Japan 08/25 – Nagai Uminote Park Soleil Hill + Yomiuriland
Picked a car up the following morning in order to, sort of, escape Tokyo. Didn’t have massively solid plans for the day, just a sprinkling of potential +1s here and there, and the main focus ended up being to simply not die from heat exhaustion.
First establishment was down on a little southern peninsula, about an hours drive out. Noticed it pop up on coast2coaster and that it had no photos, so for the good of the community…
Day 6 – Nagai Uminote Park Soleil Hill
The place is free to enter and has a range of other activities. Main focus seems to be on general wellbeing, seeing some animals, touching some grass, playing in some water, a nice escape from the mad metropolis.
Tucked away in one corner is a small amusement section that I assume has been around a while, with some views out over the sea.
But the coaster is brand new so, you’re welcome. Picked up a couple of ride tickets from an automated machine under the ferris wheel and hopped on.
After becoming the most popular animal on the internet, it seems they jumped on the bandwagon here in creating #1 Capybara Coaster, a change from the old faithful dragons we’ve come to know and love.
Interestingly the front car was closed off and, from the second car, you could see through the shell of the footwell and into the ‘engine’/cogs/power system for the train inside it’s brain, so I guess the custom moulding didn’t go exactly to plan.
Elsewhere they have a very chill petting zoo, where you can meet the real deal and get kicked by a kangaroo. Too hot for that thankfully.
And this lot.
Nice place, grabbed an ice cream and headed out.
I remembered the next park was a bit of a pain to get to by train before, so also had it on the ‘with car’ hitlist.
Yomiuriland
Downside is that you don’t get to ride the cablecar across the park if you enter via the car park, but been there and done that, wanted to just be in and out as efficiently as possible for the sake of self preservation.
Hit the record for the trip on the drive to the park at an eye watering 41°C. This had me worried at the entrance to the park as it seemed the gates were closed, with a large crowd stuck outside them. Have they (sensibly) deemed it too hot to theme park?
Asked for clarification at the ticket desk and it turns out I’d just rocked up seconds before 3pm, at which point they had a cheap afternoon deal on, so everyone was just being held back for that. Sweet, I’ll take one of those please.
Thus one of my favourite parks in Japan was offensively under-priced.
Once inside, headed straight to what I knew as the new cred, #2 Lipovitan Rocket☆Luna, the weird Gerstlauer family suspended thing that very much suits this place. Had about a 30 minute wait (as advertised), but in a beautifully air-conned building, so all good.
Queueline has a bit of storyline setup, but most of it went over my head. Bad robots show up and pink power ranger shouts for help to blue power ranger, so loud that it carries through space.
The coaster itself is partially interactive, as you’re encouraged to scream or clap at certain key moments and then your train gets given a score on the final brakes. This is mainly on audio cue as the show building doesn’t really contain much of anything visually striking. You just sort of waft around some disco lights and sounds in a rather awkward layout that seems to not know what to do with itself. Kinda like the fashion themed spinning coaster across the way.
I had forgotten the details of the installation and was hoping for a launched lift or something to spice things up a bit, but there’s just two chain lifts, the second leading to the little outdoor fly by and then ending a tad slow as the station is elevated.
S’alright.
The actual newest coaster, though we use the term loosely here, was #3 Dino Runner. It’s a weird little powered contraption that barely, barely seems to be affected by gravity.
Trains are fun, as you can be seated on carnivores, herbivores or in a 3-adult-wide mine cart, all of which rhythmically rock back and forth during the layout.
It goes round a volcano, bit of smoke, bit of a water effect at the end, so all tarted up rather nicely. Just a complete non-event in terms of hardware. Good for a little cooldown.
You know what else is good for a cooldown. Wet Bandit.
This ride, specifically the summer upgrade that gets you wet, was life-changing on my first visit. On a day that had been riddled with rain-related spite, because ‘tracks were wet’, this 250ft monstrosity of a jet coaster was actively soaking everyone and itself by means of geysers, ridiculously powerful water jets hidden in forests and general summer party vibes.
It still delivered all of that on this occasion, though this time themed to anime babies and it’s remained an insane coaster to experience. The layout is just so weird, but weirdly good, starting out with the epic views from the top and a huge drop into some intense corners.
The highlights though are heading out into valleys and plains that feel miles from the station at that point, a true terrain coaster. The second half is interspersed with surprisingly good airtime hills, considering the restraints, age of it etc. These old Togos really are something special.
They were running it super efficiently for Japan too, two trains and all. Also upgraded the loose item system from ‘here’s a weird canvas sack for your stuff, stick that under your feet’ to free lockers. Ok, maybe that’s more boring and less quirky, but an upgrade to most.
Headed out just as an epic thunderstorm rolled in and evacuated the extremely sweaty water park, so that was good timing which then provided a very atmospheric drive out into the mountains. Pleased with the flying visit overall. +2 and some love to a legend of the industry. Great park.