Photo TR: Jeremy Rides all the RMC's

[bert425]

fantastic pics, and love all the ones from Japan.

 

is that Mt Fuji I spot in the Fuji Q pics? a fairly rare occurrence from what I understand, and it makes a great pic.

 

 

 

in regards to SFFT tho, I do wish to point out that WW isn't the clone, since it opened 1st, right? Railblazer is a mirror anyways, so not technically a clone

[chickenbowl]

Glad to hear T-Express is still the awesome mix of El Toro and Balder! I hope they continue to take care of it.

 

You have way more patience than I do for some of those wait times though. The only way I'll even tolerate FujiQ is with the express passes for ALL the coasters. Especially if I'm going to get beat up on them in the process!

Yeah, standing in Eejanaika's queue for 3.5 hours is a "never again" type of experience. I would've bought more passes, but Fuji was so late in the under-budgeted trip that it was hard to justify the expense. Even the ticket counters had a 45 min line. I think my visit could've used a bit more prep/planning on my end, it was an achievement to only miss one coaster that day.

 

Love the pics, Jeremy! The only two things I'm sad I missed in Japan are Hakugei and Journey to the Center of the Earth. But I know I will be back soon and will get on both!

Thanks, Taylor. Seeing how much you loved Japan, I'm sure you'll eventually get back for these. It seems TDR always has at least one major attraction down, and I felt lucky to only miss Splash Mountain. Though I was nervous when I saw the entire Volcano covered in scaffolding. The resort was under heavy construction and beautification getting ready for next Summer's Olympics. Sorry you missed out on Journey.

 

My biggest miss was Sea Paradise, which had both Blue Fall and Surf Coaster down for maintenance all day. Also was denied entry to Toshimaen for having tattoos. Even after I covered them they still refused admission.

 

Great report! It seems like the few people who have ridden Hakugai all agree it's running way faster than the initial POVs looked.

 

T-Express is a big bucket list coaster of mine and I'm glad it's still running well.

Thanks! I was surprised and thought my experience was unique, but I too, have seen others share my sentiments. Everland is pretty out there, but it's worth the trouble.

 

fantastic pics, and love all the ones from Japan.

 

is that Mt Fuji I spot in the Fuji Q pics? a fairly rare occurrence from what I understand, and it makes a great pic.

 

in regards to SFFT tho, I do wish to point out that WW isn't the clone, since it opened 1st, right? Railblazer is a mirror anyways, so not technically a clone

Yeah it is! Due to the rain, we weren't expecting to see it, but right at sunset it started peeking out.

 

I'd say Wonder Woman is a clone because RMC designed and sold the ride as a standard design. The fact that two prototype versions were sold at the same time reinforces that. The opening date isn't super relevant when they were clearly developed together.

[SharkTums]

My biggest miss was Sea Paradise, which had both Blue Fall and Surf Coaster down for maintenance all day. Also was denied entry to Toshimaen for having tattoos. Even after I covered them they still refused admission.

 

Those two rides may be down forever. =(

 

Toshimaen has always been the park strictest about Tattoos in the whole country. It's always the park I tell our trip participants that they need to cover up before we get there.

[Canobie Coaster]

^ Did I miss something about Sea Paradise closing?

[AdventuresinAirtime]

Sad to hear you had a bad experience at Fuji-Q. Makes me feel lucky, when I visited in November 2017 the queues were all below 30 mins and Eejanaika was running amazingly, its my #1 and i thought way better than X2.

[PKI Jizzman]

Great report and pictures! It's always fun to read everyone's thoughts/opinions on different RMCs.

[SharkTums]

^ Did I miss something about Sea Paradise closing?

 

The park is still there, but Blue Fall and Surf Coaster are down for various reasons for months and it's been reported that they may not reopen. Word is Surf Coaster had a small crash in the station which injured two people. That's a death sentence for a ride in Japan.

[Canobie Coaster]

^ If that really did happen with Surf Coaster, that makes sense. I really liked that ride.

[CoasterCrazy88]

Our Japan trip was absolutely awesome. Almost everything exceeded my expectations. Both T Express and Hakugei were unreal experiences. I still cannot believe how insanely fast Hakugei is... I was definitely not anticipating a "WTF, this is like Steel Vengeance" kind of ride.

 

Also, FUUUUUUUUUJIYAMAAA FUUUUUUUJIYAAAAMMMAAA FUUUUUUUUUUUUJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIYAMAAAA

[Condor]

Hakugei is one of these coasters that's apparently just as great to photograph as it is to ride. More good analysis of the ride and how it compares to other RMCs!

 

Question, how/where do you obtain fast passes for Fuji-Q? I've tried looking into this but I'm still a little unclear. And Nagashima does not offer one, correct?

 

That's indeed disappointing news about the rides at Hakkeijima Sea Paradise if true. I'm looking for a way to confirm with the park about this ahead of my trip coming up in Oct-Nov but I haven't found any English language contact info for them yet.

[SharkTums]

^The rides are closed until "at least November" according to the website.

 

At FujiQ you can get them at vending machines individually outside the big coasters or all of them are available at a central booth near the mouse and carousel.

 

Nagashima offers a skip line pass on Steel Dragon and Hakugei (maybe the Manta clone too!?) when the line is over 30min. We've never seen that so don't know how/where they actually sell them.

Edited September 19, 2019 by SharkTums

[Taylor Finn]

I enjoyed Sea Paradise for what it was. Sad to have missed the Water Chute ride (especially since it seems to be gonezo). I can't say it is a park I would return to, especially if the two main rides are closed, but Surf Coaster was quirky and fun for what it was!

[Garet]

The mythical Aquatrax... Actually quite punchy and and super fun. The theming was so incredible and had some very tight clearances. Lotte was a beautiful park with a amazing collection of rides. I can't wait to return someday

 

Sadly just a Trax now, they stopped turning on the jets maybe over 8 years ago and then actually ripped them all off the track a few years back but it's still super-fun and the water didn't really do much apart from giving the ride a unique look.

[chickenbowl]

Hakugei is one of these coasters that's apparently just as great to photograph as it is to ride. More good analysis of the ride and how it compares to other RMCs!

 

Question, how/where do you obtain fast passes for Fuji-Q? I've tried looking into this but I'm still a little unclear. And Nagashima does not offer one, correct?

 

That's indeed disappointing news about the rides at Hakkeijima Sea Paradise if true. I'm looking for a way to confirm with the park about this ahead of my trip coming up in Oct-Nov but I haven't found any English language contact info for them yet.

 

Elissa basically got it: Fuji-Q has vending machines in front of every queue entrance where you can choose a time slot (they cost 25,000 yen each the day I visited).

 

Nagashima is pretty similar, vending machines that sell passes, but they weren't time reserved (they cost 5,000-10,000 yen the day I visited). They had them for SD2000, Hakugei, and Acrobat.

 

Our Japan trip was absolutely awesome. Almost everything exceeded my expectations. Both T Express and Hakugei were unreal experiences. I still cannot believe how insanely fast Hakugei is... I was definitely not anticipating a "WTF, this is like Steel Vengeance" kind of ride.

 

Also, FUUUUUUUUUJIYAMAAA FUUUUUUUJIYAAAAMMMAAA FUUUUUUUUUUUUJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIYAMAAAA

 

The songs in every Fuji-queue were hilarious. I just remembered how painfully slow the Eejanaika loading system was. All shoes muse come off, 3 different seatbelts, making everyone pray for their lives basically.

[Garet]

Hakugei is one of these coasters that's apparently just as great to photograph as it is to ride. More good analysis of the ride and how it compares to other RMCs!

 

Question, how/where do you obtain fast passes for Fuji-Q? I've tried looking into this but I'm still a little unclear. And Nagashima does not offer one, correct?

 

That's indeed disappointing news about the rides at Hakkeijima Sea Paradise if true. I'm looking for a way to confirm with the park about this ahead of my trip coming up in Oct-Nov but I haven't found any English language contact info for them yet.

 

Elissa basically got it: Fuji-Q has vending machines in front of every queue entrance where you can choose a time slot (they cost 25,000 yen each the day I visited).

 

Nagashima is pretty similar, vending machines that sell passes, but they weren't time reserved (they cost 5,000-10,000 yen the day I visited). They had them for SD2000, Hakugei, and Acrobat.

 

Our Japan trip was absolutely awesome. Almost everything exceeded my expectations. Both T Express and Hakugei were unreal experiences. I still cannot believe how insanely fast Hakugei is... I was definitely not anticipating a "WTF, this is like Steel Vengeance" kind of ride.

 

Also, FUUUUUUUUUJIYAMAAA FUUUUUUUJIYAAAAMMMAAA FUUUUUUUUUUUUJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIYAMAAAA

 

The songs in every Fuji-queue were hilarious. I just remembered how painfully slow the Eejanaika loading system was. All shoes muse come off, 3 different seatbelts, making everyone pray for their lives basically.

 

25,000 yen per single fast-pass? That doesn't seem right even for Japan's expensive passes. That's the same as buying a Universal Express 7 for Sunday.

[SharkTums]

^I'm assuming he just added an extra zero by accident.

 

$25 though is more than we've ever paid for a skip the line pass at FujiQ, I wonder if it's dynamic pricing or just that high now!

[chickenbowl]

Haha, yeah whoops. $2,500 for Fuji and $500-$1,000 for Nagashima. Sorry, my conversion brain messed up a bit.

 

I spent ~$50 USD to skip 6 hours of lines at Fuji, so in that perspective it's worth it.

[prozach626]

Awesome thread. Thanks for sharing.

[Garet]

^ Did I miss something about Sea Paradise closing?

 

The park is still there, but Blue Fall and Surf Coaster are down for various reasons for months and it's been reported that they may not reopen. Word is Surf Coaster had a small crash in the station which injured two people. That's a death sentence for a ride in Japan.

 

Apparently they also got some negative press since they recently got a pair of Red Pandas and one of them already died. I think they've had animal rights and press problems for a while since they also removed the dolphins from the pedalo area.

[SharkTums]

^ Did I miss something about Sea Paradise closing?

 

The park is still there, but Blue Fall and Surf Coaster are down for various reasons for months and it's been reported that they may not reopen. Word is Surf Coaster had a small crash in the station which injured two people. That's a death sentence for a ride in Japan.

 

Apparently they also got some negative press since they recently got a pair of Red Pandas and one of them already died. I think they've had animal rights and press problems for a while since they also removed the dolphins from the pedalo area.

 

It seems like such a weird gray area in Japan about animal rights. On one hand, they have super small animal enclosures in most zoos, hunt/capture whales and dolphins, and seem to LOVE visiting said aquariums and zoos, but then parks like Space World and Sea Paradise get skewered in the Japanese media about animal issues!??! I'm sure it's a cultural thing that I don't understand but it does seem a bit odd.

[Garet]

The park is still there, but Blue Fall and Surf Coaster are down for various reasons for months and it's been reported that they may not reopen. Word is Surf Coaster had a small crash in the station which injured two people. That's a death sentence for a ride in Japan.

 

Apparently, Surf Coaster actually finally reopened before Corona hit which is pretty rare for a ride that had an accident in Japan. Sadly Blue Fall seemed to get the death sentence instead. Surf Coaster was fun as far as Togo's go but I know which one I'd rather have seen survive.

[Canobie Coaster]

^ Glad to hear Surf Coaster was able to reopen before all this went down. I'm probably in the minority that preferred Surf Coaster.

[Garet]

^ My last ride was before it got the overhaul and new lap bar only trains. Heard from some friends it made ride nicer but not sure if it would have swayed my opinion.