Photo TR: Huagudeng Carnival (August 23, 2012)

Welcome To Huagudeng Carnival Where We Do Not Want You To Ride Our Coasters

Yesterday, I got up and headed for the train station to catch a train to Bengbu in Anhui province. My destination for the day was the newly opened Huagudeng Carnival. Despite its name, it is not a carnival, but a full-scale, permanent theme park. There is an inverted coaster here called Suspended Loop Coaster. It is a Chinese knock off of the Vekoma designs at the Happy Valley parks in China, except that it is a mirror image of those coasters. I boarded the coaster and then got told that since I was over 180cm, I was not supposed to be allowed to ride. It seems that Golden Horse, the company that made this ride, says it is not suitable for riders over 180 cm to ride because they are afraid of people breaking their feet on the car ahead of the or on the ground. I had ridden the SLC at Happy Valley in Shenzhen and I explained to the ride op that I ride inverted coaster often and have had no problems in nearly 20 years of riding them. Seeing how this is China, she decided to let me ride and didn't enforce this cave custom policy. The ride has some head banging but it isn't as bad as the Chinese designed custom layouts that use Vekoma's technology. Those rides at parks like Beijing Shijingshan were poorly designed and you would be better off being stung by a thousand piss ants than to ride one of those. In all, I like the SLC here.

There is also standard amusement park attractions here. A carousel, bumper cars, space shot, wave swinger and shoot the chutes ride are all here. A giant Ferris wheel stands out by the entrance to the park and is actually accessible before you get to the ticket booth and the ticket gate. The Ferris wheel has not opened yet.

There is also a small kiddie coaster here and adults can ride if they are accompanied by a child, so I was denied the credit. I tried to tell them that I was a manboy to see if that counted, but it didn't. This kiddie coaster is not listed on RCDB at the time of me posting this TR, so this is the 119th undocumented coaster I have found before ACE and RCDB.

I like the park, but the management needs to not be so exclusive when it comes to the coasters. I can halfway accept being denied the kiddie credit, but it is useless to deny some adults and accept others on the kiddie coaster. It is also completely insane to say that someone is too tall for the park's only adult coaster that is of a design that many tall people have been riding successfully for 20 years. People go to parks to enjoy rides-not to be turned away.

I have arrived at a brand new theme park. Let's see what is inside.

They have live performances here.

Here is the midway at Huagudeng Carnival.

The double-decker carousel looks nice.

The bumper cars are a lot of fun.

Look at how big the Ferris wheel is.

The chutes ride really gets you wet.

This ride was not running the whole time I was there.

Huagudeng Carnival has this kiddie coaster.

The kiddie coaster is very small.

The wave swinger looks very nice.

Here is the entrance to Suspended Looping Coaster.

Suspended Loop Coaster has a huge drop.

SLC looks like an attractive ride.

Here is some porn for inversion enthusiasts.

Riders are being thrilled by SLC's fourth inversion.

Here is one more photo of SLC to close out the TR.

I forgot to add that this park is planning to build a mine train later on.

Can you compare the chinese-made SLCs to the ones made by Vekoma?

Can you compare the chinese-made SLCs to the ones made by Vekoma?

Seeing as this happened on one of them, they don't do so well..

This coaster at Huagudeng seemed only a little bit rougher than the mirror image from Vekoma that I rode at Happy Valley in Shenzhen. I still enjoyed this one. The SLCs with original layouts by Chinese companies are a total nightmare. They give airtime which throws the riders into the OTSRs and on some of the inversions, the trains slow down almost to a stop.

Well there have been some Boomerangs that also stalled in the Cobra Roll - that's why they have the added stairway under the element...so not a chinese achievement.

Always wonder how this happens as the train on the trail-run is lighter than later when it's filled with riders. So it should stall on the trail-run when it's empty rather than later on when it's filled with riders...

"I tried to tell them that I was a manboy to see if that counted, but it didn't."

I think I may need to print this on a shirt and wear it all the time.

(Another great report; thanks again!)

Is your job to seek out unknown Chinese amusement parks?

My job is to seek out unknown Chinese parks.

I tried to tell them that I was a manboy to see if that counted, but it didn't.

Prime.

A rich and compelling read as per usual.

My job is to seek out unknown Chinese parks.

You're doing a great job! Always love seeing your TR's of random China parks. I am sure the TPR China trip participants appreciate it as well, as it might mean more credits for them!