Dodonpa in Japan closing for a makeover on October 2nd 2016

A few days ago, the official Fuji-Q Highland Facebook page revealed that Dodonpa was closing for a "major makeover" on October 2nd 2016. It will reopen in July 2017 transformed and they have not revealed what will be changed.

Now, S&S is still building air launched coasters in China and I wonder if they will bring S&S back to build a new layout? There is a lot of land available and it could really use new higher capacity trains.

I hope it's an RMC.

Invert.

Sucks.

Considering how long Hypersonic ran at PKD, I'm surprised the ride is still there, much less operational.

Wondering if there isn't a new company coming in, changing the launch mechanism, layout, etc...?

Yeah, I didn't realize it was still a thing. Hypersonic was easily the worst coaster I've been on. My thighs hurt for days after that.

I hope whatever they do doesn't hurt the rides INSANE acceleration to top speed in 1.8 seconds.... I've always wanted to feel what that feels like as nothing else even gets close to being blasted out of that tunnel.

It wasn't a comfortable ride, to put it mildly. But the acceleration was incredible.

Hopefully that'll be preserved in whatever Dodonpa 2.0 turns out to be.

Jeff said:

Yeah, I didn't realize it was still a thing. Hypersonic was easily the worst coaster I've been on. My thighs hurt for days after that.

Sounds like someone has yet to ride ThighCrush...Hershey's ride has about 6 or 7 spots equally as bad as cresting the hill on Hypersonic...

If anyone's curious, here's the official announcement (via Google Translate):

9 / 14-10 / 2 Dodonpa night to campaign Dodonpa to business pause , the remaining 20 days ! ! 2001 December 21 , 172km / h the world's fastest coaster that reaches ( currently Japan fastest) in just 1.8 seconds from the start has emerged as " Dodonpa " receives a pounding and feeling that cheer up of more than 7.5 million people to oneself , Fujikyu 4 as a large coaster , I would have hated when loved by everyone . Dodonpa , because the reborn and renewed the course layout in July next year , now that I am allowed to rest for a while . To everyone that not stop love Dodonpa , with feeling of appreciation of 15 years , will be held from " Good night Dodonpa campaign " September 14 (Wednesday ) . For more information about events ,

Receives a pounding. Giggity.

I had no real problems with H:XLC. I actually loved that ride in spite of the horrible capacity (someone had to say it), the abysmal reliability, and the short ride time. The first 10 seconds of that ride are what I wish Dragster and KK could have been. SkyRush was about 100 times worse on my legs.

Totally agree about Hypersonic, but I'll take it a step further and say I had no issues at all on it SkyRush, either. That's easily a favorite of mine.