Photo TR: Nanjing Area Parks (July 2012)

Okay, here are four parks from my recent explorations.

First we have Greenbo Garden. This is a botanical garden. It has an amusement area. There is a large ferris where here along with some basic rides. The mouse coaster is among the smoothest Chinese made mouse coasters I have ridden.

Next door to Greenbo Garden is the brand new Universal Carnival. With the exception of the games area, all of the facilities here look to be permanent additions. I am not sure if the carnival is a limited time thing or if it will be a permanent park. The rides all have concrete footers and look like they were build to stay there for a while. There is a mouse coaster and a kiddie coaster here. Neither are on the RCDB or ACE's Coaster Census. They are the 102nd and 103rd coasters I have found before they were listed on these databases.

Yuhuatai Technology Fairyland is a large public park with a faded amusement area. There is a powered coaster here. All of the rides look like they need painted. The rides at Yuhuatai Technology Fairyland are all basic rides.

In the nearby city of Yangzhou, home to Phoenix Island Playground, there is the Yangzhou Zoo. The Yangzhou Zoo was orginally a garden and a few animal exhibits were added. There was also a small amusement area added to the park with only a few rides, including a powered coaster called Sliding Dragon. The zoo's best attraction is an old lighthouse that has been restored. It is a few hundred years old and helped guide ships on the river. The zoo in Yangzhou is not a full scale zoo or a full scale amusement park, but it is a fun place to visit.

My first park of this trip was Greenbo Garden. Here is the carousel.

A large ferris wheel is also at Greenbo Garden.

Here is a shot of the midway at Greenbo Garden.

The flume here looks like fun.

Here is a scene inside of Greenbo Garden.

Greenbo Garden has this mouse coaster.

The cars even look like mice.

This is one of the smoothest mouse coasters I have ridden.

One last look at the mouse coaster before leaving the park.

Next door to Greenbo Garden is the new Universal Carnival. Let's see what's inside.

These rides are at the carnival.

This ride thrills guests at the carnival.

This reminds me of the time I lived in Korea.

A small kiddie coaster is at the Universal Carnival.

A mouse coaster calls the Universal Carnival home. It is like 30 others I have ridden in China.

Here is one view of the mouse.

One last look at the mouse at Universal Carnival.

I have arrived at Yuhuatai Technology Fairyland.

This carousel at Fairyland needs a new paint job.

This ride entertains guests at Yuhuatai Technology Fairyland.

Here are some more rides at Yuhuatai Technology Fairyland.

A swinging pirate ship is at Yuhuatai Technoly Fairyland.

A powered coaster is at Yujuatai Technology Fairyland. It is just like many others in China.

I have now arrived at Yangzhou Zoo.

The zoo features a small amusement area.

The Sliding Dragon powered coaster is here.

Here is the Sliding Dragon in action. I love the train on this coaster.

Here is an on ride shot of Sliding Dragon.

Yangzhou Zoo's pirate ship ride is a new ride.

Here is the zoo's swing ride.

This is an old lighthouse at the zoo. It has been restored. It helped guide ships on the river. It is no longer in operation.

Always great to read your trip reports!

The Octopus ride looks like a Bakker Polyp - but guess it wasn't made by Bakker....

Doesn't look like you had to fight the crowds to ride the rides!

I went to those parks on weekdays. They were absolutely dead on those days, but parks usually draw a crowd on the weekends and they are packed during holidays.

All four parks are good. I wonder why there is not a single person in your picture. Are they closed for public at the time of photos? Kindly clarify this for me.

All four parks were open, but only very few people were at them. If you look at the photos of Yangzhou Zoo, you see people entering the park and on the coaster. At Greenbo Garden and Universal Carnival, you can see people (ride ops) in the photos. At Technology Fairyland, the ride ops congregated around a game stand as there were only a couple of people enjoying the rides. I had to ask one of the employees to run the powered coaster for me.

I finally had my first Tagada ride at Floraland in China--never in the states. The Universal Carnival does look pretty nice.

I like Tagadas. I got hooked on them in Korea.