Shenzhen, Guangdong, China – Thursday, May 26th, 2011
My long anticipation of this day had slowly transformed into dread.
Before I embarked on my Hong Kong journey at the beginning of 2011, the region seemed on the verge of debuting a large number of new coaster projects to reward my decision to study abroad there that year. A prototype launched mega-coaster by S&S at Happy Valley Shenzhen. An Intamin shuttle coaster at Hong Kong Disneyland. A B&M floorless AND a Mack powered coaster at Ocean Park Hong Kong. And, on top of that list, an epic terrain wooden coaster at OCT’s Knight Valley in Shenzhen, by far the biggest and longest coaster ever built by GCI with what appeared to be a truly one-of-a-kind layout.
Even with the world’s first RMC creation opening that same year, Knight Valley’s Wood Coaster was the ride I picked as 2011’s top new attraction… and I’d spend the first five months of the year living right next to it! Test video of the ride was posted in early February, just after my arrival, and the question wasn’t IF I would ride it, but WHEN.
But then the months ticked by and radio silence on the public debut of the coaster. I waited and delayed my trip across the border to Shenzhen to the latest moment possible. Still nothing. Even as, one by one, it became clear that I wouldn’t be experiencing any of those other new coasters, I still felt reassurance that sooner or later I’d get to be one of the first to ride Knight Valley’s Wood Coaster. But now that day finally came and I could feel nothing but uncertainty.
Knight Valley is part of an eco-resort complex located in the hills outside of Shenzhen known as OCT East. While at first I might have imagined a cool medieval-inspired theme park built in the forests and hills of China (and OCT has definitely proven capable of delivering on such a theme with their various Happy Valley parks), Knight Valley is decidedly less interesting than my imagination made it. It’s a blandly pleasant amalgamation of generic theme park attractions with neutral resort-style infrastructure in a lower-tier state or municipal nature park setting (if those places were free to artificially augment their natural features). The fact that I was here for a ride called “Wood Coaster” sort of tells you everything you need to know about the non-identity of this place.
My pulse quickened as the unmistakable wooden lattice superstructure pattern came into view. I would either be very excited or very disappointed in just a few minutes.
Whether or not it’s open… THAT is a beautiful view for an aficionado of wooden coasters to behold!
I quickly climbed the hills to get to Wood Coaster.
Random Space Shuttle because why not?
Excitement!
Disappointment…
Yup. My hopeful hypothesis that perhaps the ride had quietly soft-opened earlier that spring, and nobody from English-language media had gotten around to report on the fact yet, was in fact just wishful thinking. Despite having begun testing nearly four months earlier, Wood Coaster was still not open to the public.
A sign with a bad NoLimits rendering of the ride even stated the coaster would be ready in late 2010.
Despite the “do not enter” sign, there was another pathway nearby leading towards the coaster with a gate that was partially left open and seemingly no signs to stay out. I took that as an open invitation to get a closer look.
Wood Coaster appears to be to GCI what The Voyage was to CCI (and then Gravity Group)… sort of a greatest hits package of all their best elements, applied to a unique terrain location and stretched out to rather absurd lengths. Plus they both have triple-down elements.
Even with Python in Bamboo Forest at the Wanda Nanchang park surpassing this ride for height and length, Wood Coaster still appears to be the pinnacle of GCI design, both for the number of unique elements it packs into the layout and especially for the one-of-a-kind hillside lift with a zig-zagging triple-down first drop.
However, even if I did get to ride, I’m not certain that Wood Coaster would measure up to the very best wooden coasters or even the best GCI coasters in the world. The rapid-fire pacing of GCI coasters benefits from a certain degree of succinctness, and based on videos the 4,800+ foot long layout appears to get a bit repetitive and meandering by the time it gets to the tunnel, which would usually signal the end of the ride but instead it keeps going on for a while after.
Regardless, Wood Coaster still appears to be a monumentally unique attraction that, even nearly ten years later, still appears to be one of the best coasters in China, and possibly still my most regretted “missed coaster.”
I even caught a couple of test runs throughout the day, briefly raising the specter of a soft-opening that, of course, was never going to happen. Oddly, later in the day I found a couple of construction workers on the tracks apparently doing some work. About a year later I had the chance to ask the GCI guys what was going on. They were just as unsure why it was delayed, having commissioned it to the park and returned home shortly after posting that test video in February.
Anyway, with Wood Coaster not happening, all I could do was explore what else the park had to offer. Spoiler alert: Not much.
The only attraction that was all of A: open, B: noteworthy, and C: I wanted to ride, was their dark ride located in front of Wood Coaster, 4,000 Miles to Earth Center.
“It’s a masterful blend of storytelling and high-tech wizardry that sweeps you away into a virtual world.” (Why do I feel like this language was copied from an early concept package prepared by a western design firm?)
The ride is actually a not-so-masterful blend of Disney’s Journey to the Center of the Earth theme (with a little Indiana Jones Adventure as well) with a lo-fi version of Universal’s Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride system.
I was honestly having a hard time remembering this attraction, which I only rode once despite having no wait. While online POVs were hard to come by, I did manage to track down one video that reveals what happens on the ride: a big fat nothing! (Except for a few random flashing crystals.) I doubt any number of re-rides would have helped me remember this snoozefest any better.
Typhoon Rescue was the only other ride in the area that met criteria B (noteworthy).
However, I cannot recall if it was A (open), as my photos show water running but no vehicles moving; regardless, as a Splash Battle style attraction, it definitely did not meet criteria C (something I’d want to ride).
While it doesn’t count as a ride, this stunt show was seemingly the most popular attraction at the park. A mix between Universal’s Waterworld stunt show and the flash flood experience on the tram tour, the show speaks to our innate desire to watch liquid erupt in large quantities from orifices.
Knight Valley is a little bit of everything, with this SeaWorld/Ocean Park styled aquarium exhibit. Into the Deep features an array of jellyfish along with a 360 media show. Maybe it’s just because I don’t speak the language that makes it more difficult to form a mental story around these experiences, but Into the Deep left close to no impact on me as well. If I didn’t have the photos I wouldn’t even recall this exists nearly 10 years later.
China has so many more delightful ways to tell you “keep off the lawn.”
When in China and when in doubt, there’s always KFC.
A section of Knight Valley is located far at the top of the hillside overlooking the park. While the park has a couple of options for climbing the distance, the Knight Valley Ropeway was the only one open at this time.
Similar to Ocean Park Hong Kong across the border, the cable car covers a not insignificant distance between the two parts of the park. The difference is that you can still see all of the lower park from the cable car, including the Wood Coaster.
The view from the top is quite good. Being a narrow ridge, there’s not much else to do up here besides take in the views.
Looking out the opposite side of the bridge, you can see more of OCT East’s current and future offerings, including a Buddhist temple.
The one ride that was (A) open up here was the Cliff Booster. I can’t call it a notable (B) attraction, as aside from the location it’s a rather slow-moving example of the flat ride you can find at many FECs. But despite the 45 minute wait due to running at 50% capacity, it at least counted as (C) something I was willing to ride. There was very little else to do with the time.
Cantilevered glass walkways are popular at many Chinese scenic destinations, and Knight Valley has one as well. No need to staff it or queue for it, so in that respect it’s a worthwhile addition.
However, the glass walkway was so opaque that it didn’t produce the effect intended. Not a huge deal, as the slope of the hillside isn’t so steep that you’re out above the ground tremendously high anyway.
An observation tower seemed like it could be a pretty (B) notable attraction that (C) I would want to ride.
But despite the fact that I had just seen it running, I discovered that it was not (A) open, only doing empty test cycles.
What about the cool Knight Valley Funicular railway back down to the lower level?
Also closed!
Don’t worry, even though I can’t get back down without backtracking the entire route I came, at least I can appreciate this random bit of purposeless theming before I turn around.
A mirror of my own face at the moment.
When I finally made it down to the remaining corner of the park, I discovered a mostly deserted eco resort setting.
A sinewy silver Bob-kart track snaking around the mountainside belonged to a (B) noteworthy attraction that (C) I would want to ride.
But like most everything else, it too was not (A) open.
Only thing that was (A) open was the compact dolphin-themed Disc’O… which was neither (B) noteworthy or (C) something I would want to ride.
At least Flamingo Valley is open, where the only price of admission is having to push your face through the germ-curtain as you come and go.
As the name implies, here you can look at flamingos.
Or, if you’ve already seen plenty of flamingos at other zoos and parks, they also have… the most common pet bird in the world in a tiny cage on display. Cheep, cheep!
Swans, swimming gracefully in the brownest diarrhea water I’ve ever seen. Glug, glug.
Okay, finally I got to another ride that was both (A) open and (B) noteworthy! This Flume Ride (didn’t get an exact name, though I doubt it’s very different from that) echoes the Wood Coaster in taking a very standard attraction type and asking for a super-sized version that makes ample use of the hillside terrain. I had no way of comprehending the entire length, but it seemed to stretch all over the hillside with multiple lift hills, at one point even dropping through a waterfall!
Given that criteria, it seems like something that I would also (C) want to ride. But not so fast. While I was very tempted, there were two things to consider. First of all, look at that water.
LOOK. AT. THAT. WATER.
While I’d like to give the benefit of the doubt that it wasn’t recirculating the same diarrhea water as the nearby swan pond… the fact that the thought even crossed my mind (and was now never going to leave) was one BIG count against it. Count two was a more practical concern, which was that I had my backpack with various clothes and electronics with me. While normally I would be fine just putting it to the side of the platform, in this case it wasn’t clear that I would be returning to the platform, as all the boats returning were empty. At first I wasn’t sure if it had just reopened after an empty cycle, but after watching it long enough I concluded that they seem to unload guests way down the hill at the bottom of the run. It wasn’t clear if I would have a safe or secure place to put it during the ride (and the hike back up the hill, then back down the hill to the exit). And I sure as hell wasn’t bringing it with me to potentially soak all my belongings in diarrhea water.
(Also, the line was kinda long. What a surprise for a park that only has about five things open and even then only runs them for 3.5 hours of the day.)
While I really wanted to do SOMETHING that day that might have been unique and memorable, ultimately the potential risks outweighed the potential rewards, and I opted to head straight for the exit to catch an earlier bus to get back to Hong Kong a bit sooner. Maybe I missed out on something great, or maybe I just missed out on a case of swimmer’s itch. Who knows?
While Knight Valley wasn’t objectively the worst park I’d visit in Asia, it was undoubtedly the most frustrating from my personal experience. Obviously being so close to, yet still missing out on Wood Coaster (along with many other attractions) made up the biggest part of that frustration. But the park could only be so frustrating because it held so much promise to begin with. With so many Chinese theme parks being flat, insular Disney and Universal knock-offs, the idea of creating an “Eco Theme Park,” one that could take advantage of a spectacular natural setting, with attractions integrated with the topography, and eschewing grandiose but empty facades in favor of a more authentic botanical landscape… that’s a really smart idea! With sustainability and climate change continuing to transform industries, China and Knight Valley could have been
in a good position to lead themed entertainment in an innovative new direction rather than just follow what’s been done elsewhere.
Instead, Knight Valley felt completely directionless, mashing together a random assortment of theme park and amusement staples with no filter for how they’re supposed to fit the park’s identity. There’s a little bit of everything in here, and none of it is done particularly well. Even Wood Coaster follows this pattern, apparently giving a large budget and plot of land so they could check “roller coaster” off the list as well, and fortunately for Knight Valley and enthusiasts, GCI was able to take that opportunity to deliver an actual world-class attraction. (Although not so fortunate for enthusiasts who travel a long way just for that ride only to find it closed. Along with
half the other attractions in the park.)
A few years after Knight Valley opened, across the Pearl River Delta in Zhuhai, OCT’s competitors at Chimelong opened their own version of a nature-minded theme park at Chimelong Ocean Kingdom. That park would go on to become not only the most successful homegrown Chinese theme park, but the most successful Chinese theme park, period, beating even Shanghai Disneyland by an estimated 500,000 visitors in 2019. That could have been Knight Valley. Instead we’ve got an out-of-the-way little park on a hill with a kick-ass wood coaster and a few other oddball curiosities. I can still appreciate a park like that. Just so long as the coaster is open.
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