Photo TR: Nagashima Spaland

[MayTheGForceBeWithYou]

With Japan largely handling its COVID scenario better than some other countries, I was able to finally check Nagashima Spaland off my to-do list after having been on for quite some time. With my trip landing in the middle of what would ordinarily be one of Japan's busiest travel seasons, I was expecting some fairly decent crowds, but I was surprised to see just how much COVID was doing to the parks. With the crowds being extremely manageable, I was also curious to see how the park was handling operations in light of everything.  Outside the sanitation procedures, rides with smaller trains had distancing enforced through cut capacity (Hakugei being the worst affected). Thankfully, most of the other major rides had enough distancing built in to operate almost normally (Steel Dragon, Arashi, Acrobat), which offset some of the capacity issues. Overall enjoyed the park and thought it had a solid lineup (especially with Hakugei on it now).

Onto the photos:

The gateway to happiness.

Fairly average queues for the day (though the half capacity one train ops made for longer waits). Longest actual wait time was about 30 minutes.

Masks are mandatory for Hakugei and Steel Dragon per newly posted policy. And yes, they survive both just fine.

Easily the most photogenic of the RMCs. Probably best to let the photos do most of the talking.

There's just no angle that doesn't look good. Fantastic ride with a ton of airtime and awesome elements (this "actually zero G" zero G roll being my favorite), and my new #4. A+

With the last time on a first gen being almost 15 years ago, it was nice to get to ride one again (and the kerchunk wasn't even bad). A

Heading to Arashi.

With the only similar ride in my count being Green Lantern and knowing how annoyed people have gotten with the 4D Free Spins popping up everywhere, I really didn't expect much out of it. Thankfully, it went against my expectations in all the right ways and ended up being my second favorite behind Hakugei.

I don't know why S&S decided to make this particular one able to get every ride spinning almost nonstop, but they need to keep doing it. A+

Steel Dragon 2000 (Nisen), the other big and bold headliner.

Pretty solid, long (obviously), with some good speed and nice floater moments. Basically a super giant old school hyper. A-

I was also excited to try out an Ultra Twister for the first time.

Rough around the edges (Togo, what else?), but still a quirky and enjoyable ride. Sadly, I had also been planning to go to Rusutsu to try the dive loop variant, but my trip plans fell through. But for this one, B.

Heading to Acrobat, the Manta clone.

"It looks like Manta, but due to international copyright law, it's not."

I Can't Believe It's Not Manta!™

Ran fairly rattly, but it's the Manta layout, so it's still good stuff. B+

And some classic Schwarzkopf goodness to round things out. A-

Can't go wrong with the Shuttle Loop. A-

Not sure if this actually does anything to help pandemic stuff, but still nice to walk out to.

[coneyislandchris]

Awesome TR and nice photos!

[Taylor Finn]

Love to see some Nagashima. I really enjoyed our day here. I know there were folks that preferred Fuji Q, but I think Nagashima has a more well-rounded complete lineup. I'm glad everything was open here for me except the Jet Coaster. Thought this park had a nice selection of flats and transport type rides. Plus the bobkarts were a blast!

[SharkTums]

"I can't believe it's not Manta"!!! HAHAHAHA!!! Love it! Great TR!

[robbalvey]

Great report!  I've shared this on our other social media platforms as well!

[VegasCoaster]

6 hours ago, MayTheGForceBeWithYou said:

I Can't Believe It's Not Manta!™

Hilarious.

Thanks for the TR and the sexy sexy photos of Hakugei.

[cfc]

Thanks for the report! I like Nagashima Spaland quite a bit, and Hakugei looks great.

[Hilltopper39]

Great report, this place looks fantastic now. Japan is still high on my bucket list and while Fuji-Q used to be high on my "must visit Japanese parks list" (behind Tokyo Disney of course), I think Nagashima Spaland might have taken it's spot.

[Nrthwnd]

^ Why not both parks? (Money money money.... ) 

[bert425]

agreed with everyone else!  this is a great report, thanks so much for sharing.

 

 

On 10/16/2020 at 7:23 AM, Hilltopper39 said:

Great report, this place looks fantastic now. Japan is still high on my bucket list and while Fuji-Q used to be high on my "must visit Japanese parks list" (behind Tokyo Disney of course), I think Nagashima Spaland might have taken it's spot.

 

Nagashima Spaland is a "greatest hits" park - with some amazing coasters (and flats), including the best free-spin I've ever been on (Arashi) and a super intense Manta clone (Acrobat), as well as classics (1st Gen Intamin drop, an Ultra Twister, TWO Schwarzkopfs), a killer haunted house walk thru (so great I went thru twice) and a fantastic dark shooter, that is up there with ToyStoryMania in terms of how great it is.
That's without Steel Dragon 2K, or Hakeugei.

so yes, ABSOLUTELY worth a visit.

but so is Fuji-Q - which if you manage to get lucky with a good day of light-ish crowds and great weather?  also has some absolutely incredible coasters.

 

I'd also toss YomiuriLand on that list. . as I adored that park (tho recall, I'm a big fan of flats as well as  Coasters), and this park included THE most fun river raft ride I've ever been on (Cup Noodles), AND the most fun Raft Slide I've ever been on:

So I'd include that in a visit to Japan too (along with Tokyo Disney)

[oriolat]

Great trip report! Some of your captions were hilarious as well!

It's so weird to see Nagashima as empty but I had a similar experience as yours when I went in 2018. It was mid-summer and the only place where I had to really join an actual line was for their Mine train and Steel Dragon. I am glad that you had the chance to ride Hakugei, as it was under construction when I was there. It looks so majestic with the massive white structure combined with blue rails.

I must agree that Arashi is completely nuts. I had ridden Joker at SFGAdv but boy does the Japanese clone ride differently! It span so many times I left the ride shaking. It was really intense and quite fitting for the ride's name (Arashi means 'storm' in Japanese). 

One of the funniest memories was doing the horror walk-through with a Japanese bunch of school girls. They were screaming their heads off and sort of hiding behind me (as if I was a sort of human shield "Let the Western boy die" ) while I was just casually strolling through the maze. 

[Superbatboy]

Great pics!!