Today we headed out of Suzhou to Changzhou and Dinosaur Adventure World. This park was added to the trip at the last minute as it was close enough to Suzhou to squeeze in, in as close as a 3-hour coach drive can be.
The park is part of an upcoming dinosaur town complex, which in time will include a water park, large theatre, city walk type area etc. For now only the theme park exists, and boy what a beautiful park it is!
The park is easily in my top 5 themed theme parks. Nothing that DisneySea or Islands of Adventure have to worry about just yet, but their are pockets of the park that blew us away.
Even the animals have costumes!
This part of the park, which has been added this year has an unfortunate name
The park is listed as having 3 coasters with a fourth on the way but when we got there we could only find a single one, another generic spinning mouse.
Locked away behind a theme wall is a large building that we suspect already houses the second, but that's not due to be opened until October 1st. The third coaster, a motocoaster, we suspect has been quietly dropped.
The fourth isn't expected until next year but we discovered that it won't exist in this park, instead it'll be in the water park park when that gets built. Expected opening date of the coaster is October next year, so one to watch out for. Why is everything dated for October? The first of that month is China's independance day and the start of a week long public holiday, that's why!
Aside from the coaster the rest of the park consists of some wonderful themed attractions. Topping the list has to be King Kong ride, which looks extremely tame to ride but a lot of fun to watch.
Close to that is a haunted walkthrough which did scare our experienced group so that's recommended too. Best bit for me is a corridor that gets narrower and you end up exiting it crawling only to be startled by a blast of air just as you get to the end; simple but effective!
Southport used to have a spinning disk attraction that was always fun but probably closed due to health and safety, so it was nice to see one here and it being enjoyed by the locals.
The top spin ride is housed in a cave, which must increase the attraction some what as your feet and head rush past the scenery.
The large building in the centre of the park is a dinosaur museum, and looks a little dated compared to the rest of the park. We're wondering if that's how the park started and the rest has gradually grown around it.
Tandem mobility scooters!
The park has another bobkart ride which looks nicely themed and that shoots around the water park, not something I'd come across before. Some of the group rode it and enjoyed it but observing it from the outside it appeared to be running a little slower than usual.
At the back of the park is the disk-o ride nicely themed to be running over the back of a Brontosaurus. Behind this is a massive piece of land clearance where either a new ride or section of the park will no doubt appear.
Once again our time was limited and we didn't get to do everything but this is definitely a park that we wish to revisit, especially once the other coasters have appeared, as that's what it needs. The only issue with this place is that it is in the middle of nowhere and accessing it in a country where you don't want to drive may be a problem. It looks like a train and taxi combo for now.
To get to the park you should catch a train to Changzhou station and a taxi from there. The journey time is around quarter of an hour so shouldn't be expensive at all!
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