The Angry Darren Mullins

Harmonyland is one of the very best parks I have ever visited. It is better than a lot of well-known American parks.

The line on the Loop Screw is a bunch of seats not unlike those in a cinema. People are seated in each row and then admitted to the loading platform when it is that row's turn to ride. It is a neat system.

Lotte World does get quite busy, but I never had to wait five hours for anything. Atlantis Aventure would have a long wait, but never fiver hours. In fact, none of the rides ever had a two hour wait while I was there.

Unfortunately, yes! Every time I went to a park, if there was any type of line at all there would be line jumping. I have been to parks in Korea, Japan, USA and Canada and Korea was the worst for line jumping. There are 48 million people in Korea and there are about 35 parks with coasters. Lotte World, Everland, Kumdori Land, Woobang Towerland, Tongdo Fantasia, Kumho Familyland and Seoul Land are the major parks. There are many smaller places that do not have coasters in Korea, but around 35 parks do have coasters. I know that Korea doesn't have a lot of big parks, but that is no excuse for people to be so disrespectful. The lines were never five hours long either. The most I ever waited was one hour for the Eagle Fortress on a Saturday at Everland. I lived in Korea for over two years and I went to Everland (Korea's biggest park) 11 times. I also went to Lotte World 18 times. I never saw any time when a ride had a five hour wait.

I love the line on the Loop Screw. That is such a neat system. Of the 490 coasters I have ridden, this is the only coaster that has such a policy. No line jumping is possible there. One more thing, line jumping isn't a problem in Japan. It is a more common problem in America and in South Korea. South Koreans are the Kings of line jumpers. They will line jump when there is only a trainload of people waiting to ride a coaster.

This is the one you control with a joystick. The Loop Screw is a fantastic ride and the park is wonderful.

I went to Seibuen Yuenchi today and got to ride a ride there called Flight Trainer. This is one those Intamin Flight Trainer rides you may remember from the early 90s. I do not know if this one was located at an American park and sent here, but I do know it isn't PKI's old Flight Commander as the cars were enclosed while the ride was in motion. FC is the only other Flight Trainer I have ridden. My guess is this one was relocated from Knott's, PKD or PGA. I do not know how many were built.

In addition to the 50s area, there is also the indoor play area for kids that has a Lego theme. I liked seeing how may neat things have been made out of lego. I enjoyed the dinosaur display in there. I also like what people refer to as Coaster Plaza. Is that an actual name for that area? The Panic Drive is aptly named with it's cars that look like automobiles. The carousel building is the best carousel building I have seen. Although the park lacks themed areas, it seems that that several attractions themselves have a theme or hints of a theme. The rapids ride has a pyramid. I guess you can say I like the appearance of the park as a whole. The 50s area is the best such area I have seen in a park. Nasu Highland is truly a great park that coaster enthusiasts visiting Japan need to make time for even though it is a bit out of the way. Once they are there, they will be glad for having made the effort to get there.

I have been living in Japan for three weeks and this past weekend, I made it up to Nasu Highland Park. I was amazed by how great this park is and how it is located in the middle of nowhere. The Big Boom and Camelback Coaster both were fun. The park is probably my new favorite park. The theming is great. Nasu is probably the best out-of-the-way park in Japan, if not the world.

Holiday World-I was bored to tears within 15 minutes. I first went in October of 2000. Other than the two coasters, there wasn't much to this park. The flat ride collection could use some beefing up. The park is rather small. My dad was with me and wasn't impressed with the place and said the park shouldn't charge anymore than $15.00 for admission. He prefers smaller traditional parks, HW didn't do anything for him. Earlier that year, my dad and I made the trip to Idlewild and were very impressed by that place. I will also add that Indiana Beach is heaven. They have so many rides compared to the amount of land they have. Tokyo Disneyland was another letdown for me. I loved DisneySea, but for whatever reason, Tokyo Disneyland was boring. TDL was my first Disney park. In contrast, I adore Harmonyland.

I met with my ladyfriend last Saturday and we decided to go to the DMZ. I had been to the DMZ on the east coast of Korea, but I had never gone to the area north of Seoul. There are several tourist areas of the DMZ. We went to the area known as Imjingak. We got a very late start. We arrived at 6:15pm and I expected the place to be closed. This area features a park that was created to console North Korean refugees who were cut off from the north after the war. There is a pond in the shape of the Korean penisula, an old steam train on display, various monuments and an amusement park. The park is called Pyeongwha Land. Pyeongwha is the Korean word for peace. Upon arriving, I could see the frame of a swinging pirate ship, which is very common in Korean parks. The swinging ships in Korea are the equal to the roller coasters in North America. Every Korean park has one of these things even if there is no roller coaster at the park. Knowing that there are a lot of small Korean parks that do not have coasters, I wasn't too excited about this park, but as we got closer to the park, I noticed the large number of rides at the park. I figured there might be a ride or two that I would like to try. The first ride I noticed was the park's train. The train looks like a mini steam engine. It is bigger than the CP Huntington trains that are so common in many parks. I also noticed something else-the park had a Wacky Worm coaster. Esoo and I were going to ride the train and we were told it was on the very last run. It seems the park was going to close at the odd time of 6:40pm. Since there was no time to really do anything, I bought a ticket and made a beeline for the park's Wacky Worm, which is named Lightning Train. The Lightning Train is the only coaster there and normally, a Wacky Worm coaster is nothing to get excited about, but Pyeongwha Land's way of running this little ride made it something special. The Wacky Worm coasters only have one real drop and a brake is used on this drop. At Pyeongwha Land, the brake on the coaster isn't used. This makes the drop and the last turnaround of the ride much faster than usual. I have to say that I was caught off guard by this on the first time around (riders are sent around three times on this coaster). I have to say that this is the world's most demented Wacky Worm. After riding the coaster, Esoo and I started to leave the park, but I noticed a shop there that has some items that I wasn't familiar with. It turns out this shop sells North Korean made goods that most North Koreans can't afford to buy. We got some tea and Blueberry Wine, both of which are made in the DPRK. I was very impressed by my visit to Pyeongwha Land and I would like to go back. I remember visiting the Goseokjeong Pavilion last year and thinking how neat it was that it was so close to the DMZ. Little did I know that one year later, I would visit a park and ride a coaster that was located at the DMZ. I can just see Pyeongwha Land being marketed as "The World's Most Dangerous Amusement Park" due to it's location at the DMZ.

I don't kow anything about a build your own theming attraction at Nara. I know the park was a little rundown, but I think the park is no worse than any other park. The Screw Coaster isn't that thrilling, but it was revolutionary when it opened. I am happy that Nara kept it and kept it running. The Bobsled ride ran with one two car train while I was there. The ride was a walk-on. I thought it was pretty good for an Asian designed coaster that is 45 years old. I never said TPR viewed the place as being bad, but I know many other enthusiasts have spoken poorly of it. Maybe I liked it because I had low expectations of the place. All coasters were running when I was there. I loved the place. The carnival rides were a non-issue for me as many well respected parks have carnival rides. To me, Nara Dreamland is an amusement park it does what it is supposed to do. For a real treat though, go to Gayaland, near Busan in South Korea. There, weeds grow up through the park benches and on the brake run on the coaster and yes, this park is still open. I love that park too. How about a TPR trip to Korea. I could be a great help on this one as I have visited every park here known to have a coaster and I have even discovered some coasters and parks that nobody knew existed. The Eagle Fortress at Everland is the ultimate night ride in my book. There are many nice parks here.

I recently spent a week in Japan and one of the parks I hit was Nara Dreamland. I had been to Japan before, but I skipped ND because I had heard it was bad. I am not sure what to think now as I went there recently and loved the place. I know the sky buckets ride was down and so was the monorail. they will probably never run again as the park closes in a few weeks, but there are many great things about this place. The staff was friendly and Aska is one of the best coasters I have ever ridden. The Matterhorn type ride was awesome and actioned pack. I have visited 150 parks and ridden 472 coasters. Nara Dremaland is one of my favorite parks, yet reviews are not favorable of it. After thinking about this, I remembered that what I have heard and read about the park didn't say what was bad about it. To say something is bad is not enough, someone should explain what is bad about it. Most of the rides were running when I was there. I saw nothing wrong here. The employees were nicer than in any of the American parks. It would be nice if I could get back to this wonderful park. Get there before August 31 and experience a great wooden coaster.

From what I have read, many people seem to be unhappy happy with the overall quality of Japan's coasters. Sure there have been many people wholike certain rides, but there appears to be a lot of complaining. Togo coasters aren't that bad. I love the collection of Togos at Youmuiri Land. The three Togo standups at the Paramount parks are my only North American experieneces with Togos and I enjoyed them. Altogether, I have been on about ten Togo coasters (that I know of) and the ride experience on them hasn't been bad at all. Some of the Meshio coasters can be rough though like the looping coaster at Kijima.

What is with all of the moaning about coasters in Japan. I have been to 19 parks and ridden 62 coasters there and I think that many of Japan's coasters are on the same level as many of the American rides. Sure, there are some Asian designed rides that aren't that great, but there are coasters in America that aren't very good either. Memorable coasters I have ridden in Japan include Bandit and Standing and Loop Coaster at Youmiuri Land, Thunder Dolphin at La Qua, BMX at Kobe Portopialand, Orochi at Expoland, Shutle Loop and Ultra Twister at Nagashima Spaland, Elf at Hirakata Park, Venus and Titan at Space World and several others. I must add that the whole Harmonyland experience is great.

Is Steel Dragon 2000 going to reopen soon? I hear rumors, but the park's website hasn't been updated as near as I can tell. I will be in Japan from July 27-August 2 and it would be nice to get a ride on this coaster. I think it is time for it to reopen or just remove it. Maybe the opening of Fuji-Q's new coaster will influence Nagashima Spaland to reopen Steel Dragon.

Nobody died in this accident, but the two rescue workers that fell were seriously injured.

That is actually a space shot ride called the Sun Drop at Riverside Parkland in a town called Seocheon on the west coast of South Korea. I have visited this park and there is no coaster there. The report is in Japanese. I have seen two of these Sun Drop towers in Korea. The other one is at Beachland on Wolmido Island near Incheon. Despite these two being in Korea and being the only ones I have ever laid eyes on, I have a good reason to believe they are not Korean made as if they were, then more parks in Korea would have one.

Thanks Chris. I am not sure if I wil go to Nasu or not as it may be a bit out of the way timewise. I wish I had been more help to you when you went to Plaza Land in Korea. By the way, I got sick shortly after you went from Korea's yellow dust season. I was sick for two months, but as soon as I was better, I went to Plaza Land only to find out that it had closed for good six days earlier. Has anyone heard anything certain about Steel Dragon 2000? I will go back to Nagashima if it is open, but I will skip the park if Steel Dragon 2000 is still SBNO. I have been there twice and there are many other parks in Japan I haven't been to.

I will be in Japan for a few days later this month. How do you get to Nasu? I have foudn next to nothing online as to how to access this park. How far is it from Tokyo? I have been to 19 parks in Japan. The ones I suggest are: Tokyo: Yomouriland Cosmoworld Tokyo Disneyland La Qua Other parks in Japan that I think you will enjoy are: Harmonyland Kijima (go for the location) Osaka Expoland Space World Hirakata Nagashima Spaland Nara Dreamland-I haven't been yet, but I will go this month. It is closing soon.

The Eagle Fortress at Everland in South Korea is my favorite terrain coaster. Everyone needs to experience this and then ask why there weren't more Arrow suspended coasters built.

Let's see, for me in one day: Small/Midsized Parks Boa Squeeze-Wonder Park: 212 rides Tornado-Stricker's Grove: 82 rides Skyliner-Lakemont-75 rides(I got well over 100 rides combined on all of the coasters) Big Dipper-Camden Park: 85 rides Twisted Twins-Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom: 56 rides Excalibur-Valleyfair: 25 rides Large Parks(with longer lines) Top Gun-Paramount's Kings Island: 28 (I rode all of the other coasters that day too) Racer-Paramount's Kings Island: 28 ( I rode all of the other coaters that day) Blue Streak-Cedar Point: 20 (I rode all of the other coasters that day) Top Gun-Paramount's Carowinds: 20(I rode all of the other coasters that day)

How neat, if all goes well, I will be there in late July or early August. It will be my third visit to this park.

This post is an open letter to Mr. Couch. I hope that he gets to read this and I hope that many of you agree with what I say. I grew up in Ohio. I have visited all of the parks there that have major coasters as well as a few small parks that only have a kiddie coaster. I really enjoyed my visits to Americana/LeSourdsville Lake. I am happy that I got the chance to visit the park again in 2002 after it had been closed for two years. As a rule, most parks that close never reopen. Mr. Couch stepped up to the plate and tried to save the park. He held on to it for a very long time. During the time he owned the park, he had cleaned it up for the 2002 season. A lot of money was put into the Eagle. I believe he made a sincere attempt to save it. With Cedar Fair buying Paramount Parks, this may be the right thing to do. The sad thing about this is that I know of enthusiasts who have never been to LeSourdsville, but they have made many visits to PKI, which is less than 30 minutes away. I have heard many stories of people who were making the drive to Ohio to visit Americana, only to become so excited about being close to PKI and they chose to visit PKI and said they would go to Americana the next time. Now, there is no next time. After the 1999 season, it looked like it was over. Mr. Couch gave everyone a last chance to visit in 2002. It seemed he had sincere intentions to make the park successful. He added several new rides in 2002 to try to draw people in. Prices were reasonable. He gave it his best shot and held on a long time. Thanks Mr. Couch for one last ride. Best wishes to you in the future.

The Atlantis Adventure is a fun ride. It has an intense launch, but it is not too wild that most people would not want to ride it. I think an Aqua Trax would be a great addition for Cedar Point.