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Tips for Japanese Parks


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Hello coaster fans! I've been viewing TPR for a few months now and I decided to join today because I'm hoping I can get advice on an upcoming trip.

 

My fiance and I are getting married in late August and we are going to Japan for our honeymoon in early September. We are both coaster enthusiasts (I work in the industry) and while the whole trip won't be roller coasters, there are the parks we are planning on visiting:

 

- Fuji Q Highland

- Hanayashiki

- Hirakata Park

- Nagashima Spa Land

- Tobu Zoo

 

I realize that we will be missing out on Tokyo Disneysea but our itinerary is already pretty booked and we wanted to visit the notable coasters in Japan first. We definitely will be planning a second trip there in the future.

 

Could anyone give any tips for visiting these parks (recommended train routes, ride order, notable flat rides, favorite eating areas, etc.). Specifically I'm looking for information on the past way to get to Fuji Q. I have set up for us to get rail passes but I'm wondering if taking a bus would be cheaper. I don't have a clue how to reserve a bus seat in japan either.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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With a lot of help from Robb and Elissa I made this post a while back and some of your parks are on it including Fuji:

 

http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1142982#p1142982

 

If you book your trip for the bus for Fuji you can get a deal at the bus station when you pay that includes entrance that's a bit cheaper, they've updated the english website

since I last went so it seems a lot easier to find the bus deal and booking than before so you might not even need my links.

 

Honestly with Fuji the best thing you can do is whatever you want to do the most get in line for ASAP and then hightail it to the fastpass ticket counter after that, also keeping an eye on weather forecasts to try and get the clearest days with as little wind as possible is a must.

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That's a very odd park list. Also, I would recommend using the forum search for FujiQ information as there is a TON on the site with how to get there, tickets to buy, etc.

 

If I can ask, how is this an odd park list? Am I missing a park with a notable coaster?

 

With a lot of help from Robb and Elissa I made this post a while back and some of your parks are on it including Fuji:

 

http://themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1142982#p1142982

 

If you book your trip for the bus for Fuji you can get a deal at the bus station when you pay that includes entrance that's a bit cheaper, they've updated the english website

since I last went so it seems a lot easier to find the bus deal and booking than before so you might not even need my links.

 

Honestly with Fuji the best thing you can do is whatever you want to do the most get in line for ASAP and then hightail it to the fastpass ticket counter after that, also keeping an eye on weather forecasts to try and get the clearest days with as little wind as possible is a must.

 

Thanks! This bus information is just what I am looking for. I'm really looking to get credits on the 4 big coasters in Fuji Q and whatever else I get is a bonus.

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Hirakata seems the oddball on the list. Nothing really notable there and it's a ways south of the other parks. From reviews only, it seems both USJ and Parque Espana would be more worthy choices. Or Nasu highland to the north of Tokyo for credits.

 

Exactly.

 

Also, I can see putting Hanayashiki on your list if you're interested in history, but there are other, bigger parks in Tokyo.

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I'm assuming they are putting Hirakata on the list because it has a junior woodie and it's only notable because it's made out of wood. I have to say though, I don't quite "get" someone that goes to a place like Japan and purposely misses out on Tokyo Disney. Tokyo Disney is by FAR the most notable park in Japan (if not the world), and everything else, no matter how great it might be in quality or significance, is secondary.

 

I understand people have their reasons, but I just don't quite "get" it.

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I'm a fan of wood coasters so we wanted to get to those parks which have a wood coaster first.

 

If we had an extra day in Tokyo I would add DisneySea to the itinerary but I had other things planned that my fiance is interested in (Ghibli Museum, Himeji Castle, Mount Koya, shopping, etc.). I would love to go to a Disney park but don't know how I can fit it in.

 

I guess this would go under the category "first world problems"

 

To give you an idea, here's our itinerary:

 

Day 1:

- Arrive in Tokyo

- Sightseeing & Shopping in Shibuya District

 

Day 2:

- Tobu Zoo Park

- Hanayashiki Amusement Park

- Sightseeing & Shopping in Asakusa District

- Tokyo Skytree

 

Day 3:

- Tokyo Imperial Palace

- Studio Ghibli Museum

- Shopping in Akihabara

- Visit Godzilla Statue in Ginza district (I'm a kaiji movie fan)

 

Day 4:

- Fuji Q

 

Day 5:

- Sightseeing in Kamakura (Temples & Buddha Statue)

- Ramen Museum in Yokohama

 

Day 6:

- Sightseeing in Enoshima (Shrines, Beach Day, Love Bell, Caves)

 

Day 7:

- Sightseeing and stay at Mt Koya

 

Day 8:

- Visit Tama the cat at Kishi Station (my fiance's a cat lover)

- Visit Wakayama Castle

 

Day 9:

- Sightseeing in Kyoto

 

Day 10:

- Sightseeing in Kyoto

 

Day 11:

- Nagashima Spa Land

 

Day 12:

- Himeji Castle

- Hirakata Park

 

Day 13:

- Return to Tokyo & Fly Home

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Id recommend booking a bus + ticket combo from FujiQ site before you go and its easy to find the buses outside the station as the Shuttle buses are covered in Fuji Q Adverts.

 

One odd thing to note (I have no idea if it will apply here) is that if you are planning to visit the water park sections of any of the parks the Japanese are extremely sensitive to Tattoos. If you have any visible tattoos you may be barred entry to a water park. It's not true of all water parks but some (Tokyo Summerland for example) have banned them

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^ I would say the buses weren't as easy as you'd expect them to be to find, unless the stickers are new last time I went they were pretty plain buses and a little bit away from a main street lined with buses going places which had me convinced that was where to go for my bus and ticket. It's better to look for the ticket office than the bus 1st since if you find the ticket office the buses will be one of the closest to it.

 

Try to make sure your schedule is flexible and you can easily switch days around, the weather can be so unpredictable that on my visits I generally make a base camp in areas I want to visit and keep my schedule flexible with rainy day alternatives. On a 9 day trip I made early spring I encountered 1 day of snow and 3 days of heavy rain so I had to constantly change my plans as I went and make horrible sacrifices or make up on other days. I ended up losing out on my park hopper day at Disney and couldn't fit in Parque Espana or Nagashimi Spa Land due to rain out and my indoor option of Joyopolis was down for rehab. Universal/Osaka in general was another good one for the rainy days with lots of indoor rides or around the town the tower, neon lights and aquarium.

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Hi everyone,

 

I am going to Tokyo later in the year and I'm pretty tall and a fairly big guy and I'm wondering if the seats on the rides at Fuji-Q are more US sized or asian sized. When I am in the US I can easily fit on the rides (i'm 6"5' AND 260lbs) but when I was in china I couldn't fit on the rollercoasters.

 

Has anyone been to Fuji-Q and can comment on the size of the seats? I don't want to travel the 100 mins or so from Tokyo only to find out that I can't go on any of the rides.

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