Taylor Finn

Yeah, if your'e going during the week and are very ambitious, in one day, you can do the coasters, the train, a flat or two, a bit of shopping, and see a show or two. If you want to DO IT ALL and see most all the shows, shop hard, ride the coasters multiple times and just bask in Dollywood, two days is better. Tough to say what is perfect for your family. You can just as easily spend one day at Dollywood and spend another exploring the Mountains (Cades Coves, Clingmans Dome, Alum Cave Trail and Roaring Fork Motor Trail are the best four things in the mountains IMO), exploring Gatlinburg (Sugarlands Distillery, quirky shops, Crockett's Breakfast Camp, and Hillbilly Golf), and exploring Pigeon Forge (The Island, Old Mill and Pottery House restaurants, outlet shopping, go karts, etc). These are all fun things that I still love doing visit after visit. Ticket wise, it is $74 for one day and $94 for two days for adults and a bit cheaper for 9 and under. You can always do a two day ticket and take it much easier and enter later or leave earlier. TL:DR: The park is definitely tough to do in one day (especially with Wildwood Grove being a thing), but you can accomplish a lot there depending on whether you go during the week or on the weekend, what kind of park guests you are, and what your interests are.

Lakemont IS opening this year it seems. Article goes into sone detail about what’s been done and what to expect. I’d have been happy if a few flats stuck around but an overall pleased with what they kept and some of the new stuff looks nice! Pricing seems steep to some folks because of how cheap it was before. I think it’s fair. Just they have direct competition with Delgrossos. $5 more with coupons gets you a lot more. Will be interested to see how this plays out and plan to visit this summer! http://www.altoonamirror.com/news/local-news/2019/04/country-praises-lakemont-park-plan/

Thanks for all the great feedback, guys! I've most enjoyed recounting these free days, to be honest! Did lots of cool things. Hmm, yeah after you commented this, I read some of the articles about the company. I think they're doing everything right. Just have some idiots as usual ruining a good thing. It was only a matter of time before the costume thing went away, I guess. Yeah, it was tricky, because you had to basically commit to it weeks before the trip to get your international drivers license. There's always next time!

Day 14: Transfer to Tokyo, Free Day So, today was totally on us. Elissa gave us some possible bullet trains time to get us from Nagoya back to Tokyo (quick hour trip). Adam and I decided to take an earlier bullet train to get into the city a bit earlier. Today was definitely one of my favorites. Exploring Tokyo for the very first time was so incredible, because every experience, every sight, EVERYTHING was brand new. I tried to visit totally different areas today than my first free day and I think I succeeded. Read on to see what I did! Our bullet train dropped us at Tokyo Station, at which point we needed to transfer to a local train to get to our first location. But first, we wanted to take a look at the grandeur of it. I cannot overstate how incredibly large many stations are. It never felt confusing, but wow. It puts NYC to shame in scale. Yeah, it's a beaut. In some pictures, you can see a little black pack sneaking out from under my shirt. Yeah, I wore a fanny pack of sorts. Needing to carry my passport, JR Rail Pass, Battery Pack, Mofi Wifi charger, cash, it was just easier this way. If I haven't already explained, I pre-purchased a mobile wifi hot spot. Think I paid about 0 for 20 or so days, which I felt was more than fair. Going through Verizon would have cost me more and this worked for both my work and personal phone (DOUBLE THE BATTERY). It came with it's own portable charging block as well which was nice for these long free days where I was looking stuff up. The device got shipped right to my first hotel and was super easy to pick up and return (included an envelope with instructions and labels and I dropped it off at the airport) Also, this is a man cleaning. We have arrived at Tokyo Dome City! LaQua is the shopping and Amusement Park area, I believe. So that was our next stop! Another thing that is on my definite must do when I return (there just wasn't enough time) is to see a Japanese baseball game. Huge baseball fan. Gives me another reason to return. Thunder Dolphin in the distance. And the fancy wheel. Thunder Dolphin was fun. The 'trick track' was pointless, but cute. It seems like a bit of a short ride, likely because not too much of it is at high, high speeds. But it's an Intamin and is worth checking out if it means a lot to you. You can just buy individual tickets for it and pick the row you want (nobody was riding when we got there). Adam and I split up and did our own thing from here on out. But first, I needed a little snack en route to my next stop. Post shaka shaka. En route to Ginza for some general exploration, saw that this place was a thing. Figured I would check it out! This is also a thing. Did not check out. Ginza is a very upscale shopping district. Here we are! The store was about four floors, each one separated by a theme of sorts. I know one floor was entirely stuffed animals (mostly bears). Many of which were SUPER expensive. But they did look nice. A whole bunch of these wooden structures you could build. The ferris wheel did move. On the top floor, they had this race track that was pretty sweet. I didn't partake, but did see a few folks flying around the tracks. So, I left there and just started exploring some alleys. As was common and maybe I've mentioned... very often, small businesses would buy out just one floor (small room) of a building for their business. In a way, wouldn't it be nice if in Times Square, there was 4x the number of businesses and some of them were smaller? Reduces the cost of entry for folks wanting to make a buck. My girlfriend is a creative type, and I discovered that there was an arts supply store that had been open for 101 years and was opened by husband and wife poets. They sold loads of stationary and proprietary paints, pencils, etc. It was neat to stop in and grab a few things. Think there was a gallery and cafe in the basement. Next up, I visited the Hamarikyu Gardens. Not going to pretend to know the historical significance of the place. But if you are interested... it was originally built as a tidal duck hunting ground when part of it was reclaimed by the Shogun to build an estate in 1654. It was passed down from generation to generation and in 1871, the Japanese Imperial family took ownership of the land until it finally opened to the public in 1946. I had been very interested in visiting a classic Tokyo Garden and this one did not disappoint. A little map and some more history, probably. This pine tree is actually 300 years old, which was pretty neat! What really sealed the deal for me was how quiet it was. At points, I would look all around me and see no one. In the largest metropolitan area of the world, it was remarkable to have moments to yourself. I walked around for a good while. There are parts of Central Park in NYC that are beautiful, but this park serves a different purpose it seems. They were actively rebuilding structures that would've been in the gardens back in the day to try which was neat. These guys went inside the building ahead to appreciate their work. Gotta have hard hats, though. This bridge was originally built by the sixth shogun in 1707 and is the main focal point of the park. It is about the length of a football field and winds across the lake and the reflection of the bridge and the teahouse on the lake was stunning. Had a really nice day too, which helped. I cannot put into words the beauty of the bridge. You can get an idea of how the bridge kind of zig zags. Nakajima Teahouse was my next stop. I knew I wanted to have an 'authentic' Japanese afternoon tea ceremony and this seemed like a great place to do it. The original teahouse was built the same year as the bridge but burned down before being rebuilt in 1788. It burned down again in an air raid during WWII, but was rebuilt again in 1983. I paid about $7 for the experience and was given a cup of matcha and a confection. As you'll see in a bit, there is a specific way to partake, which I tried to adhere to. The tea house had a beautiful patio attached which really gave you a great view of the surrounding gardens and Ginza. Some history. Your instructions. It wasn't much, but the matcha was very tasty. A bit different creamy and a different texture than tea typically is. The confection was also nice, not super sweet. I really appreciated having these free days. I ultimately think I would've felt a bit unfulfilled if I had taken this trip without these days. And also, it was nice to not have them just at the beginning or end of the trip. Broke up the parks, a bit. Got on some higher ground for a moment. The Gardens run along Tokyo Bay so I walked along for a while. Just a little bitty vehicle traveling through. There were a bunch of folks situated throughout the park painting, which if I had any talent, would be a cool thing to do.. By this point, I was rather thirsty. I was practically always carrying a drink of some kind around. It was a neat, cheap way for me to experience something new all the time. This is the flagship sports drink in Japan. I am a big fan of it, because it isn't terribly sweet or overpowering in flavor, but it serves the same purpose as a Powerade. A slight grapefruit flavor to it. Just needs a new name. A unique little gas station, maintenance bay. Real estate is at a premium. Saw VERY few gas stations in big parts of the city. Which I guess is fairly typical. Did a bit more exploration of Ginza afterwards. Did intend to visit a store called Tokyu Hands while here, as they sell LOADS of things. Lots of good souvenir opportunities. But, time did not really allow as it was a bit of a walk. Tons of unique building and very narrow, tall stores. Visited another high end department store. Largely for the food basement, but also just to see. I am fascinated by the retail scene in Japan. It seems entirely justified for a store like this to exist. Just look at this directory. On my quest for lunch/dinner now. Will this be the place? WILL THIS BE THE PLACE? In fact, the alley I walked down and stumbled upon this... the restaurants all seemed to close for about an hour between 3 and 4 PM. Customers who were inside by then would still be able to eat, but no folks could come in. It was around 3:40 when I stumbled upon this Gyoza joint. Walked in and was politely informed they would re-open at 4:00. I felt a bit weird waiting it out, but I did have an engagement later in the evening and I really wanted gyoza. So I walked around a bit and returned around 4:00. Tell me this doesn't look delicious. Oh wow. More. I ended up initially ordering chicken and mozzarella, curry, and standard pork gyozas. Probably got about 12-16 to start. They were fairly small, but holy cow, delicious. I had some gyoza at Universal City Walk which was also pretty solid (and super cheap). But this was on another level. Ended up ordering some more and had a Whiskey Highball to boot. Probably paid about total, which was legit. Where to, next? This is near Shinegawa Station, where our first Tokyo Hotel was at... Wait? Now I am in Odaiab? How did that happen? I don't have a car? There are a couple of these around the world I think, but was neat to see! This was in fact just a large mall. There's a bridge? Did I cross that bridge to get here? With a car? Via rail? So. Some information here. One of my college friends visited Japan and when I asked him about things I oughta do, the suggestion he made that I was 1000% sold on was MariCAR. Basically, for a fee you can take a 1, 2, or 3 hour trip all over Tokyo (or Osaka). They depart from various hubs around the city and follow similar itineraries. If you are interested in doing this, some things you oughta know. It's about $100 for 3 hours, and $60 for 1 hour. Just do the 3 hour trip. It is worth it. The difference between the 2 and 3 hour trip departing from Shinegawa was the inclusion of Rainbow Bridge (I KNOW!) and Odaiba. Basically, we left from the hub and traveled to the bridge, crossed at around 50 mph, flew up an empty garage, parked, explored (in costume) and then went on our way. Also, if you want to participate, you need to get an international driver's license. I was able to get one from AAA for around $20. Seems a bit stupid since there was nothing to it except getting some photos taken and signing some forms. But yeah. I would highly, highly recommend it. I'm not super passionate about Mario Kart or anything, but I love go karts. And these fly. One more note: I didn't do this because I thought it was like a cultural experience. Clearly, this thing is catered to tourists who think a certain way about Japan. But, I just did it because it was fun. I do worry about people abusing the privilege of this experience. This would never happen anywhere else. So I hope folks don't blow it by speeding or getting in accidents (seems to be starting to happen). With that, some pictures! A really neat place, for sure. Back on the road. Where to, now? I would not suggest Yoshi. The hood (my head) was super top heavy and enjoyed falling down which was annoying. But, alas. We departed in a group of 6. Everyone was clearly tourists from all over. You might cringe a bit at this all. But honestly, it was a blast and I have no regrets at all. Definitely a top 5 experience on the trip. Here is the gang! Some in our group purposely grew out a mustache to play as Mario, so I felt an obligation to go a different way. A common trend during the experience was that locals were fascinated by us, on and off the road. Took some pictures to appease them. The really nice thing was that at every light we would line up in rows of 2 (unless it was a narrow alley, he would call for 1's and he would hop out of his kart and take pictures of all of us. Throughout the trip, you'll see our order change around. Which he purposely did, so everyone got a chance in the front. We drove single file, right alongside traffic and honestly, I never felt unsafe at all. There were seat belts, but they did not recommend wearing them. If the kart flips, it likely wouldn't be good to be locked in like that anyway. Cars were quite respectful of us and folks were constantly greeting us. At one red light, a man walked out with a tripod and took our picture, which was funny. We visited Tokyo Tower and got SUPER close to it which was neat as I didn't get around to visiting this area by foot. We also visited Shibuya (where the busiest pedestrian crossing is located). We actually approached this intersection three times (did some looping around) intentionally so that the guide could have a better chance of getting us stopped right AT the light to get the perfect shot. The trip had a great mixture of scenic driving and intentionally took us down some narrow alleys and hairpin turns to give everyone a chance to really handle the karts. It was a perfectly created experience. We got back to the depot when we were done, changed out of our costumes (went straight into a cleaning basket), and then our guide air dropped all of our pictures to our phones right then and there. Super convenient. Thanks for reading along and dealing with all these pictures. Wanted to give ya'll an idea of how this all worked in case you ever find yourself in Japan. It is well worth the $$ and is something I'll never forget. Plan to do the Osaka version when I return to get a different experience.

Always LOVE to see rides like this get a new life. It'll do great in the museum, I'm sure and they'll easily recoup the money they invested in it.

Day 13: Hamanako Pal Pal and Lagunasia Hello again! Sorry for the delay. So, today was a nice day. In fact, I think it was a day I completely forgot about as the trip progressed. To try to justify to myself that the trip wasn't winding down, I kept running by the cool things we had left in the trip. And this just slipped my mind. So it was kind of a surprise bonus day. I ended up liking both of these parks for different reasons. Honestly, that was what made this trip so great. Every park had something totally WTF and/or something totally awesome. And all of them had incredibly friendly folks and no crowds. So can't beat that. Hamanako Pal Pal This was a common trend. Smoke rooms on the subway platforms. I can appreciate it! A sign! Maybe intended to help if I wanted to return. What a great warning. I was constantly on the look out for weird stuff like that. We have arrived! This was Mega Coaster. Looks a bit like that Togo over in Vegas, but man... it rides a lot better. It was actually a wonky, fun little ride. Each element seemed completely disconnected from the rest, but I enjoyed it. Obligatory map. Another hilly park, but not too bad, really. I think I actually enjoyed this guy. Much like lemonade but not quite as sweet, which I can appreciate. Our next credit was this guy. A nice little wild mouse, I guess. Super convenient supports, let me tell you. Odd antique cars. A nice informative diagram. I remember the ride op on this one too his job a bit more seriously than usual. He had a hard hat on and honestly seemed to check the restraints two or three times and asked for our approval as he stapled us in. Strangely remember these details. A log flume and this ride. I dunno if this picture does it justice. A bit better. It was like a paratrooper meets enterprise meets free rotation. The ride cycle was bizarre and I don't usually enjoy flats but this one was hilarious. It had me laughing during the cycle. I would love for more parks to have this model. Is there a video anywhere of it? Yeah, so in addition to that other mouse, they had this one. Dunno, this might have been the Toy Story Midway Mania type game. It was like four people in one car competing at little mini games themed to like physical things like swimming and running. Just lots of button tapping. But fun, nonetheless. Had to ride the big wheel naturally! As always, the park was set in a beautiful area along the coast. So there was a shooting dark ride that we unfortunately did not get around to riding but this was the translation of the back story behind the ride. Here I am! So we had some time in the subway station to eat lunch and I strayed from the usual 7-Eleven because there was a nice little group of restaurants. The menu at this lunch spot was entirely in Japanese and the waitress had some trouble translating but I ended up with this delicious fried chicken with two sauces, salad, soup, and rice for like . Holy wow. Had to get a McFlurry for dessert. This was the typical size and was like . Really nice amount. Lagunasia So one of the really cool things was that between the two parks we were at a station where bullet trains would fly through. Important to note that there are three tiers of bullet trains. The fastest makes the least stops and the slowest stops more. So some bullet trains DO stop here, others fly through. And it was alarming to say the least to see how fast these really move. I took a video and in 8 seconds the entire train went past me (the train itself is about 0.5 mile long). Do the math. Here we are at park two for the day. The ferris wheel was not part of normal park admission I don't think, but you could buy separate tickets for it. A really nice little place. Lacks a bit in quantity of attractions but most everything I rode was GREAT. Our offerings. Aqua Wind was super fun. Honestly, if every park had this instead of the typical mouse, they'd be better off. The family coaster had a nice little soundtrack that played during the ride. Odd, but nice. Not a clue what this was. But the park did have another coaster. It was a super wonky train with incredibly abrupt and unfortunate transitions. But was fun, since it was well themed. And there was a 4D option, so I did both. The suspended shooting dark ride was really awesome. It was neat because you had all sorts of different vantage points. Magical Powder! This was a trip. The premise was that you could take this magical powder and it would have different effects. And I believe the plot of the ride was basically that the characters really needed it and were super depressed until they got some. I can't honestly do it justice. Yeah, here we are. Campbell's Soup cans full of drugs, I assume. Look carefully. A full list of your options. A couple scenes. Just check out Robb's video. The log flume was also incredible. Honest to goodness, my favorite non-Disney/Universal log flume. Believe I thought about buying a container of this for the trip home. Thanks for a lovely day! That night in Nagoya we took Robb's suggestion and went to Lockup, a weird bizarre, only in Japan type experience. Yeah, this place was weird. Gimmicky, and if I'm being totally honest, not for me, kind of place. But it was worth experiencing I guess. Food was decent, drinks were sugary but super creative. No pictures from inside, but you can check out Robb's report from Nagashima (maybe) and he goes into much more detail about the experience. Thanks for reading! Another day closer to Disney!

These are the little things that I think guests WILL notice. Maybe not every little detail. But for all the things they're doing this year, guests are bound to pick up on some of them.

^Mmhm! I really enjoy Soarin' don't get me wrong. I think for Dollywood, I would prefer NOT a flying theater option, though I could certainly see that being the route as it is super family friendly and versatile.

Yeah, I don't remember loving the old 4D theater. I am sure there is improved technology, but I feel like something with some actual movement, be it a shooter, walk through etc. would be better for my own personal taste. The park definitely will benefit from a proper dark ride if it comes to pass.

Let me preface this by saying, I love Knoebels so very much and what I am about to say is just to stir conversation, not complain. Still find the place to be an incredible value when you consider the option to just walk in with your kids without paying for admission or parking. I checked Knoebels website and noticed it looks a lot nicer. l Checked the pricing page for the rides and noticed (as is expected from time to time), prices have gone up again. I am a weird person in that I have a tendency to remember things like old prices, so just try not to judge me too hard for that! Some noticeable changes: Flying Turns: $3 --> $3.50 Black Diamond: $2.50-->$3 Phoenix, Twister, and Impulse: Unchanged at $3. Flyers: $1.75 --> $2 Flume, Power Surge, Skloosh: $2 --> $2.25 Ferris Wheel: $2 --> $2.50 Where we are now as far as the remaining rides: Kiddies: between $1.25-$1.50 Mild Flats: $1.75-$2 Intense Flats: $2-2.25 Coasters: $3-$3.50 Obviously way cheaper than any boardwalk park, still. But I can remember my first visit maybe 7 years ago was more like: Kiddies: $1 Flats: $1.25-1.75 Coasters: $2.50 Now, again. I recognize prices will change. And if you take off 20% from all these from Weiss Market, you're looking at a different story. AND, you can always just buy wristbands. The prices aren't like dramatically worse, I just wonder if there is a breaking point for SOME (not me) guests. FWIW, it appears wristbands have stayed pretty similar in price, so they might alternate which they increase. I see $43 for summer with wooden coasters. Just was curious if anyone who has been to Knoebels over the years has any thoughts?

This looks like a neat little diversion. The parks can always use more attractions like this that are not E-ticket, but serve a purpose and are absolutely worth doing! Sure won't hurt come Galaxy's Edge.

Lots of great stuff in these last couple reports! Love to see new parks and it is awesome how frequently you get around to see them. I would love to visit some more water parks. Honestly, I have been to Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon, Waldameer's, Delgrosso's, SFA, and a couple indoor ones.

I would respectfully disagree that Kennywood should be charging $70. I agree the parking adds value to the park. The park has been steadily increasing prices IMO. $1-2/year adds up. I would bet that in 2010, gate prices were around $30. So to be at $55 in 10 years is quite an increase. Like I said, you can still find great deals (right now, you can get two tickets for $58). But, this was a sharp increase for one year, even considering the addition.

Day 12: Legoland Japan, Higashiyama Zoo, Culture, and Heavy Metal Showcase PHEW! This was a busy, busy day. But one of my favorites of the trip by far. I believe we re-organized days on the trip because the original day for Nagashima Spa Land looked rainy. We swapped that park with the Legoland day (less important for good weather). But the weather turned out perfect both days. Honestly, we had great weather for most of the trip. Legoland Japan We took a quick subway trip up to Legoland (it does have its own station so it is easy to access) and arrived before opening. There is a nice little outdoor shopping district that you walk through as you approach the park entrance. If there is one thing that became immediately clear, it was that the park as a whole was packed into a tight footprint, especially when you looked at how close the hotel was to the gate. Either way, this was my first Legoland experience and it was definitely fun! The park absolutely needs to expand a bit before I would consider it a good value (that has been one of the main complaints). But what they do have is fun fun! It was quite crowded compared to other parks we went to on the trip, but we made the most of the 4 or 5 hours we spent there. I think I walked past this McDonald's in the morning en route to an ATM (I had many a problem this trip getting money out as certain 7-Eleven ATMs worked and others didn't for my debit card. But I was fascinated by the separate area to pour liquids. Seems smart. Also, these 'seats' are clearly designed to get people in and out quickly. I've already mentioned but it is worth repeating. McDonald's in Japan is actually quite nice. Service is super speedy and Shaka Shaka Chicken is great! Here was our hotel entrance. I found this to be a nice way to beautify a parking garage. We have arrived! The hotel is pretty neat looking, but as mentioned, it all feels realllllly cramped at the entrance. The beautiful lego structures begin. One thing I'll mention. They let us through with our tickets before park officially opened and we all hung out on the little main street area before the park broke off in different directions. Around 3 minutes before park open, the staff member actually pulled the rope back and told everyone to patiently wait until he signaled. Everyone did as they were told and then he gestured the go-ahead at 10:00 and then we went ahead. I feel like this would've been a real challenge in the states. NEMO! This is not an ideal picture. Not at all. All ready to roll. I did appreciate all the little touches throughout the park. We went off to the left toward the Dragon Coaster and Dragon's Apprentice. Because... coasters! This was a fun little coaster. The little dark ride up front is nice but I wish it was like twice as long (how I feel about Seven Dwarfs Mine Train as well). Blurry shot of Submarine Adventure. Quite a fun little ride. Loads of real and Lego Fish populated the water. As with everything at the park, though, it felt short. If everything was just 30-50% longer, I think I would have been more content. Seems like a budget/space issue, but I don't know. When you got off the ride, they had some little fish exhibits. Important to note, there was nothing stopping guests from reaching right into the water. But that is a okay in Japan, because people are more aware that they are being given a special privilege and they shouldn't muck it up for everyone. This guy. The Adventure themed shooting dark ride was also fun but shortish! One thing I found really nice was that they had little Lego boards in line where kids could play while in line. We had lunch at the Pizza and Pasta buffet and it was pretty solid. gets you four or five different types of pizza, three types of pasta, salad, breadsticks, and a drink. I would recommend! The driving school was adorable and something I know I would've loved as a kid. Everyone made an actual effort to drive somewhat responsibly which was impressive for how young the kids were. I really love the Sax. And the direwolf. MINILAND. Umeda Sky Building, which I explored earlier on in the trip. This area was beautiful. I could've spent forever exploring the little details that I am sure the designers are hoping folks catch. I was especially struck by this area. Actually made me want to visit which is why I took this picture for future reference. Tokyo Skytree was definitely the biggest structure. Look at the folks next to it for scale. I think it was more than a million pieces for this building alone. Tokyo Stadium. They even had these buttons that would make the pieces interactive. For this one, a guy ran around the bases after hitting a home run. Dotonbori. I like the play on the Glico Running Man. The closest I got to seeing all of Mt. Fuji. We then hopped on the observation tower after considering the brick tour but deciding we didn't have enough time. This gives you the lay of the land up front and some perspective on how close everything is together. Some more aerial shots of Miniland and the park. So we headed out from Legoland maybe around 1:30-2. Some folks were headed to the SCMAGLEV and Railway Park, which is a pretty new (2011) museum that has loads of old and new trains and even a Shinkansen simulator. They randomly select a few guests each day to try the simulator. It is if selected (I assume just to weed through people who don't care as much) and it sounded really neat. I could see myself visiting on a future trip. But.... Higashiyama Zoo We decided instead to visit this Zoo. Animals > Trains. ...or is that really why we decided to visit? The zoo actually has a little amusement park with a powered coaster, a small jet coaster, and a slope coaster. Yeah, a slope coaster (not my name for it). We arrived around 3 and had two hours. Admission is really cheap ($6-8 or so) and rides are sold separate ($2-3 each). We made our way up steps (surprise, surprise) and got enough tickets to ride the three coasters. This park also had a convenient subway station, which factored into us deciding to go. I remember seeing some sort of plaque that indicated this zoo was partners or somehow affiliated with either the San Diego or LA zoos. Cannot find it on the internet, but yeah... it is a big zoo (second most visited behind Ueno Zoo in Tokyo. Our map. We bought our tickets from a lady behind a counter before seeing you could purchase from this machine instead. Oh well! Well, here we are. This funky looking ride, that we did not ride. This was kind of sad... Some goofy swings. The jet coaster and ferris wheel. THE MAIN REASON WE ARE HERE. The one of a kind slope coaster. I had seen videos of this and truly had no idea it was in Japan until the day of or the day before this visit. It was absolutely one of those unexpected highlights for me. We actually waited a good 30 minutes because they had 2 or 3 cars running total and they only fit 1 or 2 people each. But the ride itself was super unique and actually really fun. In a way, I would definitely enjoy having one of these in the states. It is by no means thrilling but it is super unique and good fun. You were kindly escorted from the station to the lift where you would usually wait 10-15 seconds before a mechanism would latch onto your car to pull you up the lift. If you haven't seen the video, I highly recommend you youtube Slope Coaster and look for TPR's video. After riding, we had 50 or so minutes left to explore the zoo in rapid fashion. One thing I will say is that the zoo exhibits were generally less than ideal in size and upkeep. I wouldn't mind paying twice the $$ to give these animals better homes. World's largest bird of prey, I guess. How cute! Koalas! This was a nice surprise I think this guy had one of the nicer exhibits. The zoo was honestly really large and a bit hard to navigate at points. But I would say definitely worth a couple hour visit if you are nearby. For the price, especially. An opportunity to see something you may be used to seeing in your home country, but in a different light. Feel like this was the Kawahara Shrine upon trying to google shrines that were close to the zoo. But at any rate, we spent some time here exploring. Believe there was a ceremony going on which was interesting to hear a bit of as we meandered around. Big Buddah big buddah. There was a cemetery as well which we briefly explored. From there, I decided something I wanted to check off my bucket list in Japan was to see a concert. I love going to shows. I'm probably good for 10-15 concerts a year and usually a festival. So I hopped off the subway and found myself outside of Club Zion. Before I went in, I needed dinner. So I went to 7-Eleven and grabbed some chicken and onigiri plus a tea. I loved this little dog parking sign.. This was the show I had found. Definitely not a big thing. But I am a bit of a metal head and so it sounded like a neat opportunity to go to a showcase of sorts. The flier. I tracked this down on the internet today. Funny story about the show, though... I paid with a 5000 yen billl for a 2900 yen show. I ended up receiving like 6400 yen back in change. I tried hard to explain to the guy at the front that this was incorrect. The language barrier made this difficult. I got my ticket and was handed a drink ticket and was on my way. Got paid to see four bands play. It was honestly a great time and I am so glad I went. That night, we got back and met up with others for Karaoke right by our hotel. Probably one of the Joy Joy franchises you see everywhere in Japan. I didn't necessarily know what to expect, but will give my thoughts here. Pricing wise, it was confusing. I am not sure if we misinterpreted or were misled accidentally, but we were basically told that it would be 900 yen a person/hour even if the 8 of us shared a room. It would actually be the same price per person apparently if we each requested our own room (which would be no fun). This didn't seem quite right to me. But you do get unlimited non alcoholic beverages, so I understand the need for some fixed cost/person. We had a nice hour of fun, and I am glad to say I did it because it certainly is a unique Japanese thing. I also noticed quite a few people who DID rent out a room just to sing alone. Maybe a good way to blow off some steam! That's all I got for now. Thanks for reading!

Just now seeing that the gate prices at Kennywood have sky rocketed (pun). I believe gate prices were around $44 last year tops. They are now $50 for weekdays, and $55 for weekends. You can still get them cheaper online and at Giant Eagle I assume. But that is a huge increase IMO. I know they've put loads of money into the park these past two years, so it isn't a complaint so much as an observation. Also, I am a little uneasy still about how in your face this ride is around the lagoon and on the bridge. It just seems like a weird thing to look at when you compare it to the rest of the views (Jack Rabbit, Racer, Paratrooper, etc.). It is probably going to take some getting used to for me. But certainly, am still excited to give it a ride.

Day 11: Parque Espana Sorry for the long delay in reports! We are back. So, I can honestly say I don't remember how we got there this day. I really feel like it was via rail and cab as usual. I can only remember bussing one day (Fuji Q). But, we arrived. And we were briefed in advance that the weather looked... horrible. I didn't attach the screenshot of the radar that Elissa sent us. But it was expected to be brutal. Fortunately, there was quite a bit to do at this park indoors, which was a welcome change. I didn't take too many pictures because of the rain. And I also think I forgot to pack the poncho that we were given in our bag (believe I borrowed someone's or just suffered. It is all kind of blurry. What I do remember is really liking this park. I enjoyed the bizarre layout, Tron Butt was a strange, strange coaster that didn't do much of anything but I kind of love coasters like that. They had a nice collection of dark rides and walkthroughs and I show a bizarre show and had a yummy lunch. Pyrenees was down for a while due to rain. But would we get to ride it? READ ON. Or skim through. Sorry I have a total of one coaster picture in the report. Of the kiddie coaster. More morning snacks, I assume. First up was the Nutcracker themed dark ride. Great picture taking here, I know. It was a pretty pretty ride and I am always a sucker for dark rides. One of the many things I loved about these parks. Next up was... what could this be? ALICE IN WONDERLAND WALKTHROUGH. This was a seriously screwed up experience. Clearly a rip off, but also so much fun I think I actually went through twice? Maybe? This day seems like more of a blur than the others in a way. I do remember that it had a maze component, a boss battle component, and also an interactive wand that you could point at certain things and they would interact. Like this one. Alice is 'interacting' with the 'wand.' See? So at some point we began down a path that honest to goodness felt like we were leaving the park. It was taking us pretty far out from the main drag of the park. There wasn't any rides as we went down the hill. But at the bottom we were greeted with a whole new area. I believe the ship wasn't really open for full exploration but was a nice touch. Little water play area. Here was a fun little dark ride a la Peter Pan! Also down in this area was a ride I was seriously looking forward to. Unfortunately, I was let down. It used to be a Pirates of the Caribbean rip off that started out in a little lake and then entered a huge show building before plunging down into the lake. As it turns out, they recently closed off the indoor portion of the ride and re-routed the ride back toward the station much quicker. On our way out, we talked to the rides manager who said they didn't have the money to repair the stuff in the show building. Sad to hear, but not terribly surprising. Now, this was something I knew existed and was aware of once I signed up for the trip thanks to previous TPR trip reports. But the Escalator Ride was a bizarre but welcome way back up to the top of the park. A/C was nice, too! There were also two main concourses in the park that had additional shops, rides, and food. The whole park didn't really feel like most other parks in Japan and was super well themed. We have arrived! Like many other parks in Japan, this one also had a nicely covered main street to shop and eat. Went here for lunch and I had... I forget. See a trend. But it was tasty and not your typical park food. After lunch, we decided to stay indoors some more and take in a show. What was this show about, you ask? It was a show (in Japanese) that went through each letter of the alphabet detailing an item significant to Went around and explored the area of the park that had most of the flat rides. They also had a weird train crossing thingy. A credit! Please open. Flume was a lot of fun though! Mine train was also closed due to rain and the two interact with each other a bit! They say no. It is looking bettttttttter! Long story short, Robb had been working with the Rides Manager all day trying to get an idea if the coaster would open so he could tape. It was looking like if Pyrenees didn't open, we would get some Tron Butt ERT, which, though it sounded nice... didn't sound... THAT nice. Fortunately, the park pulled through and said we could ride if we wore ponchos because of the oil and grease that would likely be dripping down onto us (coaster hadn't really cycled all day). It was well worth it, as this was 100% my favorite coaster of the trip and possibly my favorite Invert. Hard to say, really because you never ride them back to back. But it was forceful and relentless. Wait! Are we taking a picture outside of the closed coaster? Or... did it open? Now for some pictures of me. This one is great Left after that and did some exploring around Nagoya. I had found a few bars I wanted to check out. This was not one of them. Neither was this. But very appropriate. This guy was also walking around. Not my kind of look. But a look, nonetheless. I found this fascinating. Loads of cars parked in here. First stop. Downstairs. Sadness. I know gaming bars like this are a bit gimmicky but I dunno! It sounded fun. Second option. Monk Bar. Down this sketchy hall. Also closed as the owner was away from work for a few days. I'll leave you with this high quality shot of some building in Nagoya that fascinated me. This wasn't my best effort as far as reports go! But, there will be better to come. I believe we got some Legos in the next report, so that'll be good. Thanks as always for reading!

^Yeah, there are two trails in the whole park that are. I haven't hiked either of them, but they are both like 3-3.5 miles and are out and back trails. Gatlinburg Trail and Oconaluftee River Trail. Hope this helps!

If you check out my post on page 1721 (it’s quite long so I didn’t want to quote it here)... I have loads of our favorites for the area, including some specific mountain highlights! Happy travels!

Do-Dodonpa wasn’t bad for me, just intense. Eejanaika Isn’t my cup of tea and is definitely more intense than most coasters out there. It’s really difficult to say whether that ride would give you trouble. It’s disorienting to say the least. Otherwise, you’re probably a okay there. As far as coaster selection goes, Nagashima was way more my speed. If you’re going to both, great! If you’re skipping Nagashima, I would double check reports from both to see what you’d like best.

In a backwards kind of way, I enjoyed going during the park after dark event in 2017. It was nice to see the park fairly crowded. But yeah, some of the pictures from the $5 days showed actual lines for rides. And Blue Streak’s capacity is.. questionable, obviously.

Oh! That’s a shame! I did get to ride what is likely now my favorite log flume (sans Disney/Universal) later on in the trip (foreshadowing). And yeah... I really do agree. It’s probably my favorite park besides Disney in Japan! I’ll probably incorporate it into a report eventually! This comes with a tea pairing and I’m a big sucker for hot tea. And yeah, it was probably one of the only American meals I had. And it was quite good. Just a rip off and ultimately none of it really stayed down anyway. I’m glad you’re enjoying it so much, I love to hear the positive feedback! They did have a modern Looper, so I guess that’s similar to Knoebels.

Day 10: Nagashima Spa Land Welcome back! So, today we headed out from Osaka to Nagoya. Nagoya actually falls between Tokyo and Osaka on the map. We had a couple great parks planned for this region and I was looking forward especially to Nagashima Spa Land since I joined the trip. Steel Dragon is certainly one of the coasters that I knew of long before I became an 'enthusiast,' along with The Beast, Volcano, and probably some others. Also, I was desperately hoping I would finally get my Ultra Twister fix. Read on to find out! It was certainly sad to leave Universal property. The hotel was really nice, we enjoyed the breakfast a lot, and yeah. But, I believe this was another day where we did a luggage transfer. Really nice to have this set up, so we could just be on our merry way for the day and then just have our luggage waiting for us at the hotel. And we're off! I think a trip into Nagoya proper we would have probably only been looking at a 45 minute trip. But I think we took the train straight to the station near the park, so maybe a bit closer to 1.5-2 hours. Either way, not too shabby! Not before grabbing my snack and beer. Unfortunately, I didn't splurge to try this. I was a bit horrified honestly. I did get this, though. Always trying a different delicious drink. I believe this could possibly have been Nagoya station? I'm not certain. My snack for the travels. Very yum. I actually just signed up for Bokksu, which is a subscription box filled with Japanese snacks. Gonna give it a shot. Need a little fix. Ah! If you've been following along, I mentioned having a picture of the pricing schemes for cabs. So about minimum fare for first 1.5 km (roughly 1 mile). From there, about /km or roughly /mile. Definitely pricier than in the States, anyway. Some GREAT pictures from the cab. Our cab driver actually took us to the 'old entrance' or something. We hustled through an outdoor shopping mall that is attached to the property and ended up at the main gate before others (similar problem it seems). There she is! Steel Dragon was certainly one of the coasters I was most looking forward to. Main entrance area was massive and impressive. I want you to tell me if at any point you are reminded a bit of... a certain other amusement park.. that might be located in the United States... might also have a similar map style... might also have a RMC conversion of a sprawling, oppressive wooden caoster... This slide complex was absolutely nuts. Impossible to even get a good count on how many slides are up there. This little cycle monorail thing was adorable. Dunno if it was pedal powered or what. It seemed automatic. The first of two Schwarzkopf's at the park. Never been on one of these guys and honestly, they were a lot of fun. I can't do lots of backwards. But this was just the right amount and the launch was, of course, forceful and enjoyable. Here is Looping Star. The other. This park has their fair share of flats. Really, the most flats of any park in Japan that we went to. First time on a 1st gen Intamin drop tower, too. And yeah, it was horrifying but absolutely thrilling. Big, big wheel. We will be coming back for you. I know there are tons of pictures now of the completed layout of the Hakugei, so the timing seemed ripe for me to post this report, because I took a bunch of pictures of what it looked like back in late June. Our first stop of the day was Steel Dragon. Robb wanted to make sure we all got on this and Acrobat before he left us to ourselves. If the lines were bad, he planned to buy us fast passes. I will tell you that the line was NOT bad. But the operations for this ride were pretty rough. I guess there was an incident in 2003 with the trains and it shut down for 3 years after that. Maybe that contributes to the 1 train operations they generally always run or the way they load and dispatch trains. But it did seem awfully slow. No worries! We would be back after park close for some filming. Looming in the distance is the prize jewel of the park (for me, anyway). This picture is out of order in that its from our filming session at the end of the day. But yeah, I ain't moving it. I'm really in love with this shot Robb's rider cam caught of me! Never really had a cool 'on ride photo' before this. Not my picture, (sorry Elissa) but I needed to at least explain the Bobkarts here a bit better. Basically, as with most things in the park, it was built for capacity. There were two separate tracks. You hop into the kart and I believe you have a lever or something to control the speed. And you move pretty quickly around the steel trough and it is really really just a fun couple minutes. I would LOVE if other parks had these. Does this look familiar to anyone? Another shot of Demon Drop. So earlier, it was not open. We stopped back over after we saw it cycling and... It was open! Ever since playing Roller Coaster Tycoon (obsessively), I had a fascination with this ride. In retrospect, I kind of hate that RCT made the stats for this ride unreasonably bad (impossible to get a decent excitement), because they're not half bad at all. The mechanics of it are kind of ridiculous and imperfect, but it is almost charming in a way (same with the 1st gen Intamin drop towers, in that it is clear they have discovered better ways to get you up the tower). We explored the pretty screwed up haunted walk thru. It was ridiculous as ever. This was kind of the only dark ride type thing at the park (at least that I know of). A bit unusual for a Japanese park. But again, this place felt pretty different in not a bad way.. Lunch was some more Katsu Curry. It was like for this and it came with a salad. In a park. And it was tasty! Here is where you go to eat at this park. Don't mess this up. Now for something TOTALLY different. They have two enormous viking ships at the park that duel. A THRILLING POWERED COASTER. Gotta at least ride it to say we did, I guess. They had one of these odd bouncy house type things, but it looked way more fun. However, once the group inside was done, the lady informed us we were too old. That's okay..... I can totally respect that we don't belong on this. But this. This was a must ride, I felt. Unfortunately, my group disagreed. Another little free play area to ride little vehicles around. Stopped in a gift shop. They did have quite a bit of merchandise that was specific to the park, which up to this point (except Universal) was pretty uncommon. You'd be lucky most places to find a single item that was specifically branded to the park (e.g. a keychain). Largely, they just sold... stuff. But yeah, this is a great shirt. Another shot that isn't great, but it gives some scale to the Viking Ship as sits next to the 'kiddie' pirate ship (normal full size). Yeah, this is just insanity. Here is the thing with Nagashima. Every ride pretty much you get a stretchy band with a key for the locker to put your stuff in. This ride was clearly retrofitted with the lockers, because the way they load it is a bit crazy. Instead of people exiting into the middle area between the two ships and then the gate opening at each row to let in new guests, they have to exit people out the way they came in. In other words, guests in line wait to pick a row until after everyone leaves. Seems to kind of detract form the decision to install two 160 person pirate ships. But alas. I rode (in the middle because I hate these things). It was very... tame... the hype and the scale of it is just kind of hype. Think I was on the powered monorail cute thing from before. An actually good picture! Jet Coaster was slated to be down for the day for maintenance. There were certainly other coasters that could've been down, so this was sad but no big deal. The maintenance crew did cycle trains and they rode 1 per row with hard hats on. Which was amusing. A little resting area set up in the park. Folks just sleeping. Think there now a ton of pictures here from the Ferris Wheel, so I hope they are decent. Huge huge Pittsburg Plunge ride (yeah I actually call these rides that no matter where they are). Another park set on the water. They had a power tower, too! Oh! There is Mr. Looping Star. The park has such a ridiculous set of high capacity rides. And when they aren't, they make them high capacity. Two wild mouses, two viking ships, two Turnpike rides (again, Kennywood). Also, the Turknpike ride hauled. It was more like a go kart on a controlled track. Some more photos of what is sure to be a great addition to the park. If I had it my way, I would've enjoyed riding White Cyclone OR this new beast while I was there. Unfortunately, I must return. What a tragedy. After the Ferris Wheel, I used the remaining little meal coupon I think we got for some ice cream. It was really good, as expected. I love me some matcha. More flats! Well played. A beauty. After close, we did some filming on Acrobat, Steel Dragon, and this. Arashi. I had been on Green Lantern at SFMM and I really did not care for that. For me, this thing was awful. A couple other tall people agreed. It busted my balls like crazy and it just was a bit too much. I can totally see how folks could enjoy it. But this was a one and done for Taylor. My last picture from the park is of a vending machine. I dunno if you can see the prices, but yeah. Affordable. Here was our hotel. In fact, it was actually just a couple floors at the top of the building. The first bit was an electronics store. The hotel was super convenient to Nagoya Station. That night, we set out for dinner at a place called Midtown BBQ. It looked solid. Couldn't find any pricing but it ended up being good but super pricey (as was this whole area by Nagoya Station). Four of us split the Dinosaur Platter which came with chicken, pork, sausage, ribs, cole slaw, and chili fries. I did not take a picture of it. But it was roughly 0 and was very underwhelming in portion size. Just about everything that they described came out in a smaller portion than we anticipated. But it was an American style bbq place and I guess meat just isn't consumed on that kind of scale usually. Also, a liter of Sapporo was like . I did not partake in beer here. BUT. We stumbled upon Kirin City. Which had much more affordable options. They did have frozen drafts, but I did not try. My beer came to me... well-poured. It was actually pretty solid. I will leave you with a great anecdote about how the only time I truly got sick in Japan from food was from American style BBQ. I felt a okay until the middle of the night and yeah. Not good. But everything else I ate... no problems. So with that, thanks for reading and following along! We got some really good parks still to come. Disney is getting closer!

You are speculating they will close down County Fair? That would seem quite irresponsible given that, until this expansion, I would argue they had a shortage of flat rides. Pretty much every flat ride ride except for a couple was in that area. I don't see them shutting it down, really. There are quite a few rides there. While I don't feel that County Fair is perfect and it does feel slightly out of place, it serves an obvious purpose for the park and is still plenty nice.

Day 9: Hirakata Park, and Kyoto So today was our do over day at Universal. By now, we were hopeful that the coasters would be open again after the Earthquake. We had been given 9000 yen and had the option to put that toward a new ticket. I figured I was there and it wasn't really any more money than I had already paid, so I went into the park that morning. I was looking for pictures and didn't take any from the park. I realize now that was because my one contact bugged out on me and so I was walking around with incredibly blurred vision. However, the coasters DID open up for us. So I got a couple spins each on Flying Dinosaur, Hollywood Dream, and Backdraft. I dunno if I hit anything else that morning. But I feel like I didn't, because my eyes were so irritated. Either way, it was really great to get a second shot at the park. A smaller trip like this with folks who are very flexible means plans can change much easier. So I left the park around noon maybe and went back to the hotel, switched contacts, and we were on our way to Hirakata (which we had originally planned to be at around 10 at park open). Instead, we got there around 1, 1:30 and had three hours there. As you'll see in my pictures (look for people that aren't clearly from our group, you'll see very few), that was enough time to do most ALL of what they had to offer, which was a lot. I would really say if you are traveling to Japan and want to seamlessly blend amusement parks and culture, Hirakata makes a lot of sense, as it falls kind of en route to Kyoto from Osaka and is right outside the train station. NOT MY PICTURE. But yeah, we did go back to the park to ride this beauty. Honestly, has to be my favorite flyer. It was wicked intense, especially in the back. So much so, that two rides did me in plenty. Hirakata Park This park has so much to offer. Has a good number of credits for a Japanese park if that's what you're into. But they are quality. Elf was a fun little Junior Woodie (also, the only wooden coaster of the trip for me). Red Falcon was definitely my favorite jet coaster for sheer WTF factor. It was just a mess of track in the worst way. And then there was Fantastic Coaster Rowdy which was absolutely unpleasant, but again, a blast in its own way. A really nice assortment of flats, dark rides, and an overall super clean and great place. We have arrived. There weren't all that many parks that were right off the train station, this was one of them though. Park was hilly, but not quite as much so as some other places we went. The mountain in the middle was not JUST for show. In a bit, I'll talk about it some more. Elf wasn't like a TOP 10 CRAZY WOODEN COASTER. But it was nice and had a few pops of air depending on where you sat. It was nice to get my woodie fix. The gang! Don't think I rode this one, but that was only because there was so much else to do. This park had a huge theater space. As well as some switchbacks for the coasters. I could definitely see the place getting quite crowded in the busy months. She's a beaut. Not really, but it was a blast in its own way. Just riding for the first time without any real idea what weird sh*t it is going to throw at you was fun. KIDDIE. I kind of forget what this walk through was like. But I do appreciate the option I guess. It was a really nice park, and I definitely took a lot of pictures, because it was bigger than a lot of the other places we went. On the wild mouse, they had these little carts you would put your stuff in that they would move shuffle in and out as people entered and exited the ride. It actually worked really well. They had these little ice cream cones in vending machines for like 14.20. That is another thing I really liked about Japan. Vending machine prices did not really vary all that much. Parks sold bottled drinks for comparable prices for the most part. Another screaming log flume. Closed, unfortunately. Great sign, really. This ice house was ABSOLUTELY needed. It felt so refreshing to step in and I wish this was a thing in the States (and was just included in park admission). It is these little attractions that gave Japanese parks so much charm. A goofy little flat ride. I dunno what these are called, but you like turn around once or twice during the ride. Nicely themed. A strange little ride. Another strange little ride. The park was just FULL of rides. Including one of those baby baby flume rides, with this great promo photo. I dunno exactly what they were going for... but... One of the odd park mascots insisted on getting a picture with us in the little gardens they had in one of the corners of the park. A bunch of us recreated the pose and I am having a little too much fun with it. They had this weird outdoor shooting ride. Again, no need to have a ride like this. Not a huge draw. But man, is it fun to just walk around a new park in Japan and stumble upon weird stuff like this (and just walk right on). Nice train ride around a big chunk of the park. I think this one had like a really fake sounding whistle that he could and DID play a lot. The little scenic boat ride thingy. I dunno how to describe it, exactly. I was of the mindset to just do it all. This does not look like a hugely exciting ride, obviously. But I would honestly say that I am more into the overall park than coasters. There were certainly people on the trip who were different than me in that sense. But I am interested in pretty much any ride or attraction that is unique in any way (any tracked or custom ride, really). Another odd mascot. This kid is horrified. There is that octopus ride again. This experience deserves some explanation. Basically, we approached the entrance and the lady gestured that it would be a couple minutes. It seemed like quite a bit of time, so I assumed it wasn't just like a normal walk through attraction where they were trying to just space you out. I was correct there, but I never could've known what was in store. Basically, she escorted us into a room that had sarcophagi lining the walls. They were all open and she instructed us to sit inside them on a chair and gave us a pair of headphones. The door was then shut and our hands were placed through some openings so that they were on the outside of the sarcophagus. It was dark inside the space, except for a small TV screen that began to play some weird creepy clips and sounds. At one point, something kind of slapped my hands but it was so cheesy I didn't really flinch. None of it really 'scared' me, but it was just bizarre in the best way. When we were done, the employee came out after a minute with print outs for each of us. I can't really say for sure what was said on the print out, except that it seemed to be some kind of measure of how frightened you were during the whole ordeal. Just great stuff. What a ride. This gives you a pretty good idea of it all. Sorry, Adam. Okay, so the last thing we decided to do on our way out of the park was find out what was in this mysterious mountain. To our surprise, it was a bit of a scavenger hunt. We kind of kept walking around the initial room clueless after being given a map of sorts. Eventually, someone came over and was super enthusiastic about helping us along. I can't really recall all the details, but I can remember at one point like doing things like "find the odd one out" and other things like that. You would sort of punch out the answers to the various questions throughout the hunt and then at the end you would insert the map back into a machine which would check to see that the right answers had been punched out. Think we got a little trading card at the end. But the best part was the boss battle. It was some kind of lava monster thing. And there was a room we entered with a little mini volcano type thing in the middle and four touch screens at each corner. The object was simple for this boss battle. Well, not really. We had to do two things. 1. Frantically destroy these lava things on the screen by tapping them quickly. 2. Throw these blue 'ball pit' balls into the center of the volcano. They would dispense into a little pond of sorts in each corner and as you would throw them into the center, the lava would also subside on the screen. You were fighting with water, I guess. I remember getting SO into it and I think we maybe won? After, I felt bad because there were a bunch of the balls all over the ground. We started to help clean up, but they insisted we leave and let them take care of it. Sorry that none of this really amounts to much for readers who didn't visit this park. Just thought I ought to at least try to explain for my own recollection later on. So yeah, this was a blast. And also a really nice day at the park, overall. Where to next? We headed off from there to Kyoto. Fushimi Inari Taisha, more precisely. We probably left Hirakata around 4, 4:30 and took a really quick 35 minute train to the shrine (has a dedicated subway station). Here is a map you see upon entering that gives you an idea of the whole complex. It is quite expansive with most of the larger structures residing at the bottom. Here is what you see from the bottom. Inari is the God of Rice (thanks wikipedia). I really did take a lot of pictures here and I cannot say I totally grasp or understand what I was seeing, so I will do my best just to explain what it was like exploring the complex. This was the beginning of the loop trail that goes up the mountain. The whole loop takes about two hours to do and your journey up includes tons of mini shrines and also thousands of these torii gates. I think on the way down I asked my group how many they thought there were in the complex. Forget how close anyone got to the closest actual estimates (around 10,000). It was one of the few places I had known about prior to visiting from a friend who visited. Coming up on another set of the gates. Most all of the trail was under these gates with occasional breaks for little shrines. It is so very difficult to fully paint a picture of what this experience was like because there was just so much to see everywhere. This was an odd little area where there seemed to be loads of cats hanging around. Another interesting tid bit. There were vending machines throughout the loop (thank goodness), but as you went up, they got more expensive (more difficult to stock). So, I would bring some water and snacks with you, but don't expect to see a single garbage can. You carry your trash with you a lot in Japan (it is not typical to eat and walk, so there isn't as much of a need for trash cans). There was also not a single piece of litter along this whole trail which was just crazy. Some beautiful views as we climb up the mountain. More good views of the city of Kyoto. Well, this was an endless off shoot of the main trail that I think was described simply as "Nice View." I did not take this trail. We would catch this very view again on our way down once the sun began to set. This is marker 6 on the map you'll see in just a few pictures. It is the part of trail that you pass through on your way up and down. Gives you a bit more perspective on the whole vibe. This was the summit of the whole trail and by this point we were fairly pooped. It is quite a few steps up. Look how proud we are. Map! And here we are! I will say it didn't seem like the map that was at the bottom was super accurate in terms of scale, just kind of count on 2-2.5 hours up and down if you walk at a decent clip. So there was a little capsule machine to dispense fortunes. If the fortune is bad, as I mentioned earlier in the trip, you are to fold it up and sort of tie it up on a post of sorts. If it is good, you take it with you. What would my fortune be?! I DON'T KNOW HOW TO READ THIS. Part of me expected an English translation since this was largely a touristy area. Alas, I think I tied it up just in case. We head down. And it is starting to get close to that time! A really beautiful place to watch a sunset. The trip down is quite a bit quicker than up, it seems. Back to where we started. Any time something passed you on the belt, you could grab it. There was different prices associated with each color plate and you got a check handed to you by staff after they checked your finished plates. I think I liked my sushi in Tokyo better, but this place was fun! It was quite a popular place, but we didn't wait too long since we agreed to split up into two groups of two. So Kyoto Station is impossible to describe. But there is this enormous staircase that gets lit up and animates. Off to the sides are tall buildings that are connected to the station area kind of. If you go all the way up the steps, there is a little garden and some viewing areas for the city. This tower was a popular attraction but we did not partake. The view looking down from pretty high up the staircase. I swear, it was escalator after escalator. Probably about 8 of them to get from the bottom to the top. Nothing quite like it. I'll leave you with another view of Kyoto. I know those pictures didn't do the station justice, but look it up for yourself. It really is worth visiting if you are going to go to Kyoto. Thanks for reading! From there, we took a quick train ride to Kyoto Station, which would ultimately be our way home; but the station itself is an attraction unto itself. We agreed to go to a Conveyor Belt Sushi place (seemed like a rite of passage). This place was pretty good actually!

Interesting little tid bit from Kennywood's Facebook. They are starting all new team members out at $1.40 more per hour and giving all other employees a raise. I am assuming they were not being paid too, too well before. But $1.40 is a fairly significant increase honestly. I'm sure it won't be a complete game changer for operations or anything. but it is certainly a sign of the park's success.