We had a long weekend here in Hong Kong earlier in June, so I headed across to Vietnam, flying in and out of Da Nang, a fairly major city, but going straight down to Hoi An, a small town about half an hour south.
I’d been to Da Nang before, but didn't head to Hoi An on that trip. As luck would have it, as soon as I got back from that trip, a park in Hoi An, which had opened and gone completely under the radar popped up. Bollocks. Anyway, Hoi An looked nice and friends who’ve been liked it, so it was no real hardship to go back over.
The flights were stupidly expensive thanks to the faff of deciding where to go that weekend and leaving it late, but we got a really nice hotel for a really decent price, so it balanced out I guess. It was slightly out of the way, and Hoi An can be a bit “backpacker”, so that might’ve been why.
I forgot to take my camera, so just used my phone for pictures. I’m sure some people will seethe when I say this, but these days phone cameras do a decent enough job anyway. I also thought I’d lost the pictures, so redownloaded a handful from Facebook, which I’m sure will do further wonders for the image quality.
Anyway, the first day was straight to the park, Vin Wonders. I’d recently done a Vin Wonders park in Phu Quoc, which had been excellent, a real “proper” park, but this one was much more basic. Nothing wrong with it, but there’s just nothing that stands out at all.
It was attractive enough, with a “folk village” area at one end (no pictures of that) and “Amsterdam” along the water. There was also a big water park which was also included with the park ticket.
First up, a Vekoma SFC. I’ve said this before, but I quite like these, especially this model/layout. The park was dead, and we were the only riders despite waiting for about 5 minutes each time.
Next up, a big apple with a confused ride op: “It for baybay”. How dare you! There were no issues riding it; he just didn’t seem to understand why we’d want to and kept pointing at the bigger mine train coaster nearby as if we somehow couldn’t see the difference between the two.
And then one of these things. F**k, how I hate them. Having one of these AND a big apple, rather than instead of, was an extra kick in the bollocks.
And then the final coaster was a Vekoma mine train. It’s been a while since I’ve done one that isn’t a Jinma, but they ride the same.
The castle had a 4D cinema, which was unbelievably crap for such a new park (terrible projection and sound quality) and River Safari including elephants, rhinos, lions, tigers, various deer/antelope, monkeys/lemurs, zebra and giraffes. It was a very cool idea – a real-life Jungle Cruise - but in reality, if you want to take you time to see the animals properly, you’d be better off with regular paths.
That’s it. The park was fine. It was all very pleasant to spend time in, but apart from, arguably, the river safari, there were no standout attractions. It was pretty cheap as well, less than 20 quid, and that included a more-than-decent food credit (we didn’t/couldnt spend it all, so the waitress insisted on us using it up on a load of bottled drinks to take with us) and the water park.
I’ll just shove some Hoi An pictures in. That night, we went into the old town to get food and have a wander. It’s all very pretty if you like shiny things.
We had the next day free, so just had some lazy hotel/pool time and went back to the old town in the afternoon and had a look at some old temples and stuff.
I’ve since found the original pictures, but I can’t be arsed to upload any more, and I’m sure nobody will give a s**t.
Anyway, a nice little weekend away.
I’d been to Da Nang before, but didn't head to Hoi An on that trip. As luck would have it, as soon as I got back from that trip, a park in Hoi An, which had opened and gone completely under the radar popped up. Bollocks. Anyway, Hoi An looked nice and friends who’ve been liked it, so it was no real hardship to go back over.
The flights were stupidly expensive thanks to the faff of deciding where to go that weekend and leaving it late, but we got a really nice hotel for a really decent price, so it balanced out I guess. It was slightly out of the way, and Hoi An can be a bit “backpacker”, so that might’ve been why.
I forgot to take my camera, so just used my phone for pictures. I’m sure some people will seethe when I say this, but these days phone cameras do a decent enough job anyway. I also thought I’d lost the pictures, so redownloaded a handful from Facebook, which I’m sure will do further wonders for the image quality.
Anyway, the first day was straight to the park, Vin Wonders. I’d recently done a Vin Wonders park in Phu Quoc, which had been excellent, a real “proper” park, but this one was much more basic. Nothing wrong with it, but there’s just nothing that stands out at all.
It was attractive enough, with a “folk village” area at one end (no pictures of that) and “Amsterdam” along the water. There was also a big water park which was also included with the park ticket.
First up, a Vekoma SFC. I’ve said this before, but I quite like these, especially this model/layout. The park was dead, and we were the only riders despite waiting for about 5 minutes each time.
Next up, a big apple with a confused ride op: “It for baybay”. How dare you! There were no issues riding it; he just didn’t seem to understand why we’d want to and kept pointing at the bigger mine train coaster nearby as if we somehow couldn’t see the difference between the two.
And then one of these things. F**k, how I hate them. Having one of these AND a big apple, rather than instead of, was an extra kick in the bollocks.
And then the final coaster was a Vekoma mine train. It’s been a while since I’ve done one that isn’t a Jinma, but they ride the same.
The castle had a 4D cinema, which was unbelievably crap for such a new park (terrible projection and sound quality) and River Safari including elephants, rhinos, lions, tigers, various deer/antelope, monkeys/lemurs, zebra and giraffes. It was a very cool idea – a real-life Jungle Cruise - but in reality, if you want to take you time to see the animals properly, you’d be better off with regular paths.
That’s it. The park was fine. It was all very pleasant to spend time in, but apart from, arguably, the river safari, there were no standout attractions. It was pretty cheap as well, less than 20 quid, and that included a more-than-decent food credit (we didn’t/couldnt spend it all, so the waitress insisted on us using it up on a load of bottled drinks to take with us) and the water park.
I’ll just shove some Hoi An pictures in. That night, we went into the old town to get food and have a wander. It’s all very pretty if you like shiny things.
We had the next day free, so just had some lazy hotel/pool time and went back to the old town in the afternoon and had a look at some old temples and stuff.
I’ve since found the original pictures, but I can’t be arsed to upload any more, and I’m sure nobody will give a s**t.
Anyway, a nice little weekend away.
