Well I went there. As expected, it was one of the strangest theme park trips I have had.
Firstly, it's not actually in Mumbai - it's located amongst volcanic outcrops many miles away, which requires you to navigate excitingly dangerous mountain roads to get there. It's much better that way, I liked the location.
Welcome to !ACIGAMI.
...In the monsoon.
There was a fun sense of naivety about the place, telling of the park's newness. Upon getting our tickets, we were told to read all the safety boards outside the ride entrances before joining the queue. Indeed, in front of each ride were hosts whose job it was just to say "Welcome sir, enjoy the experience" and smile at you... Throughout the day, there were also park-wide announcements advising you "do not enter the water body" and that "paths are slippery when wet".
The seemingly average-but-fun BM rollercoaster still had but one piece of track missing, so wasn't open today. The next biggest ride was "Gold Rush Express", which rattled and dived about the place satisfyingly.
It even does this weird helix around an incomplete launched tower ride.
Throughout the park there was a lot of emphasis on theme and stories, with many detailed facades and decoration. Unfortunately, every theme was inspired by either Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 or Islands of Adventure, and the individual 'lands' all spilled into each other.
IS IT DEAD? IS IT DEAD, IS IT? IS IT DEAD? IS IT DEAD OR ALIVEEEEE?! yOOhohoho
The rollercoaster featured some fun tunnels, including one with a graciously painted concrete wall.
From their Flying Jumbos you can view almost the entire park. I actually quite enjoyed this ride for some reason.
It was on "Alibaba aur chalis chorr" that I began to feel a bit sorry for the park.
This was Imagica's token 'interactive' dark ride, consisting mostly of cardboard cut-out thieves that you had to shoot.
There was lots of animation but only very simple movements. It would have been more convincing the sets hadn't been lighted so carelessly. Still, the ride was funny and lasted a long time, although that was only because the vehicles were so slow.
And no, preshow videos don't help.
Things got a bit worse with "I for India", in which you sit on a chair that gets raised quite high into the air (very slowly), in order to watch a short compilation of helicopter shots filmed around famous Indian landmarks. Imagine watching BBC HD on a floating sofa with people's feet dangling in front of your face.
This haunted dark ride also wasn't finished yet. From the size of it, perhaps it will be quite good on the inside. The exterior also has some good detail, although with so many big facades bunched up together they lose their effect.
The Zeze Sellotape and Grill offered some very tasty and filling lunch.
Just then it began to rain extremely hard, prompting a power outage that lasted over an hour. We were handed a 'disclaimer' asserting that the park could not be held responsible for such electricity failures, which are apparently a regular occurrence.
Of course, after the power came back, the rides then needed another test run, so we stood outside "Rajasaurus River Adventure" waiting for the queue to reopen. All the attraction hosts seemed to be confused by our patience, as about 4 different people urged us to go away and try something else. Two men from park operations even came out to explain to us how rides need testing before they can let people on, and that we would have to wait 10 minutes. Yes, thank you, I am aware of such procedures...
The curse of queueline TVs strikes again, including the fake news bulletin cliché (although it was better than The Swarm's!)
Once in the interior queue, it became clear that Rajasaurus was something a bit different, despite the obvious Jurassic Park rip off. There was a lot of detail and ambiance going on, with some nice cogs and dials wiring on some of the walls. You then board the boat, pass through a "time machine" and enter a warehouse filled with lovely animatronic dinosaurs. Of course there was no effort made to hide the metal roof or close the maintenance bay doors, but this ride succeeded in being exciting and creative.
The animatronics were plentiful, with very fluent movement and convincing aesthetics. We all had fun. Then comes the world's noisiest lift hill, to pull your boat into the top level where the Rajasaurus egg supposedly hatches. A big air-powered dinosaur hisses and clunks into way towards you, in a surprisingly fun moment, before you drop very steeply into a splash pool.
I can imagine this being extremely refreshing in the hot sun, but in the monsoon it was just hilariously cold and wet. It was definitely my favourite ride there.
Another big surprise was "Deep Space", an indoor rollercoaster. I knew it would have a launch, but wasn't expecting such quick speed with a nice, smooth acceleration. Suddenly you are flying through the darkness with nothing but a lap bar to keep you in, making for a nicely disorientating experience. On my first ride I had no idea what was going on - only later did I realise they had put in a few inversions to really disorientate you. The rest of it reminded me of X No Way Out, only better.
Unfortunately it was a very short ride, so as there was a very small queue I went around again. This further confused the ride hosts, who then told us that riding a third time was "not allowed" unless we waited half an hour. It was also amusing how they repeated their pre-rehearsed spiels almost exactly, including the queueline welcome, cheering when the train dispatches and clapping on the offload platform: *clap clap clap* "SO HOW WAS YOUR DEEP SPACE EXPERIENCE?!! ...the second time?".
Finally we did "Wrath of the Gods", a lower budgeted version of Poseidon's Fury with Hindu-inspired deities. It was surprisingly effective and I enjoyed it. My favourite moment was when the ceiling opened up and an enormous torrent of water landed directly on my head, for about 10 seconds.
It was pretty good for India's first "international standards" theme park, although that claim is disputable. I wish there were more physical rides, since they had gone quite over the top with the simulators and shows. I'm sure it will be a bit better when the BM rollercoaster opens.
As you can see, I was entertained.
