TheThemeParkGuy

Visited 2013. Depressing small funfair by the Pacific, starring Caucasians...

Visited 2013. Small, run-down, yet operating funfair close to the Sochi Olympics site. ...

Visited 2016. A couple of rather rusty amusement rides facing the VDNKh expo center...

Visited 2016. Stunningly beautiful new mall close to Moscow's Kremlin, and entirely dedicated to children. Hosts an animatronic dinosaur walk through attraction (cheap but charming), a KidZania rip-off called KidBurg (cheap but big), and a stunning atrium with a giant clock and a painted ceiling (not cheap at all). Great atmosphere, visit it!...

Visited 2019. Small indoor amusement center with a lot of heart and soul. Animals, balloon games, oversized furniture, and my favorite: you can pay to throw plates against a wall to relieve stress. Something that's not really needed in Krasnodar (one of the least stressful cities I've ever been to), but I imagine this could be a big hit and great source of 'entertainment' in bigger cities...

Visited 2018. A collection of amusement rides inside Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk's public park 'Gagarin'. Closed during winter...

Visited 2011. When I went, this legendary Moscow city center funfair was in the process of being demolished. A local told me that Gorky Park was going through a complete revamp and would resurrect as a modern public park for families. Given that Moscow will probably get a Universal Studios theme park, perhaps it's a good idea. Yet, it is sad to see a piece of Soviet history destroyed. Instead, I would have knocked down Lenin's Mausoleum in Red Square and laid to rest ...

Visited 2017. Family Entertainment Center inside a huge mall on the outskirts of Russia's Siberian metropolis Yekaterinburg. There is nothing special about this FEC, but the city left an impression on me: huge, clean, organized and definitely underappreciated & undervisited by the common Western tourist. ...

Visited 2018. Small dinosaur theme park that is a bit too reminiscent of Steven Spielberg's 1993 Jurassic Park to not pay IP licensing fees. Dinosaurs look Chinese-made and not built to last...

Visited 2016. Small collection of rides (a couple of operating carousels and a desolate roller coaster) by the stunning Amur river promenade...

Visited 2016. KidZania's so far biggest outlet worldwide and one of its newest and best-kept, too. Remarkably great kitchen! The mall hosting it is Europe's biggest and very much resembles the gargantuan Dubai Mall at the foot of Burj Khalifa. Russia from its most modern side...

Visited 2018. Small public amusement park in a perfectly friendly and pleasant city (my favorite in Russia). Sports a Ferris wheel and various other rides...

Quick side trip to Vladivostok, Pacific Russia. Primorsky Oceanarium on Russky Island is expected to become one of the world's biggest and best oceanariums. Unfortunately, it was still under construction, site access closed and visibility on the day of my visit extremely bad. As evident from my pictures, I came back empty-handed. But I experienced the big town of Russia's Far East, a place not even Asia specialists tend to stop by. And I found it remarkably similar to Riga...

The construction site of the Sochi Olympics is gargantuan, yet it feels a little cold and clinical. It has me wondering what the villagers of Adler – the Sochi suburb that will host the Olympic venues – will do with all these stadiums and monuments once the games are over? The Sochi-Park, now under construction adjacent to the Olympic site with German/Dutch manpower and coaster tracks, will leave something behind that’s worthwhile: Russia’s first...

As of 2012, the headlines in the English press about Russia can really give you a scare. Quite on the contrary, though, every time I visit I like it very much. Yes, there is the occasional guy walking down the street that looks like he has no mother. But what I also see, and what intrigues me, is a young generation of Russians in their teens and early twenties that is English-speaking, friendly, open-minded, educated, motivated, philosophical, cosmopolitan and...

Visited 2020. More to come...

Visited 2020. Vladivostok's very Soviet-style old city center aquarium, which can't compete with the newly-built, massive oceanarium erected on Russky Island two spectacular bridges away...

Visited 2017. Once the trees are grown, this will be Moscow's Gardens by the Bay, right next to the Kremlin; includes a flying theater (Flying over Moscow) and a cutting-edge 360 degree theater showcasing the history of Russia's capital (in Russian only). Zaryadye Park is a hit, a worthy addition to one of the greatest capitals of Europe...