I was going to label this as “Taiwan Trip Report” to get more clicks and enjoy the disappointment when people realise there’s no Gravity Max or G5, but I’m nice.
We had a long weekend here in Hong Kong, so the boyfriend and I popped over to Taipei. I’d been before, but that was back in 2007. Because of some exam being rescheduled, I ended up going over by myself, getting a cheaper hotel for the first night (didn’t really want to pay for the fancier one when it was just me and I was getting in late anyway), and having the whole day to myself the next day until he could make it over that night.
I checked out of the hotel and just had a walk down to the Liberty Square area via the Presidential Office Building. I’d been here before, but whatever. It’s nice; there’s a big memorial thing at one end, containing museum and gallery spaces, plus theatres on either side with nice gardens next to them.
There are a couple of parks about an hour’s drive out of Taipei, Leofoo Village and a Window of the World kind of place. I’d already been to Leofoo, and though I liked it, there were no new creds. I couldn’t be arsed with that level of effort for 2 small creds at the other park (would’ve taken close to two hours each way with trains/buses). If Leofoo ever add anything important, I’d probably go back and tie in the other place.
Anyway, there’s another small park on the outskirts of the city, which wasn’t RCDB listed when I was there before. It took about half an hour to get to including a short, easy walk from a metro station.
Taipei Children’s Amusement Park
I made a mistake with tickets here. I just went to a ticket window and asked for one person, but ended up with an all-inclusive wristband. I noticed very shortly afterwards that people were entering just by scanning their travel cards (similar thing to Oyster in London, or Octopus in Hong Kong) and paying next to nothing. You could then use the cards to also pay for whatever rides you wanted. It’s a good system really, just using a contactless card that you have/use every day instead of f**king about with tickets.
No big deal. The wristband only cost about 5 quid anyway.
The park itself is split across a few levels and has a decent enough selection of family rides. A fiver for a wristband is an absolute bargain if you’re spending the afternoon here with kids. That was the adult price as well.
I did the coaster, which was bigger than I’d expected and actually quite decent. It’s from I.E. Park and is the only one of its type/size. If anyone’s done Cliffhanger that used to be at Blackgang Chine, it’s a slightly taller and longer version of that. It was good for what it was, and very smooth. I’d say it’s better than the Vekoma junior coasters, which is probably the closest comparable thing. Not sure why there aren’t more of them really.
I did the Ferris wheel after that, which was only small, but I had the wristband, followed by a couple more rides on the coaster.
Then it was onto the second hotel, which was right next to Taipei 101. I’d been up to the observation deck before, so skipped it this time. I just had a wander around the area and then lazed around the hotel for a bit.
The next day we just did a cable car thing and the zoo nearby, which turned out to be massive and took up way more time than we’d planned. I won’t bother with pictures of that; it’s just usual zoo stuff, but it was a decent one.
I’ll leave it there as I’m sure everyone’s wanting to go and book their flights to Taipei now for that kiddy coaster.
We had a long weekend here in Hong Kong, so the boyfriend and I popped over to Taipei. I’d been before, but that was back in 2007. Because of some exam being rescheduled, I ended up going over by myself, getting a cheaper hotel for the first night (didn’t really want to pay for the fancier one when it was just me and I was getting in late anyway), and having the whole day to myself the next day until he could make it over that night.
I checked out of the hotel and just had a walk down to the Liberty Square area via the Presidential Office Building. I’d been here before, but whatever. It’s nice; there’s a big memorial thing at one end, containing museum and gallery spaces, plus theatres on either side with nice gardens next to them.
There are a couple of parks about an hour’s drive out of Taipei, Leofoo Village and a Window of the World kind of place. I’d already been to Leofoo, and though I liked it, there were no new creds. I couldn’t be arsed with that level of effort for 2 small creds at the other park (would’ve taken close to two hours each way with trains/buses). If Leofoo ever add anything important, I’d probably go back and tie in the other place.
Anyway, there’s another small park on the outskirts of the city, which wasn’t RCDB listed when I was there before. It took about half an hour to get to including a short, easy walk from a metro station.
Taipei Children’s Amusement Park
I made a mistake with tickets here. I just went to a ticket window and asked for one person, but ended up with an all-inclusive wristband. I noticed very shortly afterwards that people were entering just by scanning their travel cards (similar thing to Oyster in London, or Octopus in Hong Kong) and paying next to nothing. You could then use the cards to also pay for whatever rides you wanted. It’s a good system really, just using a contactless card that you have/use every day instead of f**king about with tickets.
No big deal. The wristband only cost about 5 quid anyway.
The park itself is split across a few levels and has a decent enough selection of family rides. A fiver for a wristband is an absolute bargain if you’re spending the afternoon here with kids. That was the adult price as well.
I did the coaster, which was bigger than I’d expected and actually quite decent. It’s from I.E. Park and is the only one of its type/size. If anyone’s done Cliffhanger that used to be at Blackgang Chine, it’s a slightly taller and longer version of that. It was good for what it was, and very smooth. I’d say it’s better than the Vekoma junior coasters, which is probably the closest comparable thing. Not sure why there aren’t more of them really.
I did the Ferris wheel after that, which was only small, but I had the wristband, followed by a couple more rides on the coaster.
Then it was onto the second hotel, which was right next to Taipei 101. I’d been up to the observation deck before, so skipped it this time. I just had a wander around the area and then lazed around the hotel for a bit.
The next day we just did a cable car thing and the zoo nearby, which turned out to be massive and took up way more time than we’d planned. I won’t bother with pictures of that; it’s just usual zoo stuff, but it was a decent one.
I’ll leave it there as I’m sure everyone’s wanting to go and book their flights to Taipei now for that kiddy coaster.
