Japan 08/25 – Tochinoki Family Land + Nasu Highland

Day 9 – Tochinoki Family Land

Another morning, another jet coaster. This park is right next to a massive stadium and shares the car park, which was surprisingly full at bang on opening time.

Even though there were only about 3 guests on park.

This particular #1 Jet Coaster is cute for looking like a toy shinkansen. And the fact that it had nothing but a seatbelt was also a pleasant surprise.

A very spread out layout, improved all the more for having hundreds of kids at the academy across the road all waving at the train as it goes past.

Nothing else of note here, tick.

Nasu Highland

Here’s a park of note though, equal biggest of the trip for pure cred potential.

Known for its glorious mess of multi-coloured coaster track, which we headed down to first.

Sadly this area doesn’t quite have the magic it once did, with the loss of ‘the green one’, there’s now only blue, yellow and red intertwined.

The yellow one was also closed all day, though they repeatedly sent test laps.

From where I was standing it looked like the spin these cars were picking up was borderline dangerous, so maybe that’s why.

#2 Big Boom first then, a name with a certain degree of legendary status that’s been living in my head forever.

Entirely for that drop, which is just way steeper than any hardware like this usually goes. And the panoramic turnaround before it I guess.

There is a bit of a lurch to it, albeit an uncomfortable one given the shoulder restraints, more like a Gerstlauer Eurofighter first drop than an airtime machine.

Then there’s a loop.

Then a corner and it ends, hitting their weird friction tyre brakes at like 50Mph on a downhill slope and providing a potent smell of burning rubber.

It’s a thing.

The red one is one of many camel-related jet coasters, #3 Camel Coaster.

Was great, incredible views in the outbound direction heading just over the tips of the trees, looking over miles of forests, mountains and nothing else.

Quite forceful as well, some of the oddly banked turns giving a bit of lateral whip, rather fun and not too uncomfortable. Best ride here probably.

Back up the hill a bit is the rare #4 Batflyer. Struggled to climb into it as you have to straddle the seat through some fabric and that required a bit of contortion.

Then my head was very, very close to the bat’s decorative ass, which was very hard and unforgiving. So I spent the entirety of the ride trying to stay as low as possible in order to not bump it.

Layout does a grand total of 0, while overly blocking itself at every (one) opportunity. The spinning one at Skyline Park is superior in every way.

Next was the SLC, #5 F² Fright Flight, which was absolute trash. I’ve reached the point where I don’t expect too much of a beating from these, thinking the worst is behind me and they’re not that bad. They are, they really are. It’s not the headbanging, it’s the violent shaking as it tracks so roughly. Awful.

Moving swiftly on, they’ve got a mostly-indoor powered coaster with some scenes. #6 Shinpi was very popular given the shade, so had the longest queue of the day. Have I complained about how hot it was yet?

Starts off very sedate in the first bit, then trundles outside for a bit of waving shenanigans. Then you head back in and get eaten by a frog and suddenly the ride goes crazy fast and out of control for about 15 seconds. S’alright.

Couple of dark rides next, beginning with Curse of Dark Castle.

Liked this one, scary omnimover with some elevation changes and haunted stuff going on. There’s not enough mid-tier dark rides in mid-tier Japanese parks like this, and it’s quite old and got a bit of character to it.

Just next door is the dinosaur themed Dino World, which had an onboard screen with quiz.

Didn’t understand a word so had to guess, got a grand total of 1 question correct, which moved us out of the bottom ranking. Like the shooters, it kinda distracts from actually looking at the ride though.

Last cred was a powered dragon, but it’s #7 Woopy Coaster, the park’s mascot.

Glorious.

The wild mouse type coaster behind it was also closed all day. 2 spites in total, and pretty much the only traditional ones of the trip, as we shouldn’t count breaking a conveyor belt lift hill.

Don’t begrudge them that badly as in the absence of these parks every getting anything new, it’s an excuse to return if in the region again, assuming the rides aren’t just fully cooked.

Nice enough place overall, if a little tired. Good scenery, bit of quirk, weird obsession with dogs.