Suzhou Crowne Plaza

With 5 parks under our belt and 8 new coasters to add to our lists we headed to Suzhou's Crowne Plaza hotel and wow, what a surprise this was. The hotel looked like a massive cruise ship and looked amazing. The hotel rooms (cabins) were beautiful and the staff throughout were extrememly friendly. We did look a little under dressed compared to some of the others so went and freshened up and got changed before checking out the surroundings and the view across the lake. For dinner we had the hotel buffet which was great and much better than any other buffets we'd had on the trip. An excellent way to end an excellent day.

The reception area. The massive window at the back overlooks the lake.

Looking down from our floor to the cocktail lounge.

The hotel shuttle bus...probably!

Not sure if these belonged to guests or were there for show!

Around the back of the hotel and I think these boats definitely belong to the hotel.

It's also worth pointing out that this hotel doesn't have the internet restrictions that we'd seen elsewhere. Even Facebook and Youtube were up and running. I have no idea how they got around that.

The Crowne Plaza Hotel is located on the NW corner of Suzhou's Jinji lake. You could probably blag the stretch hummer from the train station.

Giant Wheel Park

Park number 5 for the day was Suzhou Giant Wheel Park. This is a small park on a little bit of reclaimed land on the east coast of Jinji lake in the centre of the city. The centre piece is obviously the large wheel, currently the biggest in Asia but we had come for Stingray, the only new generation Vekoma Flying Coaster in the world.

Different to the others this has a very small footprint making the ride very compact. The ride operation is atrocious with the riders having to watch a video first, women have to purchase hair nets and all loose items including glasses with straps have to be locked in a locker on the station. We had been forewarned of this prior to the trip but some people chose to ignore that advice and have a rant on the station platform. It was all a bit disappointing to see and made the group look bad, particularly given the fact they had deliberately closed the ride so that we wouldn't have to queue.

As for the ride itself it was actually quite fun with some intense elements. Not being familar with the layout it was hard to predict which way the track would go next. During one of the diving sections at the start I felt like I was getting a nose bleed and I spent some of the ride checking that I was OK (it was just running) which distracted me a little bit. The best bit for me was the ending where you dive in a half loop back into the station ending with a view looking upwards where you can see the entire layout of the track you've just been around.

The end of the day was spent on the wheel, which was pleasant enough for the half hour journey that the wheel takes and would have allowed a wonderful photo opportunity of the Stingray coaster if the setting sun wasn't at just the precise angle to overexpose the shot.

Suzhou Giant Wheel Park lies on the east coast of Jinji Lake approximately 20 minutes by car from the main city station.

Suzhou Amusement Land

Having got 3 parks before 11am we headed out of the city heading westwards to Suzhou Amusement Land. This is a very large park bordered by some ghetto looking buildings to the East and a very nice mini mountain to the west. The park was pleasantly empty so getting around wouldn't appear to be a problem.

First coaster was under the second. A small kiddy ride called Little Whirlwind Coaster was alright for what it offered.

The second much taller ride is the new attraction to the park for this year, Max Speed, another shuttle coaster. This one must have come from somewhere else, we're guessing the closed park in Tianjin. It had very intense Gs through the loop, the best part of the ride.

Over across the other side of the park was coaster number 3. A custom made SLC featuring a final helix that goes through the mountain, I think making it the only one to do so. The ride was pretty good and it was nice to ride one that wasn't as derivative as usual. The worst part of this ride was the very lengthy queue line which tested people's resistance to just jumping the fence (I gave up at the 50 metre mark)

The final coaster is the enclosed one. If you hadn't done the research it could be easily missed. It's located in the European section of the park within a Spanish church with 2 towers. The exit to the ride is on this side of the building, the entrance is tucked around the back to the right. The ride itself is a galaxi coaster with some bsaic lighting effects. The way the ride was being run left a lot to be desired though. Usually with these rides the cars are loaded 4 at a time as they enter the station and sent out. Here they were waiting for all 6 cars to return to the station before they were loaded and sent out. The reason for this was that the queue line is at the wrong end and people leaving the car would be mixing with people trying to make their way to the next available car. A little bit bonkers.

The rest of the park was pretty nice with some wonderful gardens in the front left corner of the park, which some newly married couples were using for their wedding photos. The park has a 3D sound illusion attraction similar to the one we did in Japan in 2004 and still just as scary. For those that don't know the attraction you sit in a dark room with headphones whilst sounds are played around you. The scariest bit is when some kids run into the room right up close and start whispering in your ear. Literal Chinese Whispers in fact.

The park also has a 3d film, which we didn't queue to watch with perhaps the strangest name ever.

The centre piece of the park is a hang gliding death slide that runs down from the top of the mountain down across the lake into the park. I guessed I'd be too big for this so didn't make the trek up to ride it. It did look fun though!

Silly park sign

Silly park statue. A man thrusting himself into the face of a lion.

I liked this park, it was a little run down in places but their investment still being made here with a new (clearly bought cheap) coaster and some construction being done in other bits of the park. People who tried the food didn't rate it particularly well, some saying it was worse than the Tianjin Tower, which must make it really bad, so if you're visiting you may want to bear that in mind.

The park is in the west of city approximately 20 minutes in a taxi from the main station.

Zhongshan Park

The second park was Zhongshan Park located in the NW of Shangahi. This was recorded as having a wacky worm coaster but it was SBNO (Standing But Not Operating) so visiting it would prove to be a bit of a gamble but I figured we should check it just in case and the group were in agreement.

En route to the park. Where can I buy one of those?

The gamble was a good one as it was up and running albeit in a different location in the park. As for how it was? Fine, just as expected but made a little different to the rest by having a sizeable crowd of locals watching us.

They do Tai Chi, We do coasters! Both have the same effect, we feel awake for the rest of the day. Admittedly sitting down doesn't necessarily leave us fit. Maybe the short term benefits are the same!

We do spinning rides and this guy spins the diablo, rather well I might say too! (the sound btw is not an issue with the camera but the sound of those cicada beetle things)

Disney approved? Probably not!

A couple of the other rides in the park.

Zhongshan Park is easily accessible by heading to the station of the same name, which is on lines 2,3 and 4 and then following the signs to the park

Chang Feng Ocean Park

The third coaster was one that I'd found. It's located in the grounds of Chang Feng Ocean Park, around 15 minutes away from Zhongshan.

On the satellite imagery this was just a single coaster. When we got there it was a small amusement park.

But the good news is that the coaster was still there; a small figure-of-eight layout mine train called "Mine Car".

Another interesting car ride could be found on the boating lake. The only time we saw these on the entire trip.

The nearest metro station (Loushanguan Road on line 2) is a little over a mile away. If you do go that route leave the station and head north and its on the other side of the river.