Photo TR: Taiwan
Final Day on p. 7: E-DA Theme Park, HSR, and Taipei 101!Users viewing this topic: No registered users and 0 guests
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"Excuse me, miss, may I pound my large rooster into your donkey?"
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Re: Photo TR: Taiwan
by milst1 » Thu May 19, 2011 5:59 am
Thanks for everyone's comments, and thanks johncenas for putting us on to page 7. Next (and probably final) update will hopefully come before or after the weekend. I know readership is lower on the weekends as everyone's going to the parks! Have fun!
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I Guess Donkeys Are Okay
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Re: Photo TR: Taiwan
by READYdot » Thu May 19, 2011 7:08 am
Hello!
I'm new here, but I'd like to thank you for this awesome TR. All those parks seem somewhat lost on the edge of the world, very few guests and the most unusual layouts I have ever seen, like that Moon Sea park.
I'm new here, but I'd like to thank you for this awesome TR. All those parks seem somewhat lost on the edge of the world, very few guests and the most unusual layouts I have ever seen, like that Moon Sea park.
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"Excuse me, miss, may I pound my large rooster into your donkey?"
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Re: Photo TR: Taiwan
by milst1 » Mon May 23, 2011 2:41 pm
As reported in these very pages of Theme Park Review back in January 2010 and thereafter, Taiwan's newest theme park just came online in the past year. E-DA Theme Park is in Kaohsiung, which is a large port city in South Taiwan. Cheryl and I headed there for the last day of our Taiwan theme park adventure. Thanks again to everyone who followed our trip report.
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- It was about a 2 hr 15 minute drive from the Janfusun Fancyworld hotel.
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- It's a massive complex with a theme park, mall, and hotels. It was also our first not-great weather day, unfortunately, so we were anxious to get the credits before any rain. We arrived very close to opening.
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- It took us a little while to find the actual theme park entrance. The complex is huge.
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- We finally found the ticketing area. But then we had to get lost again finding the actual park entrance.
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- We figure it out eventually and we make a bee-line for this baby.
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- Big Air turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. I was secretly worried because I'd seen a recent story in the press about guests getting stuck on the thing.
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- But people were starting to line up and there was a crew there.
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- It's impressive to look at. The towers are just under 200 feet, according to Vekoma's website. And we enjoyed the ride. A catch car lifts the train forward up the far tower, then drops you, you coast backwards up to the top of the other tower, then forwards back down, and the catch car captures the train mid-way up the hill and lifts it up to the top again while it's heading back up. I give Vekoma credit for challenging themselves because the catch car system looks like an engineer's nightmare. And after being on so many coasters, it's not often that I actually get scared on a ride, and I was. The car catches the train while the train is moving at speed!
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- The Cyclops theming was cool too. The whole park has an ancient Greece theme, sort of.
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- This was right before they opened. We got on the second train. Alas, I was too much of a meathead to take any action photos.
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- Another theme park in Taiwan means another set of adorable looking characters. Notice the togas. The leader is the rhino, named Da-E. In the queues, they show cartoons of the characters, and many rides are incorporated into the cartoons. The cartoons are scatalogical, but cute.
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- In the cartoons, the characters all lived inside that Trojan Horse. You can see the rest of the park from here, sort of. Straight ahead is a large indoor section on many floors. To the left was a flume, to the right a splash battle, and on top of the indoor section was another credit.
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- Nice theming on the flume. Also a monorail but we didn't see it run.
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- Here's a shot of the splash battle.
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- Junior Roof Coaster is on the roof. It's a Fabbri Spinning Madness, which are unusual for the two-part lift hill. This one's spinning didn't lock and release like most spinning mouses, so we were not locked going up the lifts and the car turns on the lift, depending on the passenger weights.
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- I took a lot of pics waiting for this ride because it's not a people eater and the park had become more crowded.
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- For some reason they put the ferris wheel outside of the theme park area on the other side of the complex by the hotels. We never got over to that side.
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- These two other flats, Samba Tower and a swinger were also on the roof.
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- We had a decent lunch at Tokyo Prince, also on the rooftop level, but indoors.
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- Indoor were a ton of kiddy flats.
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- They have to be kiddy flats because the ceilings aren't really very high.
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- Taiwan Formosa is a major attraction, being a Soarin'/Over California ripoff. Vekoma built it. They were uptight about me taking pictures, but I think the seats are at the end of arms that extend into open space closer to the screen. The arm can then rotate right and left as you "fly". I mostly remember how derivative it was of Disney's rides (including fireworks at the end) and also how poor the movie screen image quality was.
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- Of course the host is Da-E, not Patrick Warburton.
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- Here's Taroko Gorge again, I think.
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- You get the idea. Did you know Disney actually scents the Soarin' rides?
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- Dark Ride was the final credit for us. You'll never guess what model.
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- Another Vekoma Junior!!!
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- This lift hill is the only part of the track that's visible.
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- We did not visit this walkthrough Haunted House, the line just looked insane and it wasn't moving. We had to return the car and catch a train.
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- And it had started to rain, which closed the outdoor rides (even the flume!). I did stop to photograph this Fabbri skyscraper. Isn't this the same model as the Tibidabo accident? Just wondering.
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- This appeared to be a driving range.
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- We also scored some nice merch. Thanks E-DA Theme Park!
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- Miraculously we made it here, to the Zuoying High Speed Rail terminal, once I figured out that the addresses of the terminal's car rental counter and the actual drop-off garage were not the same. The task of driving on city streets was not made any easier by the, literally, hundreds of scooters sharing the road with me.
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- We caught one of these babies back to Taipei. It goes the length of the island in about 96 minutes at 186 miles per hour.
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- First class was very civilized and not that much more expensive.
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- Cheryl's flight back to NYC was in the morning so after I saw her off at the airport, I headed into the city to visit Taipei 101.
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- In case you don't know, Taipei 101 was the tallest building in the world from 2004 until last year. It took the world's tallest title from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and lost the title to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
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- Unfortunately the day was cloudy, but it's still an impressive experience. It also has the 2nd fastest elevators in the world, built by Toshiba, fully pressurized, costing $2.4million each.
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- This is the massive tuned mass damper at the top. It counteracts vibrations and swaying. Taipei 101 is designed to withstand both earthquakes and hurricanes.
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- Yes, there's a Subway in Taipei 101. The mall is humongous, and I spent nearly an hour just walking the food court!
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- Well, that's it for the Taiwan trip report. I encourage everyone to check it out, it's a cool place. Thanks for following!
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Re: Photo TR: Taiwan
by Lamoure » Mon May 23, 2011 4:11 pm
Great report, thank you for sharing !! 
I really loved the vekoma BigAir pics, also found a video on youtube
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The tibidabo flat was a different kind of ride,..(poorly I can't name it (The Pendulum)) it's a "Fabbri Booster Maxx" in your picture!
I really loved the vekoma BigAir pics, also found a video on youtube
!The tibidabo flat was a different kind of ride,..(poorly I can't name it (The Pendulum)) it's a "Fabbri Booster Maxx" in your picture
!deadmau5
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Re: Photo TR: Taiwan
by beatle11 » Mon May 23, 2011 6:33 pm
This really makes me want to go to Taiwan! Thanks for sharing!
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Re: Photo TR: Taiwan
by READYdot » Tue May 24, 2011 4:30 am
Big Air looks somewhat boring, like a DéjaVu without the rollercoaster parts. But the lifting system should be the same... and as DéjaVus this one surely has to be down often.
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Re: Photo TR: Taiwan
by milst1 » Tue May 24, 2011 9:33 am
READYdot wrote:Big Air looks somewhat boring, like a DéjaVu without the rollercoaster parts. But the lifting system should be the same... and as DéjaVus this one surely has to be down often.
I understand the sentiment, but I've ridden a few Giant Boomerangs, and given that the Vekoma cobra roll always makes me want to barf, I found the Big Air to be far more enjoyable and fun. I guess time will tell whether the catch car system has been made any more reliable than in the past.
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Re: Photo TR: Taiwan
by READYdot » Tue May 24, 2011 11:39 am
I'll tell you what I think of it when I get back from Madrid and their DejaVu "Stuntfall". It will be the first time I ride one of these. Hope it won't be down for maintenance... 
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"Excuse me, miss, may I pound my large rooster into your donkey?"
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Re: Photo TR: Taiwan
by milst1 » Tue May 24, 2011 12:19 pm
READYdot wrote:I'll tell you what I think of it when I get back from Madrid and their DejaVu "Stuntfall". It will be the first time I ride one of these. Hope it won't be down for maintenance...
It was down when I visited Madrid...one of those credits I don't really mind missing.
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Re: Photo TR: Taiwan
by Lamoure » Tue May 24, 2011 4:56 pm
^I rode it, and it was waaaay more enjoyable than the SFMM Deja Vu !!
deadmau5
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