TPR in Japan - 2018 - Theme parks and Japanese Fun!

That Legoland looks awesome! Love it!

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Day Twenty & Twenty One

This update is sort of a mixed bag of stuff. It includes a day where we did two smaller parks, a transfer day, some random Tokyo stuff and then ending back at Tokyo Disney! Let's just move forward with photos & videos and let them unfold the story from these two days...

Our first of two parks in Japan today was this interesting Japanese amusement park “Hamanako Pal Pal.”

Hamanako Pal Pal is home to the “Mega Coaster.”

This is a Togo coaster that is part Manhattan Express...

And part Great Adventure's Viper (remember that ride?) Oddly enough, it's actually pretty good!!!

Speaking about Togo rides, Hamanako Pal Pal has this weird thing. It’s like a cross between a “Paratrooper” and an “Enterprise.”

It spins, it swings, it locks the seat in place, it goes upside down. Super funky ride!

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Everything in Japan is “cute!” ... Even the trash cans!

Yes, that is a “sushi themed” bumper cars attraction at Hamanako Pal Pal!

Oh, look... This Japanese amusement park has a giant Ferris Wheel! Let me put on my shocked face...

A comfortable roller coaster this was not!

It sort of felt like a trash can rolling down a hill! lol

These two inversions on Mega Coaster at Hamanako Pal Pal were oddly not rough and actually a LOT of fun!

And yes, this is a "Togo" roller coaster!

Hamanako Pal Pal had a decent collection of dark rides and walk-throughs.

Most of them interactive with some sort of score or prizes you could win.

If you're not in the mood for a lot of rides, Hamanako Pal Pal does have a pretty large impressive arcade filled with tons of Japanese awesomeness!

Our second park today was Lagunasia! A more “themed” park but also a smaller park. Has some decent attractions...

Aqua Wind aka “Water Fart” is basically a wilder “Wild Mouse” coaster and is a lot of fun!

“We are on a log flume...” Lagunasia has a decently themed log flume ride!

So “Magical Powder” is a really bizarre dark ride!

I can’t decide if this is telling people to do drugs, avoid drugs, or just something else.

Either way, it’s kind of like drugs!

We are all on some sort of “Magical Powder!”

This is your brain on “Magical Powder!”

Weird...but decent dark ride!

The “Pirate themed” roller coaster now as a VR option... yup!

This “Space Invaders” thing was kind of wacky.

It was like a giant “Breakout” game where you are the paddle trying to bounce the bullet at the Invaders. Honestly it wasn’t that great...

Stellar Coaster was an interesting junior roller coaster with on-board audio! It was pretty good!

You can take some “Magical Powder” home with you!

It’s legal in most Japanese prefectures!

We had a good visit to Lagunasia. This is a promising park that needs a couple more bigger attractions!

I sort of love the obsession Japan has with Capybaras!

Hellllooooo Thunder Dolphin!

How many of you wish you were riding Thunder Dolphin right now? Reply to this post if wish you were riding!

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They have Chocolate Crunch at Tokyo Dome City themed to the Giants mascot and I think that is supposed to be his poop?

“Let’s hear it for the Rainbow Bridge... it’s been an incredible success!”

I really love the Japanese versions of the cover art for these movies!

This retro arcade at Tokyo Decks is one of the few places in Japan I’ve seen Pinball machines!

They have lots of other fun retro stuff, too!

The walk-through Haunted House at Tokyo Decks has always been pretty weird and worth doing!

In Japan, Wasabi pretzels are a “thing” and I like that!

Yes, this is a Gudetama popcorn vending machine because... Japan!

#Japan

Welcome home!

I love that there are resort line tickets themed to both the 35 Happiest Celebration and Tanabata Days!

Our home for the next seven nights! We highly recommend Hilton #Tokyo Bay when staying at Tokyo Disney Resort. As much as we love all the Disney hotels here, this is IMO a better option if you plan on spending the majority of you time at the parks!

On the Monorail heading to my happy place!

It's very similar to Orlando's castle, but I think this one may have slightly better lighting.

They have soap dispensers at Tokyo Disneyland that dispense Mickey Mouse shaped soap!!!

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Reply below if you wish you were riding Space Mountain right now!

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Fun Fact! If you go to guest relations at Tokyo Disneyland and ask for the “English Translation Cards” they will give you this beautiful pack of pamphlets for several of the park rides!

Photos & video simply do not convey just how cool Tokyo Disneyland’s Winnie the Pooh attraction is!

One of the best dark rides ever made! (and I honestly am not a huge Pooh fan!)

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Do NOT under estimate how amazing Tokyo Disneyland's Electrical Parade Dream Lights is! It is hands down the best night time parade Disney has ever produced! Go watch our live stream replay here:

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What a great night at Tokyo Disneyland tonight! I like that this has been my sixth visit to the resort this Japan trip and our “official tour days” haven’t even started yet!

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Now, POST YOUR COMMENTS!!!! After all, we took the time to write this report, the least you can do is post something nice about it!

Click HERE for Part twenty-two of our TPR 2018 Japan Trip!

of course the stop back at Disney is wonderful, but oh my. . I'm super excited about the first park you went to!

i do not ride Bumper Cars. . and no, I wouldn't ride the sushi themed ones either.. . but man, I would have taken dozens of pictures of that ride, and have them as a screensaver. absolutely LOVE it.

in the 2nd park: Magical Powder dark ride?

HAHAHAHA. . it looks like exactly what you said it looks like. . snort some magical powder and enjoy! and that you can take some home? Bwaaa-haaaa-haaaaa

and water fart coaster for the win! a wild mouse that looks like a ton of fun.

"Xevious" in the retro arcade? haven't seen that in many, many years and brings back awesome memories of going to "Games People Play" in Houston when I was (much) younger.

continuing your great report, with some once again stunning pictures. (the Castle in particular is a beautiful shot).

That paratrooper/enterprise ride kinda reminds me of Knex.

I've been a capybara fan for years, I need that capybarasan tee shirt! And all the capybara plushies!

Aaaaand I want to go to Tokyo Disney so badly. My two dream trips are a month in Spain and a week at Tokyo Disney during October when they're decorated for Halloween.

Yay! It runs!!! The ride was closed all day today due to weather, but they managed to get it open for TPR after the park closed! Thank you Parque Espana for arranging this for us!

This is the type of thing that most impressed me doing a TPR tour. They go above and beyond to work with parks to ensure participants get these types of experience, when challenges are encountered.

Loving the trip report thus far, I miss Japan!

WOW!! Those mickey soap dispensers are so cool!!!! Are those in all the restrooms in the park?

Also, that Magical Powder dark ride looks hilarious. Couldn't help but laugh through that section of the report!

It looks like Hamanako Pal Pal still looks like a great, three (?) leveled park. And that "paratrooper" operator

was perfectly INSANE, back when we rode it in 2007. First time I ever rode one of those, and I loved it.

Rode it nearly ten times, before a small headache set on, lol. Great flat ride.

And Laguasia still has it's Magical Powder ride? That was one of the most wierd and uniquely Japanese

dark rides I had ever been on. Glad to see it's still HIGHly enjoyed and appreciated. Mmmm red panelling...

And evenings back at Disney is certainly Extra Happiness (35 years, yes?) you can have, like you said, before

the actual trip dates at the parks start! Great idea. Ifa dn when we ever get back there, must try that, when we

do other days in the city, etc.

The more you post about the Japan Trip Robb, the more and more I miss the place, all of the stuff, the people.

But mostly Tokyo Disney of course!

P.S. I couldn't believe those "translucent" LED sails on the pirate ship! How you could see the other patterns

(and the shadows) on the flags behind each other. That was very cool to see!

P.P.S. Robb - did you buy those evening tickets in advance before the trip,

or after you got there, and as the trip went along, from the hotel

and/or the Customer Services Center by Ikspiari?

WOW!! Those mickey soap dispensers are so cool!!!! Are those in all the restrooms in the park?

No, it's in a special "hand washing" place over by Splash Mountain.

That Magical Powder ride looks amazing...and I would totally love trying the wasabi pretzels!

First thanks for posting so much about your trip. As I've said earlier, I am totally using this forum to help me incorporate some theme parking into my trip. With that said, I see that you didn't go to Fuji Q, which I felt like a must do. In some of the other post you seem to suggest that they have terrible customer service. Did something happen? Should American's avoid that park?

First thanks for posting so much about your trip. As I've said earlier, I am totally using this forum to help me incorporate some theme parking into my trip. With that said, I see that you didn't go to Fuji Q, which I felt like a must do. In some of the other post you seem to suggest that they have terrible customer service. Did something happen? Should American's avoid that park?

They DID go to FujiQ, and Robb noted they had the best time TPR ever have had there in terms of operations, service, etc.

could swear I saw the update in this thread, but maybe I saw that in the twitter feed -- which means it will be in this thread eventually

I don't follow the twitter, I didn't know. I look forward to seeing the groups adventure!

*Update: Just went to the twitter and saw some of the post they are amazing! I love the picture of the little girl looking like she is swallowing the roller coaster! lol

I don't follow the twitter, I didn't know. I look forward to seeing the groups adventure!

I don't "on Twitter". . but on the main page, Robb has the twitter feed, so I follow it thru that (upper right corner of main page)

I don't follow the twitter, I didn't know. I look forward to seeing the groups adventure!

 

I don't "on Twitter". . but on the main page, Robb has the twitter feed, so I follow it thru that (upper right corner of main page)

And also, you don't even need a Twitter account to follow along. Just simply go to

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Click HERE for an index of all our Japan 2018 Trip Updates

Follow our LIVE updates on Twitter and Instagram Stories!

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Day Twenty Two - Fuji-Q Highland.

Now I'm sure most of you know our thoughts on Fuji-Q if you've read some of our reports in the past. Let's just say that this visit to the park certainly made us think the park has turned a corner... in a good way. I’m about to say something that I have never said before and I’m happy to be able to say it... We had an amazing day at Fuji-Q Highland!

This was actually our "after" photo when we were done with our day at Fuji-Q. I wanted to post it first because I'm still in a bit of disbelief of how good of a day we had! Here's some more photos & video...

First let’s talk about the front entrance area of Fuji-Q as this is all new from our last visit and basically when you walk in...

...it’s almost unrecognizable as the park we have visited previously.

This is a very welcome change!

Our day started off with Do-Dodonpa! This is the new updated version of the coaster.

The launch is still INSANE as ever and I really loved the new vertical loop! I’m a fan of vertical loops and the old airtime will was crazy painful so this is a nice change! Well done!

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Next up we did some filming on Takabisha which still claims the “steepest” roller coaster in the world!

And now for “silly photo” time at Fuji-Q!

All of the Mt. Fuji themed food at Fuji-Q was amazing!

This is all new since our last visit to the park!

Eejanaika is an S&S 4th Dimension coaster like X2 at Magic Mountain.

I’ll be honest as I’m not a fan of these coasters I didn’t ride it...

...but people in our group really liked it a lot!

Ride operations were much improved over previous visits. We saw so many more rides going that ever in past days at Fuji-Q!

Almost everyone “covers up” when they do a splash down boat in Japan!

SKLOOSH!!!

Love all the random theming on the vending machines at Fuji-Q!

Love it when the cars duel on Takabisha!

So apparently the “Haunted Hospital” walk-through attraction at Fuji-Q has permanently closed.

I’m totally okay with this as the park does seem to be moving away from this sort of attraction.

Curious to see what they do with this space. (I always though this attraction was overrated anyway!)

Om nom nom... I eat roller coaster cars!

Seriously, the park was encouraging this sort of fun!

Proof that the Thomas the Tank Kids Roller Coaster is fun for all ages!

Speaking of Thomas the Tank Engine, the dark ride at Fuji-Q is actually really good!

Human powered roller coaster FTW!!!

Want to send a huge thanks to the staff of Fuji-Q for helping make the best day we ever had at the park! Excited to see this new direction the park is going in and hope to see more on future visits!

Now, POST YOUR COMMENTS!!!! After all, we took the time to write this report, the least you can do is post something nice about it!

Click HERE for Part twenty three of TPR's 2018 Japan Trip Update!

That new area looks great. I feel like Fuji-Q already has a solid line up that makes it the place for Japanese thrill seekers without too much competition compared to some milder parks. I’d be more than happy to see them pause on new rides and money put on more improvements like that to make the park look nicer for a year or two. With the hospital gone and I think the coffins and that indoor fortress thing they had gone there can’t be too many walk around places left.

Thanks for the update. Fuji Q looks like a must do!

One more video from Fuji-Q! Be sure to watch this one!!!

Was it because the park was dead or sunny?

I really like the look to the new entrance plaza! The funny photo ops are really cool! That food looks amazing!

Question for Robb: IIRC, weren’t all of the rides independently operated by different vendors at one time? So, has Fuji-Q had a single entity come in and unite everyone, making it a “corporate” type park, which explains the newer (and I think, better) enhancements?

Great to hear that Fuji-Q may have finally turned a corner in a good way. I always thought that the park looked like tons of fun, but in almost every trip report that I would read, nope...still crappy operations with horrible waits (or unopened attractions).

Yet another great report, thanks for sharing. I'm glad to hear Do-Dodonpa is still just as good as ever. Definitely a bucket list park, along with Nagashima!

Fuji-Q is awesome. I really enjoyed Eejanaika with the new S&S Trains, it feels soooo much better than X2.

From what I gathered from when I was over there last year, Fuji-Q is owned by a company that operates the train line that goes to the park, a bus line or two that go to the park and Mt. Fuji, and a bunch of hotels and other tourist destinations around Mt. Fuji. Most parks seem to operate like this as Tobu Zoo is part of the company that runs the train line to their park as well as Tokyo SkyTree and the Seibu Group owns a train line or two (I think?), Sea Paradise, a few hotels, and Toshimaen.

I'm glad you guys had a great visit and it gets me excited for when I go back this year. I'm going to miss taking the train up as it was a very beautiful route through the Japanese Alps, but if the bus is going to get me there before opening, then I'm taking the bus!