The Official "TPR Japan Trip 2007" Thread

[Nrthwnd]

^ Well maybe it actually beat out the park that actually closed it's coasters w/o letting E&R know about it, due to "drizzle" hmm? - and they let us in, paying admission, and then let us know about the closed coasters?

 

Yep, Fuji-Q beats even that scenario, lol!

 

[Coaster Dooey]

mmmmm, Squidy Goodness!

[Nrthwnd]

^ Looks tasty.

 

Was it?

 

[BarryH]

I was looking all over for the delicacy "Stick on a Stick," but I couldn't find it.

[Coaster Dooey]

^ Looks tasty.

 

Was it?

 

 

It was genuinely good! Their Okonomiyaki wasn't too bad either for a coaster park. But not half as good as the real deal from a proper Okonomiyaki restaurant.

 

For anyone visiting Japan, don't miss out on this experience where they cook Okonomiyaki on the hotplate right in front of you. Our best was at the Okonomiyaki Theme Park (no kidding!) in Hiroshima. 26 Okonomiyaki restaurants on the 6th floor of the building opposite the Post Office which is next to the train station. It would've been 2 minutes walk from the hotel we stayed at called The New Hiroden - which was also excellent!

[Ace o' Spades]

 

 

I end up in the back row, outside seat and I had what was one of my roughest coaster rides of my life.

 

....

 

What baffled me is I thought that with these newer trains and the new upgrades to the 4D technology the ride would be much smoother. Now granted I was probably in one of the worst seats possible as people who rode the inside seats said they got a much smoother ride, but I would say the group reaction was fairly split.

--Robb

 

Hey Robb, this is kindof a late post, but I can confirm that the outside seat on the bac krow is the absolute WORST spot to ride a 4d. X was absolute hell in that seat, whereas it is very enjoyable (IMO) in the front inside seat.

[robbalvey]

Now that we're back home and rested, updates will start again tomorrow!

 

--Robb

[CoasterBill04]

Great to hear you're well rested and such. It was great meeting everyone and such for the three days I met up with you guys at TDL. Can't wait to hear about the dates for Tokyo 2008, even though I live 2 hrs away from Tokyo.

[gisco]

Now that we're back home and rested, updates will start again tomorrow!

 

--Robb

 

Rested? I have been back over a week and I'm still beat!

[Nrthwnd]

And I'm still a-BUZZ-BUZZ-BUZZing over Winnie The Pooh, AAAAAAAAAOMG over Indy Jones & The Crystal Skull (soon to be a major motion picture!) and sssSMILEeee over Sinbad and Hightower's Tower of Terror....

 

And I am going to really try and keep The Great Feelings going, thru the Holiday Season at least, lol!

 

 

Man, I thought Elissa and Robb would need a bit more rest time than just a few days or so.

 

You guys are truly awesome!

[thrillerman1]

Yeah I want some of what R&E are taking.

 

Edit: Woo my 100th post!

[SharkTums]

I don't know if I'd use the term 'rested'. More like "have to force ourselves to get back into normal life rhythms". Although no one has told KidTums this as her schedule is to go to sleep at 4am and sleep till Noon. (Waking for food of course!)

[ebl]

I noticed that TPR is doing a Tokyo trip next year. Perhaps Diana and I can go. (She graduates from high school next June and I was thinking about taking her to Japan anyway.)

 

Eric

[hamu86]

OK, I didn't believe you all so I went to Fujikyu Highland yet again last Friday. I got on Eejanaika in 5 minutes using my super-priority pass -- I won't go into detail about how I got it, except to say that it was because I was a repeated victim of rain and a good customer for the park. Anyway, I boarded on the right-hand platform and they gave me second row inside. It was a fine, smooth ride, and I didn't have to reach for my harness once. In fact, it was one of the smoothest I've experienced in the eight times I've been aboard.

 

Operations were fine, considering it was yet another crowded Friday. Lines at all the major coasters topped out at about 70 minutes. Perhaps longer than what most people are accustomed to in the States, but not a big problem in a country where there are often hour-long waits for something lame like Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

Needless to say, queues could certainly move along faster at Fujikyu. Yes, they have a set of rules that may sometimes exceed the bounds of reason and the staff are quite intransigent about varying from it. And yes, the average Japanese person is far too patient and has too high a pain threshold. Still, assuming that we all agree to play along with the same set of rules, what can one do about it? And I feel like the park does a good job safety-wise.

 

But of course, I'm happy to agree to disagree about how much Fujikyu sucks.

[Nrthwnd]

^ I think the whole timing of the day wasn't working in (most of) our favor, starting with the coach taking a lot longer to get to the park due to construction on the highway, and causing more longer traffic delays than E&R figured in. They certainly figured in enough time for "Point A to B" as they always do that with their amazing daily schedules. But this was just un-expected traffic sh** nobody counted on, including them.

 

Then the light (extreeeemely light) drizzle was holding up immediate opening of ALL of the coasters at Fuji-Q, something a lot of us were NOT too understanding of (myself included I will admit), probably based on a previous park we went to that didn't open anything for us due to "rain" ~ separate rant, lol ~ and then it became a game of "is it open, is it testing? yes it is testing - should we go over to the line? no, wait till we see people on it..." etc. etc.

 

Most of us started at Fujiyama, then proceeded to the smaller coasters (the indoor, Wild Mouse) making sure we could see both Dodopna and Eejanaika for testing, etc. And Peter/Loefet & myself dashed from the Mouse line, once we saw peeps on Dodop. To get into that never-ending queue.

 

Got very frustrating - and we ended up in 2 hour+ lines for both Dodop and Eeeeeej - and that four hours+ spent in two lines, sort of killed the rest of the afternoon for a lot of us. I didn't get two of the other coasters (the two rodents, hee hee) out of the 7 there, because of the huge lineups, and changing trains on Eeeej, blah blah.

 

It was a lot of "bad stuff" that sort of all played into that one touring day.

 

Poor Fuji-Q. Just one of those visits.

 

[BarryH]

In the 3.25 hour line for Japanese X, I was surprised that none of the Japanese people had looks of anger on their faces or became frustrated, even when the ride broke down. People did sit down during the breakdown. A couple even read a newspaper! If a breakdown happened in the U.S., you better believe people would look frustrated and complained. In the same line, I couldn't help but stare at a guy's hat that said, "X-F***ing large." It made me wonder if he actually knew what was written on his hat!

[Nrthwnd]

^ The Japanese are indeed

 

a patient, quiet people.

 

And what's sometimes seen/read on t-shirts is

 

still completely beyond me.

 

I saw several I would even

 

blush to repeat here, verbatim.

 

But - it made me remember,

 

it IS a Yin/Yang thing with these people.

 

There is always a quiet tranquil tea garden to be found,

 

in the middle of several million people, cars, houses, buildings, advertising.

 

Love it.

 

Want to go back, even with the long lines, LOLOL!

 

[ebl]

"The Japanese are indeed a patient, quiet people." (Nrthwnd)

 

Not the one I married!

 

But then, she was born and raised here in California and has a Type A personality, so...

 

I look forward to visiting Japan someday. That place looks interesting.

 

Eric

[SharkTums]

^We hope to see you and Diana next year on our trip!

[thrillerman1]

I really didn't think the Q was that bad of a park. I think it's like Bill said - just a combination of earlier events in the day that made people disgruntled with it. It actually had some really unique parts to it I would've loved to explore had we had more time there. Plus, I did get to experience another one of those "flat rides of death" I've never seen in the states...Moonraker. Something like a trabant meets a sit down round- up. It was a pretty sick/sweet ride.

 

Anyway, I've had far worse park experiences than the Q (like SFA for example lol).

[Nrthwnd]

^ There was a version of that at Liseberg in the add-on last year, Mark.

 

Called the Tornado, if my nearby park map serves me correctly? It does.

 

 

I wanted to try Moonraker too, and the Hospital Haunted walk-thru. But that was still 4+ hours of time spent for just two rides that lasted a total of less than five minutes. And there just wasn't any time left, except for the Thomas Train coaster, lol.

 

And finally to try some Dippin' Dots, LOL!

 

Ah well - five credits down, and when we do Fuji-Q again, I can demurely decline particular attrac..........tions.

Found it in the UK'06 Tour reports - thanks Robb! (o: Here is...Tornado in Liseberg, Sweden. Akin to Moonraker, hmmm yes?

[robbalvey]

OK, I didn't believe you all so I went to Fujikyu Highland yet again last Friday. I got on Eejanaika in 5 minutes using my super-priority pass -- I won't go into detail about how I got it, except to say that it was because I was a repeated victim of rain and a good customer for the park. Anyway, I boarded on the right-hand platform and they gave me second row inside. It was a fine, smooth ride, and I didn't have to reach for my harness once. In fact, it was one of the smoothest I've experienced in the eight times I've been aboard.

I will say as a disclaimer that I am NOT a fan of X however I was very hopeful for Eejanaika because I was told how much smoother this ride was.

 

Here is the footage I shot on Eejanaika the day we were there. I sat on an outside seat in the very back row. As you can see, it jostled me around a LOT!

 

I'm not doubting that you had a "smoother" ride than I had, but I find it very hard to believe that anyone could call it a "smooth ride." And I will say that the padding on the restraints does help. It wasn't that "painful" but it really threw me around really good!

 

Granted a lot of people in our tour did like the ride, and the bouncing around didn't bother them, but I don't think anyone said it was "smooth."

 

Even Elissa, who was in the inside seat in the front row, while she didn't mind it, was bounced around to the point where her legs came up over the "crotch hump!"

 

I do wish I could have gotten another ride in a better seat, but the horrible operations at the park that day made it impossible for that to happen.

 

Again, I will say that if you are a fan of X, you will probably LOVE Eejanaika, but if you're like me, and X just isn't for you, this ride, IMO, was worse. (At least in the outside back row seat!)

 

Anyway, watch the footage, and you tell me if this looks like a "smooth ride" to you!

 

--Robb

 

ps. BTW Hamu, I kept trying to contact you a few weeks before we left for Japan, but the email address I had for you kept bouncing!

eejanaika.wmv

Eejanaika at Fuji-Q Highland. Smooth Ride? You decide!

[Top Thrill Dragster]

It didn't look any worse than X. I think I would like it.

 

Robb, when you enter the brake run and you are flipped face down, how dose that feel? Is it rough?

[robbalvey]

The face down flip actually felt like a "mistake." It wasn't fun. And it was just more pointless and stupid. Like it was doing something it wasn't supposed to do. I really didn't get the whole point of it, like "why is the train doing this? It makes no sense" is what was going through my mind.

 

I'm assuming the only reason it did that was to add one more "inversion" to get the Guinness record?

 

--Robb

[Nrthwnd]

Yep.

 

That's about how it went for myself.

 

I was on the opposite side as you were, Robb. Other end of that row.

 

Not the same time of course, which would have made for some really great stereo cursing for Ginny, LOLOLOL!

 

But at least I know I felt it the same as you, lol.

 

And Ryan thought I'd cry like a liddle girl - HAH!

 

I screamed more blue stuff than I think he thought I knew possible, hee hee.

 

 

Thanks for putting the vid together, Robb. Instant memory renewal, ha ha.