This Snake is easily a top ride from GCI.
Visually, the ride is already starting to show its age – the entrance has started to be consumed by foli...
This Snake is easily a top ride from GCI.
Visually, the ride is already starting to show its age – the entrance has started to be consumed by foliage, the exit shop is dark and vacant, and the paint is peeling from the station walls. Most alarmingly, the front row was shut all day on both of my visits; I suspect that this is correlated with the fact that they have decapitated the titular snake by removing the themed zero car shell from both trains, but it may simply be China being China. On my first day, the mediocre weather had evidently emptied the place, as I boarded the train alone and got ready for dispatch.
I will confess – my first ride was underwhelming, and it felt like I was on the first train of the day despite it being 4pm. But once this Snake warms up, BOY does it warm up.
Python offers a twist on the standard out-and-back wooden coaster concept, going back and forth multiple times and using the hillside location to its advantage. After a lift hill that feels unnervingly long for a GCI, the ride starts with a twisting first drop. It’s good, but not in the same league as the likes of Wodan. Luckily, this is simply a means to acquire some kinetic energy and really get things going. The train blisters through the subsequent airtime double down with ruthless enthusiasm, before pulling up to give you pause on a high turnaround. The first return lap begins with a respectably sized drop, followed by a sequence of airtime hills which offer respectable floater airtime and some laterals. I found the subsequent outwards run the weakest on the ride, with the turnaround feeling slightly sluggish and the straight hills offering only weak floater. Luckily, the final turnaround begins to build the momentum back up, as the ride dives down the hill and into a fantastic finale. The finale is exactly the kind of thing where GCI most excels, offering violent laterals, sudden airtime pops, and breakneck pacing. After a seriously substantial ride time, the Snake slams into the brakes, leaving me breathless nearly every time.
Despite its flaws, I have no problem calling Python In Bamboo Forest the greatest wooden coaster I’ve ridden so far. The beginning and the finale are both peak GCI, the terrain is expertly used, and the ride feels like it is never going to end. It does unfortunately lose a few points for the poor upkeep (again – why was the front row shut?) and having a few moments where the tracking goes beyond tasteful roughness. For now, I consider it my 3rd favourite ride in China after Dinoconda and Flash; the massive bruises on my hips were more than worth it. Come ride this thing ASAP.
