The Roller Coasters of Egypt

Egypt isn't exactly a coaster destination like Japan or Great Britain, but it does have several parks scattered around the Cairo area. There is also a park in Alexandria called "Fantazy Land" which I have never been to. From what I've heard it's an awful park with one junior coaster that rarely runs. However in Cairo I did manage to find five different parks with coasters, as well as several other smaller parks without coasters.

Dreampark

Dreampark is Egypt's best amusement park, with major rides and themed areas. It is located in 6th of October city, near the Great Pyramids of Giza (about a 1/2 hour trip from downtown Cairo, depending on traffic). It has 2 coasters, both Vekoma production models.

The Suspended Coaster is surprisingly a fun ride, and actually quite smooth as long as you're not near the back of the train. It is one of the best SLC's out there, and has the added bonus of a helix finale, which can't be found on any of the many SLC's in the US. It was a bit rough near the back of the train, but much less so than your average SLC.

The view of the great pyramids over the top of the Suspended Coaster

The other coaster at Dreampark is the Orient Express, a themed Vekoma expanded rollerskater. The ride layout is identical to Woodstock's Express at Cedar Point, and is a great family ride.

Dreampark features many other rides, including a huge Huss Shot n' Drop ride that towers above everything else, a carousel, and a train ride. There is a large central man-made mountain that offers views over the surrounding desert. At night the Suspended Coaster and Shot n' Drop are lit up with orange ropelights, standing out to drivers on the nearby highway leading to Cairo. They also have an indoor junior coaster the I believe was added after my last visit... either that, or it's hidden in the park and I had no idea it was there!

Magicland

Located almost directly across the street from Dreampark, Magicland is a government owned theme park that is connected to media production city, one of the most prolific and influential studios in the middle-east. It's Egypt's version of Universal Studios, and has several major attractions such as a dolphin show, a stunt show, Dinosaur River (A copy of the Jurassic Park river ride, but without the splashdown finale), a simulator, and even an ice skating show. And they happen to have one roller coaster, a Mack Wild Mouse. It's a fun ride, one of the better Wild Mice.

Cairo Land

Cairoland is a rather run-down amusement park, nothing like the new Dreampark and Magicland. It does have a kiddie coaster though, simply named "roller coaster".

The coaster has a very simple layout, and dives through a small structure with canvas hanging on it (I can't quite figure out what it's supposed to be).

Cairo Land has a lot of other rides, many of which were closed when we visited. It still has a fun atmosphere, and is full of small children playing soccer in the midways. There is also a fun skyride that runs the length of the park and has good veiws of the nearby Southern Cemetary.

Geroland

Geroland is another nice park, along the lines of Dreampark. It has several themed "islands", including the Europe Island, Mexico Island, and Kid's Island. It has a Vekoma Boomerang and a junior coaster.

The boomerang is kept in good condition and offers a smooth, fun ride. The junior coaster is exactly the same as the one at Dreampark except without the themeing. Interestingly enough, the coaster is simply titled "rollercoaster" in arabic, and in english is actually called the "Junior Coster", one of the many fun typos to be found at Egyptian amusement parks.

There is also a powered coaster called the Dragon, but I don't consider it a real roller coaster.

Sindbad City

Sindbad City is another government run park, near the airport. It is quite small, but packs in a lot of rides into a very small area. It becomes prohibitively crowded when the weather is nice, so much so that it was basically just a large mosh pit when we visited. There is one small kiddy coaster oddly named "Texas". I didn't acutally get to ride Texas due to a massive, disorganized line and limited time at the park.

There are several other parks in and around Cairo, but they are all very small and as far as I could tell don't have roller coasters. Kooki Park (also called "Cookie" park) is in giza, near the pyramids but in the middle of a neighborhood of crowded apartments. It definately caters to lower-class Cairenes. In Heliopolis there are supposedly small amusement centers in Geniena Mall and Wonderland Mall. I found one mall with bumper cars, wax skating, bowling, and an arcade, but I wasn't able to find a full amusement park in any of the malls. However in Arcadia Mall right on the Nile just north of central Cairo, there is a small family park called Fun Planet. It has two large spinning rides and many kiddie rides, but no coasters.

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