Fuji-Q Highlands Discussion Thread

[Canobie Coaster]

That's awesome the park has added some single rider lines! It'll be interesting to see about how long they take since all reports list their dispatches as painfully slow.

[MayTheGForceBeWithYou]

^I'm curious to see how well they can implement it, and if it actually helps alleviate some of the longer wait times. I'm also hoping if the system works out well on those two, they'll consider implementing it on some of their other rides that could use it (Dodonpa or Eejanaika, perhaps).

[Nrthwnd]

^^^ White Day?

 

EDIT: Found it...

 

Valentine's Day on February 14 celebrates love and affection between intimate companions. White Day (ホワイトデー, Howaito dē, a Japanese wasei-eigo) is a holiday celebrated on March 14, one month after Valentine's Day. In Japan this day is widely celebrated, much like Valentine's Day. It is also observed in South Korea and Taiwan.

 

In the countries where White Day is celebrated, the difference between Valentine's Day and White Day is about who gives the gifts. In these cultures, women present chocolates to men as gifts on Valentine's Day. One month later, men are supposed to return the favor by buying two to three times more expensive gifts for the women on White Day.

[lond]

Visited Fuji-Q Highlands for a month ago to ride Do-Dodonpa, because it was down the last time I visited the park (January 2017)

Do-Dodonpa was running when I arrived to the park by train, but empty.. Headed strait to Do-Dodonpa after entering the park, but the staff told us that it was to cold

to let rider on Do-Dodonpa and they didn't know when the ride will open... After that the sun made its magic and raised the temperature just below 0 degrees celsius, we was allowed to ride Do-Dodonpa

Did some quick re-rides on Do-Dodonpa and the rest of the open attractions, before declaring it to cold and left the park.

On my way to the bus, i exited Fuji-Q at the other end of the park (instead of the train station) and found a little piece of Paris.

 

/// Marcus

 

Ice skating rink

 

Wormhole to Paris

 

View from the bus

 

As you can see of my data that the new loop of Do-Dodonpa is smooth but the rest of the track is quite rough and the brakes in to the loop doesn't add to the ride experience But the 4G launch definitely does

[awclark]

Hey all! So even though it's been over a year since anyones posted in this topic, I still did some digging around first to see whether my questions had already been answered and I didn't find much, so here it goes...

 

My best friend and I are doing a 2 week Japan trip for the first time next month and have been able to fit stops into our itinerary to Tokyo Disney and Fuji-Q (No pitstop at Nagashima unfortunately because it's a bit out of our way for our already packed out schedule).

 

We have managed to book a room at the Highland Resort next door and will be going to the park the following day on Friday May 24th. For the many many years Ive been aware of the park, I've heard basically nothing short of horror stories so I was mainly looking for advice/tips to make our visit as efficient and enjoyable as possible as I'm basically going in completely blind.

 

I've had a bit of a hard time navigating the Fuji-Q website for information, but I've seen you can purchase a "Zekkyo priority ticket" 3 days in advance of your visit, but I've also seen that you can purchase fast pass type tickets at a specific booth in the park? Is there a difference in these tickets? If it sells out online, does that mean it won't be sold in the park? I've tried navigating these priority tickets online but it links me to a Japanese Yahoo website with no language selector and copying and pasting everything in google translator hasn't been of much help so I'm a bit lost at this point lol ...

 

All I seem to know so far is that our stay at the Highland Resort includes early entry to the park as well as possible discounted tickets. So I guess with all that said above, what's the best plan of attack? I assume my friend and I can just buy our tickets to the park when we arrive at the hotel? But after that, is the best plan to just get in early entry and go straight to the fast pass booth? Where is this booth? Should I expect many of their rides to be randomly closed for the crazy reasons I've seen like a slight breeze or cloudy weather?

 

Apologies if this post seems to ramble or is a bit long, but any tips, advice, and/or information would be of a huge help!!! Thanks!!!

[SharkTums]

^Assuming you're going in May, this link will be very helpful for you: http://www.fujiq.jp/schedule/highland/201905/index.html

 

When they update it (it's not currently populated with which rides will be closed), there will be red writing under most of those dates that will explain what rides will be closed that day. Yes it's in Japanese, but you should be able to Google Translate or look elsewhere on the site and figure it out. Also from that link is another page you should click on called "Fuji Q Today". That's the one you'll use when you're there to show what rides are operating and which ones are not. It also says why they're not operating (weather, maintenance, etc.)

 

I haven't found the hotel to be much help with anything. The 'early entry' doesn't get you ahead of too many people and no rides are usually open for it.

 

We have a contact we go through for tickets and their 'fastpass' type tickets so I can't help you too much there, but the booth used to be near the Carousel and the Mad Mouse Coaster.

 

My advice for people visiting is to always RUN to whichever coaster is MOST important to you and make the best of your day you can!

[awclark]

^Ooo yay!! Perfect! That link will be super helpful for our visit! Will definitely keep an eye on it for our visit next month! Thank you!

 

After some more internet sleuthing around, I was just able to locate a recent park map translated to English and it does show that a "Zekkyo Priority Ticket booth" is next to the Carousel so I'm sure that's it. I'll probably find myself sprinting there upon early entry to queue up for those tickets and just hope they will still be available for any of the "big 4". Hoping for a smooth experience, but if anything is closed or we can't get on everything, that's fine. I'm mainly just excited to go to Japan for the first time

[Nrthwnd]

And "just because"....

 

Happy 50th, Fuji-Q!

Apparently the actual date to celebrate, was March 27th. No matter. They're doing stuff all this year. (o;

Just realized! When I first visited the park in 1972, it was only three years old!

[Satans Hockey]

After some more internet sleuthing around, I was just able to locate a recent park map translated to English and it does show that a "Zekkyo Priority Ticket booth" is next to the Carousel so I'm sure that's it. I'll probably find myself sprinting there upon early entry to queue up for those tickets and just hope they will still be available for any of the "big 4".

 

I can confirm the fast pass ticket booth is right next to the carousel. You can buy tickets there for all the rides in one shot or there are ticket machines at each of the big 4 rides as well. You really can't miss it since it's basically a straight walk from that main entrance. The workers at the booth didn't speak English but I didn't have any trouble purchasing tickets from them since I had written down the names of the rides and the times and that made the transaction way smoother for the both of us so I would highly recommend doing that as well.

 

3 of the big 4 rides are pretty close to each other so if the line at the booth is really long you can definitely go to the individual ride machines instead for the passes. I choose to do the booth because the line was really short.

 

I had read about the park's reputation as well but I really enjoyed the park. Operations definitely could have been faster but it was still way better than what I was expecting.

 

They also have English maps when you get there too. They were either near the main ticket booth or right after the main entrance. That part I don't really remember.

 

Also one of the restaurants in there, I forgot the name but it has like 4/5 different style of foods in there with a big 2 floor seating area has self ordering machines that has English on it as well. You just order whatever you want on it, pay and wait for your number to show up and show them the ticket.

 

I can't comment on the hotel or purchasing ticket experience because I did a bus/combo travel package. Public transportation is easy in Japan but for the combo price I thought it was worth it. All we had to do was hop on the bus in the morning and at night to come back from right outside Tokyo Station. They gave us the tickets to redeem at the park on the bus as well and just had to go redeem that at the ticket booth.

 

This is the one I did... https://www.hisgo.com/us/sp/Contents/OptionalTour/DetailOptionalTour.aspx?TourCd=TYO1177&lang=en

 

I also watched a morning sumo practice that I purchased from hisgo as well and both that and the bus trip were great and worth the money to me.

 

I recommend reading through the official TPR trip reports. I had told Robb this over in that thread as well but the Japan trip reports really helped me with my plans quite a bit. It was nice being able to feel like I was going in with some knowledge of what I was doing.

[SharkTums]

Also one of the restaurants in there, I forgot the name but it has like 4/5 different style of foods in there with a big 2 floor seating area has self ordering machines that has English on it as well. You just order whatever you want on it, pay and wait for your number to show up and show them the ticket.

 

I recommend reading through the official TPR trip reports. I had told Robb this over in that thread as well but the Japan trip reports really helped me with my plans quite a bit. It was nice being able to feel like I was going in with some knowledge of what I was doing.

 

It used to be called Food Stadium and was blah, but we also ate there this past summer and it was MUCH improved! They had crazy fuji shaped curry rice dishes and more.

 

There's also a random Auntie Anne's which is hilarious and delicious if you're ready for a break in Japanese food.

 

Thanks for the kind words about the TR's. We really want as many people as possible to go see how awesome Japan is!

[Canobie Coaster]

^ It was still called food stadium last year. I liked the steak bowl I got at the western themed restaurant too.

[Ccron10]

When I went last September I visited the park twice on the same trip. The first time I bought a ticket for the bus in Shinjuku and bought a free pass once I got to the park. The weather was overcast with rain to form later in the day so crowds weren't a tremendous as my first visit.

Once inside I literally booked it to Fujiyama, Takabisha and Do-Dodonpa and bought a crapload of Zekkyo Priority Tickets from the ticket machine in front of the rides. I accidentally bought too many for the same time slot and nearly missed my last one in the first hour! Because of this, I wouldn't purchase no more than two for the same hour. As far as payment goes, the ticket machines accept Pasmo/Suica and cash as payment. While there is an option to purchase these in advance on the park's website, you must have an email address based in Japan in order to purchase them.

 

The park can be very miserable in the rain, even with the walkthroughs and rain-proof attractions. Light mist to a light drizzle shuts down Fujiyama and Do-Dodonpa. Eejanaika and Takabisha seemed to have been the most resilient to the rain, but that's not saying much as it doesn't take much to shut them down though.

 

As much as I always wanted to stay on-property at their hotel, the risk that the weather would be too bad on the day I would plan to visit the park kind of prevented me from wanting to do it. I'm still tempted to do it just to see what their resort is like though. Worst case is there is the Mt. Fuji Museum next-door and Lake Kawaguchi.

Here's an example of the new ride ticketing machines they've added last year. You can buy a simple ride ticket, Zekkyo Priority Ticket for a certain time slot, or combo ticket of both. During both of my visits last year, it was rare that a time slot was sold out of if there was a line in front of me while in the Zekkyo line.

Yeah, if the weather forecast calls for this, it might not be worth the visit. They are adding a Boruto-Naruto shooting dark ride this year (similar to Toy Story Mania), so at least they're trying. lol

The French Cafe in Lisa & Gaspard Land had to be my favorite place to eat at the park. Ham & Cheese baguette sandwich, bowl of tomato soup, and Fanta Melon soda....makes me hungry thinking about it now! On a side note exploring this area and looking at the details could take up an hour.

[qwimjim]

How do fastpasses work? Are they timed ie you have to pick a time slot for each ride? If someone wanted to ride Dododonpa 3x in a row as early as possible (don't have a full day), would it be possible? What would you need to do to make sure you got them?

[SharkTums]

^They are timed in one hour increments (if it's still the same). Riding 3X in a row will take you almost an hour on all of their rides even with the fast pass ticket. You will have to exit each time and go back around with your next ticket.

 

If you read the post directly above yours, he pretty much answers all of your questions.

[qwimjim]

^They are timed in one hour increments (if it's still the same). Riding 3X in a row will take you almost an hour on all of their rides even with the fast pass ticket. You will have to exit each time and go back around with your next ticket.

 

If you read the post directly above yours, he pretty much answers all of your questions.

 

How hard is it to secure these fastpasses for Do-dodonpa, especially if I want 3, and want them all in the earliest two hour window possible. Do I have to queue before the park opens? Sprint to somewhere in particular when it opens?

[SharkTums]

^It depends on the crowds and the weather. Get there BEFORE opening, run right to Dodonpa, find the ticket machine and buy the passes.

[Nrthwnd]

^^ Personally, queuing early is best, especially for Fuji-Q as much as Disney, in fact. Going to where they sell the Fastpasses, I believe Elissa has explained it in an earlier post here, somewhere.

 

EDIT: Oh look (above), she already answered you, lol!

[Garet]

If it is just Dodonpa and early time slots then the ticket machine is probably your best bet over the main fast pass area near the carousel, since it can open later and there will be a wait as people choose their passes and times etc.

[awclark]

So I'm back in the states from my 2 week Japan travels, and tbh, I really wish I wasn't because Japan really was just that AMAZING!!

 

But on to the main topic of Fuji-Q, I visited the park just this past Friday, May 24th and had an absolutely FABULOUS visit!!! I won't do a full play by play of our visit, but I'll try to keep it to just the main points...

 

We stayed at the Highland Resort right next to the park for just a single night stay. They're in the midst of a full renovation/expansion, but we stayed in 1 of their freshly renovated rooms on one of the top floors offering a stunning view over the entire park below. The room itself was extremely nice. Fancy Bvlgari branded shampoos/soaps and all if you're into those sort of boujee details. Ate at 1 of the new restaurants which was also great. Bell hops will carry your luggage to your room and go through a full rundown of all the features of the room and resort in as best English as they can. Our stay also included vouchers to the Onsen next door. As a hotel guest, you do get early access to the park in the morning by 15 mins. While that may seem short, those few minutes can be crucial to obtaining the priority fast passes should it be a busy day. Overall would recommend staying here for sure. If you're not staying at the hotel though, it's super easy to get to the park from Tokyo by bus from the Shinjuku station. I would recommend that over taking the trains for sure. Trains you have to transfer a couple times and it takes about 2.5/3 hours. Bus is about the same price and gets you there quicker with obviously no transfers.

 

Moving on however, the weather was CRYSTAL CLEAR for the day of our visit to the park. We purchased our tickets to the park at the front desk the morning of and they directed us downstairs to the private entry into the park from the hotel. Everything uses a facial recognition system for the park. They take a photo of your face upon initial entry into the park and then every ride has the same system once you enter ride stations. To my friend and I, we thought it was pretty cool and it was super quick and efficient, some conspiracy theorists heads may explode over it though. Whatever, we didn't care.

 

Entry from the hotel lead us through a garden into the new Parisian style area up to the main park entry gate where there was a separate entrance for hotel guests, Once they let us in for the early entry, I personally opted to just make a beeline to the main Priority fast pass ticket booth next to the carousel as I thought that would be more efficient to just buy all my fast pass tickets for all rides at the same time versus running ride to to ride to the designated automated machines outside each entrance. This specific fast pass booth didn't open until 5 mins before park opening, but I was first in line so I had no issue getting the tickets I wanted. A lady came out and marked down how many tickets I requested for which rides and for which hour I wanted. Like it's been stated, you can only choose 1 ride for each hour time slot, but you can get multiple tickets for that certain ride. I opted for 2 tickets each for Eejanika and Do-dodonpa and 1 ticket each for Fujiyama and Takabisha. Earliest time slot you can choose however is 1 hour after the park opens, so for us, the park opened at 9am so the first time slot we could choose was 10a, then 11a, and so on. Whole process was finished and paid for by the time the park opened so we were basically set for the day after that.

 

The fast passes are ABSOLUTELY worth the price. They get you pretty much immediate access to the station with no more than a couple train wait I would say. However, I do recommend purchasing no more than 3 tickets for each hour time slot, maybe even no more than 2. If your time slot is over and you still have a ticket left, you're basically SOL as no refunds or exchanges are offered. The line for the fast pass booth was longer later in the day, probably because guests wanted to make sure they got on the major rides before the park closed at 5pm.

 

You don't get to choose your row on all the major coasters, and if you're using fast passes, they will assign you to anything but the first row. I didn't mind though. LOVED the locker system they utilize where they're all free and the key is just on an elastic wristlet that you wear during your ride.

 

Overall operations were actually pretty decent... at least way better than what I had expected from years of reading about how they were horrible. Eejainaka was going super quick, at least in terms of a 4D coaster, and IMO was actually going quicker than I've noticed X2 operations at times. Was running both trains. ABSOLUTELY BONKERS coaster though!!! Blew X2 WAYYYYY out of the water. Glass smooth for me on both inside and outside seats which I thought was shocking! Just blew me away all together

 

Dodonpa's launch was absurdly ridiculous and really does live up to its title of having the worlds most powerful launch. Rest of the ride was just sorta meh to me though. Nothing crazy, a few jerky moments, but still unique and fun nonetheless.

 

Fujiyama was the surprise hit for me and I wish I bought more fast pass tickets for it. The ride attendant assigned us to the back row and my friend and I LOVED every second of the ride. GREAT airtime down every drop and hill, was mostly pretty smooth except for a couple jerky-jerky moments, but nothing painful whatsoever. The funky curvy finale had us laughing the entire way . We came off LOVING it, which yes, I know, shocking from a Togo.

 

Takabisha was our last coaster. Unique coaster for sure. Definitely had the slowest operations of the day, but was a super smooth coaster for us, quite forceful, loved the launch, but I've never really found Eurofighters to really get me going. Just my opinion though. Nothing bad to say, but nothing that made me go "OMG WOAH!" either.

 

Overall, again, it was a fabulous visit for us to Fuji-Q! Definitely didn't experience ANY of the horror stories I've heard and read about over the last decade of knowing about this place, but maybe that's because we lucked out with crystal clear weather and went into the park with a clear plan of attack, or they're trying to turn things around since they're in the midst of celebrating their 50th anniversary of the park... who knows. For us though, things were *mostly* pretty efficient, the park vibe and atmosphere was super friendly, the ride ops were all happy and energetic (and were wearing super cute 50th anniversary birthday cake hats too), food was good, and yea... not many, or really any "bad" things we could say about our visit at all

[Nrthwnd]

^ That's great how your hotel stay and visit to Fuji went! I must admit, although my second* visit there was anything but great (2007, the 3+ hour wait for Eejainaka was IMhO the most memorable part of that visit), the following two visits (2011 and 2013) were awesome, thanks to Elissa and Robb's getting the group FastPass tickets, the weather being nice, and it actually wasn't too crowded...from what I remember of those two visits.

 

Did you have a meal there, inside the park itself?

I am curious how that went, if you did.

Thanks for sharing all your visit!

 

*EDIT: I totally forgot I visited Fuji back in....1972! Operations then, were just as slow as they were in 2007, lol.

Edited May 30, 2019 by Nrthwnd

[SharkTums]

^^I'm glad you had a great visit. The park is slowly improving for sure. They didn't used to offer any sort of skip the line ticket so obviously that helps the most! Food and operations are also improving. You also got VERY lucky with good weather as that could have instantly ruined your day.

[Garet]

I wrote this years ago after my first trip but I feel like the fact that you read and hear so many horror stories and have such low expectations when you go there, that when you even have an ok-ish day or get all the rides you want really makes you happier than you would be at other parks.

 

Over-hype is a dangerous thing and I've walked away from movies or rides not as thrilled as I would have been going in blind (which is my own fault, I know) because it wasn't 'the rapids ride to end all rapids' etc but Fuji almost seems to benefit from the opposite.

[KarlaKoaster]

Glad you had a great time. Your post is super-useful, thanks for all the detail about entry, the priority pass etc, it's really helping me plan for my trip there - as are many other posts in this thread.

[cfc]

^^I'm glad you had a great visit. The park is slowly improving for sure. They didn't used to offer any sort of skip the line ticket so obviously that helps the most! Food and operations are also improving. You also got VERY lucky with good weather as that could have instantly ruined your day.

 

That visit last year was easily the best of the three times I've gone to Fuji-Q with TPR.

[Canobie Coaster]

^ Yeah the day went so smoothly! I'm thankful I didn't get the traditional Fuji-Q experience thanks to Robb and Elissa's planning.