We finished this little trip over a month ago, and there’s nothing in this report that I haven’t covered before, but since Nic is clearly too busy shopping for dungarees, Birkenstocks, or whatever else lesbians keep them themselves occupied with, I thought I’d get the ball rolling. Hopefully she’ll move away from the KD Lang and Lucy Spraggan YouTube videos long enough to contribute something later.
I didn’t take many pictures since I’ve been to these places before, so hopefully Nic will add a few more – she took a fair few – before the new series of Orange is the New Black starts, otherwise we’re f**ked.
Day 1 – Knight Valley and Cred Whoring
It was kind of the second day really, since Nic arrived the previous evening. The first night we just grabbed a few cheap beers and took the short walk down to the harbour. It’s actually one of my favourite things to do here; it costs **** all and the view is pretty spectacular. Blurry picture lifted off facebook; can't be arsed to dig out a better one:
We were up early the next day to get a bus directly to Knight Valley. There used to be a few buses a day, but they’ve been cut back, meaning that we had no choice but to get to the park for opening. It’s still a better option than taking the MTR since the border crossing that the bus uses is empty, meaning a lot less faff at immigration. Getting off a bus at the park entrance is obviously also preferable to transfers and taxis, too.
They really need to think about taking that log flume out now. It’s clearly never opening again and they’ve just opened what I’d say is a replacement anyway. This had just started construction when I was last here. It was huge, but we didn’t ride it since these things always get you drenched.
The Mission Space knockoff of death is still sitting there as well. There’s literally nothing else in this area, but you pretty much have to walk through it to get to anything else.
The 4D theatre was closed when I was here last, so we gave it a go. It was ok really. I can’t remember the name of the video, but it was roller coaster based and in English, so it’s one that people would’ve probably seen elsewhere. It was a bit of a cheek to be selling the 3D glasses though. They were only 20p, but still.
The 3D dark ride (think Spiderman style ride, though clearly nowhere near as good) was better than I remembered. Our 3D glasses from the last ride didn’t work with this one though, so it’s clearly a different system. We should’ve forked out another 20p really.
From here it was up to the main (only) reason to come to this place: Wood Coaster. They’ve made a good effort to warn potential queue jumpers.
To be honest, I was less impressed with the ride this time around. It starts very well, with some decent airtime, and has a great setting, but the second half is nowhere near as strong and it’s getting a bit rough in places. It’s still a great ride, but it’s a bit too much now to go for multiple rerides.
After a couple of rides, we took the cable car up to the highest point of the park. The weather was a bit grim though, so the views weren’t as good as I’d seen before. Also, neither the boosters nor the observation tower were running.
We were only up there about 10 minutes, then headed back down to catch the park’s stunt show. I can never remember what it’s called, but it pretty huge.
On the way out, we decided to grab some lunch. It was the single most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten - or not eaten since I took a bite and left it - at a park. It was basically some soggy, microwaved burrito-looking thing (though not a burrito) that somehow took 15 minutes for them to “make”. **** ing dreadful. No pictures.
This place really needs to start sorting themselves out really. It’s in a gorgeous location and has some really nice areas, but there are two SBNO rides that have just been sitting there and rotting for years. They should’ve looked at taking those out before adding in the new water ride really. Plus, quite a lot of other things were also closed, which is clearly not ideal on a weekend, even if it was quiet.
Since it was early, we decided to grab a few coasters in the city before heading to the hotel. First up was East Lake Park, which has a common combination of powered dragon and Golden Horse spinner. It was Nic’s first Chinese knockoff coaster though, so it had to be done. The one at this place is ok actually. The brakes don’t grab, so you can get a fairly decent ride.
After that, we headed to Children’s Park, which was walking distance to our hotel. When I’d been here before, I arrived to find this:
I knew they were building some new stuff since then, so we had a quick look. They’re still not open yet, but they’re in the process of adding a log flume and two new coasters, a Golden Horse Space Car and a Jungle Mouse, so at least I know that next time I’m around there are a couple of extra creds to grab.
A quick walk through the city centre got us to another small park, Cultural Palace, which was literally across the street from our hotel. There was just one coaster here, which is the exact same model as one of the ones that Children’s Park were building a ten-minute walk away. Stupid really.
We checked into the hotel and just chilled for a bit before heading out to get dinner. We decided on an area that I’d heard about, but hadn’t been to before, called Sea World. It was pretty far away, but worth it. It’s basically just a large restaurant, bar and club area built around a converted cruise ship. It was really nice.
We opted for a “Brazilian” buffet, which was actually more Chinese than Gok Wan, and then had a couple of waiters taking the opportunity to interrupt their work and practise their English on us. They were polite about it though and weren’t too much of a burden.
From there it was back to the hotel.
End of day 1.
I didn’t take many pictures since I’ve been to these places before, so hopefully Nic will add a few more – she took a fair few – before the new series of Orange is the New Black starts, otherwise we’re f**ked.
Day 1 – Knight Valley and Cred Whoring
It was kind of the second day really, since Nic arrived the previous evening. The first night we just grabbed a few cheap beers and took the short walk down to the harbour. It’s actually one of my favourite things to do here; it costs **** all and the view is pretty spectacular. Blurry picture lifted off facebook; can't be arsed to dig out a better one:
We were up early the next day to get a bus directly to Knight Valley. There used to be a few buses a day, but they’ve been cut back, meaning that we had no choice but to get to the park for opening. It’s still a better option than taking the MTR since the border crossing that the bus uses is empty, meaning a lot less faff at immigration. Getting off a bus at the park entrance is obviously also preferable to transfers and taxis, too.
They really need to think about taking that log flume out now. It’s clearly never opening again and they’ve just opened what I’d say is a replacement anyway. This had just started construction when I was last here. It was huge, but we didn’t ride it since these things always get you drenched.
The Mission Space knockoff of death is still sitting there as well. There’s literally nothing else in this area, but you pretty much have to walk through it to get to anything else.
The 4D theatre was closed when I was here last, so we gave it a go. It was ok really. I can’t remember the name of the video, but it was roller coaster based and in English, so it’s one that people would’ve probably seen elsewhere. It was a bit of a cheek to be selling the 3D glasses though. They were only 20p, but still.
The 3D dark ride (think Spiderman style ride, though clearly nowhere near as good) was better than I remembered. Our 3D glasses from the last ride didn’t work with this one though, so it’s clearly a different system. We should’ve forked out another 20p really.
From here it was up to the main (only) reason to come to this place: Wood Coaster. They’ve made a good effort to warn potential queue jumpers.
To be honest, I was less impressed with the ride this time around. It starts very well, with some decent airtime, and has a great setting, but the second half is nowhere near as strong and it’s getting a bit rough in places. It’s still a great ride, but it’s a bit too much now to go for multiple rerides.
After a couple of rides, we took the cable car up to the highest point of the park. The weather was a bit grim though, so the views weren’t as good as I’d seen before. Also, neither the boosters nor the observation tower were running.
We were only up there about 10 minutes, then headed back down to catch the park’s stunt show. I can never remember what it’s called, but it pretty huge.
On the way out, we decided to grab some lunch. It was the single most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten - or not eaten since I took a bite and left it - at a park. It was basically some soggy, microwaved burrito-looking thing (though not a burrito) that somehow took 15 minutes for them to “make”. **** ing dreadful. No pictures.
This place really needs to start sorting themselves out really. It’s in a gorgeous location and has some really nice areas, but there are two SBNO rides that have just been sitting there and rotting for years. They should’ve looked at taking those out before adding in the new water ride really. Plus, quite a lot of other things were also closed, which is clearly not ideal on a weekend, even if it was quiet.
Since it was early, we decided to grab a few coasters in the city before heading to the hotel. First up was East Lake Park, which has a common combination of powered dragon and Golden Horse spinner. It was Nic’s first Chinese knockoff coaster though, so it had to be done. The one at this place is ok actually. The brakes don’t grab, so you can get a fairly decent ride.
After that, we headed to Children’s Park, which was walking distance to our hotel. When I’d been here before, I arrived to find this:
I knew they were building some new stuff since then, so we had a quick look. They’re still not open yet, but they’re in the process of adding a log flume and two new coasters, a Golden Horse Space Car and a Jungle Mouse, so at least I know that next time I’m around there are a couple of extra creds to grab.
A quick walk through the city centre got us to another small park, Cultural Palace, which was literally across the street from our hotel. There was just one coaster here, which is the exact same model as one of the ones that Children’s Park were building a ten-minute walk away. Stupid really.
We checked into the hotel and just chilled for a bit before heading out to get dinner. We decided on an area that I’d heard about, but hadn’t been to before, called Sea World. It was pretty far away, but worth it. It’s basically just a large restaurant, bar and club area built around a converted cruise ship. It was really nice.
We opted for a “Brazilian” buffet, which was actually more Chinese than Gok Wan, and then had a couple of waiters taking the opportunity to interrupt their work and practise their English on us. They were polite about it though and weren’t too much of a burden.
From there it was back to the hotel.
End of day 1.