bert425

^ ah. . you're right! We put the luggage over there in the corner of the lobby once we got there and were told rooms weren't ready yet. that's why it was there. . I'll go edit to correct that! and agreed 100% on the Minions room. . I have flashbacks just from the inside of the elevators. . (and yes, that *totally* makes sense on the Shinkansen. . I really thought the other trains went a little bit faster, but if on lines that don't stop as often, that absolutely makes sense why they are faster)

It seemed that I'd already done a heck of a lot in Japan, and seen a ton (and I had). but this morning, Thurs, 10/10, was actually the "true" start of the trip with TPR. Everyone that would be along with us had arrived, and this morning we were to be checked out of Shinagawa Prince Hotel, and head to Osaka for the first Official stop on this October/Halloween trip: Universal Studios Japan. We met down in the lobby, and got ready to head to the Shinagawa station with Bags in hand. Today was the day I (and I suspect many) had been looking forwards to the most thus far: traveling via Shinkansen (the Bullet Trains). Before we got going, Elissa gathered us around to offer an update on Typhoon Hagibis. It was still a major storm (I believe it may have even been Category 5 on this morning), it was bigger than the entire Country of Japan. . but it was moving very slowly - so there was no telling what day exactly it was going to hit. . tho it was looking like Friday Night/Saturday. This was good news for our full day at USJ the next day, but there was no guarantee that the park would stay open the entire day on Friday if a gigantic Typhoon was headed towards Japan. Elissa was going to keep an eye on the storm updates and keep us all in the loop.. and with that, we grabbed our carry bags, grabbed some snacks for the train from the close convenience store, and we headed across the street to the Shinagawa Station, but this time to the Shinkansen platforms. We would be taking about a 2 1/2 hour train ride to Shin Osaka, before transferring to a local train for the short ride to Osaka station proper, next to Universal CityWalk, and just up the street from the Hotel we'd be staying in: Hotel Universal Port. here comes the Shinkansen pulling into the Shinagawa Station (and a few TPR folks, like me, taking pics of it as it arrives). It was pulling in slowly (duh). . but it's so dang sleek looking. I really had never seen anything like it. we weren't on the fastest Shinkansen (as Elissa explained those make less stops), but the one we were on was the 2nd fastest, Shinkansen Hikari, which we were able to take with our Rail Passes. I believe Jon clocked our train on his app as going ~158 MPH during the ride it's a pretty long train too. we had reserved seats (a requirement for most of the cars, tho many of front cars are "open seating" with no specific seat reservation required). Elissa taught us well, and during the trip when we had to take the Shinkensen, we always got reserved seats as a back up, even if we didn't always use them - one time we ended up taking an earlier train and Jon and I just got in an open seats car. pulling out of the station, you quickly start to pass some lovely countryside. we weren't up to full speed just yet, so was able to get some fairly clear pics by moving the camera along with the landscape passing us by. when we hit that ~158 MPH speed tho, I snapped this pic without moving the camera. yeah. . that's fast. as we slowed down occasionally to pass thru stations, was able to get some really nice rural pics of Japan, as we headed from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka station. looking forwards in the car I'm in, with Allison and Alex in the seats in front of me. the seats are really quite nice. Like a decent airline (and they reclined quite nicely too) and there was a trolley cart going up and down the center aisles every 50 minutes or so, selling snacks and drinks (including hot drinks). a really nice experience. a little more "rural" pics, as we passed some more interesting buildings/scenery. after getting up to use the restroom in the space at the back of the train car (a really roomy space), I stopped and snapped this pic up the central aisle. note the crawl over the doorway, warning about the approaching typhoon, and how some train services were expected to be suspended. Also note: the little "balls" at the top of the seat corners, and the "pedals" down at the bottom of the seats. when the train is going the opposite direction? the Stewards, can step on the pedal and using the ball-grips, rotate the seats! yep, these seats will flip completely around 180 so they face the opposite direction when the train heads that way. really cool, and something I hadn't even considered would be how they handle the trains when it goes the opposite direction. and looking out the windows, I got another great glimpse of Mt Fuji. . again with no clouds. not as close as we had been yesterday at Fuji-Q. . but I would have been thrilled if this was the only view I had gotten of it, since it was still SO clear out. will only share two pics from the train, since I took so many at Fuji-Q It's actually pretty hilly in these parts of Japan, between the major cities and a bit more urban than suburbs in places (I guess. . suburban ?). it was all really interesting, and much more modern in places than I had expected (in the major cities? yes, I had expected very modern. .but these homes here are not "shacks" or "ancient buildings". . I was learning new things every day. now this? this was something that Jon had been talking about for a few days, and he had gotten a box of 8 the prior day on the way back from the park. Tokyo Banana yep, that's what they are called. they are a sponge (looked kind of like a Twinkie), but filled with a banana custard. He gave me one of his treats to try. these are one of the snacks I had grabbed at the 7-11 before leaving Shinagawa. I had thought they would be nuts of some sort, but ended up being mildly sweet dough-balls. they reminded me a lot of what I had gotten on a stick the day before at Fuji-Q. i don't think I ate the whole bag. . but they weren't terrible. they are smaller than a Twinkie and much "squishier".. the consistency was more like a "Zinger". . but without any heavy cream top, so they were squishy all over and inside? OMG. . amazing Banana flavored Custard Unlike most of the treats I tried in Japan, these were really Sweet - like most American deserts/pastries. Honestly, I think maybe I could have only eaten 2 of them (since I don't like really sweet things) but these were so good, and I'm happy I was sitting next to Jon so I got to try one. one of the very few actual stops on this Shinkensen Hikari, was in Nagoya. I took several pics of the neighborhood around the Nagoya station as we slowed down to pull in. the neon continued (and still does) to really enthrall me - even during the daytime, it's a lot of sensory input. you can see how close the Shinkensen tracks get to some of the buildings in Nagoya from our stop in the main Nagoya station, I managed to snap a pic of the Hotel we'd be coming back to stay in, in a few days: Meitetsu New Grand Hotel (which was good, because when we came back in a few days, it wasn't going to be as a big group, so i was happy that I had simply managed to snap a pic of the hotel, so I knew exactly what to look for when we came to Nagoya a few days later). if it looks like the hotel is covered with electronic ads? That's because the hotel shares it's building with a giant Electronics store - multiple floors (something like floors 2-6) are used by the electronics store, while the hotel has rooms starting on floor 7. Unfortunately, there's no access to the store from the hotel itself, and tho I really did want to go check it out? our days in Nagoya were really full, and just never made it. Tho that's a spoiler for a few days ahead Still, it was cool to accidentally get a pic of our next hotel. Pulling out from Nagoya, and starting to pick up speed again. random snaps of Homes, and landscapes. . . giving a nice flavor of this part of Japan. tho as we came into Kyoto area, we started to see some larger complexes of shared houses/duplex and some apartment buildings. our 2nd actual stop on the Shinkensen - Kyoto. . and we are getting fairly close to Shin-Osaka (maybe only 35 minutes or so more until our final stop) from the Shinkensen, as we're pulling out, you can get a wonderful view of the Pagoda at Toji Temple (which is the largest pagoda in Japan, and is classified as a World Heritage Site). as much as I regret not having time to go back on our "travel back to Nagoya Day" to check this out (there were simply too many other things that I prioritized doing on that day). .I was thrilled that I got to see this with my own eyes. even if it was thru the window of a train, passing by. Still super inspiring to see. a slightly closer view of Toji Temple's Pagoda, as we pull off. and before I knew it? we were pulling into the Shin-Osaka Station. one quick change to a local train, and 1 stop down the line, and we were in Osaka. When we left the train platforms, instead of exiting towards Universal Citywalk, we went out the opposite direction to the street. Just up the street (the 2nd one in the back) is our Hotel for our stay here in Osaka: the Hotel Universal Port (the closer one, Hotel Universal Port Vita, is apparently the newer "sister" hotel, and in Condor's recent trip report to Universal he stayed there if you're curious what the rooms/hotel look like). but we were at Universal Port - directly across the (side) street from USJ. you can tell it's an official park hotel, by how decked out the lobby is with Minions displays & photo ops. (they also have a desk to buy tix to the park here in the hotel, so no reason to line up at the ticket booths at the gates, if you don't have tix yet. I believe there was a slight discount by purchasing here too, if you do). anyways, as I'll note below, our rooms weren't quite ready yet, so we put it in the corner of the lobby - covered by "protective" netting. . tho that wasn't really needed, since everything is VERY safe in Japan. I think even if the luggage had been sitting out in the middle of the lobby (instead of "netted" over in a corner area), it would have been fine. While Elissa went to check out the room situation, I had time to roam around the largish lobby and snap some Minion pics. I really do love how all the photo ops in Japan have little signs with the date on them. Makes for a very easy memory remember queue! of course, since it was October, these Minions were all in "costume". . . LOL. . love the cape. More capes, and horns Minion wrap on the outside of the Elevator doors. perfect, if a bit overwhelming. . the interiors of the Elevators were Minions & Mirrors *everywhere* the Main Entrance to the Hotel (we came in the side, past the small store and sweets shop). if there wasn't a glare, that's the Back of USJ outside across the street. a peek at the registration/check in counter, with a long fishtank running the length of the desks behind them. More costumed Minions in the fountain on the other side of the lobby. you could get a full "Minion" themed room, tho those aren't what we were booked for. (regardless, our rooms had some Minion stuff in them anyways). Hi Elissa! Thanks again for all the work you're putting into this trip to make sure we're all having a great time, and smooth traveling during the visit! oh, and yeah. . .there's a guy in full scuba gear, just hanging out, cleaning the fish-tank. tho he did wave at me, when he saw I was taking a picture. the Original, tentative, plan for today had been that we hang around Universal Citywalk for a little bit, check into Hotel, then meet back over in Citywalk for a group Lunch/Dinner at 4pm. After which we'd have free time in Osaka to go visit Dontonbori, or Umeda areas, or just do whatever we want. but as Elissa had been keeping an eye on the Typhoon, she called a quick meeting in the lobby, to let us know: 1) the rooms weren't quite ready yet (it was just before 1pm, if I recall), and so we couldn't actually check in until ~3pm - when they expected to have them all available. 2) to hand out everyone's express passes and park tickets for the next day at USJ (we had four separate express passes, since the way that USJ does Express Passes is with certain rides on one of 2 different passes (some with timed slots). Add in Halloween Horror Nights? there were two Evening Express passes to cover the Haunts (and also additional rides).. so total four separate passes). Elissa and Robb had put together a little "cheat sheet" for us, so we could keep track, and that was REALLY appreciated. & 3) and to let us know the status of the storm, and what impact it was going to have on the plans. Typhoon Hagibis was still moving slowly, but it was absolutely going to impact our planned visit on Saturday to Central Park Himeji. The issue was going to be the trains shutting down due to the storm, so although it may have been possible to get to Central Park on Saturday, getting back if the trains shut down would be a real problem (and it would have been about 2 1/4 hour trip each way - a couple of trains, and a 30 minute taxi ride to get to the Park). So the safest thing to do, was to cut Central Park from the itinerary - which I don't think *anyone* on the trip had an issue with. of the 4 stops on the official itinerary (USJ/TDL-TDS/Nagashima Spaland/Central Park). . . Central Park was the one that I think everyone viewed as the most "missable".. even tho I'm sure it's a fine place, and would love to go there if I ever get back to Japan. Along those lines, there were no guarantees what time the weather would start to turn tomorrow (on Friday, our day at USJ), so even tho the Park was telling hotel guests it would be open on Friday? there was no way for Universal to guarantee they would be open the full hours (8:30am - 10pm). Adding to some of the uncertainty, was that several of the "big ticket attractions" such as Flying Dinosaur, Backdrop, and the Haunts - were all with evening times on the Express Passes, so there was a very real possibility that the park would be shutting down early on Friday due to the storm. Realizing this, it was noted that USJ *does* offer a discounted "late day entry", and if we wanted to be sure to get on certain rides, it might be worth our while to go to the park this afternoon. With that on the table, the group meal for the afternoon was cancelled (in case folks wanted to hit USJ), and we were encouraged to go explore Universal Citywalk, eat something, pick up some snacks at the convenience stores there - as there was no telling if we'd be able to leave the Hotel at all on Saturday, and enjoy our Thurs on Osaka. a group of us headed off together to Citywalk, going down the street that runs between the front entrance of USJ & Citywalk. . so was able to snap these pics of Hollywood Dream as we walked by it. hard to see in these pics, but the trains are covered in white glittering lights (the backdrop trains are covered in red lights) there's the main entrance (from the street. . looking up at the bridge we have to go up to for the Park & Citywalk - on either side) Now on the bridge, looking towards USJ's main gates, and catching Hollywood Dream just cresting the lift hill, and about to drop. and turning around the other direction, and looking at Universal Citywalk not super busy for lunchtime, but I think that's because the park doesn't have in/out privileges for folks to leave the park to go to Citywalk. So most folks over here just hadn't gone into the park (at least not yet) this day. we walked by this Neon/Blue King Kong a bunch of times, and still not sure if he was just a photo op, or was advertising something (wax museum? restaurant?). oh well..I treated him as a photo-op. Lots of interesting food options in Universal Citywalk. . including this place that we ALMOST went to. a "NEVER in America" place where you deep fry your own food at the table! We were eyeballing it, and Tabitha & David actually did go here, but some in the group were a little uncomfortable at the lack of sneeze-guards or any coverings over the raw items on the buffet, so the rest of us continued looking at other options. we ended up, funnily enough, at Yakiniku Karubii Champ - a Japanese Barbeque place - that had been the intended spot for the group lunch! we didn't realize that until much later, and then had a nice laugh with everyone that we had managed to sorta/kinda stick to the group lunch plan anyways. the food was ordered via an Ipad type system (something I saw a few times while in Japan), and then the plates of raw, or rare meats/veggies would be delivered to the table, and you cook them yourself on the pit in the center. I didn't' see any napkins, tho by the drink station, there were some stacks of these neatly folded napkin-like things, so we took a few - even tho they didn't absorb very well. eventually, we realized they are "bibs". . .LOL.. silly Tourists Here's Allison demonstrating the proper way to use this "napkin" and here's a shot of us at the table with our raw meat, and grill going. (and I just noticed that I actually still do have my "trainers" on the chopsticks. I thought I had stopped using them earlier in the trip than this!. . but I don't use them at all at home now) after gorging ourselves on Japanese Barbecue - it was all really good! - it was still only 2pm or so. . so too early to head back to Hotel for check in, so we continued to roam around citywalk, and came across the Takoyaki food court. yep, at least 8-10 separate stalls, all in one area, all selling different types of Takoyaki (Octopus). as we were full, we just peeked in, and didn't buy anything. .but made a note to come back by later, or tomorrow. we then hit up the convenience stores, where some folks picked up Sake to have in the rooms for "Typhoon day" . .or just for later Somewhere in here, Elissa & Robb messaged the group that they had found a small grocery store just behind the TGI Fridays. So we headed that way too, and I (along with a couple of others), picked up a loaf of bread, peanut butter, jelly, bananas, and some snacks. Better to be prepared, and have it - just in case we were in the hotel and lost power in the upcoming storm. bags full of groceries, we headed back towards the hotel, hoping the rooms would be ready (it was just about 3pm). here's a shot looking at Osaka from the corner of USJ & across the street from our Hotel (not in this pic). the rooms were ready, and so we all checked in and headed up. We (along with David and Tabitha) had decided that we WOULD take advantage of the discounted "twilight" admission to USJ, so we would go relax in the rooms for a little bit, put away any food we had purchased, and meet down at the Ticket Counter in the lobby at 4pm (the park was open till 10, so that would give us over 5 1/2 hours in a park that many of us had never been to). our rooms were all facing the water, rather than the park (I suspect the park facing rooms were mostly the Minion themed ones), but we all still had lovely views of the water. and from the windows by the elevators, we could still look out and see the park. here's my 1st view of Hogwart's. Having never been to a Universal Park as an adult, I was so damn excited to see this, that I took a picture. Silly, I know. . especially since we'd be IN the park in a couple of hours. what can I say? Tourist. NOTED. this made me laugh. . and I didn't actually wear the slippers at all during our stay in this hotel. (I just stuck to socks) but it was nice they were there if I wanted to. This hotel has a separate room for bath/shower, and Toilet, with a little hand wash sink in the toilet room. I had already gotten fairly accustomed to Japanese Toilets by this point, and was loving them . . but this one was the most complicated one I'd seen thus far. SO. MANY. BUTTONS. and as I posted on Facebook when I took this picture? That button on the far upper right just scares me. . no way, no how, was I gonna push that one! launch you off the toilet. . .LOL continued (hopefully in the next couple of days) with part II, as we headed downstairs to the ticket counter, and into the park for the evening. The view from the window in my room. I was a tiny bit concerned about having a window facing the water when a Typhoon is coming. . but figured they'd let us know if anything was to become unsafe. And it really was a lovely view. the room was really roomy too (I would remember to take pics of it when we got back later, so I'll have room pics in part 2 of this update from Osaka).

Great pics, and so happy you got to go to Himeji Castle (our tickets included the gardens too. . but we didnt' have a lot of time and so I bypassed the gardens to spend more time going all the way to the top of the Castle). as to Nagashima Spaland- we actually had a fantastic day there, with some great ops on everything. I agree with a lot of what you say (tho I got to ride Jet Coaster, but missed out on Shuttle Loop that was closed for maintenance on the day we were there. . ya didn't miss much, tho the gigantic fish in the pond under Jet coaster were amazing to watch when you dropped food to them. . think I grabbed some pics of that feeding frenzy). I loved Hakugei, and rank it easily as my top RMC. while I really liked every element you listed (the double up, that incredible stall). . my favorite is something you also got a picture of: the overbank outwards after the double-up. . . I came *thisclose* to orgasm at that element on every ride. yeah, it's THAT good. Steel Dragon 2000? I felt the same way you do about it - during the daytime rides. Riding at night? kicked it up a few notches, and I would put it slightly above most other Gigas I've been on. if we consider the night rides? my list would be: Millennium Force Steel Dragon 2000 Fury 325 (close to a tie with night rides on SD2K. . .but at night that's SLIGHTLY better) I305 large gap. . . Steel Force (LOL) Arashi was amazing. . I loved it so much, I bought an Arashi shirt! (like the Hakugei one, the logo is only on the lower portion of the shirt. . but couldn't pass it up, as I loved the coaster so much). I did NOT like Acrobat (which is strange, as I love Manta). . it may just be where we were placed? but I only rode it once, even with skip the line passes, I didn't go back, as it almost made me pass out in the Dive loop.. .I seriously felt the Gs and did not like it. if you get a chance to go back, the Haunted House walkthru, and the Shooting Dark ride were both incredible. thanks for sharing the pics, and glad you had such a great trip!

the Kangaroo on the Carousel is awesome. was it at least Carousel Music? (still will never get over the stain of riding the SFOT carousel that was blasting Will Smith's "Getting Jiggy Wit It" bleh)

what wonderful pictures Adam. and so neat to see the Kyoto Gates when they are a bit more crowded (Condor mentioned in his recent stop there that he went super early as he had heard they get crowded with tourists later.. and your pics give an awesome example of that. . . even tho you got a fantastic "near empty" pic of yourself too!). the temples are amazing, and I wish I had been able to find time to go visit a few of them - but with me it was 1st time ever (and maybe only??) so choices had to be made. Thrilled to see so many other things I missed during my visit, so makes me want to go back even more. best of all? THANK YOU for trying this, and explaining what it was: I think that's exactly what I had at Fuji-Q, that while I didn't think was terrible, I thought it was just "meh" Seeing your explanation of what it is? yeah, that's exactly what it tasted like. I'm glad I tried it too, but it wasn't one of my favorites on my trip to Japan. the Cherry Blossoms are beautiful too. . thanks for sharing!

^ thanks Bill and Merry Christmas to you and David!

a Raptor would fit just fine on the Tidal Wave spot alone. Wonder Woman went where Power Surge was, without taking any additional space (and reused some of the queue layout even). not to say y'all are getting one. . just saying it would easily fit there.

I love your reports. . you get to the most interesting places! how in the world do you find the time? and you take some amazing pictures too!

thanks. as to the "big" show. . . as I always say, Texans love their "Church". . . even with the small audience, the crowd actually applauded when Mary gave 'birth' and they announced Jesus was born. a little strange, since we're not all that religious. . but as noted, the voices were mostly excellent. So it was well worth seeing

12/20 trip continued about to get on Joker oh. .I forgot to mention, the Wonder Woman statue in front of golden lasso coaster is MIA (maybe having work done?). .but finally, the Superman statue has shown up across from the entrance to Krypton Coaster. looks great! new ride signs are up all over the park. Personally, I think people are going to be afraid to ride it, so hopefully the line will stay rather short. no fireworks tonight. . not sure they even do any during holiday in the park. . but it was way too wet for them to do any regardless. but the waterfalls really look incredible at night, reflecting back the Holiday lights. Looking back at the bright ring of white, that Joker provides at the apex of it's swing. another new for 2019 "show" we caught: H2 HO HO HO yeah.. . it's like if World Of Color mechanicals were sourced by the Dollar Store. or if the Bellagio Fountains were in front of Circus Circus. it wasn't "bad". . let's just say that we've seen way better, and it was a little underwhelming. but the music was enjoyable, and the lights and movement WAS synchronized pretty well. the Launch towers have been moved over to the boardwalk, and they have begun working on the ride area for "DareDevil Dive". . in the ride pad spot over near Rattler where Wagon Wheel used to be way back when. no one working tonight, of course. . .but the equipment is there. this is going to be a stunning picture spot once the new ride is in place! Ratter was almost a walk on, but I could tell from Nick's disapproving look when I noted that "the line wasn't even on the ramps" that he was DONE. So I will just ride it on my next visit (when it's back to 2 train ops), and we continued on towards the main gates. this is a new section for 2019, between CrackAxle and Santa's workshop. . .called "CandyCane Lane" it really is well done, and the colors look fantastic! (even, again, with some lights victim to the weather) a peek at Scream down the train tracks me and candy canes. . .Yummy! Nick yelling at me that he's cold and I stopped to take another picture. . .LOL we popped into Santa's Workshop, since there was absolutely no line. I would have done a picture with Santa, but then realized it was professional pics they are selling for ~$20, so I was happy just to get a peek inside the building. very well done, with some nice Christmas trees. unfortunately, this lady stepped right in front of Santa when I snapped this pic, so you can only kinda see him. .but he's there, with a kiddo on his lap. (yeah, only line 5 people here, and she got in my picture. . LOL. . oh well). the Cast Members working out front of the workshop were in a great mood, even tho it was cold! and were happy to be in a pic with me. it was maybe 8:45 at this point, as we headed back to the main plaza (i had to get my pics from earlier). . so lovely. and even better with the reflections, since there was no crowd about. not great for the park, I suppose, but great for pictures! SO pretty. I'm a purple Prezzie and Nick is Blue yeah, we're leaving when there are no lines, and I could ride things more. .but OK, I've had a great time. besides, look what I just spotted up front, with NO line for pics. yep, all of em out, in Holiday garb! i knew there was no way we'd be hanging around long enough to get the Professional Photog pic, but his assistant happily took my phone to snap some pics for us too (it was the lady that marched with the baton in the Mardi Gras parade back in Feb, and she was flattered I remembered her!). but that's why Nick is not looking at my camera, but instead is staring straight ahead at the professional pic taker. (note tho that most of the character actors realized that we were headed out and that MY camera would be the one to look at). love Babs' pose here is the professional pic from earlier and a few of me on Wonder Woman. Pretty much an empty train. . love this pic and with Holiday Border and Wonder Woman border and here's Goliath with Holiday border. worth it to pick up the cheap annual photo pass option, just for pics like these Hope you enjoyed! Goliath standard boarder

interrupting my Japan report for an update to the Texas thread: so Friday was chilly and nasty in Texas (low 40's and light rain/mist all day). it was also a day I had already put in for Vacation, to make use of my last "use it or lose it" day before year end several weeks back. I had talked Nick into also taking the 20th off, and decided we'd go to San Antonio for the day. SFFT didn't open up until 5pm, but since had never actually gotten to go to the San Antonio Zoo (opening at noon) together -- despite multiple tries over the past 16 years. . something *always* happened and we didn't make the trip. So I was annoyed at the weather, that was showing heavy rain, and just plain nastiness hitting the area on Friday. but I had told Nick that regardless, I wanted to go, and likely would even if he didn't (he *HATES* cold weather). Tho had agreed if it was pouring, that likely would blow off the zoo and maybe I'd just head down in the evening - not that I wanted to deal with afternoon traffic on a Friday, in poor conditions, just before a Holiday week. but I *really* wanted to see the Holiday lights up at Fiesta Texas. (and I love zoos, and hadn't been to the San Antonio one, even by myself, in over a decade). upon waking up on Friday morning and checking the weather? yes, it looked like it was going to be chilly and drizzly, but all the heavy rain was going to slide to our East, more towards Houston. . . so with my superpower of "Jewish Guilt"? was able to convince Nick to bundle up, and we hopped in the car for the ~2 1/2 hour drive to San Antonio (traffic was still pretty slow due to conditions, and we pulled off to grab a bite to eat in New Braunfels around 12:30, so that added 45 minutes to the drive). but soon enough, we pulled into the San Antonio Zoo. Wasn't quite sure where to park, as it had been a really long time since I had been there. we passed a few lots, and a large parking garage up the hill from the Zoo entrance. I had insisted Nick bring his cane, but was a little worried about the steep hill coming down from the garage. . so I drove down to the Zoo entrance and rolled down the window to ask the employees out front where we should park (there was nobody at the booths, so they were just hanging out chatting at the ticket booths). they pointed us to just around the corner in front of the train station (which wasn't running due to weather). I asked how much it was, and they said free parking! So we parked literally right next to the zoo entrance (maybe a 2 minute walk) and it was free? the lot was pretty empty due to the weather. . maybe 20 cars total? I wondered if many of the animals would be out and about, but still, would much rather be here on a quiet day, even if it was cold and moist. even better? when we got to the booth, and I mentioned that I had stupidly forgotten to purchase our tickets online - which I had even talked about then just didn't do, since it would have saved us a few bucks? She gave Nick the Senior discount (which saved a nice chunk of $$). and with that, into the zoo we went! they are doing an evening thing called "Zoo lights" and the entire zoo was just covered with lighting, and diorama areas that mostly looked fantastic during the day. I can imagine how great they would look at night. we weren't going to be staying until it got really dark, planning to head out around 5 - since we still had to get over to Fiesta, and we knew we'd be dealing with SA rush hour traffic. . . but since it was so overcast, we got to enjoy a lot of the lights anyways. my worries about some animals not being out in the enclosures, were put to rest upon walking in. . as the bears were all out frolicking in the cooler weather. oh, there were some animals that were hanging out only in the burrows, or deep behind logs. . but at least one of most animals were out in the enclosure. the zoo was pretty deserted. . us and one other couple (who had parked next to us and walked in with us) were the only ones over here. The bears seemed excited to see people looking at them turns out the zoo has several "inside" areas. . which made Nick super happy, as they were warm inside. and with the zoo pretty empty? we were really the only ones inside, and were able to take our time and get great looks at the animals on display. 1st stop like this you come upon when entering the zoo? the Aquarium building. here's a turtle. and a stingray and some jellyfish almost all the food & souvenier stands were closed today. . there just wasn't the crowd, and it was too cold. as it was getting darker tho the stands selling the blinking lights started to open up. . the zoo was open until 10, so I'm sure they got an evening crowd to see the lights, despite the nasty weather. these frozen bananas made me laugh tho. this cool guy, was just hanging out stalking anyone who dared come to the zoo today. then it was time to head into the next "indoor" building. .the warm Reptile house. Again, only ones in here, so could get up really close to the enclosures, without tons of folks tapping on the glass bothering the reptiles. Texas Rattlesnake. this guy was super interesting. . a rattlesnake without a rattle. ah. . now HERE'S a rattle. this geko was just hanging out (literally) on the glass at the front of the enclosure this is a King Cobra. yes, it's yawning! I had no idea snakes yawn. . .the handler in the building told us that they do, but it's rare, and how great that I was able to catch it in a picture! (I'm a photo ninja. . LOL) these old skool machines are all over the zoo, and the smell of the wax brought back so many memories. these two didn't offer plastic animals tho. . unless you consider a Christmas Tree and a Santa Claus as an animal. . . on the "great lawn" area, some of the animal lights display for the Zoo Lights promotion. a photo op display board? why yes, thank you! back out in the cold areas, but first into a separate enclosure to take a look at the Giant Anaconda, just handing out in the water inside it's huge space. think this was a Condor? it was cleaning it's wings, and was "posing" for me. tons of art around this zoo, including in the trees above (this is near the Fruit bat/armadillo exhibit). .and how amazing it was to be in that small building getting to see these creatures, without a ton of folks around! more art, tho not sure why the Hippo area was the North Pole. it looked so great once it got a bit darker all lit up. only one other couple in this building with us, and the Hippos were having a grand ol time playing and romping in the water. coming up for air. the enclosure is a large one, so you can get views under the water, and above them. this guy went into the corner, and took a gigantic poop. . while looking at the other hippo playing. he then quickly left the water, once he fouled it (can you blame him?). . . .just thought it was funny, but no, I did NOT take a picture of the pooping. but did catch him quickly getting out of the water once he was done. I pitty the fool who messes with this gineua fowl. none of the Elephants were out (I think we just caught them during feeding, as the Giraffes and Rhinos were eating when we went by, although we could still see those guys even when eating). The elephants weren't in the enclosure tho. . but it's a really big one with lots of stuff for them to interact with. LOVE this Rhino sculpture. Zebra was just hanging out. . in the back area, so an odd angle, but was still lovely to see. Tiger just chillin watching me watching him Kangaroos were all back in the hovel area eating. . but was still able to view them and get a decent pic heading over to the "older" side of the zoo, there are a bunch of dis-used enclosures. not sure what used to be in this particular one, but love that the zoo simply decided to utilize it for the tree including with an information sign at the front of it. . . LOL the older section is mainly enclosures featuring birds/waterfowl and fish / turtle type animals. I didn't take too many pics over here, but thought this guy - who I believe is an endangered crane from Africa - was very Goth looking. still not dark enough to really appreciate, but here is a look at one end of the "bird" corridor (those are all separate cages with different birds in them behind all that pink garland). this particular area was just covered in pink lights. and in the central hub of the zoo? the Carousel - which most zoos have these days. San Antonio Zoo actually has two carousels now (will get to the other one in a moment), but this one is more of a standard Zoo Carousel: Lots of really well done animals to choose from for a ride, and even a birds nest (lower right of this pic), which I *think* you can spin when riding. it is only $3 a ride, which is reasonable. you'll be shocked to hear that I actually did NOT take a ride on this one here. the weather was just a little bit too miserable for Nick to be willing to ride, so he was a pass - but I knew he'd ride with me on the one at Fiesta. so I knew I'd get my carousel fix there anyways later tonight. As it was getting late, I just decided to skip this on this trip, and will catch it another time. it's a lovely carousel tho. some really nice animals on this Carousel tho. . .including a truly impressive Eagle (the actual Bald Eagle was in an enclosure near the Carousel and I'm always in awe of seeing these birds live. .this one was no exception). that lizard/geko thing tho. . .LOL. . if I had ridden? I would have ridden that! a Hippo, an Alpaca, a Seal, and. . . . a Chicken???? better shot of the Eagle coming around. . . really nicely done by the sculptor. That huge wingspan is great. cutting back across the "great lawn" to the sloths (not out tho, too cold for them), and amphibian houses. ..the lights in the trees are starting to show up a little. really nicely done by the zoo to draw folks in. and they even put up mini photo ops. like this Mistletoe stop.. (and yes, we did take one doing kissie-face. . . but this picture just came out better) but surprisingly, the zoo doesn't seem to have one. (at least not in any display/enclosure that we came across or saw the park map). so here, the giant Coke inflatables, are the San Antonio Zoo's Polar Bear exhibit ! there were several signs featuring Polar Bears, including this one that had a height chart. looking down from the trail inside the zoo near the reptile house, there's a train, an old skool plane, a very retro kiddie merry-go-round, and there was also a circular boat ride, and what looked like a miniature whip. I'm not the audience for this section of the zoo/park. .it's obviously targeting very young kids. but yeah, this merry-go-round seemed a bit too ghetto for even me (no organ music playing, or even organ visible). . so didn't even check to see if I COULD go in to ride it - tho I'd assume they would have let me. Again, I think it's a good concept, and just needs to "fill in" a bit more. . . but as noted, I'm not the target audience here. a fairly new section was a slab (it's the only way I can describe it), of concrete with some sad old-school rides plopped down on it. I love the design work on the signage, as well as on the main gates to get into the area (you can get there from either inside the zoo, or from the outside entrance, without paying zoo admission). It's a great idea, that just doesn't look great at this time. . only sad. but the idea in concept is good, and hopefully some foliage will grow in, and help make it look less depressing. (since the signs are saying "now open". . I'm guessing this is a really recent addition). the entrance to the kiddie park from outside the main gates. we headed to the car around 5:15pm, checked google maps, and saw that if I just hopped back on 281 to loop 1604, we'd be at SFFT in no time. and sure enough, even with rush hour traffic, just before a Holiday week, we were pulling into SFFT's lot by ~5:40. they were NOT busy, but they were open. We were able to pull all the way up to row 12, and were thru security check and in the park in minutes. (and it turned out that it was Bring a Friend Free day for passholders too). . but the weather really worked in our favor. it was deserted - after checking to see if they were handing out tickets for the Majesty of Christmas - the big Nativity show they do, with live animals (it turned out they were not, at least for the early show, they told us just join the line), we headed to the left, and I grabbed a walk on ride on Goliath. Back row on left side. . only one on back end of coaster. . great ride. Here's the main entrance way, before we cut left over to Goliath. it was only ~5:50, and they didn't open the theater for the 6:30 Magestry of Christmas for another 10 minutes, so we wandered up to the central plaza to look closer at the lights/photo ops, and I found Tweety and Taz posing. so yep, I stopped. the walk thru ornament is from last year, but I think the light up presents might be new this year? so pretty, and with the ground all wet, they reflected beautifully. whee!! and I found one other couple who was looking around for someone to take pictures (for some reason, although there were some professional park photogs out? they weren't in the central plaza. .they were further up towards the gate - I got one of them to do a Tweety/Taz for me. . but here? we were on our own, so "Traded' taking pics of folks, who then took pics for us. that's how we both got in this pic. and in this one, inside the giant ornament. So pretty. . . looking back towards the main entrance from the central plaza. the people lining up on the right are waiting for the gates to open so they could go inside to the theater for the Nativity show. Gates opened, so we headed to the theater, but not before snapping a pic as we walked back. Boomerang *was* open. . actually *all* coasters were open, but they weren't cycling much, since there were no lines. We went into the theater about 20 minutes before the show started, and ended up sitting about 4 rows back on the aisle (which is used during the production for animals, and singers to come down). Nick didn't mind, since it was warm in here, and we had cushioned seats (this is the big theater that has the individual seats, not benches). I posted this pic on my FB while sitting here and commenting that "I'm SUCH a good Jew" to which my Brother responded with a pic of him dressed as Santa Claus with my Sister-in-Law on his lap. . . saying it was HIS Chanukah costume. LOL inside sitting. . . in a mostly empty theater. tho i think they may have gotten ~150 people for the 1st showing (and the 2nd showing later that night seemed to have at least 500). the voices were, for the most part, really good. in particular the lead narrator, and the male Angel. Broadway level talent in this show here. and neither the donkey nor the camel pooped on stage during the 30 minute show. . . so that's a win, right? the Male angel, who I noted had a good voice dropped down from the ceiling to sing and he was joined by two female angels who swung out on leads from the sides of the stage over the audience. really well done production values. . . it was good for a "standard" show. . but for a theme park show? really impressive. and when the 3 kings came down the central aisle. . one of whom on a large camel? wow moment. and the animal was so well behaved on the stage! here is where it got a bit funny, and Nick and I both giggled a bit. . . as it turned into a Saturday Night Live skit. the two angels came back out from the sides of the stage, and I suppose are supposed to gently float back and forth. whomever was controlling the rigs? had them doing FULL swings from side to side, over the audience. the ladies had big smiles plastered on their faces, but they were starting to turn a little bit green as they continued the violent swings. maybe the regular operator was out sick, and a child had grabbed the joystick controller? they got some big swings in tho. . . we enjoyed the show, and then continued our way around the park. in the alleyway across from Sangerfest Halle - over by where the entrance to Bugs' Whitewater Rapids is, were all the Holiday food offerings, set up in tents - including Bread Bowls full of Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Tortilla Soup, or Chili; Hot apple cider, Bacon wrapped meatballs, cobbler in a cone (blueberry, cherry, apple), and several different drink options. Neither of us were really hungry, but we had Snack options to use on our dining pass (which was good for most of the Holiday snacks), and I still have a full meal voucher (from the Joker commercial shoot) which had to be used by end of 2019 And since we were right across from Sangerfest Halle, we could get the food, and go in there (where it was warmer) to sit and eat. so I got the Broccoli Cheedar Bread Bowl (Snack), Nick got the Apple Cobbler cone (snack), and for the meal voucher, we got the turkey leg and a soda. . and we sat down in here to nibble. . .and it turned out there was a show starting in here at 7:30, so we hung out and waited for it while we ate. Nick with his Apple Cobbler cone. Here's the show that was in Sangerfest Halle: "Happy Holidays" - new for 2019 from the Holiday in the Park page: Contemporary winter classics like “Holly Jolly Christmas” and “Boogie Woogie Santa Claus” resonate in Sangerfest Halle during this updated version of Happy Holidays! we stayed for about 15 minutes of it. . they were um. . . .very energetic. decent voices (tho not as good as the ones in the Nativity show), but they came out into the center of the hall and did some songs "in the round". . so they got pretty close to where we were sitting. . which made "someone" I was with a little uncomfortable. LOL (I told him we couldn't leave while they were so close, it was rude. . but the moment the mike stands made it back up to the main stage? we booked it and went next door for the Carousel). on a Carousel. . so big smiles, even tho he was miserable with how chilly it was. the Carousel organ seemed to be refreshed and back, and was playing versions of Christmas tunes. quite lovely. Didn't get my bunny, as this ride actually did have a lot of kiddos on it, and one of them went directly to White Rabbit. So instead I rode an ostrich. what was interested, is that there were TWO benches on the carousel, not just the standard one, that this particular one has always had. (or that I would swear always had). so either SFFT got enough requests to add another bench for those that wanted to ride with the kiddos, but can't do animals and need to sit? or, they are rotating out rows of animals to keep them maintained, and dropping in the bench where needed to replace the missing row. either way, it's great to have two benches now, for those that wish to sit,and not have to climb onto anything. the organ, and the back of one of the benches. the nasty weather was playing havoc with some of the lights. . . a chunk of the big tree in Rockville was out (but otherwise the tree still was lovely). the "snow" (ie: foam) was still blowing like crazy from the rooftops thruout our visit tho. .and you can see remnants of it on the ground in this pic. we were headed to Wonder Woman tho. . . even tho Nick was DONE at this point, not even wanting to ride the train. (Holiday Express). . . but he was willing to wait for me, which I said I was going to ride if it was a short line. no one was in line. I seriously walked right onto a train in the station, and directly into the back seat (only the 1st two seats were taken). whee. . and as usual. . this sucker was FLYING when the track was wet. see? here's a side view of the station when we walked over to the boardwalk to check things out (dead over there too, but since Nick was done riding, we skipped Pandemonium, wave runner, spinsanity, the Disc-o, and Pirates). Wonder Woman line is non-existant. . directly into the station, and onto the train. we missed the Singing Saps (trees with animated mouths/eyes that sing carols. . we saw them, but it was between "shows" so they were just regular trees when we passed them). but we did catch a couple of songs by the TinselTones in Rockville, as we passed by coming back from the Boardwalk. they are a very good acappella group, and they do Christmas Carols. a little blurry, but looking back down the main street of Rockville (soon to be DCU??). . you can see that the weather took out not only some lights in the main tree? but also the lights in the trees on the right side of the street. we saw something similar in CrackAxle, where the left side of the street, all the trees were out. we got stopped by the Holiday Express going by, so got a chance to snap some pics of Joker/Supervillain Swing at night. both rides look incredible at night. wheeeee!! that sucker REALLY gets up there. I hadn't planned to ride Joker, but told Nick that if the line was short, I'll hop on it. yes, it's cold, and this ride - being all about the velocity of the swing - would probably really be cold. . but if there was a short line? I wanted to take advantage. it was less than a 2 minute wait to get into the funhouse (and after that, another 2 minutes to get on the ride. . so I got in line and he waited for me). pic from the queue. Joker really is incredible at night. a handful of pics to close out this TR continued in next post!

Coming on to post some pics from Friday and realized I totally "lost" these pics from my late Sept. trip to SFFT, to get our 2020 passes, and enjoy the park just before I left for Japan. so dropping them in 1st, then will follow up with Friday's visit in the next post. just minor comments, but it was a great day in the park, to see what they had set up for Fright-Fest (and as noted to get our passes renewed, since had to be done before end of Sept). here at Fright Fest - Sept. 21st. surprised they have so much up, as it's not even Oct yet. . but we picked a good day to go, as not super crowded (really only lines on Joker, Wonder Woman, and Poltergeist) and they had the photogs out near the front of the park - which is nice, since they are pushing the photo passes (with our early renewal of our 2019 passes, we got the bonus of one "hard" print photo every month - that's a nice incentive to get back at least once a month to get that perk, even tho we missed it for Oct & Nov . . but hey, been busy!). scaaaaaryyyy even in Sept, the signs for the new ride for 2020 were up around the park, although no work had been done over there yet. Gully Washer was open, and re-themed for Fright-Fest This "pad" out in front of Superman: Krypton Koaster was still sitting with nothing on it back in Sept, but at least it wasn't blocked off by fencing anymore. the new signage in front of Supervillain Swings. I commented at the time the silliness of putting the figures there as a photo-op, and then putting bushes around it so you couldn't really get close to them. on our visit Friday, I noticed most of the grenery is gone, and tho you cant climb up with the figures, you can now get right in front of them for a photo. Joker was maybe a 10 minute wait, so I hopped in line. ended up with a seat facing the controller booth, so saw my reflection (like a groundhog!). With the op's permission - while they were checking restraints - snapped a few pics in my seat. (love how the swings behind me reflect in the glass too). now across to the swings, since Nick will ride these too. yep, Joker swings pretty high! beautiful day, and tho not riding it, you can get some nice pics of Batman while waiting for Supervillian Swings to start cycling. oooo. . changes to the dining plan! Lots of stuff had now been added - mostly as "Snacks" too! so yep, I had my first ever funnel cake, over in Rockville. of course we got the ones with ice cream and syrup. . . I got the Strawberry one Nick got Chocolate. they were WAYYYYYY too sweet, and I didn't really care for them. yes, I tried just the funnel cake section by itself, and it was still a bit too sweet for me. but at least I can no longer say I've never had one. (and as they were "snacks" they were free with our meal plan). another photog near the front gates right next to the funnel cake place, I noticed that Screaming Eagle was running a special. not sure if it was so cheap because the park wasn't really crowded? or just to try to get folks on it. but it was something I'd never done before, and I think it was only $8? so I left Nick sitting at the table with the funnel cakes, and bought a ticket. can get some great views of Superman from the queue. surprisingly, they don't sell pics from the zipline. . . tho I think they DID offer a video if I wanted. the op was nice enough to take this pic for me tho. (I was the only one there. . even for so cheap). I still think I look like I'm sitting on a toilet here! ooo. . from the "starting platform". . you get a really unique look at Wonder Woman and Superman where they almost interact. since no one was in line behind me, the Operator said it was fine for me to stay on the platform for a moment and catch the two coasters cycling. Wonder Woman's line was too long to wait in - Nick was getting tired and was about ready to head out after our lap of the park. . .but I got him to ride Hustler with me. some of the Frightfest decorations were really well done. this is in Rockville heading towards Sangerfest Halle meteors crashing in front of Poltergeist's queue. of course we stopped at the Carousel tho whee! aw man.. they just spent over a year refurbishing, and already some of the paint is going? (when we rode Friday, I still noticed a bit more damage on other animals, but also noticed they have now installed Two "bench/sleighs" . . so maybe they are pulling rows of animals out to keep maintained, and dropping the sleighs in while they work on them. looking towards skyscreamer for some of the themeing in this area. . you can see it wasn't really crowded, and was a nice day. but we had accomplished what the goal was today, so were ready to head out. scary! we're in Texas. . so Dia De Los Muertas stuff is gonna be around. . . I liked this wedding party under the Railroad Bridge. the "hard copy" pic, comes with fright fest theming, that you can't get online for the digital pics! wheeee!

more incredible pics, and I'm so envious of the shrines you got to in Kyoto. I absolutely have another reason to get back to Japan!

^ OMG, you have no idea! even the sushi sold at the 7-11's was incredible (tho those were mainly Nigiri pieces, or lots of varieties of Onigiri (with several of them containing fish options)) The Kobe Nigiri I had early in this report was likely the best thing I ate on the whole trip (non-Disney) by far tho, the Sashimi options blew me away. . . I even tried Horse Sashimi (it wasn't bad. . a little gamey, it reminded me of Vennison). So, So good. It took me over 40 years to realize my dream of getting to visit Japan. I'd love to go back in the future too. I highly recommend you go for it - save up and go. . it's a fantastic experience.

Great pics from DisneySea, and nice to see the pics from inside Tower of Terror and Soaring - during our visit, they were very strict about "no pictures" in the queues for those two attractions in particular so we put cameras away when asked. (tho we did see others taking pics on some of our rides, so I guess it's up to the cast member's discretion). So although I think I got a pic here or there from inside them, I'm not sure I got as nice ones as you did! So thanks for Sharing those. Unlike you tho, I fell completely under the spell of Sindbad, and rode it multiple times. My first ride, I was a little: "this is too cutsey for me". . but then i noticed just how incredibly detailed the animatronics are (both in costumes and movement). .and the ride just got better and better each time I rode it. Journey was down during our visit too, but I took solace in the discovery of 20,000. . which shot right up to the top of my favorite rides in the park. I think I rode it 5 or 6 times during our visit (even on the last day, when was mainly in DisneyLand - I still popped over to DisneySea for a ride on Sindbad & 20,000). Heck, I only rode Raging Spirits once. . so that tells you how much I loved 20,000 Leagues. I think it makes sense that I love it so much since the ride system is so similar to Peter Pan, which is my all time favorite Magic Kingdom ride. thanks again for the great pics, loved seeing them and brings back some wonderful memories!

really great update, Bill. makes me want to make an effort to get to Universal in Orlando. . . hmmmm. . maybe I can convince Nick to do that for "our" vacation in 2020, since he's dragging a bit on my proposed Manhattan/Broadway trip.

its too bad I didn't get back to ride Panic Clock. . just wasn't enough time to ride everything, if I wanted re-rides on coasters (which I did). I'm one of the odd ones out, in that I really enjoy flats too.. so to ME, Fuji-Q would be more than a 1 day park (or at least open until 10pm to give me 4 more hours). There are a lot of flat that I simply bypassed, but otherwise would have ridden, if I didnt' want to get multiple rides on the coasters.. . . and really, all of them were worth multiple rides . despite choosing to stick with only 1 time on Fujiyama. (but then again, I only rode Twisted Timbers once, and only once on Steel Vengeance - so the amount of rides doesn't mean a coaster isn't great, it just means there are other things at the parks I want to ride more (ie: I305 & Cedar Downs/Maverick) ).

great update, with some BEAUTIFUL pics, Condor.

fantastic pics, and really surprising to see just how MUCH the park changed things in just the 6 months difference from Easter to Halloween - when I was there (early Oct). some spots look completely different! I only saw the Halloween Parade, and tho it was great even with the one long song that just got played on every float thruout (and I got a wink from one of the singers on a float). . I would have loved to see this themed parade you saw. that looked so much fun!

I was kicking myself for only getting one Tomica Doom Buggies when I was at Tokyo Disneyland. but luckily, my diligence paid off, and found on Ebay, someone selling one for only $26. . the $5 off coupon eBay gave me, it was only $3 more than if I had picked it up there! yay. . I'll have 4 to link together, THAT'S a Haunted Mansion display!

I dont' recall hearing them saying they were closing lines, but I was likely on the Ferris Wheel at that point, if they stopped ~45 minutes before park close I'm wary about ever wanting to go back, as I don't think I'd ever get as perfect a day as we got - even tho there are a few things I'd have liked to get on, and might be worth a return trip for (the pizza frisbee, the suspended family coaster, the Fujiyama museum there). . but I think I should take our "win" and be happy with it. . you know? then again, I DID see a youtube report from Fuji-Q just after we were there, and the guy stayed overnight in an onsite "Capsule hotel" and he even mentioned it was worth the experience not just for the discounted tickets to the park, but also to stay in one. so there's that as an incentive for ya.

that's strange. . . the park closed at 6, and as noted just above, I got on the Air Race at ~5:58, and was on the Ferris Wheel ~5:35pm I can't speak for the coasters if they cut the lines or not - since although I saw Takabisha and Do-dodonpa running from the Ferris Wheel, they could have just been flushing the lines. . .but I certainly DID ride Takabisha after 5pm. but it was a really slow day, when we were there, and the flats were open, so I would assume the coasters remained open too. weird that they cut everything so early on the day you were there (was that also a close at 6 day?). what day of the week was that? we were there on a Wednesday.

Fuji-Q part 3 after a quick stop for a really fun spin on Tekkotsubanchou (skyscreamer) - and I THINK I then went right next door to a whole "village" area, that had shops (tho most seemed closed, or it could have just been dead over here) a Naruto/Boruto museum (that I didn't bother with) and a so-so Naruto shooting ride that was like a knock-off version of Toy Story Mania, 3D with shooting at digital targets (I've never actually seen the anime, so tho i know they wear those headbands, I had no idea what was going on and just shot at everything. . LOL). Nothing to write home about, but it DID give me something to base my take on the Nagashima Spaland version of Toy-Story Mania shooting type game . . .ie: Nagashima Spalands was MUCH better. but I get it, if I were a fan of the property, I likely would have enjoyed it much more. it was a fairly quick ride too, only took maybe 5 minutes. anyhow, I needed to clean my palate so to speak, so it was time for Carousel! unlike the prior day at Yomiuriland, I wasn't the only one in queue for this. and I let a very excited 3 year old in front of me at the gate, since he was SO excited to ride. (Mom was super apologetic, but I was really so fine with it.. and loved seeing the kiddo's excitement to be getting to ride a horse). some lovely carving work on this carousel. and if I recall, all horses galloped and there weren't any stationary things other than the gilded carriages. the view from atop my horse. i'm ready to go! as usual. . big ass smile. hmm. . on closer inspection as going by, some of the paint is chipping a little on the interior figures. so it needs a little TLC, but there is so much relief work on this Carousel, unless you're really looking for it, the peeling paint likely won't even be noticed. the Sun was starting to set, and I got off the carousel and saw the line for Takabisha was only 1 ramp down from the station, so went and hopped in line for that. I think this wait was maybe 5 minutes, if that? it was so close to "walk on" that I couldn't wait for a train to pass on Fujiyama or Do-dodonpa ! the sky is so pretty tho. This was my last "coaster" ride at Fuji-Q, tho I still had other things to hop on. My count on the "big 4" ended up being, in order of my preference: Eejanaika - 3 rides Takabisha - 3 rides Do-dodonpa - 2 rides Fujiyama - 1 ride (tho I would have ridden it again if the line hadn't required purchasing a pass. . I just didn't like it enough to want to buy another pass). so I had a great day coaster wise. . and the flats were, for the most part, really great too! With a couple of the best yet to come still. I headed over towards the wave swinger (called here "wave swinger" ), and looked back across the pond in the center of Fuji-Q, towards Takabisha (that I had just gotten off of). the lights were starting to come on, and I could tell even this early just how great this park was going to look once it got dark. Not that we'd have a lot of time to enjoy it, since it closed at 6pm today, and I think it was probably just about 5:15 at this point. see? the Wave Swinger really does look great. but as you can see from the pic, it was in the middle of a cycle, and wary of the clock, I went ahead and bypassed it and instead went over to Shining Flower. I really wanted a ride on the Ferris Wheel, and with the ~15 cycle, I was worried I wouldn't' have time to do that and something else as well, so prioritized that. Like most of the Ferris Wheels I'd seen in Japan thus far, Shining Flower had the occasional "transparent" gondolas. I considered riding in one, but those were only every 8 cars or so (only 4 total on the ride), and there were at least 8 people in line. So I figured that would be at least 1 complete cycle and was worried about the time. . so got a walk on, into a "regular" gondola. roomy for 1 person, I could imagine it would be tight for 3 or maybe even 2. But I was thrilled to get on so quickly. Headed up, was able to get lots of pics as the park lit up for the evening. Do-dodonpa's loop, lit up with orange. . and apparently had actual fireballs at some point, tho I didn't see those (Zach got a pic of em from elsewhere in the park). looking the oher direction at a pretty awesome view of Takabisha, with Tentekomai (Air Race)'s tower lit up blue. That's Food Stadium all lit up "orange-ish" oh..and a STUNNING view of the top of Mt. Fuji, suddenly deciding to peek out above the clouds! not the base, that remained hidden, but the top peeking out. i was absolutely gob-smacked by how incredible it was. glad I was alone in the gondola, I would have embarrassed myself! a little higher up.. and oooo.. Tentekomai's tower lights change color. . it's redish-purple now yeah.. I took a lot of pics of Mt Fuji as we went up, over the wheel. Was also catching Takabisha cycling, so you can track the train in some of the pictures. Mt Fuji looks like a freaking floating spaceship! amazing. turning toward Fujiyama, and really liking the "rainbow" lights on the lift hill. (the rest of the coaster seems to be pretty unlit tho). the lights in the lake are really looking great tho. At the crest of the wheel, I turned my attention back to Mt. Fuji. the photos really don't do it justice just how amazing this view was. . .Mt Fuji, peeking out thru the top of the clouds that surrounded it, while the sun is setting. I was pretty surprised the Ferris Wheel didn't have more of a line, with THIS view available from it! starting to come down after cresting, and now the wheel was blocking Fuji, so I started looking more at the other sites. No one riding the Water Ace, but it was less than 30 minutes to close, so I suppose they don't want folks out on the water so close to closing time. or maybe it shuts down when the lights in the center of the attraction go on? Tekkotsubanchou looks to have stopped cycling (tho it looks like people are on it, so maybe my timing was just bad), tho Do-dodonpa is still pumping out trains. here's Do-dodonpa's loop, and just behind it on the ground on the left, you can see an orange frog-like statue thing. .that's the entrance to the Naruto shooting ride. here comes Do-dodonpa shooting into the loop Loop- - DE - LOOP !!! ah.. I DID get some of the fireball. . there in the lower left of the picture. it must shoot off as the coaster completes the loop and goes into the tunnel. not a lot of ride lighting over here, but Fujiyama's lift does look good, as does the Carousel which looks fantastic with just white lights on it. after my ride on the Shining Flower, the park was only open still for ~22 minutes. I didn't think that would be enough time to make it to Panic Clock to take a ride on it (and wasn't interested in the Teacups that were also sorta over here). So I headed towards Fuji Air, and as I was approaching it, saw that just behind it, Tentekomai was just ending it's cycle. Having never been on an Air Race, I sped up and headed towards it. I did get there before the cycle had ended, however the line was closed off - despite that there wasn't a full cycle of people that were going to load into the ride. I saw Jon in the holding area, preparing to board, and waved to him. the worker at the gate gestured to "wait" and I thought he was going to open up the line to allow me to join the holding area to get a full ride cycle. But no, he left the queue chained off, and they went to the front of the holding pen, and began to seat those in that Pen. so here's Jon. Hey Jon! once they had cleared the holding pen, the worker came back over to me (and the handful of folks that had come in behind me) and said "next ride. . ok ?" It was just before close, so I thought it was very odd, but OK. Our bus didn't leave until 6:30, so even if I was out past the official park close, shouldn't be much of an issue. Jon flipped the crap out of his plane by the way. I carefully watched his style, so I knew what to do - as the "wings" are free moving, so the rider actually controls the amount and force of the flips. So i watched how he did it, and he even demonstrated for me a little bit as his ride came to an end. During the ride cycle, they had moved me, and the others behind me into the holding pen. can't remember how many flips he got, but it was a LOT (and they track each "plane" on the monitor over the cubbies section, so you can see who "won" by flipping the most). it was nuts. as he was leaving, I asked would he wait for me to ride so we could walk out to the front together, and Jon said "sure". .so I got ready for my 1st Air Race. I didn't realize Jon had gone over to the exit and snapped a pic of me as I was getting strapped in. So I'm not looking at the camera in this 1st pic. I was contemplating how scary it was that the whole vehicle was going to flip, and it seemed the restraints were a little. . . flimsy. ah. .now I see Jon, so I smiled for the camera before our cycle started. . . and there seemed to be some "end of night training" going on too, as it took them a bit to get us all strapped in and ready for the ride to start up. with some double & triple checking. I'd guess it was maybe 5:59 by the time we actually got seated on the ride and ready to go. what I also hadn't realized? As it had gotten darker, the wind had really picked up and it had gotten colder too. . something you don't really notice on the ground. but boy, oh boy, do you notice it when the structure lifts up and the ride starts. it didn't' take me long to figure out how to get the wings situated to get a flip going, and once you have the first flip? if you don't adjust the wings? you just start flipping faster and faster as the ride rotates! I think I *may* have made it to 35 fast flips when I started feeling a little ill, and had to quickly figure out how to STOP flipping before I really made myself sick. So the rest of the cycle I was happy just doing a little sway back and forth, and shivering with how cold it was up there. the view of the park was nice, tho it was already a bit too dark to see Mt. Fuji anymore. the Cycle ended, and Jon and I headed to the front gates, so we could go towards the bus terminal. even tho the ride cycle had been less than 5 minutes, by the time it ended and we got to the gates, it was probably ~6:15, and everything was deserted. But I was able to get a nice pic of the Main entrance gate all lit up. i had forgotten we had to go back thru the "French" section, and across to the bus terminal. .but since we had pre-bought our tickets, 15 minutes should be plenty of time to make the walk anyways. So we set off towards the Bus Terminal. Stopping briefly along the way at the fountains with the Eiffel Tower display. . which looked much nicer at night! with a nice moon up in the sky too, behind it. . which is probably why I snapped these pics. not as fancy as Bellagio fountains, but hey, nicely set up display with pretty colors. and when it's darker, you don't really notice that this area just dead ends into the back wall of a building (which turns out is the "Fujiyama Museum" per the park map) the double decker Carousel was all lit up nicely here, after park close. and even tho it was outside the main gates, it too had shut down for the night. so tho i didn't get to ride it, I stopped for a pic (or two, or three) with it. and how cute. . they put the characters on some of the Horses. (which says to me, that this smallish carousel - outside the park gates - doesn't see much action, if they can take away seating for (an admittedly wonderful) character placement. Even was able to frame it nicely with the "Eiffel Tower" behind me. Small but cute. and looking well maintained. particularly like that it's a double-decker, even if upper deck is super small. This one was maybe 1/2 the size of Yokohama Cosmoworld's one that we rode a couple of days prior. I do really like the use of the lights inside the Carriages & teacup seating. that's something I don't hardly ever see. one final pic, to capture that both the Brown and White bunnies were represented, and then we headed quickly to the store at the front (passing thru, no time to shop), and up the path to the Bus terminal. where it was a zoo. TONS of people standing around, some of them being "ugly tourists" (in particular a Dad from Israel with some young kids, who was angry that his bus wasn't there). it turned out there was something going on, and the Freeways from Tokyo were backed up, and so ALL the buses were running late. And when buses showed up "on time" it would turn out that it was the bus from 40 minutes earlier that was just then arriving. they were trying to make announcements of when buses would be coming, but it was all getting lost in the din of so many people at the station that wasn't equipped to handle so many people. I tried not to be too concerned, after all, along with us? there were tons of other people also waiting for their buses. So I went inside and did a little bit of shopping (picking up a snack and some magnets in the little store that was 1/2 of the station). Come to think of it, Elissa had told us that there had been an Earthquake in Tokyo on this day, while we were in Fuji-Q. We hadn't felt it, as we had not been in Tokyo, but Elissa had. So on the one hand, yay, we weren't impacted by an Earthquake. . but on the other hand I can't help but feel a teeny tiny bit disappointed that there was an Earthquake and I didn't get to feel anything from it (I know, that's a Texan who's never been in an Earthquake talking. . but this wasn't a "big" one apparently, as it didn't affect an trains or even make the news when I turned it on later). but maybe that's part of what impacted the traffic from Tokyo and what messed up the bus schedules? regardless, we eventually - about 50 minutes past our scheduled pick up time, if I recall - got on our bus that arrived, and headed back to Tokyo. I apparently exhausted myself, as I didn't take any decent pics at the bus terminal while waiting - and the moment we got on the bus in my reserved seat? I conked out. Waking up as we were pulling in close to the Shinjuku Expressway Bus Terminal yep. . back in Tokyo, Shibuya to be exact, and the lights and architecture still gets me excited. I didn't get to get close to Tokyo Tower (at least not on my first trip to Japan ), but I did get to see this: NTT DoCoMo Yoyogi Building / Clock Tower - which is the 2nd tallest clock tower in the world. tho the building might be more famous for being "green". . it uses Solar Energy, recycled waste & reclaimed water is used for the toilets. oh, and it's pretty dang neat looking at night. not sure if it does more colors than purple (I'd assume it does), but it's quite striking at night. and you can see from the time on the clock, we made great time getting back. . despite leaving close to 7:20 (instead of 6:30), we were back at Shinjuku Station by 8:30pm. not sure what this building is (a mall?). . but I thought it looked neat, so snapped a pic with it and the clocktower. we split off in the Station, as Alex was going to go with Zach to the hotel to grab Zach's bags (he was coming to join the rest of the TPR folks at Shinagawa Prince Hotel, as the trip "officially" started in the morning (Thursday)). the rest of us headed back to Shinagawa, where some went to their rooms to rest up for the next day, and a bunch of us had Plans for dinner - since Zach had found a place to get Gyoza, called "Yabu-Kuni" that was literally right next to the hotel (once we got past the pachinko parlor). so planning to meet up at the restaurant, we split off. both Zach and Condor talked about how nuts Shinjuku Station is? here's an example of the "easy to understand" (HA!!) direction markers on the floor of the station. working together tho, the 5 of us (Allison, Luke, me, Jon, Trent).. found our way to which line we needed and made our way back to Shinagawa Station as we were exiting the station, I got a ping from William, who asked if we were back from Fuji-Q and what were we up to? I told him we were going to grab food at a place near the hotel, and when he asked if it would be OK to join us I told him "of course" Coming out of the station, we bumped right into William - and together we crossed the street and found the restaurant, as advertised - along side of the hotel, just past the Pachinko parlor. right next door to the restaurant, between it and the Pachinko parlor, was this temple. we didn't stick our heads in on the way to the restaurant, as there was a Monk praying there. But when we left to go back to the hotel, he was no longer outside, so with encouragement to approach (we were told that anyone was welcome to come up and visit), we made a quick stop up to the courtyard. it was a small structure, but really lovely set up. . and another aspect of what I think of when I think "Japan" . .so I'm really glad that I got to experience this. we even said a prayer and made offerings - William was able to advice on the process to follow, and I did (as did some others). it was really a pretty amazing experience to cap of a pretty amazing day. it was towards the end of the night, and we could tell they weren't thrilled to have a group come in. . but they welcomed us and sat us towards the back of the mostly empty place. even tho it wasn't busy this late, the whole place absolutely reeked of smoke . . I have to assume it was from either the pachinko parlor next door, or the heavily smoking players there, were also frequent customers here (a good assumption) and the smoke smell lingered. but the food smelled delicious, and was reasonable. smiling happy people at the table - LtR: William, Allison, Jon, Me we were waiting for Alex & Zach to join us, and I believe Eric had also just arrived in Japan for the start of the trip, and also was going to come down to join us. note the English "I heart BEER" poster on the wall. . . LOL. .yeah, it was that kind of atmosphere in here, and I loved it. still really only the 4th day in Japan, and yes, I whipped out my trainers. (I *think* this may have been the last time I used them tho). I remember the pickled veggies were fantastic, and we all ordered multiple orders of Gyoza. Alex and Zach have met back up with us, and the food has started coming out. Gyoza cheers! potstickers too? hell yes. . . they were good, but the Gyoza were the star of my evening, and really hit the spot. one last pic, of the dragon fountain, in the shrine. and then it was around the corner and up the stairs to the hotel. It probably was only just after 10:30, but it had been a heck of a long day, and I need to shower, relax a bit (watch the TV , which is where I saw really no mention of the Earthquake, but lots of coverage of Typhoon Hagibis), and pack everything up. We had to be in the lobby and our bags checked for transfer by 9am - we were off in the morning to Osaka. and the official "start" of the TPR trip. just LOOK how great these look

^ same for me at SFFT (for filming on Joker: Carnival of Chaos!) . .just never used it. . LOL

I would suspect Italian Trapeze as well.. it was down both times I've prior visited the park over the past couple of years.