I recently visited Gold Reef City theme park in Johannesburg South Africa. The park is located in the southern parts of Johannesburg close to some old mine dumps that can be seen from some of the higher rides. The theme of the park celebrates the gold rush of the early 1900's.
The park does not have many major rides, but it is a lot by any South African standards. South Africa does not really have a theme park culture so Gold Reef City is the biggest and longest running theme park. Cape Town also has a theme park called Ratanga Junction, but it is open seasonally during school holidays and it is rumored to close soon. I am not sure why.
Gold Reef City, Johannesburg, South Africa
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Gold Reef City, Johannesburg, South Africa
by JacquesB » Sun Apr 30, 2017 11:25 am
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- Anaconda first loop
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- Anaconda
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- Anaconda layout
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- Golden Loop is a bit difficult to photograph from the ground as it is surrounded by trees and restricted areas
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- Jozi Express
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- Another Jozi Express
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- Jozi Express from another angle
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- Tower of Terror, built into an old mine shaft and diving through a mine house, going underground and coming up on the other side of the Giant Wheel
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- Tower of Terror, taken from the Big Wheel next door to it
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- Tower of Terror
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- Raging River Rapids runs its course under the tracks of Anaconda
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- Raging River Rapids
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- Raging River Rapids
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- Raging River Rapids
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- Runaway Train. Sorry, could not get a better picture, but it is a standard mine train in case you're wondering... :)
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- Log ride
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- Log ride. Last drop of three. The other drops are in areas you cannot reach.
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- Log ride
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- Tornado
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- Mermaid
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- Wave Swing
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- UFO
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- Miner's Revenge
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- Miner's Revenge. This one tends to make you more dizzy than wet.
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- Dream Boat
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- New to the park. Jump City with trampolines
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- Farmyard for the young ones
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- Farmyard is educational as well
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- Learn about the animals
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- In case you did not know...
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- Kiddies ride area
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- More kiddies rides
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- Kiddies area with the Tower of Terror, Giant Wheel and the mine tour shaft in the background
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- This is an actual mine shaft. They do underground mine tours that take you into an actual gold mine. You get to wear all the head gear and battery belt and lights that the miners used to wear and go down in an actual mine cage.
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- Would you like to get married here? You can! The park has its own chapel.
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- You can even stay in the onsite hotel inside the park!
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- These are some of the hotel rooms. The rooms walk out right into the park. Some of these buildings house the conference rooms as well.
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- Train station for the Fun train
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- Fun train taking you around the whole park.
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- Part of the old steam train museum
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- An old steam train
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- Panning for some gold. Fun for the whole family.
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- Fitting in with the theme of the park you can take some vintage photos. They dress you up in Victorian clothes or going on safari and other themes and then take this old looking photo. An inexpensive souvenir.
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- One of the old houses you can view. You can go inside and see how the mining folk lived at the turn of the century.
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- Old museum area with some of the old houses
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- Fancy a chocolate fountain? Get your melted chocolate here. Served in a cone or dip some nougat, fruits or marshmallows in the chocolate. Finger licking good!
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- Giant Wheel with the Tower of Terror to the side
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- An aerial view of Anaconda to the left in green and Golden Loop to the right in yellow
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- An aerial view of the mine shaft with the Johannesburg skyline in the back. To the right is one of the remaining mine dumps.
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- Jozi Express taken from the Giant Wheel
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- 4D theatre
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- 4D theatre with some restaurants to the side
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- 4D theatre
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Re: Gold Reef City, Johannesburg, South Africa
by ytterbiumanalyst » Sun Apr 30, 2017 11:42 am
Any park that allows you to do some spelunking is a special place. This park looks like a lot of fun, and it's one you don't see too often. Thanks so much for taking the time to write up this trip report!
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Re: Gold Reef City, Johannesburg, South Africa
by Philrad71 » Sun Apr 30, 2017 11:46 am
I had no idea that this park even existed, so thank you for sharing this report!
The Tower of Terror looks a bit intimidating while the rest of the park theming & rides look like it would be a very nice family park.
The Tower of Terror looks a bit intimidating while the rest of the park theming & rides look like it would be a very nice family park.
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Re: Gold Reef City, Johannesburg, South Africa
by Ed Farmer » Sun Apr 30, 2017 11:55 am
God, I want to ride Anaconda.
"Next, we are going to solicit the children of strangers so that we can go on a ride designed for children. This is so I can post online and impress other people who are very good at procuring unfamiliar children in order to go on rides designed for children, and thus have a higher arbitrary number than me."
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Re: Gold Reef City, Johannesburg, South Africa
by cardinalfan828 » Sun Apr 30, 2017 11:56 am
Nice pics! I'm still not sure if I like green on anaconda.. I liked the giovanola orange 
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Re: Gold Reef City, Johannesburg, South Africa
by gerstlaueringvar » Sun Apr 30, 2017 12:18 pm
Thank you for the TR, there isn't much about Gold Reef City out there and it's nice to see how it looks like now.
Is Anaconda really one of the most intense inverts out there as people said?
Is Anaconda really one of the most intense inverts out there as people said?
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Re: Gold Reef City, Johannesburg, South Africa
by Rill'o'beily » Sun Apr 30, 2017 12:26 pm
Thanks for the report!
Really seems like a lovely park with quite a selection of unique rides!
Really seems like a lovely park with quite a selection of unique rides!
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Re: Gold Reef City, Johannesburg, South Africa
by Coasterwatch01 » Sun Apr 30, 2017 12:27 pm
Anaconda looks like one of the most intense coasters ever built!
Why install real coasters when you can ride a virtual roller coaster, on an physical coaster?
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Re: Gold Reef City, Johannesburg, South Africa
by Ed Farmer » Sun Apr 30, 2017 12:33 pm
gerstlaueringvar wrote:Thank you for the TR, there isn't much about Gold Reef City out there and it's nice to see how it looks like now.
Is Anaconda really one of the most intense inverts out there as people said?
I've always assumed so, based on Giovanola's reputation, in combination with the Batman-esque layout. And word of mouf.
"Next, we are going to solicit the children of strangers so that we can go on a ride designed for children. This is so I can post online and impress other people who are very good at procuring unfamiliar children in order to go on rides designed for children, and thus have a higher arbitrary number than me."
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Re: Gold Reef City, Johannesburg, South Africa
by XII » Sun Apr 30, 2017 1:27 pm
Nice Photo TR. I hadn't seen anything on Gold Reef City for a while, and it's good to see how the park is doing now. The green on Anaconda is a big improvement from the orange it used to be. Hope to make it to this park someday.
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