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Travel Guides: Vietnam

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By Lisa Scheinin – US

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The first worrisome shadow cast over the trip was thanks to the car hire company we used. A few weeks before our scheduled departure, they sent us a notice saying that the Vietnamese government had requested that all venues for public events shut down temporarily due to the virus. We weren’t too perturbed by this, since parks aren’t primarily event venues. Also, most of the parks we had scheduled were small neighbourhood parks, which we felt were much more likely to stay open because (1) they are not major tourist magnets and (2) they need the income more than the big destination parks.

Next came a request from the car company asking that if any of us were flying to Vietnam through China, we should please not come. Fortunately none of us qualified.

It was easy to see the early effects of the virus and the USA’s response to it on my day of departure. The Bradley International Terminal at LAX, normally a zoo at the best of times, was nearly deserted. The flight board listed flight after flight to China as “cancelled.” There were only minimal lines for checking bags. It was possible for me, flying carry-on only, to walk through TSA screening and directly to the gate with no lines whatsoever. Given that this was in mid-afternoon, this would have been virtually impossible under normal circumstances.

Narita Airport in Tokyo was very much like LAX, with the usual hordes of travellers nowhere to be found. On both legs of the trip, the entire cabin crew and most of the ground crew were masked.

My cabbie to the hotel in Ho Chi Minh City also wore a mask. As I tried to exit the cab, he stopped me, saying “Wait. Present.” Dangling from his daintily extended thumb and forefinger was a mask.

Our first hotel, like the airports, was nearly deserted. This turned out to be the standard for the rest of the trip. It was easy to get EPT (exclusive pool time) and restaurants were nearly empty. Sometimes we were the only diners. This gave the otherwise bored staff an opportunity to fawn on us and remember what we liked. (“You want salted butter? I will get it for you.” “Would you like Vietnamese coffee with milk and sugar, like yesterday? Here.”)

As it turned out, we were mostly right about the parks. The vast majority of them were open. There were, however, a few closures. The responses of the parks that remained open varied. Many posted cautionary signs warning about the dangers of COVID-19, but in some cases that was the full extent of their precautions. Sometimes the staff wore masks but in all but one of the parks, nobody asked us to wear one. Rarely, we had to allow a staff member to take our temperatures before being allowed in. There was no evidence of enforced social distancing. Most of the time the parks were as deserted as the airports and hotels, but in the few cases where there were a good number of visitors, there was no effort by the staff to distance us on the rides or in the (usually minimal) queues.

As you read the following travelogue, please keep in mind that most of the coaster names have been translated into English for convenience, and the numerous diacritical marks on any remaining Vietnamese words have been eliminated for ease of reading. The generic Vietnamese term for “roller coaster” is “Tàu Lượn Siẻu Tốc”, which means something like “high speed gliding train.” Assume that any coaster called Roller Coaster in the following is really named Tàu Lượn Siẻu Tốc.

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Ho Chi Minh City

Thỏ Trắng

Cultural Center for District 12

Dai Nam Wonderland

Khu Du Dich Nui Ba Den

Long Dien Son

Đầm Sen Park

Ho May Park

Tho Trang Vung Tau

Max Carnival

Suoi Tien

Bien Hung

Nguyen Van Tri

Kittyd and Middied

Phu Quoc

VinPearl Land

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HO CHI MINH CITY

Thỏ Trắng

This translates to “White Rabbit” and the rabbit logo is all over the park. Thỏ Trắng is part of a larger green park, Cong Vien Van Hoa Le Thi Rieng. It has a double-helix Sau Con coaster called Roller Coaster that’s quite peppy, with good lateral Gs in the second half of the helices. This park is generally open around 17:00 weekdays and somewhat earlier on weekends and holidays. It was bustling during our visit and seemed not to be at all affected by concern about the Coronavirus. This being in the middle of the Asian New Year celebrations for the Year of the Rat, cutesy rat decorations were everywhere. This would become a recurring motif, to a greater or lesser extent, in nearly every park we visited.

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Cultural Center for District 12

Another small park that generally has evening hours. This park has a rather old-looking but serviceable single-helix Sau Con coaster. It sports the generic Vietnamese name for roller coaster. Several years ago it also used to have a diminutive but long powered coaster whose name translated to Steep Roller Coaster. It was anything but. This was removed around 2017.

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Dai Nam Wonderland

This, one of Ho Chi Minh City’s larger parks, was the first casualty of COVID-19 that we encountered. It had shut down for a minimum of two weeks due to concerns about the virus, with no promises to reopen after that time. I had been there in 2015 and there were no new coasters to be had for me. For the record, there are three coasters here, all of which opened in 2008: Roller Coaster, an only a mildly unpleasant (in 2015, anyway) Chinese knockoff double loop and corkscrew; Spinning Coaster, a typical Golden Horse spinner; and Worm Coaster, a Golden Horse Fruit Worm that – normally – only children are allowed to ride. Back in 2015 I discovered that a well-delivered plea by a bilingual guide can circumvent that restriction.

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Khu Du Dich Nui Ba Den

Like many parks during this time of the year, it was celebrating the Year of the Rat. While cartoonish rat decorations – sometimes even an unlicensed Mickey Mouse – abounded at most parks, at Nui Ba Den we were greeted by a huge, buck-toothed topiary rat.

This park doesn’t have a true coaster but it does have a Wiegand Alpine Coaster. It only runs on weekends, so careful planning is required. For us, it was also a challenge to find. This park is built around the mountain and there are at least three immediately apparent cable lifts ascending it to various areas. None of them lead to the Alpine Coaster. That particular station is way at the back, and it was only by persistently showing various staff a screen shot of the ride that we were able to find it. Once discovered and ridden, we felt it was disappointing. It was short and never really gathered much speed. It also seems to have some sort of governing mechanism. Even when riding with the lever in the full “go” position, the cars slowed down on curves and never came close to the car ahead, even when one made an effort to approach it. It made for a slow, uneven, jerky ride.

This attraction was a walk-on. The park was only mildly crowded, but the focal points seemed to be the various other mountainside areas. By contrast, the shopping and dining area outside the entrance was heaving.

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Long Dien Son

This large amusement park, also in the Tay Ninh area, is more worthwhile. It is beautifully landscaped and embellished with gardens and statuary, with a central lake. This park had an interesting take on the Year of the Rat, with rats cozying up to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in some areas. The park only has one coaster, Roller Coaster, a Sau Con double helix model in good shape. The operator was worried about Martin fitting in, but Martin was persistent and got his ride. We almost had the park to ourselves, even on a Saturday.

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Back To Park List

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Đầm Sen Park

The park’s name means “lotus pond” and indeed the rides are clustered about a pond or small lake. Each coaster was a walk-on. We noticed that their Haunted House attraction was closed; we assumed it was because of worries about indoor attractions facilitating the spread of the virus, but there was no sign explaining this.

Dam Sen has a quartet of coasters that are, frankly, rather ordinary: Roller Coaster, a Chinese knockoff loop-corkscrew; Spinning Coaster, a standard Golden Horse issue; Flying Dragon, a standard powered kiddie coaster; and Children’s Spiral Coaster, a Chinese-made wacky worm. This last coaster, the park’s newest, comes decorated with various tunnels of fruit (watermelon, green tomato or apple, another watermelon).

We weren’t looking forward to riding Roller Coaster, the park’s signature ride, given its origins, but it turned out to be relatively tolerable. However, perhaps its most memorable aspect was in the station: a graphic pictorial sign prohibiting the, er, calorically challenged from riding. Martin could have modeled for it.

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Back To Park List

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Ho May Park

Ho May is a lovely seaside park, accessed by a cable car. A surprisingly good souvenir shop awaited us at the top of the lift, but that wasn’t the real surprise. We had included this park for its Wiegand Alpine Coaster, but had no idea that there was also a real, brand new gravity coaster waiting for us. Family Coaster, a wacky worm with bright pink track, was installed in March, 2019. The Alpine Coaster, accessed – oddly – through the restaurant, was much better than the one at Nui Ba Den. Sadly for the park, there were few people enjoying Ho May besides us, even on a weekend.

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Back To Park List

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Tho Trang Vung Tau

This White Rabbit park is in Vung Tau. It is smaller than the one in Ho Chi Minh City and a bit rougher at the edges. On weekdays it opens at 17:00 and a bit earlier, at 15:00, on weekends. They are a bit casual about doing so, however. Even with three people sitting across from the coaster, pointing to it and eyeing it hungrily, it was much more important to the staff to water the plants and generally wander about aimlessly. Roller Coaster, an old, single-helix Sau Con, finally opened about 20 minutes late. It was surprisingly peppy. Not like the staff.

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Back To Park List

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Max Carnival

This travelling fair is operated by the same White Rabbit organization that operates the permanent parks in HCMC and Vung Tau. This one was operating on the grounds of the KNG Mall in Phu My. It opened punctually at 17:00. Its one coaster, an unexpected find for us, was a bright red, new-looking Sau Con with a single helix. It had no posted name. Attendance was very low, but it had only just opened for the evening.

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Back To Park List

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Suoi Tien

This normally crowded park was almost empty. We were the only riders on both coasters, Mini Roller Coaster, a compact medium-size non-looper in a roofed but not completely enclosed area, and Roller Coaster, a large but relatively tame non-looper that circles a small pond.

At Roller Coaster, two operators in the station seated us and belted us in immediately. Then one sat down at a table adjacent to the track and proceeded to eat his lunch. Martin, incredulous, asked “Seriously?” Really, the guy couldn’t wait until we were done, in less than two minutes? But serious he was, shoveling spoonfuls into his mouth as we sat. (His buddy eventually dispatched the train.)

Underneath the coaster station is a fast food restaurant aptly named Roller Coaster Fried Chicken. The hungry operator’s meal did not come from there.

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Back To Park List

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Bien Hung

Rides at this small park in the Bien Hoa area open at 17:00 on weekdays and somewhat earlier on weekends. It’s an open-gate park, so it is possible to walk around and take in the atmosphere if you arrive early. It is pretty but quite ordinary. Its Sau Con double-helix Roller Coaster had an extra hill in the track, as opposed to single-helix models that just have a wide, flat curve leading back to the station after the helix. It looked a bit the worse for wear relative to my previous visit in 2015. It provided a reasonably smooth, predictable ride.

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Back To Park List

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Nguyen Van Tri

This small community park is mere blocks from Bien Hung and has similar hours. It is home to an old, single-helix Sau Con Roller Coaster that was surprisingly smooth and fast. This park was a bit more down at the heels than Bien Hung, but, while not crowded, had more customers.

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Back To Park List

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Kittyd and Minnied

This park is a good three-hour drive southwest of Ho Chi Minh City, in a rather nondescript, inconvenient area near the Mekong River Delta. The park has a long, overly grand entrance area, followed by a ride park and a water park. There was some action at the water park but the dry park was deserted except for us. None of the rides seemed to be running, even though we had been assured that they were open. The coaster, a standard Golden Horse spinner called both Spinning Coaster (on the structure) and Dragon Flight (on a sign at the entrance to the queue), was down for maintenance. Apparently, based on the experience of previous visitors, it had been this way for months. This was a relatively new coaster and it may never have run. There was a sign at the queue notifying would-be patrons that the coaster only ran every 15 minutes. If only we had been so lucky. At least we got our money back.

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Back To Park List

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PHU QUOC

VinPearl Land

We were not impressed with this park. We had to have our temperatures checked before they would admit us – but after we had paid (would a person with a fever get his money back?) – but that was relatively quick and painless. Much more objectionable was the loud, intrusive and truly obnoxious music that seemed to be everywhere. We rode the coaster, which yielded no surprises and was not even remotely nautically themed, and beat a very hasty retreat. The park wasn’t worth the admission price, which had not been adjusted for the loss of 2/3 of the coaster line-up. Perhaps, with the new coasters running and the music toned down a bit, it will redeem itself.

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Back To Park List

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Tho Trang

Cultural Center for District 12

Dai Nam Wonderland

Khu Du Dich Nui Ba Den

Long Dien Son

Đâ`m Sen Park

Ho May Park

Tho Trang

Almost a year in advance, my friends Martin Valt and Kat Soderquist and I planned a trip to Vietnam for February, 2020. As it turned out, we were mere steps ahead of the international edicts for social distancing and self-quarantine accompanying the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first worrisome shadow cast over the trip was thanks to the car hire company we used. A few weeks before our scheduled departure, they sent us a notice saying that the Vietnamese government had requested that all venues for public events shut down temporarily due to the virus. We weren’t too perturbed by this, since parks aren’t primarily event venues. Also, most of the parks we had scheduled were small neighbourhood parks, which we felt were much more likely to stay open because (1) they are not major tourist magnets and (2) they need the income more than the big destination parks.

Next came a request from the car company asking that if any of us were flying to Vietnam through China, we should please not come. Fortunately none of us qualified.
It was easy to see the early effects of the virus and the USA’s response to it on my day of departure. The Bradley International Terminal at LAX, normally a zoo at the best of times, was nearly deserted. The flight board listed flight after flight to China as “cancelled.” There were only minimal lines for checking bags. It was possible for me, flying carry-on only, to walk through TSA screening and directly to the gate with no lines whatsoever. Given that this was in mid-afternoon, this would have been virtually impossible under normal circumstances.
Narita Airport in Tokyo was very much like LAX, with the usual hordes of travellers nowhere to be found. On both legs of the trip, the entire cabin crew and most of the ground crew were masked.
My cabbie to the hotel in Ho Chi Minh City also wore a mask. As I tried to exit the cab, he stopped me, saying “Wait. Present.” Dangling from his daintily extended thumb and forefinger was a mask.
Our first hotel, like the airports, was nearly deserted. This turned out to be the standard for the rest of the trip. It was easy to get EPT (exclusive pool time) and restaurants were nearly empty. Sometimes we were the only diners. This gave the otherwise bored staff an opportunity to fawn on us and remember what we liked. (“You want salted butter? I will get it for you.” “Would you like Vietnamese coffee with milk and sugar, like yesterday? Here.”)

VIETNAM

In the course of the trip, the coasters of Sau Con, a Vietnamese ride manufacturer, would become extremely familiar to us. At least 16 Sau Con coasters are scattered across Vietnam. Most of these are either smaller family coasters with a single helix coming off the first drop, or a slightly larger model with a double helix. While none of these are extreme thrill machines, several of them manage to produce surprisingly good speeds and lateral Gs. And it was much more gratifying to find one of these gravity coasters in small, neighbourhood parks rather than a powered job.
As you read the following travelogue, please keep in mind that most of the coaster names have been translated into English for convenience, and the numerous diacritical marks on any remaining Vietnamese words have been eliminated for ease of reading. The generic Vietnamese term for “roller coaster” is “Tàu Lượn Siẻu Tốc”, which means something like “high speed gliding train.” Assume that any coaster called Roller Coaster in the following is really named Tàu Lượn Siẻu Tốc.

HO CHI MINH CITY

Tho Trang

This translates to “White Rabbit” and the rabbit logo is all over the park. Tho Trang is part of a larger green park, Cong Vien Van Hoa Le Thi Rieng. It has a double-helix Sau Con coaster called Roller Coaster that’s quite peppy, with good lateral Gs in the second half of the helices. This park is generally open around 17:00 weekdays and somewhat earlier on weekends and holidays. It was bustling during our visit and seemed not to be at all affected by concern about the Coronavirus. This being in the middle of the Asian New Year celebrations for the Year of the Rat, cutesy rat decorations were everywhere. This would become a recurring motif, to a greater or lesser extent, in nearly every park we visited.

Cultural Center for District 12

Dai Nam Wonderland

Khu Du Dich Nui Ba Den

This mouthful translates to “Black Lady Mountain Tourist Area.” Sometimes it can appear as Black Virgin Mountain, depending on the translation software. This is in the Tay Ninh area, close to the Cambodian border and an easy day trip from HCMC.
Like many parks during this time of the year, it was celebrating the Year of the Rat. While cartoonish rat decorations – sometimes even an unlicensed Mickey Mouse – abounded at most parks, at Nui Ba Den we were greeted by a huge, buck-toothed topiary rat.
This park doesn’t have a true coaster but it does have a Wiegand Alpine Coaster. It only runs on weekends, so careful planning is required. For us, it was also a challenge to find. This park is built around the mountain and there are at least three immediately apparent cable lifts ascending it to various areas. None of them lead to the Alpine Coaster. That particular station is way at the back, and it was only by persistently showing various staff a screen shot of the ride that we were able to find it. Once discovered and ridden, we felt it was disappointing. It was short and never really gathered much speed. It also seems to have some sort of governing mechanism. Even when riding with the lever in the full “go” position, the cars slowed down on curves and never came close to the car ahead, even when one made an effort to approach it. It made for a slow, uneven, jerky ride.
This attraction was a walk-on. The park was only mildly crowded, but the focal points seemed to be the various other mountainside areas. By contrast, the shopping and dining area outside the entrance was heaving.

Long Dien Son

Đâ`m Sen Park

Another one of HCMC’s larger parks, this one is home to four coasters. We were a bit worried after finding Dai Nam closed, but at we were enthusiastically greeted by rat-costumed employees and invited in. Our visit was on a Sunday, but the crowds were absent. We were practically the only guests, and were finished riding all of Dam Sen’s coasters in little more than an hour. If this was the best they could do on a Sunday, we wondered how they could support staying open.
The park’s name means “lotus pond” and indeed the rides are clustered about a pond or small lake. Each coaster was a walk-on. We noticed that their Haunted House attraction was closed; we assumed it was because of worries about indoor attractions facilitating the spread of the virus, but there was no sign explaining this.
Dam Sen has a quartet of coasters that are, frankly, rather ordinary: Roller Coaster, a Chinese knockoff loop-corkscrew; Spinning Coaster, a standard Golden Horse issue; Flying Dragon, a standard powered kiddie coaster; and Children’s Spiral Coaster, a Chinese-made wacky worm. This last coaster, the park’s newest, comes decorated with various tunnels of fruit (watermelon, green tomato or apple, another watermelon).
We weren’t looking forward to riding Roller Coaster, the park’s signature ride, given its origins, but it turned out to be relatively tolerable. However, perhaps its most memorable aspect was in the station: a graphic pictorial sign prohibiting the, er, calorically challenged from riding. Martin could have modelled for it.

Ho May Park

Several surprises awaited us on our journey to this park near Vung Tau, a port city close to Ho Chi Minh City. Two were on the way: a seasonal fair (more on this later) and a giant mountaintop statue of Jesus that looked like a transplanted Christ of the Andes. The third surprise awaited us inside the park.
Ho May is a lovely seaside park, accessed by a cable car. A surprisingly good souvenir shop awaited us at the top of the lift, but that wasn’t the real surprise. We had included this park for its Wiegand Alpine Coaster, but had no idea that there was also a real, brand new gravity coaster waiting for us. Family Coaster, a wacky worm with bright pink track, was installed in March, 2019. The Alpine Coaster, accessed – oddly – through the restaurant, was much better than the one at Nui Ba Den. Sadly for the park, there were few people enjoying Ho May besides us, even on a weekend.

Tho Trang

Max Carnival

Suoi Tien

This large, drop-dead-gorgeous park remained open, luckily, but had closed several sections due to concerns about the Coronavirus. Some closures made sense, like several of their working temples and a walk-through attraction, since they are relatively small spaces that normally attract large crowds. Also closed was the indoor powered coaster, Secret of Witch Forest, most likely because of similar worries about enclosed spaces. But the open-air croc park? Hmm.
This normally crowded park was almost empty. We were the only riders on both coasters, Mini Roller Coaster, a compact medium-size non-looper in a roofed but not completely enclosed area, and Roller Coaster, a large but relatively tame non-looper that circles a small pond.
At Roller Coaster, two operators in the station seated us and belted us in immediately. Then one sat down at a table adjacent to the track and proceeded to eat his lunch. Martin, incredulous, asked “Seriously?” Really, the guy couldn’t wait until we were done, in less than two minutes? But serious he was, shovelling spoonfuls into his mouth as we sat. (His buddy eventually dispatched the train.)
Underneath the coaster station is a fast food restaurant aptly named Roller Coaster Fried Chicken. The hungry operator’s meal did not come from there.

Bien Hung

Nguyen Van Tri

Kittyd and Minnied

PHU QUOC

VinPearl Land

Located on the island of Phu Quoc, a popular getaway, this is part of the VinPearl chain. The parks have changed their names to VinWonders, but in February it was still VinPearl Land. It was a park in transition in ways other than the name change. The park was originally home to three coasters, but was enlarging. Two of the coasters had been sacrificed to the expansion, leaving only the Vekoma junior coaster, Ocean Train as the one operational coaster. Five new coasters were slated to open in 2020, possibly including one of the previously dismantl ed rides. Two new, large coasters were nearly built, but they were in an off-limits area and far from ready to ride. The Coronavirus closedowns may delay everything further.
We were not impressed with this park. We had to have our temperatures checked before they would admit us – but after we had paid (would a person with a fever get his money back?) – but that was relatively quick and painless. Much more objectionable was the loud, intrusive and truly obnoxious music that seemed to be everywhere. We rode the coaster, which yielded no surprises and was not even remotely nautically themed, and beat a very hasty retreat. The park wasn’t worth the admission price, which had not been adjusted for the loss of 2/3 of the coaster line-up. Perhaps, with the new coasters running and the music toned down a bit, it will redeem itself.

DA NANG

Sun World Da Nang Wonders

This park used the Coronavirus scare to shut itself down “for maintenance” for two months. This was a true disappointment, since this large, new park is home to five coasters, several of which came from Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. People who want to visit should know that the park never opens before 15:00.

Children’s.Cultural Houses

This just seemed to be a cluster of miscellaneous rides and attractions plonked outside, about a block from the main entrance of Sun World. There did not seem to be anything cultural about it. It did have the advantage over Sun World in that it was open and had a working coaster, even though it was just another single-helix Sau Con. We weren’t really sure if Roller Coaster was supposed to be open – our info said it didn’t open until 17:00 – but there was a ride operator in the adjacent building. Using pantomime, we gestured that we wanted to ride, and using pantomime, he indicated that it was just for little kids. We showed him our coaster club credentials, plus photos of us on the exact same Sau Con model at other parks, and he relented. He only let Martin ride one lap because his restraints wouldn’t close, but Kat and I got a few more go-rounds. Then he jumped on his scooter and was gone.

Helio Center

Literally across the street from Children’s Cultural Houses, this is an indoor-outdoor park. The good news was that the indoor section was working. The bad news was that the outdoor section wasn’t, and that’s where the coaster is. It’s a production-model SBF Visa Spinning Coaster. No reason was given for its being closed.

29.3 Park

This park takes its odd name from March 29, the date in 1975 when the Communist forces took over Da Nang. This is essentially a green park set around a lake, with a ride area at its northern border. It is also essentially right on the other side of the Da Nang airport at its northeast corner. You can wander through the park any time of day, but like most small parks in Vietnam, the rides tend to open in the late afternoon or early evening, at least on weekdays.
There are three coasters here, two of which are powered. The gravity coaster, Potential Energy Train according to RCDB.com but actually with no posted sign, is probably the first one visitors will come across. It is – surprise! – a Sau Con single helix job. We arrived in the early evening to find it running, albeit with very few riders. There are locking steel doors leading to the station. The ride operator was standing just inside one, and an elderly lady, who turned out to be his mother, was just outside it. When he saw us, the operator tried to close the door and wave us off, gesturing with the universal “this tall” hand sign that the coaster was only for children. His mother, however, smelling money, had other ideas. Emphatically saying “Yes!” in Vietnamese, she wrenched the door open. The operator could not argue with Mom, and in we went.
Two of us now saw a clear path to the coaster, but the operator still had a problem with Martin. Gesturing graphically, he indicated that Martin was a bit too large for the ride. But Martin fit into the restraints, so the operator let him ride once around. Kat and I got additional circuits. We thanked the operator. Then we thanked his mother.
Not far away from this was the first powered coaster, High Speed Dragon. This has a long, roughly square, elevated layout through a grove of trees. Initially it did not look open, but when an operator saw us nosing around, he opened up the ride. This coaster looks to be quite old. The metal of the boarding station has seen better days; there are areas where there are gaping holes in the rusted metal through which one can easily see the grass below. This necessitated us stepping very carefully. Other than the possibility of falling through the station floor, the ride was very unexciting.
Further down the path was the park’s final coaster, another elevated powered job with a meandering, slightly more complex layout through another grove of trees. The ride bears no name. There were two short, somewhat dusty trains in the leaf-strewn station. The entrance was padlocked, so we figured we were out of luck. Happily, the operator at the adjacent pendulum car attraction saw us. Gesturing for us to wait, he ran off. In a few minutes he came back with a satchel that resembled a large traditional doctor’s bag. It was filled with keys. We stood by as he tried one set of keys after another. Finally he found the right one.
The operator’s panel was the picture of simplicity. It consisted solely of an on-off switch. He switched it to “on” and ever so slowly, the train came to life. This has to be the slowest coaster on the planet. The train chugged around the twists and turns at a snail’s pace. The circuit contains an occasional tiny hill on the circuit, which seemed to present a major challenge to the labouring train. At one point, about mid-course, the train slowed so much that we were certain it would not be able to get over the oncoming hump. It was only through our collective “ootching” forward in our seats to help it that it finally succeeded.

VinPearl Land Hoi An

Now rechristened Vin Wonders like the rest of the chain, this park is in Hoi An, less than an hour’s drive from Da Nang. This is a huge complex, complete with a water park, cultural village and a central lake besides the amusement area, which is called Adventure Land. It is a relatively new park, opening in 2018.
Not counting the closed Sun World in Da Nang, this was the first major park of the trip that wasn’t filled with ordinary production-model rides. Okay, two of the park’s four coasters did qualify on that front: Spinning Coaster, a fun SBF Visa kiddie spinner; and Family Coaster, an SBF Visa wacky worm (also called Speed Coaster, depending on which sign you read). The other two coasters, both by Vekoma, are more distinctive.
Desert Twister is a moderate-size suspended coaster that is smooth, well paced and fairly intense. This signature ride was a total walk-on. There were a few other riders, all locals. Inexplicably, as sometimes happens in Asian parks, all of them were afraid to ride in the front seat, and it was wide open. Lucky for us.
The final coaster, the immense Lost Valley, is a mountain-themed Vekoma mine train with two lift hills. It’s a beautiful, long ride, and very pleasant if not the most thrilling. Interestingly, the steel structure sports a camouflage-pattern paint job that looks to have been done in-house.

Sun World Ba Na Hills

I had visited this park while I was on a butterfly-collecting trip in 2012, when it was brand new and not yet under the Sun World banner. Back then, the plans, posted online, showed a two-story building with a collection of indoor rides. Included among them, in a corner on the lower level, was a small roller coaster. I searched every inch of the building, plans in hand, but it was not there. Turns out, it was never built. A few years later, our butterfly trip leader, fresh from another trip to Vietnam, excitedly told me they now had a coaster. It turned out to be an Alpine Coaster. I remember the web site back then showing a single track, but there actually may have been two. A twin-track Wiegand Alpine Coaster, Fairy Knights, was built in 2013. In 2018, a second set of Alpine Coasters with a much less fanciful name, Double High Speed Alpine Coaster, was added. Somewhere along the line, the park came under the aegis of the Sun World group.
At least this Sun World property did not chicken out and close in the face of COVID-19. And it had grown immensely from the small hilltop park it had been in the beginning. Back then there was one cableway up; now there are four. Both the hilltop section and the ground-level areas have been vastly expanded. For me, it was almost unrecognizable.
During our visit, only the newer set of Alpine Coasters was operating. We were there late in the day, so we only had time to ride one side. Given that the tracks are parallel, we didn’t think we were missing much. It was fun but relatively short.
This was a fairly crowded, but not heaving, park. The line for the Alpine Coaster was one of the longest we encountered.

HANOI AND HA LONG

Ho Tay Park

This park, whose name means “east lake” is on the edge of a large lake, Tay Ho, which means the same. It is home to an old Meisho corkscrew that first ran at Daisenji Park (Toyama, Japan). This park closed in 1998 and it is presumed the ride reopened at Ho Tay within the next few years. Its operation at Ho Tay, where it is called Hanoi Steel Dragon, has been sporadic, with several long periods during which it was nonoperational. (It was last known definitely to have run in 2018.)
We found Ho Tay park indefinitely closed due to the COVID-19 scare, with the indifferent-to-surly gatekeepers uncertain of whether it would reopen any time soon.

Hanoi Zoo (Thu Le Zoo)

This zoo did not get stellar reviews online, but we were there for the rides and did not check out the animals. It appears quite lovely, on a long spit of land projecting into Thu Le Lake. We were offered masks by the staff on entry, but declined, and they didn’t seem to care.
The rides are interspersed around the grounds in small clusters. A few rather old, smaller rides and games near the entrance did not appear to be in the best of shape. The first coaster was a short walk away and, fortunately, was in a much better state of repair. Roller Coaster was the obligatory single-helix Sau Con model, equipped with a rather attractive electric sign at the entrance and rather ludicrous horse collar restraints on the trains.
Further into the park, we found the zoo’s second coaster, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This was an unexpected delight: a powered terrain coaster, complete with a tunnel. It looked to have been custom-built on the side of a gentle hill. A busty Snow White stands atop the central castle (purely decorative), and a few dwarfs are scattered around the course. The train, however, has an animal theme that seems more appropriate to the zoo than to the fairy tale. Each diminutive car on the (relatively long) train is a cute animal. The only restraint on each is a stationary grab bar.
The ride operator was clearly surprised to see a trio of adults wanting to ride her coaster. She appeared incredulous watching Martin – not the most petite of adult riders – attempting to wedge himself into one of the cars. But he succeeded and we were off. She gave us nearly a dozen circuits and might have given us more had we not signalled that we were content. (She was on her cell phone most of the time, no doubt telling one of her buddies about the three crazy foreigners.)

Unified Park (Thong Nhat)

This is a large green park with a powered High Speed Dragon coaster and several other smallish rides. It tends to be open in the late afternoon during the week and earlier on weekends. The coaster has the same rusty old station and minimally hilly track that it had when I first visited in 2012. Now, however, the bare central footprint has been prettied up with a large family of topiary deer. (Memo to park management: Next time you have some money to spare on the coaster, think paint, not shrubbery.)

Ao Vua Resort

This sprawling resort is in Ba Vi, some 60km (37miles) almost due west of Hanoi. It truly feels like it is in the middle of nowhere. After driving down a series of narrow, dusty, holey roads, sometimes wondering if our driver truly knew where he was going, we rounded one corner and – boom! – there was shiny new red-and-green coaster track in front of us. This turned out to be in one of the far corners of the resort, a bit of a hike from the entrance. We had the foresight to ask if the coaster was open before setting out for it, since the resort looked deserted. Yes, it was running.
The grounds are truly lovely, with a large lake, waterfall, Buddhist temple and several lodges along the route. There are two clusters of rides, both of which appear well kept. The Christmas-coloured coaster we had seen was waiting for us in the far corner, as was the operator, who apparently had been alerted to our imminent arrival by the gate staff. Speedboat is an impressive Sau Con effort, with a double helix off the lift hill and a single helix at the opposite end, leading back to the station. It is quite new, opening some time in 2018-19. It was a fast and very pleasant ride.
Slightly downhill from Speedboat is the resort’s second coaster, which has no posted name. This one looks exactly like Speedboat except that it’s (1) blue and orange, and (2) not working. While its train does not look to be in horrible shape, its track is thoroughly rusted. The probability of it ever running again is near zero. It appears that Speedboat is the replacement coaster and that Ao Vua just hasn’t gotten around to tearing the old one down.

Blue Pearl Island

Better known to locals by its Vietnamese name, Dao Ngoc Xanh, this park is not far from Ao Vua. Not coincidentally, it is owned by the same group, has the same POP admission price and has amusing statuary scattered about. Also like Ao Vua, this park was almost empty, and a ride operator was already waiting for us when we arrived at the coaster.
And what a coaster this was! No, it will never qualify as a world-beater, but it was the largest and most complicated Sau Con coaster any of us had ever seen. Roller Coaster is quite tall and loaded with helixes, curves and tunnels. It was quite a treat after all those small single-helix jobs, and a pleasure to ride. I wanted another go, but unfortunately the park’s policy is to dole out just one ride per customer on each of its rides. There was no bargaining or swapping out rides.
Across from the coaster is the park’s Ferris wheel. While the coaster appeared to be in great shape, the wheel was at the other end of the spectrum. We approached riding this slow, creaky, old-looking ride with moderate trepidation. Luckily all the welds held and we were able to get some decent photos of the coaster through the bars on the cages.

Bao Son Paradise

This large, spread-out park on the outskirts of Hanoi tries to highlight Vietnamese culture. A costumed traditional drummer greets all incoming guests and there are several garden areas set aside for resting alongside Vietnamese statuary. It also has a good number of rides.
I first visited Bau Son Paradise in 2012. At that time its coaster was a spread-out Hoei Sangyo model – with the obligatory helices of Japanese-made coasters – whose name translates to Train Glide on Air. That coaster, sadly, has been removed and probably has been scrapped.
In 2012, there was a small gate charge; any rides were pay-as-you-go. According to the posted pricing structure, something like this is still possible, but not on the day of our visit. Our only option was the full POP charge, which was relatively steep (about $15) by Vietnamese standards. The park had been closed for the past several weeks due to the Coronavirus scare, and had only just started easing back into things by opening weekends only. Our visiting day was their very first reopening day. Perhaps they felt they needed to sock everyone in the wallet in an effort to recoup some of their lost revenue.
The traditional drummer welcomed us, wearing a mask. Sort of spoiled the effect, but at least he was there. The rest of the staff was also masked. As we were at the Ao Vua parks, here we were almost the only visitors, and the only ones going on the rides.
Replacing the old Hoei coaster is a Junior Boomerang by Vekoma whose name translates to High Speed Round Trip. This brand new (2019) coaster with eye-catching red track is in a slightly different part of the park from its predecessor. A crew of three awaited us. Kat and I were immediately shown to the train, but Martin was not allowed to board. It turns out that there is a 77kg (about 180 pounds) weight limit for each rider. We females skated in under the wire (barely so, in my case) but Martin was not so lucky. Due to the language barrier, we had no success in trying to point out that a lone rider, regardless of weight, would not overwhelm the capacity of the train. At any rate, this was a smooth, comfortable and speedy ride. And surprisingly, they had no problem with using cameras on the ride.

Tuan Chau Park

This smallish park in the Halong Bay area, east of Hanoi, has a nautical theme. When we first approached the ticket booth, everything was closed, but we were told to come back after 15:00. We did, and were promptly told to get lost. The park was not open and was not going to open, that day or any other in the foreseeable future. This park’s single-helix Sau Con Roller Coaster would have to wait for another visit another year.

Hon Dau Resort

This pretty seaside resort in the Hai Phong area is home to a powered Mack coaster. In keeping with its origins, Alpen Express has a German theme. Apart from someone’s socks drying on the perimeter fence, we found this a rather attractive coaster. Unfortunately, it was down for maintenance, with the mechanic (and possible sock owner) working on the train – which was in pieces – as we watched. Whether the owners took advantage of the Coronavirus-related dip in attendance to do regular maintenance or whether this was purely a coincidence is unknown.

Mystic Mountain

This park is part of the huge Sun World complex in Halong Bay, which also includes a dry park and a water park. Mystic Mountain is a small park on top of a mountain and can only be accessed by an aerial tramway. On the day of our visit, the staff was slow to get organized and about 20 minutes late in dispatching the first tram of the day, somehow vaguely due to concerns about the virus. At least the ride was pleasant enough once it got going, and there were some beautiful views of Halong Bay.
Mystic Mountain is an attractive park with a large Ferris wheel and several other attractions. Included among them is a set of two (nonparallel) Wiegand Alpine Coasters together called Samurai Slide. Only one side was operating. Like the other Vietnamese installations of Wiegand Alpine Coasters, it was quite short.

Dragon Park

The dry-park component of the Sun World Halong Bay complex, Dragon Park is both beautiful and a bargain. The all-inclusive POP option here, allowing us unlimited rides on the park’s three coasters and all other rides, set us back a whopping $2.15 each. (Take note, please, Bau Son Paradise.)
Not surprisingly, dragons abound here. Two coasters have dragon themes, and the dragon motif pops up everywhere – including a forced-perspective dragon painted on the ground that looks as if it is flying up to devour guests.
The signature coaster here is Dragon’s Run. This B&M sit-down coaster with six inversions first opened at Hard Rock Park (Myrtle Beach, South Carolina) as Led Zeppelin – The Ride in 2008. When the park became Freestyle Music Park, the coaster was renamed Time Machine. The park was gone by 2009. Luckily for coaster fans, the coaster reopened here in January of 2017, along with Dragon Park’s other two coasters. The back end of the station still retains zeppelin motif, which looks a bit incongruous given the coaster’s new dragon theme – not to mention confusing to the locals and anyone else unaware of its origins.
This ride is marvellous. Not only is it gorgeous to look at, it is smooth, intense and beautifully paced. (Best ride of the trip, hands down.)
Little Dragon’s Flight is a sinuous, bright red Vekoma suspended family coaster that is almost as much fun to ride. Rounding out the trio is Mine Train Coaster, which is a Vekoma junior coaster rather than a mine train. It’s the least inspiring of the park’s line-up, but still a decent ride.

We did not have time to get to every park in Vietnam and are not sure what we would have found if we had. Several parks were closed due to the Coronavirus, but there seemed to be little logic to this. Why was Sun World Da Nang Wonders closed while the other Sun World properties we visited, Ba Na Hills and their Halong complex, remained open? In the case of the smaller closed parks like Ho Tay and Tuan Chau, we wondered if the owners had decided that it was just not worth it to pay the staff to keep the venues open. Almost all of the open parks were very sparsely attended, with more staff than visitors in some cases, so it could have been a losing proposition for these small parks to stay open. Or maybe, as one of us suggested, they were just being lazy.
While most of the parks remained open, some had limited their hours of operation and others had closed some of their attractions. The staff in most of the parks wore masks, but this was not universal, and we were required to do so in only one park. Only two parks took our temperatures before they would admit us.
Still, despite several disappointments, in retrospect we were lucky. The stay-at-home orders, accompanied around the world by border closings and flight cancellations, were instituted shortly after our return home. We had managed one last coaster trip under the wire.

The author would like to publicly cite Vietnam Drive (www.vietnamdrive.com), the car-and-driver company we used throughout the trip, for their excellent service. The owner spent a lot of time calling parks weeks before our arrival to verify their hours, and continued to monitor them during the trip. In at least one case he switched the order of some days of our itinerary to account for a park that had recently limited its hours. Anyone contemplating a coaster trip to Vietnam would do well to use them. Remember, we’ve already broken in the drivers for you.

A few warnings to those contemplating a coaster tour of Vietnam. First, there is a significant language barrier. Second, public transportation is limited. Local parks can be managed by taxi, but for longer trips, you will need a car and driver. The company we used, Vietnam Drive (www.vietnamdrive.com), was excellent. They swiftly and surely ferried us to every park we wanted. (Future travellers will be happy to know that we broke them in. They were not used to going to amusement parks, but now they know where the vast majority of them are. You’re welcome.) Third, plan carefully. Many parks, especially the smaller ones, have limited hours, opening in the late afternoon or evening. Only the large destination parks have helpful websites, so determining when smaller parks are open can be a challenge. Finally, this is not a country for the calorically challenged. Several coasters have weight limits. Others are designed for kids and the operators are reluctant to let adults ride, even if they fit easily into the restraints. Do what this author did and show up armed with photos of yourself comfortably fitting into a similar coaster.

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