theparklifekid's Middle East Adventures!

Been to an attraction recently? Planning a trip? Tell us about it here or get some hints and tips for your next visit.
User avatar
theparklifekid
Member
Member
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:23 pm
Location: Cambridge/Dubai
Contact:

So its taken me a while to get here due to its weird operating period and other things, but finally I've visited Global Village!

Now the park is actually the oldest park in Dubai, it originally opened as a market in 1996, but eventually expanded to a location in Dubailand (where the Marvel Park was planned) and operates seasonally during the winter/early spring, yet its the most popular park in Dubai, where it attracts about 5 million visitors annually. The park itself is basically a diet Epcot and Winter Wonderland hybrid, themed pavilions with markets and rides to offer. Lets take a look!

Image
Ta-da!

Image
As Global Village is located in Dubailand, its located really close to IMG Worlds!

Image
And the location of the park is actually where a planned Marvel park (which eventually became part of IMG) would have been, here are the abandoned offices of the park.

Image
The offices 8 years ago...

Image
Tickets for this place are dead cheap at only AED 15 (£3) but then any rides on the inside are extra.

Image
Once you enter your greeted by tesco value landmarks, one of which you can see the real thing if you turn around...

Image
Wow! The Eiffel Tower and Sydney Opera House!

Image
Big Ben!

Image
The Blue Mosque!

Image
The walk to the pavilions was interesting...

Image
This was the Iran pavilion.

Image
However, on the inside shops selling food native to the area could be found.

Image
Some had cool decorations though.

Image
The only cool thing about the Saudi Arabia pavilion was the outside.

Image
The India pavilion was interesting.

Image
Not only were they selling lots of cool stuff...

Image
They had a random fake road in it...

Image
China had some cool dragons in it.

Image
Anyway, lets get to this. So Global Village has a selection of rides, some traveling, some permanent and the rides do cost extra. FUN FACT: Beastie from Alton Towers used to be here during the 2013-14 season.

Image 
Ha

Image
This flat was stuck like this.

Image
A star flyer was here, as well as a drop tower.

Image
One of those SBF spinning coasters was there.

Image
But my main draw here was this, London Loop!

Image
Its a Vekoma Junior Boomerang, the same model as Velociraptor at Paultons Park.

Image
The ride was glass smooth and really fun, it was my first 'new style' vekoma and I was very impressed.

Image
Nothing to do with the Americas was inside.

Image
A stage with various shows was happening.

Image
The park was incredibly busy.

Image
To sum up Europe I just need to show you this...

Get ready....

Image
.........

There was also a stunt show that was closed soooooooooooo

Image
Diet Epcot was a weird place, not sure if I liked it or not, but it was interesting to see.

Thanks for reading!!
Image
A TowersTimes Middle East Reporter!
User avatar
Danny
Member
Member
Posts: 2153
Joined: Sun Feb 17, 2013 10:22 pm
Location: Essex

What an unusual park! I guess when Gerst and Vekoma provide your headline attractions, it’s certainly not going to turn the heads of many thrill seekers, but for the equivalent of £3 you can hardly complain with some of that lovely theming and facades! :)
User avatar
theparklifekid
Member
Member
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:23 pm
Location: Cambridge/Dubai
Contact:

Hey all, so recently I did a trip with my family to Jebel Hafeet, which is located on the boarder of the UAE and Oman. Its the 2nd highest mountain in the country at 4098ft, the name translates to 'empty mountain' and has a single long very scary road to the top, during the journey I noticed a few things so I just thought I should put them here.

Image
First off here is the road.

Image
Now you can't really see it here, but there's actually a alpine slide ride right there, I didn't do it, but still was like 'huh'.

Image
Then this.... Does anyone know what 9D is?

Image
Then a few hundred feet later, I saw a Zamperla 360 flat, which also made me go 'hmmmmmm'.

Image
Finally I reached the top and saw cool views of the 2 countries, there was a hotel we went into to get lunch and as I wondered around something caught my eye, this toboggan ride. It didn't look like it had operated for a long time and its entrance was sealed off from the public. I asked a staff member about it and apparently they had been there for 8 years and had never seen it running. I asked another and they said apparently it opened for about 2 months but stopped operation because people would actually stall around where the back of the track is, at around 4000ft, on a cliff edge. This naturally scared the riders to stand up and walk the rest of the slide and made others afraid to ride it, so the hotel closed it and can't remove it due to its location.

So yeah, that's just a small thing I found and thought I should post it here.
Image
A TowersTimes Middle East Reporter!
User avatar
theparklifekid
Member
Member
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:23 pm
Location: Cambridge/Dubai
Contact:

Image

So, this summer after I complete my exams, me and a few friends are going to be doing a trip we've been saving up to do for a long time, an Asia mega trip!

During the trip in lasting over a month in July/August I will visiting the following places:
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
- Beijing
- Shanghai
- South Korea
- North Korea (DMZ)
- Japan

So yeah its a pretty ambitious trip we're doing on our own, but i'm really excited for it. But what exactly am I going to be doing there park wise? Well, the people I'm going with like parks but not an enthusiast, however we are going to try visit a few here and there, but the main focus on the trip is culture, so I can't do everything. But here are the parks I'm wanting to do:

- Universal Studios Singapore (very likely, not much to do in Singapore and is one of the recommended locations)
- Hong Kong Disneyland (likely, friends from Hong Kong may meet us up there)
- Ocean Park (maybe, if we have time)
- Shanghai Disneyland (100% happening, Tron, Pirates and will be staying 20 mins away)
- Lotte World (maybe, its in the capital so I could squeeze it in somewhere)
- Tokyo DisneySea (100% happening, its known as the best park ever so it would seem rude not to go)
- Tokyo Disneyland (unlikely, as much as I do want to go, crowds will be awful and I'd rather see more of Tokyo where I won't be there for long)
- Universal Studios Japan (likely, will be in Osaka and my friends love Harry Potter, I'm a Ravenclaw apparently)
- Fuji-Q Highland (likely, as I will be climbing Mt Fuji and spending time in the area)
- Sega Joypolis and Tokyo Dome City (likely, each have a cool cred to get and could be knocked out within 30mins during site seeing)

But yeah thats what I'm planning to do park wise. I've also got cultral plans such as Great Wall of China, city site seeing and climbing Mt Fuji, but do you guys have any suggestions, tips/tricks? If so I'd love to know and I'll be posting updates in this topic from the trip (not just at the parks!) so stay tuned!

Image
Image
A TowersTimes Middle East Reporter!
User avatar
Robert.W
Member
Member
Posts: 1200
Joined: Fri May 12, 2017 12:38 am

Sounds like it's going to be amazing! Climbing Mt Fuji is something I've wanted to do for a while, and seeing the Great Wall of China will be very fun too! I'm actually interested in going to Japan in the future to it'll be interesting to hear your thoughts on the place — the theme parks and the culture, food, environment etc.! :)
Image

Image
Image
User avatar
theparklifekid
Member
Member
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:23 pm
Location: Cambridge/Dubai
Contact:

Right, this maybe a controversial coaster nerd statement, as pretty much everyone I've told has responded with things like "Don't worry, opinions can be wrong" and "Whats wrong with you?" But, I want to just put it out there for the world to here, because I just have to say it.

I think Wicker Man is better than Icon.

Let me just explain myself. 

Image
Wicker Man's entrance is a good starting point, firstly I think we can all agree about how amazing 'Big Bob' here is. The park has cleverly designed the entrance to the ride, making the structure the main focus point, with the amazing music and great sound effects echoing around the ride makes you pumped to ride. Icons entrance is quite bland in comparison, a nice arch with some cheap looking reflective metal, sure its cool how the track twists above it, but I gotta give it to Wicker Man.

Image
As for the actual station I'm mixed for Icon. I personally think the outside of the Icon's station is quite dull looking, sure the logo is cool, but I think the building just looks dull. It kinda looks like something I'd make in Planet Coaster and forget to theme up, it also doesn't help how the fake grass looks out of place. That being said, the inside of the station is great! Nice ambient music, cool lighting on the walls, neat fake mirrors, neat baggage hold and I love the spooky "Icon.." voice effect. Wicker Mans though has a themed building, that cool pre-show and cool smoke and lighting and the music is great, once again, Wicker Man.

Image
Now this is an issue that I know isn't Blackpools fault, but this ride is so tightly packed between paths and other rides, it makes it look really odd, that being said I'm very impressed that they managed to squeeze this ride in here!

Image
But dam, isn't this pretty? I'd also say that the build up for Wickerman was better, during the whole SW8 construction there was always this mystery of what the ride would truly be like, Icon was just like "This is it".

Image
Now in terms of layout, this is when some may disagree with me, but I think Wicker Mans layout is an incredibly thrilling experience. Its an out of control experience with a surprising amount of airtime, smooth, great turns and the moments when you enter into the structure I find amazing. It was my first wooden coaster and it makes me want more in the UK.

Image
Now with Icon, don't get me wrong its a fantastic layout, in fact I prefer it to the likes of Velociraptor, but man was I underwhelmed. I thought the launch on Revolution was better than Icons, I didn't feel any forces and the only airtime I got was on the first top hat and the drop before the 2nd launch, I'd say that my favourite bit was on the immelmann as you get some hangtime. Overall I'd say Icon was a victim of its own hype, because despite everyone telling me "Best ride in the UK", I consider Wicker Man, Nemesis and Swarm to be better layouts. I don't hate the ride, just came off slightly disappointed. Hope you all understand.

Anyway later this week I'll be heading off to Asia! I'll be doing both theme park and non-park updates, but due to some internet stuff, it may take a while to do.
The final list of parks I'm visiting are as follows:
- Universal Studios Singapore
- Hong Kong Disneyland
- Shanghai Disneyland
- Lotte World
- Fuji Q Highland
- Universal Studios Japan
- Sega Joypolis and Tokyo Dome City
- Tokyo DisneySea

So stay tuned!!
Image
A TowersTimes Middle East Reporter!
Swarm Chris

Avoids the Wickerman discussion and heads straight to the Asia trip  :P

Some info on Tokyo and Hong Kong if you haven't already figured these things out :)

Tokyo:

Getting around is incredibly easy on the above ground JR trains, or the underground, with both Tokyo Dome and Tokyo Disney having JR (Japan Rail) stations that are really easy to navigate to. The above ground trains will declare each station well in advance in both Japanese and English. I preferred the above ground as you got to see more of the city and the stations all played their own theme tunes each time a train arrived :). The Disney one of-course plays a Disney inspired theme tune in the JR style! All of the trains are heavily air-conditioned, especially at the standing points by the doors. The central hub stations that link direct to the airports like Ueno station have English maps, which can make getting around a little easier. But each station has a large printed route map (sometimes in English too) and you'll soon get used to playing match the symbols. Getting a Suica card is probably the easiest way to use the metro, otherwise you get tiny paper tickets per trip that are really easy to lose (if they even still do these). You may even find bundled discounts for foreign tourists available at the airports for the rail. The best thing is, if you look lost in Tokyo, people will generally stop and offer help as a matter of course.

Make sure to stay hydrated! There are 7-Elevens everywhere, which are stocked with a huge number of drinks. Aquarius or Pocari Sweat are pretty good drinks to have at hand if it's very hot, as they'll replenish pretty much everything you're losing. They also do a nice selection of sandwiches for the budget conscious. 

Food around Tokyo Dome is fairly touristy - which is great if you're longing for some small portions of western style food. Otherwise we found some nice restaurants the other side of Suidobashi station, but sadly can't remember exactly where. But there are places to eat everywhere and most restaurants have vending machines outside where you choose your meal via pictures, making language barriers largely non-existent.

One more thing - when entering airport property you will need to show your passport at the security check points. Also, it's a legal requirement in Japan to carry your passport with you at all times, so I carried mine in a zip-lock bag in my pocket to save it getting destroyed.

Hong Kong:

Make sure to stay very hydrated! Again 7-Elevens in most places, but less so than in Tokyo. If you end up on Hong Kong island and the heat is too much, go up The Peak. The tram going up there is fun / crazy, and the views are brilliant. There is also a network of interconnecting buildings and shopping centers through most of Hong Kong island, which will keep you nice and air conditioned too, but you do occasionally pop-out into what looks like a very expensive business foyer. :lol 

For Disney, you can purchase park tickets at the Disney Store in the airport and skip the queues at the park. The store is on the public side of security/check-in. Disney is I think one connection from the airport on the metro. They'll sell Octopus cards for the metro pretty much everywhere, and as a bonus they can also be used at 7-Elevens and some fast-food places.

If you overheat in Disney, go and ride It's a Small World, it has fantastic air conditioning! I may have marathoned that a little bit when I was there... 


Have fun! :)
User avatar
theparklifekid
Member
Member
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:23 pm
Location: Cambridge/Dubai
Contact:

Universal Studios Singapore
(right lets try this again)

Da da daaaaa da, da da da da daaaa, DUN DUN, Da da daaaaa da, da da da da daaaa, da da daaaa da da, da da da da daaaaa, DUN. (That was meant to be the universal song)


Hello from Guilin, China, where I am currently typing this trip report and my third destination on my Asia trip. I have just arrived here after spending a wonderful 4 days in Singapore, a city/country which many people have called a city of the future and I can safely say I agree with that statement! It’s a wonderful, clean, friendly place, with a lot of culture, currently edge technology and great tourist spots (including Gardens by the Bay, which is one of the coolest places I’ve ever visited (Here is a cool thing that happened), as well as a few days in Hong Kong which was great also.


But one of the main attractions is Universal Studios Singapore, the newest of the universal parks (until Beijing opens) and also the smallest. Located on Sentosa Island along with a few other tourist attractions such as Madame Tussaud’s and a water park.

Sentosa is a pretty easy place to get to in Singapore, you just take the purple line to the final stop ‘Harborfront’ walk through a shopping mall, pay about £2 to get on the monorail and then you arrive in the middle of the resort. To get to universal, you just find the big globe thingy, it’s pretty hard to miss.
Image

It felt weird going seeing a Universal Studios archway in person (not counting the abandoned Universal Dubailand one)
Image


To celebrate the new Jurassic World movie, the park was doing a few special events, including a few raptor shows, dino props and an AR experience.
Image

When you enter the park you are surrounded by buildings featuring a classic Hollywood style, there is also a roof as it does rain in Singapore quiet a bit. I imagine this was what motiongate was aiming for with it’s entrance as the shops were placed similar to here.
Image

At the end of the street was a Jurassic World show, I didn’t watch it as it was cancelled.
Image

However behind that was the full layout of the park, showing you all the lands and just how small the place is. I have no idea how the are going to expand the park without some major changes, in fact they do Halloween Horror Nights here every year, how can they squeeze in the mazes?!

Image

One of the areas was a New York street featuring a cute Sesame Street dark ride, a special effects show and a Jurassic World AR experience (try spot me)
Image


Another area was a Madagascar area, with a pretty dull boat ride.
Image


And then we have the area themed to shrek which featured Shrek 4D inside this castle, as well as 2 junior coasters. Interestingly enough, there’s a rumour that this area will be rethemed to Harry Potter...
Image

The first was Enchanted Airways, a fairly cute ride.
Image

And then we have the parks newest coaster, Puss in Boots: Giant Journey, a Zamperla Suspended coaster and let me just say wow, beat it Flying Aces, this is my new no1. The story, gripping and emotional, the layout gives amazing ejector airtime and probably the most intense Gs ever.
Image

Then you have “Lost World”, the area of the park with Jurassic Park. And let’s just say it was interesting. It’s home to Canopy Flyer, an alright family coaster, but that’s not the main ride here is it?
Image

Nope, we have Jurassic Park: Rapids Adventure, a reimagined version of the classic universal ride. I’m going to be doing a ‘classic’ version of the ride in Japan.
Image

Also quick tip! Most rides have a single rider queue, however some are hidden and to access them just ask a staff member to direct you.
Image

Anyway I went into the ride knowing I probably wouldn’t find it amazing, but still fun. The original rides are among the rides that made me get into theme parks and when I saw a pov of this thing I was like ‘eh, looks ok’, but man was it even more disappointing than I thought. First the boats are quite narrow and spin a lot during parts of the ride, making it difficult to focus on scenery. Then you have the audio which is all over the place, sometimes it’s nice and clear, sometimes you can hear it perfectly and then it goes silent and sometimes it doesn’t exist. Then you have the dinos themselves, about 2 were working, one of them had skin pealing off so badly that you could see the robotics inside, some needed a lot of work done to them, but the real shame was before the end drop with the T-Rex looking down on you, static with no audio, wasn’t even looking down. At least it got you wet. 
Image

Waterworld is way cooler in person than on the internet, a fabulous show.
Image

The park has a small area dedicated to Egypt, with the star attraction here being Revenge of the Mummy, which was also a bucket list coaster for me (tied with Orlando) as it’s got great special effects and was one of the first coaster povs I saw which made me go “that’s cool” with the ‘Serve me and savour treasures beyond compare’ being the standout scene. 
Image

This for me was a victim of its own hype ride as even though the queue was great and the ‘serve me’ scene was as cool as I wanted it to be (especially when you notice things you didn’t know about), the animatronics weren’t in great condition with rough movements and on my first ride one of the house lights were on and you could see the track and the UV ghosts. Hopefully it gets referbed soon and after my second ride I decided it was a great fun ride with cool effects, guess I need to ride Orlando’s version!

Image

Transformers: The Ride, ok wow, what an amazing dark ride! This was actually the original ride before going over to America and I’m not a fan of the movies, but I love this! One of the top dark rides for me!
Image

Ahh the most intriguing ride(s) here, Battlestar Galactica! These here are two vekoma coasters, a sit down side (Human) and an inverted side (Cylon) and let’s just say hand down the best vekomas I’ve done, so smooth!
Image

A bit like Smiler, it’s a mess of track, but a good mess. The Human side is more family friendly with various twists and turns, whereas Cylon is much more intense especially around the cobra roll. The rides were way cooler when they duel correctly, however sometimes they are dispatched to early/late.
Image

Anyway that was Universal Studios Singapore, a fun and very small park with some unique things you wouldn’t find at the other universal parks. I had fun and I’m not dying to go back, but if I ever somehow happen to be in Singapore again, I’ll definitely pop by. 


Anyway I’m typing this on my phone at about midnight over here, so only 5pm for the UK, so hopefully the pics all are correct. I’ll try type reports from all the parks I’m doing, I’ve just done Hong Kong Disneyland and have pics ready, but China internet laws are quite strict, so bare with! Anyway I’m tired now and I’ll upload this in the morning, bye!
Image
A TowersTimes Middle East Reporter!
User avatar
theparklifekid
Member
Member
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:23 pm
Location: Cambridge/Dubai
Contact:

Hong Kong Disneyland

Once again hello from China, I’m currently typing this on a train heading for Xi’an and considering it’s 4 hours long, I may as well type up a report from Hong Kong Disneyland, the second park on my trip, when I’ll upload this, idk when I have a computer probably. (I uploaded this in Japan, all trip reports I wrote were done pretty much immediately after visiting a park, opinions may have changed since - Future Jamie)

So Hong Kong Disneyland is my second Disney park, the first being Paris, however I went there when I was 5 and barely remember it, so this is the first Disney park that I’ll remember. This was also the first Disney park to open in China, with Shanghai coming in 2016, but it’s kinda going through a transformation as when the park opened, it was very similar to the original Disneyland, with the castle being a replica. So the park is rapidly changing, with new Marvel and Frozen areas being made and the castle itself getting a massive improvement. But that’s not to say it’s a still a great park!

Getting to the park is dead easy, with there being a one way metro line with special trains.
Image

Welcome to the resort!
Image

Before getting into the park, you are greeted by the surfing Mickey. The resort actually has land to build a second gate if they need to, I imagine once they’ve done the improvements to Disneyland, they will start to construct the second gate (Hong Kong DisneySky I think would be a great unique park if Tokyo don’t want it)
Image

Once you enter the park, you are already greeted with the refurbishments taking place.
Image

And thus Main Street USA, with the castle in its current form.
Image

However when you get up close to the castle, you start to see that construction on the new version is in full swing.
Image

Because I never had a solo pic in front of a Disney castle before, I decided to take my opportunity, guess I’ll have to wait for Shanghai to take a proper one without construction walls!
Image

Adventureland was pretty small
Image

They have a version of the Jungle Cruise, which had a skipper speaking pretty broken English. But it did give you good views of Tarzan’s Treehouse.
Image

After that the areas of the park that had my most anticipated rides had opened so I just dashed over.
Image

The first area I hit up was Grizzly Gulch, home to probably the best themed coaster I’ve seen.
Image

Big Grizzly Mountain!
Image

Now this is what a family coaster should be, not too big, not too fast, but still thrilling enough for everyone to want to ride again and again.
Image

It’s also got great theming, quite forceful actually. First I rode Battlestar Galactica and now this, Vekoma I love your new coasters, please build one in the UK.
Image 

Anyway from one amazing ride to the other and one that I believe everyone has to ride, Mystic Manor.
Image

Inside the queue you have many artefacts and paintings from around the world, including this which is from a place very close to my UK base!
Image

The ride is trackless and let me just say wow, it already looks amazing in videos, but in person they look even more spectacular. It’s so well detailed, the animations are amazing and the music is spectacular. I mean look at this video 
Image

Number one dark ride.
Image

Anyway I then headed over to the next area, Toy Story Land
Image

Home to my next cred, RC Racer! It was fun, nothing amazing but hey a creds a cred. They also had a parachute drop ride and a Slinky Dog flat. Apparently the land is very similar to that of Paris.
Image

Fantasyland was the most crowded area of the park, with some rides upwards of 2hrs!
Image

But I did ride It’s a Small World and it was just as annoying as I thought it would be!
Image

Over in Tomorrowland there was currently a Star Wars event.
Image

Meaning that Space Mountain was Hyperspace Mountain! HK Disneyland doesn’t really have fastpass implemented in its rides, only 4 of them and this ride was one of them. But the station was cool and so was the ride! Lots of cool laser effects and music made the ride cool. But 3 lift hills? Ok.
Image 

The parks newest ride was the Iron Man Experience, a Star Tours type ride. Quite fun
In the queue you get lots of nods to the movies which made me geek out, including the suitcase armor, Stan Lee and more!
Image

This area of the park is also undergoing a transformation, with a big Marvel presence. Here we have a ride based on Ant-Man and The Wasp taking shape. And soon a big Avengers ride.
Image

Anyway that was Hong Kong Disneyland, a great park with a bright future ahead, hopefully I’ll be back one day to see it all complete and when that day comes I can’t wait to see it! Next park: Shanghai Disneyland!
Image
A TowersTimes Middle East Reporter!
User avatar
theparklifekid
Member
Member
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:23 pm
Location: Cambridge/Dubai
Contact:

Shanghai Disneyland

Oops, well this is awkward, my notes on my phone deleted so all my asia reports have been deleted... So sorry for the delay but here we are, Shanghai Disneyland!!

Shanghai Disneyland is the newest park in the Disney chain, and it shows, the rides are cutting edge and fantastic, its big and bold. Now to get to the park is dead easy if you are staying outside the resort, theres a metro line from the centre of Shanghai that directly takes you to the resort.

Image
Now, there were a lot of things about the people at the park (which I'll get into later), but one thing I found funny was that about 20 people on the train walk around with bags of ripoff Disney merch and try to get you to buy it, literally, they stand in front of you for about 3 mins showing you everything even if you say no thanks (or 不,谢谢)

Image
But eventually you get to the resort and into 'DisneyTown', these pathways are massive and go on for ages, you can tell where they have the expansion room for 2 other parks.

Image
Steamboat Willy says hi before you enter the park.

Image
And you enter underneath the fake train station into the park!

Image
Instead of Mainstreet USA, this park has Micky Avenue, same concept, great execution.

Image
And of course the parks centrepiece, the storybook castle. I don't think any forced perspective is used here, its actually massive, stunning and has a cool chandelier to go with it.

Image
Anyway, I dashed to Tommorrowland to ride the most anticipated ride of my trip...

Image
My number 2 bucket list coaster. TRON: Lightcycle Power Run!

Image
It was 10 minutes after park opening and the ride was already at a 90 min wait, which leads me onto my first complaint. There are too many people at this park, all fastpasses sold out within 15 mins of the park being open, we were lucky just to get 1 for Tron at 6pm. Anyway, so you enter underneath the Tron 'gun'.

Into a cool preshow...

Image
Get a view of the launch track...

Image
And into the coolest station ever.

Image
The ride is a Vekoma booster bike (on steroids) with AMAZING special effects, audio, forces and an overall fun ride. Its an overall package ride that even though it hasn't got an amzing layout, its what they did to it which amazes me. Orlando is so lucky to get the ride in 2021 and I hope Paris gets it. My new number 2.

I mean just look at this launch sequence!

Image
After being amazed by Tron, I headed over to the Pirates area of the park.

Image
Which is stunning btw, I can see Pandora fitting in there if the rumours are true.

Image
Home to probably the most complex ride system ever in the form of Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure!

Image
Now for possibly the worst guest interaction experience I've ever had. WHERE DO I START? So everyone and I mean EVERYONE was pushing and shoving, queue jumping, spitting on the floor, selling ripoff merch in the queue (how that got past security idk), leaving rubbish on the scenery, shouting, literally any complaint you can think of was in this queue, horrendous.

Image
That being said, some of the scenery (that hadn't been ruined) was great.

Image
You even pass over the ride at one point.

Image
You enter the station and begin the ride. Its an amazing ride that basically combines, dark rides, boat rides, simulators and log fumes into one. Truly an amazing ride. Buuuttttt, I had 2 rides on, the second was great, the first.... Don't you love it when literally everyone on your boat uses flash photography?

Because everyone else was doing it, I decided to film part of the ride. (without flash, those flashes of light are other people)

Image
This was on the ride where I had fun.

Image
Cute hedge maze.

Image
In the Adventure Isle section they had 2 rides, Roaring Rapids and Souring Over the Horizon, both of which I really wanted to do but diddn't due to them both being at, no joke, 300 minute queues all day, they looked cool though.

Image
Quick selfie.

Image
Another coaster they had was Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, a clone of the ride from Florida, I've never been to that resort, so I did this ride. It had a 250 min wait all day, but luckily the single rider queue (which is cruelly abused on every ride) which had been closed, opened when we were walking by, and got on within 10 mins. Glad I didn't queue 250mins, fun, but nothing amazing.

Image
The final cred was in the newest area of the park Rex's Racer! Same as all the other RC Racer rides, nothing special. But I queued 70 mins for it....

Image
Unfortunately we had to leave before it got dark, but we were able to get 2 more rides on Tron, one day I'll ride this at night....

Image
Pure fun.

Image
So yeah that was Shanghai Disneyland, I had fun but man the people sucked. So pro tip, don't go in the summer!

Next park (if I remember to post it, Lotte World!) 
Image
A TowersTimes Middle East Reporter!
User avatar
theparklifekid
Member
Member
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:23 pm
Location: Cambridge/Dubai
Contact:

Lotte World Korea

And here we go again, this time from South Korea. I was in the country for only a few days but I loved it and would one day love return, but I couldn't pass the opportunity to not go to a park. There were a few options including Gyeongju World or Everland, but I decided to go to a lesser known park, Lotte World.

Image
So Lotte World is located in the middle of Seoul and is part of a large entertainment offering, with shopping malls, restaurants, hotels and the tallest building in South Korea, the Lotte World Tower.

Image
The park itself is located inside a shopping mall and has these funky statues outside.

Image
The park itself is divided into two sections, an indoor area featuring dark rides, suspended rides, thrill rides, a coaster, a stage and even an ice rink.

Image
The coaster is French Revolution, which had just been updated to have VR.

Image
The coaster was on one train and it had VR, which means, long lines! I will say they did have live entertainment for people to watch during the queue.

Image
The ride is a custom Vekoma looper that goes through some tight elements. For a ride that opened in the 1980s, this thing was pretty smooth and really fun!

Image
Then outside we have 'Magic Island' which is home to lots of different rides.

Image
Including a Gyro Drop which also has VR.

Image
Now my main draw to the park was Atlantis Adventure, the world's only Intamin Aqua Trax, which is basically a water coaster, but jets of water squirt rides getting them wet.

Image
The ride is memed a lot in the coaster community, but jokes and all aside, its actually really fun. It has a great launch, nice and smooth, cool theming and some really close headchoppers.

Here it is in action

Image
Speaking of weird stuff. Comet Express is a first and only of its type Intamin spinner. I'm not lying when I say this is probably the most terrifying ride I've ever done.

Image
This ride has the most bizarre trippy scenery, it played an ominous drone noise during the entire ride, creepy sound effects, strobe lighting and the intense spinning doesn't help. Honestly think I saw this in a nightmare a while back. POV

Anyway so that's Lotte World, I had fun and its a very quirky place! Next time: Japan stuff
Image
A TowersTimes Middle East Reporter!
User avatar
Kilo_SSK
New Member
New Member
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri Oct 26, 2018 4:44 pm

I had actually never heard about a single one of these theme parks you've mentioned... I guess that, as we say in Walloon and French, "I'll go to bed less stupid than I woke up"! I'd like to visit many of them, but aren't there issues with women not wearing hijabs or something along these lines in Dubai? I've heard a lot of horror stories regarding the treatment of women there but I don't know which ones are true and which ones are racist fearmonging.
User avatar
theparklifekid
Member
Member
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:23 pm
Location: Cambridge/Dubai
Contact:

Kilo_SSK wrote:I had actually never heard about a single one of these theme parks you've mentioned... I guess that, as we say in Walloon and French, "I'll go to bed less stupid than I woke up"! I'd like to visit many of them, but aren't there issues with women not wearing hijabs or something along these lines in Dubai? I've heard a lot of horror stories regarding the treatment of women there but I don't know which ones are true and which ones are racist fearmonging.
Don't worry, Dubai and the UAE are fine towards women, as most of the people living there or tourists are European or American, thus standards of living are similar. My family have been living there for nearly 7 years now and we have never felt unwelcome. Most horror stories you hear are from Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. :)
Image
A TowersTimes Middle East Reporter!
User avatar
theparklifekid
Member
Member
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:23 pm
Location: Cambridge/Dubai
Contact:

Sega Joypolis + VR Zone

Oh my, its been a month since my last trip report! Still got more to come, so lets get this cracking.
The final stop on my trip was Japan, my what an awesome place, home to some weird stuff, like super weird. Capsule machines selling god knows what, capsule hotels, robotic toilets and other stuff.

Image
I stayed in a capsule hotel and it was actually a pretty neat experience, I'd love to do it again.

Image
Anyway, so whilst I was in Tokyo, I decided to hit up a VR Arcade which are becoming increasingly popular in Japan, as they love their video games. It was really modern and had cool projection mapping effects onto the walls.

Image
A bunch of people were taking pictures with a bunch of cutout anime characters, I have no idea who these characters are, but I decided to join with the crowd.

Image
Like the outside of the building had a slime from Dragon Quest on it.

Image
And the gift shop had some cute Pokemon!

Image
Anyway, so the main draw to the arcade for me was the Mario Kart VR Experience.

Image
Basically its a simulator that you control, you sit on a go kart that rocks depending on the direction you are heading, you steer with the wheel, you have brake and acceleration pedals, HTC Vive headsets are what you wear, you also have a  and on your arm you have custom vr hand controls which allow you to reach out, grab items and throw them at enemies! Really awesome experience which has recently been brought to the UK, so check it out!
  
Here it is in action

Image
You have to wear a stupid looking mask thing for health reasons though.

Image
Most of the other VR stuff was based on classic arcade games or anime that were all pretty fun, however the do have ridiculous instructions.

Image 
On an unrelated note, there were a bunch of retro game shops dotted about, I found one with a Virtual Boy, Nintendo's failed VR system.

Image
After that we decided to head to Joypolis, but of course Japan has to have a life size mecha robot on route.

Image
But we soon arrived to Sega Joypolis, an arcade/mini theme park in the same style as what used to be Sega Republic in Dubai.

Image
My main draw to the park was this, Gekion Live Coaster, the worlds first inverting spinning coaster.

Image
The ride also has anime takeovers a certain times, this time it was Tokyo Ghoul

Image
The ride itself, is made by Gerstlauer and is a 'spin' on their spinning coaster model. The restraints have buttons on them which are effectively a video game controller. You play a rhythm based game similar to Guitar Hero where you have to press the correct buttons that sync to a screen showing you colourful images. It then launches you into the middle of the park through a barrel roll, and into some close turns spinning like crazy. Good fun.

Launch, Spin, Loop

In terms of the rest of the park, there is a bunch of claw machines and fun simulator rides. They also have a bunch rides which are exact copies of rides from the old Sega Republic. I good hour spent at the park!

Image
And thus we left the park to be greeted with a massive Ferris Wheel. A good time was spent at the parks, but I've got more reports to write so bare with!

Next up: Tokyo Dome City
Image
A TowersTimes Middle East Reporter!
User avatar
theparklifekid
Member
Member
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:23 pm
Location: Cambridge/Dubai
Contact:

Tokyo Dome City

Quick report time, this time from Tokyo Dome City. Located in the heart of Tokyo, this park is most famous for its Intamin Hyper Coaster known as 'Thunder Dolphin', I had to check it out.

Image
The park is nowhere to be found when you are a 5 minute walk from the place, its surrounded by high rise buildings, thus covering up the 260ft coaster.

Image
But then suddenly you catch a glimpse of the parks massive ferris wheel.

Image
Then pretty much instantly emerges the entire park, including the highlight of the visit.

Image
Here is the rest of the park.

Image
Log flume also, I didn't bother with these rides. Came just for....

Image
Thunder Dolphin! Also I had to have a mandatory selfie in front of the entrance.

Image
In the station, the trains are similar to ones found on other Intamin Mega Coasters such as Goliath or Millennium Force. Staff were very friendly also.

Image
Thus the ride began with a climb up the 260ft cable lift hill, you got great views of Tokyo and was really cool. Then the drop happened and it was great, unfortunately that was the best part of the ride.

Image
Then you turn up to the roof of the building which was extremely unique.

Image After a small bunny hill you then dive through a head chopper ring in the building. Coolest part for me.

Image
Then you go into an overbank that goes through the planet coaster wheel.

Image
Then into a quick airtime hill, which offered no airtime.

Image
Then back onto the roof into this weird trick track, kinda felt pointless.

Image
Finally you hurtle off the roof into the brake run, ending the ride.

Overall Thunder Dolphin is a fun unique coaster, its nothing amazing and it is quite forceless, but it was a good ride that I can say I've done.

Next park: Fuji-Q Highland
Image
A TowersTimes Middle East Reporter!
User avatar
theparklifekid
Member
Member
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:23 pm
Location: Cambridge/Dubai
Contact:

Fuji-Q Highland

WOW, I am so behind on these reports, still have 2 more parks to do!

Anyway so during my time in Japan, my friend suggested the stupid idea of climbing mt fuji. So we did. But we also went to Fuji-Q as it was nearby. Now I had always been fasinated with this park, its coaster collection had the weirdest types. But still I really wanted to visit, so I did.

We took a bus from the center of Tokyo and the trip takes you through some hills of japan and around some nice towns, until you get a great view of Mt. Fuji (unfortunately that was the only time I saw it this day)
Image

But anyway you eventually arrive at the park!
Image

Before you enter the park however, you have to walk through a weird french village, nice views of Fujiyama though.
Image

So at this park I was going to hit my 100th coaster, I wanted it to be a cool one and luckily this park had quite a few good no100 material. But for my number 98, I chose to do Takabisha. Also known as the worlds steepest roller coaster.

Image

Despite people telling me that it was the smoothest eurofighter, I found it quite rough and came off with a headache. That being said, I though the hold before the drop is more intimidating than on any dive coaster.
Image

For number 99 I chose the worlds fastest accelerating coaster, Do-dodonpa.
Image

The park also had a sponsorship with an anime and each ride had an anime school girl doing the announcements, which was weird.
Image

So the ride was very fast, which is to be expected, however I was expecting it to be like being rammed by a bus, like I was told, I think Rossa has a better launch. Its also quite bumpy because it uses rubber wheels. The loop was cool though.
Image

For the big 100, I decided to make it the 4D coaster known as Eejanaika.
Image

But if there is one thing about Fuji-Q that sucks, is the operations. Takabisha was advertised at 70 min wait and we got on in about 50. Dododonpa 90 in 90. Fujiyama 75 in 90. But on Eejanaika it was 80 mins but we waited 160, they were doing one train fast track, one train main queue. If the fast track queue only had 4 people in it. They would send it with only those people on it. It was horrible.
Image

That being said, really good, crazy ride. I had no idea what was happening, so I loved it, just wished I could have done all these rides more.
Image

They have a haunted hospital attraction which was sold out for the day, but it looked 2spooky4me.
Image

Finally we have Fujiyama, its big, its fast...
Image

Its also painful and a mess of steel.
Image

So that was Fuji-Q, a very unique park and I'd love to visit it again some day when its less busy. Still would recommend it though.
Next up, my fave park: Universal Studios Japan
Image
A TowersTimes Middle East Reporter!
User avatar
theparklifekid
Member
Member
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:23 pm
Location: Cambridge/Dubai
Contact:

Universal Studios Japan

Once again sorry for the long delay, but here we go with an awesome park, Universal Studios Japan!

Image
As you get off the metro, you find yourself in a quirky but cool version of City Walk (this one had skyscrapers in them)

Image
Suddenly, you go around the corner and see a B&M! Also the entrance to the park.

Image
Selfie

Image
You enter the park under a glass roof with lots of shops, but then the path opens up outside and you have fun shops and a great view of Hollywood Dream.

Image
The moment the park opened, I headed straight towards my most anticipated ride of the trip...

Image
Located in the Jurassic Park area, The Flying Dinosaur!

Image
Its a B&M Flying coaster and WOW what an amazing coaster, intense yet pure fun, in my top 5!
Helped my m8 coasterbot and filmed a bunch of clips in this video

Image
While we were there, we decided to do my most anticipated water ride ever, Jurassic Park: The Ride!

Image
(blue shirt, glasses, 2nd last row) WOW, I loved that ride! After being disappointed with Singapores Rapids version, I was very happy to say that this one was amazing. The Japanese likes to show the highest level of quality with their services and it showed throughout the park. All dinos were looking brand new, all moved gracefully, boats, station and queue were well maintained. 10/10

Image
USJ actually keeps its fan favorite rides, so a few classic attractions are still here. One of which is Jaws, a ride that I was so grateful to be able to ride.

Image
The one in Orlando was a major ride that got me interested in theme parks to begin with, I never got to ride it and was so upset when I heard it was closing. But thankfully it still exists here! Honestly, I came off the ride like 'yeah that was cool, bit cheesy though', which I guess is the point, but I was a little disappointed, I guess because younger me had hyped it up so much. I'm still very happy I got to do it though, probably made younger me proud.

Image
Whats beyond these stones?

Image
As you walk down a forest road, filled with magic sound effects, you come across Hogsmede! My jaw dropped. The whole area is prefect, the build up, shops, there's even a lake!

Image
Lets go ride Dragon Challe.....

Image
Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, whist in Japanese, was truly an amazing dark ride. Everything about it was awesome and I don't know what I can say about this that hasn't already been said. 10/10

Image
2 big wooshes going by.

Image
Hollywood Dream + Backdrop was a great unique ride.

Image
Its not a hyper coaster but it styled like one, a mega coaster. Its a great coaster and like Rip Ride Rocket, you get to chose your own music on the ride, just a purely fun ride with amazing operations. Unfortunately I didn't get to do the backwards version of the ride due to a long queue, but hey. THE TRAINS SPARKLED!

Image
Weird transitions.

Image
Another classic attraction that still exists here is T2:3D, an awesome show that once again I'm really glad I got to do.

Image
Space Fantasy was currently themed to an anime.

Image
It was showing clips from the show in the amazingly themed queue.

Image
However I was wondering why the queue was moving so slow. It turns out this is now a VR ride, which is mandatory and they lock the spinning cars to only face one direction. To make it worse they were only allowing people to sit facing forwards, effectively running it at half capacity. The ride itself, I couldn't really tell due to not knowing where i was because of the VR. My only disappointment at the park.

Image
Spider-Man! What a cool ride, despite it being in Japanese, I found it fun! I think I preferred Transformers though. (only because it was in english!)

Image
In the last 2 hours of the park, it cleared out. I was able to do multiple rides on everything and had a blast! My new favorite park!

Next park: Tokyo DisneySea
Image
A TowersTimes Middle East Reporter!
User avatar
Chris
Admin
Admin
Posts: 2645
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2003 8:38 pm
Location: London
Contact:

NEED to get to USJ!

Great reports.
User avatar
theparklifekid
Member
Member
Posts: 577
Joined: Thu Nov 22, 2012 2:23 pm
Location: Cambridge/Dubai
Contact:

Tokyo DisneySea

WOW! After 8 months since getting back from my trip, I've finally finished my Asia trip reports!!! So what better park to top it off than Tokyo DisneySea!

So Tokyo Disney has 2 parks, land and sea, I wanted to visit both but time and funds were limited so I decided if I had to only go to one, I'd choose what is considered to be the best theme park in the world. But is the park as good as people make it out to be?

Image
Selfie at the entrance.

Image
So when you enter the park you are blown away with an amazing view of Mount Prometheus, but I must say, videos and pictures make it out to be massive, but up close its quite small. Some good forced perspective.

Image
The mountain up close. But the main attraction is inside...

Image
Journey to the Center of the Earth!

Image
This dark ride is highly themed with lots of mining equipment in the queue, it has an ominous soundtrack and has a very cool pre show lift

Pre show

Image
What a fun ride! Has some great theming and a great drop and acceleration, but some people consider it the best ride ever, for me? Nope, not even the best in the park.

Image
But what a cool mountain!

Image
In fact, the entire park is themed beautifully!

Image
Hmmmmm, what next?

Image
Will the world ever know what really happened on that fateful night in the 'Tower of Terror'?

Image
Once again, cool queue set in a hotel of a famed explorer.

Image
Who has collected many artifacts along the way.

Image
But after collecting a new idol named 'Shiriki Utundu', Harrison Hightower mysteriously vanished.

Image
Not much terror, but incredibly fun, best drop ride ever for me.

Image
I then went to pay a visit to Mr Jones.

Image
In the Temple of the Crystal Skull!

Image
Once again an incredibly themed ride with some epic moments along the way which can only mean its my new fave dark ride.

Image
Also in the area is Raging Spirits, a clone of the Paris version, but this one is really smooth and fun!

Image
This was odd.

Image
The Little Mermaid area had a junior coaster and was pretty cool.

Image
There was a small world style ride here about Sinbad which was sadly closed.

Image
Overall DisneySea was an amazing park and deserves the title as best themed. But is it my favorite? No, I guess I was very exhausted from the trip and I had a lot on my mind that day, I preferred Universal Japan but this was an incredible park that I'd love to revisit someday.

And thus that was my Asia trip. Thanks for reading :)
Image
A TowersTimes Middle East Reporter!
User avatar
Michelle
Member
Member
Posts: 1232
Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2013 7:32 pm
Location: North West

Thanks so much for delivering these excellent reports, I've really enjoyed reading them! Many places now added to my 'need to visit' list :lol
Post Reply