Korea + Japan 04/17 – Greenland
Day 3
Today started very early because we needed to be at the airport to fly to Fukuoka. After a short and pleasant flight we were in Japan and immediately the sentiment that the people here can’t help you enough shone through, I have to this day not met a friendlier immigration officier.
A slight faff with car hire later and we were on the roads of Japan. It’s worth saying now, if you want to go anywhere in Japan that’s not local then you’re going to run into many tolls. That’s fine you’ll think, that’s a pretty common occurance these days, well the thing is, the tolls in Japan are very expensive. It’s not uncommon to pay £30-£40 for a couple hours of driving. Now it can still be cheaper than taking trains and you can get prepaid toll cards that reduces the fee slightly but it’s something we weren’t expecting so it’s worth knowing.
Greenland
After paying for parking with the wrong currency we arrived at Greenland. We really couldn’t have picked a better first park in Japan. Whilst Greenland has no stand out attractions, no mind blowing theming and no breathtaking scenery, there is just something really nice about the place. A major part of that is because of just how welcoming the staff are, in some parks you feel like you are a burden for being there, Greenland felt like the polar opposite of that. Couple that with my first taste of wacky Japanese coasters and I really enjoyed my time spent at the park.
Blackhole Coaster – A slightly ghetto enclosed powered coaster, I remember enjoying this.
Gao – My first Jet Coaster, a nice sit down and chance to think to myself “damn you’ve made it to Japan”.
Grampus Jet – Vekoma suspended coaster, it was alright.
Milky Way – Milky Way is actually 2 Togo coasters side by side, one features sit down trains and the other stand up. The sit down side is good fun but the stand up is kind of awesome. The Togo train design means you are properly standing, not just sitting uncomfortably like Intamin and B&M. Not just that but you are properly standing with what feels like almost nothing holding you in. When you put that train on a layout that’s smooth, forceful and includes air time then wonderful things happen. The 2 best coasters in the park hands down.
Nio – Vekoma SLC…
Ultra Twister Megaton – I’d been wanting to ride one of these very unique coasters for a long time and wasn’t disappointed. The lift is unnerving, the drop is terrifying, the air time is strong, the inversions are vicious and going backwards is crazy. Just watch out for the brakes!
We ended our day with a ride on the park’s massive ferris wheel and with views like that it was the perfect way to conclude our first day in Japan.
Our hotel for the night was located miles from any restaurants or shops, thankfully because this is Japan, the hotel staff went out of their way to make sure we didn’t go to bed hungry.
Thank you for reading, please click here for day 4 and Space World.