Nrthwnd

^^ Am glad to read that. The ride ops I spoke with earlier, will probably be glad to find that out, too. Rode Atmosfear earlier today - still running great.

Our wonderful, beautiful cat, Camille, is possibly going to be put down after this weekend. Somehow, she contracted something just a few days after I got back from the TPR Japan Tours, on Monday July 4th. We've been doing everything we possibly can for her, but if things don't improve for her after Sunday... These are the two pix I took of her the day after I got back home, Tuesday July 5th. Then, a few days later she got sick. I am so freeked (as is my partner David, who's in the one pic with Camille), I just want to break stuff, destroy something, yell out loud, be really angry and "take it out" on something, anything. Break glass. Destroy my car. Thrown something thru a window. Am hoping A Miracle happens on or by Monday. We love her so much. Camille and my David, enjoying the sunshine out back. Tuesday, July 5, 2011. Sweet, sweet Camille. On our back deck. Tuesday, July 5, 2011.

Our cat may be put down, after this weekend. I'm hoping for The Miracle, but it doesn't look good for her. I want to throw things, and destroy stuff right now.

^ Thanks EB! ^^ And yeah, Double Giant Viking Ships (not "Pirate" I was politely informed by ride ops, lol) side by side were quite the sight to see. Unfortunately, they never ran both of them at the same time. Only one was operating, every time I looked over that way. And yes, the Ultratwister was ridden. But honestly, the one (Megaton) at Mitsui Greenland I rode (IMhO) was a lot smoother, without so much sudden jerkiness at braking, etc. And yes, Shuttle Loop does rule, LOL! I have always enjoyed these, since my I rode my first one at (then called) Marriott's Great America in Santa Clara Calif, called The Tidal Wave. A simple designed (then) coaster, with one tall loop, forwards and then backwards thru it, and that great adrenalin rush from right out of the station, to back into it.

^ But which colour duck did Fran-Duck bet on??? ^^ And I thought the little fin coming out of Holger's head was fairly disturbing, myself.

Great, EB! I love it all! Very original - and a number of times I've noticed, you didn't even need/use photoshop to make the photo wild, wierd and wtf - Hello Kitty! Great TR!

Very cool TR stuff here, EB! Looking forward to more!

Feast of Ida - 54-40

Next up, two parks I had visited before on the 2007 tour, and looked forward to visiting again: Parque Espana and Nagashima Spaland, home of my trusty, faithful, (and red) Shoot The Chutes rain poncho! Once again, management allowed us to enter Parque Espana before the general public came in. THANKYOU! And we got some great rides on Pyrenees immediately. But after a few hours in the park, we got the feeling that it wasn't going to be that much of a "crowded day at the parque," lol. The Magical Musical Lit-Up Escalator Ride was still there, pulsating and having it's own little orgiastic world of colour! The Pirates outdoor-indoor boat ride was as cheesy as ever, but still a nice long ride in itself. The Don Quioxte "Flying Ship" (oh Peter!) ride was nice, if a bit too much on the black light paints. And the (what I called) Lights Ride was not as random as it used to be, having had it's (non) themeing changed to that of ...The Nutcracker! Yes, Christmas in June! Who knew? The whole themeing of "Spain" to this park is really great, from the neat 'shopping village' drifting down one slope/side fot he park, to the main buildings clustered around a large entrance plaza. And in the Japanese heat, this was actually a good park to visit on the tour. Definitely worth a re-visit. After after, we headed to Nagashima Spaland for an early ride (THANKYOU NS management!) on one of the most well-known coasters in the coaster world, Steel Dragon 2000. I liked it just as much this time, as the first times back in 07. And with the temp. not being as warm as it was before, a bit more enjoyable hitting the bunny hop tunnels, without feeling like you were thrown thru an instant sauna, heh heh. Still a great ride, IMhO. And the rest of the park as well, which included the wonderful air-conditioned Skywheel of theirs; the wooden coaster White Cyclone, which goes on and on and on and... yeah, well it's a long ride; Another Ultratwister, although I found this one a bit more jerky than the one at Mitsui Greenland; A good old-fashioned Schwarzkopf Shuttle Loop that still runs great and is called what else? Shuttle Loop!; The children's coaster that apparently had been oiled since our last visit, and not sounding like some animal being run over (again and again) in the brake run before the station; An Arrow corkscrew. In white and blue. ; And only one of the two wild mousies open - same side, the left one, right one still 'down for maintenance...since 2007' ; Sadly, two of the other coasters were down as well during our visit, the jet coaster and the looping star. But there were lots of flat rides to enjoy. A newly-located walk-thru Haunted House to explore (fun, but not too scary). A great paratrooper flat that not only tilted but lifted and spun horizontal to the ground. 2 giant swinging Viking (not Pirate!) ships, but (again) only one in operation for the day. A smaller pirate ship swing. And a swing-over-the-top Space Shuttle Loop swing! And frisbees and bob carts and minirails, oh my! And once again, I got add to my Nagashima Spaland Shoot-the-Chutes poncho collection (of one, LOL) and got the blue one this time, to go with my red one. Now, all I need is the yellow one, and my set is complete, woo hoo! Next visit. On to the photos! (after this is posted and I don't lose it, like my first posting.) And to add - {*A&W*} = Thankyou to William and Andy for the photo(s) and letting me use them in my report. Hugs, guys! Parque Espana with Don Quioxte, myself and the Matador Bull Fighter Coaster (it's trippy) in back. JC, Bob, Mike and Rosie on the little train that travels around the upper part of the parque. And this is the way they do train crossing gates at Parque Espana. It all unfolded like a Japanese fan... or a rainbow! Very cool to watch open and then close after the train went by. Just fishin'. Or somethin'. A random little bit of themeing at Parque Espana, lol. Our lunch break at Parque Espana. With beer! Which is always good with touring friends and food, yes? Me and Bob. And Bob's first ride on Steel Dragon 2000 at Nagashima Spaland! Way-ta-go Bob! A look at Steel Dragon, from the load/unload station. Nice looking curves there, hmm? Our group, before entering the Haunted Walk-thru. And then I had to escort some school kids through it, just to get them through it, so we could get through! All very complicated, I know, LOL. {*A&W*} Some of us on the paratrooper ride. And one of William's many, many tries at getting "that right shot" of us. {*A&W*} And he gets it! A great shot! That's me and Andy in front; Sauli and JC behind us. Great shot, William! {*A&W*} And THIS was Sauli's First Ride Ever on one of those Looping Space Shuttle Swing..things! Congrats Sauli! Hope you enjoyed the ride! I always like to ride this flat. No reason why. It's fun. {*A&W*} Now, this a Giant Frisbee, right guys? ... Guys? .... GUYS? {*A&W*} My Skywheel riding buddies, Sauli and Bob. One the left side - White Cyclone. And on the right - White Cyclone. Still. Let's see here. I see Ultratwister, Corkscrew, Dbl. Giant Viking Swings, NOT Pirate, thats the little swing behind them, lol. Closer view of the Ultratwister, Corkscrew and the Children's Coaster, in the trees there. Somewhere. William apparently does not like water, so this is his shot of me ( in red poncho) Andy, and Sauli (in the blue) after our Shoot-the-Chutes....shoot! (o: And the blue poncho's safe and sound. {*A&W*} Hey there! High there! A mini-rail break. Awwww. Mike and Rosie enjoying Nagashima Spaland's little train ride. Last shot in this park: The Shuttle Loop "loop" with Steel Dragon 2000's first drop.

Got back from the park, earlier. Atmosfear felt to be running just as good, and as fast, as it was for my first two rides on it. As for the Pirate Ship, the ride ops on the Skywheel were just talking about that same thing, when I asked them about whether they knew about it, etc. The explanation they'd been given (from management?), was that with the swings on Atmosfear,swinging out when the speed was up but still low on the tower, "caused concern" as to how close the Pirate Ship's south 'swing' was coming to the swings on Atmosfear.So - they decided to amp down the "max swinging height" on the Pirate. But your new info. ^ leads me to believe management is trying to get more families to ride all of the rides at the park, than just making it all (uh) "thrill rides, with a kiddie's ride area." Too bad to hear about the merry-go-round music being off that long, too. I guess I had't ridden it enough times back then, to notice there ever was any music playing on it.

^^ and ^ That's a shame, if they're now doing that with the Pirate Ship Swing. I've been so busy riding other rides in the park, and waiting and waiting (and waiting) for Atmosfear to open, and now that it has, not even noticing the 'height difference' with the swing of the Pirate, since then. Am going this morning, when the park opens, so will check that out for myself. Still...

Well, Sinbad got the boat ride there, so I guess there's not much left for Aladdin, lol. Except maybe the (ahem) 4-D movie show with The Blue Genie.

"Hasa Diga Eebowai" (look it up) from the broadway cast cd of The Book of Mormon It's awesome musically - would love to sse it onstage, right now!

Having meals in the Disney parks is as much fun and as big an experience, as enjoying their attractions, shows and themeing. All great!

Yay! Looking forward to more of your take on Japan and of the tour, Larry!

"Workin' For The Weekend" Loverboy

^ Yep. I was there near noon, and stayed till after 2 pm. I got just one ride on Atmosfear, wearing my newly-bought white "What Fear?" t-shirt from the Playland Gift Shop. ($20 - not included with their current 50% off Everything Sale, lol) It was great in "normal weather" too, heh heh. (Compared to all the rain I put up with yesterday, on it's Opening Day.) An adrenalin rush, I must say. And an excellent view of the city and mountains, if you could focus quick enough, whirling around so fast.

Thanks Mark. But unfortunately, the 'alien' was apparently on it's "coffee break" so what was supposed to happen in that room...didn't. And I was so very careful in NOT giving away what was to happen, with the group I was with, when we went thru Alien Panic Attack. But I got to re-live it again, sort of, at the Haunted Walk-Thru at Sea Paradise park (remember <3 Blue Fall <3, Mark?) where (SPOILER ALERT)..... the sleeping attendant's reflection suddenly gets up, then proceeds to step out of the mirror towards you and..... hee hee hee, it was great! And Andy ^, yeah it's still happening to me too, that Jet Lag Thang. Getting my captions wrong, putting wrong names to faces in pix, and I just LOST all of what I had previously written for this posting just now (grrrrr), so yeah it's a biotch, even after several weeks, LOL. And THANKYOU to you and William for sending me the great pix of two of the parks we visited together that touring week. I will be using a few of them in this posting (Mitsui Greenland) and will post some more of them in my next posting (Nagashima Spaland). ---------------------------------- Now onto our next two parks, Mitsui Greenland, and Universal Japan (Osaka). Mitsui Greenland is a big, big, VERY BIG PARK, spread over a big landscape...without much in landscaping, like trees, etc. But the humidity wasn't that high that day, the overcast skies helped keep the bright sunlight (and eventual sunburn) from exhausting our bodies too much. The Ultratwister (Megatron) was still offering "bragging rights" to those who wanted to get their name and date on a stick after riding the thing ten times in a row! But wait, there's more! After 15 runs on it, you could get a PHOTO taken of you and your riding partner. So there were those that did just that, ten or fiften times for the stick or the photo. And then there was somebody(s) who wanted to REALLY ride and ride it - and took nearly Two Hours to ride it...29 times. Uh huh. That nerdy, lol. All good. The Milky Way "racing coasters" (one sit-down, the other standing) only had the stand-up operating, but it still gave you a good couple of pops of airtime on it, which was cool. Gao, ran up and over a gigantic dinosaur sculpture, whcih was basically pointless, but still neat to see ( still not great to ride in some spots, though). Ther one seat "Skyride-of-Questionable-Safety" was still there and running. And thankfully, nobody fell off of it, unlike a particular twosome who 'fell off' the ALPINE SLIDE ride up on the hill at the park (Hi TPDave and Scottish Steve! How are your arms now?), lol. And a good number of screwed up dark rides and walk thrus to enjoy. (VERY C-C-C-Cold ice house walk-thru there). And there were still flying killer whales on the Grampus Jet suspended coaster. All great for the day's visit. For the next park, I had a CREDIT to pick up! Universal Japan in Osaka has opened a new coaster, Space Fantasy: The Ride in the old ET Adventure building. The ride is a zippy spinny coaster, with some great special effects around it, and even a little tribute nod to ET himself, if you can see him quick enough, which might require another ride. This is where the Single Riders Line was great to do, again and again. You got to skip most of the pre-show part of the attraction (which honestly in Japanese wasn't that easy to follow. Pretty to watch. But still.... didn't miss it after the first time.) and generally got up really close to the front of the line, every time. Excellent! And that had me riding it at least ten times! Enjoyed this coaster a lot. Spiderman was still great, even with the language understanding difficulties; Back To the Future... was (I thought and felt) rougher than before, so for me, that was enough for then, and for "the future" if I ever get "back to it", lol; Jaws was still fun, though it was all talk by the ride op but very 'active' which made the whole ride enjoyable with the shark, broken cable, fire and all; Hollywood Dream: The Ride was still a good coaster to ride again too, with your choice of soundtrack blasting into your ears, heh heh. I especially enjoyed the two Japanese tracks on it (in separate rides), and the locals seated around me seemed to agree, too. So we all sort of bonded, thru our choice of coaster riding music, LOL. We didn't stay too late into the night at Universal, as we had a long trip back to our hotel that evening. But the management of the park had welcomed us early before park opening times, we got a nice welcome presentation from them, AND a goody bag with english park maps and pins (2) in it. AND they got us into the park, just before the gp was allowed in! That was very cool of them to do that for us. So THANKYOU Universal Japan! Some of us will return, myself included, I am sure of it. So - onto the park photos. And where I have {*A&W*}, that's a shout-out thankyou to Andy and William for sending me some great park pix of our touring time together. And since I just lost the entire posting before, with at least 10 pix, of this post all-of-a-sudden and without warning.... (GRRR) the writeup gets posted now, and the pix will follow as edits. "Just in case"... Enjoy. Here's William (red shirt) and Andy (head shot) on a slow-moving bizarre kid's ride, we all loved to ride! usually based on (eep) Hello Kitty. Or in William's case, Flying Boxing Toast, lol. One of many shooting dark rides we went on, in our tour. And we are about to get clobbered in points by Emma (green shirt) who apparently has been stalking these things, to get in the extra practise, lol. {*A&W*} Artsy Skywheel shot. Tall one, hmm? But it only took 15-18 minutes for a full revolution, which was great and made riding these things a bit easier to do, especially with some of them having on-capsule air conditioners! Yummy. View from the Wheel of Megatron, the Ultratwister with the "bragging rights" sticks and photos you can get after *&^# times riding it. Note the rainbow paintjob on it, as well as that single Wind-catcher behind it? Very gay-friendly, I felt. Also, behind there, a new hotel being built for the park. Not a (fingers) crushable castle, but The Haunted Walk-Thru On The Hill you took a two-seat skyride (middle of hill there) to get to. Also note, the ALPINE SLIDE to the right of the skyride. Subject to accidents, so I heard... Milky Way racing coaster in back (only standup running, but still fun), and Gao in front. A meandering wtf coaster that runs over thru and around a Giant Dinosaur Sculpture. Smelled burning tires on it too, in a couple of spots. Grampus Jet suspended coaster, proving that Killer Whales (the vehicles) do indeed, fly! Unless of course, you've seen the film, "Fantasia 2000". (o: Ahhh. What I call "Walkway Love." Was so cool to see it from up on the Skywheel. Just a Huge Honkin' Oversized Blue Heart, right there! And a bit of the track and "Dinosaur" of the Gao coaster. And speaking of "love"... Guess my heart belongs to ... Mummy LOL! Note the Skyride to the Haunted Walkthru (and the accident-prone Alpine Slide) behind us there. Me and Bob on the one-way-only suspended mini-rail Pirate Ship Ride! {*A&W*} And finally, a "head shot" from the Swinging Pirateship ride. Horny, hmmm? And bye bye Mitsui Greenland! Universal Japan Entrance Arch! And us. (Rosie, me, Mike and JC) Located by the Jaws ride... Me and The Statue (original located somewhere in the NE USA?) called The Mariner, I believe? ( title correction always appreciated) I always liked that statue. Snoopy's Great Race coaster. With Mike, Rosie, Bob and JC riding it, there. (o: Mid-afternoon drinks at the Hard Rock Cafe Bar in the Universal City Walk. Cheers, Bob and JC! And again, THANKYOU Universal Japan for a great welcome! Much appreciated by all.

^ Yes, you should be able to, no doubt about it! I think the side-by-side seats for Atmosfear are actually a bit bigger than the single ones on Wave Swinger. (IMhO) A bit more comfy too. And the only way to really find out, is to come to the park, get in the queue line, and ride the ride, LOL!

It opened today! It had a malfunction today! They fixed it today! And I rode it - single rider - in the rain. And it was awe - some. And I even got a button (woo hoo!) as a first day rider, for it too LOL. Fun time, even with the rain coming down periodically.

^^ Oops again. Sorry, Dave. Wellll - there were soooooo many "Daves" on the tours.... right? Have corrected my faux pas, and again THANKYOU for doing that for/with us. Much appreciated. ^ Like I said Divv - as long as they keep making the film and doing the processing, heh heh.... ---------------------- Now - onto the next two parks in the tour - Kijima and Wonder Rakentuchi. Kijima was the home of my 200th credit back in 2007, the Gold Rusher mine train coaster. And on our early arrival, the park management saw to it we got first rides on it. And - we did - ouch - ride it. Sadly, the ZORB gigantic hamster ball attraction was no more , and the looping coaster was down for maintenance. But we got our rides on the roller skater, ther Dragon powered, and on Jupiter, one of the biggest and longest wooden coasters in Japan. And - a teesy bit - how to put it - rough? Once (again) was enough for me. And it was here at Kijima, I started to notice the "special capsules" they had for couples on a few of the SkyWheels at parks we visited. Some with curtains, others total clear (!), others with stuffed toys on small shelves... strange but true. Wonder Rakutenchi has the distinction of being built onto a hill, literally. So much so, you have to take a funicular railway up to the park. It also had cleaned itself up a lot, since the TPR 2007 visit, with a lot of fresh paint, a good number of the old flat rides I remember, taken out, and landscaping in their place. The zoo still looked tiny and somewhat sad, but it was definitely looking a lot better than a few years ago. And a petting stable was added and a walk-thru aviary. And of course, the all-important Duck Races! And I won my race, too! (Go Red!) The prize choices were candy or a neat hankerchief with the ducks on it and 'Beppu' (where the park was located) in Japanese. Natch, I took the hankie LOL! The view unfortunately was not great from the park, as a lot of cloud cover (smog?) was over the city and waterfront, that we were near. So being on either their Skywheel or on the suspension bridge didn't help much. But I got a neat hazy shot of the Skywheel, from our train platform as we headed to our hotel for the night. Jupiter at Kijima. It's big, it's long, it's.... well, it's wooden! 'Nough said. Stefan, Tom, Mike, Rosie, Bob and Matt (close your mouth Matt) on Kijima's observation 'flying island'. Jupiter - Skywheel - Shoot The Chutes. That's Kijima! Funicular Dog up to Wonder Rakutenchi park. Of course! But our group chose the Funicular Cat to head up to the park... meow! Minirail and Jetcoaster at Wonder Rakutenchi. Talk about "Going Green", lol. (And a wallet will be dropped along the minirail footpath, in the near future.) On the suspension bridge with no view of Beppu - Mike, Rosie, Colin, Emma and JC! And it's a Photo Finish! Literally! This is not my winning race, though. That was earlier (Go Red!). Sharing a Skywheel cabin with me - Mike and Rosie. Minirail Traffic Jam in distance - and this is when "a wallet was dropped". Fortunately a ride op happily got out there on the track's sidepath, and retrieved it! Emma's Big Splashdown! It was all good. From the train platform, you could barely make out the double Skywheel up there, but Wonder Rakutenchi was there. On the hill. Bye bye WR!

Re-living entire soundtrack of Tokyo Disney's Cirque du Soleil production of ZED. Awesome show. Great location. Will see/hear again, live. Beautiful production. Awesome (TDR) location! It was worth the $$$ Yen for the ticket.

Tokyo - Disney - Sea - is my mantra. Have to love a volcanoe > a castle.... with FIRE!

They always offer at least one or two TPR USA Tours every year, so soon, soon for you to be on one. And even so, I myself haven't done any of their USA Tours, and do want to do one or three, eventually.

Congrats on your amazing success. Keep up the great work! And don't wait just for a TPR UK Tour to happen! In the fall, TPR will announce next year's tours, so start saving up and join the crazy bunch, sooner! You won't regret it. Any TPR Tour (IMhO) is an awesome tour!