TRIP REPORT - Sun World & VinWonders Phu Quoc

[jhunt2]

Hey guys! Just a bit of a more off-the-beaten-path trip report here from a roller coaster side quest! Long story short, my birthday fell in the middle of a holiday to Ho Chi Minh City, so I managed to convince my partner to cram a trip to the resort island of Phu Quoc into a day - don't recommend trying it by the way, but it was manageable in off-peak crowds.

There are two major parks on Phu Quoc, but a whole lot else to see as well! This place is really otherworldly!

Sun World Hon Thom Nature Park

The first of the two parks is actually not located on Phu Quoc island, but on Hon Thom island, just south of the main island. You access the park via a cable car - a very big one. In fact, the longest in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records.

This thing is huge, with spectacular views, but from here you can see exactly what makes Phu Quoc so strange - the resorts are huge new developments from large Vietnamese companies, sparked by increasing tourist interest in the island. The companies behind the resorts seem to have gone with the strategy of building big and building fast, so you'll buy your tickets from a villager in a small hut in what feels like a rural Vietnamese town, and then drive up a cobblestone street with beautiful European-inspired buildings either side, to the entrance of the cable car, which has a very impressive Roman ruins facade. It's absolutely bizarre. From the cable car itself, you'll see the majesty and beauty of the resorts and the surrounding islands, but also the huge and dense low-income parts of Phu Quoc, which still haven't really seen much benefit from the increased tourism. I'd be interested to hear what their thoughts are on the investments, and whether it's an invasion of their home or a potential for them to make money from tourists. We didn't know what to make of it honestly.

The cable car itself ended up being maybe the highlight of Sun World, not because the park isn't great, but because the cable car is just so spectacular. It takes 15 minutes to get to the park on Hon Thom island, and there isn't a dull moment. Don't be daunted by the huge lineup when you arrive - it moves pretty quickly, and it's a bit of a bottleneck since every visitor to the park has to enter via the cable car. We had a rather large queue to enter, but basically no lines for the rest of the day. 

Sun World itself is a park that seems to be well on its way to being the full package, but it's clearly still in the construction phase. Currently, there's a very decent-sized water park, brilliant dining options, a beach, an observation tower which is very popular, and their GCI wooden coaster, Roaring Timbers. They also appear to be adding a drop tower, but it isn't open just yet, although it looks mostly constructed and even appears on the park map, so you might be lucky if you're planning a visit soon.

Roaring Timbers, for starters, is immaculately themed and presented. Sea World could learn an awful lot from the way the entrance, lockers, theming and queue have been done. The queue building and entrance are stunning to look at, there are free lockers with facial recognition, the operations are great and the queue moves quickly. The ride itself is also a big thumbs up. It's smooth, there are some nice moments of airtime and it has fantastic speed from the beginning. It's not particularly intense at all but a lot of fun. My only critique is that it could maybe have used the terrain a little better. It's built on the side of a hill, and gets close to the ground at times, but doesn't ever really use that to its advantage. Still a great coaster.

Dining options are also great here. There's a buffet option, some higher-end restaurants that serve beautiful meals and locally-brewed beers, pizza, and your typical theme park foods, as well as little drinks stalls. And with Vietnamese prices, it's super cheap and easy to eat well while you're here.

We didn't try out any of the slides, but there are some good quality waterslides and attractions to try out, including a lazy river, a BRO-style racing slide, Tornado, a pair of Wedgie-style drop slides, and a whole bunch of others. It's quite a decent-sized water park.

The only things to be aware of - there's not a lot of shade, and the UV will be high, so pack lots of protection. And tropical rain can hit fast, so be prepared to make a duck for a restaurant or the gift shop. It doesn't last long usually.

The cable car closes for a short period around lunchtime, but reopens some time around 1:00-1:30pm. The line to get back on for the return trip to Phu Quoc is a lot shorter, and we left right after lunch.

VinWonders Phu Quoc

OK, so the first thing to say here is don't be fooled by the size of the island. I fell into this trap slightly, which was a rookie error and my own fault. I guess I'd been planning the logistics of cramming flights into one day so much that I overlooked the actual transport on the island. I looked at the island and thought, "Hey, sure, they're at opposite ends, but it can't be more than 30 minutes, right?" Wrong. Phu Quoc is well over 50km from end to end, and it took us about an hour by taxi. Not a huge loss, but be prepared that they're not exactly close together if you're travelling to both parks. When you factor in that the speed limit is never over 60, and Vietnamese traffic is insane, it can be quite a journey. Luckily, our taxi driver was an absolute legend and got us there 15 minutes ahead of the Google Maps estimate, with tickets in hand - even if he did give us a good fright with a few very wacky shortcuts!

VinWonders is... well, it's just spectacular. This clearly Disney-inspired park looks absolutely immaculate. (Forgive the lack of photos, I really got caught up in the moment on this one).

You'll spot it from the main road and just be blown away yet again. A towering Ferris wheel, castle at the centre, and massive entrance complex with Tudor facades all around and another castle-like building at the entrance gates... it's just a sight to behold. The inside is no different. 5 stars for theming, they really went all out.

The park, again, clearly Disney-inspired, is split into different themed areas, including an adventure-themed area, a fantasy-themed area, Western-themed area, as well as a water park and an absolutely gigantic aquarium inside a building shaped like a giant sea turtle with a waterfall coming out of its mouth. Sounds made up, I know, but it's there, it's huge, and it's awesome.

The main attraction for thrill seekers will be Wrath of Zeus, a Vekoma Firestorm in the adventure-themed area. This coaster is intense. The theming looks nice too. The launch is absolutely rapid, there's some insane airtime and great inversions, but also some absolutely breathtaking positives. I greyed out at the bottom of the drop off the top hat into the first inversion. It's F O R C E F U L. The ride seems to show its hand a little too early - you've got a great launch, fifty-metre top hat, intense drop into a corkscrew and then an amazing vertical loop, but after that it doesn't do much, and there's only one more inversion. You get a good head chopper into a tunnel and a couple of twisted airtime hills that would be soooo much better without the vest restraints, but it just feels like it's twisting around and wasting a bit of time in the latter half really. Also, operations were terrible. Let me emphasise how terrible. Each cycle consists of:
- Operator and attendant checking every seat and restraint while they're empty
- Only after the seats have been checked, an audio recording is played of every safety instruction, in both Vietnamese and English.
- Only after the recording finishes, the gates are open and guests board, often forgetting to follow the instructions they just heard in painstaking detail and two different languages
- Operator and attendant check all of the lap bars
- Operator gives even more instructions
- Train dispatches
- Only after guests exit at the end, the process starts again
That whole process can take 10-15 minutes at a time. It's brutal to wait in line for.

RCDB says there are five other coasters at VinWonders, but I'm pretty sure one of them has closed during the construction of this new park. We couldn't find the Vekoma Junior coaster anywhere. As for the roller coasters that did still exist:
- Ipanema Skate Ride is an Intamin Surfrider. Pretty fun, and features lap bars instead of over-the-shoulder restraints, which makes it a lot more fun than Wet'n'Wild's version. You get some good forces with a free upper body.
- Spartan Race is a Vekoma Family Boomerang. It's clearly repurposed from the old park that was on this land, because the train doesn't fit the Greek theming - it's a dolphin for some reason. Fun little coaster, very similar to LPS's Boomerang, but it only has one booster lift and relies on gravity to turn the train around. That leaves the backwards leg being slower and a little disappointing.
- Eagle Warrior was a pleasant surprise. My partner loved this one. It's a Vekoma SFC, but indoors in a dark ride themed to an Egyptian tomb. There are incredible lighting effects, great use of leg-choppers and trenches. The ride just really knows how to visually disorient you and make itself so much more thrilling. It also has lap bars, and the first drop is great in the back. It was definitely the surprise favourite of the trip.
- Eagle Wingspan (that's the name on RCDB, but it has a bunch of different names in the park) is one of those single-seat suspended coasters. Unfortunately it was closed. I was really looking forward to this one, I've been curious what those coasters ride like.

There's also a huuuuuuuge collection of flats, like the towering Ferris wheel, a small drop tower, Zamperla Disk-O Coaster, a Tango Train, and a bunch more. The water park has a great selection including one drop slide that rivals Wrath of Zeus for height. There's a very impressive-looking flume ride too, but it was also closed.

Food and shopping options on the Main Street are really really impressive, there appears to be a water and lights show in front of the castle at night, and there is just so much to do. We would recommend dining at the restaurant inside the aquarium, where the food is immaculate and you eat in a cozy atmosphere in front of a huge aquarium wall. So impressive.

VinWonders definitely made me wish we had visited on a longer trip, and I'll be keeping a close eye on both resorts, because both were breathtaking and surprising.

 

Anyway, that's my rant. I can't recommend Phu Quoc enough really. Not sure what the prices are like at the resorts themselves, but it might be worth staying in Phu Quoc City, which has a distinctly Vietnamese feel and lots of little shops that are clearly keen to capitalise on the tourist traffic, so you can still experience that Vietnamese feel if you visit there as well. Don't miss the natural beauty of the island and the village life. Vietnam is just too beautiful to be missed. But keep an eye on these parks - they're quite impressive already and definitely feel like they're going to grow further.

It looks like Phu Quoc is also starting to attract some international flight routes, so fingers crossed it'll become more affordable for Aussies to visit directly some time soon. Flights from mainland Vietnam are quick and cheap, I'd recommend Vietnam Airlines (it was way more comfortable than the budget option VietJet), and book your taxis with the Grab App, because the taxi drivers are waiting like seagulls outside the arrivals gate to snap you up and overcharge you. Grab is easy to use and means your fare is set in advance.

[DaptoFunlandGuy]

11 hours ago, jhunt2 said:

Sea World could learn an awful lot from the way the entrance, lockers, theming and queue have been done. The queue building and entrance are stunning to look at, there are free lockers with facial recognition, the operations are great and the queue moves quickly.

I think what we're all wondering here, is were they using turnstiles?

 

11 hours ago, jhunt2 said:

operations were terrible. Let me emphasise how terrible. Each cycle consists of:
- Operator and attendant checking every seat and restraint while they're empty
- Only after the seats have been checked, an audio recording is played of every safety instruction, in both Vietnamese and English.
- Only after the recording finishes, the gates are open and guests board, often forgetting to follow the instructions they just heard in painstaking detail and two different languages
- Operator and attendant check all of the lap bars
- Operator gives even more instructions
- Train dispatches
- Only after guests exit at the end, the process starts again
That whole process can take 10-15 minutes at a time. It's brutal to wait in line for.

Sounds like they could use a turnstile.

11 hours ago, jhunt2 said:

This place is really otherworldly!

Hey man - thanks for the awesome trip report. I really appreciated your style of description and emotive language - really helped me visualise what you were experiencing.

It was great to hear balanced praise about a park(s) off the usual thoosie trail rather than just a raft of criticisms about all the things you didn't like. Look forward to hearing about your next travels!

[New display name]

You know what they say about turnstiles? Man who walk through airport turnstile sideways is going to Bangkok.

Edited July 7, 2022 by New display name