China 01/17 – Nanchang Wanda Theme Park

Our next destination was the city of Nanchang. I spoke of getting the lay of the land on the previous day and ended up going through a particulaly interesting bout of research to organise our stop here. The park itself is very new and several western brand ‘resort hotels’ had just begun springing up around it. As with the Guangzhou hotel, their pinpointing on the maps was somewhat misguided, though this time much less in their favour.
The one I was most interested in, though it was named after the Wanda resort, had itself positioned right in the heart of the city and nowhere near the park, which I could tell from sattelite images of mud and rollercoaster track was situated well out to the south. After several email exchanges they eventually confirmed that they were on park, which is exactly where I wanted to be of course and the maps were updated accordingly. Consider that my contribution to the world for that year.

Day 3 – Nanchang Wanda Theme Park

So it felt like I moved the earth to get to this place and it was quite the experience for it. Encountered 2 people on the way up to the entrance. 1 trying to sell us ponchos, the other trying to sell cheap tickets. That was more people than there were inside the park.
I’m no stranger to dead parks but this was in another league. Staff at each ride entrance were overly happy to see another human being and would regularly entice you to have a go on theirs.

Well, if you insist.

What an animal. I’ve always enjoyed my GCIs but have never been blown away by them. Generally I preferred the smaller ones for their pacing and layout. Well no more.
The signature relentlessness of this style of wooden coaster is cranked up to the max and the layout works ridiculously well. Other than the tall turnaround which from the size looks like it shouldn’t even work, the train feels like it just keeps finding speed out of nowhere and chucking you down another 50ft every few seconds.
Some rides try to kill you and you love them for it. Some rides try to remove your clothes and you have no choice but to oblige. Some rides have you laughing uncontrollably out of sheer joy. This snake did all of that, morning and evening, in rain and in more rain.
According to the staff, as they were getting all nervous, Mr Wanda himself (or just a park manager) rocked up at some point and rode this too while I was mid-marathon. Sadly he seemed unphased by my presence.
Highlight: Standout ride of the trip.
Lowlight: Can’t get a good picture of it.

The Intamin hyper with the very strange lift and turnaround shaping was begging for some attention next. It was another very good ride and I enjoyed it a lot, but it wasn’t quite the game changer I was hoping for. You’d think they’d be able to nail a ride like this by now, 15 years after various legendary names came into play, but the layout still has its flaws.

The air time on the first and last hill, both of which pass through the supports and try to cut your hands off, was unearthly. I found the rest of the hills were somewhat underwhelming in comparison and there was a little too much meandering about, burning speed for my liking.

I don’t wish to do this creation a disservice though, it’s still amazing. The python across the park had set my sights on perfection, so I was being particularly fussy. I only ever experienced the ride in the front row with an empty train, in cold weather. From what I’ve learnt about many Intamins, given the right conditions and sitting in the back row, that monster of a first drop has the potential to be something really special to add to the whole sequence. I still currently consider this the strongest pair of coasters in any single park on the planet.

Highlight: Who doesn’t want an Intamin hyper all to themselves?
Lowlight: First time I’ve felt my face wobble from speed and that ain’t a good sign.

The Beijing Shibaolai Amusement Equipment attempt at an SLC was a bit crap. It’s nice to try a new layout for once, but it doesn’t solve much over the originals in terms of how poorly they ride and the mediocrity of the coaster experience.
Highlights: The station audio system was playing Kpop.
Lowlights: Not being able to take comfort in the fact that someone else on the train would be suffering more than myself.

A standard layout spinner, I believe Chinese manufactured. These things are unpleasant at best, but it is my duty to put up with them.
Highlight: Love the porcelan look of the exterior of the cars.
Lowlight: Loathe the interior of the cars with their unnecessary seatbelts.

The final Caterpillar cred – Spite! Legend tells us that it needs a full train of guests to operate. I’m so surprised I got everything else here. I really am.

The staff girl at the Roto-drop tower was particularly adorable, skipping along the queue with me and chatting away, purely from the excitement of having a customer for the day. It’s good to know that my presence brings such joy to others.
The ride itself didn’t pack as much punch as I would have expected from its type. Maybe it was 40 people short.

Haunted Kiln walkthrough attraction didn’t disappoint. Does what it says on the tin and made me laugh many times. Success.

There is something quite magical about having all these big expensive toys to play with, but as the day wears on it does start to feel like something in the atmosphere is lacking.
I’m extremely glad that (nearly) everything was all open, despite terrible weather and zero attendance and with the world class quality of the headline attractions here I look forward to experiencing what else Mr Wanda brings to the table.

Day 4

China 01/17 – Chimelong Paradise

Having made a name for themselves the previous day, this Chimelong was a bit of a step down in quality. The amusements definitely are the primary focus here and I’m sure it satisfies the locals as a well-equipped park with a highly thrill based orientation. It just hurts me personally that every cred here can also be experienced somewhere else in the world.

Day 2 – Chimelong Paradise

I remember a stupid online news article about this ‘deathtrap park in China with messed up rides you won’t believe’. It was this park and I probably shouted at the screen for their ignorance and clickbait, knowing every one of those rides existed elsewhere before this park did.
(Nothing wrong with the place really, first-world problems).

This big B&M couldn’t really fail to be good. Predictable and solid fun. The train was never full and I had good picks on various seats to make the most of it. The massive drop is great at kicking you out of your chair for a good few seconds and the intimidation factor to other riders at the top is always amusing.
Highlight: The brakes before the second major drop didn’t slow the train at all, allowing it to throw itself into the sweet mist of the tunnel below in a powerful fashion.
Lowlight: Sweet pollution at 200ft.

The Vekoma motocoaster couldn’t really fail to be bad. I just can’t get on with the seating position on these rides, as it makes for such mild discomfort the moment I climb aboard. Every hill and turn was filled with the thought ‘why?’
Highlight: Local guest glued to their phone choosing not to ride but unable to operate a rope that separates non-riders from the station. Took a quick glance up from the screen to stare at the rope with a look that said ‘I’m not even going to attempt to figure out how that one works.’
Lowlight: Mild discomfort.

This copy of the once record breaking Intamin looper rode worse than Colossus ever has, which is quite an achievement. Not offensively bad. Just shout throughout the layout, then laugh it off bad.
Highlight: Local girl physically dragging her bloke along the queue to ride it against his will.
Lowlight: My preferred seat for leg room and experience was closed off (front of the back car).

This was the first Intamin Halfpipe I had come across and I could have continued living happily without it. Every time it launches while you’re facing sideways you could make a false claim for whiplash.
The band in front of it was interesting at least.
Highlight: New experience.
Lowlight: Unpleasant experience.

Mack youngstars are great for family coasters, the imaginitelvely named #5 Young Star Coaster being no exception, and it’s a shame they’re so outnumbered by other inferior products. The ride is ridiculously smooth and actually gives you a few forces to think about as well.
Highlight: Rat in the station.
Lowlight: Rat in the station.

Alien Attack is one of those immersive tunnel jobs <insert ‘what Derren Brown’s Ghost Train could have been’ joke here>.
Visually the experience was not as good as I thought it would be, is there any reason for the vehicle to have a roof? I couldn’t really get behind the story either – meet playful child aliens, their overprotective parents destroy your city and kill millions, then all is dismissed as a misunderstanding. The end. Something different I guess.

The Forest Temple walkthrough was fun. It had some impressive animatronic dragons and goblins among other things. I’m a sucker for a scare maze that doesn’t try too hard, where you can laugh in the face of fear. China is good at those.

We also caught a magic show and a stunt show here, which were both decent enough and managed to clear everything in a surprisingly short amount of time for a park of this scale.

That evening I learnt that many of the mid- to lower-end hotels bookale online in China take a lot of liberties with their advertised position on the map. The one I had booked that claimed to be near to Guangzhou South Station was in fact nowhere to be found (to this day, there still isn’t anything decent available around here – it’s a bit of a dead spot for the city).
I have, since this episode, always booked a known brand and been particularly meticulous in my research as to whether or not places exist. Generally getting the lay of the land always helps for any unforeseen eventuality.

Our train for the next morning left stupidly early at around 05:00 so we definitely needed to be within walking or someone’s driving distance and after some worrying contemplation that even involved just staying inside the station all night and then sleeping on the train, we took the plunge at an info counter and went for one of their on the spot hotel offerings.
An over enthusiastic minibus driver rocks up and leads us to the dark depths of the station underground where his transport awaits. My first true encounter with Chinese driving involved him animatedly chatting on the phone and smoking constantly, mostly not looking where he was going and taking a couple of shortcuts up the wrong sides of the road into oncoming traffic. I have since come to appreciate the entertainmet value.
The hotel itself was barely passable, but sleep is important on these trips so it was probably the right decision. They allowed you to book the minibus back to the station at the time required for any train and the return journey was equally questionable, though the roads were much quieter.

Onwards and north-eastwards.

Day 3

China 01/17 – Chimelong Ocean Kingdom

After spending just a couple of days in China the previous January, I had become hooked on checking out what else this massive country had to offer. There has been a boom like no other for the theme park industry out here over the past decade or so, with larqe quantities of both parks and very impressive looking rides flying up at a rate of knots.
It’s a fascinating country in which to experience new parks both as a bit of a road less travelled and the fact that they have a rather unique take on how to operate compared to the rest of the world, for better or worse (mostly worse as we’ll come to find out).

We flew into Guangzhou from Singapore and immediately took a high speed train down to Zhuhai, on the border with Macau. Trains are king in China, aside from driving being somewhat inaccessible to outsiders (and potentially suicidal if you were to try it in the cities), the almost incomprehensibly huge distances between cities (and parks) are consumed with relative ease by what I consider to be the greatest rail network in the world.
The coverage of the trains is vast beyond belief, the journies unbelievably cheap and on more than one occasion they have set the record for the fastest I’ve ever travelled on land.

Outside the station there were a number of small tourist huts, one of which offered a dedicated coach to the first park of the trip.

Day 1 – Chimelong Ocean Kingdom

Hello beautiful.

This park exceeded my expectations as an overall package and was possibly the only park on the trip that had that ‘just nice to spend the day there’ atmosphere. It was incredibly relaxed and well run, with a satisfying selection of rides, animals and shows.

This very attractive B&M is the most accomplished wing rider I’ve graced so far. The theming and interaction is excellent and the layout is simple but fun sequence of elements. The straight first drop provides an unusually satisfying sensation of airtime that can usually never be found on these models, before the restraints tighten around your shoulders at the pull out and restrict any further chance of this occuring, as is always the case with any strong positive force on these.
Highlight: Sluggish back row of the train in the first inversion provided a wonderfully floaty and sustained upside down moment.
Lowlight: Sluggish inline twist is a bit of a lung crusher.

Again this Mack looks great with the theming and floating by the real polar bears at the beginning is cool, but all in all it’s just a water coaster that fails to stir things up much. Not my favourite Polar Xplorer.
Highlight: Realising it isn’t quite a cloned layout.
Lowlight: Realising it might as well have been.

The second Mack is a similar story in that it looks great and floating past the various animals on display at the beginning of the ride is cool. Aside from this it’s a bigger, more lumbering water coaster that fails to stir things up much.
Highlight: Walrus Mountain theming.
Lowlight: Better to look at than to ride.

Great name.

Did Sea Odyssey, which is an Omnimover dark ride that weaves in and out of screens that bounces between a narrative about a metal fish enduring some mild peril and some real life aquarium tubes. They also chucked in a big erupting volcano set with ceiling projections at the end. Not knowing at all what to expect, it was impressive and good fun.

The 5D theatre was a surprise hit as well. You never quite know what you’re getting with your Ds and often they can feel like a bit of a waste of time. This was the real deal however, with impressive visuals and effects. The story featured the park mascots and went through scenes based on the rides and areas in the park such as flying a parrot through a forest, venturing inside Walrus Mountain, riding the big ass whale on top of the aquarium and saving some penguins from evil Mr fire-breathing sea monster (he needs a ride next).
Such a committed theme and I love the whole concept of a park taking pride in its attractions enough to use them into other forms of media.

The rest of the day was spent with many more flights on the parrot, alterating with a few animal shows and zoo exhibits at various points. They have a huge selection of animals and the scale of the main aquarium often makes the amusement aspect of the place seem secondary.
The Beluga show stood out as particularly unusual when they invited guests to come up and let the creatures pop out of the water and kiss them somewhere around the face, after showing a video montage of many national celebrities receiving the same treatment.
We stuck around until nightfall to watch the fountain show across the lake centrepiece of the park – always an enjoyable and slightly magical experience.

The huge screen over the entrance plaza is yet another awesome visual that this park has to offer.
Chimelong Ocean Kingdom remains one of my favourite parks in the region, though I really hope they manage to pad out the ride lineup in future to make it even more formidable.

Day 2