CGM
TS Member
Through my University, I have managed to get an internship in Shenzhen, China for a month or so. I thought it would be a great opportunity to visit some parks in the nearby area. I have a loose plan of where I want to visit but it's very much work dependent so I may not get everything done. That said, this is an extremely rare opportunity so I'll definitely try my best.
So, my plan is:
Happy Valley Shenzhen
Knight Valley (featuring GCI's Mountain Flyer)
Chimelong Paradise
Hong Kong Disneyland
And a very distant maybe: Ocean Park
Parks in bold have been visited.
Part 1: Happy Valley Shenzhen 25/08/2013
On our first free weekend, me and the other interns headed to Happy Valley which is the closest of the parks to our hotel. I really didn't know what to expect. I knew that the Happy Valley parks have some spectacular pieces of theming but I was concerned that the park would lack atmosphere and come across as cold. I am pleased to report that I was very wrong in that respect and that Happy Valley Shenzhen is an excellent family theme park. The theming is not only impressive but consistent throughout the park and serves to create an excellent resort style park atmosphere. If this park were in Europe, it would be competing with the likes of Port Aventura and Europa. It far surpasses anything we have in the UK when it comes to the levels of theming, the sheer scale of the place and the amount of entertainment on park.
However, there is enormous room for improvement when it comes to operations. None of the ride staff seemed to have any concept of what throughput is or why it is important. There was no sense of urgency at all and the trains seemed to be dispatched whenever they felt like it. On top of this, despite massive crowds, the park's two major coasters were both on 1 train operation meaning that queues crawled along. Bullet coaster must have been launching only once every five minutes!
The ridiculous procedures didn't help either. The most bizarre of these was first introduced to us on Bullet Coaster. When the queue was opened, we were ushered into a gated off cattlepen. A park employee then stood in front of us with a microphone and proceeded to conduct a short aerobics routine, presumably to prepare us physically for the ride. Everyone around us seemed to know it by heart leaving us to aimlessly flail about as we tried to copy everyone else. I'm sure in China, this sort of thing is very commonplace but to me as a Westerner, it was totally surreal.
Despite the overall competency of the theme park, the strange and inefficient operation of the rides leads me to believe that China still doesn't quite understand rollercoasters. Maybe it's just a Happy Valley thing. I'll have to wait and see what the other parks are like.
Many of the visitors don’t see Western people very often and it was a bit unsettling to see many people were taking pictures of us as we wandered round the park. The most blatant was this man who just walked straight up to me whilst I was eating and stuck a camera in my face. When I then turned my camera on him, he made every attempt to cover his face and quickly left.
The rides:
Jungle Water Fight
First up was the Tiki themed splash battle, a Preston and Barbiari model. It was surrounded by intricately themed walkways full of water guns for bystanders to use but unfortunately, they didn't prove to be too popular. There also weren't anywhere near enough vehicles on the course for inter-boat battles to break out so the only real battle that took place was you vs. the over the top water elements that completely soak you.
Next we headed to Bullet Coaster (Tibetan Eagle) before it opened. This turned out to be a good decision as later on, the queue became ridiculous. I have decided to give the signature attraction at each park a proper review, so here is the first:
Bullet Coaster Review
This would be my first S&S coaster and it was a coaster that I was very much looking forward to riding as it was a complete unknown and on paper, it looked to be very good indeed. It has recently been re-opened after months of downtime. Unfortunately, this has seen the addition of a few trim brakes on the first hill but it doesn't appear to have crippled the ride too much as it still visibly flies round at a good lick.
You approach the ride through an artificial ravine complete with enormous, thundering waterfalls. The first and largest hill towers over this, looking like a rollercoaster from a cartoon with its impossibly steep climb, equally steep dive into the park’s lake and its apparent lack of support. An incredibly loud whoosh of air announces the launch of a train and it's only when you see it shoot up the hill that you realise just how tall the coaster is. The train becomes a brightly coloured speck 197ft above you and seems to hang at the top before plummeting down the other side and out of view.
I think that Bullet Coaster is one of the best examples of coaster presentation I’ve seen. It dominates the harbour area of the park soaring above walkways and diving under bridges. Whenever a train blasts round the course, you can’t help but watch. It wouldn’t look out of place at a Universal park. In fact, I think it looks better than some Universal coasters!
The station is beautifully themed to suit the coaster’s Tibetan theme. Ornate paintings adorn the walls and there are prayer flags strung across the ceiling. Unfortunately, due to the Chinese custom of walking each batch of riders to the station individually, you don’t get much time to appreciate this detail.
The trains feature four across seating and T-bar style lap restraints with an additional surround to retain your legs. Whilst these surrounds appear to be quite bulky and restrictive, once on the ride, you barely notice them. The restraints are comfortable and allow complete freedom of the upper body which really comes into effect once the ride begins.
Despite some slight ripples in the fibreglass and small patches of rust (already!), the trains look incredibly sleek and modern with chunky, CNC milled wheel assemblies and swooping high-backed seats. Whilst not quite up to the standard of B&M’s hyper trains, they’re worlds away from the trains used on Intamin’s launch coasters (which are so restrictive, they lead me to question if they have been designed for humans).
After the appropriate checks have been made, at the sound of a klaxon, you are slowly wheeled out onto the launch track. The train engages with the catch car with a loud, satisfying click and a few seconds pass as the train is weighed. Once the computer is happy, the anti-rollback fins drop and the countdown begins:
3, 2, 1, Bang! In a split second you find yourself pinned to your seat, blasting towards the enormous first hill with an 83mph wind in your face. In seemingly not enough time to be possible, you are at the top of this hill looking out over Shenzhen before the track disappears from below you and you find yourself diving towards the lake at a ridiculous speed.
This is an absolutely spectacular opening. So spectacular in fact that it took a few seconds for my brain to properly register what had just happened. However, there was no time to fully recover as the train was already heading into the next element.
In a flurry of positive Gs, the train blasts through the submarine tunnel and emerges into a steep, twisting climb that points the train back towards the station. As the climb levels out and crests, it offers some moderate airtime before the train lines up for the Buckel Hill.
This is essentially a right to left banked transition in the middle of a hill. Unlike the aggressive Intamin version of the element which attempts to rip you from your seat, here the train rolls lazily to the right whilst you experience near-weightlessness. It’s a very smooth and fluid element, pleasant but nothing overly thrilling.
Unfortunately, at this point the blistering pace of the ride drops off significantly and it feels much more like a normal rollercoaster as the train enters a very unusual section. The train banks almost 90 degrees to the left as it negotiates a hill leaving you hanging off the side of the track.
The train then abruptly rights its self before enters the final element, a clockwise 540 degree helix, essentially a compressed version of Shambhala’s famous ampersand turn around.
Up until this point, the coaster had been flawlessly smooth but for some reason, the track work in the helix contains many small jolts and tweaks as the banking and radius change. It doesn’t ruin the ride, it just seems very out of character when compared with the rest of the layout. Whilst you might expect this to be an intense, forceful finale, the helix is relatively tame with only mild positive Gs building up in the last 180 degrees or so before the track levels out and spits you onto the brake run.
Overall, despite petering out a bit towards the end, Bullet Coaster is an excellent rollercoaster. The launch doesn’t quite have the raw power of an Intamin hydraulic launch but it’s the closest to it I’ve come across and any acceleration deficit is more than made up for by the fact that Bullet Coaster has lapbars. The feeling of speed and exposure is so much greater when you’re not enclosed by unnecessary OTSRs. It makes the launch-tophat opening far more effective than Stealth’s.
The only real disappointing aspect of the ride is that despite looking like it should be an airtime monster, the airtime is in fact quite weak and of the tummy-tickling variety rather than anything that will have you leaving your seat. It’s probably this that keeps it firmly in the very good category and prevents it from being great.
Having said that, it’s still by far my favourite launch coaster. If this coaster were to exist in the UK, it would be a massive asset to our shores and beats out every coaster at Thorpe for example.
Snow Mountain Flying Dragon
After riding Kumali earlier this year, I wasn’t much looking forward to riding its older Chinese twin. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Happy Valley have done a decent job of looking after what was previously their signature coaster and for an eleven year old SLC, it’s still pretty smooth. It does jolt and rattle a little bit but the key thing is that in two rides, my head only collided with the restraint once. It’s also better landscaped than Kumali and has a much better themed queue line which is based on a Himalayan monastery. Overall, a fairly enjoyable coaster which reminded me of Kumali’s better years and more importantly means that I have now ridden a complete set of coaster clones!
Shoot the Chutes
As the name suggests, it’s a shoot the chutes ride by the same manufacturer as Tidal Wave at Thorpe. The main difference between this and Tidal Wave is that this one has an enclosed lift hill and an extensive scenic section before it where the boat passes through an old fishing village. Unfortunately, this section has seen better days and has reached an appalling state of dilapidation that simply cannot be passed off as part of the theming.
Many of the wooden building facades have fallen apart exposing the rusting steel structure behind. Just before the lift hill are the faded remains of a giant octopus animatronic. At one point, it was clearly intended to look as though it had burst from within a boat house and would writhe around as a boat full of riders passed. However, most of the building has now fallen away to reveal that the octopus is in fact a steel frame with a head and a few motorised tentacles attached which are now stationary.
It’s surprising that it has been allowed to reach this state as the rest of the park is not only well themed but well kept. Hopefully, it can be sorted out soon.
As for the rest of the ride, if you have ridden Tidal wave, you will know that you get absolutely soaked but that seems to be the norm with Chinese water rides so it’s not quite as much of a novelty.
Mine Coaster
Vekoma once again proved that they are the masters of the mine train with this fun, breezy Big Thunder Mountain rip-off. There’s something about the dynamics of these coasters that makes them seem slightly out of control whilst still being fun for the whole family. The fact that the coaster isn’t technically perfect actually adds to the experience. It’s hard to convince yourself that you’re speeding your way around an old mine railway if the track work is milimetrically perfectly with fluid transitions.
If I do get a chance to ride Big Grizzly Mountain, it’ll be interesting to see how Vekoma’s more modern approach compares.
Rapids
A fairly standard rapids ride only with this being China, the many water elements around the course are utterly sadistic and soak riders to the skin. The queueing system for the ride is horrible, approaching the station, the queue just become a complete free-for-all resulting in a massive squeeze as everyone attempts to get to the front. Not nice at the best of times but in the heat of that day, it was truly awful.
Playa Maya Water Park
After this, we headed to the water park which is included in the admission and has a very good selection of slides. Unfortunately, two of the more exiting slides there, the half-pipe and the Master Blaster were down which was a bit disappointing but I did get the chance to ride my first Aqua Loop.
In case you don’t know, an aqua loop is an enclosed slide that consists of an extremely steep drop followed by an inclined loop where you ride up onto the top surface of the slide. It’s pretty much the closest you can get to an inversion with modern waterslide technology (Ignoring the legendarily dangerous Cannonball Loop).
However, the loop is not the most thrilling part of the slide. Like many modern waterslides, Aqua loops feature a launch pod. Unlike the traditional method of just climbing into the slide and pushing yourself away, you are stood against an inclined wall in an enclosed Perspex chamber and when the attendant is satisfied that you’re standing correctly, the floor drops away and you plummet into the slide!
The feeling of isolation when the door is closed and you’re waiting for the floor to drop creates the kind of tension that I didn’t know was possible on a waterslide. I don’t think I’ve ever been that nervous on a coaster or even on a drop tower for that matter! When the floor does disappear, you effectively free fall from the station before the slide catches you and you are sent barrelling round the loop which dumps you straight into the runoff area.
It’s very short but it’s a massive thrill and if the opportunity arises to ride one, it shouldn’t be missed.
That pretty much concludes my Happy Valley trip report. If you read it all, well done! There was a lot that we didn’t get done such as the corner full of Zamperla flat rides, the Golden Horse spinner and an entire hillside of assault courses. Nonetheless, we still had an excellent day at Happy Valley and I would happily return, even if the operations are a bit useless. I'll end with some general photos of the park.
Next up will be Knight Valley and Mountain Flyer.
So, my plan is:
Happy Valley Shenzhen
Knight Valley (featuring GCI's Mountain Flyer)
Chimelong Paradise
Hong Kong Disneyland
And a very distant maybe: Ocean Park
Parks in bold have been visited.
Part 1: Happy Valley Shenzhen 25/08/2013
On our first free weekend, me and the other interns headed to Happy Valley which is the closest of the parks to our hotel. I really didn't know what to expect. I knew that the Happy Valley parks have some spectacular pieces of theming but I was concerned that the park would lack atmosphere and come across as cold. I am pleased to report that I was very wrong in that respect and that Happy Valley Shenzhen is an excellent family theme park. The theming is not only impressive but consistent throughout the park and serves to create an excellent resort style park atmosphere. If this park were in Europe, it would be competing with the likes of Port Aventura and Europa. It far surpasses anything we have in the UK when it comes to the levels of theming, the sheer scale of the place and the amount of entertainment on park.
However, there is enormous room for improvement when it comes to operations. None of the ride staff seemed to have any concept of what throughput is or why it is important. There was no sense of urgency at all and the trains seemed to be dispatched whenever they felt like it. On top of this, despite massive crowds, the park's two major coasters were both on 1 train operation meaning that queues crawled along. Bullet coaster must have been launching only once every five minutes!
The ridiculous procedures didn't help either. The most bizarre of these was first introduced to us on Bullet Coaster. When the queue was opened, we were ushered into a gated off cattlepen. A park employee then stood in front of us with a microphone and proceeded to conduct a short aerobics routine, presumably to prepare us physically for the ride. Everyone around us seemed to know it by heart leaving us to aimlessly flail about as we tried to copy everyone else. I'm sure in China, this sort of thing is very commonplace but to me as a Westerner, it was totally surreal.
Despite the overall competency of the theme park, the strange and inefficient operation of the rides leads me to believe that China still doesn't quite understand rollercoasters. Maybe it's just a Happy Valley thing. I'll have to wait and see what the other parks are like.
Many of the visitors don’t see Western people very often and it was a bit unsettling to see many people were taking pictures of us as we wandered round the park. The most blatant was this man who just walked straight up to me whilst I was eating and stuck a camera in my face. When I then turned my camera on him, he made every attempt to cover his face and quickly left.
The rides:
Jungle Water Fight
First up was the Tiki themed splash battle, a Preston and Barbiari model. It was surrounded by intricately themed walkways full of water guns for bystanders to use but unfortunately, they didn't prove to be too popular. There also weren't anywhere near enough vehicles on the course for inter-boat battles to break out so the only real battle that took place was you vs. the over the top water elements that completely soak you.
Next we headed to Bullet Coaster (Tibetan Eagle) before it opened. This turned out to be a good decision as later on, the queue became ridiculous. I have decided to give the signature attraction at each park a proper review, so here is the first:
Bullet Coaster Review
This would be my first S&S coaster and it was a coaster that I was very much looking forward to riding as it was a complete unknown and on paper, it looked to be very good indeed. It has recently been re-opened after months of downtime. Unfortunately, this has seen the addition of a few trim brakes on the first hill but it doesn't appear to have crippled the ride too much as it still visibly flies round at a good lick.
You approach the ride through an artificial ravine complete with enormous, thundering waterfalls. The first and largest hill towers over this, looking like a rollercoaster from a cartoon with its impossibly steep climb, equally steep dive into the park’s lake and its apparent lack of support. An incredibly loud whoosh of air announces the launch of a train and it's only when you see it shoot up the hill that you realise just how tall the coaster is. The train becomes a brightly coloured speck 197ft above you and seems to hang at the top before plummeting down the other side and out of view.
I think that Bullet Coaster is one of the best examples of coaster presentation I’ve seen. It dominates the harbour area of the park soaring above walkways and diving under bridges. Whenever a train blasts round the course, you can’t help but watch. It wouldn’t look out of place at a Universal park. In fact, I think it looks better than some Universal coasters!
The station is beautifully themed to suit the coaster’s Tibetan theme. Ornate paintings adorn the walls and there are prayer flags strung across the ceiling. Unfortunately, due to the Chinese custom of walking each batch of riders to the station individually, you don’t get much time to appreciate this detail.
The trains feature four across seating and T-bar style lap restraints with an additional surround to retain your legs. Whilst these surrounds appear to be quite bulky and restrictive, once on the ride, you barely notice them. The restraints are comfortable and allow complete freedom of the upper body which really comes into effect once the ride begins.
Despite some slight ripples in the fibreglass and small patches of rust (already!), the trains look incredibly sleek and modern with chunky, CNC milled wheel assemblies and swooping high-backed seats. Whilst not quite up to the standard of B&M’s hyper trains, they’re worlds away from the trains used on Intamin’s launch coasters (which are so restrictive, they lead me to question if they have been designed for humans).
After the appropriate checks have been made, at the sound of a klaxon, you are slowly wheeled out onto the launch track. The train engages with the catch car with a loud, satisfying click and a few seconds pass as the train is weighed. Once the computer is happy, the anti-rollback fins drop and the countdown begins:
3, 2, 1, Bang! In a split second you find yourself pinned to your seat, blasting towards the enormous first hill with an 83mph wind in your face. In seemingly not enough time to be possible, you are at the top of this hill looking out over Shenzhen before the track disappears from below you and you find yourself diving towards the lake at a ridiculous speed.
This is an absolutely spectacular opening. So spectacular in fact that it took a few seconds for my brain to properly register what had just happened. However, there was no time to fully recover as the train was already heading into the next element.
In a flurry of positive Gs, the train blasts through the submarine tunnel and emerges into a steep, twisting climb that points the train back towards the station. As the climb levels out and crests, it offers some moderate airtime before the train lines up for the Buckel Hill.
This is essentially a right to left banked transition in the middle of a hill. Unlike the aggressive Intamin version of the element which attempts to rip you from your seat, here the train rolls lazily to the right whilst you experience near-weightlessness. It’s a very smooth and fluid element, pleasant but nothing overly thrilling.
Unfortunately, at this point the blistering pace of the ride drops off significantly and it feels much more like a normal rollercoaster as the train enters a very unusual section. The train banks almost 90 degrees to the left as it negotiates a hill leaving you hanging off the side of the track.
The train then abruptly rights its self before enters the final element, a clockwise 540 degree helix, essentially a compressed version of Shambhala’s famous ampersand turn around.
Up until this point, the coaster had been flawlessly smooth but for some reason, the track work in the helix contains many small jolts and tweaks as the banking and radius change. It doesn’t ruin the ride, it just seems very out of character when compared with the rest of the layout. Whilst you might expect this to be an intense, forceful finale, the helix is relatively tame with only mild positive Gs building up in the last 180 degrees or so before the track levels out and spits you onto the brake run.
Overall, despite petering out a bit towards the end, Bullet Coaster is an excellent rollercoaster. The launch doesn’t quite have the raw power of an Intamin hydraulic launch but it’s the closest to it I’ve come across and any acceleration deficit is more than made up for by the fact that Bullet Coaster has lapbars. The feeling of speed and exposure is so much greater when you’re not enclosed by unnecessary OTSRs. It makes the launch-tophat opening far more effective than Stealth’s.
The only real disappointing aspect of the ride is that despite looking like it should be an airtime monster, the airtime is in fact quite weak and of the tummy-tickling variety rather than anything that will have you leaving your seat. It’s probably this that keeps it firmly in the very good category and prevents it from being great.
Having said that, it’s still by far my favourite launch coaster. If this coaster were to exist in the UK, it would be a massive asset to our shores and beats out every coaster at Thorpe for example.
Snow Mountain Flying Dragon
After riding Kumali earlier this year, I wasn’t much looking forward to riding its older Chinese twin. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Happy Valley have done a decent job of looking after what was previously their signature coaster and for an eleven year old SLC, it’s still pretty smooth. It does jolt and rattle a little bit but the key thing is that in two rides, my head only collided with the restraint once. It’s also better landscaped than Kumali and has a much better themed queue line which is based on a Himalayan monastery. Overall, a fairly enjoyable coaster which reminded me of Kumali’s better years and more importantly means that I have now ridden a complete set of coaster clones!
Shoot the Chutes
As the name suggests, it’s a shoot the chutes ride by the same manufacturer as Tidal Wave at Thorpe. The main difference between this and Tidal Wave is that this one has an enclosed lift hill and an extensive scenic section before it where the boat passes through an old fishing village. Unfortunately, this section has seen better days and has reached an appalling state of dilapidation that simply cannot be passed off as part of the theming.
Many of the wooden building facades have fallen apart exposing the rusting steel structure behind. Just before the lift hill are the faded remains of a giant octopus animatronic. At one point, it was clearly intended to look as though it had burst from within a boat house and would writhe around as a boat full of riders passed. However, most of the building has now fallen away to reveal that the octopus is in fact a steel frame with a head and a few motorised tentacles attached which are now stationary.
It’s surprising that it has been allowed to reach this state as the rest of the park is not only well themed but well kept. Hopefully, it can be sorted out soon.
As for the rest of the ride, if you have ridden Tidal wave, you will know that you get absolutely soaked but that seems to be the norm with Chinese water rides so it’s not quite as much of a novelty.
Mine Coaster
Vekoma once again proved that they are the masters of the mine train with this fun, breezy Big Thunder Mountain rip-off. There’s something about the dynamics of these coasters that makes them seem slightly out of control whilst still being fun for the whole family. The fact that the coaster isn’t technically perfect actually adds to the experience. It’s hard to convince yourself that you’re speeding your way around an old mine railway if the track work is milimetrically perfectly with fluid transitions.
If I do get a chance to ride Big Grizzly Mountain, it’ll be interesting to see how Vekoma’s more modern approach compares.
Rapids
A fairly standard rapids ride only with this being China, the many water elements around the course are utterly sadistic and soak riders to the skin. The queueing system for the ride is horrible, approaching the station, the queue just become a complete free-for-all resulting in a massive squeeze as everyone attempts to get to the front. Not nice at the best of times but in the heat of that day, it was truly awful.
Playa Maya Water Park
After this, we headed to the water park which is included in the admission and has a very good selection of slides. Unfortunately, two of the more exiting slides there, the half-pipe and the Master Blaster were down which was a bit disappointing but I did get the chance to ride my first Aqua Loop.
In case you don’t know, an aqua loop is an enclosed slide that consists of an extremely steep drop followed by an inclined loop where you ride up onto the top surface of the slide. It’s pretty much the closest you can get to an inversion with modern waterslide technology (Ignoring the legendarily dangerous Cannonball Loop).
However, the loop is not the most thrilling part of the slide. Like many modern waterslides, Aqua loops feature a launch pod. Unlike the traditional method of just climbing into the slide and pushing yourself away, you are stood against an inclined wall in an enclosed Perspex chamber and when the attendant is satisfied that you’re standing correctly, the floor drops away and you plummet into the slide!
The feeling of isolation when the door is closed and you’re waiting for the floor to drop creates the kind of tension that I didn’t know was possible on a waterslide. I don’t think I’ve ever been that nervous on a coaster or even on a drop tower for that matter! When the floor does disappear, you effectively free fall from the station before the slide catches you and you are sent barrelling round the loop which dumps you straight into the runoff area.
It’s very short but it’s a massive thrill and if the opportunity arises to ride one, it shouldn’t be missed.
That pretty much concludes my Happy Valley trip report. If you read it all, well done! There was a lot that we didn’t get done such as the corner full of Zamperla flat rides, the Golden Horse spinner and an entire hillside of assault courses. Nonetheless, we still had an excellent day at Happy Valley and I would happily return, even if the operations are a bit useless. I'll end with some general photos of the park.
Next up will be Knight Valley and Mountain Flyer.
I really felt anxious when I was reading about the water slide!