Resort Ranking – The Fantawilds, by dark rides (2025)

We’re definitely overdue an update on this old classic. Since my original guide in 2020, Fantawild have opened at least another dozen parks and I’ve managed to bring my total up to an almost absurd 25 individual Fantawild park visits. They’ve also diversified in their styles of park a fair amount since the original trilogy of themes, which is exciting, and there are plenty more interesting and unique attractions to spotlight as their dark ride game has gone from strength to strength.

Rather than expanding on the original ranking in the same style which only looked at a handful of attractions each, I figured I’d try take a similar approach to the old Happy Valley/Six Flags ranking posts (both also overdue an update). This means separating each park that I’ve visited into two main categories – the coaster rankings for the coaster fans, and the dark ride rankings for the dark ride fans. Then we’ll combine the scores, figure out some convoluted system for how the multi-park resorts are affected, and highlight which locations have the most overall appeal right now. Plus a bit of location logistics again for good measure.

Wish me luck.

Fantawild Park Ranking by Dark Rides

This is gonna hurt.

#24 Fantawild Adventure Zhuzhou – Dino Rampage, Space Journey, Space Warrior, Sky Sailor

#24 Fantawild Adventure Zhengzhou – Dino Rampage, Space Expo, Space Warrior, Sky Sailor

Start with the basics, the signature dark ride of the Adventure parks was always Dino Rampage. The very first Fantawild had one of these and it kicked off a series of many 4D motion-based dark rides being staples of future parks throughout the country. Crude, but effective, I wasn’t a fan at first. Since becoming such a stan of their later work however, I appreciate this one on new levels. It’s worth experiencing either as a piece of history at this point, or for the pay-off of Dino Rampage 2.0, if you want to really geek out about it.

#23 Fantawild Adventure Tai’an – Dino Rampage, X-Cops, Crazy Idioms, Space Warrior, Sky Sailor

Same as above, but with two simulator attractions for the price of one. Crazy Idioms is a more modern overlay of Space Journey, which may have also been rolled out to some other places by this point. Not necessarily an upgrade though.

#22 Fantawild Adventure Shenyang – Dino Rampage, Space Expo, Boonie Bears Theatre, Space Journey, Boonie Bear Adventure, Sky Sailor

Same as above, but with a Boonie Bear takeover. Again, the shooter is an overlay which appears to have happened a few times, but they also got the revolving theatre added, which has a few different decent films worth tracking down in your travels.

#21 Fantawild Adventure Jiayuguan – The Silk Road, Wizard Academy, Boonie Bears Theatre, Space Journey, Boonie Bear Adventure, Sky Sailor

As a long time advocate for the unique attraction, much of my later love for Fantawild has come from learning that they do in fact have their fair share of them. The external opinion has always been of this machine-like mass-produced ‘just another Fantawild park full of clones’ situation, but the individuality and creativity has always been in there to at least some extent. Even I was guilty in the early days of thinking once you’ve done one of each brand, you’ve done them all.

The Adventure park in Jiayuguan has a dark ride specifically tailored to its region, in The Silk Road. In terms of timelines it seems like it was developed directly alongside Chinese Opera Express which uses the same huge vehicles and ride system, but I find the theme of this one so much more engaging.
Being a later adventure park they also got a Wizard Academy, the successor of Dino Rampage, though there’s plenty more of those to come.

#19 Oriental Heritage Wuhu – Devil’s Peak, Legend of Nuwa, Dragon King’s Tale, Boonie Bears Theatre, Bridge to Love, Colourful Kingdom, Chinese Opera Express

#19 Oriental Heritage Xiamen – Devil’s Peak, Legend of Nuwa, Rumble Under the Sea, Boonie Bears Theatre, Bridge to Love, Colourful Kingdom, Chinese Opera Express

These parks were seen as the gold standard when I first started visiting them, but I’m not sure if it’s true with the early ones. Being built next to existing Dreamland parks that actually did a little better on the dark ride front did them no favours and in terms of coasters there wasn’t much between the two brands of this era. It’s more of the surface level aesthetic that these parks really nailed and I think it resonated with the national audience, a true Chinese feel that went on to see Oriental Heritage become the longest serving brand in the chain.

Legend of Nuwa is considered the headline act in most cases, the third generation of 4D motion-based action. The supporting lineup includes robot arm dark ride Devil’s Peak which probably sneaks in as my personal favourite here for the atmospherics, along with several other long story-telling dark rides and simulators such as Dragon King’s Tale, Chinese Opera Express and Bridge to Love, which make it hard to do the adjacent parks in the same day.

#18 Fantawild Wonderland (Xuzhou) – Wizard Academy 2.0, Boonie Bears Theatre, Boonie Bear Adventure, River of Tales, Adventures in Dragon Palace, Let’s Fly

For the most recently built Fantawild park I’ve visited, this actually falls surprisingly low. The most exciting thing here for me was Wizard Academy, a name we’ve seen many times before but instead here they decided to lovingly remake one of their old classics with new technology, new scenes and even a new wizard, with plenty of throwbacks to the original. Love to see it.

The rest of the lineup is rather common. Though this marked my first experience with Adventures in Dragon Palace, and this one has the best entrance from it with the moving dragon, I’ve since stumbled across it many more times. The rest is of the same modern quality that ties up with other recent parks, from the Boonie Bear shooting dark ride to the River of Tales boat ride.

#16 Fantawild Dreamland Xiamen – Jinshan Temple Showdown, Qin Dynasty Adventure, Wizard Academy, Space Expo, Sky Sailor

#16 Fantawild Dreamland Wuhu – Whitesnake Maiden’s Fury, Qin Dynasty Adventure, Wizard Academy, X-Cops, Space Warrior

Interesting how these line up slightly ahead of their neighbour parks. I think the one-two punch of Jinshan / Whitesnake and Qin beats out the best of their other, newer gate in terms of dark rides. This is where it will get muddy for the final results as they both perfectly compliment each other as a resort, filling the gaps. But you need two tickets and, reasonably, two days.

#15 Fantawild Dreamland Qingdao – Jinshan Temple Showdown, Warrior’s Tomb, Wizard Academy, Space Expo, Chicken Fight Back, Sky Sailor

The Qingdao park is a weird outlier because it’s the only Dreamland that doesn’t have a second gate. It’s one of the most inner-city builds of any Fantawild and presumably has no room for expansion, so they threw it one weird extra bone over the above two in Chicken Fight Back, a seemingly unique shooting dark ride based on an earlier franchise from Fantawild Animation, before the bears took over.

#14 Oriental Legend Handan – Magic Gallery, Legend of Nuwa, River of Tales, Bears’ Mission, Crazy Idioms, Bridge to Love

Much as I think Magic Gallery is the best thing ever, this park still feels a bit Oriental Heritage-lite. While the park saw many debut versions that substantially improved on their earlier iterations, from the boat rides to the shooting rides and even more elaborate simulators, for me it lacks a second hard hitter. It paved the way for greatness.

#13 Oriental Heritage Changsha – Magic Gallery, Legend of Nuwa, River of Tales, Bridge to Love, Chinese Opera Express, Let’s Fly

It’s also weird that this lineup looks rather shallow to me now, as it was pretty peak at the time I experienced it. This park in particular, my first encounter with Magic Gallery, mere weeks before covid hit and I was kept away from Fantawilds from over 3 years, when I had just properly fallen for them… it holds a special place for leading to such an obsession.
But that obsession has led me to seek out all of the other incredible lineups and I think, most importantly, unique attractions. And that’s where I’m going have to draw the distinction in ranking these at some point. Again, much as I love Magic Gallery, we can’t escape that it’s in other places too. Sort of.

#12 FT Wild Land (Taizhou) – Forest Drifting, Realm of Warriors, Let’s Fly, Finding Merlion, Bullseye

This park really hit me out of nowhere with it’s dark rides, as I hadn’t done my research properly and was very pleasantly surprised with what I encounted on the day. I think it really set me down the specific path of making sure I got every unique Fantawild dark ride under my belt because it proved how much I, and probably the world, were sleeping on the assumption that it’s all only a bunch of clones.

Forest Drifting is simply joyous and magical, bringing new special effects to the Fantawild arsenal that I hadn’t seen before. Realm of Warriors is by now a 4th generation 4D motion-base dark ride, following on from Legend of Nuwa and, at least to me at the time, an entirely unique story of one at that.
Even the flying theatre here is actually excellent, as it’s full of fantasy and dinosaurs rather than the overplayed wonders of the world nonsense.

#10 Oriental Heritage Ningbo – Jinshan Temple Showdown, Devil’s Peak, Legend of Nuwa, Boonie Bears Theatre, Bridge to Love, Colourful Kingdom, Chinese Opera Express

#10 Oriental Heritage Jinan – Jinshan Temple Showdown, Devil’s Peak, Legend of Nuwa, Boonie Bears Theatre, Bridge to Love, Colourful Kingdom, Chinese Opera Express

The early Oriental Heritage parks that didn’t get built next to a Dreamland managed to get a Jinshan Temple Showdown all to themselves, instantly raising them a level above the others. Beyond that these have a near identical lineup, notably only missing Dragon King’s Tale. They’re pretty iconic within this space.

#9 Oriental Heritage Jingzhou – Battle of Red Cliffs, Magic Gallery, Legend of Nuwa, Boonie Bears Theater, The Tune Tour, Bridge to Love, Let’s Fly

I put Battle of Red Cliffs at the forefront here because it’s another one-of-a-kind. It directly replaces Chinese Opera Express in ride system and theme, and the unique storytelling does it so much more justice. Paired with Magic Gallery we’ve already got a killer combination going on here, though the rest is standard Oriental Heritage fare.

#8 Glorious Orient Huai’an – Zhiyuan Zhiyuan, Railroad Warriors, Sharpshooter, Let’s Fly

I didn’t know what to think of Glorious Orient at first. It was the first new big brand that came along after my obsession with Fantawild truly began and expectations were perhaps set immeasurably high. Some of the steps up in technology are astounding but the wartime theme of the place takes a little getting your head around, over the whimsical mythology I’ve come to know and love.

Zhiyuan x2 is so visually striking and takes their boat ride systems to a whole new level. The storytelling actually hits really hard in places and provides some excellent moments.
Railroad Warriors is I guess the hotly anticipated 5th generation of the 4D motion-based dark ride, their most iterated vehicles in history. It flows and is timed with an insane level of precision and more than any other version before it really plays on a true combination of physical scenery and screens, making it by far the most accomplished of them to date.

Besides that, the shooter and the flying theatre are nothing special, and it’s just not my vibe. And I’m not sure where that leaves it, as it’s a head vs. heart scenario, but I do know that the Huai’an park didn’t receive the full Glorious Orient roster.

#6 Fantawild Dreamland Zhengzhou – Jinshan Temple Showdown, Qin Dynasty Adventure, Devil’s Peak, Dragon King’s Tale, Wizard Academy, Boonie Bears Theatre, Havoc in Heaven

#6 Fantawild Dreamland Zhuzhou – Whitesnake Maiden’s Fury, Qin Dynasty Adventure, Devil’s Peak, Rumble Under the Sea, Wizard Academy, Boonie Bears Theatre, Havoc in Heaven

These two manage to play out like ultimate compilations of the dark rides of their generation. It seems perhaps in ‘completing’ their resort alongside an existing Adventure park, everything on offer was thrown at them as a last memento, rather than any of the halfway-mismatched lineups above. The only real downgrade is Wizard Academy over Legend of Nuwa, but they didn’t even get any of the filler stuff like the early flying theatres, simulators or boat rides. Sadly I can’t also speak for the quality of upkeep on these rides as of today, they are getting pretty old for Chinese theme park standards and that scares me slightly. In their heyday though, what a lineup.

#5 Glorious Orient Ningbo – Zhiyuan Zhiyuan, Railroad Warriors, Hangar Breakout, Sharpshooter, Let’s Fly

The Glorious Orient here also has Hangar Breakout, yet another motion-based dark ride based on the disturbing themes of war, but with smaller vehicles. So Fantawild have two, new, excellent versions now, and I’m fairly sure these have been rolling out to the latest Boonie-specific parks I haven’t yet managed to visit. Can’t wait to see how they transition to a happy story again. Still, an incredible top three from a technical perspective, and for being unlike any other park in the world.

#4 Fantawild Dino Kingdom (Zigong) – Deep Down, Dino Rampage 2.0, Mystic River, Jurassic Journey, Let’s Fly, Bug Zapper

Oh no, now we’re in the danger zone. Deep Down did things to me, deep down. It may well have the best scene of dark ride horror in the entire theme park landscape. I thought this ride system was dead for Fantawild and didn’t even know what I was getting into at this park until the moment I clocked a model of the vehicle outside the entrance, and screamed in delight. This is what they do to me these days. It might be my new favourite.

But we’re not done with this park. They also brought Dino Rampage back to life with new technology, new media and a bigger, badder dino. As with the Wizard Academy remake, this just makes me so happy that their ‘older’ properties are looked back on fondly and with respect, as they bring them into their new golden age. That’s not done by a chain that doesn’t care.
Mystic River brings more dinosaurs, this time to their boat ride system. It’s a little ropey, but they also have the best (dinosaur) version of their flying theatre here, and a solid shooter. And some Boonie Bears that might make you cry.

#3 Silk Road Dreamland (Jiayuguan) – Legendary Dunhuang, Silk Road Saga, Legend of Nuwa, Tune Tour, Bridge to Love, Chinese Opera Express

So Deep Down happened, the supposed rebirth of the enhanced motion dark ride system that really got my motor running. Nope.
I’d been obsessing over this park particularly, among many, for ages, because literally no one has been. It’s the most remote bit of Fantawild theme parking you can possibly think of (until the one in Hami opens) and, as we saw in the previous part, the coasters are absolute trash so no one even takes a second glance here. Except me.

Two things weighed heavy on my mind. 1, it’s the only Silk Road branded park in the chain, that’s exciting and needs to be ‘ticked off’ for my own completion. 2, what is this Legendary Dunhuang? I think it’s a unique dark ride, but it could be anything.
It’s a dark ride, it’s an enhanced motion vehicle ride, the only one they made between the original Qin Dynastys and Deep Down. The only one with this theme. So for the second time in four months I was discovering this mid-queue and screaming. And then with all manner of superlatives did I fall in love with the rest of the ride experience. It might be my new favourite.

But we weren’t done with dark ride discoveries for this park. Silk Road Saga? What’s that?
I had thought the Fantawild robot arm ride system was also dead, but it’s here, in a different form, with an extra seat on the cars, a circular station and an entirely different style of storytelling. Sure it amounted to a lot more of a ‘flying theatre in front of several screens’ type experience compared to the original, but it appears to be the only one and I still loved it’s own unique charms. I’ve seen at some point that they sold this system to somewhere else in China but never managed to find it again, the rabbit hole is endless.
The rest of the park plays out like a basic Oriental Heritage, not that that’s a bad thing.

#2 Fantawild Asian Legend (Nanning) – Hero of Malacca, Meeting in Ha Long Bay, Rama and Sita, Colourful Trip, Manila Manila, Let’s Fly, Finding the Merlion

5 years after winning my original list, Fantawild Asian Legend still stands alone as something pretty special. While the Finding the Merlion simulator, potentially it’s weakest attraction, has found its way into other parks throughout the country, the rest of the South East Asian twists on their popular ride systems have remained unique. There’s just no other park on this list with this many exclusives so it’s always going to tick a lot of boxes towards completion. Even the flying theatre manages to play well to the strengths of the park by being a compilation video of what it represents, rather than arbitrary sights. Then, when you’re all Jinshan Temple Showdowned-out, Hero of Malacca offers the only equivalent it ever received. Meeting in Ha Long Bay is a refreshing delight compared to the operatic counterpart, as is Rama and Sita over the omnipresent Nuwa.

I really want to return here, even though they rarely add much over time, if only just to document it better and re-experience a couple of the favourites with more experienced eyes. It’s been 6 long years and though my main fear is that the place has deteriorated, there were signs back then that they were putting the effort in to look after it. We’ll see.

#1 Oriental Heritage Mianyang – Magic Gallery 2.0, White Snake’s Fury, Legend of Nuwa, Rumble Under the Sea, River of Tales, Boonie Bears Theater, Let’s Fly

I’ve struggled so much with the ranking of the top 5, they’re all winners in my eyes. Mianyang threw another curveball at me, casually strolling into what should have been just another Magic Gallery, my supposed favourite dark ride. It turns out there’s an almost entirely different version, as a reader once pointed out to me long ago, and it’s essentially just as outstanding. This one plays on the same basic concept, with a different protagonist, and throws in an actual motion-base for the trackless vehicles to drive onto in the ‘flying theatre over the painting’ section. So, all the tricks of the big players at play.

What I do know is that pairing that with White Snake’s Fury is, probably, the best top two of any park here for me. Plus you’ve got one of the most modern Nuwas, which seem to move a lot more violently, and an insanely facelifted classic in the return of Rumble under the Sea. I feel like it’s the most well rounded example of the most iconic Fantawild park so far.

So quickly, for the dark ride fans, because this has gone on long enough, what’s the logistics?

Chengdu has become a bit of a hub in recent years, though the city doesn’t directly host a Fantawild itself. From here you can comfortably day trip both Oriental Heritage Mianyang and Dino Kingdom in Zigong. Plus they’ve recently opened an Oriental Legend in Ziyang, which is even closer, and looks like it can place well on this list with more new and unique attractions.

Beyond that it’s back to basic old Ningbo, sadly. Having both Glorious Orient and one of the highest ranked Oriental Heritage parks, they’ve just got such a depth of lineup in one spot that’s reachable from Shanghai. It’s the obvious choice.

Lastly, Changsha plays host to a well rounded roster, with Oriental Heritage in the West and then the Zhuzhou resort combination of Adventure and Dreamland very close by. Just an hour out by train is also another park I haven’t yet visited, Boonie Bears Land in Yichun, might be something special there too.

Now, how to combine this all into one…