Nagashima Spaland, or, What's CP doing in Japan?
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Nagashima Spaland – 8/9/01
(Sorry for the lateness of this report.)
As I drive to the peninsula, I see many familiar sights…..there is the big red out and back hyper coaster, the massive woodie, multi-leg S&S tower, Intamin freefall, Imax Movie, Arrow Corkscrew, the water park next to the 2 on-site hotels, the lagoon……I love going to Cedar…..oh wait….I’m in Japan. This is REALLY familiar though! Nagashima is a beautiful, friendly, and sparkling clean amusement park located on the Pacific, near the city of Osaka.
The rides: For illustration, I’ve provided a link to one picture for each coaster. (I love my new camera!) Many more pictures can be found on www.CoasterGallery.com
Children coaster: A standard Tivoli coaster from Zierer similar to many in the states. Always good fun:
http://www.coastergallery.com/japan/N01.html
Corkscrew: An older model of Arrow corkscrew. This one was very fun thanks to the proximity of the trees to the ride. Very enjoyable! http://www.coastergallery.com/japan/N04.html
Jet Coaster: A Togo that is not a torture device! Cool! This ride was basically a mine train, and had some fun moments like a drop over the lagoon. Smooth, fun…..is this really a Togo? ;) http://www.coastergallery.com/japan/N06.html
Looping Star: It’s always fun to ride an Anton Schwarzkopf coaster. This single looping coaster is like Python at Busch Garden’s Tampa. Fast, smooth, fun, and just lap bars. Oh yeah! http://www.coastergallery.com/japan/N07.html
The world’s biggest pirate ship???? This thing has to be seen to be believed! Judging it’s height compared to SD2K I would estimate it to be in the 200-250 foot range. Two boats that held an extrordinary number of people each. Check out the size of this thing! http://www.coastergallery.com/japan/N08.html
Steel Dragon 2000 – The size of this coaster when you first see it is overwhelming. The climb up the lift hill takes a REALLY long time. I couldn’t believe it. There is a lot of time to let the fear grab hold of you. The first drop is heavenly, and is just the first part of a great coaster. Next, the second hill gives delicious, floating airtime for what seems like an eternity. The 3rd hill continues in the same fashion, this time with a twisting drop leading to the complicated turnaround. The turnaround is lengthy and complex. I enjoyed it, however a lot of speed is lost here, and there were a few seconds that I might even call (dare I?) a little boring. The return leg trip is nothing but air thanks to a half a dozen bunny hops and the occasional tunnel. Wow! What a ride!!! OK, time to get something out of the way: Is SD2K better than MF – No - Is MF better than SD2K – No. They are very, very different coasters. Some people may prefer one, some people may prefer another. I thought the trains were less ugly in person, and were actually quite nice to ride in. Hats off to Morgan, this is truly a world class ride! http://www.coastergallery.com/japan/N09.html
Shuttle Loop – OK, so they didn’t put a whole lot of thought into the name of this ride, but it really doesn’t matter. There are simply not enough of these fun coasters left. (Especially the flywheel models, which think give an even more thrilling ride…Montezooma, Lazer Loop, etc.) I hope everyone gets to ride one of these before they’re all gone. http://www.coastergallery.com/japan/N17.html
Ultra Twister – A trip report I read from 2-3 years ago said that Nagashima’s old Ultra Twister was gone, so I was pleasantly surprised to find this here. Everything about it looks brand spanking new, so perhaps they traded in for a new one not too long ago? What a unique ride! This one still has the 90-degree lift hill like the one here in the US had when it was at SFGAd. http://www.coastergallery.com/japan/N25.html
White Cyclone – OK, I’ll admit after riding many big wooden coasters in the USA that haven’t held up well I grabbed my Aspirin right before I got in line for this one. Boy was I wrong! Nagashima really must give it TONS of TLC. Some parts of the helices were bumpy, but overall if was in great condition. Even more surprising was the condition of the paint job. After just a few years, a painted woodie can really start looking bad (see Twister II), but there wasn’t a single flake of paint missing or even dirty looking on this ride. I simply can’t imagine the maintenance they perform just to keep the ride looking so good.
This Intamin woodie had airtime like I couldn’t believe in the front. (Airtime similar to the front of Cornball Express, but even more plentiful). The helices were fast and furious, and the ride never let up with its intensity. I wish I could describe this ride adequately. Perhaps if you imagine Son of Beast and Cornball Express having a baby it will give you an idea of what it was like! http://www.coastergallery.com/japan/N26.html
Wild Mouse – This is actually 2 Mack Wild Mouse coasters set up as mirror images of each other, which adds a very fun dueling aspect to the ride. This is REALLY fun, I hope a big park in America considers adding 2 of these, it really helps with capacity.
Overall Nagashima is an amazing park. World-class rides combined with world class operations make for a world class park. The selection of flat rides was also great. My only complaint….it’s too far away from home!
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- Peabody
Although I'm so grateful that you obviously visited the park without negative biases and pre-made opinions, I have one problem. Why does everybody find it impossible to compare MF and SD2K? If you're comparing Nagashima to CP, I'd imagine it wouldn't be TOO hard..
Admittedly, they're almost COMPLETELY different coasters, but they are in the same league. But myself favoring Mamba over Millennium Force, I'm eager to know! Would it be that dangerous to state your preference? I know you have one...
Well, I hope you can overlook my hypocrisy, but if MF wasn't at Cedar Point I would ask the same thing. Any comment would be appreciated, although I thoroughly enjoyed your TR in it's present form!
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Musician, snowboarder, member of ACE and the ECC
2. A Double Mouse is going into Disney's Animal Kingdom.
3. Isn't White Cyclone an Intamin Woodie?
Thanks for the report. Sounds like a great park! BTW, I'll be heading to this park and more in 2002. Looking forward to the experiance...
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Don't look down-Oblivion
Great tr and nice pics. One question though-What kind of trains does white cyclone run?
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http://pacoasters.proboards.com/
Ed - I see your point. I compare Nagashima to CP just because how many parks are on penninsulas with 2 on site hotels, seperate water park, and similar rides? It caught me off guard! OK, let me try to make a fair comparison of SD2K to MF. SD2K is very similar in ride experience to Mamba or Steel Force, just larger and with an expanded turnaround. The ride is fast and smooth, with gentle, floating air. There is no "ejector" air, just a lot of floating. A lot of speed is lost between the beginning and the end. Differences: MF feels much faster, and maintains a higher speed. Also, MF has a more out of control feeling, while SD2K has a very controlled, calculated feel. If you want to have an idea of the diffferenced between the 2, try comparing Mamba to S:ROS (Darien Lake or America), and that will give you an idea. They are very different, but not in size of the first hills.
PT300 - Yeah, I mean scorpion. Oops. Yes, Intamin built White Cyclone, I thought I said that in my TR
Steve O - White Cyclone uses good old PTC trains!
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- Peabody
Do they allow you to sit wherever you please, is there a first come first served policy, or is it all assigned? I ask this because I found Mamba's very front row to be immesurably better than the rest of the seats. The back seats were great, but I was just astonished by the airtime in the front, and only the VERY front. The 2nd and 3rd rows didn't have the same effect.
Did you get a ride in the front? In my opinion, that's where Steve Okomota is thinking when he designs things, balance wise.
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Musician, snowboarder, member of ACE and the ECC
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- Peabody
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Check out my website!
http://www.geocities.com/ethylsite
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Yeeee Haaawwww!
The giant pirate ship looks like just that is worth a trip there, what a major thrill swinging that high in the air! Is that a Huss dream boat?
*** This post was edited by super7 on 11/16/2001. ***
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"Apu, make me a squishy entirely made of syrup. My god, such an attempt has never been successful. Just make it happen. oh my god its going to blow! Ding! Thank You, Come again..." - Simpsons
IGGY "KING OF COASTERS" said:
Top notch park review and world class photos , added all of them to my screen saver slide show! Wish I had the time and money to go myself ? About your SD2K vs MF statements , I was hopeing for a straight out opinion one was better than the other? Reading between the lines sounded like you prefered the out of control feeling of MF vs the larger more caculated drops on SD2K, either way Iam sure they bolth rock! Given the angle of decent on MF 80' vs 60' on SD2K I would say #1 drop on earth goes to MF best overall non inverted steel would go to SD2K. I guess that just my view on the subject, I guess deep down inside I a little pissed that MF lost most of its records to a coaster over seas ! and with everthing thats going on in the world I bet SD2K will hold that record for sometime to come!
Don't count on it. ;)
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