Condor

Thanks for the info, Robb. That's very interesting, although I too would think there'd be some way to get an exemption for it. But I'm sure if there was, they would have done so. I actually forgot all about Monsters. Seems I didn't take any pictures of it. That was a very good ride too.

I can't wait to see how high the second hill ends up going. By the looks of it from this angle, even assuming it gets taller you are still going to absolutely FLY over it...

Disney’s deluxe hotels can always be counted on for their great ambiance. This one is less resort-like than those in Orlando, but no less nice. The Disneyland Hotel’s atrium lobby. I worked as a College Program Cast Member at the WDW Yacht & Beach Club doing front desk and concierge, so I always like to visit other Disney hotels to compare. The lobby lounge where we had our dinner. We weren’t honestly that thrilled with the dining options inside the park which felt limited in selection. Like Universal, the covered midway comes alive at night, though this photo doesn’t do it justice. Pooh’s Honey Hunt was our last ride of the night. Had we planned better, we should have gone here first thing, then gotten Fatspasses for later and ridden it twice. While I’m a little lukewarm on some aspects of this park, Pooh is not one of them. This ride is every bit as good as I’ve heard, and even a bit more thrilling than expected. Overall, we had a very good day at Tokyo Disneyland. I don’t agree with the majority who say it’s the best of the “magic kingdoms,” but I think that’s just because this one isn’t as good a fit for my tastes as the other ones, not a knock on the park’s quality. Aside from Pooh, I didn’t find anything else to really set it above and apart for me. Maybe the newly expanded Fantasyland and more re-rides on Pooh will help next time!

Part 3: Arrival in Tokyo + Tokyo Disneyland Despite my meticulous planning, the morning after our second day at Universal Studios almost got off to a rocky start. We made our first local train connection to Nishikujo Station for what was supposed to be a special “rapid service” train that would take us directly to Shin-Osaka Station to catch our Shinkansen bullet train bound for Tokyo. But some kind of incident apparently caused a ripple effect down the lines and created a series of delays in what is a rarity for Japan’s rail networks. With platform signs scrolling red to warn of the delays and Google Maps (which does update for delays) and the station displays telling us two different things, we became pretty confused. Once we inferred that the rapid train we wanted to take ended up bypassing our station to make up for the delay, we hopped on the next train we saw and I started frantically asking people in the car, “Shin-Osaka…? Shin-Osaka???” See, unlike the local trains which can arrive as often as every 3 minutes in some cases, it’s imperative that you don’t miss a Shinkansen because the next one you’re allowed to take might not be for another 30-40 minutes. Not the end of the world, but important if you’re trying to keep a tight schedule. Most Shinkansen on the Tokaido route connecting Osaka and Tokyo are ‘Nozomi’ trains, which you can’t ride with a JR Pass. Instead you have to wait for the only slightly slower, but also less frequent ‘Hikari’ or ‘Kodama’ trains. So… the train we hopped aboard was indeed not headed for Shin-Osaka, but as I fumbled with my railway apps trying to figure out what to do, an English-speaking businessman (or “salaryman” as the Japanese would say) overheard me, kindly asked what time our Shinkansen was, then told us to get off at the next station where he would help us get where we needed to go. He got off the train with us, walked us to the correct platform, and explained that the next train would get us to Shin-Osaka on the second stop. This wasn’t his station either. He went out of his way just to help. Try finding a local who will do that in New York or Boston! The duckbill nose is shaped to minimize the shockwave that occurs when they blast out of tunnels going 170-200mph. Thanks to our salaryman friend, we made our Hikari Shinkansen in plenty of time. Man, if I lived in Japan and had to travel long distance between its major cities, I don’t think I’d ever fly again. Travel by Shinkansen is so much more convenient, comfortable, and fun than a commercial aircraft. Even the regular seats had more legroom than my EVA Air premium economy seat did and you don’t have to put up with security checks or lengthy boarding procedures. We rode several Shinkansen during the trip and every one was a pleasure. And I love how shamelessly casual the salarymen are about morning-drinking on these things. The standard Shinkansen breakfast seemed to be boxed sushi and a tall can of Asahi even though it was only a little after 9:00am. I regret not partaking in this myself when I had the option later. Well, I got my Shinkansen N-700A credit. Question is who on here will have bragging rights and be the first to nab the N-700S credit when it debuts in 2020??? Only the trip reports will tell… Entering Kyoto, the first stop for Shinkansen traveling east out of Osaka. We’d be back here in nine days. This was only a taste, but Kyoto Station ended up becoming far and away my favorite train station in Japan. I’ll explore it in-depth later on. Nagoya is the next of the really big cities all Shinkansen on this line stop at. We’d end up here again later on too when we visited Nagashima Spa Land. Nagoya doesn’t have an impressive skyline like Tokyo or Osaka, but there are still some pretty cool buildings in the station vicinity. Lots of interesting sights aboard the Shinkansen. I knew not to count on seeing Mt. Fuji on the trip. It’s a “shy” mountain as the Japanese like to say, and I almost didn’t even notice it as we passed the halfway point to Tokyo. I had to act quickly because the clouds were moving fast too, but the Shinkansen ended up offering some pretty great views of it. Goodbye for now, Fuji-san. I didn’t know it yet, but we’d get to meet him much more officially in about a week. Three hours later, we got off in Tokyo at Shinagawa Station and took the ubiquitous Yamanote Line to where our hotel was located in Shinjuku. The sign translates to, “This way for a high chance of good times.” Out on foot from Shinjuku Station to our hotel. Shinjuku is Tokyo’s financial center, so if you ever happen to hear, “What? Godzilla’s nearing the business district!?” This is usually what they’re talking about. The massive outdoor plaza of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, right next door to our next hotel, the Hyatt Regency Tokyo. And the Metropolitan Govt. Building itself, with one of Tokyo’s best observatories at the top almost 800 feet up, free of charge. It was Tokyo’s tallest building from 1990-2007. Looking south from the observatory you can see the massive, green sprawl of Yoyogi Park to the right, home of the shrine to Emperor Meiji––you know, the 16-year-old whose soldiers destroyed Osaka Castle the third time. Tokyo Tower is faintly visible on the skyline at center. And looking east, to the left of and a little closer than Skytree, is the white, oval-shaped structure of the Tokyo Dome. You can even make out the outline of Thunder Dolphin and Big O if you look closely. In 1991’s Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah, we see Big G approaching Shinjuku. My hotel, the Hyatt, is the reddish-colored building just left of the Metro Govt. Building. Godzilla spots Mecha King Ghidorah circling Shinjuku. Firing his atomic ray, he gets all-building instead, wiping out the observatory where I’m currently standing. Godzilla and Ghidorah collide, careening backward and demolishing the rest of the Metro Govt. Building. The best way I can describe what seeing Tokyo after all these years was like for me is this. Say you’re a die-hard Harry Potter Fan. You’ve read all the books and seen all the movies countless times. It’s a huge part of who you are, maybe even a part you don’t often share with other people. Then one day, Universal Orlando opens Wizarding World of Harry Potter and it’s the greatest thing you’ve ever seen. The level of immersion is spectacular. You experience nostalgia for a place you’ve never actually been, but imagined and felt a part of for most of your life, even though it only truly exists as text on a page or pixels on a screen. Tokyo is my Wizarding World, but this is no themed recreation of a fictional place. It’s all real. Looking down from the observatory, the white hexagonal building on the left is the Sumitomo Building and the black and brown buildings to the right of it are the Mitsui Building and Shinjuku Center Building. The pair of white buildings perpendicular to them is Keio Plaza. Here in 1984’s The Return of Godzilla, we see the Sumitomo, Mitsui, Shinjuku Center, and Keio Plaza buildings as Godzilla faces off against the Super-X (kind of like a flying tank) on the dirt lot that would later become the Metropolitan Govt. Building. The Hyatt is at far left. Super-X fires its anti-radiation cadmium missiles down Godzilla’s throat and he collapses into the Sumitomo Building. Later when Godzilla revives, he chases Super-X and blows a hole through the middle of Keio Plaza. Super-X ducks behind the Hyatt and fires on Godzilla, who misses and blasts a chunk out of the side of my hotel. If you’re a lover of cinema, you might recognize this building. The Tokyo Park Tower is home to the Park Hyatt, the main setting of Lost in Translation starring Bill Murray and Scarl------If you’re a lover of cinema, you might recognize this building to the north of Tokyo Park Tower: the Tokyo City Opera Tower, which was destroyed during Godzilla’s fight with an alien spaceship in Godzilla 2000! As a Hyatt employee, one of the great perks is the ability to book free, comped nights at any Hyatt hotel worldwide. Your ability to do so depends on availability over the dates you want to stay, but by booking a year out from my trip I got several of them both here and later at the Hyatt Centric in Ginza, another part of Tokyo. This one caters heavily to foreigners on business travel, but there were also plenty of rugby hooligans in town for the world cup that was taking place. This meal at the lobby restaurant was so good I ordered it twice. Chicken and seafood fried rice topped with egg and fried chicken on the side. Did not like the breakfast though. The room was larger than at Port Vita but did not have the same Japan-style bathroom I liked. Dragon Boost was my favorite energy drink I tried in Japan, though I think it’s actually just Monster in a different can. Check out my use of forced perspective. I’m such an Imagineer I can’t believe it. Shinjuku skyscrapers at night. Godzilla fell down riiiiiiiiiight here! If I didn’t mention yet, it was Halloween and Shibuya Scramble Crossing was NUTS. Police on the Shibuya Station roof managing the chaos. Totally legitimate and licensed Mickey Mouse appeared to remind me that this is a theme park site and that I need to hurry up and get to Tokyo Disneyland sooner than later. Carlos’s uncle happened to be in Tokyo on business, so we agreed to meet him at the Hachiko statue, which was actually a really bad idea because there were so many people we almost couldn’t find it. Pooh Bear photo-bombing Japanese YouTube. Stop me if you’ve heard this one. Why does Tigger bounce up and down on his tail all the time…? So he doesn’t step on Poo(h)… Got it from an Anaheim Disneyland tram driver. Shibuya on Halloween was honestly just too difficult to get around, so we ended up taking the train back to Shinjuku. Poo Pride! My guess is it’s a reference to this, the giant “golden turd” on the roof of the Asahi Beer Company offices (not my photo). Brightly lit Kabukicho is quintessential Shinjuku. We’d spend a lot more time here later. For drinks, we ended up in a part of Shinjuku called Golden Gai. It’s a tiny pocket of Tokyo that has been preserved much the way the city looked in the 1930s prior to World War II. Golden Gai covers about one city block and is comprised of several narrow alleys lined with three stories of literal hole-in-the-wall bars. Most of these little bars only seat 6-8 people and the owners come up with some pretty unique themes and rules for their establishments. I was a little put off by this at first. That was until I saw a group of rugby hooligans being obnoxious and drunkenly clowning it up in the alley. Then I understood. Some of the bars have a 500-1000JPY (approx -10) cover charge, but the biggest challenge for us was finding one that even had room for us inside! These bars are a lot of fun and are very popular with both locals and tourists. Golden Gai is also very, um, adult. We found one of the larger places, Albatross, a three-story bar with room for 15-20. Lots of whiskeys, a little beer, and currency from all over the world covering the walls. As far as Japanese beer goes, I don’t really like Kirin, but you go to a place like this for the atmosphere and charm. Uncle Ricardo wonders, “Is there really a Caucasian baby in here behind me?” Yes, Ricardo, there is. After a very long day, passing the Metro Govt. Building again means we’re back to the Hyatt to rest up for Disneyland. A quick jaunt on the JR Chuo Line takes you from Shinjuku Station to Tokyo Station, where you can catch the Keiyo Line to Tokyo Disney Resort. We originally planned to do Disneyland and DisneySea together later in the trip, but when we found out Space Mountain would be closing for rehab in a few days, we bumped DL up to an earlier date. Threading the gap between the monorail station and the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel on the way to the front gate. 45 minutes before opening and the entrance plaza is not overly crowded, a good sign. I’m curious why they chose not to extend the Western River Railroad over the entrance here as they do in Anaheim and Orlando. It’s still a great looking entrance building regardless. Space Mountain was #398 for me. I was saving #400 for something special. We rode it twice that morning. Once in the main queue, once with Fastpass. This one was a lot like what I remember Anaheim’s being like prior to the 2005 rebuild. Same layout, no music. Space Whale: The Ride Like at Universal, I was a fan of the World Bazaar covered midway. I’d say it’s the best of the three Main Streets I’ve seen, even if its shops sell a total of zero souvenirs with a simple “Tokyo Disneyland” logo. The Bazaar almost has a World’s Fair atmosphere going on, which is actually kind of appropriate when you consider the origins of Disneyland and some of Walt’s earliest attractions. It’s interesting to examine the evolution of the first three Disneyland-style parks now that I’ve been to them. From Disneyland (1955) to Magic Kingdom (1971) to Tokyo Disneyland (1983) they get progressively bigger and easier to navigate, but as the size increases, so, I feel, does the impression of being in a more homogenous, open space. Homogenous isn’t necessarily the right word here, because any Disney park is too well-themed to justify that label, but there’s something more blueprint-like about Tokyo Disneyland than the other two. Of course the original Disneyland feels the most organic because it’s had decades more time to come into its own, and the size and space constraints have led to some unique solutions come time for expansions. Unless you know the layout in detail, Disneyland is a park you feel like you could get lost in with plenty of nooks and winding paths to explore. It has a way of making the park feel larger than it really is. Magic Kingdom actually is physically larger everywhere you look and other than (for me) the unfortunate loss of New Orleans Square, it preserves the atmosphere of its predecessor fairly well. The wider paths and courtyards handle crowds much better and there are still enough midways that branch off and wrap around attractions and artificial terrain to make the park seem expansive. Tokyo Disneyland doesn’t come across that way to me. Everything feels much closer together here as if the park is a collection of vast, wide-open plazas that are never too far from each other. You can quite easily see this when comparing the Orlando and Tokyo parks’ layouts overhead. The walkable areas of Orlando’s Frontierland, Adventureland, and Tomorrowland extend a greater distance from the castle than Tokyo’s do. The best example of this is Magic Kingdom’s extremely wide riverfront, which completes almost a 3/4 circle around Tom Sawyer Island, stretching from Liberty Square and Haunted Mansion on one extreme all the way around to Big Thunder Mountain on the other. At Tokyo Disneyland the river is repositioned along the perimeter of the park and the equivalent land—called Westernland here—is concentrated in a much more centralized footprint. While Westernland’s footpaths may have more square footage, you don’t actually have to walk very far to see everything, and this is how most of Tokyo Disneyland felt to me. Some people may like this, but for me it diminished the atmosphere somewhat. Going back to that “blueprint” feeling I attempted to describe, the layout of Tokyo Disneyland seems over-designed to me, like they were conscientious of minimizing walking distance wherever possible. Going between themed lands at Disneyland or Magic Kingdom feels like a journey to me, while at Tokyo Disneyland it doesn’t. In fact, I thought for sure that Tokyo Disneyland was smaller than Magic Kingdom and I was surprised once I looked it up that it is actually 8-16 acres larger, depending on the source. Even if Magic Kingdom’s sense of sprawl is only an illusion, it’s an illusion I prefer. Like many tourist sites in Japan right now, the castle is covered in scaffolding for a major refurbishment to coincide with arrival of the expected crowds for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. They added several pieces to it throughout the day. Construction on the Spring 2020 Fantasyland expansion was well underway. I look forward to seeing it in several years. The concept art looks great. I really liked this tree-lined path connecting Tomorrowland and Fantasyland for some reason. It will look pretty different though once the expansion is complete. I could be wrong, but I don’t think I’ve stepped foot in one of the other Toon Towns for a decade. So why this one? Coaster #399 of course! Gadget’s was very well-themed here. The big, open plaza of Westernland. Don’t get me wrong, the theming, landscaping, and attention to detail here is every bit as good as the other parks, I just didn’t like being able to so easily see everything from one vantage point all the time. Big Thunder Mountain was my 400th coaster. This has a special significance for me because Magic Kingdom’s Big Thunder Mountain was my very first coaster sometime in the early 1990s. Magic Kingdom’s Big Thunder was my first, Disneyland’s is my favorite, but Tokyo Disneyland’s might be the most photogenic. Think I can make Paris’s my 500th and Hong Kong’s Big Grizzly Mountain my 600th? Should I go for it? The railroad offers some picturesque views, as you’d expect. I just wish it were longer! Part of it is sentimental, but Big Thunder is always my favorite ride in the parks that have it. I made my dad take me on it over and over in Anaheim and Orlando when I was a kid. I was the kind of proto-enthusiast at that age who just had no damn time for parades or costumed characters. Not when there were mountains of space and thunder to conquer! The Mark Twain/Liberty Belle is another Disneyland must-ride for me. “Wait… this doesn’t look like the Yamanote Line, the Chuo Line, or the Chuo-Sobu Line. Is the Chuo Shinkansen even built yet??? And did I take the Keio or Keiyo Line to Maihama? I wonder, was taking the boat a mistake…?” One of my favorite Japan quirks is how everyone is obsessed with having English text on their clothing. I saw barely any with Japanese text at all. And the result is often words with humorous or ironic misspellings and phrases that don’t make any sense. This one here bears the mark of only the finest “craftsmsnship.” Others I remember: “Reminisce. Today is today too.” “Milkfed” (girls wore sweatpants with this across their backsides, like how you used to see “juicy” in the US) “I don’t care of the groundan sun” “APE*********** *************** %$&*#@******** BATHING A.P.E.***” Adventureland also suffered from a bit of “giant plaza syndrome.” You don’t feel as though you’re out at some jungle outpost the way you do in others. I did like the double-deck station that serves Jungle Cruise below and the Western River Railroad above. She's having such a great time and so much fun she just can't even.... I was pleased to see that Tokyo carried over New Orleans Square from Anaheim, though the atmosphere doesn’t work as well without the riverfront setting. In Tokyo it’s actually the entry point into Adventureland from the World Bazaar. I thought Pirates was great. Very reminiscent of the original with some minor differences. After years and years as an enthusiast, this was somehow my first time experiencing the holiday version of Haunted Mansion. The Nightmare Before Christmas overlay was very cool and something I should have done a long time ago back home. It would have been nice to see the castle uncovered, but things being in a state of renovation is just a given in Japan ahead of the Olympics. As I understand it, this flower garden is part of the main gate redesign the park was in the midst of. Carlos practices his Japanese photo pose. The courtyard entrance to the Disneyland Hotel from the park gate. It’s a very impressive building. Spot the enthusiast!

It is! Himeji Caste was the last thing I did before my flight home. One of the highlights of the trip for sure. Thanks! I did visit the Godzilla head at Hotel Gracery and I actually went to another Godzilla store east of Shinjuku Station that had most of the same merchandise the one at Gracery did. Got a few shirts and souvenirs myself and there are more Godzilla location visits oncoming!

Part 2: Arrival Day in Osaka Most flights to Japan from North America or Europe are bound for one of Tokyo’s two major airports: Haneda near to city center, or Narita on the outskirts in the Chiba prefecture. I chose instead to fly into Kansai Airport which is the main international hub serving Osaka, Kyoto, and other cities of the Kansai region. I chose Kansai for two reasons. Firstly, it gave me almost an extra full day of sightseeing that arrival times in Tokyo wouldn’t. Second, it allowed me to fly EVA Air in premium economy entirely on Chase travel card points. Premium economy into Tokyo on the Japanese carriers, JAL and ANA, was much more expensive and the American carriers don’t offer long-haul premium economy fleet wide yet (though this is quickly changing). EVA Air is a Taiwanese airline, which meant taking a redeye flight out of LAX and transferring in Taipei. So long story short, it made for a longer travel day that still ultimately got me into Japan earlier while flying in a more comfortable seat. Flight from Los Angeles was on a Boeing 777-300ER. This was my first -300ER credit. Previously I had only ridden a -200ER, which has a fuselage 33 feet shorter. Very important. Don’t worry, I don’t expect you to understand. Only airplane enthusiasts get this kind of stuff. Then from Taipei to Osaka I had an Airbus A330-300. Also a new credit for me! Would I fly to Japan this way again? Probably not. While EVA’s service and the premium economy product are excellent, I don’t ever want to use Taipei for a connection again. Unlike US and European airports I’ve seen, Taipei Taoyuan Intl. Airport has virtually no restaurants, bars, or shops in the terminal after security (Kansai suffers from this too, but not as bad). It’s not like I had planned on a big airport shopping spree or anything, but it’s nice to have something to explore and look at. So this made for a pair of pretty boring layovers, especially on the way back when I had four hours to kill and only a coffee shop that served some very bland Chinese beer to sustain me. Landing in Osaka was a big moment. Seeing the Japanese islands for the first time out the window was a little emotional to be honest. Kansai airport is situated on a manmade island in Osaka Bay so the views before touching down are pretty spectacular. Kansai Airport Station sits across a short walkway from the airport itself. And on the other side of the train station is the airport hotel. I had some time to wait before Carlos’s flight arrived which allowed me to get my two-week Japan Rail Pass processed and pick up my pocket wifi device. The Rail Pass allows you unlimited use of any JR Line train throughout the country, including the Shinkansen bullet trains, for the specified period. The only exceptions are the “Nozomi” Shinkansen, the fastest type which makes the fewest stops. Most trains in Japan are operated by JR, but the pass does not work for trains ran by other companies like Keio, Keihan, or the Metro subway lines, which require separate tickets. We used a few of those but relied on our JR Passes over 90% of the time. The two-week pass cost me $470.00. Considering that a one-way Shinkansen ticket from Osaka to Tokyo costs about $140, if you plan on doing that roundtrip, plus express trains to and from the airports, and a couple weeks' worth of local JR train service around the cities, the pass more than pays for itself. One and three-week passes are also available. I want to ride on THAT train. Sith Lord Express. Kansai Airport is one of the nicest I’ve been to. Customs check was super-fast and efficient and if you can wait for someone outside of the terminal like I did, there are tons of great restaurants, convenience stores, and vending machines. Getting from there to the mainland requires taking an airport bus or train over a causeway into Osaka. Once Carlos landed we took the Haruka Limited Express train into the city then two fast and easy local train connections to Universal City Station, just steps from our hotel and the park itself. CityWalk in Osaka is much, much more compact than in Orlando or even Hollywood. Still, they manage to squeeze six or seven hotels, over a dozen restaurants, several souvenir shops, and two Lawson convenience stores (my new favorite!) into it. An airport Lawson is where I first experienced the wonder that is Japanese fried chicken. You know what, let’s talk about chicken for a sec. Why has no one ever told me that Japan makes the best chicken in the entire world? Every piece of chicken I ate there became tied for the best I’ve ever had. Doesn’t matter if it was from a street vendor, grilled yakitori-style at restaurant, or in a plexiglass case next to a Lawson cash register, I didn’t have a single bad or even average piece of chicken during the whole trip. My breakfast routine became going to the nearest Lawson or Family Mart for a piece of chicken or a cold sandwich (also really good), a cinnamon roll, and an orange juice. Better than the lobby breakfast at Hyatt Regency Tokyo, no joke. Hotel Universal Port – one of the onsite hotels for Universal Japan, though not the one we stayed at. Ours was right next door – the brand new Hotel Universal Port Vita! I snagged it for 5/night for three nights on Expedia almost a year out and it was a steal. You walk across the street and up a staircase and you’re right at the Universal Studios gate. I believe Port Vita is sold as a cheaper alternative to Universal Port, but nothing about it felt downscale at all. I didn’t see the rooms at the other one, but both lobbies are fully decked-out for Minions so I hardly noticed a difference. The room was small, but not cramped and I got used to it in no time. It’s actually on the bigger side for Japan. I came to really appreciate the Japanese style bathrooms. I couldn’t bring myself to use the bidet features on the toilets, but I did like the separate, water-tight rooms for the shower and tub. I didn’t get it at first, but once I realized that the whole room is the shower, I was sold. I was even a little disappointed when some of our hotels later on had Western style bathrooms. Our first local train excursion took us on the Osaka Loop Line to visit Osaka Castle. I studied the rail networks thoroughly before the trip, but any trepidation I still had about navigating them quickly vanished. Some stations are tougher than others, but the different lines and platforms are clearly marked and Google Maps, Japan Direct, or Hyperdia apps make routing and scheduling easy. Osaka Castle’s massive perimeter moat. I would have liked to cruise on one of these “moat boats” if we had more time. Osaka Castle’s main tower was first constructed in 1585, but this isn’t it. What stands on the site now is a concrete reproduction built in 1931. Like all feudal Japan castles, the original Osaka Castle was built of wood. It burned down three times – First in 1615 by Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu as he laid siege in his campaign to unify Japan – Then again in 1665 when it was struck by lightning – And finally in 1868 when the Tokugawa Shogunate, in power for 268 years, fell to the new Imperial Government and the castle was destroyed again. We narrowly missed the opportunity to go inside as they don’t offer admission after 4:30pm. But the main purpose was to view the exterior and walk the castle grounds anyway. The interior is fully modern and functions as a museum. Most of the remaining Japanese castles are also concrete reproductions. I was fortunate enough to visit another castle later in the trip that retains the original wooden structure and is even more impressive. The reason Japan holds as much significance as it does for me is my life-long passion for Godzilla films (or Gojira if you want his name’s Japanese pronunciation). I was a Godzilla fan years before I could have told you even the first thing about roller coasters. It’s still my favorite series and it always will be. I own all 35 of them in various formats and can quote many of the English dubbed versions I grew up with almost verbatim. Godzilla is to me what Batman, Star Wars, or Harry Potter might be to you. Some of the movies are cheesy while others are quite serious and as realistic as it got during the eras they were made, but they all mean something to me and if you told me I had to choose between Godzilla and theme parks, I’d have to think really hard about it. So the other reason I came to Japan was to visit the locations where some of his battles and destruction took place. Unsurprisingly, Osaka Castle has been featured several times. The first was 1955’s Godzilla Raids Again, the second Godzilla film made, when he fights the monster Anguirus. Godzilla and Anguirus start battling by the docks an eventually make their way to Osaka Castle where Godzilla clamps down on Anguirus’s neck, tackles him through the castle, and ultimately kills him. Looking out across the castle’s moat. The pair of buildings in the center is the Twin 21 Towers. We’ll get there in a second. Osaka Castle becomes even more spectacular after dark. Next time I’ll be sure to go inside it. Next to the castle grounds is a collection of some of Osaka’s first modern high rise buildings. The aforementioned Twin 21 complex is left of center. Why are they important? Because Godzilla destroyed them, obviously. In 1989’s Godzilla vs. Biollante, Goji himself nears Osaka’s financial district with the castle in the foreground. This guy, Colonel Gondo, leads a group of soldiers into the Twin 21 Towers to use them as an elevated vantage point. Their plan is to fire drill-tipped, shoulder-mounted shells at Godzilla that will inject him with a bacteria that's supposed to weaken his radioactive properties. The way they light it has changed, but the buildings haven't. Gondo enters the Twin 21 lobby… …and my attempt to recreate the shot. After the drill-tipped shells hit their target, Godzilla advances on Gondo’s position. Hope that bacteria starts to take affect soon, eh? After a little light Godzilla sightseeing, we hopped back on the train to Osaka Station, the largest and nicest I had seen up to this point. The really big stations like this one have much more than trains. They’re essentially lifestyle centers or malls with floors of shopping and dining, and sometimes huge outdoor plazas or event venues. From Osaka Station it’s a quick walk to the Umeda Sky Building, a distinctive skyscraper with a giant, circular observation deck at the top. You take an elevator up to a certain point, then a pair of suspended escalators up to or down from the open air observatory. The massive urban sprawl of Osaka. As vast as it is, it still wouldn’t compare to similar views of Tokyo I would see a few days later. Universal Studios is just to the right of the green-illuminated Ferris wheel in the distance. In the Umeda Sky’s basement is a reproduction of what Osaka used to look like in the decades before World War II, called Takimi Koji. Takimi Koji is lined with period relics and Japanese restaurants. We got there a little too late to eat as they had begun closing. But that just meant we would grab dinner at CityWalk instead! Here the mob of people exiting the park after HHN starts to head for the trains. Our first proper Japanese meal of the trip. Yakiniku Karubi. The Park Front Hotel is the most expensive of the onsite hotels. As the name suggests, it is very much in front of the park. The very Japanese-sounding Hotel Kintetsu at center. Hotel Universal Port to the right and Port Vita to the left. Next up, a journey on the Shinkansen and our arrival in Tokyo!

Looks like a great day in Osaka. I wanted to see Dotonbori too, but didn't have time since it was our arrival day in Japan. Did you go inside Osaka Castle? I got there just after they stopped selling admission for the day.

Sounds like I would have enjoyed it. I think the setup of the Terminator theater should work very well with a horror theme.

Condor's Audacious JAPAN 2019! Coasters, Culture, & Gojira! Japan… land of the rising Suntory. There’s been a lot of great Japan coverage on here lately so hopefully I can deliver something just a little different. I was not on the recent October TPR group trip that coincided with Typhoon Hagibis. I took my own trip with good friend and fellow enthusiast, Carlos, a few weeks later, spending sixteen days visiting Osaka, Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kyoto, and Himeji. While the trip was scheduled around theme parks, this was not a pure coaster trip. We visited nine parks – Universal Studios Japan, Tokyo Disney Resort, Yomiuriland, Tokyo Dome City, Tokyo Joypolis, Yokohama Cosmoworld, Fuji-Q Highland, and Nagashima Spa Land. At one point Hakkeijima Sea Paradise and Tobu Zoo were part of the plan too, but with major attractions being closed either temporarily (Surf Coaster Leviathan, Blue Fall) or permanently (Regina) we decided to sub them out for other parks or explore more of all the awesome stuff Japan has to offer and pretend we weren’t the kind of tourists who choose to strap themselves to steel, simulated-death-sleds-on-rails for a hobby. That said, I would have liked to visit Parque España and Hirakata Park as well and easily could have if I had focused only on parks, but they’ll have to wait for another time. I also hit a couple of milestones on this trip, including my 70th park (Nagashima Spa Land) and 400th coaster (Big Thunder Mountain). For reasons I’ll detail as the report goes on, Japan is a place that is significant for me for reasons far beyond roller coasters and a mere sightseeing trip to a foreign country. It is perhaps the only country in the world with top-notch theme parks that I’d even consider visiting for two weeks without stepping foot in any of the parks at all. The history, pop-culture, food, and natural landscape here interest me like no place else and I had been waiting over twenty years to finally see it all. I’m going to do this slightly out of order and skip ahead of our arrival day to kick things off with our first park of the trip, Universal Studios in Osaka. Day 1 at Universal started with a light rain, but the coasters were open and the weather quickly improved and stayed remarkably good for the rest of the trip. Though a pre-metal detectors Islands of Adventure with a still-Dueling Dragons deservedly has its adherents, most enthusiasts who have visited all the Universal parks seem to regard Universal Japan as top dog. After spending two full days there during Halloween Horror Nights I have to agree, and in fact, it was my favorite park of the trip. USJ is a mix of about 60% Universal Studios Orlando, 20% IOA, and 20% pure Japanese uniqueness that would make Toyotomi Hideyoshi proud. It’s the only one that delivers an ideal proportion of old-school Universal (Jaws, Terminator, Backdraft), newer classics (Spiderman, Forbidden Journey), and at least one world class coaster (Flying Dinosaur). Hollywood Dream and Space Fantasy are also quite good, but I definitely missed Revenge of the Mummy, my usual Orlando go-to for marathon re-rides, though the park doesn’t necessarily need it. With Islands of Adventure being down to only one B&M these days and Rip-Ride-Rockit being the, uhh… special coaster it is (in the short bus sense of the word), as of this writing neither Orlando park offers the kind of well-rounded, 'elite coasters plus top-notch dark rides' experience the Osaka park does, though it will be a very interesting comparison once IOA’s new Jurassic Park Intamin opens. I was a fan of the covered midway. There's nothing that feels natural about it at all, but it doesn't detract from the city facade and somehow made it feel more inviting. Structures outside the park occasionally intrude on the skyline at USJ. I think the suspension bridge and hotel in the background blend into the San Francisco themed area pretty well here. Revenge of the Mummy resides here in Orlando. I really missed being yelled at about Mr. Frasier's cup of coffee... Turning right from SpiderMan, things start to change dramatically, because that is NOT Men In Black in the distance. By beelining to Flying Dinosaur at opening, we got two virtual walk-ons. This ride builds up some massive queues, but with careful timing and use of the single rider line we were able to ride it three times each day. We were there on October 29th and 30th, the two days preceding Halloween, but the park never felt too crowded. This was a pleasant surprise since USJ has a reputation as being underbuilt for the crowds it attracts. This may have had something to do with the paths appearing to be slightly wider than they do at USO, giving the throngs of people more room to spread out and breathe. This seemed especially noticeable between the sound stage buildings up front and in the New York section. Like Tokyo Disneyland, Universal Osaka feels more wide open in certain places than its sister parks. Guest service and operations were excellent almost across the board. I had no trouble at all communicating with staff, even those with little or no English fluency. I can’t stress enough how helpful I think it is to make a familiar environment like Universal or Disney your first stop when entering a country with such a different culture. Being inside that bubble made adjusting a whole lot easier and by the time we left for Tokyo 48 hours later, Japan was already starting to feel pretty natural. I didn't think Flying Dinosaur dispatched much slower than Manta at SWO and the Japanese crew probably outworks a Tatsu crew any day. Flying Dinosaur's MASSIVE cattle pen reminded me a lot of Raptor's almost as massive queue at Cedar Point. A little theming would have helped here Hollywood Dream's crew worked quickly but the loading procedure is still pretty time consuming. The red "Backdrop" trains face backwards while the gray trains go full frontal. Japanese parks are notorious for ultra-strict loose article policies that frequently lead to absurdly long dispatch times. While Disney and Universal are usually exempt from that criticism, I was still impressed by how quickly and efficiently the ride ops on Flying Dinosaur and Hollywood Dream made the process go. It felt relatively seamless aside from the annoying metal detector wanding they do in-station on Hollywood Dream. It also helps that the Japanese park guests are generally more conscientious and orderly than those in America and Europe. I can’t see the same “let’s have a team of six ride ops wand you while you try to figure out the lockers and board the train!” process working well at all back home. It was also a lot of fun using this park as my introduction to the Japanese people themselves. Coming from the U.S., it’s fascinating how the 20 and under crowd like to wear their school uniforms (or designer uniform-style fashion as I learned) to parks in groups, adorned with matching character merchandise, especially these wrap-around style hats I saw everywhere featuring either JP dinosaurs or Minions. It’s the kind of thing other cultures would be too cynical for in these numbers, but the Japanese take seriously and really enjoy. As someone who works in the hospitality industry, the level of respect, patience and friendliness I saw from guests and staff alike at Universal and elsewhere gave me a new perspective on how to treat non-English speaking guests at my job. They understand us so well. I usually don't make a point of watching parades at parks unless I happen to stumble across them, but I actually kind of enjoyed this one. The Japanese just get so into it. Festa de Parade had a Mexican motif going, but the locations represented in the floats varied, um slightly. The song was honestly kind of infectious. Whatever it was, Carlos told me the main lyrics translate to "pump up the adrenaline!" Ooohhhh Mexico... More Mexico! Mexico? Uhhh, Mexico, are you feeling alright? The Mexican theming was so abundant they even used an actual tourist from Mexico City! At both Universal and Disney I was really surprised how there was virtually no merchandise available at all featuring the park or resort logos. No clothing, shot glasses, mugs, or almost anything else for that matter. I could not find so much as a t-shirt with a Universal Japan or Tokyo Disney logo in the parks, hotels, or at CityWalk or Ikspiari. Maybe that stuff just doesn’t sell in Japan. People there seem to go only for character-specific merch. Every shop Seemed solely dedicated to Potter, Jurassic, Minions, or Snoopy. On the HHN side of things, this park was enjoyable, but very different. There were only three mazes of the kind we are used to in California and Florida: Area 51, Biohazard (Resident Evil), and Cult of Chucky. The first two were interactive with dedicated storylines while Chucky was more traditional, and all three were of excellent quality. I haven’t done HHN Orlando for several years to compare, but the mazes here had none of the empty black hallways and curtains that increasingly plague HHN Hollywood's mazes these days. I personally would have preferred more than three mazes, a Sadako show in the Terminator building (which we queued for but didn’t see due to technical issues) and the street zombies, but Japan seems to prefer a “fun” Halloween to an overly scary one, so there might not be demand for more. I guess there’s also the Otana Halloween which is a separate ticketed, deluxe themed dinner and show experience for adults, but from what I could find out about it, it would have been lost on us non-Japanese speakers. What else did I like about this place? Food. Definitely the food. There was a great variety of items I was familiar with from the U.S. parks and lots of similar things with a twist or new stuff I’d never have thought of at a theme park. Like chocolate churros. What an incredibly obvious and delicious idea that I’ve never seen before but is ubiquitous here (here’s the part where I'm made to sound dumb and someone replies that there's like one cart in Animal Kingdom or whatever has actually sold chocolate churros for nine years or something). Universal also introduced me to what became my favorite Japanese beer: Suntory The Premium Malts! And more specifically the Master’s Dream variety sold at the Parkside Grill. As a Southern California craft beer nut, Japan can’t really compare to what’s offered back home, but I began to really like the macro brewed stuff from Suntory and Asahi especially. I don’t think you honestly want a big, bold IPA or anything heavy paired with yakitori or sushi. The clean and simple Japanese beers suit the food perfectly. The covered midway comes alive at night. I think it adds more to the night time ambiance both here and at Tokyo Disneyland. Day 2 of Universal started out with better weather. Cloudless blue skies became the norm over our two weeks in Japan. I got plenty of polite Japanese laughs while taking this. The character on my shirt is Gamera, a giant monster (or "kaiju") and domestic rival to Godzilla with his own series of films who's much lesser known outside of Japan. So watching this big gaijin white dude take pictures with his arms spread out and a jet-powered, plasma fireball breathing, flying turtle across his chest probably looked quite comical. Gamera will make another appearance later! So, the rides. What’s there to say about all the big Universal stalwarts that hasn’t been? Forbidden Journey is still probably my favorite dark ride even though I haven’t read the Harry Potter books and I’ve only seen two of the films, though I’m not sure which ones (caught them while nursing a hangover on the couch ten years ago during my time in the WDW college program). SpiderMan is nearly as good and while I’ve never had the same attachment to Jaws that some people do, it was certainly nice to ride it again. Jurassic Park: The Ride was looking good and the animatronics were in better shape than they were at IOA last time I went. We didn’t bother with the Minions stuff, but you bet we insisted on getting the Snoopy’s Great Race kiddie coaster credit. I’d have liked it if the park had another 1-2 dark rides unique from other Universal Parks, but that’s nitpicking. It doesn’t matter to the domestic clientele and it will be addressed soon anyway once Super Nintendo World opens, even though it will eventually be shared with Epic Universe. On to reviewing the coasters! Flying Dinosaur I didn’t know B&M hired a cloned hybrid of Werner Stengel and Alan Schilke to design a flying coaster for Japan! How else do you explain the relentless intensity and daring elements this ride has? Flying Dinosaur is what happens when you apply Kumba-like forces to not just the pretzel loop, but the entire layout of flyers like Tatsu or Manta. It’s one of the few instances when a B&M reaches the rarified air usually reserved for the best Intamins and RMCs. They don’t call me Captain Hyperbole for nothing, folks. The good stuff starts right away with the first drop. I was extremely lucky and was assigned row 8 for three of my six rides and the airtime back there is legit. Near-ejector air in the flying position feels entirely different from experiencing it seated. It’s like your gut lifts up in an entirely different direction. Manta gives you a taste of this at the crest of its pretzel loop in the front of the train, but the drop on Flying Dinosaur does it better. Now the 540 zero-g-roll into the half-loop is the element that gets all the attention, and while it absolutely delivers (it’s especially disorienting the first couple of times you ride it), I don’t think it’s even the most impressive part of the layout. For me, those parts are the drop, pretzel loop, and helix into the final inline twist. The best comparison for this pretzel loop is not Tatsu, but Montu’s batwing. It’s definitely the ride’s most intense element. After that, there’s some mild air in the front or back over the shallow hill entering the lake fly-by, and then an elongated corkscrew which is probably the ride’s weakest moment. The helix that follows pulls harder g’s than you’d expect and the quick transition into and contrast with the subsequent inline twist makes for a perfect finale. I knew I was going to be a big fan of Flying Dinosaur, but I did not expect to find a new top ten coaster! It really is that good and I think it’s a ride that can win over even the staunchest B&M flyer skeptics. Among B&Ms, it’s second only to Fury 325 for me now. There are only four or five coasters I’d give a perfect 10 to and Flying Dinosaur isn’t quite there, but it’s damn close. 9.5/10 Hollywood Dream/Backdrop This coaster is certainly not the world-beater Flying Dinosaur is and it doesn’t need to be. It’s the ideal mild-mannered counterpart to it that can still be plenty thrilling and exciting when ridden in the right seats. Together they form an equivalent 1-2 punch to what Dueling Dragons and Hulk once did. It’s also a superior ride in almost every respect to its red-headed Orlando step-cousin, our dear Rockit. Our first ride on it was in the middle of a forwards-facing train and honestly, we both thought it was pretty underwhelming. It felt like a 6/10ths scale model of all the mediocre traits that have become stereotypical of some of the full size B&M hypers: barely-there airtime, drawn-out pacing, and too-gentle profiling of all of the hills, but you know, the Michael Jackson coming through the onboard speakers sounded alright and the paint job is in generally good shape, and a ride-op did compliment me on my Gamera shirt, so… We went back around a second time, this time choosing to wait for a backwards-facing Backdrop train. We were thankfully assigned a row closer to the back and I chose “Osaka Lover” as my soundtrack just to make the experience as Japanese as possible. What a difference. I’ve rarely felt such contrast on one coaster from a first lap to the second. Hollywood Dream is definitely a back seat coaster and riding it backwards makes anticipating the peaks of the hills tougher so the airtime hits you a little more abruptly. It was on this second ride that I noticed the upward helix actually has some pretty nice pull to it and the small hills and directional changes leading back to the brakes were snappy and full of, I don’t know… character? We rode it twice more over our two days in the park and our opinion of it remained high. It’s merely a “nice” coaster in most seats of a forward-facing train, but “Backdrop in the back” elevates it significantly. I’d like to see a wider range of music choices added to it. Five songs just isn’t that much unless there are unlockable tracks I don’t know about. I still slightly prefer most of the 200ft+ B&M hypers, but I'd take Hollywood Dream over both Raging Bull and Intimidator. 8/10 Space Fantasy There are two types of coaster enthusiasts in this world: those who have ridden the unaltered, OG Space Fantasy… and those who have not... As a member of the second group, I had to make due riding it in its “Black Hole” form! All of the lights are turned off and true to form, you can’t see a damn thing during the ride. The deal with Space Fantasy is that Universal built a world class indoor spinning coaster with elaborate lighting effects and outer space theming, but hasn’t consistently operated it as such for several years. Now it’s kind of Universal’s “coaster for all seasons” and it’s honestly a pretty good template for temporary overlays, VR, and such. While I would like to have experienced the regular version, Black Hole probably makes the ride more intense since there’s no way to prepare or brace for anything. While it’s a little hard to tell without visuals for reference, I felt like we were spinning a good deal. Plus the Japanese seemed to be eating up the “scary” element of riding in total darkness. I liked it enough to ride three times over two days and hopefully next time I’ll catch it running as the “base model.” 7/10 Part 2 will cover our arrival day and sightseeing in Osaka!

Unfortunately not. We did the coasters, S&S towers, Good Job rides, and haunted house. Had to get back to Tokyo so only planned a half-day at Yomiuriland. Will do a full day next time for sure.

Really enjoying this TR. I'm working on my own report from Yomiuriland right now as I was in Japan a few weeks after you guys. Looks like you were able to spend more time at Yomiuriland than I was. I rode plenty but regret missing out on a few things such as the ferris wheel. You captured the ambiance of the park very well here. I thought it had the nicest atmosphere of the non-Disney/Universal parks there.

I hoped it was Vortex and not Firehawk that would be leaving last year, so I won't miss it. But then I'll also be saying something completely different when the day eventually comes that SFMM removes Viper, so I get the sentiment. I think many of us who started becoming enthusiasts in the 90s have the big Arrow loopers like this to thank for it, so losing them can be bittersweet.

That's 100% the plan!

I'll be making my first DisneySea visit in early November. I knew Journey would be closed when I booked the trip, but even then, with these photos and your other TRs I'm still looking forward to TDS the most of all the Japanese parks.

Hakugei is one of these coasters that's apparently just as great to photograph as it is to ride. More good analysis of the ride and how it compares to other RMCs! Question, how/where do you obtain fast passes for Fuji-Q? I've tried looking into this but I'm still a little unclear. And Nagashima does not offer one, correct? That's indeed disappointing news about the rides at Hakkeijima Sea Paradise if true. I'm looking for a way to confirm with the park about this ahead of my trip coming up in Oct-Nov but I haven't found any English language contact info for them yet.

I'm really impressed with how high some of the more seasoned riders have been ranking Hakugei. I'm looking forward to riding it in a couple of months even more now!

For the love of god no. This ride is in one of the darkest areas of the park, they need to just do what they usually do an leave it dark AF so the night rides are as good as (or even better than) Nitro. There will be lights up the lift, which is in the middle of the ride. Hopefully they just leave it at that. I'm praying they leave some of the trees and don't just clear out the entire area before construction. But the real life Jersey Devil is bioluminescent, didn't you know? In all seriousness, lighting package or not (expecting not), this looks like the perfect new coaster for SFGAdv. Checks all the boxes for them. I expect the raven dive and the drop off the turnaround over the station to be highlights if Railblazer is any indication.

While a couple of camelbacks at the end could have finished it off nicely, I think Orion looks pretty good. Leviathan is a highly regarded, if maybe not world class coaster and it has a far more vanilla layout than this. I fully expect most of us who eventually ride this to come away impressed. At least it’ll get me back to the park for the first time in 5 years.

Storm Runner? Xcelerator? Cheetah Hunt? Pantheon looks like it has great potential, but it's only the latest in a long line of quality Intamins. Which is a great thing!

What I like about Zadra so far is that it appears to have a great "narrative" flow from element to element, something that's tougher to pull off on the converted i-boxes. Really excited to see the POV of this. Could be one of RMC's best.

Good call on the A5. My autobahn experience consisted of four adults in a Ford Fiesta, each with two weeks luggage, and semi trucks were passing us. I almost cried. How much you got done at those three parks in just two days is remarkable. I had two full days at Europa alone and still didn't fit everything in. I agree with your opinions on all of the rides, especially Silver Star. I didn't like it quite as much as you did, but it was far, far better than I had been led to expect. Only one I differ on is Wodan, though you're right in that it has an odd lack of airtime. It's very different than other GCIs in that you have to appreciate it for its sprawl and visuals. Hotel Kronasar looks better with every picture I see. It will be tough deciding between it and Colosseo when I go back.

I could see this being one of the better B&M hypers if it isn't trimmed too harshly. The setting might really make this one stand out like SFOG's Goliath and Mako.

Comet is a coaster I had been looking forward to for a long time, but all of my rides unfortunately felt a lot more similar to your red train experience than blue. Good to know it's still giving the quality rides it was known for.

Thanks! I figure if I can amuse myself writing it, it will be entertaining to read as well. And yes, those early 2000s Discovery shows were the best coaster footage you could find back then. They would be irrelevant now but I still kind of miss them. Thank you! I would have posted another Cedar Point trip, but almost the entire visit got rained out so I didn't have the pics to make a TR worth it. This might be my last until my trip to Japan in Oct/Nov.

Good analysis on the rides and great photos! I haven't been to KK since before Storm Chaser was built and I'll hopefully be going back next year. It's so odd how they run two trains on Storm Chaser but only one on Lightning Run when the latter seems to pull bigger crowds due to its placement. It's possible the extra capacity on SC alone explains the difference, but then why not do the same on LR?