As [bad] luck had it, the bus tickets we received had us sitting on opposite ends of the bus, but the young Japanese guy next to me asked if Ben wanted to swap, so we took him up on his offer and swapped. Turns out it was a good thing, because the old lady Ben was sitting next to was giving him the death look.
Old people are funny.
Also funny- our bus. It was covered, both inside and out, with Thomas the Tank Engine prints. The curtains, the seats, the headrests- all of it was decked out in Thomas-style. A little odd, but you kind of expect that when you've been in Japan for a while.
Approximately ninety minutes later we arrived at Fuji-Q Highland.For those of you not versed in the ways of the theme park, Fuji-Q is an attraction high up in the mountains near Mt. Fuji. Within it's walls it contains roller coasters, the most popular of which all held world records at the time of their completion, but have all been surpassed by newer models elsewhere in the world since.
We arrived, paid, entered, then spent the next ninety-minutes waiting to get on the first ride, called Fujiyama. We queued, we waited, we rode.
Insanity.
Take a look.
It goes up, down and around at super speed. The initial climb takes you over 70m above the ground. The initial drop takes you right back down again. From there it's a high-speed maze of roller coaster madness!
Was it worth waiting in line all that time to ride? Oh hell yes!
We left Fujiyama, grins on our faces, hands shaking a little, and made our way to the most popular ride, which is called Eejanaika 「ええじゃないか」. Two hours of waiting, with some guy a few places ahead of us in the line giving us dirty looks most of the time (not sure why), then... time to ride!
Oh-- not to mention it started raining while we were in line (like, ten metres from being able to go on!) so they had to stop the ride. We waited patiently for the rain to subside, then for the tracks to dry a bit, then for them to do a test-run with an empty car, and then... time to ride!
This ride is ridiculous. It is the most disorientating ride ever. They call it a 4D ride. Yep, one up from 3d. Not only do you move forward up and down with the coaster, but your seat also moves in conjunction with the coaster, turning you upside-down a total of 14 times over the 1km or so of track. There's also a free-fall, which you go down head first, followed by a spiraling, cork-screw movement, then more spiraling, mix in some screaming and some "oh my God", plus a few other choice words, and that pretty much sums it up.
Photos!
Definitely worth waiting for. Scary, but mostly from now knowing what to expect next. Fujiyama was scary because you saw that you were about to plummet back down to earth, but Eejanaika was just craziness in the form of a ride.Now that the two crazier rides had been experienced, lunch was in order. Had some feral-tasting pad thai, which contained way, way too many shrimp and not enough of anything else. I was still recovering from my Disney buffet-induced food poisoning, so I couldn't stomach much of it before I just gave up and got a cup of shaved ice flavoured with syrup. I got peach flavour this time, but Ben got his usual melon.
Next in line: Dodonpa, some ridiculously named ride that they had a really annoying (and sleazy!) theme song for in some weird Japanese/French hybrid language. Sounded like music you'd expect to hear in a porno. Odd.
The ride itself was popular for it's insane rate of acceleration-- over 4Gs! After the initial propulsion, you're launched around the track at break-neck speed, then up, and down at an angle of 90 degrees (perpendicular to the ground! o.O; ) before being rocketed back to the start... or end, depending on your perspective.
The ride lasts about 30 seconds. If you don't have time, this one isn't so fantastic so don't feel bad if you want to give it a miss.
After spending most of our day waiting in queues, we wandered along for a bit until we came to this ride called the Great Zaboon. The line wasn't overly long and the ride was relatively short, so we lined up.
Long story short: buy poncho, wear poncho, board ride, go up, turn around, come flying down, huge splash, water everywhere, fun. Anything that was not covered by your poncho was drenched. Absolutely soaked through to the core. Like my shoes.
I poked a hole in Ben's poncho so water would leak through and go down his leg. He got revenge by doing it to me... in my crotch. The result made it look like I'd wet my pants. Embarrassing much?
But, good luck-- my shorts were light and apparently super absorbent, and they were dry within ten minutes. So lucky.
Night had already fallen, and the park was closing soon, so we quickly jumped in line for the newest ride at Fuji-Q. Not sure what it was called, but it involved floating around a course in a little boat that looked like a pool-ring, with lots of water and wetness and spraying involved. Ben and I got a boaty-thing to ourselves (and new ponchos!) and commenced floating after a sixty minute wait.
This ride was pretty cool. It wasn't fast or dramatic, but it was just plain old fun. Drifting around, down slides, up ramps, into a whirlpool, then under the whirlpool, with some water jets and squirting mixed in. Learned to tuck our ponchos under our shoes so they didn't get even wetter, but managed to get water down my neck and back-- you just can't win!
Getting off the ride, it was obvious that the park was closing very soon, so we made our way out, via the gift shop. For some reason, every place in Japan sells cookies as souvenirs. Regular cookies, with "FUJI-Q" or "TOKYO" or "DISNEYLAND 25 YEARS" printed on the front. And they sell.
That's the weird bit- amongst all the other souvenirs, the cookies are still ridiculously popular! And you buy them as presents for your family. It's like "hey I went to Fuji-Q. It was crazy fun, so here, I'll give you these souvenir biscuits". Weird I tells ya, just plain strange.
We waited for the bus, boarded the bus, arrived at Shinjuku, train to Asakusa, walked 'home', showered, brushed teeth, slept.
Another fun-packed day. It's a pity Mt. Fuji itself was shrouded in clouds all day. Even from up close it was hard to see. But then, Fuji is famous for it's fickle nature, and summer is not the best time to see it. Maybe we'll get to see it as we pass by on our way to Kyoto in a couple of days.
!
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