Re: TR: 2005 Japanese Coaster Tour (part 1 of 5)

I enjoyed reading your first TR, Tim, and I'm looking forward to the
rest of them as well. Thanks for including so many other non-park
related details as the information is quite interesting.

Kevin


Tim Melago wrote:
> TR: 2005 Japanese Coaster Tour
>
> Part 1 of 5
>
> When the ECC/ACE Japan trip was announced for 2005, my interest in making a
> trip to Japan was sparked. I figured I would definitely have to make the
> trip. Last fall however, I saw Theme Park Review's Japan trip reports along
> with a trip planning guide and soon realized I may be able to do such a trip
> on my own. I wasn't totally satisfied with the club trip as far as the
> timing, parks and costs. But the TPR website gave me enough information to
> start investigating doing a Japan trip independently. With a good head start
> on information gathering thanks to Robb & Elissa Alvey's groundwork, I
> jumped into planning mode about 9 months ago. My potential roommate for the
> club trip, Greg Legowski, agreed to join me in trying to do our own trip to
> Japan. I'm happy to report we recently completed a very successful journey
> to Japan.
>
> This trip report will start with many trip details and hints in case anyone
> wants to use our trip as a guide for their own trip. If it is a bit long
> winded I hope you will be able to at least skim through the park and
> coasters details.
>
> Before I begin the daily reports, I'd like to explain the timing of our
> trip. Based on the fact that the biggest enemy to a coaster trip to Japan is
> rain with its potential to close down many coasters and rides, we wanted to
> find a timeframe where we had a good chance of avoiding rain. The rainy
> season ends in July while the typhoon season peaks in September. Spring and
> late fall may have been better options as we hit some extreme heat and
> humidity at times but spring was a bit soon for me as far as planning goes
> and fall interrupts football season for me. So we were left with August. We
> had to wait until the week long Obon holiday was over as much of Japan is in
> transit at that time. We had a very tight window of about two weeks but
> that's all we really needed so it worked out. We supposedly overlapped the
> summer school holiday but I don't believe that really impacted our trip. We
> saw many children going to school on trains so many schools were in session
> during our trip.
>
> Friday, Aug 19 - Departure
>
> I arrived at Pittsburgh International early on Friday morning to head to
> Newark Liberty for my Continental flight to Tokyo Narita airport. The flight
> to Tokyo took about 14.5 hours. Somehow I was able to get in the right frame
> of mind to deal with such a long flight.
>
> Saturday, Aug 20 - Arrival in Tokyo and the Shinjuku experience
>
> Upon arrival at Narita I met up with Greg Legowski who flew out the day
> before. We proceeded to the JR (Japan Rail) reservation center to get rail
> passes processed and to get our major reservations set for the trip. The JR
> Pass is one of the greatest travel deals you'll find. For about the price of
> a moderately priced airline ticket, you can get a week's worth of travel on
> all types of JR trains which run all over Japan. Consider that each
> shinkansen (or bullet train) ride costs about as much as a plane ticket we
> saved tons of money with this pass. I'd say the JR pass covered at least 75%
> of our train travel with the rest being cheaper and more local trains and
> subway systems. Plus all JR reservations are free and you can make them
> within minutes of a train leaving.
>
> We had all of the shinkansen and Narita Express (airport express train)
> return times listed on paper. Our agent was great and took care of
> everything for us. I'd recommend getting as many reservations as you can set
> up at Narita airport as they speak English very well and the atmosphere is
> calmer than at the train stations. Plus they'll print more English on your
> reservation tickets than they do at the train stations. Japan guidebooks
> show you how to translate the reservation ticket but every extra bit of
> English makes life easier in Japan.
>
> After finishing our business at the JR reservation center, we went down to
> the Narita Express platform to take the train into Tokyo. The "NEX" is
> reservation only and would normally cost $60 to make the one hour trip. The
> train was very comfortable and it was the most direct way to get to our base
> hotel for the next four days in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo. I'll point out
> that the trains in Japan are always perfectly on time and are very
> dependable. If the trains are running they will be on time. They only shut
> down in extreme cases like a typhoon hitting. Trains are so timely that if
> you know how long your journey is supposed to be you could exit a train by
> only using your watch and not the station signs. Also, on most platforms
> they have updated electric signs with detailed information, many times
> alternating in Japanese and English.
>
> We arrived at Shinjuku station in the late afternoon and tried to figure out
> how to exit the station and find the hotel shuttle bus. We soon realized how
> nearly impossible and intimidating Shinjuku station was. This is the busiest
> train station in the world with 1.5 million people passing through every
> day! Nothing in New York City can even come close to preparing you for this
> place. It is utterly confusing and even outside of the station large
> buildings block your access for several city blocks. One thing we learned
> rather quickly is that people walk on the left in Japan. They drive on the
> left so they also walk on the left. I don't recall the same phenomenon in
> England. Anyhow, after about an hour we found the area we thought the hotel
> shuttle bus should have been in but we couldn't figure out exactly where it
> should depart. Without much of a clue we decided to walk to the hotel,
> pulling our luggage, since it wasn't too far away. But like the train
> station, the Shinjuku area is rather chopped up and finding our way was
> confusing. I used the Park Hyatt Hotel, from "Lost in Translation," as my
> landmark and we worked our way back to our hotel, the Shinjuku New City
> Hotel.
>
> I should point out that I also used the ultra detailed "Tokyo City Atlas" I
> had with me. This book is an absolute must for anyone traveling to Tokyo. It
> kept us on the right path many times and helped us figure out the tangled
> mess of train and subway routes in Tokyo. There are several train and subway
> companies that tend to serve similar purposes in Tokyo. It's a big mix that
> we eventually got a handle on. But the atlas was an essential tool with all
> of the street and train maps you'll need.
>
> At this point I'll mention a great all around website about Japan and
> Japanese travel called Japan Guide. For train schedules, visit both the
> Jourdan site and the Hyperdia. They are both 100% accurate. See the links
> below.
>
> http://www.japan-guide.com/
>
> http://www.jorudan.co.jp/english/norikae/
>
> http://grace.hyperdia.com/cgi-english/hyperd01.cgi
>
> We arrived at the hotel tired and sweaty. It was hot and humid in Tokyo that
> day as it was most of our trip. Checking in the hotel intimidated me a bit
> but the staff spoke enough English that things worked out. This hotel was
> actually the one with the least impressive staff as the other hotel staffs
> spoke much better English and were more helpful than the Shinjuku New City
> Hotel staff. They weren't bad but standards for service in Japan are very
> high. We did have a problem as they did not have two beds in our room. They
> were able to correct the problem but I was wondering if I made this mistake
> with every hotel. It turns out that I must have booked the correct room type
> for the rest of the trip and this problem was the hotel's mistake. All
> reservations were made (and prepaid) on asiarooms.com. This hotel wasn't our
> first choice but since the Shinjuku Washington Hotel was not available the
> New City was suggested to us as an alternative.
>
> While this hotel was probably my least favorite of the trip, it was clean
> and had the basics we needed. A hotel of this caliber in New York City would
> cost at least double what we paid in Tokyo. All rooms we had in Japan were
> small as we expected but they all had mini fridges which was a nice bonus.
> The bathrooms were very small and more primitive than we were used to except
> for the toilets which had all kind of controls. We always had slippers and
> robes in our rooms which we really didn't need for our western style lodging
> needs. Most hotels had Internet access via stations in the lobby or access
> in the rooms. The room phones were to hard to figure out with my phone card
> but I eventually figured out how to use my phone card on the pay phones.
> Beverage vending machines were always plentiful in the hotels as well as
> everywhere in Japan.
>
> After settling into the hotel I knew that I was in no condition to attempt
> to get out to La Qua that night to get some riding in. But we did manage to
> take the hotel shuttle bus back to Shinjuku station to look for some food
> and check out the area. We found out our mistake with the shuttle bus pickup
> area. It was on a lower level that we didn't even see. But we took note that
> we had to pick up the shuttle on the corner opposite of the big neon Subaru
> sign. We proceeded to an incredibly lit up gaming area of Shinjuku. We had
> trouble picking a place out to eat as we wanted picture menus and a
> welcoming restaurant. We peeked into one place and a passer by shook his
> head at us. Some places don't accept gaijin (foreigners) like us. But we did
> find a counter service place with Japanese food. We put money in a machine,
> pushed a button that matched the picture of the meal we wanted and got a
> ticket. We gave the ticket to the counter guy and our food came out shortly.
> That was easy enough. Not the highest quality food but it was a good first
> taste of Japan.
>
> Food choices were a bit tough on the trip. While I found enough things I
> liked to eat in Japan, Greg is diabetic and has a wheat allergy so he had to
> choose first. Then I had to agree with the choice or try again. I typically
> wanted food with bread or noodles in the dish so that was a challenge. Many
> restaurants had picture menus or plastic food along with people who could
> make out enough English to help us out. We knew some key words and phrases
> in Japanese so it was a mutual effort.
>
> After eating and looking around Shinjuku briefly, we picked up the hotel
> shuttle and headed back. We needed some rest for what was the craziest
> schedule of the trip on Sunday.
>
> Sunday, Aug 21 - Toshimaen, Hanayashiki, La Qua and Sega Joypolis
>
> Luckily we were able to wake up early without being sleepy. Getting adjusted
> to the time in Tokyo wasn't too hard since it was so far away from home it
> was almost like skipping a day. I wasn't feeling all that great but I
> realized it was probably due to caffeine withdrawal as I had avoided it on
> the plane. After arriving in Japan I didn't find any Diet Coke in the
> vending machines. So I found some cold coffee in the vending machine and
> caffeinated myself. I got used to the canned coffee and in this case it got
> me feeling good for the day. Luckily we found that the convenience stores,
> which were everywhere, had our treasured Diet Coke and along the way we
> found the occasional vending machine with diet cola.
>
> We picked up the hotel shuttle and headed over to Shinjuku station. We
> scoped out some storage lockers for later in the trip and found a nice
> little bakery which had breakfast food for both of us. It was hard to find a
> place to actually eat our food as seats in train stations are limited to the
> train platforms for the most part. Even tougher was finding somewhere to
> throw our trash away. While Japan is nearly litter free, there are very few
> garbage cans. I can't quite figure it out. Bathrooms don't even had garbage
> cans. You're lucky if you find hand soap, towels or dryers in bathrooms.
> Luckily parks tended to have a few more garbage and recycling cans than out
> on the streets or in the train stations but that was sometimes inconvenient
> for us.
>
> Today we'd mostly use the Toei subway line. We bought a Toei/Tokyo Subway
> day pass and saved some money on our travels. We had four stops on our
> itinerary. They were Toshimaen, Hanayashiki, La Qua and Sega Joypolis. After
> Sega Joypolis closed due to the skydiving simulator accident, I added
> Toshimaen since I heard it was a nice little park. But Sega Joypolis
> reopened just before our trip and we felt we should try to get there. So we
> thought we'd have just enough time to do everything in one day. Most parks
> in Japan close fairly early but La Qua, Sega Joypolis and Disney were open
> late so we took advantage of those parks in the evenings.
>
> Toshimaen was very close to the Toei subway station. We could tell early on
> that the park was a nicely wooded park despite its location in Tokyo. I'd
> call this park the Kennywood of Japan. It just had a certain feel and look.
> Having a Swing Around and a Flying Carpet didn't hurt the comparison along
> with a shuttle loop in honor of the old Laser Loop. Strangely, most parks in
> Japan seemed to have Flying Carpet and/or Swing Around rides.
>
> We had some confusion buying our free pass (ride all day) since the rides
> were the same price as the water park and there was no English on the sign.
> I had a price written down on my notes but in this case it didn't help. It
> turns out we bought the wrong pass as we were denied access to Cyclone
> coaster. I did notice while in line that our pass looked different than the
> others. Luckily, inside the park was another ticket booth where they kindly
> helped us change our pass type. We had to pay another 400 yen ($4) for some
> reason (possibly a combo pass price) but we were glad that was all we had to
> pay at that point. The pass was a paper ticket at this park and not a
> wristband so we had to be careful not to lose it.
>
> We headed back to the Cyclone coaster and found a long line. The nearby
> Corkscrew had just opened with no line so we rode it first. It was a
> standard Arrow corkscrew with Drachen Fire style trains. The ride was
> typical and not too rough for the style of coaster.
>
> Next up was the Cyclone. This is a 1965 Togo steel family style coaster. It
> looks a lot like the sooperdooperLooper at HP with its blue steel structure
> but it doesn't have a loop. It has log style cars (popular in Japan for some
> reason) with velvet seats and only a seatbelt for a restraint. It was mostly
> a scenic ride but the unexpected tunneled helix was a nice surprise. I would
> have loved to have ridden it again but due to limited time, one train
> operation and a long line we could only ride the coaster one time. Most
> coasters in Japan only ran one train and often times we only had enough time
> to ride each coaster once. Most of the time the operators were efficient as
> possible but with one train and certain procedures, like having storage
> lockers or wiping off the seats, caused slow operations on most coasters in
> Japan.
>
> The Shuttle Loop wasn't open yet (it was scheduled to open at 12 noon we
> later discovered) so we rode a few other rides. We rode the Mystery Zone
> dark ride and walked through the Ghost Residence. I can't recall many
> details of the dark attractions in Japan because we did so many of them and
> they were mostly unspectacular. But I did like the Japanese themes found in
> most of them. I think the only flat ride we rode was the Huss Magic. It was
> OK but certainly not running at German fair speed. We were impressed by the
> dual giant pirate ship rides but we skipped them because we knew we'd
> probably have time to ride it at Nagashima Spaland. Strangely, the park did
> not have a Ferris wheel as almost every other park had one. The Japanese
> love them as they don't kiss in public but they are allowed to kiss on
> Ferris wheels from what I've been told. We saw so many random Ferris wheels
> all over Japan it was hard to believe. They're almost as numerous as the
> netted driving ranges that are everywhere in Japan and extremely popular.
> Also plentiful all over Japan are pachinko parlors.
>
> The Shuttle Loop eventually opened at noon. It has a strange partial
> covering over the loop. This was a flywheel model and a very good one at
> that. It would be right behind Monte at Knott's in my estimation. After some
> lunch and video/picture taking, we were off to Hanayashiki.
>
> Hanayashiki is in the Asakusa area of Tokyo. It is very close to the famous
> Sensoji temple so we were able to check out that area after our park visit.
> We probably should have walked through the area first as it was the best way
> to get to the park but we took a more round about way, having trouble
> actually getting into the park. The park and its Bee Tower were visible but
> we had to walk all around the park to get in. It wasn't the best area of
> Tokyo but with crime not being much of a concern it didn't matter much. When
> we passed by the Sensoji marketplace area, we actually ran into some college
> students looking to show English speaking people around the area. We had to
> decline since we mostly wanted to get to Hanayashiki and that wasn't part of
> their agenda either. But it was an interesting encounter.
>
> While Hanayashiki has the oldest existing steel coaster in the world, the
> Bee Tower circle swing ride caught our attention. Unfortunately we looked to
> ride it after getting our coaster credit but it had just gone down and by
> the time we had to leave it was still down. That was definitely a
> disappointment but I was able to see it run and get some video of it. But
> the Roller Coaster was well worth it. I thought it would be more of a kiddie
> coaster but it encircles the entire park. It's more of a family coaster with
> cool NAD looking cars. It's a fun ride with a surprising tunnel near the
> end.
>
> The entire park is very compact and layered with an Arabian theme. Despite
> the stacked nature of the park it has a nice Japanese garden in the middle.
> We only bought a couple books of tickets so we were only able to ride a few
> things. Since the Bee Tower was down we opted to ride the dark ride. It was
> weird in that it went through a tarp covered area. I recall a funny scene
> with 70s music. We skipped the Star ride which is like a powered Looper
> ride. A little too much spinning for weary travelers.
>
> On the way back to the train station we passed through the Sensoji temple
> area. It was overrun with tourists and was a bit worn out with more fair
> style booths set up all around than I would have expected for a temple. Greg
> stopped for some steak on a stick at one of the booths. But the temple
> buildings were very cool to see even if we were just passing by.
>
> We took the Toei line over to the Tokyo Dome area so we could visit La Qua.
> The Yomiuri Giants, the New York Yankees of Japan baseball, were playing a
> game at the dome but that didn't impact us very much. We were able to get a
> discounted evening pass, this time an actual wristband that was scanned each
> time. Most parks in Japan had scanners for wristbands or tickets. The only
> problem is that they had some kind of date night promotion so it was a bit
> busy.
>
> La Qua is visually impressive. It's right in the middle of large city
> buildings and next to the Tokyo Dome. Thunder Dolphin is an impressive
> structure and the entire area is nice and new looking. Our first stop in the
> park was in the older section of the park to ride Geo Panic indoor coaster.
> My memory of the indoor coasters is a bit jumbled but I recall this ride
> having some surprising dips but being rough. It was a Togo after all.
>
> Nearby was Linear Gale, the original Intamin impulse coaster. We had some
> trouble actually getting to the entrance. Again, it was a case of something
> being easily visible but hard to get to. The launch is humorously slow but
> the straight spikes are very fun. In all I really enjoyed the ride despite
> the weak launch. To round out the credits on the older side of the park we
> rode Spinning Coaster Maihime under the pavilion cover. It's an earlier
> generation Maurer Sohne spinning mouse. I can see why they changed to the
> banked curves because it was a somewhat brutal ride.
>
> Our last ride was on Thunder Dolphin. We figured we'd wait until after it
> was dark to ride (it gets dark at 6:30 PM in Japan). Unfortunately the line
> was about 50 minutes long. They ran two trains but since you had to empty
> out your pockets and use the storage bins, dispatches took a long time.
> Before dispatch the operators make this diving dolphin motion which is
> pretty funny.
>
> I had low expectations for this ride but I was actually pleasantly surprised
> by it. No, it doesn't have much airtime but it's not all bad. The first drop
> is solid and it does have one nice floater hill. But the curves are very
> powerful and the views are great. The only weird thing is that there is a
> slow, tame trick track at the end of the ride before a large drop directly
> into the brakes. This ride could have been so much more. But overall I
> thought it was a mostly fun ride.
>
> Unfortunately we didn't have time to ride the Big O Ferris wheel to get some
> shots of Thunder Dolphin and La Qua. We had to get going to Sega Joypolis
> but first we needed to stop for some food. It just happened that McDonald's
> was the place we ran into. It was familiar and quick but ordering wasn't
> exactly easier than other places. They have value meals but you still have
> to specify everything that you want. I said I wanted a #5 and they initially
> rang up five double cheeseburgers with no fries or drink. Yet another
> learning experience for me.
>
> Sega Joypolis is located in Daiba which is an island in Tokyo Bay. To get
> there we had to use the Yurikamome elevated train which allowed some great
> sightseeing even at night. We saw the central Tokyo skyline with the Tokyo
> Tower, an Eiffel Tower replica. We proceeded onto the Rainbow Bridge to see
> the cool skyline of Daiba including the Palette Town Ferris wheel with its
> modern light pattern.
>
> Sega Joypolis is an interesting facility with many simulators and arcade
> games. The coaster is the unique Speed Boarder sideways coaster. It has a
> slight connection to surfing. The cars run sideways but it spins at certain
> points. At one point it goes into a glass enclosed area where people on the
> outside boardwalk can watch you ride by. It was an interesting ride but a
> bit rough. We made it onto the coaster just after 9 PM. The facility closed
> at 10 PM. It was a busy day but we managed to get all of the parks and
> coasters in.
>
> --Tim Melago

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