Japan 08/25 – Hokkaido Greenland
Off to Japan then. The main inspiration within the inspiration and draw for the region this time around was the northern island of Hokkaido. Somewhere I’d never been and home to that certain special coaster, among others.
So flew direct to Sapporo from Shanghai, budget airline, nice and cheap. Was due to land late morning and drive over to the first park for early afternoon, but to this day I don’t really know what happened. There were no significant delays involved but every little step along the way just snowballed with minor time hemorrhages.
From the flight, to immigration, to customs, to lunch, to the car hire shuttle bus, to the car hire, to my prepaid eSim not working, to the car sat nav being a poor alternative…
Though I had anticipated approximately 3 hours to play with, including all travel faff, we actually ended up with just 45 minutes on park. Not good.
Day 2 – Hokkaido Greenland
To start things off, the parking attendant wanted to make extremely sure we were aware of this fact, at least 3 times over and in many different forms of communication – we’re closing soon. Understood. As a cheeky bonus this led to being waved in without paying for the car park, so that was nice.
Then a slight panic at the entrance because it was obviously too late to all in on a ride pass. Pretty much every regional park out here offers entrance, pay per ride and wristband separately, to suit everyone’s needs.
The panic was of course getting entry only, and then not really knowing what the queues were, where the rides were, what to hit up, what ride tickets to buy, where to buy said ride tickets. I could physically feel the clock ticking as we stepped inside.
Started out on this little crocodile fronted #1 Wani Wani Coaster anyway, as it was in sightline, so pretty strong.
Then the actual priority for this park was the big jet coaster, in case we never made it back, though I was already furiously calculating how to in the back of my mind.
The day was lost here as it had a pretty significant queue, taking around half an hour or so before landing in the last train of the day. Bit of a shame they closed at 5pm sharp in the height of summer, while seemingly rather busy for what I know of these parks, but still better than Alton Towers.
Anyway #2 GO-ON was glorious. I’m a sucker for just chilling on this ride type, but it actually had some strong forces to it, while riding very well, for what it is.
The profiling of some of the hills is uncharacteristically sharp and near the back they were popping off rather nicely.
The awkward Arrow-style manual banking and transitions also managed to be a source of entertainment rather than discomfort and it simply goes-on for an absolute age, not least for the multiple minutes on the lift hill.
Overall it just hit a magic spot for me in that moment, where you catch yourself amongst the chaos, reflecting on where you are and what you’re doing. Back in Japan at long last, doing what they do best. Love it.
So with 2 coasters down, 2 coasters and a dark ride to go, had to leave at that point, head hung in shame. Park incomplete.
Continued to have internet and navigation issues into the night, which happened to include a multiple hour journey into the depths of the island, but made it to an excellent hotel in one piece and got everything working flawlessly for the rest of the trip, so expect a better showing from here on out.