Most of Taiwan's major amusement parks are scattered down the western side of the island. They tend to be located a ways inland, sometimes in the foothills or even up in the mountains. Janfusun is one of those mountain parks.
The park is separated into a few areas as you travel over the top of the mountain to the rest of the park down the back side.
One area of the park has some water attractions, but I wasn't prepared for those. I was here for the coasters including the big dive machine behind the water park.
I arrived at the park right at opening but many of the attractions took time to open, partly due to earlier rain. One ride that is sitting abandoned and hadn't opened in a long time is the Fly Away. It's not on the park map or website but I was hoping it might have been fixed and reopened. I would really like to try one of these again (despite what most people seem to say). As far as I know, the only two working models are in Belgium and England.
Another ride that never opened was the coaster seen behind the Inverter. It seemed that most parks had one coaster that didn't open when I visited.
Here's another view of some of the waterpark and the dive machine coaster. It opened up in the early afternoon.
There are some fun looking water slides here too.
I've still never been on one of these water rides, or the toilet bowl one where you drop out through the center.
The other coaster in the park starts inside a building but spends 99% of its time outside. It's a little kids coaster.
Here's a better view of the looping coaster that, sadly, never opened.
And another view of the diving coaster.
And the kid's coaster. It's a long coaster but standard as far as these kinds of rides go.
They had a pirate ship behind the kid's coaster. It looks like it goes pretty high.
Oh look, the dive coaster is open! At the top of the first drop, brakes hold the train just over the edge for a second, before it falls down the mountain. It was a fun ride and low crowds kept the lines non-existent for most of the time it was open. It's a bit of a one-trick pony as the ride just heads to the drop, makes the plunge and essentially heads back to the station. But I rode it a few times anyway.
Due to the rides opening at staggered times, I frequently found myself searching for something new to do in different areas of the park. At one point I was inside the building with the kid's roller coaster and caught a stage show.
I really like Top Spin rides, and Janfusun had one hidden inside a roofless "building" tucked down in a hole. This one had the most boring program ever. The ride just ran in circles but the seats stayed "locked" so that whenever you were at the top you were upside down, and at the bottom you were right side up.
All the rides are at the back of the park; there are a few attractions near the front but one thing you'll notice upon entering the park is a slope on the mountain with a garden of sorts.
As you walk up the garden you can see different features such as this "rock" waterfall area.
I don't know what the giant ping pong balls are supposed to represent.
Near the front there are a couple buildings. Let's go in this castle!
Kids stuff everywhere.
Okay, moving on, there is a building where you can rent cosplay costumes and take photos. I wasn't on this side of the park often but I never saw anyone go inside, just look at the displays.
Magic Camera is a trick photo house too I think.
Away from the rides, the park gave some nice areas to stroll around.
Walking here was kind of difficult unless you walked on the bricks. Those green and white areas are large bumps.
A small shrine sat in a corner, ignored by most.
I walked through the garden areas a couple times on my visit, as I had plenty of time and it was enjoyable.
You can see that the rides are at the bottom of the hill. The station for the diving coaster was near the top, though, so going between it and other rides was time consuming and tedious.
This picture was taken in the morning, as the rain was moving away and the fog was still hovering over the valley. Later in the day visibility was better. I'm sure if I went on a really clear day I could see a long ways, possibly to the ocean from here.
While waiting for things to open in the morning, I went into one building near the diving coaster and found a few "museums" including one with panda exhibits.
Pandas poop too, you know.
Every panda deserves an equal education.
Find the tiki pavilion and you'll find some nice snacking options.
And the entrance to the Top Spin. You can barely see the top of it through this gate. I'm guessing they wanted to do something like Tomb Raider but ran out of money.
The Flic Flac was kind of fun.
There isn't much shade here. It means you can have a great view of the rides but it becomes killer in the sun.
The Ferris wheel is very large, and you can see the entire rides area of the park. Pictures at the start of this post were taken from the Ferris wheel.
The palm trees don't offer much shade. It seems like a lot of the park was designed with Roller Coaster Tycoon (a video game).
Okay, let's go in the building with the kid's coaster. There are a few other attractions, including this triple-decker carousel.
They had one of these things.
Here's the stage where that show was being held. It turns out it was based on Heidi, the classic children's story. I remember watching the movie as a child - I loved it almost as much as Willy Wonka.
The park had at least one more show, an acrobatic one in a big theater near the entrance to the dive coaster. It was short but entertaining; I wish I had taken some video.
There is a multi-level carnival-style fun house in part of the building. Unlike E-Da World, most of the rides seemed permanent at this park, but there were a few surprises.
Looking out from the fun house, you can see the entire building.
Next to the building was another water area, seemingly geared toward smaller kids.
Awesome landscaping!
Okay, so I've mentioned a couple times this park is built on the side of a mountain. To get up and down some parts of the park, escalators are available. It's covered and there is a sort of light show going on overhead, but it wasn't as cool as other "Escalator: The Ride"s I've seen.
After heading back up the escalator I ended up going back in that castle building to take a peek at the kid's attractions here.
I'm not sure what you're supposed to do here.
I guess little girls can dram of having such a nice, fanciful room.
This was some kind of game.
Win me! Or something...
GRR! I WILL EAT YOUR SOUL! There was some kind of walk through attraction here too.
I'm sure it's based off some cartoon or there's at least a story to it.
I don't know any of these characters though, so I just enjoyed the combination of art and props.
Each of these things had a kaleidoscope inside.
Take a look inside!
Rotate it and change the pattern! How beautiful.
Okay, back outside. At the front of the park there's a haunted house guarded by baby Ju-on.
Baby Vampire was there too.
Here's the poster for the haunted house, obviously titled Horrorwood. The back story involves some guy in shiny gold underwear and gold body paint going into the house.
And yeah. I have yet to be impressed by a haunted house in Asia. (Even Fuji-Q's Haunted Hospital wasn't scary enough for me.)
Back down at the bottom, I took a walk through the water park. I didn't take any pictures (nothing special to see inside anyway) but it seems like these gates come as a pair. Remember the entrance to the Top Spin ride before?
OK, it's time to go catch the bus home. Let's take Escalator: The Ride back up the mountain. But beware of foot-eating sharks on the escalator!
And bring some dirty magazines, guys. You are expected to stand firm. Just keep your hands at your sides...
Oh, what about food in the park? Nothing special, except at that Tiki Pavilion area (see the picture earlier) near the water park and Top Spin entrance gates. These little balls on a stick were quite delicious, served from some sort of food cart (seen in the background).
Douliu is the nearest city to
Janfusun Fancy World, and from there you can take a bus up to the park. It takes a while to get there and the bus runs only sporadically, so do your research before-hand to get the schedule (possibly available from the TIC in town or in Taipei). It seems that the park is more accessible now, though - there appears to be a shuttle that runs every 30 minutes and other options as well. It's important to check before you go, though. Admission is NT$799-899 (they seem to run specials often).
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