Richard Bannister

It was hard not to laugh at the utter lack of enthusiasm among our group at the discovery of a previously unknown roller coaster; Water Chute (#1586) looked at first glance to be a direct clone of the ride that left us completely soaked yesterday, made worse by the contents of the water splash pool which looked like something from a failed biological experiment. Fortunately we were treated only to a gentle spray, which was probably just as well as they insisted on sending the car round the course twice!

We were much more impressed with India's largest wood coaster, the Cyclone (#1587). This ride is a direct clone of the late and lamented version in England, albeit with a striking orange paint scheme. The track work is a little bit shaky, but nothing unmanageable, and the final few hills before the station feature superb airtime, particularly towards the middle of the single operational train. This appeared to have acquired new upholstery in recent years, with ornate fabrics replacing the usual regulation black leather. We noted the remains of a second train in the station, though this appeared to have become a parts donor to the first.

The third coaster in the park is a standard Big Apple design, albeit one which has unique theming (and cars) that strongly suggest construction by a local company rather than any well known manufacturer. Whatever the case, Moon Raker (#1588) rides well, though taller people will not be able to fit in the train without sitting sideways. The loading procedure on this ride seems to be every man for themselves, insofar as there was at least a full train worth of people waiting on the ride platform while the previous group were still going around the track!

We were rather taken with the River Caves dark ride. The scenery within was of uniformly high quality, albeit not quite up to the standard of that seen at EsselWorld. The only slight negative was the lack of any coherent theme throughout; it was almost as if the ride was stitched together using parts salvaged from several other dark rides. With that done we caught a quick circuit on the cable car before heading for the gate.

Science City is a very low budget facility built as an educational resource for children. The various exhibits are actually reasonably worthwhile, especially as one of them happens to be a Gravity Coaster (#1589). Unfortunately, the place is marred by two things; a particularly unpleasant smell, and a particularly unpleasant clientele. Quite a bit of my visit was spent being followed by a teenager who seemed to be waiting for an opportunity to pick my pocket, and attempting to chase him away had no effect whatsoever. The weather closed in shortly after we'd gotten our credit, and we decided that was our cue to exit stage left.