rollermonkey Posted May 22, 2006 Posted May 22, 2006 On Saturday, I made my way out to the shinkansen and went down to Nagoya to hit a couple of parks outside the city. I had a small problem in that I was in need of the day to roll over stateside, so I could hit an ATM, but it all worked out. I arrived at Inuyama Yuen station for Japan Monkey Park about 20 minutes before the website said it was supposed to open, but they ley me pay my way in (1500 yen or 3700 yen for a freepass) and I worked my way around to the park's newest addition Go! Go! Banana Coaster. (My new favorite coaster name.) I shot pictures for RCDB, whored it, and moved on to the shuttle loop, Atomic Coaster. This one is identical to the one at Mitsui Greenlend, but has more trees near it. A quick spin and I was moving on to Eagle Coaster. This is an interesting ride, more twister than anything, but a little rough. Next, I rode the highly customized, powered coaster Monkey Coaster around it's circuit. If this wasn't powered, it would be a pretty decent ride, but the motor slows it down too much. (And it screams while it goes downhill trying to slow it down!) I had no desire to actually see stinky monkeys, (despite my screen name) and I had ridden all four coasters before I had planned on arriving at the park! I worked my way back to Nagoya to get the rest of the day's train tickets on my credit card at JTB to save money until after 3PM and I could hit the ATM. I caught my train down to Minami Chita Okuda station and walked about 10 minutes to Minami Chita Beach Land park. This small park has devoted the larger portion of the park to marine life, and I had to work my way across this part to get to the small rides section known as Toys Kingdom. Almost everybody in the park seemed to be in the dolphin show, so I made my way over to the coaster quickly. Sadly, the gravity coaster had been removed (apparently it had actually been SBNO for quite some time) and replaced by a Zamperla Dragon. I paid my 300 yen and shot some pictures before scooting back to the train station. (Less than 30 minutes after I had arrived!) I worked my way back towards Nagoya and transferred to another train getting off at Kariya station. Kariya-shi Kotsu jido Koen is about a 5 minute walk from the station. This small neighborhood park had some city construction going on, and no gate fee, and I was able to get on the coaster a few moments before it closed for the night. The coaster isn't really a mouse, but it looks like a very small Arrow coaster. It does have single car trains, but these also look like Arrow train cars. The park stayed open, and I looked around a little before moving on. I hit the Post Office ATM, and caught the next train to Gamagori station to check out Lagunasia just before sunset. Lagunasia, despite being a fairly small park, turned out to be the highlight of my day. Aqua Wind is one of those really cool Gertslauer bobsled coasters that have been popping up all over Europe. I rode it as many times as the park operating hours would allow. (They closed at 8PM, quite late for an amusement park in Japan.) They have a beautifully themed reverser flume, The Legend of the Labyrinth. (My first.) They also have a ride, Treasure Hunting, that uses the same ride system as DL's Indiana Jones, but with a different theme and storyline. Like most of the rest of the park, this was beautifully themed. The flume and Treasure Hunting shared a structures/building with some of the park's waterslides. The center of the park was a wave pool, lazy river, and a pond for paddle and bumper boats. They had some other nice attractions, but in this forum, you guys just want the pictures, so here they are! The park looked cool after dark with the lighting effects in use. However, it was time to go home. R&E You missed a really cool (but small) park! Dinner actually tasted a lot better than it looked. Deep fried phyllo dough with ham and cheese inside and a grilled chicken sandwich with some Greek sauce. YUM! I kind of got yelled at for taking a photo of the stolen ride tchnology that is Treasure Hunting. At least the layout and everything else was different! ...and this one! Cool, huh? Check out the difference between this car... The world needs more well themed Gertslauer bobsleds! OK, who finds this homoeritic? This structure houses the Indiana Jones ride, the flume and some water sllides. The pond in front is shared by bumper boats and paddle boats. Japanese children have heat shields in their butts. Here some kids demonstrate by sliding down an astroturf hill on their keisters. Do we have any railfans here? The foreground is actually a go-kart track. That doesn't look like a wild mouse to me! Oh, yeah, this is Asia! Oh, they have penguins! That makes everything OK! Aw, crap. This wasn't supposed to be a Dragon! If I hadn't seen a ferris wheel in the distance a few seconds before arriving at this station, I might have been a little worried! Yes, those are rice paddies. Wow! This place is almost exactly like Disneyland! Because Axe Wielding Monkey Coaster just doesn't have the same ring to it... Even these burly security guards have a hard time keeping back the hordes who would ride the Eagle Coaster. Another of those weird Japanese shuttle loops where the loop is lower than the level of the station. Go! Go! Banana Coaster in all it's glory! Note how the wheels stay attached to the train all the way into the station.
SharkTums Posted May 22, 2006 Posted May 22, 2006 Yeah, blame the Quaker!!! Remember he had never been to Tokyo, so when it was a choice between get to Tokyo by 6pm so he can check out the place, or go to Lagunasia and not get in until midnight, he pushed us into Tokyo. Now, had we known he was going to flake out of Nasu and have a whole day to sightsee, we would have been there in a second! Oh well, there's always the TPR Japan Trip!
rollermonkey Posted May 23, 2006 Author Posted May 23, 2006 Elissa, the park really was small, and the flats were prety cheesy, but the rides I mentioned really did impress me. If I whored this place like I did a couple of the parks earlier in the day, I would have been done in about 20 minutes! (It was a walk on for everything I did here.) I slowed down and got a couple rerides, and experienced the park in 90 minutes. I am sure that on a Sunday, it gets pretty packed, and it was a bit more expensive than most of the smaller parks here in Japan. (The starlight passport: After 3PM, was still 3000 yen.)
robbalvey Posted May 23, 2006 Posted May 23, 2006 The park looked cool after dark with the lighting effects in use. However, it was time to go home. R&E You missed a really cool (but small) park! Oh, I don't know if you can say we "missed" it, considering it's not like we won't be back to Japan. Technically there are a lot of parks we've "missed" all over the world. But give us time, we'll get to them! --Robb "Now if the park closes, then you can say we've missed it!" Alvey
Jon Sabo Posted May 23, 2006 Posted May 23, 2006 Awesome pics. I'm hoping to go to Japan end of this year to visit the Toyota/Lexus factories and hit up on some amusement parks. I cannot find my r/c database thing, but I think Japan has quite a number of coasters (variety and quantity) as well as quite a few parks. In your opinion, what would be...say, the top 5 parks (including top coasters, quality rides, etc.)? Not too much time to spend on my trip there, but have some friends/engineers at Toyota factory that love amusement parks. I really enjoyed some of the videos on this site of coasters in Japan. What about Bandit-is that any good?
rollermonkey Posted May 23, 2006 Author Posted May 23, 2006 Tell me what Toyota factories you are going to and I'll get you a list of nearby parks. Top 5? TDS TDL Space World That's my top three. Let me get back to you after Parque Espana this weekend or the last two!
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