Loefet

September 21:st Day 22, Riding the Eagle and finding Atlantis Coaster today = 4 Extra coaster = 1 Coasters in total = 107 This was another day with a coaster that have been on my list of coasters that I have to ride, well i think many of us have longed for this one. Of course I'm talking about Eagle Fortress, this could only mean that we are going to Everland. We arrived almost an hour before the park opened, because R&E had arranged so that we could get a few rides on Eagle Fortress before the crowd came, and what I ride it was, a lot of powerful swings, drops and super smooth. In the end you almost swung high enough to hit the wheel covers above you, totally insane. The trees around the rides had been shaped by the cars, and you are really close to the nature on the whole ride. After a few rides on that one we got a behind the scenes view of the new coaster they were building for the next year, some fine Intamin wood. The whole park is a really nice place with a really large number of good rides, and it will get even better in 2008. This is also one of those places you have to visit to soak up all the details. The Vekoma looper had some newer trains but the ride wasn't better. The small Roller Skater pack a pretty good punch though, at the moment the second best coaster in the park. We had a pretty quick visit to Everland since Atlantis Adventure was closed when we were at Lotte World, so we headed over there for the evening. But before I left Everland I got on Eagle Fortress again and it ran even better than it did that morning, some evening/night rides on this thing would be awesome. We got back to Lotte World on late afternoon, and the first thing everyone did was to get in line for Atlantis Adventure, it was a 1 hour queue and it were far out from the entrance of the ride. When we got to the entrance we noticed that the whole queue area was empty, and that they only let a group of people in from time to time, strange. Some of our group were told not to ride since they were to tall, this means that it's a pretty badly designed ride. Well on the ride we understood why they had this limit, it's impossible to ride with the hands fully in the air without hitting anything, they better do something about this A.S.A.P. The ride itself was really cool but a bit to fast to be able to see all theming inside the building, and it actually have a lot of track inside. The ride start with a launch into a Kanonen sized Top-hat and then do a helix, and a few drops before coming down to the turn by the water and then up the lift, and then some more helixy bits and drops before the finish. Good, one of a kind ride, but have some serious issues. Pictures: First stop of the day And then we headed to look at what had been erected of this Sweet I want to come back when this thing is done Then we did this thing (it had some funky trains) And loops From Eagle Fortress From the bottom of the park Ferris Wheel (closed, muahaha) Artsy shot of a fountain Eagle Fortress queue This thing is really hard to take pictures off Swinging It's probably the best suspended ever And we got the Korean Schoolgirl credit as well Now back to Lotte World And OMG it's running Wiiiii It's really fast up the lift And pretty fast down the drop Airtime ahead 2 cars in at the same time (this was a hard shot to get, but something to pass time with) After an hour we were greeted by this dude Yay, entrance Station They had the Pendulum ride going Mmm, Gyrodrop AA, by night More Revolution Skating rink and mall under the park They dimmed the lights on the indoor section on the evening One of the many bridges in Seoul

September 20:th Day 21, Vekomas, one freshly welded and one super smooth Coaster today = 7 Missed coasters = 1 Coasters in total = 102 First stop of the day was Woobang Towerland, which main feature was a big tower to jump off from. But most were there for the coasters. It was listed to have 4 but one had a train that felt a bit split and wasn't running. The other 3 took a while to start, some of which needed a bit of help with a welder first, but in the end every one got their credits. First one was the Magic Castle, which was some strange powered contraption with a spiral lift-hill. Next to open was the big coaster called Camelback, and if it had some more speed could be a fun airtime filled ride, but unfortunate it wasn't. The third coaster was Boomerang, a standard Vekoma one, which was the first I have ever seen with some Boomerang theming on it. They were welding on some extra metal parts on the ride before they started it. When they finally got it running we stood and watched it do some test runs and we noted that the car that attached to the lift up the second spike twitched peculiar when it attached. The ride was fine otherwise. While we were waiting for the Boomerang to open, some of us took a spin on the Dodgems close by, and these were the most violent ones ever made, I heard my neck crack several times, and cars were almost flying when they were hit with full force. Second park of the day was Kumdoriland, which had opened with the expo area that was sitting next to it. Both the expo and the park was pretty deserted and this was the first place we had to wait for a ride-op to come to the ride to operate for you. The place have 3 coasters, one enclosed that was really flying around it's track. One Vekoma Roller Skater that we broke for a while, since the ride wasn't made for a full train of foreigners and we overshot the station by a few cars. The signature ride of the place is the larges coaster in Korea known by at least 3 names (the most prominent one is Horror Express), a mighty Vekoma looper with a good looking helix in mid-drop. It's pretty different to other Vekoma looper because it's super smooth almost smoother then a bunch of B&M:s. After riding some of the rides in the park, I took a walk inside the expo area to look at all these cool structure before we left this place. The dinner today was Bibimbap. Pictures: Slight Disney vibes here as well If you need to know where we are Map Entrance Magic Castle Guess which coaster An empty and open station Coaster that feels a bit split Boomerang Looks a lot better then it is More boomerang Someone took the fast way down the tower Welding The expo at Kumdoriland Map of the whole area Cool Cool flags Entrance to the park Helix Airtime This thing is fun You even get some airtime of the MCBR Out of the station Ferris Wheel Loops Expo They was building a lot of stuff everywhere Sidewinder The transition into the first corkscrew felt and looked more like a heart-line roll More sidewinder action Upskirt on a loop The longest part of the ride is the incredibly slow lift Looks pretty cool from here Expo thingy Rockets are always cool Some abandoned Maglev train

September 19:th Day 20, An Arrow that screws you more then any other and TPR takeover of Korean TV Coaster today = 6 Coasters in total = 96 This day was a bit special for me. Today I was going to ride Fantasia Special, a coaster I have wanted to ride for many years. Ever since I saw a few tiny pictures of it 5-8 years ago on internet. This Coaster is one of the main reasons why I have wanted to go on the Korea add-on. We arrived to an empty Tongdo Fantasia the next morning and the rides didn't open with the park, so we headed over to Fantasia Special to see when it was going to open. It was scheduled to open almost an hour after the parks, so the triple corkscrew had to wait a bit. So we headed back to the more central part of the park and found that the Mini Special would open soon. To say the least, it was an odd little coaster. After that I headed back for Fantasia Special to wait it out. Well there we discovered that the queue was open and nothing stopped you from entering the station, which we did. The whole place looked abandoned and while checking the place out we found something that looked like some kind of overgrown mascot/figure outside the station. When the time got closer to opening the ride an operator suddenly showed up in the station, he ran the chain for a while and tested the brakes, and after that he started to let us board the train, without test running it before, creepy. We filled the train and headed to the test/first run of the day. And what a ride it was, totally awesome, just a single jolt by the loops, but the rest of it is butter smooth. Nothing like the other Arrows I had ridden to that day. Too bad that this ride is in a remote part of Korea, I would have loved to have it a lot closer to home. Many other rides in the park remained close while we were there, but we had a nice time there anyway with the ones that were open. During lunch we had a big WTF moment when they outside the burger joint started to play and preform a bunch of 80's hits. We have no idea what that was or why, but it made us tear up in laughter. Next up was Gyeongju World, which was boasting with a brand new B&M invert, they arranged for us to do some "filming" on the ride, but not only that they had contacted Korean media and we were met up with both people from the park and a complete film crew. These guys were to make a report about the crazy foreigners that travel all over the world to ride coasters, and it was cool to see the reporter ride the coasters with us. They followed around the park the whole time we were there. I hope that the opening of Phaethon was a new start for the park since it looked out of place surrounded by a bunch of carnival rides and tacky theming. Phaethon was good, but a bit slow at some points, a few more months to break in the ride would definitely help the ride. The 3 other coasters in the park wasn't anything special at all. Space Tour - An enclosed mouse kind of coaster with lights to "speed" up the ride, much like the WTF coasters of japan. Dragon 2 Loop Coaster - A small powered coaster found in almost every park in Korea. Space 2000 - a really bad coaster that painful even while standing still, and the ride wasn't any better, 5g lateral spike while entering the corkscrews, on of the most painful coaster I have ridden. And you can walk up to the ride to touch the rails, whats up with that. They had a cool drop tower that was a lot better then it sounded. And the Zamperla Discovery they had was a whole new experience, the ride was INSANE, the most extreme ride I have ever had on any of these pendulum rides. We soon figured out that it must have been the monkey that the ride op was carrying when he loaded us that had controlled the ride. Totally awesome!! This day we had a Korean Buffet, yes the all you can eat type (dessert included). Lots of Kimchi and different kinds of seafood. Pictures: Our hotel With surroundings Entrance to Tongdo Fantasia Here you can find a lot of plagiarized goods Almost like Disney Jurassic park escapee Ah, just theming for the dinosaur 4D theater Mini Special Lift-hill There it is, my holy grail WHAT, it doesn't open until 9:50!! The gates were open though Strange looking thing It was even open to get in under the platform A forest of trees and supports Are you screwed yet? Waterpark under construction Here we go... Wiiii A final look before we leave Hello Phaethon Mmm, tight helix First droppage More Helix The track is banked in every direction Giant detonator Beware of horse PHAETHONN!!!! Packs a nice punch Cool twisty section under the zero-g Phaethon from Rudolph Rudolph DIE!! Creepy Sphinx WTF!! Please don't step on me... Curvy Best ride EVAR!! From the wheel of death Hello Rudolph It even hurts from up here Not only is it a wheel of Hades, but also a pressure cooker How many parks can you do this at Arty Nice drop Good bye to you too

^ Well I'm a student and I managed to do this trip, and I'm planning trips for this year that might bankrupt me in the end. And doing trips with TPR is a great way to go around the world if you are insecure. [swedish] Bor i Lule för tillfället men flyttar nog ner till Göreborgstrackten till sommaren så vem vet, vi skulle nog kunna träffas på Liseberg om det vore så. [/swedish]

September 18:th Day 19, Too much aqua for Aquatrax? Coaster today = 3 Missed coasters = 1 Coasters in total = 90 We arrived late the day before and meat up with some trip participants and our guide at the airport. The schedule for the day was first a quick visit to Lotte World and then drive to the other end of Korea, to a Hotel near Tongdo Fantasia, which was the first park the next day. We arrived early to be able to beat most crowds, and we were the first to arrive to the entrance (not that anyone showed up). It was pouring rain so most of the rides on the outdoor parts were closed down, but that didn't hinder us to go and see if there was something running there at all, and what I find we did. In the inside part of the park there was a large Vekoma Looper called French Revolution, a pretty decent ride with a helix both before and after the loop. The first one was partly enclosed and the other circling a fountain, the second one makes this a cool ride to watch. Other things found inside was a Indy ripoff that was really cool, and featured a heavily themed queue area part Egyptian exhibit, part tomb, and the ride was top notch as well. There was also a "Ring of Fire" ride and a flume ride with boats that nearly sunk when we rode it... Even if most of the rides on the outdoor section was closed, meaning that Atlantis Aventure just stood there doing nothing, we managed to find the 3:rd coaster. The coaster Comet Express is situated underneath the outdoor section and is a really cool Intamin Spinner with heavy space theming. We found out that sitting alone in each pod gave the best possible spin, which meant spinning like crazy. We knew that Lotte World had this ride, but didn't know what to expect, we rode it a bunch of time while we were here. After a few hours at the park we jumped on the bus and started our drive down towards Tongdo Fantasia. Our guide had arranged a Korean barbecue for us to be able to try out some Korean food while in the country, and it was a mighty fine meal. They had plan it so that every night of the trip meant a new Korean dish. A few pictures from Lotte World: Entrance Indoor section With theming to give Disney a run for the money (and this is just a tiny part of everything) French Revolution station Fountain surrounding by track Looping Up there is parts of the Indy ride, and those balloons are a observation ride that went around the place The globe that was suspended over the ice rink below Outside in the rain it was quiet Train start moving Looks really fun, and the water is really close

September 17:th Day 18, Korea here we come Coaster today = 4 Missed coasters = 1 Coasters in total = 88 Today we had some time to kill before the flight for Korea, So what to do? Find some coasters of course. So some of us headed of to Toshimaen, a small park near Shinjuku, to do a short credit run. All but the shuttle loop was running, and the coolest of these coasters were the Old Togo coaster, Cyclone. The train on this one looks like big logs and had a "nice" velour cover on its seats. Maybe not the best when riding it on a hot day. After a quick spin on some rides including an old carousel with 3 rings going at different speeds, it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready to board the bus to Narita to catch the flight to Korea. Pictures: Cyclone + Flume Arrow corkscrew with a newer car design Here it comes The fastest log in history Some strange ride And the old carousel Which came complete with boobs

September 16:th Day 17, Final day of the trip Coaster today = 4 Missed coasters = 1 Coasters in total = 85 On the final day of the Japan trip, we had the opportunity to go back to LaQua before Sea Paradise and Cosmoworld. Of course I joined that morning, I had to return back to Akihabara as well to do some more shopping before we left Japan. So first up was LaQua by day. It's exactly the same as before, but not so dark anymore, and a lot less crowded. So we managed to get 2 more rides on Thunder Dolphin and ride some other rides the park had to offer. I left the park 45 minutes before the rest for a quick shopping spree in Akihabara where I meet up with the rest of them when they were going to the next park. Sea Paradise A small place with a cool Togo coaster with massive Helices and a kick ass Droptower. They also had a rapids where I got soaked on and the best Drunken Barrels ever. Surf Coaster also had a couple of airtime hills to accompany it's massive helices, and the ride was really good, really smooth and nice. The Tower was 351ft of pure bliss, and one side had an extra trick up its sleeve. Next up was Yokohama Cosmoworld, this little park is situated in the Yokohama bay with a bunch of towering buildings around it. The park is divided into two parts, one with the Giant Ferris Well and the Vanish coaster and the other part had some other cool rides along the docks. Vanish was a pretty mediocre coaster it self, but the setting made it awesome, and the drop into the water is a really cool feature, both on and off the ride. Pictures: Tokyo Dome could only mean one thing LaQua This photo is pretty good, since it blocks out most of the crappy ride, only leaving a Deathtrap and another kick ass Droptower Cable lift leading up to the best thing on the ride, the drop There it goes Poor guys the trick-track is next You know it I didn't see one of these in the shop Back to Akihabara Some Cosplayers handing out advertising for their Maidokissaten This thing could be seen for miles Wiiii a coaster It's getting closer Toilet bowl helix of death This thing goes far out to sea The train looks tiny up there Swoosh These things looks worse then they are Bye now Man this thing is tall Can't even fit it on one picture Fake drop Where are you if you pass the tallest building in Japan? And then see this thing? If you say this place, then you are right This is the home to Vanish First you see it Then it's Vanished You can almost see the train in this picture And then Splash The other half of the park This also have a insane Helix, but nowhere near Surf Coaster Tallest building in Japan This Place looks really cool

September 15:th Day 16, Fuji-Queue Coaster today = 7 Missed coasters = 3 Coasters in total = 82 This must have been the day that we stood most in line for less amount of rides. It all started on the bus from the hotel, there was huge lines on the motorway so the journey took an hour longer then anticipated. Well at the park we headed for Fujiyama which only had a 45 minutes wait. After that we went for Zola 7 which actually was walk-on. Since both Dodonpa and Eejanaika hadn't opened yet, we decided to go for the next coaster close by, the Mad Mouse. After we had waited in line for a while we saw that Dodonpa stared to cycle trains so we left the queue we were standing in and headed over there. Once in the line there was a 2+ hour wait until got on the ride, as soon as we got off we ran over to Eejanaika to get in another line which we spent the rest of the day in. So it was a bad day with really slow moving lines, but how was the rides. Fujiyama was cool, big drops, some powerful turns and some crazy contraptions in the end. The whole ride was smooth and really enjoyable. Zola 7 was one of those WTF rides that are only found in Japan. Dodonpa - even if many complained that it was rough, bad, etc. I didn't think so at all. One of the best rides I have ever ridden, the launch was the most incredible thing I ever experienced. Even if much of the ride is pretty uneventful the launch and the airtime and launch made up for this without a doubt. This have been my favorite ride ever. Eejanaika is the second 4D coaster ever created, was a really odd ride with a lot unexpected twists and turns. The whole experience was one of a kind and really cool, but I need some more rides on this one (without having to wait for almost 4 hours) to decide if I like it or not. Would I go back? I kind of liked the place, and would definitely head back there (but try and plan so I don't hit it during a national holiday) and I still have 3 coasters left to ride apart for re-rides on the big 3. But I would probably take the train next time. Pictures: (not so many due to that we stood in line for most of the day) There we have it Try and get a photo of the Dodonpa train when it exits Twisty Fujiyama while waiting for Mad Mouse Mad Mouse The silver train going for a ride I think they liked it, i did Eejanaika lift Full-Full First raven-turn Very disorientating Brakes Look, the sky Painted side on the station Nut buster 2000 14 inversions, yeah riiight Ignore this one, the loading is so slow due to the ride ops does everything for you Lift-hill You could see the seats shake while they were passing this point Muahaha, Dodonpa pawns the Ferris Wheel Wiiiii Don't look down Soon comes the brakes Eejanaika is really big Swoosh Can't wait until I can return

^ That would be so cool, and it could also protect the city from Godzilla.

September 14:th Day 15, Crusin' around Tokyo Coaster today = 0 Coasters in total = 78 While other decided on a 4:th day at Disney, 3:days were more then enough for me, and I spent the 4:th day sightseeing. My main missions today were Akihabara and also go to Tokyo Tower. Bring on the photos: Believe it or not, this is Tokyo Central Station, the car could easily block the view of it Around the station there is a lot of gigantic buildings More of them And the fun thing was that the whole place were almost completely empty Japanese Valuables transport Look the tower Over this old bridge Take a last look of civilization as we know it Pretty You could almost think that you had traveled back in time if it weren't for the cars Somewhere inside this moat lives the Emperor More mote Not the Palace Entrance, but it was closed This things goes on forever In the other direction as well Wake up sleepyhead Looks nice Cool this castle comes fully equipped with a large battlefield Some kind of gate This sign probably explain what it is Started to head back to the station The hopefully these trees would give me some shade, since it was really hot that day It's hard to believe that this picture is taken in the center of a city with 20 million inhabitants Old meets New Don't bathe in the moat, especially not naked Run it's the Police More tall buildings Next stop was this sorry looking station Cool Anime store Streets of Akihabara, and yeah all these stores sell electronics But this is the mother of all Take the largest electronics store you know of and quadruple it, and you still wouldn't be near the size of this one Headed over towards Shinjuku and passed this place More tall buildings In the store up front I bought my 60000+ watch, it felt strange to give that amount of cash for a simple watch Later that day I went to find Tokyo Tower Pretty easy to find, just head for that pointy thingy Through the trees From the tower you could see a lot of Tokyo: Cool intersection You can see the Ferris wheel at Joypolis I think that our hotel is in that direction somewhere This place is Huge It goes on forever Wait, what is that blue thing in the middle With super zoom on, it's Thunder Dolphin, stop sucking so much Outside there was this cool tour bus A last shot of this beautiful thing

September 11-13 Day 12-14, Disney and SEGA Coaster today = 6 Missed coasters = 1 Coasters in total = 78 These days had been designated the Disney days, and one evening we went over to SEGA Joypolis to ride the credit there. To first sum up Joypolis, before we continue with Disney. Joypolis was pretty cool, but Spin Bullet (their coaster) sucked, one of the worst coasters ever made, and I don't have any pictures of it, but that isn't really a loss. Now back to Disney, I won't write that much about the place, because it's just too much and the best thing is to go there yourself and experience it first hand. I didn't take too many pictures either, but most of the ones I got are cool night photos. Bill, Mike and me went all over these places and rode pretty much everything, and the whole experience was just awesome, thanks for your company. And to compare them to each other, I would say that I liked DisneySea a lot more then DisneyLand, could be that I don't really like Disney and DisneySea was less children orientated. But both places are really well made and the quality is topnotch. Now onto pictures: It's pretty obvious where we are going, right... Monorail Entrance They had a cool globe outside Space Mountain Mount Prometheus The tower They had a big boat in the park DisneySea Mediterranean Harbor: View towards ToT ToT Mysterious Island Nice airtime here on Journey Big Thunder Mountain Now onto Night mode The Castle Space Mountain Entrance to Toon Town Carousel Haunted Mansion Halloween BTM More Halloween stuff Splash mountain World Bazaar Same as above Castle by night Disneyland entrance Mount Prometheus FIRE!! Captain Nemo's Sub Mysterious Island Port Discovery Aquatopia Cool longtime exposure Cool water effects Heading over towards ToT Big Boat Teh Towahh Mediterranean Harbor Mermaid Lagoon with Togo coaster in front Too bad no Mermaids were present Heading towards Indy Cool Raging Spirits was closed Entrance to Arabian Coast Another Carousel Overview And yeah, these are our Fan-girls we acquired during our first day.

^^ ^ Thanks to both of you.

September 10:th Day 11, Quest for the Indiana Jones rip-off and Togo flat ride of death take 2. Coaster today = 7 Coasters in total = 73 Today was another transfer day which meant, meet early checked out and with bags ready to load onto the truck. We had 2 stops that day on our way to the hotel at Shinagawa in Tokyo. The first one was Lagunasia. Lagunasia is a small park with both dry and wet rides. It's a pretty new park and is a new breed of Japanese parks. it's nicely themed and the quality of the stuff is really high. But they still had some crackpot kind of rides like the older parks have. We were told that they have an Indiana Jones style ride in there somewhere so we set out to find it. Our first ride we went on was Aqua Wind, which is one of those cool Gerstlauer rides, it's pure bliss, really great fun all the way. Next up was the Flume ride which was the wettest we encountered in Japan and it featured a lot cool special effects and turntables etc. After that we found Pirates' Blast, a themed coaster/dark ride with cool effects and a short outdoor coaster section, it was a bit rough but fun anyway. Then we found a coaster with lot of helices and had Killer Whale themed cars, cool, smooth ride as well. We headed back for the entrance area and found some shooting dark rides, and a 4d theater. But still no Indy ride. So we headed back for some re-rides and in the end stumbled upon the most screwed up ride ever, Magic Powder. It begins with a crazy walk through section, and then you enter a small round car, that travels around and show you scenes about this magic powder, too bad that they didn't have any to sell at the shop. On the way to the next park we learned that the Indy ride had been removed and become Pirates' Blast. Next up on the schedule was Hamanako Pal Pal, and this place are all about the Togo Death machines. First you have Mega Coaster which both have the Twist and Dive from Manhattan Express and the Inline twist from Viper, the whole thing was really smooth and great fun. The other thing was the Togo flat ride of Death which we found at Expoland. Then there was some other small coasters, another 4d cinema with some wacky video about death, a shooting dark ride and some large flume. But in the end we had some extra time so we rode as much random stuff as possible. Pictures: You guessed it, these guys have one too Map of Lagunasia Overview Entrance to Aqua Wind The coaster Cool flume ride Pirates' Blast Stellar Coaster Wave pool action Hamanako Pal Pal Bat Flyer Giant Flume ride thingy Strange Wild Mouse Mini Coaster OMG 4g's!!!! It was more like 3.5 The actual coaster Drop Drop ends here Turn Twist Oh noes here comes the dive Hyper Speed Wiiiiiii Weak Helix POWER Now to the other ride: Doesn't look to bad Just a tad faster Still rotating at the same speed as above Wonder if someone got a 360 ' Train from Tokyo on it's way to Osaka at Shinkansen speed I think that the park knew that we were coming somehow

September 9:th Day 10, OMG, that sucker is HUGE!! Coaster today = 10 Extra Coasters = 3 Missed Coasters = 1 Coasters in total = 66 Today was a big day for many of us, not only was Steel Dragon 2000 opened, but look at it it's GIGANTIC!! So we made our way to Nagashima Spaland by train and (for our second time) Taxis! And we arrived a bit before the park opens, but instead of waiting until the park opened we got let in to do some "filming" on White Cyclone. This woodie turned out to be the second best of the one I rode during the trip. Just a bit shaky but no where near as bad as Jupiter or White Canyon. Not much air but still an enjoyable ride. This one must also be one of the most beautiful wooden coasters I have ever seen. We were also going to get a head start of everyone else on Steel Dragon, but they were unable to open it before the park, so they let us all take a spin in the Ferris Wheel (they should all be banned from this planet). I tried to keep myself together and used it as an opportunity to take pictures of the park. At 9:30 the park opened and they let us board SD. they treated us to 3 rides before they opened the ride to the public. I got my first ride in the back, second in the front and third in the back again. A fun thing with this was that when we first ascended the lift, there were some people that was starting to form a queue in front of the entrance and they waved energetic to us, and we waved back to them. By the second go the queue had increased even more and the people in the front were a lot less energetic this time, while the people in the back didn't really know what was going on so they waved really energetic. By the 3:rd go we got a lot of irritating looks from the crowd below. About the rides: Children coaster - A standard Zierer medium sized kiddy coaster, but made a really bad screeching noise when going around the track. Corkscrew - A standard Arrow Loop Screw, same ride, same pain. Jet Coaster - Some odd Togo contraption, as thrilling as the Children coaster. Looping Star - Hadn't been on one of these for ages, good ride but is left behind by it's larger cousins. Shuttle Loop - My first "normal" Schwarzkopf shuttle loop, still prefer Bullet though. Ultra Twister - Rougher then the one at Mitsui but fun non the less. Wild Mouse - Only got the left one of these, wasn't crowded enough to run both sides. Got on the Bob carts, these things are great fun, like an flat alpine slide with an engine on the back, even got some airtime on the hills it have. A cool thing was that the ride op at the entrance said that i should leave my bag in the lockers at the exit while I rode it, when I returned back i noticed that he had shut the queue so i could return to my place, that's service. Got on some other random rides before we left. After Nagshima Spaland we went to Nagoya Higashiyama Zoo, which is a small Zoo/Park, but also had a little area with amusement rides. This small park have 3 coasters. Slope Shooter, a slope car kind of thing, not really a coaster, it was fun anyway. Jet Coaster is a Meisho coaster with incredibly tight trains. And the last one is a powered coaster called: Bear Coaster. When we got back to the hotel me and Tom headed out to some cool looking mall and saw the Nagoya tower. Pictures: Even if we were 5 miles away it was pretty obvious where we were going From the Taxi window, getting closer... So long suckers We're first If you don't know the time just look at that big thing Man this coaster is beautiful Pretty Don't stand up!! Cloned Mouse Random Rides The worlds most Giant coaster Shuttle Loop Looping Star Corcscrew and Ultra Twister Jet Coaster Giant Swinging Ships, we found out that the smaller the ship is the better Water park Yay, here we go It goes on forever Mmm, the yellow train Loop-di-loooop Wonder what would happen if you run this at super speed... The Wild mouses hiding behind a tree Entrance to the Bob carts Did I say that this thing is HUGE!! Look at that small train Wiiiiiii The Freefall 2 girls that were waving at me both while waiting for the ride and while I took this photo Children Coaster that sounds hideous Didn't I telly you, this thing is really beautiful Train to the Zoo Credit or not, you decide On our way to the mall Damn you Ferris Wheel, leave me alone How cool is that.. Underground mall, cool There was a tower next door And blue glowing dinosaurs in the mall The roof over the mall was covered with water which made cool reflections Overview photo of the area Hmm, did I forget something.... Yeah, how was Steal Dragon? Well, by the size of it you would say forceful, fast and extreme. But you would be very wrong. The ride is very gentle, you couldn't really feel the speed, the airtime was soft, there wasn't all that much force in the bottoms of the hills and the ride was super smooth. The ride was fun, relaxing and almost serene. An awesome coaster by my book, I would love to go back.

^ Thanks. Can't wait to see your PTR.

^ I actually like the quirkiness of the Japanese parks, they are all so strange with lots of different and cheesy rides. Of all parks I visited in Japan, Mitsui Greenland and Lagunasia was the parks I really liked best. Well, it's just a few updates of Japan left. So I'll probably start with Korea tomorrow.

September 8:th Day 9, Spain trip Coaster today = 3 Coasters in total = 54 We were picked up by bus today since today was the day we were going to Parque Espana-Shima Spain Village. After a few hours on the road we finally arrived at the park. This was another of the parks we was going to do some filming in. So we got escorted over to Pyrenees for a couple of rides. And what a ride it was, pure awesomeness from the top of the lift to the break run, fast and powerful. Next on the menu was the Mack mine train, Gran Montserrat, and this was a really wonderful surprise, fast, smooth and packed a punch with all it's tight helices. Bullfight Roller Coaster Matador was another WTF ride, when you got off, it almost felt that you have gone match together with a bull. Other rides at the park included a Flume ride underneath Gran Montserrat which was kind of nice, the park had an Ice house for you to cool down in, some Peter Pan kind of ride, some pirate themed water ride and some totally screwed up dark rides. But I didn't bother much with them with the giant B&M standing right next to them. We took a quick walk around in the art/history museum, mainly to cool off. And I shouldn't forget the escalator ride with its cheesy music and light show. But this park is really only about Pyrenees. After we got back I set out on a mission to go and take photos of Nagoya Castle. Pictures: Yep we are still in Nagoya Stop trying to hide like that In the queue area just before we get on the ride Crazy mine train Really nice forceful drop There is some strange rides down there Gran Montserrat Must be a 500ft Intamin Rocket going there... Now let the drooling commence: What, we are leaving already No please don't leave NOOOOOOOOOOooooooooo..........!!!!!! It's dark but warm outside Cool pictures in night mode There it is, needs to get closer Closest I could get Kinda cool photo

September 7:th Day 8, J-pop and Ice cream Coaster today = 2 Extra Coasters = 6 Coasters in total = 51 After a crazy trip the night before we headed back to Osaka to go to Universal Studios Japan, This was my first ever visit to an "American" theme park. R&E had set us up with some extra Fast Track tickets that were actually allowed so that we could get everything without any hassle. The first thing we did was to head over to Hollywood Dream for a spin. We went on the train after a short wait, selected our music (J-pop of course (track 4)) and off we went. It ran great even if this was early in the day and the music was awesome and fitted the ride perfectly. I also fell in love with these seats, wonder If B&M could sell me one so I can have it as a chair, would be nice wit built in speakers. Then we went around the park stopping at every ride that anyone of us wanted to ride. We started with the other coaster in the park, Snoopy's Great Race, this coaster "broke down" while we were waiting because a candy wrapper got stuck in the netting below the ride, but some guy with a ladder came tunning and removed it so they could restart it. Next we did Jaws, Jurassic Park, Spiderman (twice) and ET before we headed back towards the entrance, with a quick stop by Hollywood dream of course, this time we asked for front row, and they just took us to the side and loaded us in the front on the next train. This time I went for even more J-pop (track 5) and this wasn't as good as the other one, but the ride in the front was awesome. We were done with the park around 2pm thanks to the Fast Track tickets we had, but this was perfect since a few of us were going to go to Expoland as a bonus trip, since it had 6 credits to draw us there, and we couldn't resist. In the beginning 2/3:rds of the total group were going to go on this bonus trip, but we ended up with a group of 5 instead. This meant that we on our own would have too tackle the transit system of Osaka on our own, but it was dead easy with the guiding we got from Elissa before we left. The first thing we did was going on Orochi, the Japanese version of Raptor. There is a big difference between these, Orochi doesn't have any breaks at all on its MCBR which means that the train just flew through the second half of the track. Next we went on a simple Arrow LoopScrew called Space Salamander and it wasn't to bad but then again, there is a lot coaster I think that are better then these. Then we headed over to Daidarasaurus, which in the end is a cheap trick to create the longest coaster in the world. And yeah the ride was long, almost 7 minutes. The coaster made some cool metal sounding noise as it went around the circuit, this noise were heard all over the park. Next we went up in the Ferris wheel (yeah I know, it would happen sooner or later) to try and locate the 2 of the last 3 coasters and also take some pictures. Got some Ice cream on the way to the last coasters, this must have been the best tasting ice cream of the trip. After riding those coasters we headed towards the entrance to see if the mouse had opened, which it had so we went for a ride on it. These 3 are either small or standard ones found at lots of places, so nothing special. Some of us decided to get some more Ice cream before we left but on the way there we saw something that caught our interest. It looked like a Enterprise with side by side seating, and it had OSTR's. What was this thing? We just had to get on it, so we rode it and it was one of the best flats ever created. It's a mix of a Paratrooper and an Enterprise with lockable swinging of the seats. (Sorry I don't have any pictures of it from Expoland.) We have later figured out that it's and Togo ride called Wild Storm. After e few spins on that one we went for the ice cream, and the guy running the place asked if we wanted it "Big", we said sure and we ended up with an ice cream that was more then double the size they normally sell. This was the last thing we did before headed back to Nagoya, and later in the evening I headed out to the other side of the station to take a look in the electronics store they had there. Pictures: On our way to the station Guess where we are Here is a clue This place look really yummy with a sweet looking B&M looming over the entrance Test run Inside the park Buy stuff here Snoopy coaster Looks great from this angle too Close up Almost looks like we are in America Airtime Just had to do it Osaka Monorail to Expoland When you see the angry statue, it's time to get off Why is everything white Of course they have to have a Ferris Wheel At least one coaster is running, and I liked the way they have increased the height of the lift Once the longest coaster in the world There is another one Zero g's Strange ride that was parked in that place when we were there I guess all are at USJ Some random shot over Expoland Same shot but on an angle, only picture from Expoland where you can see the Togo Flat Ride of death (lower right) Screeech Looks like it could have some airtime, NOT!! Space Salamander Badly stitched photo where Fujin-Raijin II is visible in the background They have a water park as well, but it was empty Cobra goodness Lock no MCBR breaks Wiii Train back to Nagoya Biiku-kamera Rush hour Cool thing outside the station Some random building And we finish at the same place we started today.

^ Actually it's a Vekoma, and thanks.

September 6:th Day 7, Typhoon day Coaster today = 10 Missed coasters = 3 Coasters in total = 43 This was an early day, we had to be down in the lobby packed and ready to go by 5 am since that's the time the company would come to pick up our bars and transport them to our next hotel in Nagoya. On our way there we were going to make some stops at 3 parks along the way. First stop was Himeji Central Park where R&E had arranged some more "filming" for us. First up was their newly installed Togo looper, Hurricane, which was like the other Togos on the trip really good, except for a 3.5g lateral jolt in the corkscrews. After a few rides on that, we headed up to the other coaster that we were going to do some "filming" on, Diavlo. Diavlo is a bog standard BMTR clone, which meant a lot of high forces and tight fast elements. It was really strange to see one standing around in a small park in the middle of nowhere. The park also had 3 other coasters, one Wacky Worm, a big coaster that didn't really do anything with the imaginative name Jet Coaster and a small Wild Mouse kind of thing that was actually pretty cool. Except for the coasters they also had some walkthroughs, one where a live version of Counterstrike where you ran around with shotguns shooting terrorists and aliens, one mirror/maze kind of thing and the last one was the "Telling Witchhouse" which was some kind of thing to compare if you and your "date" was a match where you ran around with a glowing skull. And they had a Intamin 1:gen Freefall which was something I had looked forward to for a long time, and it was really cool, and I would really want one. We were supposed to go to Tegarayama Yuen to ride the 3 coasters in this small park, but since it was raining (not) they had closed down all coaster, they didn't say anything about it when we entered the park though, so this was just a big waste of time. Maybe they have closed the rides because there was an Typhoon heading to the area and it would rain later... we don't know. To get to the next park we had to take the train back towards Hakata for a few stations, and the park that awaited us was Kurashiki Tivoli Park. It's really beautiful themed and landscaped place which is modeled after Tivoli In Copenhagen so I felt right at home here. This was also the park where Kidtums got her first credit!! The park had 2 coasters in total, Odin Express is a long twisty coaster that is surrounded by a fake mountain, it's kinda cool but many lifts and MCBR's slows down the ride to much to be anything thrilling, and the other one is the Tivoli railroad, which almost makes the Train at Harmonyland to feel like a thrill ride. We did some other random rides including, a non wet Flume with pitch black tunnels, Wave Swinger, Himalaya ride, some Dessert themed ride, and a cool Viking themed walkthrough. After leaving Kurashiki we almost got stuck at Osaka due to that the Typhoon had grown to full force over the area, and trains were starting to get canceled, but since R&E have experienced this last time they were there, they know what to do. They jammed us all into the first train that looked like it was going to go to Nagoya, and in the end we made it. That was the last train to make it to Nagoya before they shut the line. And since Tegarayama Yuen was closed we got to Osaka earlier then planned, so we were really lucky that day. Pictures: Waiting for the bus to Himeji Central Park Could this be the one? I guess the driver drives better then he writes Jet coaster in front of the entrance Iriguchi These things seems to follow me everywhere. It's a conspiracy I tell you!! Hurricane Mmm, loopy Hopefully they will fix that jolt in the screws Imorinth (Wacky Worm) Screwed up Mousy kind of coaster The main reason why we are here Nice... Tom does what he does best. How many places do you know where you can have a B&M to yourself Cool shooting dark ride Yay, Freefall Tegarayama Yuen A bunch of closed rides: The water park was open though Kurashiki We were greeted by this Danish Royal Life Guard Entrance Themed Flume ride (why is there always people in the way on my pictures) Dessert ride Just like in Copenhagen: Beautiful Kidtums first credit Cool a SEGA arcade Once we arrived in Nagoya, we arrived at this really cool hotel with a giant room

September 5:th Day 6, Gao, Gao Stegosaurus Coaster today = 11 Coasters in total = 36 This were to be our last day on Kyūshū, and this day we headed for one of the biggest parks in Japan, Mitsui Greenland. From the trainstation in the area we had to take Taxis, which was a pleasant experience. Well at the park we had to wait a little untill it opened. This is a place filled with Togos, Vekomas and other strange contraptions. Another interesting thing was the park was completely deserted, the only time we saw other people were when we went to the McDonald's inside the park, and probably every visitor in the park were there. Your wristband have a barcode on it which the ride/game operators scanned each time you went on their ride/game, each of them had some kind of lure to get you to ride/play their attraction/game many times, wonder if the park had some kind of bonus system going. Rides: LadyBird, a small powered coaster which we managed to stall. 8) Grampus Jet, my first Vekoma swinging turns ride, pretty fun, but there are a lot better rides then this. Gao, maybe the signature ride of the park, since it has a giant Stegosaurus for support on one of the hills. It's a long ride with pretty violent bashing in the turns and those standard tire-brakes found on other Meisho coasters. Atomic, a strange shuttle loop that starts with going backwards through the loop. A lot of forces and a smooth good ride overall. Spin Mouse, standard Reverchon job. Sphinx, is a small strange coaster along a hillside of the park, not much more thrilling then a small kiddy coaster, but a good way to cool down on a hot day. Black Hole, a brand new Zamperla power coaster, with a cheesy space theme. Nio, a standard SLC with the normal head bashing included. The theming and color of this thing is pretty cool, but the ride isn't. The park have 2 chairlifts operating without any safety devices, these ones feels a bit scary at first but they are a nice way to get around in the park. The rapids ride was weak, you barely get damp on it. The splashdown were a lot better, the ride-ops thought that we were stupid not to wear a poncho on the ride, but we explained to them that we were hot, and they let us go, I don't think that I was dry until I got back to the hotel really. There was multiple scary walkthroughs, a moving simulation ride, an alpine slide, go carts, a bunch of other random rides and of course an Icehouse. Two things that gets a special mentioning are the 2 Togo rides in the park. Megaton which is one of the last Ultra twister to be built, and it was super smooth and a really fun ride, great airtime and cool inline twists. Milky Way were known as Fujin-Raijin before the accident with the ride at Expoland crashed. It's a racing coaster with one sit down and one stand up side. Both sides are super smooth with tight helices and god airtime filled hills. But front row on the stand up side is something special, it has the best airtime I have ever experienced. The stand up side is enough for me to sometime return to this place, it's pure awesomeness. Pictures: Taxi to the park And the first thing we saw was an SLC Entrance Mega Man stood guard inside Crappy Power Coaster that isn't powerful enough to take a full train load of Gaijins Look a flying whale Twisty [insert killer whale sound here] Stegosauri says: "GAO!!" Look someone managed to fit in the train Lift-hill shot GAO!! Lets take the chairlift of death to Atomic There is something lurking behind the trees Much better The train is going Spin Mouse Black Hole Nio looks really cool Golden guy says: "Ride Nio and your life will never be the same again.", we ignored him and rode anyway We went up the mountain to ride the alpine slide, and some guy said that we had to go up in that tower to get of the chairlift Before the guy let us ride the alpine slide he said: "You must ride that thing over there first" Some random theming WTF!! Top of the hill from inside McDonald's Best name ever Did I say that this park was empty? Ice house Artsy shot of another Death trap And there we have Megaton OMG!! ALMOST 90 DEGREES Twisty If you ride Megaton 10 times in one day you get to write on one of these sticks and put it inside the station (it was full of them), if you ride 15 or more times they take your pictures, and if you ride it insanely many times you get on the wall of fame, some guy had way over 200 rides in one day. 5 of us who rode it 10+ times And now for "Best Ride Ever!!" <3 <3 (I have to go back and take more pictures of it)

^^ Muahaha don't walk in front of me when I take pictures. Thanks and same to you, I'll probably be seeing you somewhere in Europe next year.Too bad that I don't really have any good pictures of it.

September 4:th Day 5, Gling, creepy place and worst coaster ever. Coaster today = 8 Coasters in total = 25 After the standard breakfast at Hakata, we were on our way on our 5:th day on this adventure, today we were going to 3 parks and to do this easily R&E have arranged for a bus to drive us around. On the train that morning was an interesting journey, where we looked like fools when everyone just started to rotate every seat in the car and this was also the day of the Chuck incident. First of the 3 parks is Harmonyland, by us named Hello Kitty World. A hole park themed around the Sanrio characters in Hello Kitty, the park would be suitable for an age around 6-10 bu we managed to have a lot of fun anyway. The parks have 2 coasters. Rhythmical Coaster is a giant version of a Vekoma Roller Skater. Hello Kitty Angel coaster is a small power coaster themed to our favorite character. Other stuff included a Hello Kitty themed version of "It's a small world", a railway that almost could be counted as a credit, some random carousels and other things only found in japan. Next park was Wonder Rakutenchi a weird small park up in the mountains, a small cable railway went up to the park, and the coaster was one of those that failed the big inspections earlier that year. Most of that place looked close but there were some rideops running around to help us get a ride here and there. The coaster was named "Jet Coaster" like many of the other coasters in the country, it featured on of the slowest lift I have ever been on, and the rest of the layout were simple with some nice drops. Not the most thrilling ride but it was pretty smooth and had a nice view. In the lower part of the park there was a canyon with some gas powered cars that were driving around a narrow twisty road by them self, scary to put that much trust in a machine. Last park for the day were Kijima, where they have one of the Intamin woodies that we were going to ride and a lot of other crazy contraptions. First we headed of towards our ride on Jupiter since we were going to film on it. And after getting of most of us agreed that it was one of the worst coaster ever created and it should burn in hell. They had even closed the back part of the train because of the roughness. A little surprise were Super LS Coaster, it looks like it could be a Meisho death trap but this was actually the best coaster in the park. Super smooth and great fun. Dragon and Roller Skater were standard Power Coaster respectively Roller Skater so not much news there. The last coaster of the park was Gold Rush, not only looks like a death machine with tiny cars which you could barely fit, it really was. Even if you like crazy ejector airtime which this coaster have loads of, but by being pinned down in these tiny cars meant that every time you got some air would mean that it would feel that you were going to break your legs, this belongs next to Jupiter. Except for the coasters in the park there was some nice flat rides, "standard" go carts, covered splashdown, Intamin drop tower and Zorbs. Zorbs must be one of the coolest thing ever created. They strap you into a giant hamster ball end then roll you down a hill. This is the most fun I have had in ages, I was constantly laughing on the way down. When talking about the poor ride on Jupiter with Robb during dinner, he didn't think that it was too bad in the front, so I went to find out for myself. During dinner there was a short drizzle so they had closed the ride, but I had nothing to do until the bus left so I decided to wait and see if they were going to reopen it. After a while when it have started to dry up they sent out an mechanic to walk up the lift to see if it was alright to open the ride again. It took the guy 20 minutes to walk the whole pre-lift section and up the lift-hill and then another 10 minutes before they decided to open the ride again. So I and some Japanese guys that where waiting around got on the ride again and by the time we left the station it started to drizzle again, so when we returned they closed it again. The ride in the front was slightly better but Jupiter should still burn in hell. Pictures: Train on where the Chuck incident happen The bus had some nice Gling Gling in the roof It had a good AC as well Themed trashcans Oooo, its Samaakaanibaru Hello Kitty themed death trap Angel Coaster This thing is fast Half credit, half train Hello Kitty boat ride Entrance area They were like KAWAII!!, and I was like KAWAIII!! Entrance to Wonder Rakutenchi The ride up to the park Map of the place Slow motion Jet coaster through the trees Cool suspended bridge OMG!! Jet Coaster from the bridge through the trees This must be the worst thing I have ever seen!! Car ride station Car ride of death Some Torii if you go up the Torii gates you find this Entrance to Kijima is that way Entrance You are going to wet yourself because Jupiter is so good (we later found out that this wasn't the case) Jupiter You looks so good By the time we got to the helix (left if the skycoaster) we were all screaming, GET US OFF THIS THING!! Super LS coaster doing it's thing Dragon You actually get some nice air of the lift in back row from this thing The horror Even if this track is a part of the theming the, the ride experience wouldn't change much if it was included in the circuit Zorbs are cool 100% splash, 0% wetness The mechanic on the lift-hill

^^ Thank you!! ^ Probably not, since it's made for children. The people from the park that were with us first tried to explain to us that it was for children and later were tying not to laugh at us. Next update would be last for today, more tomorrow.

September 3:rd Day 4, Space and the most insane go-carts ever. Coaster today = 7 Coasters in total = 17 Started our day with a quick stop at "Mr Donut" at Hakata station (as we did every day in Hakata) and headed towards north-east to Space World. The whole park and all the rides have some kind of Space theme, which makes this an awesome place. Another fun thing about the park is that every coaster have some kind crazy thing going on (more of this later). But we got there early for some "filming" and arrived before the park opened and the management were really happy to see us and guided us around between the coasters we were going to film on. First up was Venus GP. This is one of the best coasters I have ever been on, fast, smooth, forceful helices and makes one of the coolest sound ever. The ride goes around a cool replica of a Space Shuttle, and this is the feature that most people know about this coaster. Before the ride starts the rideop have some kind of game where he screams "Ve!!" and you have to reply "Nus" a couple of times, and then there is some kind of meter that reacts to how loud you scream, and the meaning of all this is beyond us. Then we headed for Zaturn, the non Thorpe version of Stealth. A little better then the version at Thorpe, but still managed me to get an headache down the top-hat. (Can't remember what they did in this station). Titan V is the better of the Arrow hypers I have been on (Ok so I have only done PMBO before), it have some nice airtime and the twisty section after the MCBR is crazy, during one ride it almost felt that I was falling out of the car in the bottom of that part. (On this you also had to do some screaming before they let you go.) Then we had Black Hole Scramble, Clipper and Boogie-Woogie Space Coaster left. Black Hole was a cool indoor coaster with nice light effects and sudden pops of air. Clipper is a small Togo coaster with Shuttle themed cars. And the Boggie-Woggie is the strangest of them all, half the train is backwards, and then you are going through a tetrahedron which is "space", and everytime any of the rideops saw you on the ride they were wiggling their hands in the air (with thumb, pinky pointing outwrds) screaming "boggie-woggie" and all you would do is do the same back. Totally Crazy. Next park this day was Uminonakamichi Seaside Park. It's a huge recreational area with a small park with playground. The coaster isn't really anything to write about, but the playground are had some cool obstacle course, roller slides and the most insane go carts ever. The carts the self were normal, but the track they ran on OMFG. Some of it were rough concrete, other parts were dirt, water, 5 inch washboard bumps, anything that isn't normal. This a thing you can't find anywhere else. Pictures: Our room at Hakata Miyako Hotel YAY Space World This is what you see when you exit the station Mmmm, smooth Not at Thorpe Entrance I hate you all Loop-di-looooooop Twisty Zaturn testing 0 minutes, nice Titan V station Looking tall Crazy flume ride with banked helix drop and airtime There is a coaster in here somewhere Clipper Boggie Woggie Since when can you feel the Space? Maybe the Japanese scientists have found something Nice area The floor outside one of the scary space walk troughs, one of the few that had a room that scared many of us. Business end of a Space Shuttle <3 Twisty track Arrow twisty section of death is behind here somwhere Uminonakamichi Seaside Park Jet Coaster Obstacle course: The coaster from the top of the roller slides Best go carts ever Wroom He seems to like it anyway Ice house, nice place to chill out in the hot weather we had