Having left one well themed theme park we headed south to the coast for another. World Joyland is a park that popped up a few years ago and is famous on the internet for having copied theming from the World of Warcraft games without licence. I'm surprised Universal didn't do the same thing regarding the globe that greeted us at the front of the park as that's clearly similar.
Ripped off or not, the theming was top-notch.
This looks like Doraemon.
This building on the left houses the park's Back To The Future style ride. With the absence of smoke effects the transition from station to cinema is given away. The film also runs for quite a while, and what I thought was going to be a quick ride ended up being one that made me late for dinner.
The statues were superb and my first 30 minutes in the park was spent walking a lap around the park photographing them before it got dark.
This building housed the parks take on the Spiderman technology with a 6D car and 3D car moving through a lengthy number of rooms.
The story made little sense, from what I could gather you were looking for a sword that allowed you to kill some WOW boss guys real easily.
I don't play World of Warcraft so don't know if these characters are in the game or not. The only thing I know about that game is the Leeroy video clip, which was one of the first viral clips. There is no statue of Leeroy.
The sun was coming down nicely on their boat splash ride. I didn't fancy riding it so late in the day so I've no idea what goes on in the mountain.
The architecture in the park is just as good as the theming. As with the dinosaur park this is definitely a park that you could just wander around in and enjoy.
The park very kindly gave us a one-hour evening ride session on Sky Scrapper (not "Skyscraper") which is their B&M Flying Coaster. It has a unique layout and unlike most coasters avoids the pretzel loop element that usually spoils these rides (the forces are just too much on the chest)
Having said that the forces were still pretty intense especially when riding without a break for the full hour where I think I managed over a dozen consecutive runs. During these sessions I tend to ride in the middle rows as they're never in high demand (peeps prefer queuing for the front and back rows) and with nobody wanting to ride there I could remain where I was and leave on the same train. Thanks to the park for also allowing us to ride with our glasses on, which they didn't do at the start but relented based on our feedback and assurance we'd be alright (if only more parks would trust us).
Excellent ERS over it was time to continue the walk around the park. At the rear of the park is this steep ascent to a strange looking thing, which our rubbish tour guide called a "buddha" (perhaps in the eyes of Salvador Dali it is). I'm not sure I'd want to climb that and having already done the Canton Tower steps and knowing I'd have Tianmen mountain at the end of the trip I walked on by.
Like Happy Valley Wuhan, this park has a skyloop coaster and this was the one that had the evacuation, the train still stuck where it broke down. So obviously we weren't going to get to ride this.
The sun starting to go down over the park, lighting it beautifully. Am I sure I don't want to climb those steps?
Coaster number 2 was their mine train, similar to the one in Happy Valley Shenzhen but this one made great use of smoke machines to add a sense of foreboding.
Like the water splash I wasn't going to risk the rapids so late in the day.
This weird coloured castle acts as the centrepiece to the park
I think this houses some sort of stage show. It was closed when I got to it though.
The park feels similar to Islands of Adventure in the way it has a number of themed areas that surround a central lake.
To escape the evening heat, air conditioning could be found in this nVidia sponsored games hall in which you could play a number of simulators and video games. This I liked.
The park also had a tiny Coca Cola museum. This I didn't like. Stay away global corporate brands that peddle unhealthy stuff!
This ride was cool and seemed to be themed around a kid who could morph into any animal that he wanted. It certainly made the cars unique, if a little disturbing.
These were cute. In fact I thought the park had done an amazing job coming up with uniquely themed areas.
Everyone took a photo of this. It is of course just a peace sign taken from the wrong side.
Dinner was really nice (I had steak) with excellent service despite my late arrival from being stuck in the BTTF simulator ride. Some of our group though acted completely horribly though with one person who should know better getting in a young waitresses face insisting she have her coke now as she was "dying". I felt sorry for the young girl and our table made sure she was alright.
After dinner the restaurant backed out onto a wonderful view of the parks evening light show. It was pretty decent and was a nice way to sit back and relax. As it was now dark I decided to walk another lap of the park to see it all lit up.
I'm really pleased with how this photo came out. Not bad for a little pocket Canon (that's not a euphemism)
Some of the evil looking characters benefited from the darkness.
Like the theming the park had done a really good job with their lighting.
Sky Scrapper dans la nuit.C'est formidable.
OK so when I got to the big staircase I had second thoughts about whether I should walk on by. Would I regret it if I didn't make it to the top. The structure being all lit up made the ascent challenge all the more tempting.
and the statues at either side of the climb called me up.
Approximately 20 minutes later myself and Christof had made it to the top. Despite pouring with sweat even though the sun was down I had a nice sense of achievement replacing the potential feeling of regret I may have ended up with had I not done it. So what's up there? Apart from an amazing view over the park, a small childrens rollercoaster and a gift shop...jokes!
Back down to complete the walk around the park, here's a nice fountain I missed the first time around.
I spent a little time reflecting on this park. I liked it a lot, but like the dinosaur park could have done with more time.
World Joyland is a really nice park and a must-do for those who are considering a trip to the Shanghai area. I'm not sure how you'd reach it without a driver though.
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