Jeezus Juice

^ Cool, thanks for finding the other one. I wish more parks would get these, they're really fun rides. Anyway, on to: Day Four: Fuji-Q! So we went out front of our hotel in the morning and started hitchhiking and this dude with a left hand drive infinity picks us up and says he’s heading to Fuji-Q! What a coincidence, we hopped in. Our homie RollerMonkey brought us up to speed on the latest in Japan coastering and before we knew it Mount Fuji was in view and we spotted the HUGE box of supports for Fuji’s new 4-D arrow fishhook coaster. Sweet. We got through the massive gift shop entrance and did the funky “buy your admission from one booth, go stick it in a photo booth thing" and got our freepasses. Sadly the lady at the ticket booth said something like “ :Japanese: :more Japanese: ‘Dodonpa’ :Japanese: ‘Fujiyama’ thank you” and we’re like crap, the two biggest coasters in the park are going to be down. Ah well, there’s plenty of other stuff, plus a lot of snow, and I know we’re coming back next year so no big deal. On our way to the Gundam simulator we noticed that the parks paddle wheel lagoon was completely frozen over and people were ice skating on it! That was so awesome, so I made plans to do that later in the day. We made our rounds hitting coasters next, Zola 7, rode it, wasn’t even going to count it until we finally got to the lift hill. The mouse hadn’t opened yet and the Ham-hams we’re down due to wind I guess, even though the weather was calm. So, on our way to some walkthrough attraction Monica and Chris went to go ride they’re favorite rides (sitdown and stand-up, respectively) and I waited outside when I heard this loud, booming air noise and looked up as a Dodonpa train circled the bathroom area where I was standing. I just kind of stood there like “Guys…I think you should hurry up…guys?” when they came out I told them that Dodo was testing and we should investigate. We raced around through Thomas Town on our way to the front of the park when we passed Rock ‘n Roll Duncan. The guys gave me crap for this but it was just starting to load and I figured we could get it out of the way early and whatever so I convinced them to hold off on Dodonpa for –just- a moment while we rode Duncan. It wasn’t as big of a deal as they’re going to make it out to be, plus I kinda liked it. With that out of the way we made our way to DDP which was open by then and had about an hours worth of queue. We were able to switch off and all three of us rode in the front. The ride is just amazing, lap bars only, and has 2 killer spots of air; the drop right after the launch, and the single greatest ejector ever on the tophat. XCL kept breaking down when we we’re at PKD so I can’t compare the two but Dodop was just awesome. To sum up the rest of our day, the other two small coasters opened, Ham-ham was fun, the haunted walkthrough upcharge was really really good and just as we we’re getting ready to leave Fujiyama opened!! It was awesome too, I really like the Japanese Togos! Before we left I was able to go ice skating and we got a numbingly cold night ride on Dodonpa in the front seat in 27 degree weather. Whoo!! Here are the pictures! The giant Pizza sponsored frissbee. Good times. Zola 7 was a much better dark ride shooter than it was a coaster! I'll give all you gundam fans a few minutes here. I still think that a giant Optimus Prime or Shockwave would look better though! Just infront of PaniClock is the drop Dodonpa takes just after the launch. Awesome negative gs all the way down. The lapbar is the only thing keep these people from launching into orbit. The air is seriously unreal. Dodonpa is so fast, seriously. Chris didn't want to sit in my lap so he opted for his own flying hamster bucket Fuwa fuwa ham-ham or whatever this ride is called was actually really fun. It was probably pretty scary as a flying coaster though! Allright, meet Hamtaro and the special edition Mt. Fuji hamser! Once you've ridden a Log Flume in the snow you can consider yourself hardcore. Ahh, very clever. You win this round logic, but I will be testing you again soon! Yeah, it's 30 degrees and there are chunks of ice floating in it, lets go on the shoot-the-chutes!! Hang on Chris! looks like your about to slip out the side! I just wanted to show you guys the train real quick. The cars remind me of my primer color 1972 vista cruiser I have parked in a ditch back home! And then Fujiyama opened! That was so cool, it made the ride that much better. Fuji-Q was awesome! I'm not sure what this is, but I hope it has a happy ending! My Dodonpa T-shirt. I love it so much. It was cool skating around outside looking at the park and fuji in the distance. I can't believe they froze their pond! Here is a mysterious walk through attraction underneath mini-fuji-san with the real fuji-san in the back ground This park was so much better than I have been led to believe. It is totally not the 'Magic Mountain' of Japan, at least when we were there. But first, "Heys guys, we can get the credit like real qiuck...guys? Where are you going?!" At least it opened later in the day! Do...Do...Pa...Do...Do...Pa... Spotted this in the gift shop. Is this the rival to Thunder Dolphin? These are the Dodonpa vending machines out in front of the park. We're finally here and the waether is really clear and VERY cold! OK, this has GOT to be the place! Dude! Your totally going to Fuji-Q!! It's going to rock! Whoo!

Sorry, I was just being a smart ass and posting once in each of your threads with a different response to be, well, a smart ass. Oh wait, your british. In that case it would be to take the piss out of you. Yeah, I think thats right. Anyway, the problem with SLC's, for me, is the shuffle the trains do because they go through the inversions so slow. It's especially bad in the back of the train. But really, I've only ridden the standard model (about 12 or so) and the one going into Flamingo Land looks pretty interesting. I think they get a bad rap because the standard model is everywhere here in the states and we're kinda bored with seeing the same layout everywhere we go. That and some of them are downright brutal to your head (T2 especially). However, you have to admit the designers did a great job fitting so much ride in such a small footprint, and the rides are obviously selling well, but we still don't have to like them! -Don

Dude! I totally hate them!!

Yeah, thunder dolphin was so cold! So was Dodonpa, Linear Gale, Blue Fall, and that pile of Geishas! Heres some more LaQua pics for you smart mouth! Pink Ranger monica is flipping you off japanese style until next time when we battle..."The Fuji-Q Highlands!!" Ok, here we go again! That look can only mean one thing. Wash it down with the hamburger patty, fried egg, and pickle platter! It is Sumo approved! All right my friends, meet Konishiki, the $30 cheeseburger. The Maurer Spinner is over here too. As far as I know this is the only one that has the traditional mouse layout instead of the others with the high banked turns. These are so much better than the Reverchon/Zamperla ones IMO. Right next to the Tower Hacker they have a frog hopper version for the kids. The name was obviously lost in translation. It does go up quite a ways though They have a 2nd gen here too. It's weird though because it doesn't quite go all the way to the top. Weird. This is all that Geo Panic shows you from the outside. It definately wasn't smooth but it was really fun and had a lot of weird effects. It didn't anticippoint like X:/WTF did. I'm glad we were able to make it back to the park another day. Yay for more Thunder Dolphin night rides!

Wow, those are nice shots! It's interesting to see the park with fall colors. I'm never out that way that time of year. Thanks for sharing! -Don

In all fairness though, while the building's exterior definately looks more detailed, it is the exact same shape and scale of the DCA version. Even when passing behind the building on the monorail, all of the electrical boxes and other ride system equipment looks pretty identical. It wouldn't suprise me to find out that the ride is very similar to the DCA version. Of course that leaves the queue and preshow, which given OLC's track record, could be way better than what DCA has. Either way, the ride is really fun, and it is in a way way way better park. I can't wait to ride it next year! -Don

Day Three Part Two: LaQua/Tokyo Dome/Parachuteland/Whatever! So visiting Tokyo Dome was weird. At the hotel once we got back from Toshimaen we were still pretty jetlagged. Monica wanted to rest and watch TV when all of a sudden I got a second wind. I knew Thunder Dolphin was out there somewhere so I poured through my notes to find where the park is. I figured I could try to go and just check it out. If I found it I found it, if not well then I’d just try not to get lost. I found out that one of the JR lines (Chou) goes right from Shinjuku station to Sudioshibashi, which is one block from the Tokyo Dome! It was only like 6 stops away, so I gave Monica a hug, told her I’d try to be back in 2 hours and headed off to the station. I found the Chou line platform, bought the cheapest ticket and grabbed the first local train that came by and rode out there. I had my pocket subway guide so I just followed along and just before we got there I saw the huge neon signs and I knew I was there. I fare adjusted my ticket and walked out of the station and right onto a pedestrian bridge that goes right into the heart of the complex. It was a pretty awesome experience for me, all of the brightly lit signs and pachinko parlors. I walked a little ways and there was Big O and Thunder Dolphin. For me that was pretty significant seeing it in person. It was like I finally realized that I really was in Japan with really for real Japanese people. Ahem, sorry to get so existential. I quickly walked over to the LaQua side of the complex and ran up to the second floor where the Thunder Dolphin station was. I found the ticket machine, paid my 1000 yen and ran up the station platform. The station was empty and I got seated in the second row with some French dude. Weird. Oh yeah, when I buckled my seat belt I had about 18 INCHES of black left over. I don’t know what is wrong with Cedar Point but the whole inch of slack thing is bull. Anyway… My first ride was awesome! I really liked it. The diving turns were just great, I got some floater on the air hill and, yeah, the trick track isn’t the most spectacular coaster moment ever but the turn after it is great! Yes, it still has a lot of speed when it hits the brakes, I don’t care, I really liked it, so there. I went over and got the Linear Gale credit, it was fun, grabbed some McDonalds for Monica and went back to Shinjuku. It was a really awesome experience going out there for my first time. Plus I got the 2 hard to get coasters on my first trip. The next day after Tobu Monica went with me and we both had a blast! First we spent about an hour at the Arcade and Vending machines before we went to Thunder Dolphin. There were 2 empty seats in the back row so we got pulled out of line early (yes!). We went over to Linear Gale next only to find out that we were 5 minutes too late and they had already closed. Remember: Credits First, Vending Machines Last! (2 days later we went back and she got her LG cred so no worries. She said it was boring and slow so whatev). Next we rode Geopanic which I kinda liked even though the over the shoulder lapbar-front-cage-combo restraint was really strange. Lastly we rode the Maurer spinner which rocked (I love those) and wen’t back to the vending machines! Enough of my rambling! Here’s the pictures! (a mix of our last two trips there) OK, I guess we have time! I'll have more tomorrow morning!! Enjoy! View from the parachute tower. See! all better! Don't cry Monica, we'll just use the time cube! Hey! it's the same Parachute tower knotts userd to have with the standing cages! Cool! Ooh, pretty! Hey look! It's the triforce! Somebody tell Link! An onride photo for less than $5? Oh hell yeah! That is a great coaster moment, I don't care what the haters think. Thank you sign! I'll do what you say We're here! Yes. An overview of the LaQua section of Tokyo Dome City Lost? Don't worry! These pencils will 'lead' the way! OK, lets go ride something! Come on, we have coasters to hit...wait a minute...is that a Mario audio keychain?! Give me some money woman! Oh god, more of these things. This could take a while. Oh yes, this can work! OMG, somehow I made it on my own. :lil brudder: Hey, that traffic cop has a lightsaber, cool! Oh dude! I'm totally in Japan know!

I got pics from thursday I was planning on posting later but... I got more for tomorrow! OMG! Really good tower!

You got it Dave! Dude yeah! I mean, I had to research a bit before I went. What stations to go to, what lines to take ect, but I had a rail system map with me so it was really easy to follow along, know how many more stops ect. For the most part though you can buy a ticket from a vending machine, take trains all over Tokyo, transfer as many times as you want and you only pay by distance when your ready to leave a station. Lets say you buy the cheapest ticket, say 140 yen ($1.20). when you get to wherever your going, insert your ticket into a fare adjust machine and it'll tell you how much more you owe, deposit the correct amount take your ticket and leave through the turn styles. Most trips only cost us $2-$3. I think it was 160 yen from shinjuku to LaQua. Also everybody is so nice! I know about 3 sentences in japanese, plus words for please (kudasai) thank you (arigato gozaimasu) and sorry (sumimesan) and I was able to communicate just fine. Remember, I only planned this trip for 5 weeks prior to going and I had never even been to Asia before. All I had was Robb's "Japan Trip Planning Guide" and the Japan-a-mania DVD! I knew the parks that I wanted to go to and we just made up a plan the night before in the hotel for the next day and winged it! Sorry to keep going on like this but I couldn't believe how easy and fun it was there. I'm hardly an expert, I don't eat fish, and I'm not rich. I just decided to go one day. I actually did most of the day to day planning and learning japanese on the plane flight over there! All I want to do now is go back and bring people with me! We can organise robotic animal races! -Don (going to work on LaQua right now!)

More Pictures. edit- I added some more! OMG that is straight down. I'm all about verticle drop slides. And we'll close Tobu with Monica and the...yellow...park mascot...rat/dog...thing. Shinjuku and Tokyo Dome will be next! Hmmm...Mountain Dew or Bubble Man Grape...Tame citrus soda or Mega Man villian! And a very fun park! Awesome coaster. Is that what we're calling it now. I had nowhere near enough tickets to win this, and I left very sad. It's the second best coaster in Vegas!!! Hey look a simulator...wait a minute, what's that? Oh yeah, btw Rocky is completely gone! All the jealous haters had to stand and watch! Monica made a new friend. Yeah, I rather liked it. It took awhile but this thing finally opened and it was...interesting. Not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Whoa, the forums kinda froze up on me, otherwise I would've had this up sooner. Let me know what you guys think, do you want more pics of coasters, more pics of the parks in general, pictures of random vending machines, or pictures of me in my pajamas? Let me know what you want, I'm doing all this for you guys just cause I love you all so much, except Joe C, he can suck a lemon Day Three: Tobu Zoo and Tokyo Dome Now we were getting into a groove. We knew how the trains worked by now and we started feeling pretty comfortable. Now was the time to put it to the test with a long ride out to the Tobu Zoo. We’re talking a 3 transfer, traveling off of my rail system map kinda test. Actually it was really easy to get there. I knew exactly how long the trip should take and we got to the station right on time (to the minute!). The park is actually easy to spot from the train a few stops early. Just look for the huge Japanese wheel! There is a bus from the station to the park but it’s only about a 10 minute walk and the only street leaving the station in the direction on the park takes you right there. The sidewalk even has little animals carved into it! There’s also a family mart on the way where you can get cheap food and drinks on your way to the park. The Tobu Zoo is quite a place. The front half is full of rides and the back half is all animals. It was also our first foreign zoo, so we were excited to go! Again we got there way early so we played with some snow and ravaged the vending machine outside of the park. Once we got in we wandered around as rides started opening. On hand with us at opening were 4 japanese girls and that was it. It was like a park wide ERT session! Only 2 coasters were operating, luckily it was the two good ones, Regina, the intamin woodie, and the Togo looping mouse. The small Tivoli coaster was missing it’s train and Rocky was completely gone! For those of you familiar with Regina you know it sits over a small lake. Well, today the lake was partially frozen over! Even then the coaster was kicking ass like it was a hot summer night, and the train had those awesome intamin T-bars. It was pretty awesome. When the Togo mouse opened we took some rides on it, and it was…interesting. It was definitely better than windjammer, and it had a pretty cool ending with a drop into a very small bunnyhop. Then on our way to the animal side we found the Afri-Carts. These were pretty swift little go-karts safari themed and raced around another lake past plastic animals and a real goat! Just like the real Africa! They had a pretty impressive kids play area, with the ultimate slide of doom and a pretty wacky haunted walkthrough. And the zoo had Monkeys…sooo many Monkeys. Pictures! Ooh, look at that face! Someone needs to make licensed merchandise based off of you and sell it in a coin op machine. Dude, Red pandas are awesome. They're like giant reddish foxes. And then we found the place where the squirrel monkeys ride around on capyberras. This was beoynd awesome The animals came out to say hi to us. Hello cute Tapir! And then she found the Hamtaro hat and began the aquisition of very strange things. OOOOHHH!!!! I AM THE MOST ANGRY BAG THING IN ALL OF TOBUOOO!!! And then we discovered the toy vending machines. Oh what holy hell is this. I know I probably wouldn't have eaten this as a kid. Their kids meals are truly hardcore. I totally want that hello kitty meal divider plate. Don't lie, you do too. ARRGGGHHH!! Elephants!!!! We are throughly enjoying our Africart safari. This ride rules just for being fun. Oh god yes, I must ride this. Yeah, I think it classifies as strange. They had this funky skyway/suspended monorail ride connecting the big wheel area with Africart land. Here is a shot looking back from the first turn around. Regina rides just like Ghostrider did opening year. Monica still doesen't believe that it was ever really good. I was very impressed with this ride especially given how cold it was. Speaking of which, she's all Woman, and smooth as a duck walking on a frozen pond. Here I am at the Great wall of Tobu. Good thing the Mongols never tried to invade Regina! Straight down this street and past the Family Mart. Follow the animals in the side walk Good thing it wasn't a cloudy day, the station would have totally dissapeared! Crazy camoflauge cloaking device! I love this stuff! Oh effing yes! Pocari Sweat!! The park is easy to get to, just get off between Himalaya and Waldo! Back riding the trains again!

Day Two: Part Two One of the bones about the off season in Japan is that most parks are closed by 4pm. That’s not really a problem because the parks are so dead but if you want to try and fit in more than one a day plus travel time it can be pretty tricky. Initially Toshimaen was going to be a bonus park if we finished Yomiuriland unexpectedly early. It would have been a shame to miss Toshi because it is only about 7 or 9 stops from Shinjuku, no transfers or anything. Since Bandit was down and we conquered the rest of Yomi we had just enough time to squeeze in a few hours at Toshi! Getting to the Toshimaen station was really easy and we got there pretty quick. Unfortunately the park is not near the station like Yomiuriland was. I kinda knew which direction to head off in and real soon I saw the 7-11 from Robb’s trip planning guide and then found the Toy R Us they bought Dan Doritos at and the park was right there. The free pass ride ticket is just a small square piece of paper that you show to go on rides. I do not like having that much responsibility over protecting my ride pass. If I had a safety pin so I could have pinned it to my chest like a kindergartener I would have! The park itself feels very ‘traditional’ and a lot of the flat rides and coasters really are on top of souvenir buildings and restaurants. Luckily the only coaster that was down was the small Mack powered coaster, and the park was almost totally empty! We actually went to the set of huge swinging pirate ships first, some credit whores huh! The ships were easily twice the scale of normal swinging ships. Like someone just took the AutoCAD program and hit the 200% button. They also had the half enclosed shuttle loop, and a standard arrow double cork, but the real treat was the 1950’s era (which opened in 65) Togo cyclone. The entire coaster looks more like an old steel bridge than a coaster, but it has an awesome wide open layout, airtime, a really long helix in a tunnel and is just a ton of fun! We hadn’t really eaten because we were trying to rush from one park to another so we stopped at a crepe stand that had no less than 30 types of crepes of all varieties. Since my kanji is pretty horrible and the employees are locked in a booth I just took a picture of the one I wanted and showed it to the two girls working there. They both started cracking up and we all thought it was pretty funny. See, culture barriers can be fun! We actually finish the park with an hour to spare so we went to Toys R Us and OMG, the Gundam DEPARTMENT was freeking huge! If I was into plastic robot model I probably would’ve wet myself. Instead I just made the boxes fight with each other for a while and then went to check out the video games. Dude, the Xbox 360’s lined an entire row. I guess the Japanese really are smarter than us! (j/k xbox fanboys). The DS clearly is leading the market here, they had an entire aisle dedicated to DS games and accessories. Our curiosity satisfied we bought some junk food (yummy pizza pretzel combos) and went back to the train station. Thanks for reading, here’s the pictures! We actually made it back to our hotel in time for some more weird Japanese TV. Thanks to the time chage we were asleep by 7pm. Here's a daytime shot from our hotel window. Next up will be the Tobu Zoo! OK, this is Qoo. It's a line of fruit flavored drinks made by Coca-Cola featuring sickingly cute charecters on the labels. Monica drank at least half her weight in Qoo by the time we left Japan. That is the power of marketing. The park had that fun 'traditional park' feel. Apperently this carousel is pretty old. I'm not much of a horsey-pole guy so I'm not really sure. I gotta get one of these to drive around the office with. I can rig it up to fire staplers. This picture shows all the trees that surround the ride. So pretty! Dude! It's totally a coaster! Look at the lift hill! The corkscrew was standard, but was actually quite smooth. It had alot of 'grown in' landscaping around it. It was like the ultimate garden gnome! These really are great rides. They look much better like this than rusting in a parking lot. The ride op was nice enough to let me film on the parks shuttle loop. No POV poaching for me!! Don't ban me...Please! That's it baby! Roll it up for daddy! Oh man, the crepe window. "I'll have the tuna, mayonaise, and corn. No wait! I was just joking!!" The boats were just massive. I wish we could get some of these over here. Huss, are you listening! Flying Pirates is their huge swinging ship ride...on top of a building. It has these really nice long smooth drops and rises and maintains it's speed really well. I liked it alot! Looking at the structure it reminds me a steel bridge that I'd have for a model railroad or something. Like someone tore down the Eiffel tower and mad an amusment park ride out of it! It's that Japanese coaster with the RCT "Log Train" Cyclone is an awesome ride. Even though the name doesn't describe it at all!

Well, the air was cold but also very dry. By the third day my lips were getting pretty chapped. It was actually pretty exciting riding a wooden coaster in 30 degree weather. Dodonpa at night when it's 27 degrees out though, that was a numbing experience, but we'll get to that later! Toshimaen is coming soon! -Don

Day Two Yomiuriland and Toshimaen Our first full day in Japan we we’re wide awake at 5 am thanks to the time change. Luckily it meant we could get an early start to figuring out the train system. The Shinjuku Washington Hotel is connected to the main rail station by a really long underground mall. Luckily there is a bakery along the way that has really good fresh baked loaves or rasin bread for like 300 yen! We got on an east bound train and headed out to the park. Along the way we had a connection at a place called Chofu that we messed up and started heading the wrong way. Luckily it was only a matter of getting off at the next stop and heading back. The station attendants were friendly and helpful, even though they spoke no English. I just told him what station we were trying to get to (Keio-Yomiuri-Land) and he told us to wait two trains for a Hashimoto bound one. Hashimoto-> Yomiuriland, got it! He gave us a thumbs up and we were on our way. We got to the park about 45 minutes early and after playing in the snow for a bit and writing my name (with my foot) we took the skyway up to the main park enterance. Right away we saw that Bandit, the Togo hyper, was down due to repainting/refurb. I kinda knew this ahead of time when I translated the parks website and saw that “Van Debt” had suspended operations. Still we did the three open coasters, the sky-cycle, rode the coin-op animals, saw a very sick looking stray cat, played in the arcade and saw the Sea Lion show and were still done with the park by noon. Good, plenty of time to see Toshimaen too. Pictures: Can't wait to go back, and I'm sure we won't get lost next time! Toshimaen will be next. And just to document, here is a snow coaster. Strongbad: "Giant Robots?!" Little did we realise that it only gets weirder from here on out. They had some kind of Buddist/Shinto walk through attraction behind the park, we didn't do it though Hey guess what! It actually didn't suck! I even went back and rode the standup train too! YomiuriDog has evolved into some sort of Shinto God here. I don't want to start anything, but I'm pretty sure Yomidog would smite HoliDog were it ever to come to blows. Oh, and I actually won something from a claw machine here! Japan Rules! Did I mention the Giant Wheel! I think this is called "Dream Coaster" The lift hill has a bubble machine! They even play music too! YES! Our first wacky Japanese ride-on animals! The layout starts to do some pretty funky stuff about half way through. White Canyon was open with the park so we headed there first. I thought the ride was really kick ass. Then I remembered that it's White Cyclone that is supposed to suck. Here you can see the scaffolding on "Van Debt" and you can tell that there are only 8 people in the entire park! Hint: Anytime your trying to find a Japanese park, just look for the giant wheel This is still funny Here's the chariot that takes you topside. Did I mention that it was feezing cold! This has GOT to be the right station! Too bad this McDonalds didn't have a walk up window at the station platform. So we got to the wrong station, no big deal, we still had TONS of time!

Kida like Pocari Sweat which is kinda like a mild Gatorade frost. I love all the weird drinks! Oh I'm not shy! 9 days, 11 parks including 4 days at TDL/TDS in an onsite hotel and with airfare it came in just under 4K for the two of us. Cheap airfare was pretty much the catlyst for the trip ($576 with tax from SFO on JAL). Plus we made some unessisary purchases (well, they were nessisary to us ) for instance, there were alot of hotels just a few stops from Disney we could have stayed at, we had dinner one night at the Rainforest Cafe (with a Volcano!) and we bought some onride photos ect. Really I couldn't believe how much it didn't cost us! Japan is an easy place to spend money at, but don't confuse that with it being expensive. For example: That bottle of Active Diet cost me 140 yen from an airport vending machine ($1.18) and Monica and I could fill ourselves with more cheeseburgers at McDonalds than we could handle for just under 1000 yen ($8.41). On the other hand our RFC dinner at Disney came out to just over 5000 yen ($42.03) and many places had nicer restauraunts that were even more. So while you can spend alot of money there, it's up to you whether your trip is expensive or not! -Don (Yomiuriland will be up in an hour or so)

Hey Guys! We just got back from an awesome 9 day trip to Japan! Yes, It was REALLY cold, Yes, there was snow everywhere, and Yes, the parks were open! I started planning this trip about 5 weeks before we went so it was a total spur of the moment trip! I was a little nervous just prior to leaving because a) we’ve never been to Japan (or Asia) before and b) I’d only been speaking Japanese for about 2 weeks! The trip went great though thanks to the Alvey’s trip planning guide and Elissa’s spreadsheet skills. We only missed 4 coasters the whole trip, 3 kiddies and Bandit, but we had a great time and it really wasn’t expensive at all! We can’t wait to go back! All in all, we went to 11 parks (Including LaQua 3 times!) and rode 26 new coasters! I took a lot of pictures so I’ll break up the PTR day by day, so keep checking back for updates! -Don Day one We landed at Narita in the afternoon and took the train to our hotel in Shinjuku. After checking into our REALLY small room we headed out to Aqua Stadium by train to go ride Galaxy Express 999. You probably know that Aqua Stadium is a pretty small amusement center inside the Shinagawa Prince hotel. It was actually really easy to find right across the street from the JR station. The ride was pretty fun, the pre-show right away made us feel like we were in Japan! It was totally random (for us at least) and pretty bizzar. The actual coaster ride was neat given the space they had to work with. We rode in the front seat, it had a little “Xcelerator rattle” but was pretty smooth and the loop was fun with only an intamin T-bar holding you in. Here’s the pictures! Here's a night shot from our hotel of the Shinjuku skyscraper district at the end of our very long first day! Check back for Yomiuriland and day two later! Man Japanese TV is awesome! Where can I get a squid hat?! "OK, we got the credit...can I have pie now?!" They have several rides, including this dolphin-go-round Nice to see the guy from Final Fantasy IX got some new work! The gift shop even had the creepy mannequines from the pre-show! Our first Japan credit, an Intamin looper with lapbars only! This ride is based on an anime movie of the same name (not that it helped us understand it any better though!) All right, we're in Awesome, we're here and there's neon penguins! This must be the right way, I think I see a dolphin. The Shinagawa JR station. The trins here are so easy to use! Monica (DubbleBubble) and I made it to Japan! We're there 5 minutes and I already got my first obscure soft drink!

Dude! Where's Great Bear? Nemesis -Don "No love for Katun?" Garrison

Hey cool! Hydras getting the new 12 across trains next season! Whoo! Nice hidden Mickey too btw. Sadly racism is still prevalent in some parts of society. -Don "Why are black olives in a can and green olives in a jar?" Garrison

Hey guys! I just flew in this morning, thanks for the great response so far! Sorry Barry, the Monica-in-a-bikini segment got cut due to length, maybe look for it in a future DVD? Aghhh...wein/wien...it's always something. If that's the only mistake that slipped through quality control I'll be pretty happy! I hope you all like it as much as the last one...except for Joe, I hope he gets a papercut! Oh, and did I mention the full alpine coaster pov? It's like 5 minutes long! -Don

God, how annoying was that girl in the rcpro video! She made me want to get out my OJ gloves for real. "Leave the guy alone! Let him film in peace woman!!" I thought the video was allright, it was probably his first/only ride. No one wants to wait 50min each time during cast previews just to get a solid POV. It's definately better than the last one I saw. -Don "Can't wait for 'Rockit Yeti' mountain this summer" Garrison

Sweet! I can pick up some new danglies for the piercings I just got on my danglies!! Sean, It's all good. If I see a dated Raging Spirits opening pin I'll grab a sack for each of us! -Don /sack...he he he

Don't forget Kennywood has at least 3 darkrides, as well as some one-of-a-kind flats. Plus they usually have discount coupons/tickets in the local supermarkets. Good luck finding the park on your first visit though!! Otherwise, for the same price as a full day theme park ticket you can have a day at Knoebels and then stop by Hershey for the after 5pm ticket. The first time I went there I was able to hit all 10 coasters and all the flats I wanted easily in the time from 5-close. If you go to Knoebels you'll have to drive by Hershey anyway...just sayin -Don

Outlaw

Oh! While you're at it, oh mystery pov god, make mine with a side of nachos!!

^ Go check travelocity right now. That's what made it work out for me! I know the coaster zombies are having a trip this summer, but as far as I know they don't have a forum or anything...still, I'd like to talk to those guys. I KNOW I've seen mexican coaster sites, but the two I've checked http://www.montanarusa.com and one other one we're both down. Well, if it doesn't work out there's always Pedroland! -Don just kidding about pedroland :shudder: