The next park after the disappointment of EVP was Queens Land home to the last Schwarzkopf powered coaster and from other enthusiast reports a strange selection of rides, so of all the parks in the Chennai area this was the one I was most looking forward to.
Entry to this park was slightly simpler than Kishkinta with me able to order directly at the ticket booth although they were still insistent on having someone put on the wristbands before getting into the park.
This park was celebrating Pongal but rather strangely still had their New Years advertising up despite the events being a fortnight apart.
At the end of their main street was this rather strange drop tower with two arms moving independently. Being the first attraction in the park meant it had attracted a big queue. The layout of the park is a bit odd with the entrance being at one end not in the centre. So from the drop tower the only way to go is left.
There was quite a lot of swaying in the structure as each car made its descent.
This is the path that leads into the rest of the park. Plenty of foliage again, which was great and a stark absence of people at anywhere but around the rides. For those that are interested in the coasters only you need to head straight to the end of this path. For those who want to see the rest of the park head right.
A rather cute carousel where you can safely discuss getting the horn with friends without fear of arrest.
That's some rather strange modifications to the spin ride making it look like something out of 70s Sci Fi flick "Demon's Seed". Just imagine the damage that can be done if this was to become detached from the arm whilst at speed.
Something wrong with the translation here. I think there's an opportunity of offering a proof-reading service to foreign parks.
A lot of the spin rides in the park looked to have come from the travelling fair circuit. Perhaps the business model for this park is to become a home for retiring fairground rides. That's really not a bad thing at all.
Look at the queues though. The downside to visiting a park on a weekend and a public holiday :)
This Crazy Horse ride was something I've not seen before. I have seen one for bulls but this was slightly better.
Of all the rides in the park this was the one that had attracted an audience as well as a lengthy queue line.
I liked the retro backboard to this ride.
Enough of the spin rides it was time to ride the coasters. First up was their large rollercoaster which came with a one hour queue. I had stated earlier on the India's love of close queueing. It was here I realised just how close they got as the person behind me was quite happy to get so close that their chest would hit my bag. Once I got over the fact he wasn't attempting to pick my pocket (how bad of me I know) I managed to decided to swing my shoulder bag around behind me to act as a buffer. Clearly it was no big deal to him but it was a little uncomfortable for me.
The best way to explain this is that in the UK when riding an escalator you typically leave one step empty between you and the person in front. In India there's no gap.
The big coaster had plenty of signage. The "Fun Unlimited" one was a little misleading as you were only allowed one ride on each attraction. For the more vigilant of you you may have noticed a weird reason for not riding on the right-hand sign. I've no idea what "spongy lites" is either. Once again I do like the "no children" rule though.
Now I understand why the wristband had numbers. This was how they indicated you'd already been on a ride.
The coaster was great and having been paired up with a random (yep, no single riders here either) I was really impressed with how the ride was running and being run with 5 cars on track at the same time. The layout of this ride was a little unusual in that it's lowest point was below the ground with a trench leading up into the brake run. Usually the final turn is taken flat not up and down like this.
Just along from the rollercoaster was the powered coaster Alpine Blitz. A tough ride to photo due to it's large layout and the edge of the park running alongside it I suspected something was up as there was no queue for this ride.
and the yellow sign managed to annoy me twice; firstly for the spelling mistake but secondly because it indicated that the ride wasn't running today. I'm not sure if it was open earlier then taken down but it definitely wasn't running now and a lack of staff working on the ride indicating that if there was "maintanance" going on, it wasn't happening today. You win some you lose some.
Whilst I was taking photos a member of staff saw me and told me the ride would open at 3pm. Yes! I might get this ride after all, but a short time later another member of staff told me it wouldn't be opening until 5 and I didn't have the time to wait that long as I wanted to travel into central Chennai.
More and more spin rides. It's fair to say if you like fairground spin rides, this has to be a park to visit should you come to India.
This rather unusual ride is called Suspended Coaster, but it's really not. It's more a suspended dark ride without the dark. It's powered all the way around, even the downward parts. Still I rode it just in case someone decides it qualifies.
Even the little rides had queues. In retrospect this was the busiest of all the parks I went to.
In India vegetarianism rules supreme and if that is your dietary preference you'll be very happy with the food in India, as long as you can handle the spices. But for those of us who like their meat the parks do cater for you too.
and having had my wristband marked with those rides I'd chosen and omitting the Alpine Blitz one that wasn't running during my visit I had no other reason to stay in the park and made my way out, of course having the wristband cut on the way out.
It was of course disappointing that the one coaster I wanted to ride in Chennai was only going to be running for the last 2 hours of the park's opening hours when I wouldn't be there. That was a little weird. C'est la vie!
Queens Land is located on the NH4 expressway west of Chennai close to the town of Chembarambakkam
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