Apr. 12 – Tokyo Disneyland is one of the world’s most popular theme parks, but it’s also unmistakably a product of its time and circumstances. This review examines what is perhaps the most flawed of the Disney “castle” parks, including Pooh’s Hunny Hunt’s (in)ability to offer the park redemption. A big park makes for a long read, even from the days before the much hyped Beauty and the Beast expansion.
Mar. 22 – Nearing the end of the journey, I spent one last day exploring Tokyo including its most historic amusement park, the genuinely suis generis Hanayashiki, which opened in 1853 and features the world’s oldest full-sized steel roller coaster.
Just a note, the next few updates will be at the Tokyo Disney Resort, and then the 2011 reports will officially and finally be DONE. However, I expect it may take a bit of extra time to properly complete, so they may not be ready quite on the (almost) weekly schedule I’ve set for the past year. Regardless, it’ll all be finished sometime in April, after which I have a few options for what to do next on this website.
Mar. 16 – Tobu Zoo Park is not a great park, but it’s still worth exploring… plus examining what it means to find meaning in things of lesser quality. Who knows, we might even find the best coaster in the greater Tokyo region. It’s getting close to the end of the seemingly endless 2011 travel journeys, but there’s still some big ones ahead.
Mar. 7 – Tokyo’s largest ride-focused amusement park is named for Japan’s largest circulating right-wing newspaper, the Yomiuri Shimbun, and in 2011 included a now-defunct wooden Cyclone-clone-meets-torture device, and the world’s once-fastest roller coaster with some impressive terrain. While the Bandit continues to thrill, a lot at Yomiuriland has changed since this report was documented in 2011, which I hope makes it all the more interesting as a time capsule glimpse of what was.
Feb. 28 – 318 feet tall. 8,133 feet long. Whether by stats or by total mass, since its debut Steel Dragon 2000 at Nagashima Spaland has qualified as the world’s single largest roller coaster. While bigger isn’t always better… it often sure can help. Can this Morgan Manufacturing monster make the list of the world’s greatest coasters?
Feb. 22 – Arriving at the beginning of the end for my Asia travels from 2011 was a week in and around Tokyo, Japan. The world’s largest city had lots to explore and discover, starting with this very busy day of both cultural sightseeing and a handful of smaller yet nevertheless interesting urban attractions.
Feb. 15 – A short delay getting today’s update out, but mostly because it’s a big one, especially with regards to roller coasters. Fuji-Q Highland has several of Japan’s most innovative and ambitious roller coasters, but it’s also known as a hotbed of crowds, poor operations, and endless frustration. How would I fare at this notorious Japanese park at the base of Mount Fuji, and might I even take home a new top ten coaster? Read on…
Feb. 1 – Yet another day of Japanese culture, this time in the city of Kyoto. With so many layers of history and hidden pockets of beauty, it can almost be too much to take in… certainly within a single day, as I sadly may have discovered. The next day passing through Nagoya was much slower-paced, and again with no coasters, although both those aspects were hardly my original intent. But sometimes you need an intermission.
Jan. 26 – No theme parks in today’s update (unless you squint at one photo), but there are lots of deer and one very heavy bronze Buddha that can be discovered in the charming historic city of Nara, Japan, a city I knew almost nothing about until the morning I went for a day trip.
Jan. 18 – Japan is home to several theme parks based on a foreign country for a travel-phobic Japanese audience. Parque España is undoubtedly one of the most special, and not just for its large B&M inverted coaster Pyrenees, a favorite among coaster enthusiasts.
Jan. 11 – What a year it’s already been! 2021 will be a landmark year for Universal Studios Japan as we wait for Super Nintendo World’s grand opening, but until then why not turn the clock back a decade and see what the park was like back in 2011? Some now-vanished classics as well as what could be Universal’s best-ever roller coaster all are explored and examined in this first review of the new year.
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