Day Seven - Tobu Zoo, Nasu Highland
Day Seven - Tobu Zoo, Nasu Highland
Owen Rees
Coasters were brightly coloured, and the petrol powered monorail was fun.
Brian Sisk
Nasu Highlands is my favorite park of the trip so far. Coaster plaza is amazing-5 coasters all twisted together, each painted a different color. I couldn't get enough rides on their neat gas powered individual car monorail. You get to control the speed and stop for pictures along the way. Lots of fun to ride. I decided to try a real Japanese lunch. I have no idea what it was but I'm beginning to finally feel like I'm in Japan.
Lee Bennett
After an early start we were welcomed like royalty at nasu highland ! We were then treated to some excellent steel coasters Big Boom being my favourite !!
Say O nara !!
John Gerard
Nasu Highlands was a very nice park with some interesting themeing and bright colours, especially on the SLC. The section with all the coasters in one place was particularly cool-all those fun coasters in one place! The non-mouse spinning coaster was my favourite (I definitely hope to see more of those in closer parks in the future), followed by Big Boom with its steep drops (and very slow lift). The Camel Coaster was a big steel Leap the Dips. Panic Drive-fun coaster, great name! The Space Shot ride came out of a building, adding to its thrill. Nice carousel and Lego area, too. Loved the 1950s themed area-check out the "interesting" bumper stickers in the store.
Tim Herre
Nasu Highland had a true roster of rides to offer; as much as four coasters intertwined within each other, of which Big Boom surely was the best. That back seat really kicked ass. Today a big school had a day out at the park, and the girls were all so cute! You wanted to take every single one home with you. Again the walkthroughs were a real treat, especially the one themed after a haunted girl's university where you had to put headphones on. Their dark ride, Dark Castle, was also spooky. Owen Rees (big wanker!) then sent me to the wrong restroom, which was probably the scariest experience of the day.
To me, Tobu Zoo appeared to be pretty much run down. Albeit that, the TOGO looping wild mouse was quite enjoyable. I expected it to be a big pain in the arse but it wasn't. Regina is a decent woodie, definitely not one of my favourites but not bad. Especially at night, the back seat was filled with airtime. Their Intamin Giant Drop tower was making strange noises while the car was being lifted to the top. Seems like maintenance is an alien concept to them, at least on the tower, because both coasters were running pretty well.
Richard Bannister
The designers of Nasu Highland clearly spent a lot time playing Roller Coaster Tycoon, with four brightly coloured roller coasters entwined around each other. The green one, Thunder Coaster, even featured some of the track pieces found in that game, down to the rather sharp joins in the corkscrew elements. Big Boom in the back seat gives as much airtime I have ever experienced on any coaster anywhere; well worth doing in other words! In contrast, the engineers at TOGO probably never played RCT, as they would have discovered that their Crazy Mouse design at Tobu Zoo did not have enough energy for cars to make it around the track without a tiny second lift hill after the loop! I wonder if any engineers lost their job over that one...?
Andreas Lindemuth
Producer Meisho appears to like extreme angles in the drops on their coasters: A maximum slope of about 20 degrees on the Camelback coaster vs some 80 degrees on the Big Boom coaster. The latter does not offer air time, but hang time: close to 2 negative Gs on the first drop. Followed by some for Gs at the bottom of the first drop. I did not fade out altogether, but I saw some stars on that passage of the ride. Nasu Highland is leading the dark ride competition so far, with their "Dark Castle" (which really IS dark). Two haunted walk throughs were available as well, but the Joypolis ones are still clearly holding the pole position.
Keith Johnson
I had a wonderful time at Nasu Highland. I especially loved the Big Boom coaster; it got my big boom really going today! And added attraction was Tim Herre running down the midway singing everybody salsa! He even got the ride attendant going on the River Adventure, including all of the park patrons riding it with us. So far this has been one of the funniest visits I've had of a park in years.
Malcolm Marr
Nasu Park would be Linz Hoy's favourite park had she been on the trip. Plenty of Lego structures and a really nice mixture of rides. My favourite today was the yellow one (can't recall its name) which spun like a waltzer even without the pikey on the back. On the way out I came across a blue backpack creature that wants to live with Linz so I've adopted it and will be bringing it home. I hope you don't mind. The red coaster (can't recall its name) needed more hills and the blue coaster (can't recall its name) shows what Oblivion could be like had it had more rows to the train. Totally G-Force-A-Rific. It was a shame the black coaster (can't recall its name) wasn't running as it looked quite fun too.
Tobu Zoo was a really odd park, built on what appears to be a series of islands. Most of the rides are over the water. Regina is OK but Yomiuri's White Canyon is the better of the two, although the restraints here are more conventional. Tomorrow is the bullet train which I've been wanting to do for years.
David Cornell
Today I don't know. Backspace backspace. (Crazy laughter). Today we hit another fun park, packed with lots of rides. They had seven roller coasters, although most of them seemed like they were all the same roller coaster; the last one I rode had free spinning cars, and was my favourite one of the day so far. You spelt favourite wrong (RB the typist: no I didn't). The spinning coaster was also my 100th new coaster for 2005. Its been a busy year. Now we're headed to Tobu Zoo, where I will ride coaster number #666.
Evan Hoagland
Nasu Highland Fantasy Pointe; seven operating coasters and one not operating, and most of the coasters are all in one part of the park with a tangle of tracks. I'm pretty sure I've seen that tangle before many years ago in an ACE publication, and have always wanted to go there. I'm glad I did. They're very colourful; blue, yellow, purple, green, and my favourite was the Camel Coaster, a long smooth ride, and they had the spin turn coaster which was a spinning coaster which was not a wild mouse. Oh, and they have a nice dark ride - Dark Castle, with large animated monsters. Just some place I really wanted to go to - I'm glad I went.
Ric Turner
Kuma the bear says hi to Kai and Zak. I'm traveling through Japan with your dad. Today we went to two parks, Nasu Highland and Tobo Zoo. Nasu has lots of coasters in the same place that all twist and loop through each other! Luckily each is painted a different color so you can tell them apart. Your dad took lots of picturs and would like to send them to you, but he forgot his computer when he left last week. What a dufus. I look forward to meeting you and all your other friends soon, love, Kuma.
Tom Barr
Nasu Highland-What a nice experience! Good coasters, great people, great park and really nice surroundings.
Craig Knor
Nasu Highland was a nice surprise for me. The setting in the hills made for a great experience. One of the highlights was riding Spin-Turn Coaster with Jacob Broadrick who celebrated his 300th coaster at eleven years old. This park has a great selection of rides in a beautiful setting.
Bill Tyson
The last few days have been just wonderful. The parks and the rides are great. From Space Mountain at Disneyland to Journey to the Center of the Earth at Disney Sea and Thunder Dolphin at Tokyo Dome City. Going to Yomiuriland and riding The Bandit and White Canyon. I thought it was really interesting that they had a coaster that had both stand up and sitdown trains that use the same track. Then off the Joypolis and a shaky skate board but a spectacular view of Tokyo bay, with a replica of the Statue of Liberty, as we ate dinner. Today, Nasu Highland was very nice with many coasters all together, it was wild that you could be sitting on one and have two others come right by you. Off to Tobu Zoo and Regina, rode it during the day and it was rather rough. Rode it again at night and it seemed to be a totally different coaster. What a ride speed, air and a whole lot of rockin. First Mouse I've been on that looped very interesting. It was also nice to walk through and see the animals. Needless to say this trip so far has been a blast.
John Covan
Nasu Highland is a delightful small park tucked into foothills of a mountain covered in mist. Most of the coasters are crammed together in a spaghetti bowl. Remarkable are the bat flyer and the spinning coaster . The mid-course brakes on the flyer damped the ride experience while other coasters let 'er rip. The "hang & bang" Vekoma made me wonder if we had accidentally vectored through hyperspace back to America. Had lunch in a pleasant place serving tempura to strains of classical music - a good value and a chance to try authentic Japanese food right in a park. The workers attending rides were unfailingly cheerful and attentive.
B. Derek Shaw
Where could we be going with a 6:00AM departure from the hotel and a three hour journey to get there? Nasu Highland Park. It is situated high in the mountains in a very rural and beautiful area, 100 miles north of Tokyo. Nine coasters (8 operating with 1 SBNO) plus a good dark ride, stand-up parachute drop ride and of course a giant Ferris wheel (what respectable Japanese park doesn't have one?) The carousel was very attractive, sporting animal shaped topiaries on the roof; however I thought it odd that "Battle Hymm of the Republic" (American patriotic song) was playing instead of more traditional carousel band organ music. The names of the coasters are hard to read and harder to pronounce, so here's the order I rode them by color scheme: red, green, blue, yellow, purple and black, purple and turquoise, light green and pink and teal! (As riding partner Derek Cromarty remarked, it would be a real dilemma if they were all one color as no one would know which one is what, since many of them are intertwined with the others. I only wish we had about one hour more to fully explore this gem. Good food, friendly staff and yes, decent souvenirs, including polo shirts - a banner day in a teriffic park!
Next up, Tobu Zoo. Regina was even better than two years ago. (Still rough, but very fast at night.) The other two coasters were fun too. I'm sorry to see Rocky (the white coaster) being torn down. The Intamin Drop Tower was a blast - down! Had va lot of fun on it. The bear shaped donuts were a nice treat. There is a fair amount of construction going on. I hope this will draw in more people, as the park/zoo appeared fairly un-crowded. Another ten coaster day - not too shabby!
Stan Dabrowski
First trip, having a blast. Met alot of great people. Regina and looping mouse great surprises. Disney Sea was a fantastic Park as well. Coming to Japan has given me a new appreciation for Minne Mouse ears and a greater appreciation for American fast food.
Andrew Weiss (aka Mr. ACE)
Nasu Highland is a very colorful park, all the coasters are a different color. The best was Big Boom, a great first drop in back seat.Dark CASTLE A VERY INVENTIVE DARK RIDE., with good use of silhouettes. Regina at Tobu Zoo was excellent at night, front seat a blast. Yesterday rode a very weird sideways coaster, which was more intense than I thought it would be. Really enjoyed Thunder Dolphin at Dome City, great view of Tokyo while riding,and excellent section of trick track.
andycoasterboy-san
moshi moshi - nasu highland is a great park nested in the middle of forested scenery. If you can imagine a bowl of noodles at a park that is what all the coasters look like all mixed together in a great mess of steel. A spinning yellow coaster, a great supa drop blue coaster, the oligatory rough green corkscrew, a very rough purple coaster and a nice humpy red coaster. Then we are off to Tobu Zoo and Regina, an Intamin woodie built on a lake, a very rare looping mouse and a rusty old drop tower which badly needed a spray of WD40. We are joined by some new 12 year old members who join us for the ERS.... How many Cds do you have. I am happy. Jeff and Wortsie the Sapporo is steel very nice Japanese beer.
John Gerard
Tobu Zoo was an interesting park; more of a traditional park feel. I really enjoyed the looping mouse coaster, especially the "mini Ultimate" section. The over the shoulder restraints hindered the ride experience somewhat, though. Regina was a good woodie with some nice sections of airtime and decent speed. Sky Love was an overhead monorail ride that was used as transportation from one end of the park to another, sort of like a skyride. It had an interesting feature of having a winged horse or elephant above the carriage that flapped its wings or ears as the car travelled on the tracks.
Timothy Galvelis
Nasu Highland was an outstanding park. We had a half hour of EPT (exclusive park time) in the morning - the Spin Coaster, was a lot of fun but just a little to spinning for me. The Big Boom coaster was probably the biggest surprise for me at the park. It was pure intensity even with the harnesses. I forget the name of the corkscrew right now, but that really doesn't matter, because it is a forgettable coaster. The Camel Coater turned out to be better than Bandit, but that's not saying much. Unfortunately, Lightning, the best coaster in the park, was closed.
Panic Drive was a pretty intense mouse, especially when you ride it by yourself. Batflyer, of course was there for the credit, and still just as impossible to get into and out of. Then the last coaster for this park is the SLC, and the name of this one also escapes me right now, but I did manage to escape it alive.
More upbeat reports to come, including the extremely excellent BMRX at Kobe Portopialand.
George Greenway
Nasu Highland was asleep when we descended on it. It has a mass of coasters all different colours all intertwining, we agreed it must have been designed with roller coaster tycoon. The monorail gives the best view of the coasters, and if you wait long enough you'll get 2 running at the same time for a great picture.
We moved onto Tobu Zoo. The parks up till now have not cottoned onto a "jetno coaster" trip. we were treated with an exclusive hour after the park closed of the 3 coasters. I'd ridden the woodie once during the day, it too was too rough for me, but as the rides were laid on i gave it another go. The front seat was an awesome ride. it was rough but had so much energy that you would be going in all 3 directions at once. well done to the park a superb effort.
Al and Martha Amborn
Nasu Highland Park was so fantastic, especially if you have arthritis-all the coasters are, like, 5 feet apart! The most peculiar spinning coaster is there. Don’t eat before riding. Having a great time, however Justin 'The Donald' has fired me 5-6 times as coach captain apprentice! For Steve Thompson, the choice of draft is Kinin!
Matthew Pearce
Have you ever played RCT - one of the parks where you have to complete coasters in a small area of the park? This is how the back section of Nasu Highland. A collection of green, red yellow and blue track from the four coasters. To the side is the SNO coaster. The spinning coaster track runs through the loop of Big Boom.
The spinning coaster consists of twelve individually spinning cards, so you get the benefit of the spin without the turns of a wild mouse.
Big boom is refreshing with the 75 degree angle drop, but a short ride.
Another good ride was the star jets. Think of an autopia / monorail combination. A lever between the front seats allowed you to control the speed and stop the car. Fortunately, this ride ran between and adjacent to the coasters so you could stop it for good photo opportunities.
The African Safari ride was a moving shooting gallery. Two riders per car use rifles to set the various animals in motion.
Emi and I ate trout on a stick. Possibly caught at the park’s fishing section.
This is a compact park, deep in the woods that is worth your attention.
Matt Crowther & Betsy Abrams
This is one of the few major parks in Japan that we had not visited on past trips- and it was a very pleasant surprise. The park is clean and very nice looking nestled in the foothills north of Tokyo, with a lot of lush greenery and even trout streams. At the back end of the park 5 coasters (one a SBNO Schwarzkopf) are all jammed in together, each a different color (great for photography). The most distinctive to my mind is Big Boom, a short single loop coaster with one of the most wicked steep drops on any coaster anywhere. There is also a nice dark ride, a rapids ride, a flume - this park is one of the least known but best in Japan.
Dan Harvey
Nasu Highland Park - what a great place nestled up in the hillside! Never have I seen so many coasters packed into such a small space. Each steel coaster painted a different color, all intertwined, what a site! Riding each coaster offered it’s own perspective view of the other coasters. The yellow spinning coaster was really different, spinning as it went down the tracks, sometimes spinning quite quickly. I wish my kids were here, they’d love this park!! Having the park an hour before it opened was really nice!! The variety of food choices was great. I had a soup that was terrific that was made right there in front of me with noodles, vegetables, slice of pork and tofu in a pork broth. I’m getting pretty good with chopsticks now!
David Hamburger
Nasu Highland was another one of those parks that was more than the sum of its coasters. We weren’t expecting much with no real signature top tier ride here. But the view all around was spectacular! Mountains all around us, and coasters everywhere! Especially in the back section called Coaster Plaza, which looked like something most of us would design in RCT, with 4 coasters of different colors intertwined. It made for some GREAT picture-taking, especially from the other nearby rides (and the Space Shot.) And how many other parks have such beautiful mountain backdrops? Big Boom, with it’s steep, airtime-filled drop was probably most people’s favorite coaster here, although Spin-Turn Coaster was probably the most fun.
Robert Hill
Nasu Highland was the greatest surprise! This is a wonderful and unique park where there is a great blend of coasters that can be identified by COLOR!! The red one (better known as Camel Back Coaster) was Number 400 for me, and this was a great one for that significant landmark! Very fun, lengthy and smooth (with maybe a harsh turn or two, but it was great)! The blue one (Big Boom) has an incredibly steep first drop that was awesome and very different from the front and back. Then comes the yellow one (the Spin/Turn Coaster) where a full length train has every car spinning throughout the ride, the first of its kind (to my knowledge) and I loved it! I also loved the 'mouse ride' with the old-fashioned cars! An excellent park and must-visit for any coaster enthusiast!