We went into this random empty posh hotel and got them to call us one. They gave us free squash too <3.
Next: Suzhou parks (Giant Wheel Park of Suzhou and Suzhou Amusement Land)...