Photo-TR Tokyo 2012

[Trevannosaurus Rex]

Right, first time doing a PTR, so bare with me....

 

Fuji Q Averageland

Yomiuri Land

Shopping and Aqua Stadium

Ghibli Museum, Hanayashiki and Senso Ji

Tobu Zoo

 

Recently got back from 11 awesome days in Japan. Trip's been delayed a year, we were literally about to book when the earthquake struck last year. The trip wasn't originally going to be a coaster trip, but the extra year of saving we ended up adding some extra parks!

 

Here are some pictures!

They sprayed our plane with dip and killed some toons

Our food had a distinctly Japanese flavour to it.

Finally after many hours of traveling, we'd arrived at Narita airport.

We traveled from the airport to Shinjuku with an N'EX and Suica card, these are pretty good value!

Obligatory shot of novelty toilet buttons.

First night of TV, bunch of guys in drag. Glad to see Japanese TV wasn't going to disappoint.

Edited March 28, 2012 by Trevannosaurus Rex

[Trevannosaurus Rex]

So our first full day in Japan was spent at Fuji-Q Highland. It's got quiet the reputation here on TPR, it gets constantly bashed, because of crap operations and daft policies. Fortunately we knew this and bought priority tickets. Although it's pretty daft that we'd need to spend an additional $50 just to get on some rides on what would be a quiet day anywhere else.

 

Apart from the Thomas area, the park lacked any charm at all. The Thomas section was great.

 

Takabisha was great fun. Probably my favourite coaster of the trip. It's a mix of everything really.

 

They had closed the lines early for some rides but not others. Eejanaika was closed an hour before park close, Takabisha was still open with a 2.5 hour wait.

 

It was an incredibly average park, with a couple of good rides, that was only made bearable by purchasing queue jump tickets.

 

Also what was up with the mouse? Seriously.

Morning exercises on Japanese TV.

wait, what?

One of the buses to Fuji Q was Thomas themed! Sadly we got a dull, plain one.

Weather stayed like this all day, at least the coasters stayed open though.

slow and dull the first time, hauled it round the second time and was great fun.

Yeah, it's pretty steep.

Managed to get on this just as it opened. Waited half an hour, Prefer X2 to it I think.

This show is still insanely popular, but the attraction seemed fairly low budget.

Got some big robot heads inside.

To stand next to some of the other figures, you have to pay, or stay in the hotel room.

You can also recreate scenes from the show

The mouse, layout designed by a drunk.

Ah, take a picture of your stupid picture on the free pass.

I see your meat cow and raise you, spandex dancing men.

Don't think you have these yet...

Takabisha's weeing American.

Takabisha's station, was pretty nice.

So the park's mascots were these Hero types, but the yellow guy just wore his underwear and was painted yellow.

Hooray, for Takabisha and the stunning grey backdrop.

We didn't make it into the hospital cause of the wait, the Coffin ride was closed all day, but we did do this one.

Which had this warning sign.

Why was the Thomas area so great compared to the rest of the park?

[Trevannosaurus Rex]

Day 2 Yomiuri Land.

 

When we checked the weather we were told it would have been +15C so we thought we'd be fine with a couple of sweaters and some light jackets, especially when we're used to -20 at this time of year, but it ended up feeling really cold.

So today was Yomiuriland, which is built on a hill somewhere in Tokyo. The park had a lot of charm and we both enjoyed it, despite it being freezing cold.

 

The park was absolutely dead, so we walked onto everything.

 

So despite it being freezing cold and the park looking fairly worn down, we had a good couple of hours. I'll certainly come back here on a return to Japan.

 

More coming soon....

What Yomiuriland TR is complete without this classic.

The gondola ride into the park.

SL Coaster is completely gone and they are working on something new.

LANDDOG best park mascot ever?

Oh Japan

We got to meet LANDDOG, who followed us around for 10 minutes.

Bandit was awesome, smooth and fast.

Ducks couldn't ride it though.

I'm not sure how people managed to return to the station without a concussion on this before the extra padding.

The planters here and at a couple of other parks were cabbages.

The toilet signs were awesome, but I was unsure if it was the ladies of the cross dressers.

Standing Looping Coaster, was pretty smooth, just very short.

The standup seats look as if they will kill you, but they don't.

acceptable Tokyo fashion. Tweety Bird pajama suit thing.

In the sealion show, they made the poor creature were angel wings, then balance a ball with inflatable heart balloons tied to it on their nose.

You can ride LANDDOG as well for ¥200

I suggest going to his house as that is just weird. Klaxons, flashing lights and blasts of air. Very odd.

[SharkTums]

Fun TR!

 

Interesting to see SL coaster ripped out, I'm sure the replacement will be better as that coaster was just kind of 'meh'.

[gisco]

Didn't realize SL Coaster was gone. No loss, it looked like it should be really cool but was totally worthless as a ride!

[Werner]

Looks like a great trip, can't wait to go to Japan for the first time! And that dog Ruless...

[RoCo]

One of the many things I love so much about these Japan TRs is that there is always something neat/weird/hysterical/ that I've never seen before.

 

Looking forward to more!

[Trevannosaurus Rex]

There were a lot of people working on SL coasters site and it looks as if they had built an access road there. The lake had been drained, other then that just lots of land clearing.

 

Anyway, next part! After two days of parks, we had a day shopping in Shibuya and Harajuku, with a bonus trip in the evening to Aqua Stadium!

 

It rained the entire day, but you wouldn't know it inside the shops. By the doors they have umbrella stands or machines that put covers on your umbrella for you so you don't drip water everywhere.

 

Shibuya is pretty busy, the first time in the station we got stuck for 20 minutes trying to find the way out of it! Although signage in stations is normally pretty good, we found you would follow a couple of signs and then they'd disappear and you were left confused.

 

Takashite Dore had a couple of interesting shops, mainly geared to teenage girls though.

 

Galaxy Express 999 was a fun ride, I think we spent more time looking for the place then we did riding it! We both thought it was good fun, very odd quirky coaster. The themeing was pretty good, although we had no idea what was going on in the pre-show.

 

Next up a trip the the Ghibli Museum, Senso Ji, and a quick stop at Hanayashiki!

So these Vegetables of Nightmares were pretty popular, we saw them everywhere.

There was also the little gnome vegetable who had sex with different animals.

Gum Drops, anyone who has seen the film this is based on will know what you will end up replacing the gum drops with.

The Disney store in Shibuya is awesome!

More Disney store, if you are short on time when you visit TDR, pick up your tickets here before hand!

Harajuku station. I'll point out here that the train stations all play music when trains leave or arrive and each station/line is different. It's awesome!

thanks, I'll bear that in mind.

So these guys are transvestite eggs. I think they have their own show.

Honestly, it's just impossible to NOT love Japan.

The crowded shopping area of Takashite Dore.

This was one of the more complicated toilets that we found. I was too scared to push any of the buttons.

When you waved your hand in front of this it played loud flushing noises, so you could fart and poop without embarrassment.

moving on....

Hachiko. Ever see that Futurama episode Jurassic Bark? This was the real life inspiration.

Shibuya crossing can get pretty crowded.

Greatest boy band ever? That is if they are a boy band, this could just be an advert for a cleaning product.

Rollercoaster time!

This was a fairly unique coaster.

The whole Aqua Stadium area looked really nice

Edited March 21, 2012 by Trevannosaurus Rex

[milst1]

Nice TR, seems like a million years since Japan, but just 3 1/2.

[RoCo]

"Happiness with worm puppy"

 

It's all gold; MORE PLEASE!

[gisco]

Checking out the stores and seeing the strange things they had was always a lot of fun.

[Trevannosaurus Rex]

Day, something or other.

 

Today was rather busy. It was also really cold.

In the morning we went to the Ghibli Museum. This place was awesome. It was full of nooks and crannys to explore, with all sorts of hidden details. Tickets, have to be bought in advance, they don't sell them there. You also can't take pictures indoors, so you'll have to use your imagination. You can walk through recreations of various workspaces, see how the films are created, as well as take a ride on the Cat Bus. There's even a cinema showing short films exclusive to the museum. If you're a fan of Ghibli films (if not why not)?! then, I'd definitely recommend a trip there, it's a pretty good deal at ¥1000 a ticket.

 

We spent a couple of hours there, then headed over to Senso Ji and Hanayashiki. The temples were pretty impressive, nice to stroll around. For a tourist trap, it was one of the nicer ones, You weren't getting hassled to buy cheap gold-plated recreations of the temples, so it was a thumbs up in my book.

 

It was bitterly cold at this point and it was only meant to get colder for the next couple of days when we were at Disney, so we made the decision for me to run in and ride the coaster and sadly cut out Toshimaen and buy a couple of extra layers so we didn't end up freezing to death at Disney.

 

So Hanayashiki was my quickest park trip ever. I was there for literally 20 minutes. Ran in rode the coaster then took some pictures. I thought the park had a lot of charm to it. I'd certainly want to come back to the park and explore it on a warmer day. Especially with all those in-house built rides, which looked interesting to say the least.

 

The Little Star ride looked interesting, picture of it below, has anyone here ridden it? What did they think, it looked equal parts amazing and evil.

 

This would be our final night in our first hotel, as the next day we'd move to Disney and check out Tobu Zoo.

on our way to the Ghibli Museum

Totoro is going to take our tickets today.

There was a robot on the roof.

somewhere to wash your hands

New and old.

Sperm on the roof building.

culture time!

I'm actually at EPCOT right now.

quickest ever park trip!

I can't believe I did this.

The park is actually quite pretty. It's also tiny.

Rollercoaster's station

ok

Not going to give any one nightmares.

what ever some one is cooking for dinner across the hallway, smells awesome.

Seriously it smells great.

This thing looked amazing/evil. Has anyone ridden one?

Know what these guys are famous for?

Yay, Japanese McDonalds! Wasn't the greatest thing I tried. The Big American Beverly Hills burger was amazing!

In this McDonalds you could still smoke! You have a spot for a clean ashtray, then you have somewhere else to put the ash.

[simon8899]

Thanks for the Ghibli museum pics. Simply love the movies. Shows that Disney went wrong with its CGI-animated movies. The Studio Ghibli mpvies are so massively complex and all hand-animated.

 

For example the robot is a former war-robot that in the movie cares for a beautiful garden....

 

The coaster around the mall reminds me of Pacific Coaster at Santa Monica Pier....

[Jew]

Shaka Shaka chicken!!!

[palmerleeberry]

I always loved photo TR's from Japan to see what there rides look like and see their culture that would be normal and acceptable to them, yet strange and alienatied to us.

 

By the way, "Happiness is worm puppy"? I believe the correct saying is "Happiness is a warm puppy". They better get that right or Charles Shultz would be rolling in his grave.

 

"No, the correct saying is 'Happiness is a warm head resting upon me'. (sighs) They were the good old days until this website came along."

[RoCo]

Until today, I was totally unaware that there was a Ghibli museum. That is sickeningly awesome. ("Kiki's Delivery Service" is one of my favorite movies of all time.)

 

Reason No. 8,674,486 why Japan rules and everywhere else drools.

[Xcoaster]

Gum Drops, anyone who has seen the film this is based on will know what you will end up replacing the gum drops with.

Hint 1: It's pictured on this tin.

Hint 2: It’s not fruit drops.

Morbid!

 

Know what these guys are famous for?

"Yarbles! Great big bolshey Yarblockos!"

 

Great TR!

[Trevannosaurus Rex]

TOBU ZOO - Or the part where I (partly) defend Fuji-Q.

 

I've not been looking forward to writing this trip report. My visit to Tobu Zoo confirmed it.

 

I don't like steel Intamin coasters.

 

They don't do anything for me. I thought Expedition Ge-Force was average at best and it doesn't feature in my top 10 let alone 20. I'm not completely deranged, I love their wooden coasters, Xcelerator and Furious Baco are great fun. But these sit down air time machines? Meh.

 

With that in mind, I came to the park with fairly low expectations for the ride. I wanted to like it, but I wasn't expecting to be blown away. Sadly I wasn't (but I can see how people do like the ride). I think a lot of it is down to the train design. Their lap bar pins me in so much, that when their is airtime, I stay put, safe and secure. Bum on seat. Maybe with a restraint more similar to B&M's clamshells I'd love them more.

 

As for defending Fuji-Q? Tobu Zoo had the WORST loading for any ride I'd ever seen! Now it didn't bother me too much as there were only five people in front of us, but even then it would still be a 20 minute wait for the ride. They'd wait for the train to arrive in the station, let everyone off, then they would load a single row at a time! They wouldn't let you onto the station platform, until the 2 in front had stowed their loose articles, climbed aboard, and had their restraints checked a few times. Once the full train was loaded then they would recheck all the restraints again several times, spiel and finally dispatch, at least Fuji-Q, would load a full train load of people at a time!

 

Has anyone been at Tobu when it was busier? I'm not sure if they just did this because it was so quiet? Still Tobu Zoo was a lot nicer then Fuji-Q anyway.

 

Onto the pictures!

Cute tiles, on the way to the zoo.

We went the right way!

The mascots were pleased to see us. We were pleased to see them.

A hippo sculpture.

I thought, the Thomas bus was awesome, but this is the GREATEST THING EVER!

What's that peeking through the trees?

G-Max was good fun. (OK I Love Intamin drop towers).

Putting the coasters by the lake was a great idea.

Ecrair anyone?

From here a 20 minute wait.

I forgot to bring my spinal cord of trouble today, so I could ride!

You don't need to read Japanese to know what the white means.

These things are still awesome.

Regina was the best wooden coaster I rode in Japan! (well the other was White Canyon).

The manhole covers were awesome.

But best of all the Chinese people themselves. Look at them there, aren't they great? The Chinese; a great bunch of lads.

This was the world's most laid back Kangaroo.

He kept getting harassed though.

The petting area looked a lot newer than other parts of the zoo, hopefully they'll bring the rest of the zoo up to scratch. Next picture is NSFW

Told you so.

Regina looks awesome, but doesn't do too much.

Another classic.

There were loads of stray cats in Tokyo, include a bucket load at the zoo.

Cute, don't get your hands trapped in the door sign.

[palmerleeberry]

What? I'm the first one to respond to these latest bunch of photos? As my best friend and sometimes riding partner would say: "Whoawee!"

 

Okay, as long as I'm here, I do have a few things to say:

 

#1 - Besides seeing some coasters I wouldn't mind riding, one picture featured a ride that looked like a cross between the sky tram underneathed a monorail track. That looked like a fun-filled family attraction, but I wonder why we don't have an attraction like that? [Note - I know that a few parks have their sky ride, but it rides a cable, not a track. Is there any park that I don't know of that has an attraction like that?]

 

#2 - Did I catch another translation error concerning the pizza place ( I mean, I heard of "Italian", but "Itarian"? Well, at least they spelled "Restaurant" correctly.)? Is that the place to get two slices of "peesas"?

 

#3 - Oh wow, I didn't think I'll ever see a Chinese Kangaroo until I saw this post. Thanks a billion!

 

#4 - Oh move along, I don't have anything for #4.

 

#5 - Speaking about the bus with a bird's head on, how about going to St. Louis and ride the "Shuttle Bug"? Don't I mean the "Shuttle Bus"? Yes, but they have these buses that transport you between their sexy St. Louis Zoo to the metro, and these bus are painted like bugs. I had the upmost pleasure of riding in the Lady Bug.

 

"While I can't send you to Japan, but if you lay your head upon mine, I can help you dream that you're there!"

[gisco]

The two times I have been to Tobu Zoo I have never had a problem with operations. First time there it was pretty busy and the second time it was dead. Didn't notice a difference. Maybe you just need to go with TPR? Everybody has there own idea on what makes a great ride. For me, Kawasemi is my top coaster.

[Ed Farmer]

 

I don't like steel Intamin coasters.

 

They don't do anything for me. I thought Expedition Ge-Force was average at best and it doesn't feature in my top 10 let alone 20. I'm not completely deranged, I love their wooden coasters, Xcelerator and Furious Baco are great fun. But these sit down air time machines? Meh.

 

With that in mind, I came to the park with fairly low expectations for the ride. I wanted to like it, but I wasn't expecting to be blown away. Sadly I wasn't (but I can see how people do like the ride). I think a lot of it is down to the train design. Their lap bar pins me in so much, that when their is airtime, I stay put, safe and secure. Bum on seat. Maybe with a restraint more similar to B&M's clamshells I'd love them more.

 

 

I can at least partially sympathize with you on that. I think their rides are very good, but really underwhelming at times- most notably the first drop. After riding the first two B&M hypers, I expected the extra 100 feet and steeper angle of descent on Millennium Force to be all sorts of awesome. Biggest case of anticipointment on a roller coaster ever. I get the feeling that Intamin love is pretty much the same thing as Vekoma hate. Someone says Vekoma and a group of people stumble over themselves trying to be the loudest about how much they think Vekoma sucks.