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Photo TR: Bill & David's TPR Japan Tour (2013)


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^^ Don't know about anyone else on the trip - but I definitely felt that the two Schwarzkopfs were the best coasters running at Nagashima the day we all visited

 

QFT

 

And here's two pix - Some of us at the Nagoya Airport, ready (drinking) to fly up to Sapporo.

And... flying up to Sapporo, LOL!

 

And no matter where we are: TPR = Instant Partys!

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At the Nagoya Airport *** Par - tay!!!

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Here's the view as we head towards Sapporo. The usual - clouds, blue stuff, height (DbM)

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And now - a short break while "en route" to Sapporo...

 

Remember this building in my earlier report? V

 

Well, long story short, on the way back to our hotel, I tried to get David to see it,

and he had to lean across to see it through our train window (he was on the aisle).

And as some times things happen, my right elbow somehow made contact

with his glasses, and literally snapped the left stem off of his glasses!

 

So, we had to find somebody or some where that could put glasses back together again.

At our Sapporo hotel they were so nice and giving, in trying to find what tools we

could use at the hotel itself. Then there was a tip about a jewelry store in the mall

that is connected to our Sapporo Train Station.

 

So David took that tip, skipped our first park here (Hokkaido Greenland), and

went in search of a good fix. For his glasses, ha ha. Not entirely successful,

I found out when I returned from the day's tour. But in time - all was right, for now.

 

So THANK YOU! to Cary for the supply of duct tape, which held everything together

until we returned home, and David knew where to take the glasses, etc.

 

But THIS is The Reason, you won't see any photos of David in the next day's tour...

He was off, working the mall, LOL!

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This be the building that caused the OOPS on David's specs. Now fixed, and good as new.

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We arrived in Sapporo Airport, with no problems en route or at the airport. Then, we took a train to the station closest to our hotel - and we arrived! In Sapporo! Ready for our next two parks' visit, in the next couple of days. And a couple of really REALLY nice dinners we had, there in the city. (More on that later on.)

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The train station we arrived at, from the Sapporo Airport. (DbM)

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Interesting glass structure, in front of the station.

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Statuary around the station. (DbM)

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Group Shot. (DbM)

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Yay! It's our hotel! (DbM)

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Left view from our hotel window. Lots of city in there, but it feels like it's more spread out, here in Sapporo.

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And some nice park land in the right side shot from our window. And hills/mountains in back.

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June 30 ~ Hokkaido Greenland Park

 

While David went in search of (hopefully) getting his glasses fixed, I went with the group to our first of two parks in the Sapporo area - Hokkaido Greenland. Our method getting there was an (ahem) "Amazing Race" way of doing it - taking the train first, then taxis to the entrance gate. Works every time!

 

The park has sort of let itself 'go' in places, most notably the decrepit chair lift stations and towers that hadn't seen much winter use in years. But it was still a great park for kids, and those who wanted thrill rides, too. And three go kart tracks! David would have loved that, heh.

 

I tagged along with Michael and Karthryn from Australia; nearly killed myself on a monorail peddle cycle thing - and Kathryn on my tail, pushing me along, LOL; a great little Mad House, which I originally thought was an Ice House; some fun games in the arcade; great ops pushing us thru the mirror mazes; and some cool stuff in the gift shop.

 

A great day there - and David (sort of) got his glasses fixed - later on with Cary's duct tape supply - all a good day.

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Just before we got our taxis from the train station - we saw this. And it had nothing to do with the park we were heading to. "Things that make you go hmmm..."

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The Entrance of Hokkaido Greenland park

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Look! They know we're coming!

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Strange animatronics (low key) greeting mini-welcome show at entrance. I taped, but too much wind to actually hear it. Ladybugs were the chorus girls.....

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So apart from the coasters we rode, there were three go kart tracks! And here's Jason and Neil showing how having a great time, has nothing to do with one's driving skills. :p

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Same goes for Jon and Jolie. Happiness does not = good go kart driving.

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Hey Steven and Jes! Yeah, you're looking great - eyes on the road!

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And then there was Michael..... (He did better, later on.)

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We do the Sky Wheel. Michael and his lovely daughter (and OMG coaster screaming), Kathryn.

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Shot of some of the rides and coasters.

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Now we move the focus over just a bit - VOILA - new shot! And the rail peddle thing-ugh that nearly did me in, is over on the upper left there. Horrid thing.

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The jet coaster called....ready?..... GO ON. Seriously.

It was okay. Nothing I hadn't seen on a jet coaster that went on and on and on and on and..... yeah.

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After the Wheel, Kathryn made some new friends. Though their personality was a bit...uh....stiff?

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Never try this at home, kids.

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The Mad House I thought was an Ice House. It was fun, nonethelees. I like these little ones. Always have. Want one in my back yard, some day...

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Where Sky Wheel cabins get recycled - into winter cabins, kind of!

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Michael does the other go kart track, and SUCCEEDS!

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And this is (literally) The End of our visit to Hokkaido Greenland Park. (And thank you Ben for your...uh...output?)

Edited by Nrthwnd
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^^ I agree and ^ I agree!

 

I thought the "ride op" at the first mirror maze we went through, on that hill, was one of The Most Enthusiastic Ride Ops I had ever seen. She was amazing! High fives and everything, heh.

 

And two mirror mazes, too! It was really a fun park, I do agree.

 

And that parking lot staff was KILLER! They were a - ma - zing!

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Here are a few photos from when we left Hokkaido Greenland Park,

and then when David and I set out from the hotel (on foot) to go to a

suggested restaurant.... the Sapporo Beer Factory/Museum/Restaurant ...

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First, I noticed "that little icon" on our taxi's gps screen. Uh....okay. Even though the symbol is probably backwards, and of course means something entirely different to the Japanese... it still felt a bit wierd seeing it.

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I like domes in gardens. Don't know why. Just do.

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On the train back to the hotel - Neil gets some more 'winks'.

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Heading to dinner, we HEAR THIS (&%# THING BLARING down the street! And it's for something political. Figures.

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We thought Burg = burger. But it was just a restaurant and bar.

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We reach the Sapporo establishment, and are warmly greeted by an unknown strange looking mascot! Dinner up next....

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~ Dinner at the Sapporo Beer Garden & Museum ~

 

We had heard there was some kind of all-you-can-eat thing, going on at the

Sapporo Beer Garden, Museum, Restaurant. We decided to check it out and

walked ourselves to it's front door.

 

Was a bit of a walk for us, but I couldn't help but notice how quiet some

of the streets were in the city, where we walked. Nothing like Tokyo,

Nagoya, etc. Much calmer. And it was only late afternoon, too. I liked it!

 

When we got to the site, it turned out the all-you-can-eat was a bit more

expensive than what we had "heard". First things first, it cost for the two

of us...$75 Cdn. Nearly $40 each. And the eating part - as well as

all-you-can-DRINK - had to be accomplished in two hours or less.

 

Fair enough, So we went for it. And - Best Meal we ever had in a long, long time!

The server starts the whole thing up, shows you what to do,with the cooking grill

in the middle of your table. You have a few veggies (onions, sprouts, cabbage) to

take up the perimeter of the grill. But the main course all sits in the middle of it.

 

Meats. All kinds and cuts. Thin sliced and flash frozen for easy cooking. Like a

"Mongolian grill" type of food and cooking, if you how that works. And we kept

ordering, and ordering and Ordering MEAT, LOL! It was awesome. And yes we threw

in the occasional whole onion and sprouts, heh.

 

But was definitely a Carnivore's Wet Dream eating this much. And we didn't even

use up the entire two hours! Much of been all that beer I drank....

 

Draft Japanese beer is not reasonable in most parts of Japan. What costs me $4-5

or so for a pint back home - easily $9-10 here in Japan! So I knew that by having my

fill of draft Sapporo Beer - well, the add-up would easily make the final bill...sweet.

 

So, I believe I ended up drinking five busting LARGE MUGS of beer! Good beer, too.

I was happy. We both were, but myself a bit moreso than David, lol.

 

And on our way back to the hotel - we actually discovered our next night's dinner spot!

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This is where the Sapporo Beer Museum was. But we were more interested in EATING!

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And we're off and running! Our server first greases the grill we're using.

Notice under her arm - Plate of MEAT. (And my first mug of beer).

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Then, the Ring of Veggies.

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And then as much meat in the middle as possible - for now.

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The whole thing, after we took over.

And my third beer I believe. Mmmmm, more meat.

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Getting a bit messy in there - but all still awesome and delicious!

On my 4th beer by this time, lol.

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Still at it - but starting to slow down by too much goodness! And look! Even David's got a beer now! (o:

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I call this ~ "Me and The Burls" ~ After dinner and much beer drinking and souvenir buying... (DbM)

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Interesting top to a tower on a building. We were walking back to the hotel, but a different route.

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Interesting. Sort of colour coded. Sort of.

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It's cork in those. Yep. Cork.

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On the other side of the train station/mall, other sculptures are found, like this one.

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A Yakitori House! And one of the cooks sees me snapping a pic and reacts! (o:

Hmmmm. Yakitori for dinner tomorrow?

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Last pic before calling it a night. (And Darwin would be so proud having a pub named after him.)

Edited by Nrthwnd
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^ And nobody bought a bottle of this stuff?

And I admit, either I never saw it, or it was never

brought to our table.

 

(Or wasn't there any "souvenir bottles" of it available?)

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Next park we visit - Rusutsu Resort Park! Coming up, next week.

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Great pics of White Cyclone! I love that ride.....something that the word epic can actually be attached to?

 

I'm glad that there are so many pictures from the Sapporo brewery to help piece together what happened lol Hotel laundry managed to get the meat smell out of my clothes after sitting downwind of the grill all night.

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^ That sounds yummy, lol. Meat smoke in your clothes...

 

I too, am glad you went on Blue Fall at Sea

Paradise Park, and lived to tell the tale, Jason.

I think you could tackle any fall tower, now.

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on July 1st ~ Rusutsu Resort Park ~ A Great Park!

 

There are so many , many good memories of this park, it really is hard to keep them all "in order" lol. The resort itself is obviously for winter vacationing with plenty of skiiing hills around us, as well as working cable car systems, most of which were down "for their season", But there was still one very well working cable car, we could take, up a mountain to....

 

Well, that's another day, for now, lol.

 

The park had 8 coasters, and ALL WORKING coasters, too! Although a few, like their Jet Coaster and the Corkscrew could use a bit of greasing up for a smoother ride, etc. But the stand up was actually very good, the SLC held together, without tossing me aroudn too much. And the Mad Mouse and The Ultratwister were both excellent surprises. One fore the smoothness of it all, and the other for The Dive......

 

Lots of room to walk around, and plenty of tall trees for shade. Fairly good park food was available, as were plenty of drinks and beers etc. And those darned Capsule Machines, en masse LOL!

 

Here's the start of our day at Rusutsu...

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This was our bus to the Resort. And I have NO Idea what it stands for.....

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On the way. Faces or faces seen in this mountain formation.

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Used for holding back Angry Rocks! Japanese Technology Works!

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Then there were these... no idea how.... (But it does look like in Jurassic park, yes? No?)

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Keep this building in mind. By the end of the day - all of this was gone. Yay!

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This was in the main centre of the resort, where we entered the park through,. He/it worked for us as we were leaving. Creepy, but fun at same time! (DON'T look into the EYES!)

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Their Main Street (mall) as we walk to the park's entrance. It was really nicely themed, and pleasant to walk through, there and back.

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Looking back, where we entered from. A beautifully crafted 2 level carousel/merry-go-round, too.

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Looks like we're going the right direction.

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Yes! Here we are! But it was another lengthy outdoor walk to the actual park - a good walk for everybody, us included. And we saw a lot of interesting stuff along the way....

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The Map that shows us where everything is at the Resort.

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And "the other map" of the Resort. Don't ski. Never will. Envy those who can and do. And snowboard, too! (o; (DbM)

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Some beautiful placement of flowers and plants throughout the resort.

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And then there was this GI-Normous circus tent, slightly open and just standing there. Totally fascinated me, but I didn't "stray from the path" ha ha. Did anybody else see inside of this? Could be for a Circus School for kids, which would be awesome!

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Up ahead .... I - See - Park!

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And then there was The Phrase that we first saw, lovely on the lawn. Then we kept hearing it, over and over and over and over and.... (And the running cable cars are there up above the sign, heading up to...)

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Lots of lush plants everywhere, especially on the upper levels of the park - and where Ultratwister was! (DbM)

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Lots and lots in interesting groupings, for photo taking. (o: (DbM)

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But Ultratwister awaited us - and I got 4 rides on it! Kind of surprised myself, heh. And The Dive was very cool, on it. But David sat this one out, and took more pix of us and more plants, lol.

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Like this nice set of.... (DbM)

Edited by Nrthwnd
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