Richard Bannister

The parks hit on our final day in China are probably best described as the dregs at the bottom of the barrel. Inertia Roller Coaster (#1459) was most interesting for its paint scheme, a mixture of red and yellow that proved quite eye catching. The ride was a little on the bumpy side (no surprises there) but otherwise good fun. Next to it was my first Sameco coaster, and to describe it as evil does an injustice to the word. Loop And Spiral Coaster (#1460) outwardly resembles an Arrow/Vekoma ride, but it is nothing like as smooth (!) and the general discomfort is exacerbated by very heavy restraints that are really too low for anyone over six feet in height.

The final coaster in the place deserves a paragraph of its own. At first glance the Golden Dragon Roller Coaster (#1461) appears to be a direct clone of the ubiquitous Big Apple coasters found all over the world. However, it seems in this case that the ride may have been duplicated from a photograph, and those attempting the cloning didn't quite get their proportions right. The result is easily the largest coaster I've ever seen with this layout, maybe fifty percent bigger than the norm, and the lack of a trim brake on the drop results in a surprisingly intense family coaster.

The only other ride we tried was the Bobkart, one of the best of the breed and almost (but not quite) as impressive as the one at Rasti-Land.

It seemed almost appropriate that our final real credit in China should be another Golden Horse Spinning Coaster. With Revolving Car (#1462) cleared we took the subway to the Oriental Pearl Tower, but the coaster there was unfortunately closed for annual maintenance. It was a lot of fun to walk around the glass floor on the upper level though!

After the coach dropped us back to our hotel the majority of our group elected to walk across the road for one quick lap on the powered Dragon at People's Park Shanghai. The ride felt and looked like an original Zamperla, but without any manufacturer plates it seems likely that it too may have been a copy.