Similar to MGM down the road, VGP Universal Kingdom is owned by a local corporation this time VGP Group. I thought the previous park had a bright entrance but this one was even better with cartoony thugs lining the entrance.
It's certainly colourful.
More Pongal pots, although I think that holiday was now over.
I'm not sure if this is a good colour scheme or not. It's so lurid!
Once I'd gotten through the new paint job section of the park it was into the theme park section proper where a sizeable collection of average rides existed.
Like MGM this park did not have many visitors. I had to remind myself that despite the warm temperature this was still winter to the locals.
The park has a water splash ride of its own but they would only run the ride with a full train and I couldn't see 5 other people in the park let alone enough to fill the car.
Historically the park started out as a movie theme park so there are a small number of sets, but over time the park has become just another amusement park
Even though that simulator ride was in the shade I knew it would be a sweat box so I chose not to give this a go.
As well as the water coaster the park has a galaxi style coaster but the minimum number rule almost prevented me riding this as they wouldn't let me ride alone. One thing I've noticed with India is that problems can be solved through compromising. I had a problem that I couldn't ride, they had rules that said 2 people had to ride. The solution? Get me a member of staff to ride with me...
...and 5 minutes later a happy tourist got his ride on an a rather unmemorable coaster.
The Top Gun ride had attracted an entire coach party of kids, yes! Some more bodies to possibly fill the water coaster later. This actually did happen about 30 minutes later and I was able to join the queue that they formed to get the credit. Note the water coaster is a small upcharge.
This was quite cool and I took quite a few photos in amongst this lot.
The Mixer wasn't operational today.
nor was the bull ride.
Towards the back of the park is a haunted house walk through which wasn't in a state that I could experience it.
Behind it was the Golden Beach which gave me an entire beach to myself. A quick paddle into the sea and that was another coastline done! On heading back into the park I was stopped by an elderly security guard who I couldn't communicate with but he seemed quite interested in why I'd been on the beach. Only later did I realise that he was probably wanting to check my wristband as people could enter the park via the beach without going through the entrance. Doh!
A nice themed powered train ride. I'll let you decide if this is a coaster or not because of that hill. It wasn't operational anyway.
Around the park there was some unique Indian theming. Is he standing on a baby?
What on earth???
This was quite unusual and at the time I didn't twig what it was all about. A statue of an Indian guard with a sign saying don't swear. I thought the sign was a joke and the statue some sort of bugged theming to see if anybody did who would then be sprayed with water or something. Then people entering the park were then running over to have their photo taken with the statue which made it even more weird.
It turns out that the guy is actually real and his job is to stand still all day, and he's bloody good at it as I didn't even see any sign of him moving. I know in hindsight "statue man" gave it away but I thought that was a mis-translation of "statue of a man".
A totem construction next to the entrance.
On the drive back I tried to catch a photo of this style of graffiti which is abundant in and around Chennai. The colour scheme was consistent and I did catch a couple of guys painting it freehand to a great level of quality. Does anyone know what these messages were saying? I'm guessing they're political.
Almost back at the hotel and we passed some schoolkids on their way home. There's no issue with them walking several miles home in the heat to get home.
VGP Universal Kingdom is also located on the East Coast Road about 15 minutes north of MGM. Both parks can easily be done in a day but watch for the ride operational hours at MGM and the minimum ride number at VGP.
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