Jinjiang Action Park
Date: 2 June 2018
Jinjiang Action Park is an admittedly grotty little amusement park in Shanghai. Being honest, the only real appeal this park actually has is the Giant Inverted Boomerang (GIB) - everything else there is so small and unnoteworthy that you can be forgiven for not noticing the park even exists. Regardless, I wanted to (finally) ride a GIB - and the park isn't exactly out of the way - so I decided to check it out one morning.
It's an easy park to get to, with the nearest station - Jinjiang Park - found on line 1 on the Shanghai Metro. However, the nearby area can be a bit confusing, with little signage pointing you in the right direction. You'll need to go down an underground road filled with mopeds to reach it.
Outside the gate was a massive crowd of people clamouring for their dose of GIB. But my heart sank when I finally managed to reach the ticket booth, when I was told the park "only had two roller coasters" - and this didn't include the GIB! It wasn't clear whether it had broken down or was SBNO (which many of the rides appeared to be), and it was strange to see them make no effort to open it considering the crowds if it was a ride they could actually run.
I had other things planned throughout that day, so I didn't plan on staying long. I got two tickets for the coasters that were actually working, and made my way to
Moto Coaster - a Zamperla boost bike-like ride. I reached the station and was told they would dispatch it in ten minutes. This was particularly strange and I wasn't sure why that was, untilI realised one of the ride hosts would try to flog VR headsets to the other riders whilst the other host stared at a wall. The ride is unremarkable, to say the least. The launch appears to just be in place of a lift hill, and whilst it's not the worst boost bike I've ever done (that would come later), it was really forgettable.
The other coaster which was working was
Karst Cave Coaster - a Zamperla powered coaster which was set in a damp cave with a few dinosaur models. It wasn't clear whether the water inside was intentional or the result of a leaking ceiling, though considering the state of the park I wouldn't be surprised if it was the latter. It did a couple of circuits, then the brakes slammed on real hard. Again, this was dull.
I didn't bother with any other rides, especially as half of them were closed, but I did take a look at what else they had on offer - which wasn't much more than a few children's flat rides and a very popular (but dull looking) log flume. There was also a train carriage which was either a restaurant or a shop (not that it matters, as it was closed). I did see a family of cats, though. Cats are cool.
Thankfully it didn't take up much of my time visiting Jinjiang Action Park. But it still felt like a waste. Without the GIB running, there's no point in turning up as half the park is shut anyway. In fact, the most interesting thing I found here was just outside the park; I saw a banner which I believe was propaganda by the local government, with a rather strange hole through the face of Chairman Mao on the Forbidden City. Upon closer inspection, this turned out to be a cigarette hole. Considering China's attitude to political dissidents and those who don't tow the party line, it was actually fascinating to see vandalism like this in a country where doing so could mean years in jail.
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Shanghai is filled with many notable sights you should totally check out if you visit. But strangely, there are a few random coasters you might bump into whilst walking around. I'd like to cover them off here:
People's Park
People's Park is interesting in that it's one of the few parts of Shanghai I came across which was overtly communist in nature, with several statues dedicated to the revolution and a few hammer and sickles to boot. I was in the area as I was on a hop-on-hop-off bus tour (which I recommend), and with a bit of time to kill I decided to check out the coaster here as I'm a geek like that.
Family Roller Coaster is a knock-off Pinfari, which is pretty much as dull as you'd expect. Strangely, in order to ride you need to pick up a ride card from a kiosk nearby which includes a 10 RMB deposit. After riding, you hand the card back and the deposit is returned to you. The park was fairly quiet, and it appeared to be a random man nearby that decided to run the coaster for me rather than an actual ride host. I recommend being in this area for a restaurant called Yang's Fried Dumplings, where you can get incredible xiaolongbao for next to nothing.
Oriental Pearl Tower
The Oriental Pearl Tower is one of Shanghai's most famous landmarks - and would likely be on most people's must-do lists when visiting the city. But believe it or not, hidden in the lower orb is a roller coaster!
Entry to the tower is 160 RMB, which includes access to both orbs in the tower along with the Shanghai Museum in the basement. The views from the upper orb are great (though with Shanghai Tower nearby, it's not the best the city has to offer), but my favourite part was the Shanghai Museum, which involves walking through various streets in Shanghai's history - from the bronze age to 1948 (just before the communist revolution). It's very interesting and definitely worth checking out.
The lower orb holds the
VR Rollercoaster. It costs an additional 70 RMB on top of your ticket (though there is a voucher you can easily get which lowers it to 65 RMB). The VR is pretty bad, and wasn't lined up properly throughout. The film is dull, you just follow a track around the tower and that's it. In all honesty, it might be best to just ditch the VR altogether.
It's worth going to the Oriental Pearl Tower to get a close-up view of a pretty cool-looking building. But if you just want to do the coaster and nothing else, be advised you'll be paying 230 RMB just to ride an awful Chinese knock-off VR ride.
Century Park
Located near the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, Century Park is a large park located around five minutes from the Bund by Metro. It's a really nice park, although you do need to pay an entry fee of 10 RMB to get in. It's worth visiting just to take a break from the hectic city centre without going too far away. I actually just chilled here for a while just to take it all in.
As you've probably gathered, Century Park also has a coaster -
Flying Cars. A Golden Horse knock-off Pinfari, in fact! And it wasn't that bad - better than Coastal Ant at Happy Valley Shanghai, at least. I believe it's quite new, so it didn't feel too rough. Certainly better than the one in People's Park.
Century Park also has a number of children's rides. They have signs saying there's a "children's coaster", but this is just one of those fairground rides where kids sit in little cars as they go up and down on a road. There was a weird Stitch/Xenomorph spinning ride as well.
After four amazing nights in central Shanghai, I next made my way back up to Beijing for the last leg of my trip. My next post will be on Happy Valley Beijing - my second Happy Valley of the trip!
