Today was all about Happy Valley Beijing, one of the first proper theme parks to appear in China. OCT suddenly appeared on the map a few years ago opening large sites all over China with some pretty decent rides from the major manufacturers.
We are in China during the school holidays so there were crowds of kids waiting for us when we arrived. We got some odd looks due to our average age being much higher than their's but it was all well natured.
We began the day with the B&M Flying coaster "Crystal Wings". This is stunning; it is just a Superman Clone but its buried within a mountain and it's what you'd get if you cross Alton Tower's Air with Nemesis. A really fun ride with a couple of "whoa" moments as I got too close to the rock walls. We got to this ride as soon as the park opened but there was a good 40 minute ride before we got on. For some odd reason the queuing is moved out of the built queue areas into the park, which seemed quite weird considering the temperature (although the benches in the line were nice). So if you get to a ride here and see the queue spilling out of the enclosed areas into the park don't worry, it's not that bad. However the throughput is pretty slow with just a single train.
The second coaster, once we could find the entrance was the Mine Train, called Jungle Coaster. This was actually quite a decent ride, and whereas I was getting close to the walls on the flying coaster, on this one I got whacked by a branch, my fault though as I was reaching out trying to grab it. This part of the park was themed, very well again, as a Mayan Temple.
Coaster number 3 in the Shangri-La part of the park was Golden Wing, the park's SLC. Again the queue line was external the attraction and it was here we had our first queue jumper, needless to say with me and Martin and a very narrow queue line there was no way he and his friends were getting through. We were fortunate enough to get the front row (queueing for as long as you did you didn't mind where you ended up) and the ride was actually very good for an SLC, but then as people will tell you I am a bit mental for liking these rides.
The final coaster in the Ant themed part of the park wasn't open until midday, so it appears we'd been fortunate with our route around the park. To kill the time we went and saw Lego Racer 4D, which was quite good, I hadn't seen it before. It took about an hour to get through this queue line and we made it back to the final coaster not long after it opened. It still took about an hour to get through the queue line. Harvest Time is a spinning mouse that doesn't spin all that much although perhaps we were quite lucky to get some.
It was now 2.30 and the group had decided it was time to leave. The park is currently testing a 5th coaster, a custom built S&S launch coaster. This ride looks mental with a twisting lift hill immelman element and some very crazy turns. Alas it wasn't open for us. It was rumoured to be opening in July but some issues came up in testing. It's now due to open at the end of August although knowing our luck probably on the day we leave.
We are in China during the school holidays so there were crowds of kids waiting for us when we arrived. We got some odd looks due to our average age being much higher than their's but it was all well natured.
We began the day with the B&M Flying coaster "Crystal Wings". This is stunning; it is just a Superman Clone but its buried within a mountain and it's what you'd get if you cross Alton Tower's Air with Nemesis. A really fun ride with a couple of "whoa" moments as I got too close to the rock walls. We got to this ride as soon as the park opened but there was a good 40 minute ride before we got on. For some odd reason the queuing is moved out of the built queue areas into the park, which seemed quite weird considering the temperature (although the benches in the line were nice). So if you get to a ride here and see the queue spilling out of the enclosed areas into the park don't worry, it's not that bad. However the throughput is pretty slow with just a single train.
The second coaster, once we could find the entrance was the Mine Train, called Jungle Coaster. This was actually quite a decent ride, and whereas I was getting close to the walls on the flying coaster, on this one I got whacked by a branch, my fault though as I was reaching out trying to grab it. This part of the park was themed, very well again, as a Mayan Temple.
Happy Clang or Beat Mice? Which game would you like to play?
Err, what's happened here?
The Chinese translation should say "if you've noticed this notice then you've noticed that this notice is not worth noticing"
Coaster number 3 in the Shangri-La part of the park was Golden Wing, the park's SLC. Again the queue line was external the attraction and it was here we had our first queue jumper, needless to say with me and Martin and a very narrow queue line there was no way he and his friends were getting through. We were fortunate enough to get the front row (queueing for as long as you did you didn't mind where you ended up) and the ride was actually very good for an SLC, but then as people will tell you I am a bit mental for liking these rides.
The final coaster in the Ant themed part of the park wasn't open until midday, so it appears we'd been fortunate with our route around the park. To kill the time we went and saw Lego Racer 4D, which was quite good, I hadn't seen it before. It took about an hour to get through this queue line and we made it back to the final coaster not long after it opened. It still took about an hour to get through the queue line. Harvest Time is a spinning mouse that doesn't spin all that much although perhaps we were quite lucky to get some.
It was now 2.30 and the group had decided it was time to leave. The park is currently testing a 5th coaster, a custom built S&S launch coaster. This ride looks mental with a twisting lift hill immelman element and some very crazy turns. Alas it wasn't open for us. It was rumoured to be opening in July but some issues came up in testing. It's now due to open at the end of August although knowing our luck probably on the day we leave.
Interesting park merchandise
Scary neckless man was 'armless.
Happy Valley is a stunning park but one where the majority of visitors will spend most of their time in a queue line. If you're prepared to join them then there are some good rides, especially that flyer, which is world class!
Happy Valley is a stunning park but one where the majority of visitors will spend most of their time in a queue line. If you're prepared to join them then there are some good rides, especially that flyer, which is world class!
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