bert425

^ 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.

nice footage. the spotlights are super distracting. . kinda sensory overload when taken with all the lighting within the rides.

it's "meh" here in Texas. . not "hot". . but no where near snow/ice either.

^ for those of us not in that area. . what does this mean? park's not open today due to weather?

^^ I can imagine!! LOL. .those spiders are freaky huge. ^ yeah, I was thinking the same thing, especially when we were going up that trail to the lookout, and the webs were everywhere around and over us! If I weren't so certain that any follow up trip could never live up to the great day we had? I'd want to go back to experience more. . but we DID have a perfect day, so Fuji-Q checked off my bucket list. (however, I do have an itch to finally get to Magic Mountain one of these days to ride X2 now).

Fuji-Q continued - part II so with skip the line passes purchased to come back to Fujiyama in a couple of hours, we headed off towards this beauty. no, not the Carousel - tho it IS a beautiful one (even if not as pretty as the one ridden at Toshimaen), but rather that other beauty in this pic: Eejanaika oh. there's also a sorta good shot of the SBNO Mad Mouse coaster, that still looked like they could have fired it up and started running immediately if they so wanted. But nope, it was closed down (for good apparently). Same rules when looking at a sexy guy - I'm married, not dead. so yeah. . we were headed to Eejanaika. . .but I'm still gonna snap pics of a Carousel when passing by it. especially one so ornate. the carriages on this Carousel were so damn beautiful. don't worry baby. . I'll be back to spend time with you later. Panic Clock looked like fun - it's basically a Zameperla Hawk/Pendulum type ride (think of the Kennywood Aero 360), and I might have caught a pic of it running elsewhere. I LOVE the theming on it, but we were more interested in the coasters at the moment. and standing in this spot? was the perfect angle to get some pics of Eejanaika. . . and here comes Eejanaika just off the little "bump" on the lift hill, and about to go down the drop. wheeeee!! and a ton of screams. which really surprised me, since tho I had seen some of the crowd looking "scared" (in particular in the on ride photos), I hadn't really heard any screaming. not true of Eejanaika. . . LOL this looked like so hella fun! And I could not wait to get all the way around the other side to take a ride on it. walking right by Do-Dodonpa's track, we spotted the first (of MANY) gigantic spiders - that were all over this park. this freaked out some, more than others. Myself, I wasn't particularly "scared". .but they LOOKED really viscous, with bright *danger* colors. . and they were so big, and had spun very large webs. so tho I wasn't "scared" I did make sure I was aware of my surroundings thruout the rest of the day, and I will admit they made me a bit more uncomfortable than the tons of Spiders under Steel Vengeance queue line. what I thought was a nice angle of the Ferris Wheel, with a big ol tree in the center. Takabisha going up the vertical lift, thru Do-Dodonpa's track. and here comes Do-Dodonpa out of the initial - crazy-fast - launch. can I catch it? not really. . but close this time! took a few tries, and hanging out here for a moment to try and get it, but eventually. . success! this is that slightly downwards into the tunnel section, where I got a ton of airtime post launch. My butt was out of seat this whole section when we rode it. after walking thru the narrow path between coasters, we came out to a section that looked deserted. this was the area where most everything seemed to be shut down. . a dead area in the park if you will. looking up, was able to get a wonderful view of Eejanaika's 1st drop. . but it was really the only exciting thing over here in this area (at least on the day we visited). we had passed the SBNO Mad Mouse just before heading into this path..and it came out directly into the SBNO Red Tower drop ride, which the park had also shut down permanently earlier this year. (interestingly, when I looked at Fuji-Q's map to make sure I had the ride name correct, it is NOT flagged as closed - unlike the Mad Mouse is - so maybe they changed their minds? or it was just down for inspection and reopened? I mean, it looked permanently closed tho). The Sky Cycle appeared to not be operating today either - this is a bicycle powered "coaster" that was similar to what we had seen at several other parks in Japan already. Although Fuji-Q's is unique in that it was set in the middle of a tree filled "island" area. . so most of the track was hidden (tho we noticed it, because the track was close enough that we could have walked across the grass and just touched it (no fencing). . so it brought up a "never in America. . could you imagine the lawsuits??" conversation). It's possible that this one wasn't seeming to run because it just wasn't that crowded today. .but I can't recall seeing any individual cars going by as we passed it on the way to Eejanaika's "area" also shut down in this area was "Lisa and Gaspard Dairy of Sky Journey" . a family suspended coaster where you ride in a "cloud". . this featured those two "dogs", that Elissa taught me are actually rabbits. It looked fairly gentle, but watching some clips on YouTube, it does get a bit of speed, and as you are in individual cars, rather than a full train, I'm sure it gives a very different ride than Iron Dragon at Cedar Point, or XLR8 at Astroworld used to. I'm sorry we missed this one, as it seems to be fairly unique. And with the track so spread out and sprawling over this section of the park. . it made the area feel even MORE 'dead' since there were no coaster trains going overhead. and really noticeable, and I caught in the picture on the right there, Cool Jappaan, the parks' Chute the Chutes ride. . which was not operating, and had been completely drained. i really, really looked like they were getting ready to tear out this whole section and just put something new in. . it truly was like waking thru a "dead area" in the middle of the park. since I was at Fuji-Q in October, i've seen reports that Cool Jappaan is back up and running (and one of the folks I was with on the trip did say it seemed to be filling up with water again during our actual visit). . . the Sky Journey Coaster is running, and as mentioned it appears even Red Tower is back up and running. so I guess it was just timing that this whole section appeared to be down . .but nice to hear that at least the majority of the rides are back up. can't complain tho.. . I mean, I rode other drop towers, and pedal cars, and I tend not to ride chute-the-chutes anyways. Not sure if worth ever going back just for the Sky Journey Coaster. We had such a perfect day, best to never go back and be disappointed in a return visit, right? anyways. . Eejanaika. . .wow. we've rounded the drained "Cool Jappaan" ride area, and we've come to a beautiful & quaint Japanese village area. . full of street stands selling food and souveniers that leads you to Eejanaika out front were these things in little "temples" not sure if they are permanent installations, or there for October/Halloween. (they were surrounded by chickenwire . . to keep folks out? or to keep them in ???/ oooooooooooo ) My guess is they are permanent installations, as this character seems to be part of a monster themed anime called "GeGeGe No Kitaro: A timeless Yokai Story" (Yokai is the overall term for supernatural creatures or monsters.. can be good or bad). yep, just to the left of it was this wishing well with an Eyeball on it, and a place to purchase. . something. by looking on the park map, I see we're right near an attraction called: "Gegege monster by-street Monsters story" - which is a "aural sound experience" - you go into a small room, you put on headphones, the lights go down, and you hear a story and the sounds of Yokai creeping around you. I passed on this, even tho it sounded like it could be interesting, for 2 big reasons: 1) I was way more interested in getting to Eejanaika - which was just up ahead at this point. & 2) the story was all going to be in Japanese, so I wouldn't have been able to follow along very well. i mean, it sounds (ha!) as if it would have been a fun experience, but weighing that with other things I wanted to do at Fuji Q? I chose to buypass this. Not sure if this one was an upcharge or not (the other haunt - Super Scary Labyrinth of Fear (the Haunted Hospital) was not included with Free Pass), but if you look closely here there is a place to put a coin in this well, and get a ticket of some sort. So there was some sort of nominal fee to reserve a place. pretty cool tho, huh? here's a look down the main "street" of this area, with Eejanaika there at the very end. that shop on the left, called Fujisan Dumpling, sold several things (mostly dumplings, but also you can see whole fish) that were being roasted on sticks, as well as Ice Cream and sweets. you bought a ticket from a machine on the far right, then brought it across to the booth and the lady would hand you your food. and coming thru the end of the "shops" area? sits Eejanaika! (the lady bending over in the front is setting her phone up on a kiosk, that you could use to take a selfie with points of interest behind you. The park had several of these kiosks set up thruout the park, out front of the "big" rides. follow the signs. . . wow, there was really no one over here on this side of the park. The outside queue for Eejanaika was completely empty, and even to the point that the ramps "split" (due to the nature of the ride, the queue splits to load on both sides, similar to how Gatekeeper loads), it was walk on. once we chose a side to go to, there was maybe one ramp of folks ahead of us, so tops, we waited maybe 10 minutes for this 1st ride? from the ramp up to the loading station, we watched a train pull out and head to the giant lift hill. I hadn't realized that you go up the lift hill backwards! (not for long tho, the seats begin to flip the moment you crest the top of the drop). pick came out a little dark, so too hard to see the complicated restraints. . . but an idea of what the seated folks look like before the train pulls out of the station with everyone facing backwards. the seats are a little high up, and took some acrobatics to get over that "crotch hump" in the center of the seat, tho it was way easier to get into the seat than it was getting out. (hint: it wasn't graceful getting out. . LOL). not only was the inside of the station beautiful, with this gorgeous "stained glass" set into the roof of the station? Eejanaika *also* has it's own theme song, that two months later still occasionally pops into my head: a very strong tribal beat, and chant of Eejanaika! Eejanaika! Ee-ja-nai-ka!!!! it was wonderful. the blue train loaded in front of us, before I put my phone away in the cubby. you can kind of see the restraints here, with at least 3 separate areas of belt that you have to pull on to show the staff members that you are secure before the thumbs up is given. Eejanaika! Eejanaika! Ee-ja-nai-ka!!!! Eejanaika! Eejanaika! Ee-ja-nai-ka!!!! the ride was spectacular, and this rocketed towards the very top of my favorite coaster I've ever ridden. the "Gatekeeper" wing-flyer aspect isn't really noticeable after you get to the top of the lift hill. . as once the seats release and start rotation? you lose all sense of location. . I would have sworn there were tons of inversions on this.. but looking at the track there really isn't any. the forces are just incredible! OMG. . the seat flipping while diving down the 1st drop is possibly the most amazing thing I've ever felt on a ride. and once the initial wow factor passed? we all started clapping and laughing thruout the remainder of the ride. A++ this coaster is incredible, and I loved it. so much so that we got off it, and immediately got back in line for it - this time on the other side (so we had a view of more of the track while waiting on the ramp). This 2nd ride was also only a 10 or 12 minute wait. Eejanaika! Eejanaika! Ee-ja-nai-ka!!!! (yep, we chanted it the whole time waiting in line). Wheee. . this 2nd time, I (and I think Alex) got placed in the very back car. . so we had nothing behind us but track and air, and wow. . it was even MORE intense than the prior ride. laughing and hooting the whole time again, but my legs were kinda like jelly, and it was hard to get out of the seat once we got back to the station. so intense, but so, so good! i'll chant it again: Eejanaika! Eejanaika! Ee-ja-nai-ka!!!! I think everyone was ready to take a break from coasters for the moment (after back to back intense rides) and at least some of the group was ready to try a local beer. . so we headed back from the Eejanaika area, and back towards the "main" park. but not before I stopped at Fujisan Dumpling to try something on a stick. i had planned to try the fish,but it just smelled a little bit too fishy (so I chickened out.. tho I did try the fish on stick later, and it was good)... instead, I got these dumplings with a sweet sauce. they were OK, and I'm glad I tried them, but I didn't eat them all, and think I shared with someone. they turned out to be only dough, with nothing inside - so were very chewy. and not what I was expecting at all. the sauce on top, tasted a bit like honey, mixed with soy sauce. but not strongly. in fact, they didn't have much flavor at all. . I thought they just tasted "sticky" they certainly didn't "wow" me, and they were not something I would get again, but at least I tried them. while some went into a nearby restaurant to get a beer, I stopped at this photo op, that was in font of Cool Jappaan (which you can see behind me is sadly drained, and really did look like it hadn't been maintained and was about to be dismantled). I think the photo op is supposed to be a wave, but you can also squat to make your head be the head of a budda - so I, of course, did that. . LOL thanks to Jon for snapping the picture. . *and* for waiting to time it to catch Eejanaika going down the first drop (which I hadn't even noticed would be in the pic). headed back to the main area of the park, here's Do-dodonpa's new-ish loop, and the "Shining Flower" the park'g giant ferris wheel. you could see some of the clouds moving in, in this and the prior pics. by this time, Mt. Fuji was completely obscured by clouds, and so I was extremely happy we had gotten such great views of it earlier in the day. we had decided that it was time to eat, as most of us were hungry enough, and as we debated the options in the park (Grill Kitchen MEAT x MEAT sounded good, but also sounded very North American - burgers??), we all decided to just go to "Food Stadium", the parks major food court that's pretty much in the center of the park, and added a lot of options. as we walked back towards the center of Fuji-Q, I actually did snap a good pic of the SBNO Mad Mouse coaster. off to the left, those red supports? that's the infamous Frisbee at Fuji-Q that's themed to. . . pizza. yep, you're a pizza being spun around and tossed. . and in the center in front of the ride? a pizza restaurant. LOL. . .but I didn't come all the way to Japan to eat Pizza either (and hadn't eaten it the day before at Yomiuriland either). walking around the central lake to get to Food Stadium. Across the lake is that Grill Kitchen MEAT x MEAT place. .which is advertising Curry as well, on it's windows. . . LOL oh, that pretty lake in the center of the park? - that lake included an attraction, "Water Ace" boats (which we skipped. . only so much time in the park, even with a full day, so choices had to be made, and Water Ace didn't make the cut, even with the fun paths and islands to go around. . tho it seemed to be popular enough, there were some folks riding it thruout the day when we passed it). a poster offering direction to get to Fuji-Q's version of Soarin' - here called "Fuji Airways" (I also chose to skip this one, due to the time that would need to be invested in the pre-show, and the ride. . as well as I knew that I'd be riding "real" Soarin' at Disney later in the trip..but Trent went on it and said it was good). further along the path towards Food Stadium, a view of how stacked the attractions are in this park. back to front: Do-dodonpa's loop Tekkotsubanchou (the park's Skyscreamer, which I rode later - was hella fun, if not the tallest I'd been on) Shining Flower (Ferris Wheel) Auntie Anne's pretzel shop (they had a Starbucks here too. . it was like an airport! ) and the Water Ace boats. that rocket tower in the center of the lake is either just a lifeguard stand, or a decoration they use year round to light up the boat ride (it looked beautiful at night). looking more straight ahead at where we are headed (you can see Food Stadium at the bottom right of the picture), here's a great view of Tentekomai (the park's Air Race). This is what I rode at the end of the night, 5 minutes before closing, instead of Fuji Airways. I didn't get it to flip 60+ times, as some did. .but I did flip at least 30 before I started to get ill, and just enjoyed the rest of the cool night air, riding right-side-up. Heading into Food Stadium, we passed this sign advertising the Halloween special offerings at the park. none of these really "spoke" to me, but it's great that the parks have special Halloween offerings to make things more fun for those visiting. after a crash course in using the ordering machines (they are way more confusing than one would think they would be - since you use the ones at the front for EVERY STATION in Food Stadium. .and then it gives you tickets you have to bring to the different stations to pick up your orders). i don't really recall what this was, but I believe it had spicy pork, and of course, melted cheese on top. For something that was supposed to be spicy, I recall it being fairly mild (tho keep in mind, I like really spicy stuff). . but I did enjoy it, and ate every bite. Jon was sitting across from me, and in addition to his main, he also got Takoyaki here. I love Takoyaki, and he let me try one. . they were quite good. (not as good as the ones we would get later on the trip at the Universal Citywalk's Takoyaki Alley area. . . but these were good). We finished eating, and had about 15 minutes to let our food digest, and then it was time for. . . . Fujiyama !! with our "Zekkyo Priority Ticket" we bypassed the entire line (and it was still super long). . you just walk with your ticket alongside the standby line, up all the ramps, and directly to the station, where they check your ticket, and put you in the queue for the very next train. And since Fujiyama was only running the Silver train today, that line was long. I can just imagine that if we were in the states, we'd be getting glares and comments by everyone in the line. . but here in Japan? Just some smiles and waves as we walked by! and it was a little odd, many folks just stood in the line, even tho there were plenty of priority tickets still available. (we saw this too at Tokyo Disney - folks preferred to stand in line, instead of getting a fast pass, that would have gotten them right on the ride). I suppose it's a cultural thing, but for only ~$15? I'm glad I got the option to buy one to bypass this huge line. the station was very "old school" with some wonderfully tacky color combos. .and as you can see in this pic, the free cubbies to put all your stuff into. tho this one was set up different from the other coasters in that here we had to cross over the coaster to put your stuff away, then step back into the car. All the other coasters had the cubbies on the same side of the station you loaded/unloaded from. so this was a very "Six Flags" set up. the trains were so unique looking, it was kinda like being in a parade float. and lap bars! (seatbelts too. . but really just lap bars) as with most parks we'd been to, I recall this being assigned row - especially since we were using the Zekkyo Priority ticket - so we went where they put us, which was about 3 cars back, mid train. we had all regrouped, and decided that we should ride Do-dodonpa again, so we headed over that way to check out the line. . tho not before standing by the end of the tunnel and attempting to get a pic of the launch. took a few tries, but eventually got purple train. while waiting for the picture above to be purchased (which is on the 2nd floor of the Fujiyama station building), I peeked out the windows and got a nice view of the statuary and reliefs on the Carousel, which is outside the station. Back down on the main level after purchasing the picture, I headed into the souvenir shop that was on the 1st floor next to the entrance queue for Fujiyama (in search of a magnet, which I had success finding. .and ironically? bought the Fujiyama magnet, since that was the one I liked best, even if not the coaster I liked best). While I and some shopped, others took a restroom break, as the toilets are right there in the same complex. we were waiting for everyone to finish up and meet back up, and this little trolley just pulled up out of no-where, seemingly following the lines on the ground (tho the park map indicates you should follow those lines to get to different "lands" - Red to Super Scary Labyrinth of Fear, Orange to Park Entrance #1 or #2, and Blue to Thomas Land). So I think it was just coincidence that the trolley was on these lines? The park doesn't have a train, and not even certain where the trolley stops would be. .as there was no sign indicating where it would stop. notice the "Power Rangers" type mascots for Fuji-Q on the front of the Trolley tho. Seconds after I snapped the above pic - and noted I had no idea where the trolley stop would be? the trolley stopped. . right there. no sign that this is a stop.. and I couldn't ask anyone, as there was no one actually riding on the trolley. (and I didn't see where the driver went. .but as you can see in this pic, in the time it took me to cross to the other side of the trolley to snap this pic, he disappeared). all of that info combined? yeah, I think he just stopped right there. . to go to the toilet. I mean, there really is NOT any kind of sign indicating this is a stop, and he kinda stopped right in the middle of the walking path, near the Men's room. LOL while waiting for the pic to be purchased, I perused the "store" that was there by the photo counter, and came across these "non-misogynistic" treats. .themed to the female Power Ranger-esque park logo. they appear to be pudding treats, shaped like her bewbs. . and look how shocked she is that you're looking at her bewbs! of COURSE, I had to buy a set (ha!) of these as a souvenir. - and they actually survived the entire trip and made it home in one piece, and hysterically? once you open the box, there are steps you have to take to "release" the treats.. they are held within a paper "bra" when you first open the box up. eventually (after I finish the report), I'll post pics of some souvenirs, so you'll get to see the brilliant packaging on this. Can't tell you what they taste like, unfortunately, as I didn't actually unpack them. This is a souvenir that will forever stay sealed - it's better that way after our 2nd ride on Do-dodonpa, we headed across to Takabisha, which also had a relatively short line still, tho this one too was a little longer than earlier. I believe we also waited about 20-25 minutes, but got in another great ride on Takabisha too. some of us were starting to fade a bit (including me) since we had gotten up so dang early. . even tho it was only early afternoon, and the park was open until 6pm. So we still had ~3 1/2 hours left, and we were right by the Starbucks in the park. so yep, Starbucks break! I didn't try the "masquerade" flavor they were offering for Hallowing (I did get to try it later in Shinjuku, and found it to be a raspberry flavor), but was very pleased with my white chocolate mocha that perked me right up. I believe a few others got coffees/drinks too, and then we decided that it was time to get another ride on Eejanaika. but first, a spooky/horror themed photo op right in front of the Starbucks? yep, count me in! walking back past the "wave" photo op from earlier, I noticed on the other side of the "street" were these squatting (to poop?) photo op stools! Allison was game, so she and I posed, and were "nuts 4 butts at Fuji-Q" BWAAA-HAA-HAAA so cute! the line for this 2nd ride was a little longer than it had been earlier. . about 25 minutes, but it still didn't seem too bad, so we didn't bother with Priority Tickets, and instead just got in line. this time, I went 3rd row, since I had gotten to ride in the front on our prior ride. But we ended up with an all TPR train. . one open seat, I'm not sure where Trent had gone off to (maybe he was doing the Fuji Airways ride at this time?). I found it a bit bumpier than the ride earlier had been. . so maybe the ride gets a little rougher as you go towards the back? Regardless it was still a great ride. here's the pic, I think David bought this time. going back thru the little town section, I leaned in to pose with a Yokai that was just hanging out on a bench. he/she/it confused me. . but I was intrigued by it and I had another fantastic ride on Eejanaika. Eejanaika! Eejanaika! Ee-ja-nai-ka!!!! no pics from this coaster tho -- the pics just didn't look like you were in a 4D coaster. .they looked more like you were sitting in a baby bjorn. . . . so we passed on documenting our ride. WE know we rode it! but I think Luke may have bought his pic from a ride he did earlier in the day with Trent. the pic the group purchased from Fujiyama. . and once again, the TPR folks are all with HUGE smiles, and the locals are all grimacing with fear/angst. (well, Jon is kinda grimacing. . LOL) what did i think of it? well, the 1st 2/3rds are amazing. If I'm recalling correctly the camera to take the pic is after the 2nd drop, so i'm still *loving* it at this point. Yes, you read that correctly, I was loving a Togo.. it was really fun. . the 1st drop, the turn around, the 2nd drop, more high speed turns, helix. . it's fun, and not rough at all. and then you get to the last 3rd. . . a section that would be best described as what if Maverick & Phoenix were combined, and then re-imagined by Togo. yep, it tries to kill you. . . a bunch of bunny hops, while quickly zig-zag direction changes between them. it was horrible. The only bright side is that I was laughing, because being in the 3rd car, we HEARD the folks in the cars in front of us going "ugh!!" and "oooghh" a millisecond before we hit the same reaction. It wasn't quite enough time to brace for it, but it was funny as hell. but yes, I thought this ending 3rd was awful! so awful, that when later in the day, some in the group decided to buy another pass to skip the line and ride Fujiyama again? I passed and went on the Carousel and the Naruto shooting ride instead! Fujiyama is the only "big" coaster at Fuji-Q that I only rode the 1 time. . and i'm ok with that to be fair tho, those that re-rode it, got placed in the back car, and they all said it rode much better in the back than it had in the middle of the train. There was also a photo op set up over there with one of the Gold Trains from Fujiyama - with a fan set up to turn on and blow your hair to make it look like you were riding. my hair isn't long enough to blow,and no one other than me wanted to climb up on the platform to pose for the pic. . . but here I am. wheeee! thanks to Alex for taking the pics for me/ of me headed back from our ride, the clouds are really coming in, and it's getting a little overcast. but it was still a beautiful day, and we had experienced HOURS of sun.. so couldn't complain. LTR in this pic: Tekkotsubanchou (skyscreamer), Do-dodonpa's loop, Red Tower (SBNO), Shining Flower (Ferris Wheel), Cool Jappaan (SBNO, and drained) and Eejanaika. ah. . here's a pic of folks actually riding the Sky Cycle on the green tracks. . so I guess I was mistaken earlier. .it WAS open, it just wasn't really running because the park was kind of empty. this is a good shot of that area I was talking about earlier tho, that looked closed down: behind us and to the right are Red Tower & Cool Jappaan (both not running), the blue Track is the not running Lisa & Gaspard Diary of Sky Journey (suspended coaster). there are more people here than had been earlier, but really there's not much down this way attraction wise other than a raft ride & the upcharge Haunt (Super scary Labyrinth of Fear). . maybe because it was getting later in the day there were more people over here? there certainly weren't many kids over here, and the little coin operated cars, were just sitting empty in the center of the large walkways. that white track is Do-dodonpa's turn around before the loop. we went over this way, because we saw Nagashimasuka (the raft ride) on the map.. giant lucky cats certainly got my interest piqued. .and this photo op in front of the ride - the cats vomiting water? yeah, this looked like fun. and it actually had a little bit of a line - so THIS is where most of those folks in the prior pic had been heading. More lucky cats, at the actual ride entrance. huh. . the cats don't appear to be spitting water. . tho that's in ALL the art. hmmmmm. . see? spitting water. the queue was not nearly "full", which offered an opportunity to enjoy the wonderful murals on the walls. that's a LOT of water on the mural. . . just before you got to the last row of back&forth, there were machines set up to purchase plastic ponchos. *everyone* seemed to be getting ponchos, and I noticed from the 3rd row back they were only a buck. So we discussed it, and decided that we didn't mind getting a little bit wet. Besides, it would be fun. thank goodness! not only was this way more "violent" of a rapids ride than the Splash U.F.O. yakisoba raft ride the day before at Yomiuriland - with way steeper drops, and a lot more splashing into the boat. . but the water was probably 40 degrees. It was COLD. and those cats that didn't appear to be vomiting water? oh. .they do - from the *back side* of them which also have lucky cat faces, and that side faces the rafts! Not to mention the areas of heavy mist that the rafts go thru. oh, and the rafts are teeny, tiny, as you can see from the prior picture! it was a tight squeeze getting 3 of us in there. but LOL. . look at this pic. . you can really tell, who had purchased a poncho (and remained dry and warm), and who decided to brave it without (and ended up soaked and cold). . . hehehehehe we were laughing and enjoying how much fun the raft ride had been (and deciding, no, we weren't going to get on it again. .it was too wet!), when Luke - who hadn't ridden with us - asked if we had been to the lookout point, that was in the center of Do-dodonpa's turn around. ears perked up, and we headed that way further past the raft ride, and found these horrifyingly scary "bears" (I think. . I dunno, i think it was a demon seal.. look at those red eyes and bloody mouth!) at the base of a trail leading up to a lookout point. ok, yeah, they are supposed to be bears. this other one is way more appealing. tho, of course, I prefer the bloody mouth, 1st one. . and immediately made it my FB profile pic. following the trail up to the lookout point.. many, many more HUGE spiders hanging out in the un-pruned bushes lining the trail. This guy was a bit scary, as it looked like it was about to give birth to hundreds of hungry spider babies. Or maybe it was just fat from all the tourists it had sucked dry today. I honestly wasn't sure if we were allowed up here, as the trail was kind of overgrown, and unmowed.. but it *seemed* to be open (if not on the park map), and as a couple of path split offs WERE actually chained off? the path we were on towards the top was definitely open. what looks like an abandoned attraction left to rot, I believe is part of the Winter attractions. It looked like it was going to be covered in snow, and be a snowing hill (along the bottom there were cushions attached to the walls to help stop sledders who were out of control. . at least it looked that way to me). And checking the Fuji-Q site, they DO offer a sledding hill. . so yeah, we just were there before they had started getting this area cleaned up for that. but the amazing thing about this lookout area? it's right in the middle of Do-dodonpa. .so you can track the train around and into the loop. loop de loop !!! wheeee. behind all those clouds? yeah, that's what Mt Fuji looked like for most of the day, after we had such a beautiful view of it in the morning. it was pretty impressive that the clouds rolled in so densely around it. Once again, I was so thankful that I got to see Mt. Fuji so clearly earlier that day. from the lookout, a closer look at one of the bizarre WTF rides in Thomas Land .. . this one called "Thomas' Happy Smile" I did try to get folks to ride it during our pass thru Thomas Land, as we walked the park - but no one wanted to do it, even for giggles. I prolly should have just ridden it alone, but there were still several things I wanted to ride at that point, so I didn't bother with it. I still like the WTF-ness of it tho. from up here, you get a great view of the back side of the lucky cats statue on Nagaashimasuka. . . yeah, they really do vomit water. . LOL such a fantastic view . . so much track from so many rides, in one pic! got Tekkotsubanchou starting to go up on it's cycle, and Eejanaika about to drop. . too bad that Red Tower, suspended coaster, chute-the-chutes aren't active, or that Tondemina (the Pizza Frisbee) isn't cycling.. otherwise would be a perfect picture. but I'm in it, so it's still pretty good not the highest Skyscreamer I had ever been on, but Tekkotsubanchou really gets up there. and once it started to get darker? it really felt like we were so high! as you can see here, it gets some good forces, and swings you out pretty far! here comes the Red train for Do-dodonpa. tracking it around the turnaround. . . and into the loop! wheeeeeee. again, a whole lot of tracks Tekkotsubanchou is back down on the ground, but Eejanaika is pumping out trains, and over in the distance can see Tondemina (Pizza frisbee) now cycling. enough with the view from the top of the lookout, let's continue around the park! time to walk thru Thomas Land. yay? that pumpkin was the full extent of the Halloween decorations over here (which makes sense, as this area is for kids. . but weird, since that coffin with the bloody hands is near the front gate, so kiddos would have had to pass it to get TO Thomas Land). but we had to cut thru Thomas Land 1) just to see it, and 2) because that's how you get to the bridge that lets you stand over Do-dodonpa's track (and leads you to Tekkotsubanchou (the skyscreamer) on the bridge over Do-dodonpa's track, looking towards the front entrance of the park, I actually did get a decent pic of the Panic Clock ride (or "Panic Rock" if you believe the English park map) in action. from this viewpoint, you can get a pretty spectacular view of Do-dodonpa's train as it comes out of the loop (I'd assume this used to also be where one could stand before to get pics as the train used to come down from the airtime hill). zoom-zooom !!! I believe this is where we spit off, as folks in the group I was with had the priority pass for Fujiyama, and I had not purchased another one to ride. So I went off and hit up Tekkotsubanchou (the skyscreamer) - and then the Carousel, of course, while they all went off to Fujiyama, where they had a wonderful back car ride. to be continued in part III. Speaking of the Men's room? Zach came out and showed us this amazing picture he took of the art inside the Men's room. yep, that's one of the Fuji-Q Power Rangers-esque Mascots. . on the toilet. straining. BWAAA-HAAAA-HAAAAAAA. . I love Japan! (thanks to Zach for the ok to use his pic in my TR) this is how the seating works! notice no shoes? yep, you have to take your shoes off and leave them in your designated loading area - they keep this ride moving pretty quickly despite the complicated loading required, but setting up two batches of folks per car, with two "holding pens" per car - so you take off your shoes and leave them on your marked spots (all your bags in your own cubbies there too), and when your train comes back, you just get your stuff/put your shoes on, while they load the folks that were in the next holding pen over. photo courtesy of Zach. but as we got closer to the front of the line. . . . hmmm. . . lots of folks getting on the ride are wearing ponchos. I think for $1 we maybe should invest in ponchos. a couple of us decided to stick to their guns, and go poncho-less. But myself, Jon, and Zach spent the freaking 100yen, and bought ponchos. (pic courtesy of Zach) a look at some of the "path" we took to get to this lookout point. see how overgrown it looks in places.. but it was open!