Photo TR: Divv's Chinese Adventure

Chuanlord Holiday Manor was the most “traditional” Chinese park on the trip. Or that’s the way it seemed to me. I think this park came the closest to being what you might expect a Chinese theme park to be like if you hadn’t been exposed to the photos of the recent Happy Valleys, Golden Horse Spinners and the like.

 

This park had a lot of weird stuff. There was a REALLY cool haunted walkthrough in a pirate ship (complete with pre-show video showing clips from Pirates of the Caribbean). There was also some interesting rollercoaster contraptions, though that’s not always a good thing! A number of areas of the park were under construction when we visited. The Chinese don’t seem to think that keeping guests away from construction is that big of an issue however.

 

All in all this park stands out to me as it was a good bit different from most of the other parks we visited and i was glad I got the chance to see it. And as far as traditional Chinese meals went on this tour Chuanlord Manor was one of the better ones.

 

Here’s some photos...

Chuanlord Holiday Manor entrance photo! Complete with construction barriers!

Park map fans, this is for you.

This may well be the scariest park mascot I’ve ever encountered. The fact that the dude inside was speaking in Chinese to me really added to it!

There’s some construction going on at this part of the park but don’t worry.

Just step over the hole in the ground!

Not only is this place a theme park it’s also a farm and crucifixion centre.

Wanna shoot some bows and arrows? Well at the Holiday Manor you can do just that!

Has anyone seen Larry today?

Ghetto Chinese credits are Jim’s favourite kind of credits.

Powered Dragon Wagons are more my thing though.

The credit whores got very excited when they spied this contraption.

I guess they heard that the Road Show might have been in town. Too late guys!

I rode this once. I’m not counting it as one credit nevermind four!

This Dave Thomas approved flat ride stuck out like a sore thumb. It looked so new compared to everything else!

This thing was certainly scary and felt like it was going to valley quite a few times!

Behind these misters sits a coaster that remained closed on this visit. No big loss.

We weren’t brave enough to try the Chiense go-karts. That building looks like it’s about to fall to bits.

OCTOPOOOOSSS!!!

This brass bull stood proud in the middle of The Manor. Baws oot as we say in Glasgow.

The best attraction in the park by far was housed in this ship. A haunted walkthrough where we had no clue what was going on!

It was themed to Gothenburg so it had to be good!

Rules of the Ghost Ship.

If you wanted to get into the walkthrough you had turn the frozen donkey wheel.

The safety video you had to watch before entering the walkthrough was a great collection of clips from pirate movies over the years.

Zipline monorail? Check!

The zipline monorail actually offered some really nice views of the park.

You can gain eight credits by simply looking at this photo.

More zipline monorail POV.

This was one of my favourite bathrooms of the trip. Any time you can pee and look at fish you’ve gotta be appreciative. Or as I call it - Fish and Pish.

Speeaking of... Now for the weirdest/scariest attraction of the trip. Fishing!

They would give guests a net and you would proceed to wade through this disgusting water to catch fish. Eww! Needless to say we gave this one a miss!

Chicken cookies anyone?

For our traditional meal this evening we stayed in the park to sample some of the local cuisine.

As traditional Chinese meals went this one was actually halfway decent!

Mostly this was due to Mr Fish and how amazing he tasted.

Chanload Manor was the bull's bollocks! Really, I liked this park more than anyone really should. It was just a nice change from the other parks we'd been visiting, I don't think I'd like to do parks like this for days right enough!

 

Up next - GCI goodness on a hill!

After being warned about Mr Fish for the whole trip this was the first encounter (we never saw him in Beijing or Wuhan) and he was quite tasty.

 

I would have like to see what they did in the Ghost Ship if you called ahead and asked for an intensity level of 8. I'm sure it wold have been actors physically touching you instead of just the freaky brooms they touched you with.

The Ghost Ship was great. I saw the park as a sort of "Chinese Knott's Berry Farm," due to its old-time, rustic theming.

 

Mr. Fish was surprisingly good.

Edited May 10, 2014 by cfc

Awesome report... sorry that it was so busy, but your pictures are awesome! I'll def look forward to more..

Chuanlord was a very strange but interesting place. The Ghost Ship (as Divv mentioned) was 100% the best thing they had, it was crazy and just awesome.

 

I remember when the guide told us that we'd be eating in the parks restaurant that evening everybody looked at each other rather nervously but I think we were all very pleasantly surprised as the meal was really good and Mr Fish was great!

Our next park on the tour was Knight Valley in Shenzhen. I was particularly excited about this one as it is the home of the fairly recent GCI woodie called Wood Coaster. I’m in the camp of people who really loves GCIs and find them very re-rideable so a TPR filming session here was reason to be excited!

 

Knight Valley itself is built on the side of a hill and so the park is navigated by a number of escalators and staircases as well as a funicular railway to take you up to the really high up parts of the park.

 

Wood Coaster was a lot of fun, it’s certainly in the upper tier of GCIs for me. If you’re not a fan of GCIs (and I understand why many people aren’t fans) then it’s not really going to do anything new for you but I found it to be a lot of fun.

 

The rest of the park is a little frustrating. There was an accident in the park in 2010 when their Mission Space knock off fell apart and killed some people and the legacy of the accident seemed to mean that a lot of the rides at the park remain closed. It’s a shame because some of them looked genuinely intriguing but maybe with the accident in mind it might be for the best that these knock offs are closed.

 

There were a few things open and there are some really great views from the highest point of the park so there was still plenty to do.

 

Here’s some photos.

Knight Valley entrance photo!

And again, here’s one for the map enthusiasts.

The park is on the side of a mountain so you get some nice views like this on your way up.

Then when you get halfway up you will encounter this! GCI goodness!

It might have a lame name but Wood Coaster has great setting!

GCI nerd. The coaster is a lot of fun. GCI fans will love it.

This was the first of many indoor rides that we found to be closed. The 2010 accident in the park had some long lasting ramifications.

I understand!

The alien splash battle thing looked cool. I think it was closed though. I’m not taking chances with Chinese water either way!

Speaking of Chinese Water – we checked out the stunt show. It’s called ROANING FLOOD,

Like all good Chinese stunt shows this one had plenty of fire.

As well as of course, the titular roaning flood.

Hey look, an indoor attraction that’s open!

Let’s just hope the glass doesn’t crack and the jellyfish don’t eat us all!

If you wear 3D glasses the jellyfish will appear jellier. True story.

The stars for the Chinese knockoff of Avatar have finally been cast!

Why of course this is a real spaceship!

Yet another dark ride closed up. This is the one that killed a bunch of people to be fair though. Who’d have thought that these Chinese knock off rides would be so dangerous??

Now there’s an exciting sight – Bobkarts!

Larry gives us his best impression of a Knight Valley guest.

Can’t beat a bit of shoe POV on a Bobkart.

This sign was half way through the Bobkart course. It made no sense to me then and it still doesn’t now!

Larry very wisely coordinated his shirt with the park’s ground colour scheme today.

Disk’o!

Larry’s such a poser.

Neil calls for a hooker just like he would back home.

The log flume was also out of action. No bad thing, really.

Still, this one did look pretty cool and a little different from your normal water ride.

There’s some other parts of the park that don’t have any rides which are actually really nice!

Plus they have a Starbucks which makes it Divv-approved.

To get to the really high up part of the mountain there’s awesome funicular railway.

We see you, Wood Coaster!

The view just gets better and better as you ascend.

Look mum, I’m on the side of a hill in the middle of nowhere in China!

CREDIT!

The Batman and Spider-Man vinylmation knock offs were very confusing.

So there’s Knight Valley – a park that has a great GCI woodie, some great views and not much more. It’s worth visiting if you’re into your GCIs though!

 

Up next – Window of the World!

Love the pictures.. Thanks! And, always remember:

Do Not Stand Carefull

Meet And Discuss

Lol!!

I loved this park! And the coaster! And the Pizza Hut!

I just wish everything had been open i.e. dark rides, flume, cable car...

 

But I would love to come back to this park, now that I know the

(ahem) lay of the land.

 

Thanks for this, Divv. Some great shots there. And Larry, too!

^ Yeah, Knight Valley had all the ingredients to be awesome but just didn't deliver the goods (apart from the GCI!).

Window of the World coming up...

After Knight Valley we hit a couple of smaller parks in the Shenzhen area. First was Zhongshan Park, which was just really a credit stop. Next up we hit Window of the Wolrd which is a park that has a lot of models of landmarks from around the world. Nothing amazing in terms of rides but some really hilarious sights to be hold are housed here.

 

I’ll let the photos do the talking...

Zhongshan Park entrance photo! (Complete with Overlord)

For the Ferris Wheel enthusiasts.

Oh yes!!! A Golden Horse spinner!

If I had to work in a dragon’s mouth all day I’d be more enthused about my job.

The theming in the middle of the kiddie coaster looked quite phallic indeed.

Excitement levels were off the scale here.

Alright, credits done. Let’s move on!

The Brit Crew’s favourite hotel chain are still alive and well in China it seems. (kind of)

Window of the World entrance photo! (Also note the Overlord)

Window of the World essentially is like a Legoland Miniland without the Lego.

Credit fest!

These things freaked me out more than the statues at Knight Valley!

This park’s credit was a bit more imaginative than your usual Chinese coaster.

Indoor boat coaster!

It was pitch black inside this thing! Quite disturbing in a park like this!

Yay, I finally got my Niagara Falls credit!

So much America in one photo.

I guess this means that the park has been around for a while.

Larry's trying to figure out how to get to Africa.

It’s like Lego but nowhere near as awesome.

A big crowd of TPR people gathered at a fence. This can only mean one thing...

Facials!!!

This was trip highlight for these guys, I’m sure!

Just like being in the real countries!

Larry got us lost in Africa. Never trust Larry to take you somewhere in a park.

What’s that, Larry?

Camel toe.

Another culture credit that I can check off the list.

Who needs to visit the real Greece when you can just come to the middle of nowhere in China?!

I miss Hotel Colosseo.

Feels a bit more like home now.

So much culture in this photo and without having to be in Paris. Win!

In Window of the World all the buildings are really small scale but the fruit is HUGE!

Here’s one for the Harry Potter fans.

This was amazing. Some of the guys walked past a gift shop and got totally accosted and dragged back inside by the staff!

Glad to not be at Fuji-Q today!

No need for me to visit India now!

I miss Japan.

At Window of the World you always leave very satisfied.

This stuff all looked pretty cool.

The real way to see the entire world is by monorail.

It seems like there’s plenty of space here for the park to do shows and stuff. The place was relatively quiet when we visited though.

Here’s Larry demonstrating that he’s completely inept at framing a photo on an iPhone.

Window of the World was fun – I always like seeing these quirkier Chinese parks even when a lot of the stuff in them a bit crap!

After the park we went for more traditional Chinese food. Tonight’s main course... Duck head.

we also had Mr Fish. He was pretty tasty.

Tonight haul of animal parts... Duck head, crab claws and fish head.

After dinner and a fair few drinks this happened. Oops. Sorry guys!

This day was quacking! We did some fun and random stuff as well as look into our dinner’s eyes.

 

Up next – the last park in mainland China – Happy Valley Shenzhen!

Our last park in Mainland China was Happy Halley Shenzhen. This was the first Happy Valley park to be built so for the Happy Valley fanboys it’s kind of like Disneyland. Everyone knows that it’s not the best park in the chain but don’t try and argue with them that original isn’t the best.

 

The park has a fairly well rounded collection of rides including a couple of Vekomas, a Golden Horse spinner (of course) as well as the very recently added S&S launched coaster, Bullet Coaster. There was also a couple of unique indoor attractions, the park certainly had plenty to do and was about as nice as any Happy Valley park can be.

 

Bullet Coaster was actually closed to the public on the day we visited due to an American TV production filming on the ride. Robb, yet again pulled a masterstroke and worked some magic to make sure we all got to ride. TPR trips never cease to amaze me int he lengths they’ll go to to get everyone on the rides! Very much appreciated.

 

After the park we had a very popular Chinese dinner in KFC (Seriously, they love it over there) and then set off for Hong Kong.

 

Here’s some photos....

Happy Valley Shenzhen entrance photo! It’s the last park in Mainland China of the trip!

Oh dear, looks like we arrived on school trip day! Good thing they’re too short to ride the coasters!

First credit – Vekoma semi-hotness.

A metal bull protruding from a wall can only mean one thing...

Golden Horse Spinner, of course!

These local girls were quite taken by Stacey. I guess they had never seen a blonde girl before!

As scary as it is to see an SLC, in China you just have to be happy that it’s made by Vekoma!

This SLC had a really cool “RCT inspired” element!

This SLC also gets really close to the ground.

Ghetto horror maze! Can’t get enough of these!

This one seemed to involve yetis getting mutilated.

Spooky stuff!

Ben had clearly been through quite a tough night.

There’s something very saucy about the height markers at Happy Valley Shenzhen!

Speaking of saucy... CREDIT!

Trip highlight.

Larry finally found a girl who won’t get up and walk away the minute he sits at a table.

HI ERIK!

I’m always up for a Happy Time!

The last in a long line of water rides in China that I avoided!

Happy Valley Shenzhen’s comparisons with Disneyland continue with all the buildings that exist around the park.

The Chinese school kids were quite enthusiastic as Dan found out early in the morning when he led them in song!

Pass the poop!

This kids land hadn't opened yet. Here’s an exclusive construction shot. You’re welcome.

Desperados!!! It’s also worth pointing out that I absolutely kicked Larry’s ass at this!

Now for a Happy Valley staple. The original Shooting Santa!

Die festive trinkets, die!!!

This is where Scottish Steve spent most of the day.

Kiddie credit. Of course we rode it.

Happy Valley also had this pretty cool obstacle course section. Not quite up there with some of the Scandinavian efforts but better than you’d likely see in America.

Little do these guys know that there’s a crowd of TPR people around the corner manning the water cannons.

This attraction was really weird and cool. You would sit around a table and wear a pair of headphones. The lights would be turned out and binaural audio of scary crap happening would play in your ears!

It was pretty effective, as demonstrated by Larry here!

It’s amazing how those rock structures transform these Vekomas into awesome looking coasters!

Another one of the cool indoor attractions... Here’s your Extraterrorestrial knock off!

Thankfully Stitch didn’t terrorise us in here!

Alright, only one coaster in Mainland China remains for us on this trip!

And it’s a good one!

The S&S launched coaster was quite impressive, I’d be happy to see more of these pop up (if they can make them reliable!)

Jon Locke apparently is a huge fan of Canada’s number one escape artist Dean Gunnarson!

Happy Valley definitely isn’t the nicest looking of the Happy Valleys but it does have a pretty decent selection of quirky attractions. I just hope that the S&S keeps working for them!

And that’s your whack for Mainland China. After a couple of weeks it feels nice to move onto somewhere a little more “Westernised”...

That’s right... HK baby!

Once you cross the border everything switches and you have to get onto the other side of the bus.

 

After all that time in China the whole group seemed pretty excited about our next stop...

YES!!!

Disney’s Hollywood Hotel was pretty awesome!

 

Everyone was just giddy with excitement when we arrived here as can be evidenced by the next photo...

Check it out! Goofy’s actually in the pool! This is pretty much my favourite photo from the trip. It’s all kinds of awesome.

Alright, that’s your Disney tease for now. And it’ll stay that way for a day or so as Ocean Park is up next!

Hurray!! A real SLC!!

Yay for EGPT (Exclusive Goofy Pool Time). A great welcome to Hong Kong Disneyland resort.

 

Although Goofy was a bit too friendly for one person

 

- James.

Goofy in the pool?!? That's awesome! Damn you for getting the last Disney park credit before me

 

Great TR man

Happy Valley Shenzen was a good park, but it did have the most beat-up version of the Shooting Santa dark ride (it needed a lot of love). Bullet Coaster was a great ride.

 

I'd heard about Goofy swimming in the hotel pool, but this is the first picture I've seen of the event.

Nice trip report. But why was there random slc peiced not attached.

^ It's China, so I'm guessing they considered it theming of some sort.

Love the Goofy pool photo! But Goofy was a bit "aggressive" in the water!

 

Great report Divv, wonderful memories!

^ I was terrified he was gonna pull me in with you guys!

The penultimate park of our trip was Hong Kong’s Ocean Park. Built over a couple of levels on a hill this park has experienced quite a bit of investment in recent years and it really shows. There’s a new section at the top of the park where the B&M Floorless, Hair Raiser lives. This recent B&M does pretty much what you expect a recent B&M floorless to do. It’s quite re-rideable as B&Ms go and I didn’t notice any of the rattle some had reported.

 

The rest of the park has a decent selection of rides and animal exhibits. There’s also a really cool funicular railway which actually goes through the mountain and connects the two halves of the park. Some of the windows inside are actually TV screens which have cool little animations on them as you travel through. I guess you might see something similar to this on the Hogwarts Express at Universal one day.

 

All in all it was a really fun day at a park which rivals bother Tibidabo and Wonder Rakutenchi for the “best theme park view in the world” award! For my money this one is the best – take a look at the photos and judge for yourself.

Wait no more! Here’s your Ocean Park entrance photo!

Although since we’re special (so special) we didn’t use the main entrance and went through the VIP entrance.

Ocean Park did a really great job at decorating the interior of the funicular railway that goes through the mountain in the middle of the park!

Even after going through the mountain there’s more hills to navigate. Thankfully there’s plenty of escalators in the park to help you out!

Creepy clown dude chews up and spits out all the Hair Raiser riders prior to boarding.

Apparently the back row is where it’s at on Hair Raiser.

It’s not going to win any awards but Hair Rasier is a solid coaster with some brilliant views so you can’t really go wrong!

Speaking of great views, does it get any better than this? (The backdrop is pretty cool too, don’t you think?)

Really, can you get a better view than this at a theme park?

Hong Kong can get pretty hot so a Polar Adventure isn’t such a bad idea!

The recently added Arctic last might be powered but it packs a bit punch.

I think after this encounter Larry might have had another story about crapping himself to share.

Glass floor + penguin = win.

I think I’m about to be mutilated by a tiny coaster train, Final Destination style.

Seaweed Shake Shake Fries! Okay, it’s no Shaka Shaka Chicken but these were pretty good!

Everywhere you turn your head in Ocean Park you keep encountering awesome views like this.

Continue the good views theme, The Wild West Mine Train definitely holds the title for best view on a coaster!

Look at that! Now imagine this view without Larry and Jim’s heads in front of you and think how amazing it would look!

That’s my social media profile photo sorted for the next wee while.

I probably should have warned you that this TR was going to mostly comprise of photos of the awesome views from Ocean Park! Sorry about that.

Here’s a great look at all the recent additions to the park, plus an awesome view in the background to boot!

If you want some more great views then the cable car is a fun alternative to the funicular railway through the mountain.

The cable car probably gives the best opportunities to see what Hair Raiser looks like.

And approaching the bottom half of the park with another amazing view!

This is my kind of place!

I know what you’re all saying and you’re right. This TR has went on way too long without any panda photos!

Check out this Giant Arse Panda in action.

There’s been pandas at Edinburgh in Scotland for years but I’ve never seen them Seeing them on the other side of the world is clearly a better idea.

Eat this Panda-Fudging-Vision!

World of Color joke anyone?

we finished up our visit to Ocean Park looking at their giant aquarium. It was HUGE! The number of sharks in here would not have made Scottish Steve happy.

That’s it for Ocean Park – a really nice park to visit and it seems to only be getting better and better. Well worth checking out if you’re ever in Hong Kong!

 

Up next – Hong Kong sightseeing!

Ocean Park is looking so great - have to do this soon together with Hong Kong Disney

Thanks for a reminder of our day at Ocean Park. Ocean Park was the surprise park of the trip for me. It's a beautiful park in a stunning location and if you can't tell from Divv's photos, the views are spectacular.

 

Hair Raiser was a great ride. The bunny hop half way through gave nice airtime and I agree, I didn't notice any shaking that others had reported. The penguin exhibit was nicely done with glass topped tunnels under the floor allowing the penguins to swim under the guests feet.

 

I really enjoyed the aquarium in the lower half of the park, It's HUGE! Brilliant aquarium and well worth a visit.

 

The two forms of transport to get from either half of the park are well worth making an effort to ride as you get amazing views from the cable cars and a strange underwater style experience on the funicular (This one is also very nicely air conditioned too!)

 

Anyway, looking forward to the report of HKDL!

Hair Raiser was the best new B&M I'd ridden in years. Maybe the challenge of designing for that location pushed them a bit more.

Those views do really look stunning!