SigENeaT

I saw a young kid playing it at the waterpark section of Tokyo Summerland also. Finished it and took 3rd place in the high scores o.O I stumbled across the original Raiden there as well. Mmmm.. Raiden....

Why did those first few pictures of Lagunasia remind me of Disney Sea? ;D

You guys are all raging about Fuji-Q purely because noone else claps when you are leaving and coming back to the station at other parks!

^^ Fair enough comments, Robb. I'll agree with them as well in hind sight. However when you compare the park (particularly the quality of rides and the lines) to what i have had experience with locally (i havent been to Europe or the USA) its a pretty tops park; would explain my low standards i guess. I also had a truly magical evening that night with my girly so i only have good memories! "Do - don - pahhhh" *Swigs a beer*

I'd love to have done the Haunted Hospital when i was there. We waited in the gift shop (exit of the attraction) for about 10mins checking out the toys and all these girls kept coming out crying... i'd love to see why =P Then again, a 50min walkthrough 'scary' ride would rock! Even if you do have to wait ~1:30hours in line. I dont understand fully why Fuji-Q gets such a bagging either. Its a solid park with plenty to do, just the lines get tedious! Was Expoland opened again? It was closed still in July; we had to divert to Hirakata instead ='( "Why are the lines at Fuji-Q so much longer than Parque Espana?"

^^^ Thank goodness they never fill up, hey? The queues at water parks in Japan i found similarly over the top in terms of length, however they actually filled up. I dont know what its like for those of you in other parts of the world, but in Aussieland there is no way i would wait longer than 10mins for a go down a water slide o.O Edit: Then again, the eye candy at water parks is good enough during the wait in Japan. =P

One of the things i LOVED about White Cyclone (aside from happily bypassing the incredibly long queue area which never gets used ) was how the coaster always keeps its speed. Other woodies in Japan started off very fast and slowed down over time, where as White Cyclone kept a consistent speed over the whole track as it slowly descended back to earth. A FANTASTIC design. Im jealous of the extra runs on Steel Dragon ;D Pics of the Nagashima Spa Land queues ;D White Cyclone: http://romulus.ath.cx/japan07/gallery3/target103.html Wild Mouse: http://romulus.ath.cx/japan07/gallery3/target112.html Steel Dragon 2k: http://romulus.ath.cx/japan07/gallery3/target116.html I'm sure once upon a time people were prepared to wait in these queues for a ride.

This link was just bought to my attention: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7012020.stm Basically, 56-acres of old missile base in Washington somewhere. It would make an ideal paint ball arena... or theme park! Here is an excerpt:

Looking good so far. =P I agree with the Steel Dragon comment.. you dont want to miss that one out! http://romulus.ath.cx/japan07/gallery3/target114.html mmm Although i think this one is significantly better.. http://romulus.ath.cx/japan07/gallery3/target176.html http://romulus.ath.cx/japan07/gallery3/target179.html And dont forget to get along to a lurve hotel; they have 80inch tvs with appropriately themed movies! http://romulus.ath.cx/japan07/gallery4/target318.html Hope y'all enjoy the rest of your trip. KEEP UP THE STREET DRINKING! 150yen for a can of Asahi cant go wrong

YAY! Haha we actually hit Steel Dragon about mid way through the trip which in hindsight turned out to be a mistake. The only other coasters we went on afterwards that didnt send us too sleep were Fujiyama, Eejanaika and of course, Pyrenees (my fav!). And we went on a fair few coasters after it. Dodonpa was a huge let down because it's line was triple that of Steel Dragon and all it did was go 20kph faster on a simpler track. *Yawn*

I'm with scooterdoug on this one. We arrived at Fuji-Q around the 12th of this month at 10am and were entertained until about 4pm. Beware though, if you intend to check out the (AWESOME) haunted hospital, it usually has a very lengthy wait and can take 40 to 60mins to complete. It's a walk through. If you are looking to trim off destinations from the park, Dodonpa isnt that fantastic and the wait doesnt justify the ride. If not for the long wait you will have to bear then for the damn 'music' ... "Doh - don - pahhh" constantly plays through speakers everywhere. Fujiyama (despite what i have read) is a pretty good ride and if you catch it mid morning or over lunch times the line moves quite quickly, enough to get a couple of rides before gawking at the pudding boobies in the shop afterwards... http://romulus.ath.cx/japan07/gallery4/target94.html

"The IT Guy" for the Argyle Diamonds mine in WA, employed by Rio Tinto. Also do plenty of other work throughout the state at other mine sites owned by Rio. I hate planes.

Silly me, here i was thinking you were going to be talking about the music from the GAME Theme Park. =P "Hey dad im really BORED..."

I got back from a month long trip in Japan last week. We got through most of the parks on the Honshu island and i was pretty impressed overall at the level of safety enforced by the rideops. Sometimes it was frustrating as it usually ended in a really short looking line taking a good 30mins to get through, but generally it was pretty good. Steel Dragon was tops! ;D

Not sure if this has been posted anywhere on the forums however this thread looks appropriate. I noticed whilst sipping my ice cold Coke on a Tokyo (Narita) -> Singapore (Changi) flight earlier today that Six Flags MM and Coke are doing some 2 for 1 deal. Looks like its for admission to the park. Offer valid until the end of the year. Might be of interest for some people.. See picture for more details as appeared on the can... http://img501.imageshack.us/my.php?image=p8181495xh9.jpg

Thunder Dolphin at LaQua in Tokyo was my last ride. It is an impressive looking beast but unfortunately after the first drop you fall asleep. Very smooth coaster though.

Parque Espana Best ride is of course Pyrenees, worst is that crazy Bullfighting coaster; ouch my neck. =(

Not sure if this counts, but ill put it up anyway =P Pirates of the Caribbean at Disney Land Tokyo reopened on July 20th this year after a refit with gear according to the movies. Has some pretty fancy stuff in it now.. Anyway, rode it yesterday. DIDNEY LAND

Fair enough =P I can only talk from experience and when trying to work out prices for a running and maintaining DeLorean in Australia it works out way too expensive for me ='( Back to the 1969 Mach 1 Mustang dream! (Unfortunately, not back to the future ='( )

Yep i do beleive parts stop being manufactured =P You try finding yourself new parts for a DeLorean! DMC went out of business many moons ago and yet people still need to service their time machines which will forever fall apart! (Beaut cars, just crap build quality! =P) Speaking from experience, in the mining industry there are always crazy machines whose manufacturers disappear from existance and noone knows how to create a repro part... so engineers will strip and rebuild them from existing parts, perhaps making modifications along the way. I would assume that in the instance of roller coasters whose manufacturers disappeared off the face of the earth, that they could be modified slightly or rebuilt using hybrid parts from other generic designs. It would also make sense that these days a lot of the designs are fairly universal/standard and parts are semi-interchangable. But again, dont quote me on that because im taking a stab in the dark =P

The missus an' I. I'm on left.

I get around in several different cars The is the only one i am comfortable mentioning though! Toyota Soarer Twin Turbo (Essentually the same car as a Lexus SC300 or SC400 seen in America, you cant get the TT model in USA though). Beause its a Jap import i have typically modified it =P 300rwhp takes me down the 1/4mile in 13.1sec - plus the inside is bulk luxo++ which makes long distance driving a pleasure rather than a chore. Apologies for the slight blurr - its a battle making a high res image smaller with only simple tools!

My heart is broken! ='( Why has nobody come to Australia? *cries* Australia (everyone else counts where they live! =P ) Bali China Indonesia Malaysia New Zealand Singapore (they count as their own country! ) Thailand Off to Japan in 15days Then hopefully somewhere in Europe or the USA next year. Plans in the next two years include trips back to China, New Zealand and perhaps Japan! Give me some time and ill get a list as long as Elissa! *Shakes fist*

I think after seeing Transformers (we got it earlier than you suckers in Australia.. SUCKERS! =P ) i will have to buy myself a HD-DVD and 106inch LCD screen. A high def projector would be just as good.

I dont mean to detract from anyone who doesnt have the need to spend money on consumable or materialistic goods like fancy electronic gadgets or nice clothes with what i am about to say; just offering an alternate view! =P Whilst i havent been around for as long as some people (im only 20 ) i do have a very high desire for shiny things like restored '69 Mach 1 Mustangs, or big tv screens. Basically i am a consumer whore. How i feed these desires is constantly look to find ways i can better my skills in my workplace which opens up avenues for me to progress financially. In the last 2years of work i have gone from quite a low wage in an entry level IT position to quite a comfortable salary in a demanding IT position on the Argyle Diamonds mine site, with several investments i brew in my spare time. The big driving factor for me to work on these various financial pursuits is that i want to be able to experience as much of life as possibly while im still young! You hear of stories all the time of those who have been around for a while and amassed a comfortable fortune to retire early (say mid 40's) and go on world trips to check out the sights, go skiing etc etc. Well i want to do it the opposite way around! So far its worked quite well. So to all those budding rollercoaster tourists who are thinking of how they can cut back spending in their daily lives to tour the world and all its glory, Mr Alvey's method of cutting back on things which he and his lovely missus dont require (big tv's, boats, fancy cars, etc) is a successful method to achieve what they do and many others have proven this, but dont think its the only way. I encourage you to make the most of what you want in life and think of different ways to get to that point! PEACE OUT Y'ALL!!