bert425

yeah, only way the HUSS could have been better would have been if they were running more intense cycles (gotta wonder if they were running "medium" because of the placement on building tops). but still, it was so great to have so many together in one place!

Bonus picture from Tobu Zoo (which Brad sent me last night). here's the pic that he took of us on "Diggy & Daggy's Tram Coaster" that I teased he was gonna use for Blackmail. Pic courtesy of Brad. Jon, Me, and Leia on a kiddie powered coaster whee!

hey, I'm proud of you for doing it! you had fun on it, right?

oo. . didn't realize there were some Youtube POVs out there. I believe that my ride had organ music playing, at least I don't recall there being *no* music. .but I was so enthralled I may have just not noticed one note of clarification tho. . El Dorado does *not* have rocking or galloping horses. Looks like they used to, but the animals are bolted in place and do not move independently.

Getting from Tobu Zoo to Toshimaen, was I believe only 2 trains, with a transfer to a line where (I think) Toshimaen was the final stop (?) Toshimaen is in Nerima area of Tokyo, which is a "Special Ward" section (basically a subdivision of the City of Tokyo). Nerima is a lovely area, and for those of us nerdy types not too familiar with Japan, it mainly would be known to the rest of the world for two main things: 1) it's the setting of the long running Manga & Anime "Ranma 1/2" 2) it's also the main setting for "Ju-On" - the series of films remade in America as "the Grudge" (yep, the Grudge house is supposedly in Nerima) Since it was after 1pm on a Monday afternoon, the crowds on the trains going back towards the main Yamanote line for the transfer train, were MUCH lighter. we had so much room, we were all able to sit, so Robb snapped this pic. had to include this one, as still DYING over the local in the back right behind Luke, who posed for the pic with us (whom none of us noticed at the time, until Robb shared the pic with us on socials). Look at that thoughtful pose! a couple of stops later, and TPR were the only ones in the entire car! (and the one behind us too). it was a TPR Tokyo Train Takeover (TTTT !!) so we got a little touristy-crazy hey. . no one will ever know, right? and about an hour of travel later? we were at the gates of Toshimaen, a wonderfully weird (to me) classic Japanese park. you know how much I loved how Tobu Zoo looked like it had decorated for Halloween with a trip to Walgreens? (and no shade, I really did love it). Toshimaen made a trip to Party City instead. .and it was just as awesome. would I rip Six Flags or Cedar Fair (or Universal) for Halloween Decorations like these? oh, of course. . but for a "Family" Japanese park, I thought these were absolutely wonderful, and fit in pretty perfectly with the vibe of the park. it's a really big park, with sports fields, a large waterpark section (not open today), and a very strange rides set up - with a few coasters, a flume, and lots of flats (all seemingly HUSS) that were all just plopped on top of the buildings there. It was a bit odd, but wonderful at the same time. it was also the 1st park I had been to in Japan that did *not* have a Ferris Wheel - one of only a handful on the trip that did not. That seemed a bit strange for a "family park". .but it's not like one can't ride a Ferris Wheel at lots of other places in Japan. we got there around 2:30, and the park was open until 5, so we had plenty of time to wander and ride. but first, a selfie in front of the gate, where they spelled out "Halloween" in balloons. *charming* The main gate, with park namesake on it. as you can see some of the balloons had eyes & Mouth paper decorations on them (a la party city) to make them "monsters", but again, it works. I'm not really sure why the American flag is there either, since it was the only flag they had displayed that I noticed. But maybe they knew our group was going to swing by today and so it was a welcome? it was nice, but odd. also very strange, and I really wish I had asked about it, are the winged Horse & Pig mascots in the Toshimaen logo over the main gate. I did see them in a photo op inside the park (and of course, took a pic with them), but this park is heavily branded with Tom & Jerry - as you'll see - so it was strange that the park mascots *aren't* Tom & Jerry. Pic courtesy of Robb. . here's TPR being "scary" - or at least some of us trying to be. . .before heading inside the gates to enjoy the park. before heading thru the gates tho, I had to stop and take a pic of this Tom & Jerry Halloween display. it's at the same time, terrifying and impressive as hell. A giant "Tom" head, made out of balloons.. with red balloons as tongue - tho if you use your imagination just a LEETLE bit, I can see blood from chewing on the balloon Jerry, who's not in the display ! (tho there's a wood cut of Jerry, declaring this a "say cheese! spot") as I said, terrifying and impressive at the same time! Park map on dislay along the main walkway going in. some really neat "walkway" art, that if you stood in the space directed and took the picture, the flat design on the pavement became a 3D image. I saw similar things a couple of times while in Japan, and it was always pretty impressive how well the 3D effect works in pictures. we went from this walkway directly to our 1st coaster, pretty much as a group (I think maybe 8 of us?).. which was . . wait for it. . on top of a building. LOL for some reason, I didn't take *any* pictures of this coaster tho I'm not sure why I didn't. sure it was sorta boring but that's never stopped me from taking pics before! Especially since the 1st "car" was a train, simliar to Big Thunder Mountain at Disney. Blauer Enzian is a powered coaster, maybe 1 step above a kiddie coaster. It was basically a double figure 8 design, and most striking about it to me (besides being on a rooftop) was that it had an extremely long train. I think the train may have been 15 cars long. . and they were only loading the 1st 7 or so cars. I recall this clearly, because the operator asked us to each get into our own car, and then they did not load the back half of the train at all. I'm pretty sure, once we rode it, that was because if the train were fully loaded? it never would have made it up the initial lift, as it barely crawled up the 1st half of the figure 8, so maybe the engine is struggling on this powered coaster? we did go thru the course twice, so there was that, and it did have a bit of fun Centrifugal forces going thru the figure 8 layout once we got moving (emphasized by being alone in the row, so i slid back and forth on the turns). .but it was a 1 & done. There was a flume, and a kiddie coaster (called "Kidy Coasteer Mini Cyclone"), but I wasn't interested in a kiddie (no judgement for those who were interested in riding it). . and the flume had a pretty long line, that I didn't want to spend time waiting in when we only had a limited amount in the park. I had noticed several of the flats on other rooftops while we were riding, and was excited to get to try some of those, but since most of the group I was with wanted to focus on the coasters - and I didn't want to wander alone just yet - I stuck with the group and we decided to head to the "marquee" attraction for us at this park: "Cyclone" (aka: the Log Coaster). Cyclone had a very long line. but I mean, it's train is a log. . and the seats are lined in Velvet. It's a Velvet Log coaster! should we wait for it even with the long line? there were a lot of school groups in the park, and they all seemed to be in this line. while we were debating, someone pinged the group (Robb? or maybe Trent & Luke) to tell us that Corkscrew had no line at the moment). it was only running one train, and it's a Corkscrew. .but those that rode it said it was riding pretty well. and it sure LOOKED pretty and graceful, looping over the walkway. so we decided to come back to Cyclone later, in hopes the line would die down, and we went over to Corkscrew. I'm here to ride rides, so why not. yeah, it's an Arrow Corkscrew with over the shoulder restraints. . but I mean.. ok, let's do this. . . aaaaand William and I got placed in the front row. yep. . . Honestly, it wasn't too bad, but yes it DID have a bit of headbang going on it. Luckily it wasn't as awful as some other's I've been on (hey Cedar Point!), but yeah, this was 1 and done too. we got off the Corkscrew, laughing that we had gone ahead and ridden it, and the line for Cyclone (aka Log Coaster) was still pretty long. So looking around at options, we decided to go into the Mirror House (which was seeming to be a staple at a lot of Japanese Parks. . .but after this one, didn't really see them again, go figure). this one was really, really well done - even tho some figured out the "cheats" (1: look at the floor to follow the worn path, or 2: look at the ceiling, and you can see where the tops of the mirrors are). I chose not to do either, and had a blast figuring my way thru this house, which was hella fun. and had some really nice design work such as these Tarot Cards in the windows out front. at this point the group had decided to go ahead and get in line for Cyclone (the line had gotten a little bit shorter, but was still pretty lengthy). I DID want to ride "log coaster". .but in all honestly, I had denied myself for long enough, and I really wanted to go do what I had been most looking forward from the moment Elissa had told us that this park was going to be one of the stops on the trip. So I headed off on my own to get a ride on: Carousel El Dorado. Carousel El Dorado, is one of the oldest working Carousels in the world. built in Germany in 1907 by Hasse, it was imported into Coney Island, NY - where it was a mainstay at Steeplechase Park, until that park closed down in 1964. after Steeplechase park closed, the El Dorado sat in storage until it was sent to Japan in 1970 for the Osaka World's Fair - and shortly after that, it was installed in Toshimaen, where it remains to this day (and which is why the American Flags here make total sense to me) this is probably the most beautiful Carousel I've ever been on, and it was running a really long cycle. it's not what one would typically think of as a standard Carousel - the horses, pigs, carriages, do not gallop, or even move (tho at one point they used to). here's what the Coney Island History page has to say about the El Dorado: "Years Operated - 1910 - 1966 Type - Menagerie machine with horses & boatyard animals This fabulous German carousel was built at a cost of $150,000 and imported by John Jurgens in 1910. He had to pay more than $30,000 in customs fees. It was installed in a pavilion with 6000 lamps and a gigantic organ. The menagerie machine contained three platforms, arranged in ascending tiers, each revolving at different speeds. Its crown-like canopy rose to a height of 42 feet. It featured horses, pigs and other barnyard animals. It was blistered almost to oblivion in the Dreamland fire one year later. But George Tilyou salvaged it and placed it within the glass enclosed Pavilion of Fun." as mentioned above, the "Menagerie Machine" contains 3 levels, and each level rotates at a different speed: - the outer level the slowest featuring pigs, horses, and wagons. - the middle level is faster and features horses, wagons, and "teacups" that look like at one time they possibly allowed the rider to spin them. - and the inner level offers no animals, but instead only velvet covered benches around the inner ring. This level spins the fastest -- offering a ton of centrifugal force. the design style of gorgeous Carousel is Art Nouveau, from the carving style, the ornate light fixtures and statues. . . and the paintings on the inside ceiling? stunning. I was in absolute awe of this thing. It's basically Cedar Downs, if the horses didn't move, and it rotated much faster. I can imagine how insane this ride must have been when the animals moved/the cups spun, while the carousel rotated. (but I also totally get why they no longer move.. it simply wouldn't be safe for smaller kids to ride it that way). I took at least 80 pictures of this. . cutting it down just just a bunch. my 1st ride was on the middle level, on a horse. I got to ride history (the horses didn't have names, but I named this one "History") LOL so beautiful. .and I can only imagine how stunning this must look in the evening, tho with all the lights on, even in the daytime it was impressive as hell. and it has bewbs and cherub butts. after riding once more on a bench on the inner tier (and man, does that fling you against the outside railing, more than a sizzler does. . i LOVED it), I was ready to make my way back over to Cyclone, but first stopped to snap a selfie by the giant flower display the park had up. Not sure why they had oversized flowers set up in a big display, but I loved how interesting they looked. there did appear to be some plugs coming from some flowers, so gotta wonder if they light up? (tho there seemed to be spotlights aimed at them to light them up. .so maybe not? the park closed at 5pm, so that was before dark tonight anyways). Here's that photo op I mentioned earlier, with the Flying Horse/Pig park mascots. This was on the back side of the El Dorado Carousel. . and they had them surrounded by Halloween decorations. see? Pumpkins I made my way back over towards Cyclone after my Carousel fix, and the line had gotten shorter by 1/2, tho the group of folks I had been with were only just at the bottom of the stairs to the station. I said hello to them, told them about the awesome Carousel (something I probably talked about for the next couple of hours), and got in the queue, a couple of switch backs behind them. the wonderful Japanese crowd, who had seen me say hello to my friends, encouraged me to come forwards and join them in the line so we could all ride together. I didn't want to cut the line (I had no issue waiting) and kept saying "no, no, it's fine", but after a lot of encouragement from those in the line to move past them to join my friends? I went ahead and moved forward and by the time we moved up the stairs for the next train, I was back with many of the folks I had been hanging with all day. It's really hard to express just how kind and nice everyone in the Country is. Even with a language barier sometimes? everyone wanted to help, and wanted to make everyone have the best time (it happened again later that night too, that I'll get to in the next update). The Japanese Citizens really impressed me with how polite and just damn *nice* they are. Did not meet one angry, or upset Japanese person while in the Country. It's such a wonderful place. and here it comes. . entering the load area of the station (the unload is at the back of the station). . the infamous, Toshimaen "Log Coaster" Cyclone. it's not just a "log" it's a log, that's covered in brown velvet. so, so awesome. . I mean, it's a whole lot of WFT??. . but that's what makes it so Awesome! Jon and I paired up to share a row, and we're smiling. . . until clipped the seatbelt on and realized this was gonna be a "snug" ride BWAAAA-HAAAA-HAAAAA but the crushed velvet was so nicely padded, it was great that we were so snug in our log. (tho thank goodness those lap bars aren't really lap bars. . they didn't come down at all, and were just there to hang on to). a quick pic before we head out (and yes, i had permission from the operator to take this picture - I wear shorts with zipper pockets, so it was easy to slip the camera back in after taking the pic and zip up before heading out) the seats behind us were full, so it wasn't a full TPR takeover (like on the train ), but the first 6 rows of the Log-Train was TPR! Cyclone catches you by surprise. . it doesn't seem to do a whole lot, just some up and downs thruout the park, on the bright blue track you see supported on giant pylons while walking around. but then it dives past the flume, does a turn around, and disappears into a long, dark tunnel. I mean, really long. So long, you lose your sense of speed, and it feels like you are absolutely flying. Then you finally shoot out at the end of the tunnel, and up into the station. . with us all laughing and clapping. what a wonderful, unexpected, element of this coaster. after this fantastic time on the coaster, we split up a bit as some folks wanted to ride the kiddy coaster, or re-ride Cyclone. I am a big flats fan, and wanted to try out some of the parks Huss collection - especially since they are all on rooftops. I had spotted a Magic Experience on the roof across the way while we were pulling into Cyclone's station and wanted to head over there. I had only ridden one before, at MarineLand in Niagra Falls, and loved it. So I brought up that I was going to ride it, and when I found out that Allison had never been on one? convinced her, David, and Jon to come with me to ride. it ran a shortish cycle (something that was true of all the Huss Flats at Toshimaen), and it wasn't super intense, but it was good. So good, we got off it and immediately got back in line to ride again. William wasn't interested in riding Magic with us, but he wanted to conquer his fear of heights (maybe not "fear" since he DID want to get on the Condor on the adjacent building top (called "the Eagle" here). . but his dislike of heights). Neither he or Allison had ever been on a Condor, so we went across to the other building and got a ride. I snapped this pic as proof that he did it you can see the "Magick" sign from the ride we just got off of on the building across the way and a selfie in my "bird bucket" I asked before the ride started, if it was OK to take pictures during the ride as long as the camera stayed inside the car, and got the thumbs up from the operator. you get a fantastic view of the park from this ride while it's running. this is looking towards the front of the park - the Blue Track is Cyclone, you can see some of the helix from the figure 8 track of Blauer Enzian coaster on a rooftop, the Red Track is the Kiddy Coaster Mini Cyclone, the flume, a kiddie train, some of the slide structures and lazy river from the waterpark area, and in the center - a ride pad, that looked like something had recently been removed, but not sure what may have been missing from just looking at the map. the other direction, you can see the top of a wave swinger, & Swing Around (on the roofs of the buildings across the way), and part of Corkscrew's corkscrew. looking across the parking lot towards the Narima Prefecture, and the homes there. . there are a lot of people living in this area, so I'm sure this park gets a lot of local support. a better look at Cyclone's station (and the "log train" is there just after the lift hill, about to go down the 1st drop). it was post 4pm, and the park was starting to empty out (it closed at 5, remember). So not a lot of people in this picture, but there's also a good view of the swinging ships (on the building rooftop, of course), that are not running only because no one in line, and on the building rooftop just behind it is a Huss Breakdance, and a Huss Troika. you can also see the Huss Magic Experience we just rode in this pic too. slightly blurry, but better picture of the Swing Around, and Corkscrew's layout along the back of the park. it really is a lovely amusement park, with some nice trees thruout, making for a lovely setting. Cyclone is also just about to go down the drop in this pic. Mr Hot-Dog was really enjoying squirting himself. so who am I to not join in on the fun. (and it was Allison who pointed out that he was there, so blame her for this pic. . ) the group i was with splintered slightly further, as some folks ran off to do other things (maybe to grab some food before park close?), or headed out. . but several of us still stuck together, and headed towards the swinging ships, which Allison had wanted to ride (and which were now going - for I think 1 customer). Made for a great pic. She changed her mind and decided that she didn't want to ride, but since we were right at the steps to the roof, we noticed that those steps went up to a few rides. no one wanted to do Troika with me. . which was OK, since I just rode one of those not too long ago at Cedar Point. But I hadn't been on a Breakdance in a long time. So a few of us grabbed a ride on this. again, it wasn't a long or super intense cycle, but it *was* a lot of fun. The most fun was trying to figure out who the faded stars were that had been painted on the backdrop -but that exposure to the elements had faded badly. Really, it was surprising how well maintained things like the Carousel, or Mirror House, were, but the rides on the rooftops, were just left to be exposed to the elements. . so the traveling carnival painted backdrops were all peeling and fading. we were able to identify: Tina Turner, Madonna, Prince, Michael Jackson. .and .. maybe? George Michael on this back drop, but no idea on the remaining stars were. the swinging ship operating from the other direction. . with a handful of folks riding before the park closed. it was maybe 4:40, and instead of heading out to the train station, We decided that the Cyclone was really fun, so let's get another ride on it. So we headed back and after a very short wait, we were boarding. it was just as much fun the 2nd time - tho this time we each rode alone in our row - and the tunnel was just as fun. Since there wasn't much line, was even able to snag this "smexy" pic of myself (thanks Jon), enjoying the feel of the crushed velvet. and with that, the sky -which had been overcast for a little while, really began to look like it might start to sprinkle. . so we said our goodbyes to Toshimaen and started to head toward the subway station. stopping for a bathroom break on the way, where a few of us guys witnessed something that is apparently very commonplace in Japan (but this was the 1st time I'd seen). Most of the men's room urinal side, have a shelf along the back of the urinals (over the top of them) - similar to an airport. So we go in, and a local man comes in with his young daughter . . maybe 2 or 3 years old), and he sits her on the shelf over the urinal facing directly at him. . . and the little girl proceeds to play with Daddy's hair, and face, and hold a long conversation with him - WHILE HE'S PEEING. We all stared straight ahead and tried our damnedest not to giggle, but it was so funny, and once we got outside, we were doubled over discussing what in the world the girl could have been talking about the whole time? we were all like "well. . THAT happened" as I noted, this seems to be very commonplace in Japan to bring the little ones with you into the bathroom (yes, it's common in many places), but I encountered some stalls even (at Universal in Osaka), where there's a little "baby seat" that is in the corner facing directly at the toilet, so again you'd be "face to face" with your child while doing your business. I know, it's a weird Westerner thing that I/we thought it was strange. . tho I quickly got over it, and realize it's purely a cultural thing that is *not* a big deal. what I think got us going tho, was the ongoing "commentary" from the little girl since the park closed at 5, we were on our own to do whatever we liked this evening on the way back to Shinagawa. we had some good directions from Elissa how to get back, so the directive was to "have fun" She had told us about an aquarium off of the Shinjuku station stop that was offering an evening 'event' with an exhibit focusing on how fish have sex - sounds scandalous, and a very "only in Japan" thing to do. . so I really had wanted to do that, especially since this exhibit was only a small portion of the Aquarium which would be open for anyone who went just for the "fish sex" exhibit. and I do enjoy Aquariums. but there were other things that were competing with that - mainly, William had seen a restaurant featured on a Japan travel blog that sounded amazing, and he was on a mission to find it this evening and had invited anyone who was interested in joining him. I hemmed and hawed. . since I really did want to go to the Aquarium exhibit - but I was the only one who wanted to do that. . and since William had invited along anyone who wanted to come, if I went? I would get to see some of Tokyo at night, and with a small group. and get some good food? So I decided that it was a better call, and more culturally opening to me, to join William for Dinner - so I pinged him and asked if he was sure it was ok to join him? and we (Myself, Jon, Allison, and Luke) made plans to go with William from Toshimaen station to downtown Tokyo for an adventure! continued in the next update! I mentioned Tom & Jerry, and here they are on the front of the Tosimaen park map. looking inside the map, you can see how large the space actually is (and Tom & Jerry are all over the inside of the map too). the whole bottom section is the waterpark (which was not open during our visit. .and again, this park also had the "no Tattoos" rules). to the left is a big track & field area, and a gigantic parking lot area.. another section we didn't go to (I think it was closed off). on the right was a Toys R Us store, and another large spa, with another parking lot area - these did seem to be open, but I didn't go over to that side, as we only had a few hours here. So we came in the main gates on the lower right, and went up to the central section of the map, to the area with the giant swinging ships (which were also on top of a building). and that's the section most of us stayed in. IMG_9742.MP4 William did film a short clip of us riding it:

that would have horrified me! Glad to hear they have come along so much from forklifting a tortoise. We didn't watch any "demonstrations/shows", but from the set up of the stands for viewing? I got the impression they were more along the lines of "zookeeper talk" and "explaining the animals" rather than watching the animals perform or do tricks. So I found the set ups at least encouraging.

^ it was a little bit of an "older" zoo. . ie: not super modern in it's enclosures. But the animals all looked very well taken care of and happy. there were a few sections I didn't get to, and if I ever get to go back, will prioritize those areas - while still getting rides on Kawasemi of course ! working on the next update - Toshimaen. (I actually surprised myself while unpacking, by discovering that I managed to keep Park Guides from every stop! Even when I don't recall taking a copy. Many of them in English too. It sure is helping looking up the names of areas of the parks and/or rides, as even the ones in Japanese are really cool souvenirs and glad I kept them in my shoulder bag (and put them into a side pocket in the suitcase while back at the hotel). Glad you're enjoying reading along. . having a ball writing it up.

^ oh come on people. ain't no reason whatsoever to pull up things from the past. you don't wanna believe what someone from "management" of TTS posts? fine, just don't believe it and move on. (in this case, I believe him. .but time will tell what happens with Gold River Adventure)

I really enjoyed how the vast majority of the Halloween specific stuff was "cute-spooky" at most parks, rather than "scary-spooky" or "bloody-spooky" even the zombie stuff at USJ and Nagashima Spaland were more cute than scary, with Zombie-dance parties and stuff like that going on. (tho the year round haunted house at Nagashima Spaland certainly veered more into scary, what with the floating crucified heads and all. . right? LOL) I think the only park that had really scary "Halloween" stuff, was Fuji-Q. but I really liked that so much of the Halloween stuff was in the "so cute" Category.

at the risk of being a cliche' -- the offerings at the "Sausage Shack" are mouthwatering!

I had a great first impression of the place, even tho we came in on the "rides" side and it at first looked like an aging "neighborhood" park. I thought it worked really well as a zoo and I *totally* get (and agree) so many of the "rides" are geared towards the younger set (in particular the areas nearest the animals/gardens). Kawasemi really is such a standout that even if that were to remain the only RollerCoaster at Tobu Zoo, then I'd still say it's a "must stop" destination. but yeah, if they replace Regina with something, or even do a conversion of some sort to it? agreed, Tobu Zoo would be amazing.

Thanks and I'm sure you're correct in that it's related to that concern/issue. it was still odd to see lots of earplugs but not many tattoos (tho the next night at Joypolis, I did see someone with a face full of tattoos - tho he was obviously a young Westerner, who was out with his group of Japanese friends/colleagues). thanks. . and totally agreed. Even the 1st ride I got when it was not really giving any airtime on the hills, it still was moving pretty good thru the course, and I loved it.

from Tobu Zoo in Japan (~ 1 month ago)

and then the flip side of that 12" - KMFDM took My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult's "Days of Swine and Roses" and remixed it heavier: [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

the My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult remix of "Naive" - one of my favorite KMFDM songs [youtu_be] [/youtu_be]

Sadly it’s not! It’s only business class. First Class was over $22k a person. wait. . ~18K is only business class? where in the world are you flying to/from?

I'm so envious of all your overseas park visits.. tho can't be too green with envy, as I DID just get back from Japan the Heide Park update is fantastic - thanks so much for sharing. of course what caught my eye was among your 1st pics: it looks like the same model I got to ride at Yokohama CosmoWorld! with the upper level being fairly small, and the options to ride including teacups, swings, and bouncing horses. how funny that I just saw my 1st ever Carousel of this type, and then you put up a report with one too. loved it.

can't help on some of em. . but. . THIS: is a TaunTaun (what Han/Luke slice open and hide inside of during the ice storm in Empire Strikes Back) THIS: is a Rancor (like what Jabba keeps under is throne room in his palace in Return of the Jedi)

I continued back towards the animals, as there really hadn't been any Animals in the "front" part of the zoo that we had seen other than fish. really wish I had taken a pic of this guy's name plate, as I'm not really sure what he is. some kind of bear, looks like, but he's not part of the Brown Bear enclosure, as that was a little bit further back. He was laying facing away from us, but he did sit up long enough for me to get this pic of him, and his interesting black & white fur. Moving into the "Cat World" area, there were many large predator here. . and I snapped pics of a few of them: a stalking Leopard and absolutely gorgeous Cheetah, just lounging. and then the Lions. oh my. .the Lions . . providing a momentary "birds and bees" demonstration for all the kiddos around (seriously, like under 30 seconds - but of course, that just HAPPENED to be when I walked up, so snagged a pic). the set up for the Lions was pretty impressive, with underground tunnel where you could view from ground level (luckily, it appears the lady with her young kiddo there was looking the other direction during this display), or you can even pop your head up in that "bubble" to be in the middle of the enclosure and get a good up-close look. I didn't want to crawl in the tunnel (for the bubble), so I just enjoyed my view from the front of the enclosure. And as quickly as he attempted? it was over. She had zero interest and batted him away, wherein he just pretended nothing happened and plopped down to rest. S'all good bro. . nobody saw her shoot you down! well.. these Meerkats did - they were in the enclosure next door, and really were all sitting up facing the glass, apparently watching the Lions. LOL Photo op with the statues in front of the Lion enclosure. Moving over a few enclosures, the Tobu Zoo has several White Tigers. one of them was out napping on a rock. Perfect for photos. what a beautiful creature. Another one was more perky, although she didn't' want to play with her ball there. . she was tracking a young lady who was running back and forth along the front of the display, while her parents were trying to get her to sit still long enough for a picture. I just leaned in and took a selfie with a White Tiger. Think it came out pretty good, as she's *kinda* looking my way. at the end of the Cat World enclosure was this guy. . a giant Cassowary who was pretty terrifying. he squawked a bit as he stalked back and forth along the front of the enclosure (he was following along with a zookeeper who was walking, so I guess he was hungry). A little smaller than an Ostrich, but way bigger than a Peacock. . this dude had some big-ass claws (like Raptor size) that could really do some damage if he wanted to. and he wasn't scared of nobody - coming right up to the fence at the front of the enclosure. Heading into the Savanna area, i looked back and noticed not only a fantastic view of the Cheese Ferris Wheel, but also Kawasemi's track.. and the timing was good that the coaster was about to come over the mid-course airtime hill. So snapped a few pics of it's progress. (also got some of the Yellow Hat kids group, and the Red Hat kids group looking at the Flamingos) and then we continued into the Savanna area, to get some really nice views of the Elephants. (unfortunately we were downwind, so didn't hang around here too long, even tho it looked like there were stands to observe a zookeeper presentation about both the Elephants, and the Hippos next door). the Hippos were being uncooperative to zoo guests, sitting almost completely underwater (nostrils only out), and facing away from the front of the enclosure. So they basically looked like big rocks in a pond (hence not sharing those pics) We were keeping an eye on the clock, since we had to meet back at the Train station at 1pm (meaning we had to get back to the Zoo Entrance from where we were, and then still make the 20 minute walk back), and we still wanted to get some more rides on Kawasemi. But since we were right by the "Brown Bear Forest", we went in to take a look. the Bears are adorable, of course, and were really hanging out up close to the front of the enclosures. of course, that was because the Tobu Zoo had set up some interactive "crank conveyor belts" that guests can put wafers they purchase on, and then crank the wafers to the bears as treats. the bears are smart as hell, so they just kinda sat near the end of the conveyor belts and made eyes at the visitors, until they put a treat on them and cranked it close. I felt bad for them (similar to how I felt bad for the bears at MarineLand who beg for treats too), but they didn't seem unhappy. . and knew the trick to get the treats. and when a treat got "stuck"? that Tongue not as long as a Giraffe tongue. .but pretty long! success! more please? Not from us tho, as I just enjoyed watching the kiddos squeal with delight as they fed the bears. and we had to start heading back towards the East Gate Especially if we wanted more rides on this. . which we did. Lots of pics of Kawasemi running it's cycle across the water, as we headed back to the front of the park. Up the lift hill. Whee!! Only a couple of hours after we had ridden it, but it was flying by this point..tons of airtime on the hills. We rode it twice, once in front, once in back - if I'm recalling correctly, and then we really had to get going to the front gate so we could meet up with everyone at the station. but not before stopping for the Photo Op on the side of Kawasemi - where one could not *be* the Kingfisher, but Leia got to be a fish, and I got to be the person hanging onto the Kingfisher for dear life, as it dove into the water to get fish. which I suppose is the 'story' of the coaster. I'll say again, this Intamin Mega-lite is amazing, and I really hope we see some of them in parks here in the USA remember that Bear-cake place from yesterday at LaQua Tokyo Dome City (and also at CosmoWorld)? they had a shop here too, with an example out of what the cakes look like. adorable. Leia bought a 10 pack of chocolate & vanilla and shared with us. here's a Vanilla one she's showing off for size comparison. I had a chocolate one, and while it was good, it wasn't as good as the Honey flavor one I had a bit of a couple of days later at Fuji-Q A quick stop at the exit gift shop to look for magnets (sadly, I couldn't find any if they had them), and some folks picked up capsule toys from the machines. .and then we were headed out. but Leia remembered that I had wanted to get a pic on the Ultraman ride that was by this gate (which I had commented on, on the way in). I had forgotten, so I thank her for allowing me to get this wonderful pic. and it was a bit more of a snug fit than it appears in this picture. . but I fit behind the super-deformed Ultraman. and then we were on our way back to the train station. we passed this house, that had some intricate Iron Work on the front gate. is it a "hidden Mickey" when it's so blatant? they also had Mickey Mouse stained Glass on the inner courtyard doors too. lovely job, whomever did it for them. . and nice to see how "embraced" Disney is here in Japan, even in this suburb. and before we knew it, we were back at the train station. We were waiting on a couple of folks still, so i went into a bakery and had a savory treat - can't recall what I had, other than it was meat and onions in a sweet roll. And I had coffee to get me perky. I remember that, since this train station area had no trash can (as most stations did not), and so I had to go back into the bakery to toss my trash. and then the folks we were missing showed up, and we went thru the gates and up to the platform to head to our next park for the day: Toshimaen!

San Antonio is a large city. Lots of Military there too. so yeah, post Church, it will attract folks. Likely not PACKED like you are thinking, but busy. if you want to get multiple ride on Wonder Woman, Iron Rattler, Poltergeist, or Joker? then I'd suggest pay for the Flash Pass (Wonder Woman & Poltergeist have horrible capacity), IR is super popular, and Joker is the newest.. so those all end up with long lines always. but if you're ok with 1 or 2 rides on them during your day? I'd probably not bother with Flash Pass. . especially if you hit those early on Sunday for multiple rides before the park gets busy.

so the next morning we had a 7am meet up in the lobby, which meant going to grab breakfast before that if we wanted to eat. I had no issue getting up by 6am again (so maybe I did have some effects from Jet Lag?), and was showered, dressed, and out in the hallway to meet up with several other folks by 6:15 to head down to breakfast. today was going to be a really great day, starting off with 3 trains, and a 20 minute walk - to get us to Tobu Zoo (open at 9:30) for ~ 4 hours to spend in this great park this morning. there are a lot of very interesting things about Japan (and I was already in love with the Country within the 1st 24 hours), but one of the most interesting things to me is how cash based the Society still is there. Oh, there are places that take Credit Cards (mainly the Hotels, or the ticket counters at the bigger theme parks), but most all other places - in particular smaller restaurants or cafes, only took cash. and tho I'm referring to it as "cash", and you really do *start* with paper money, the vast majority of my transactions in Japan were using coins. Lots of coins, from 1yen, to 5 yen, to 10 yen, to 50 yen, to 100yen, and up to 500yen coins. all slightly different in size/weight/color/ or design. It sounds like a lot, but after dealing with them for a day or two, I got very used to knowing exactly what to look for when paying for something. which makes a lot of sense based on how much of the Japanese $$ is coin based when one sees how many vending machines are located thruout the cities/train stations. The vending machines DO take paper money, but again, majority of folks are using Coins. Elissa had recommended that we pick up a coin purse, which would make our lives incredibly easier - and she was 100% correct. Listen to the smart lady! She had told us that many places sell coin purses, and in hundreds (if not thousands) of designs. . so just keep our eye out. in the gift shop at Tokyo Dome City the prior day, I had spotted this Totoro coin purse. And tho I *know* I paid too much for it at ~$12. . I bought it anyways (it's Totoro.. of course it's gonna be more expensive than a non-Miyazaki one). the sheer joy I saw in the faces of so many cashiers during the trip, when I pulled out the coin purse to pay, and they would excitedly say "Totoro!!!". .and then more often than not, call over another cashier to point out the Totoro, added to the worth. So I DON'T feel that I paid too much for it after all a peek inside. Remember, this is after just 1 day, I had this much change. and my Totoro would fill up (and I'd drain it as much as possible, only to have it fill right back up again). one of the best purchases I made on the trip, and until the airport giftshop on the way home (where I stocked up), the only Miyazaki thing I had bought during the actual trip. I remembered to take a picture of my breakfast on the 2nd day - this time I had tried enough things the prior day that I knew to take things I really enjoyed. (other than that "sausage". .which was basically a hot dog). so it mostly fit on the 1 plate. (this is me being "not too hungry". . LOL). But yep, that French Toast is so good, as was the salmon, the eggplant, the dumplings, and upper left? that Melon soda that's so, so addictive. since we had to take 3 trains to get to Tobu Zoo - which is located in Miyashiro, Saitama Prefecture - there were a couple of transfers between lines that we had to make. this was an interesting underground connection between some of the lines at one of the stations. look how low that ceiling is! but is is SO striking looking, that I had to stop to snap a quick pic of it. The polished wood is gorgeous. . but no one other than commuters moving between station platforms would ever see it! that yellow line with the raised "rivets" on the floor on the left? is to help blind/vision impaired folks navigate, and we saw those not only within the train stations, but all over Japan (including down some man streets). although the prior pic - as we were moving from line to line - makes it kind of look like there weren't a lot of folks about? remember, this is Monday morning. ~7:20 am. yeah.. rush hour. look at this train (which thank goodness we were NOT getting on, as we were headed the other direction, which wasn't quite as crowded). our train wasn't "empty", but it wasn't near this packed and after a couple of stops, we had even a bit more room. pic courtesy of Robb - you can see most of us in the group in this pic (no Robb, he's taking the pic, no Jon (not sure where he is. . maybe behind William?, and Luke is blocked by Trent's elbow). by the 3rd train, we had lots of room, with all of us able to sit. Clockwise from lower left: William, David, Luke, Me, Brad, Alex, Jon. . then going across to other side: Trent (standing, looking at phone), Leia, two hidden locals, Shellie Mae, Robb, Elissa, and Allison. Pic courtesy of Hanno, who is the only one missing from today's group in this pic since he was taking it - even Shellie Mae made it into the picture (tho Trent is looking at his phone) Pic courtesy of Robb. were here! well, not quite yet. . we're here in the Tobu Zoo train station - which had this wonderful mural on the wall. So we stopped and posed in front of it. we still had a 15-20 minute walk thru the neighborhood to get to the zoo entrance. it was a lovely walk, with lots of interesting buildings and "Japan Suburbs" type homes to look at as we walked. Interesting buildings such as this one. really not a clue what it's for - maybe a Community Center/meeting space of some sort? It would fit right in at a College Campus. But it was just a lovely space & design, so I snapped a pic of it. if this were in USA, I would have guessed a Church, but it was rare to see a Church while I was in Japan. (I'm sure there must be some, but I didn't really note any). and we're here, at Tobu Zoo entrance! we had about a 1/2 hour until the park opened, so we were free to explore the entrance area, grab a snack from vending machines, or just hang out. Thru the main gates, there's a nicely done Hippo and her baby sculpture. what was really cool was watching the school groups coming up the entrance walk - all color coordinated, with matching hats, and then line up in rows and just sit down to wait for the opening. the kiddos were SO well behaved, it was really impressive. If I hadn't felt it would have been inappropriate, I would have snapped a picture of the lined up kiddos. Tobu Zoo/ Tobu Pool was one of a couple of parks on the trip that had really strict rules about tattoos. (as in, cover them up and do not show anything). The other park we were going to later today, Toshimaen, had similar restrictions. No one in our group was impacted or asked to leave, as we had lots of warning from Elissa to ensure we were aware to cover up if we had any tattoos that showed. I did not see a lot of tattoos on folks while in Japan, although I did see quite a few folks with ear plugs, and other piercings. So I guess the body modification stigma is really only focused on the ink portion? regardless, as a visitor to the Country, it's not my place to question the rules at all. It's only for me to respect them, and we did. tho I took a pic of the sign out front. I also took a picture of this Panda and her baby sculpture by the main gate. the eyes are a little frightening, but it APPEARS that the mother and the baby both have "coin slots" in their heads. So my assumption here is that these are raising $$ via donations from park visitors. I can't read Japanese, but i did make out on the sign "WWF" several times. . so it's a fair assumption that this is raising $$ for World Wildlife Fund. (at least I hope it is, as I dropped a few 100yen coins in). interestingly, I don't recall seeing any Panda's in the zoo. But it's a pretty large space, with both amusement rides and animals, and we were only there for ~3 1/2 hours, so it's possible I just didn't go far enough back to see that portion of the animals. on the other side of the ticket booths, was this really cool mosaic - that looked like kids had helped them do. I particularly like the heart on the monkey's butt. it really is a perfect and beautiful piece of artwork, and absolutely fitting for the front entrance of a zoo. the booth opened, we got our "Free Pass" armbands, and thru the gates we went. heading into the zoo, we cross the bridge directly towards "Wooden Water Coaster Regina" - which is where I was able to see that the main walkway to it had been closed off. Honestly, tho it was sad to see it sitting and not operating? I couldn't be too upset - I mean, I had known before even flying to Japan that Regina had been closed. And I had been told it was a really rough ride anyways. It has a really neat setting - being built over the water for the entire layout. . .but it was OK that we weren't going to be able to ride it. besides, Wooden Water Coaster Regina wasn't the main draw for most of us - that would be THIS beauty: Kawasemi (the park's Intamin Mega-Lite) referred to on the park map as: "New Gliding Water Coaster Kingfisher" walking back towards Kawasemi, we had to go around the Swan Pond, where the attraction called simply "boats" on the map, are of course: Swan Boats. but I stopped to snap the pic, because apparently in addition to pedaling a swan boat? one could also ride in a Water Bug. I at first thought they were Ladybugs, but do Ladybugs glide on water? so that's why I think they look like happy waterbugs. We did see a handful of folks riding on these later in the day, but no takers at the start of the day - the TPR folks headed towards the coaster, and the groups of kids seem to have headed back towards the animals/"Heartful Land" section. getting closer to Kawasemi, we hadn't seen it running yet, but we could see it peeking above some of the buildings and other attractions as we neared it. Never did figure out the park mascot's name - perhaps "Toppy"?? since the season pass looks to be called "Toppy Club level? But unlike the odd little creepy CosmoClock from yesterday, this lil dude was adorable! So of course got a solo pic with him (one of a couple, as he appeared in a few photo ops thruout the Tobu Zoo). They had "props" out for Halloween near the mascot, so we stopped and took a group pic. picture courtesy of Robb. this interesting contraption, called "the skyfish express" was not operating during our visit - tho it did appear that maintenance was doing some work on it while we were there. it was a shortish, but neat looking gondola ride, with super interesting steampunk fish design at the tops of the gondola where they ran along the track. (and I inadvertently captures some of one of the school groups walking by, continuing onwards towards Heartful Land . . yellow hat group). when we got to Kawasemi, it looked like it wasn't ready to open to the public, just yet. The train was cycling, but for the folks that were in the station there - some folks with cameras doing some filming, and it looked like a professional shoot of some sort. After a quick check by Robb, we were told it would open in ~a half hour, so we headed off to attractions close to Kawasemi, planning to come back in ~30. there was this lovely Carousel, set right on the water of one of the many lakes at Tobu, but wasn't quite ready to ride this just yet. . we had passed a few other things that had caught my/our eye on the way to Kawasemi. So I just snapped a pic of it, for the moment. and posed with some of the Halloween Decorations that were set up outside of it. .and we headed back toward the gate we had come into, with our goals set to do a Space Themed Mystery Walk thru, called "Galaxy Walkers" on the way there tho, we passed another "Carousel", so had to get a picture on that one that giant Pikachu behind me? you climbed inside it to "ride". . . but no way would i fit in there, so didn't even attempt that photo. LOL The Galaxy Walkers attraction was all decorated for Halloween (with paper cutouts and Walgreens level spooky stuff), including this guy. Supposed to be a sad ghost. . but the more I looked at it? a ghost who is sad because she didn't have a bra. . . oh, who am I kidding, it was adorable, and the decorations were probably helped put up by some of the kids who visit the zoo. the Galaxy Walkers attraction looked like it had started out design wise as a cross between something in the Star Wars galaxy, with some Star Trek mixed in. you started off your "mission" by this guy (with only 1/2 a goatee. . not sure if that was "costume for Halloween related" as his hat/boa seemed to be, or not) showing you a mystic symbol. You had to solve your way thru the maze / mazes, and solve clues, and then pick out a symbol card and feed it into the computer at the end to see if you matched the clue as originally shown to you. And they were sneaky too, with many symbols being only "slightly" different. There were two sides (that showed groups different symbols) before putting everyone out into the same main maze. so it was tricky - and we only solved it be ending up behind a couple who had really paid attention and chose the correct card - so we could tell it was one of 3 that fell back in via the card return. But we got the "bell" on the 2nd time, after we chose wrong the 1st time. it was a fun little walk thru, tho I'm not really sure WHY it was Space Themed, other than maybe at 1st it had started out that way years ago? As noted tho, it was a fun little walk thru. before heading back to Kawasemi tho, we passed by . . .Tentomushi (Japanese for Ladybug), which is a Zierer, Tivoli style family coaster. it didn't seem to do very much, maybe 1 slight step above a kiddie coaster, but it had a really long train - 13 cars. . and most of us passing by from Galaxy Walkers were coaxed into riding by Robb. we DO look like we're having fun, don't we? Even the two non-TPR folks on the train. They sent us around twice, and those of us in the back (Myself, Jon, Brad), actually got a bit of airtime over some of the hills. so it was actually pretty fun, as would anything that you ride with the group of great folks that you're traveling with. Whee! look at that smile!!! slightly different angle on this pic, so this is the 2nd time around. . tho William is still making the same excited face in the front car. . Alex meanwhile cracks me up here. . .LOL We got back to Kawasemi, and they were just about ready to open it to general public riders, but since we still had a little bit of time to wait, some folks joined me next door for my Carousel fix. the Carousel wasn't really a "stand out" design wise as it was very traditional, with horses and carriages, but as noted earlier the setting on the water made it a really nice ride. here's Jon. and once again, smiling on a Carousel. .what a shock. Brad rode in the Carriage behind me. it was odd that none of the "drivers" in the carriages had whips. . .tho there was clearly a hole drilled for one. Wonder what was up with that. I mentioned it was a "traditional" Carousel.. well, except for this part: the Mirrored Ceilings. kinda a cool effect, even if it didn't reflect much other than what was directly below it. Maybe at night, it really projects the lights? from Jon's camera, a nice view of the horse I'm on, and Brad in the carriage behind. heh. ."the horse I rode in on" the velvet drapes were pretty nice too, although it felt like something was "missing" behind them. like there should have been a painted image there or more mirrors maybe? but it turned out there WAS a unique animal on the carousel. . this horse, which at first I thought was just weirdly shaped. . then realized it has wings (and THEN noticed the horn). yep, this Carousel has kid sized flying Pegasus' on it. that's pretty neat. just as we finished our cycle on the Carousel? They finished the filming (at least the private portion of it), and Kawasemi opened for us to ride. we were just enough to fill a chunk of the train, and during the handful of rides this morning we occasionally had some locals riding with us too. Robb snapped this pic of us just before they opened it up for us to ride. the Ride sign (there was a cut out near it too, where you could stick your head thru and be the kingfisher, but I didn't get that pic until later in the morning when we came back). Pic courtesy of Robb. TPR is ready for (several of us) the 1st ride (ever) on Kawasemi ! Robb's on this train, so this must be a pic courtesy of Hanno. the front row was amazing, tho the back has a ton of floater air. It was a bit sluggish in the morning - and Robb had advised not to judge it based on the morning rides, as once it runs for a bit we would understand why so many folks rave about the Intamin Mega-Lite. But even a bit sluggish, this coaster moved really fast, and has a great 1st drop and some intense turns. The bunny hops didn't really give any air in these morning rides, but boy did they ever later in the day when several of us came back for later rides. I ended up riding this, I think, 6 times. .and it got better and better every time. It was absolutely hauling on my last ride on it, and I spent the whole ride hooting and hollering (and yes, yelling "Wheeeeee"). SO, SO good. . wish some parks in the USA would get clones of this. what a fun ride. Hands up! the front row was really good, and I enjoyed it possibly even more than the back row when I tried a ride there. but back row was excellent too! but (t), you notice those rows of capsule machines back there along the wall? They are everywhere in Japan, and really concentrated around arcades. I bought a couple here and there (a few at Disney, but those were pretty straight forward). But (t) many of the capsules contained some wonderfully Japanese weirdness. . here, they are Kan-Cho - and if you zoom in on the text, you'll see it says: "Tricking is a way of communication which unite the people more intimately" which is a polite way of saying - sneak up behind someone and stick your fingers in their butt. no, really. . that's a thing in Japan. BWAAA-HAAAA-HAAAAA I didn't buy these - I really should have, for only ~$2 each, but I didn't. I *did* however, pay $4 at another bank of machines to get an Animal at a Urinal (buy several and make a bank of urinals with peeing animals!). I got a Penguin peeing at a Urinal - and his teeny tiny son watching from behind. I'll post a pic at the end of the whole TR along w/ the the rest of the swag. But yeah, sneaking up behind someone and putting one's fingers in their butt is a thing. . . LOL Couldn't leave the area without posing on at least one more animal! This time a Llama. (and more machines and the arcade behind me this time). Leia didn't want to "ride" an animal, but I did get her to pose in Pikachu. before leaving the area, I held the camera over the construction fence to snap this pic of what was going on back there. Left to Right: Construction on the new swinging ship ride, the UFO dome, the God Swinger "Owe" (which as noted, *was* open, just no one riding in this pic, and the Jungle Fighter. In the background, the turnaround from Regina. instead of turning towards the Wave Swinger, we headed West, the other direction, towards Heartful Land/Cheese Ferris Wheel, and the animal exhibits those tracks above, are the Airlift Sky Fish Express - which went from the station across from Kawasemi, all the way back over to the rear of Heartful Land. As noted tho, unfortunately it was closed. there was also a small train, with the tracks running down the left side, but I only noticed it operating intermittently, and it was a small "kiddie" train. . so figured it was likely not for adults. so we headed by foot to the back area of the park. stopping by the Carp Farm pond (where you can feed the fish, tho I didn't), you can get a beautiful view of the Carousel and Kawasemi. so I stopped and snapped a few pics of the coaster doing it's thing. and then we continued on into the Heartful Town area of the Heartful Farm section. . which is really the kiddie area. There were some "medium" rides here, tho most were kiddie sized. They were very well done, such as a Caterpillar type ride themed to a school bus. The theming over here was pretty consistent across most of the attractions. They did have a kiddie powered coaster over here, and tho we didn't go out of our way to find it? We did come across it, and it was adorable (and we were allowed to ride it), so we took a two lap spin on "Diggy & Daggy's Tram Coaster". . a slow moving helix coaster, that was a bit embarrassing to ride. But we did it, and Brad took pics (I assume to keep as blackmail in the future). . . as noted tho, the train was adorable. Diggy and Duggy are moles! they had some Halloween theming going on here too. . . so being one to rarely buypass a photo op? I'm a gggghose, Jon is a bat, and Leia is a pumpkin this adorable guy again. . by the flower garden section of Heartful Garden. looked like they were in process of planting some new seasonal foliage. yeah.. you LOOK like a "Toppy". . so I'll just call you that. they had some very well done topiary, that they were in process of running lights thru (not sure if for Halloween or for Christmas..likely a combo). Upon inspection, however, they weren't real topiary, but rather plastic flowers on wire rims. Still impressive, tho I wish they had been real flowers, as we would have gotten the incredible odor from them. hey Jon! yeah. . photo ops. I'm gonna stop and pose if I can make the time to do so. a little snug, but I fit if I go in side saddle. and here it is, the Ferris Wheel, themed to cheese. officially called "Emma's Cheese Windmill" (from the other side, you can see the windmill more clearly). thruout the queue line, there are all these little dioramas, showing how the windmill is the icon of Heartful Town and showing how they make the cheese with a little bit of Halloween spookiness (a spider!) mixed in here and there. I loved how they put masks and accessories (a cape!) on some of the mannequins for the Halloween season. it's a small touch, but so cute, and noticeable that they are trying to make it more fun for the season. the Cheese Gondolas were a bit tiny, but were fine for just two of us in there. . . while approaching it, we were discussing if there maybe would be a cheese smell within. but no such luck..just smelled like us in there. . . Brad and Leia were in the cheese wheel in front of us. heh. . even the animals on the rooftop got in on the Halloween fun. you can see the cheese theming continuing thruout the area - even on this little ride, where the kiddos can drive a tractor and "farm" going up a little higher, you get a better view of the West side of the park. . including a few more kiddie rides (that's a kiddie train there directly in front, where you ride it and "spot" vegetables & animals). Also some of the animal enclosures are in view here, such as the big cat house, and the bear house. on the lower right here, is a huge park, complete with mannequin cows and other animals. .and here were *hundreds* of backpacks, as the various kids groups were going to be having their lunch here, and the backpacks were all laid out neatly in rows. (if you zoom you can spot some of the yellow hats thru the trees on the right) selfie in a cheese gondola. Looking out the other side of the wheel, towards the front of the park. great view of Kawasemi layout, and a great view of the SBNO Regina. you can see how big the Tobu Zoo is, and you can also see how uncrowded it was this Monday morning. tho there were a lot of kids (which I think is great for a zoo), but they were mainly back in the animal portion. speaking of the Animals, I spotted some Elephants from the Cheese Wheel. and also a line of kiddos (in red hats) walking to the Savannah section to look at the Zebras & Giraffes. finishing our ride on the Cheese wheel, upon exiting is this Cow sculpture. the sign beneath it politely says: "Please Milk a Cow" so I squatted down and started to rub the cow's plastic udders. This face is from after getting a good grip on the plastic udders? the cow groaned and moaned. no. . really!! I almost pissed myself I was laughing so hard. beautiful. the theming on this Ferris Wheel is so well done. I don't really get why cheese? except maybe that it's showing you milk the cows on the farm, and then the mice make cheese out of it. but if you have to theme your ferris wheel? a WTF - let's theme it to cheese theme works for me. some of the animals on the train "seek and find" ride, all dressed up for Halloween. I didn't really understand the "snot" droplet on one of the pigs, but Leia (who lives in Japan at the moment) explained that it's "cute" and I'd see that a lot on cartoon & anime style things while in Japan. but again, that the Zoo "dresses" up it's displays for Halloween is adorable.. continued. . . . the gates aren't open yet, but I peeked thru and took this picture because I spotted the trash cans - something that's a fairly rare site in public places in Japan. (especially these, as they didn't seem to be near any vending machines, or food places). in the background is "Wooden Coaster Regina" - something that we weren't able to ride, as Tobu Zoo had suddenly announced the ride's closure ~4 weeks before out trip to Japan. the whole entrance to the area of the ride was closed off, but it was really nice that the lady at the ticket booth made sure to let Elissa know that the Coaster had been closed, before getting our tickets for the morning. here's the inside of the map, and you can see how large the place actually is. we entered at the far upper right: the East Gate, so we came in on the ride side of the park . . I was super-curious about the Doggy Village attraction (I think it was similar to a Cat-Cafe, where you could go in and play with the dogs and/OR cats!!), and the Firefly House (where one can be surrounded by fireflies year round) ..but those were way down near the West Gate, and I never made it really past the Brown Bear forest section - since it was way more important to me to focus on some of the rides the park had to offer, while still allowing enough time to get back to the meet-up point when it was time to leave for the next park. i got a laugh (tho I realize Regina had just closed the prior few weeks, and they certainly weren't' going to re-print maps. . let alone the English version maps), when we noticed how they had "Xed" out Regina & the description on the park map with a Sharpie. it's great that the park had maps in English - and I love that the "sub-header" name of Tobu Zoo, is "Hybrid Leisure Land" after a handful of rides on Kawasemi, it was time to head on further back into the park. . there were other things that intrigued me, and lots more to see at Tobu Zoo Hybrid Leisure Land. . including a Ferris Wheel themed to cheese (no, really). but before we got to the Ferris Wheel, we came across an arcade called "Game Center Carnival", and out front were these coin operated animals you can ride. I'm sure other people have seen these before, but they were new to me. and I was amazed, impressed, appalled (at how goofy they looked) . . and no way in hell *wasn't* gonna hop on one! whee!!!! Note the construction fence behind me - it looks like the Tobu Zoo is getting ready to do some re-theming/work there. This section back behind the wall, on the map is noted as "Pleasure Land" and the main anchor ride for this section was Wooden Water Coaster Regina. But also behind the wall here and all closed up, was Jungle Fighter (an Astro Jets type ride), UFO Dome (no idea what it is. . but it *seems* to be a projection attraction, most recently used as a haunt), and a new ride they were in process of installing - a swinging ship ride. a wave swinger, called God Swinger "Owe" is over here too, and that one *was* operating, if you followed the path thru the construction walls to get to it. for some reason - realized after i got back - I never rode a wave swinger at any park in Japan. And many of them had them. I think the more unique rides just had my main attention, as I always saw the Wave Swingers, and thought they would be fun to ride. but never actually did it. Which is so weird, since I really do like the ride, and ride them all the time at Six Flags Parks. but here at Tobu Zoo, as with every other park, just never made it to it to ride.

you really take some amazing photos! while i don't understand the Video Game "scare zone" either. . I love the costume design and the look of the characters in that area. thanks again for continuing to share such awesome pics.

2nd year, they went "year round" in 2019. if you have to choose between those two days (unless you are going both), for certain choose Sunday - and be there at park open. Texans are *really* big into Church, and on a Sunday, the park will not get crowded until ~2pm (post Church bump). So if park opens at 10 or 11, you can get in quite a bit of riding, without needing Flash Pass. keep in mind: 1) the waterpark will NOT be open in January, so that's one whole "land" that will be closed off - a "land" that drains a lot of folks into it, during the hot summer months. So you likely will see lines on things that most often during Summer won't have long lines. 2) the new ride won't be up and running yet, but this might work in your favor, as the new ride is going to draw tons of folks right over to the Iron Rattler area. . . 3) depending when in Jan you are going? and you're going early Jan. . so expect remnants of Holiday in the Park to still be around, meaning that not all rides will be operating (tho SFFT does typically run most all the big rides thruout HitP). have fun, and make sure to check calendar to ensure times/dates they are open.

^^ Knoebel's is about WAY more than just "the rides" it's a full day experience, and is one of the best (if not the best), park in the USA to give you a great selection of activities (Museums, Eagles, Fascination!), food (Periogies, Cheese on a stick, Old Mill Ice Cream, Cessari's Pizza), atmosphere, as well as classic rides (both coasters, and classic carnival rides). absolutely worth a full day stop. and it's in a gorgeous setting in the hills/mountains. (and it's free to park, and to get onto the grounds just to walk around)

since Dr Pepper was created right up the road in Waco, at least in Texas you'll discover that places that carry Pepsi, will typically offer Dr Pepper as well. but, if they carry Coke products, then your option is going to be Mr. Pibb (which is similar to Dr Pepper, but I find it a bit sweeter). The closest Mr. Pibb taste to Dr Pepper is going to be, as Haymaker mentions, Pibb xtra - which Coke *created* to compete more closely with Dr Pepper's taste.