robbalvey Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 (edited) This trip reports starts our 'Weird Parks of Japan Trip.' And what exactly is that? Well, we have been going to Japan for years and there are so may different, little 'weird parks' all over the place that we never just had the chance to hit yet. This isn't so much a 'credit whore' trip as it was a 'weird parks' trip. We aren't the type of people to go out of the way for a Wacky Worm or powered coaster, so the prerequisite was that there at least had to be multiples of coasters or some thing somewhat unique, interesting, or 'big.' And this is our adventure.... Yup, so we are heading to Tokyo... don't worry, we're not actually taking Vietnam Airlines! lol Here is our trusty 747 that will hopefully make it to Japan... The plane features a safety video with one of the members of Devo...but not the dead one. Hooray! Best plain looking sign ever! We had to drive right by Tokyo Disney to get to our hotel! Damn! Don't worry...we will be back here! For the first time in forever we were able to see Mt Fuji from Tokyo!!! (Thankfully we couldn't see Fuji-Q!) It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day in the neighborhood... We decided to do some shopping in Tokyo. Look, I found a medal. Now I can be just pretentious and smug just like all those other Disney runners, too! (Or I could qualify for the random roster race in Sugar Rush, either one...) "Do not hit the boob with a bat" - Best "how to get laid" advice I've ever heard! Even the public transportation in Japan is adorable and cute! We went to the Disney store because the Japanese are obsessed with Disney...so I guess we have something in common! For whatever reason, they LOVE 3 Peas in a Pod in Japan and tons of totally random merchandise with them! Frozen is actually called "Anna and the Snow Queen" (Anayuki) in Japan. Why? Because they are smarter than us. That's why. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit has made his way to Japan. And there's all kinds of awesome iPhone cases as well! (Not as many Android cases, because, once again, the Japanese are smart.) These little tiny beanie characters were the new hotness. We think they were from some video game app or something. Of course we had to get the Chip N Dale. Let me just explain something here. This was like the most complex phone case/charm thing ever! See where Minnie's hand is holding the ring? Well, you put one of the phone straps on the ring and then you put one of the charms on the strap. It was a 3-step process and the Japanese LOVE stuff like this. Crazy. Apple Store in Japan. It pretty much is the same thing as heaven...if I believed in heaven. We have friends that like this store. So here's a photo. I got something like 600 Street Passes on my Nintendo 3DS while in Japan. This is one of the most awesome bizarre stores ever! We love it! I'm not even sure what this is, but we think it's like a game like "Perfection" and after a certain amount of time all the pieces explode or something. Or it could just be oddly shaped pasta. We have no idea, but it costs about $50! lol Here are some googley eyes so you can make your fruits and vegetables adorable. Because... JAPAN!!! Here's a shelf full of random bizarre plush animals like bugs and squids and things. There was this giant Dragonball Z display randomly set up in front of one of the shops. Because...you know... JAPAN!!!! Yes, we know Mickey & Duffy...we will be there soon! We decided to go down to Harajuku and check things out. Harajuku girls...yup! It's important to note that every girl in Japan must carry something "Duffy" on them at all times. This is how they identify themselves as a Japanese girl. If they don't have anything Duffy on them, they are sent back to China. This is quite possibly the most terrifying thing I saw in Harajuku, or maybe ever. I don't know what Sexy Zone Channel is, but I think once I find out I'm going to be glued to the TV for the next week and a half. You know women in Japan just dress in full Kimono all the time! The most unsuspecting discovery of Japan was that we found totally legit pizza here! This Pizza box is by FAR my favorite souvenir of Japan. Read the text! It's amazing! "Let's Try Eat!" lol "And yes, the pizza actually kicks ass, too!" This is not a bowl of runny poop, this is Chicken Katsu Curry and it's AMAZING!!!! "I don't feel anxiety anything!" Woah! HOLD THE MOTHRA!!! What's this I see?!??! The Taiko drum guy is the latest character in the Mario Kart arcade game!?!?! Whaaaaa? Why can't we have nice things??? And yes, they are like version nine hundred and forty of Taiko no Tatsujin. Still the greatest video game ever to come out of Japan! In Japan, Tomorrowland is all about women's dresses and flowers. Screw Space Mountain and that Buzz Lightyear crap! GAAAAHHHH!!!! It's like I walked into my own personal hell! Nothing but vertical video screens as far as I can see! C'mon Japan! I expected better of you!!!! This sounded disgusting, but it was wonderful! WHY CAN'T WE HAVE NICE THINGS!?!?!? Oh, we should probably go to a park, huh? Oh, let's hop on our first bullet train! Nineteen seconds after getting on the bullet train we were at our first park! Look, there it is up on top of that hill! So Washuzan Highland is a "Brazilian themed Japanese amusement park." No, honestly officer, I haven't had anything to drink and I'm not making up this story. See look! The front of the park has Brazilian stuff and everything! Our first coaster of the trip was an Ultra Twister! And the last one we needed to complete the "Japan Ultra Twister collection!" Yay!!! Ultra Twisters are kind of a guilty pleasure of mine. In theory, they should be awful, but they are amazing! Sadly, KidTums was not quite as tall as this Brazilian man, so she was unable to ride. The rest of us, however WERE as tall as the Brazilian man and as you can see that made us all very happy! Ultra Twisters go up vertically. Mostly for torture. Togo doesn't really know how to design anything else. This is what it looks like going up the vertical lift. It's the most painful part of the ride and once it's over you don't feel any pain at all. It's a bit like getting that shot in the mouth from the dentist. So close to the top now! From up here, the Ultra Twister really doesn't look like much. But from here! OMG IT'S AWESOME!!!! For those of you who don't know what an Ultra Twister is, watch this video, and even if you do, watch it anyway (we like getting lots of views on YouTube!) This is what the butt of an Ultra Twister car looks like, just in case you were interested. And here's a dorky side view photo. For some reason a lot of Ultra Twisters include pink in their colour scheme. It's a manly colour. Don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise. The next coaster we were going to ride was going to be this thing. But it's obviously seen better days and it was closed. Shame. As you can see, the park is just waiting on a shipment of Rustoleum, and then it will re-open. The next ride of the park was the giant staircase of hot death ride. "Welcome to Washuzan Highland, where you have to climb about FOUR THOUSANDS STAIRS to get to the next coaster." (I'm honestly not joking at all!!!) About half-way up now. If this coaster isn't running I'm going to stab someone in the eye with a hot poker! On a side note, it is Japanese law that every Japan amusement park must have a GIANT ferris wheel. Hooray! This Jet Coaster thingy was actually running! It looks a little sketchy, but it made it back to the station ok. There's our seats! This is got to be the most "Um, do I HAVE to ride this sketchy thing" look I've ever seen! At least the view was amazing! Honestly, this ride was kind of a lot of fun! Here's a POV of it... After we were done with the sketchy but not that sketchy Jet Coaster, we heard a noise.... OMG! The Togo Looper full of rust is actually... OPEN! But wait, something doesn't seem quite right... OMG! THE TRAIN IS BACKWARDS!!! WE ARE GOING TO RIDE A TOGO LOOPING DEATH MACHINE...BACKWARDS!!! WHAT THE HELL!!!! There is goes down the drop... BACKWARDS! There is goes through the "PLEASE PAINT ME FOR THE LOVE OF GOD" loop... BACKWARDS!!! And there it goes up an airtime hill...BACKWARDS!!!! There are some things that should NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER BE ALLOWED TO HAPPEN! And turning a Togo Death Machine backwards is one of them! Here's the even more screwed up part... it didn't suck!!!! Check out this POV video... Oh, yeah, it apparently also had a stand up train! lol Space Spiral still exists here... I'm not exactly sure what I'm standing under but there was a lot of exposed electronics and things that didn't look safe. I'm gonna move now... Here's a map of the park in case you want to go there... You know, this place was a bit sketchy, but we had fun! I mean, the coasters were actually all DECENT!!! Here is the super snazzy train we took to get to the park. We were in first class because we are AWESOME! Oh, yeah, the station was totally screwed up! Apparently, they worship jeans here. No, they do. Everything had a pair of jeans on it (see the little one on the sign) They even had ACER sized jeans on the station!!! lol And with that, we'll just end this part of the trip report here! You can also view this trip report in the Park Index here: http://www.themeparkreview.com/parks/photo.php?pageid=804&linkid=13437 Edited December 23, 2014 by robbalvey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeFaller Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Awesome start to your trip report! I'm excited about all the other parks! This rusty thing was hopefully not part of any ride? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted May 11, 2014 Author Share Posted May 11, 2014 The next park of our trip was someplace I knew very little about. I looked at what roller coasters were here, but not much else. Like everything else in Japan, the park mascots and the park itself was "adorable." Good morning New Reoma World employees wearing funny hats! It's nice to see you too! Wow! Look at that! It's a nice looking park! Their mine train roller coaster, Vivace, was REALLY GOOD! It pulled some strong forces around that curve! Overall, it's just another Japanese "Jet Coaster" for the most part, but this one was a lot of fun! Check out a POV: Notice two things from this photo - The ride looks really neat! And the park is really nice! This really was one of the surprises of the trip! LOTS OF G FORCES!!!! So like I said, the things in this park are "adorable!" And leave it up to the Japanese to come up with a family coaster themed to these adorable little lady bugs! (the track could use some paint, though!) But look at how cute the ride vehicles are? Awwww.... "I'm ready to ride the adorable Japanese roller coaster!" KidTums loved it! Yes, I know what you are going to ask... of COURSE we have a POV video of this! Make no mistake about it, THIS ride was the kiddie coaster! Yup, there it is. And that is a full train of horrible adults credit whoring the kiddie coaster! KIDDIE COASTERS IN THE RAW!!! (check out this POV!) This was something totally unexpected at this park... A really elaborate dark ride! From what we could understand this evil little character stole all the color in the world. He and his little minions here took the "colors of the rainbow" away. And it was up to you and the heroes to get them back! Isn't is pretty? (And yes we have a POV!) This dark ride used a suspended "Peter Pan" type of system. The whole ride seemed really well done! And of course, every Japanese parks needs a GIANT wheel! Some sort of building themed to vegetables and playing cards. You know, two things that always go hand in hand. We didn't go in here. It scared us! Hellooooo random Japanese cute cosplay show girls! The invited me to come see their show... Turn up your volume and listen to the following clip! Yup, you hear that right! [vine] [/vine] Another really bizarre attraction here at the park... Yup, it's the amphibious jeep "We'll take you around our man-made lake" boat ride! What the hell, Japan?!??! Here's the park map. As you can see, the place is pretty decent sized! While the Rainbow Bandits dark ride was quite a hit, the shooting dark ride was kind of "meh." Hi, you're dumb. Space Ship 2056 was a pretty decent "Space Mountain" knock-off. We have been approved as space travelers and we are ready to launch! Space tunnel. "Choose wisely. One door leads to the roller coaster. The other door leads to a giant pit where you will be eaten by a space monster." Oh, we choose poorly. Space Tunnel Part Deux! Yay! Space Roller Coaster! Even Godzilla likes to eat Japanese curry... and ambulances... They even had a giant Starflyer here! This park was really nice! The Japanese really do love their "covered Main Street" areas. Oh, I...LOVE A PARADE!!!! Damn, all the Animal Crossing capsules were sold out. These were some sort of bizarre "Cut in half people" capsules where you put the half of the girl on your fridge and it looks like she's either coming out of it, or going in. Oh, Japan! (I don't even know what the "missing leg woman" is supposed to be!) Ok, so they made a character out of Tortilla Mr. Potato Head. That's pretty awesome! We really DO love Reoma World! Two of these things are adorable, one of them is not. Do you know which is which? What a great day! I'm glad we put this on our "Weird Parks of Japan" trip. And it was a "weird park" in that no one really knew anything about it, never really heard of it, and it turned out to be an amazing surprise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rcjp Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Nice pictures. I didn't realize how rusty the backwards TOGO death machine looked when I first saw the POV, a while ago! That loop is just, well.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted May 11, 2014 Author Share Posted May 11, 2014 ^ Yeah, to say it was sketchy would be an understatement. Especially since it wasn't open when we got to the park and we just assumed it was down for the count. Much to our surprise when it actually opened!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddie200330 Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 LMAO....Choking Hazard!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigDipper 80 Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 Animal Crossing keychains?!? That's awesome, and I want them all! When I was in Tokyo, I walked past a vending machine that had Super Mario 3D Land keychains in it, and I probably put 2000 yen into the thing trying to get them all. I love that country so much. Thanks for sharing! I think I'll go make some curry for dinner now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted May 11, 2014 Author Share Posted May 11, 2014 LMAO....Choking Hazard!! DO NOT HIT WITH BAT!!! LOL!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddie200330 Posted May 11, 2014 Share Posted May 11, 2014 LMAO....Choking Hazard!! DO NOT HIT WITH BAT!!! LOL!!! This is what makes Japan awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted May 12, 2014 Author Share Posted May 12, 2014 Animal Crossing keychains?!? That's awesome, and I want them all! We couldn't find any Animal Crossing stuff on our last visit. All the capsule machines were sold out and we didn't see any of the plush that we had seen in the previous year. *sad* I would LOVE to find some more of those miniature Takio Drum Guy plushes that we found in like 2007! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SharkTums Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 ^Airport toy store had some animal crossing stuff remember? It was late and we were exhausted but it was there, I remember! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted May 12, 2014 Author Share Posted May 12, 2014 ^ Oh, that's right! But I think that was the only place, wasn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
READYdot Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 I LOVE these reports from obscure places in far, far away places. As we are stranded at home waiting for our second son, these reports take us to the places we hope to see one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swede Posted May 12, 2014 Share Posted May 12, 2014 Looks like an awesome trip. I need to be on one of these sometime in the future. Problem is I would probably go spending more than I have on all those nice toys. Animal Crossing and Taiko no Tatsujin are great DS-games. If they had anything with Ouendan I'd go nuts and take the whole vending machine with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Someotherguyuser Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 That ride involving a car that drives into water....oh Japan....you crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted May 13, 2014 Share Posted May 13, 2014 ^ I want to try that attraction - car/boat into water lake in park. Either Japan or China parks, whichever happens first. And we already did the Italian one, thank you very much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calaway Park Posted May 28, 2014 Share Posted May 28, 2014 I really enjoyed this TR! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbalvey Posted December 23, 2014 Author Share Posted December 23, 2014 And our weird adventure through Japan continues! Today we would visit three smaller parks, all with equally bizarre rides and roller coasters. Take a read through the photos & videos.... Good morning Japan! How I love waking up to your interesting looking landscape... and Domo! How I love waking up to Domo! Just gotta pick up a little bit of reading material for the train ride... Kristen is all ready for her next bullet train! Our first stop of the day would be "Tegarayama Amusement Park" - a park we tried to stop at a few years ago, but all the rides were closed due to weather. So this makes try #2 for us! The park is very strange, if not a bit worn down. On both visits we had here, we saw ZERO other people in the park. The park also gets lots of negative points for having a building that looks like something from LAX! But they have a "Jet Coaster" that travels around the perimeter of the lower section of the park. This would also start a day of "box car roller coaster trains." And like every cute little Japanese amusement park, worn down or brand new, there sits a Ferris Wheel! There are a lot of water park attractions here, none that we ever saw really operating or people around, and you can see in the distance where the coaster passes by. Sad little panda just wants someone to hop on and take him for a ride! Creepy pedophile bear wants something else! Roller coaster nerd shot! There were other flat rides here, but nothing that stood out. Pirate ship, Ferris Wheel, Carousel, spinning buckets. It was like playing level one of Roller Coaster Tycoon. From the top of the upper section you could see the entire park. Here's a view of it... And here's another. Bouncy thingy... Spinning buckets. Best part of the day? I found some awesome Fanta and Pocky flavors!!! Our next stop would be Kobe Fruit and Flower Park. Another smaller park, but not quite as run down looking as the first one. Lots more rides in a compact space. Most of it built on what looked like a paved over parking lot, but it was at least kept up looking. Japanese Box Car Coaster Train #2! Their "Jet Coaster" was seriously screwed up! Had a really bizarre compact layout to it...almost felt like a Wild Mouse. These designs are just nuts though. It's wasn't an "amazing" coaster, but it was "weird", which I guess is the whole point of this trip, right? Look at those cute little box cars on this funky ass weird ride! Good times, though. Strange ride. Didn't hurt. Was only memorable due to how weird the layout was. Everything here was "match up the symbols, get a ticket, go ride!" Yup, there was a kiddie coaster, but thankfully we had a kid with us so we didn't look too creepy riding! Your standard edition pirate ship. Hellloooooooo Kitty! Oh, yeah, the kiddie coaster was called the "Hurry Coaster" which is weird because it didn't really hurry to go anywhere. Our final park of the day was Toy Kingdom. There are a few of these parks in Japan...here is one of them. From the coaster you can see what looks like a kick ass impressive looking shuttle coaster, but it closed quite a few years ago, but for some reason, they kept part of it! The park itself was pretty nice. Had some good themes to it, although, again, it was kind of weird and didn't really stand out as anything too memorable. The Texas Bronco...it sort of rode like a rodeo clown. This ride was... um... "not good." Yay! Another box car roller coaster train!!! The layout was funky and the ride was rough. It did look nice, though! No need to ride this one again! The video makes it look really smooth and fun, It really wasn't. This might have been my favorite coaster for the day just for funny reasons... The "Waku Waku Coaster" was made for kids... And it has a cute little train... But the front of the train was so HUGE and that any kid sitting in the first couple of cars couldn't see ANYTHING! Kristen had a view of two giant heads. How fun! Something you don't see much in America anymore - Cancer vending machines! The park was cute, though. Had a nice selection of rides and it was well kept up. Playing the symbol matching machine to get some food! This panda had a few more kids to come play with him today! There is that thing that tried to murder us! And of course...a Ferris Wheel! Let's take a look at the remains of this shuttle coaster, shall we? They even still have the catch car up there! But if you walk to the other side of the building.... Ooops! Something is missing! Not sure why exactly they would keep it. The ride closed down I think about 15 years ago. Some nice Lego displays at the park. Here's a map so you can get an idea of what the place looked like. It was nice, not totally memorable, but cute nonetheless. Another "weird park" added to the list! My favorite car on the Japanese trains! Our hotel in Osaka totally kicked ass! Every night there was ramen and beer. What could be better? And we'll end this update with Japanese Princess Leia! Riot_[C]_(Real).nlpack Construction Photos from early Feb 2005 In case you get lost wandering through the gardens, just look for one of these signs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 omg What an amazing set of parks you guys visited! And I'm so glad you finally got back to that first one, which most of us (2007 tour) walked entirely thru it's layout to find ANYTHING open, and not closed due to "the rain"...which was drizzle, right? But I loved the coaster that circled the water park. Brilliant! I would love to have a coaster in our park do that - encircle the entire park. Those I believe are very cool coasters, and very rare too. You guys were amazing in handling the situation, and we all felt for you that afternoon. The red coaster after that looks like an elongated mad mouse, ha! Fun and silly, with pain . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GwaziBSRider1 Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 I always love reading your Japan TR's, Robb! The weird parks are always the best! Love those columns at the hotel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meteornotes Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 Love any photos from Japan. And I'm pretty sure if that shuttle coaster was in China, they'd try to run it. dt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gisco Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 I miss Japan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nrthwnd Posted December 24, 2014 Share Posted December 24, 2014 ^ QFT. * *(Remember, the Japanese add totally random things to expressions that aren't connected, or don't make sense.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yay101 Posted December 27, 2014 Share Posted December 27, 2014 I wonder if the Spinning Buckets at Tegarayama Amusement Park are as intense as the Schwarzkopf Calypsos. Just curious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
805Andrew Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 Even though I won't be visiting these specific weird parks, reading this TR is getting me excited about going to Japan in June. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now