Our last park for the trip was Fuji-Q Highland. It’s an amusement park at a resort (so is Nagashima Spa Land, but the Spa Land has a full shopping mall attached to it as well) so I didn’t expect much. There’s only four or five roller coasters of note so I assumed they’d be passable. I was wrong. All were top tier. As soon as you enter the park you’re presented with a coaster with the steepest drop I’ve ever seen (it’s on the right in the picture below). It held the record for the steepest drop until an American park duplicated the ride and increased the drop by .5 degrees. I present to you, Takabisha.
This was a pretty intense ride. The first drop is massive and it settles out from there. Pretty smooth over all. As you would expect they had us empty all our pockets, and I had to take my glasses off. This is one of the few rides where I understood why I needed to have my glasses off.
From there we went to the Zokkon. Think of it as a roller coaster built around the concept of what riding a motorcycle on a test track would be. Obviously no loops, but it’s fun (just lean into the curves – oh, and bring hearing protection the music is cranked up pretty loud).
Next up is Fujiyama, King of Coasters. At one point it held world records, but that was years ago. Still a really fun ride (though it kind of beats you up at the end).
Then on to Eejanaika. Translated it’s something along the lines of “Is it not good?” but it could also mean “Ain’t it great?” It certainly is. It’s a “4D” coaster – up, down, and around, but it also controls your rotation so you’re moving along the track and also doing somersaults. Someone described it as “A doozie, but in the best way.” Definitely one of my favorite roller coasters.
All in all it’s a great park. The views are fantastic, and the rides certainly do thrill you.
Oh, one more thing. When Ted and I were coming back from dinner we saw them testing a light package on Zokkon after the park had closed.
