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Hainan Ocean Paradise | China | Theme Park

I often see people saying this about Tornado but when I rode back in '09 I just remember it being stupid and fun, must've aged like ****...
It strayed too much into the so-stupid-why-did-they-bother territory. I will admit that I only rode once, and that's always a tough call on a spinner (heck, on any coaster!), but I remember it jerking horribly, slamming you into the restraints (which are quite 'sharp' given they rub your neck) and all in all just a poorly executed ride. That was in 2015, so maybe it has been doing downhill?
 
I rode Tornado in 2018 and it's my favorite spinning coaster. It's only jerky on one spot which is the unbanked turn after the launch. I am on the shorter side so the restraints didn't bother me as much as my friends who are much taller.
 
Tornado has always been a marmite ride. Some people love it and some people hate it.

This ride is very similar but the elements are a bit more stretched out. I'm sure it will be a solid spinner but I doubt it will provide the bats**t and ultimately polarising experience Tornado does.

The interesting thing with the previous discussion about this park picking up 2 Intamin coaster types that have been seemingly long abandoned is that China is building another one of each this year in Chongqing's new Nickelodeon Park. Perhaps not so dead just yet.

Although it's also worth noting the coasters at this park were delivered and due to open 4 years ago. So they are older than you might think.
 
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More pics here: https://www.themeparx.com/hainan-ocean-paradise
 
The park has just held its employee swearing-in ceremony and declared intentions to open on December 21 - according to Michael from Themeparx, if they stick with this date it can be expected that "less than half" of the amenities/attractions will be operational given their current progress with ride testing.
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A couple of cool aerials, the latter showing what appears to be the giant Shoot-The-Chutes in operation (it looks interesting given that there appear to be alternate-route troughs at the beginning of the conveyor belt lifts, in case they need another way to get the boat back to the station);
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Its also been reported that the park's monorail has already opened to guests and offering tours of the yet-to-open park;
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Source for everything; the Themeparx thread
 
The park has just held its employee swearing-in ceremony and declared intentions to open on December 21 - according to Michael from Themeparx, if they stick with this date it can be expected that "less than half" of the amenities/attractions will be operational given their current progress with ride testing.
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A couple of cool aerials, the latter showing what appears to be the giant Shoot-The-Chutes in operation (it looks interesting given that there appear to be alternate-route troughs at the beginning of the conveyor belt lifts, in case they need another way to get the boat back to the station);
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Its also been reported that the park's monorail has already opened to guests and offering tours of the yet-to-open park;
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Source for everything; the Themeparx thread
Could we expect Barracuda to be open by then or not?
 
Ride-wise the park is stable. Animal-wise, it seems that their difficulties in acquiring such just got worse. They were depending on receiving dolphins, walruses, and sea lions from the Dolphinarium in the Netherlands, which is said to have been ordered to move out dolphins on account of being over capacity. The park has no dolphins right now and their options for receiving them are very limited on account of them being Chinese and as of recently being backed by CCP reps. An Amsterdam judge has formally blocked the moving permits at the request of an activist organization;
The relocation of eight dolphins, two walruses and two sea lions from the Dolfinarium in Harderwijk to an amusement park in China cannot go ahead for the time being. This was decided by the preliminary relief judge in an Amsterdam courtroom on Tuesday.

In an emergency procedure heard last week, animal welfare organizations Sea Shepherd and House of Animals asked to block the marine mammals from being moved to the Hainan Ocean Paradise theme park. The judge granted the request on Tuesday.

The animal welfare organizations want to prevent the Chinese amusement park from commercially using the dolphins for entertainment. They do not consider that an improvement in animal welfare. The animals are even worse off if they still have to jump through hoops in China, Sea Shepherd says.

House of Animals founder Karen Soeters was overjoyed by the verdict. "I am incredibly happy with this verdict. On the other hand, I did not expect anything else because there is no other way," Soeters responded. "The park in China sells tickets on the backs of the animals. They're going to perform tricks in China, that's for sure. They're going to places in China where we say it's even worse."

An appellate hearing about the case will be heard on November 23 in Amsterdam about the decision by the Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality to grant permission to the Dolfinarium to move the animals. Both Sea Shepherd and House of Animals objected to the plan. The judge believes that the parties should await the decision of this appeal.

"To this end, the preliminary relief judge has considered that the interest of the Dolfinarium in being able to transfer the marine mammals to China before the decision on the appeal weighs less than the interest of Sea Shepherd to await this ruling. In balancing the interests, the preliminary relief judge finds decisive weight to the irreversibility of a possible transfer to China, so the Dolfinarium is not allowed to use the export licenses until a decision has been made on the appeal," the court said in the judgment.

The permit for the relocation of the marine mammals expires on January 9.
 
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