Eejanaika, Baby!!

Eejanaika
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This morning Lance and I caught the 10 am bus to Fuji-Q Highlands Amusement Park for 1500 yen.  We were supposed to meet Lily and Kelly and Kelly's brother at the main gates at 11:30 but only Lily showed.  We then met Greg and Sayaka at the Fujiyama ride at 1pm.  Nothing of interest happened until we met Greg.  We mostly wandered around the park trying to get our bearings and passes.  We all ended up getting free passes which are not free at all but let you into all the rides for free and include your admission to the park.  The free pass cost 4800 yen but this was a pretty good deal considering that admission is usually 1200 yen and each of the top 3 rollercoasters are 1000 yen per ride.

Greg, Lance, Lily, and I on Fujiyama
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The first ride we went on was Fujiyama and it was really diving into the deep end for me.  I have never been on a rollercoaster that did more than go in a circle around the room.  Fujiyama did not go upside down but it starts out with a long, slow rise to 50+m and then a fast, terrifying drop.  The rest was just turns and jerks but it was really fun.  They have cameras set up on all the rides and take your picture at climactic moments (which is, of course, when you are looking your absoloute worst) and you can buy pictures or stickers after the ride is over.  We got a set of four stickers which worked out well since there were 4 of us.  It worked out to 100 yen each for one sticker.

Lance and I on the last run of eejanaika. Ok so you can't tell that I have a neck, but my eyes are definitely open!
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The boys decided that the next ride we would just jump right into eejanaika.  This ride just opened in July and was the reason Greg wanted to go to Fuji-Q at all.  It holds the Guiness World Record for the most number of inversions (14) and was pretty damn scary.  You are not sitting in cars but are suspended from the track and much of the ride you are backwards.  The ride starts with a 50 second vertical climb backwards followed by a 10 second, face-down, vertical drop where you are staring at the ground as it rushes toward you.  After that it is just a lot of turns and loops and at one point you almost touch the ground.  But it was amazing.  Of course I didn't see any of this because I had my eyes closed as tightly as they would go.  When we were looking at the pictures of us afterwards, Greg said that it looked like my face was being sucked into itself that is how tightly they were closed.

Dodonpa. I will have to go back someday just to try this one...
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So after eejanaika, Greg and Sayaka went to the haunted house and we went to get in some more rides on our free pass before the rain closed the rollercoasters.  We went on the Red Tower (which takes you up 60m in the air and drops you straight down) and Panic Clock which was a lame ride that just holds you upside down a bit but it was free with our day pass so what are you gonna do?  We then got some grub (which may have been a mistake due to the timing of successive events) and headed over to line up for Dodonpa.  After waiting for an hour in the 1 hour and 20 minute lineup we were told that the ride was closed due to rain.  I'm not really sure why because it wasn't even raining anymore and Fujiyama and eejanaika were still running but such is life.  We were given these ticket things that we believed would get us to the front of the line if the ride were to start up again.

The Red Tower
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We then headed toward a Shingen Takeda (local historical hero) maze attraction but decided to stop in at this coffin thing instead because the wait was only 15 minutes.  It was the stupidest thing I have ever been to.  First we had to watch this really bad, not at all scary black and white video all in Japanese for like 5 minutes and then we filed into this theatre with all kinds of coffins standing on end.  We each chose a coffin and stood in it.  The lights went out and there were some "scary" noises and some guy screaming in Japanese. I got sprayed with water several times (although no one else did) and then the ride was over.  We all left laughing (even the Japanese people so I don't think it was a lost in translation problem).

Close-up of eejanaika
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After this Lily headed home and Lance and I headed to the Haunted House.  It was an extra 500 yen over and above our free pass and was worth none of it.  It was a mock hospital done up Silent Hill style (it was definitely based on the Silent Hill hospital) and we were given a flashlight and then sent through a maze marked with arrows.  Every once in a while someone in really bad gore makeup jumped out at us making hissing or monkey noises.  It was really pathetic.  I have concluded from this ride that Japanese people are faint of heart and easily scared!!

Eejanaika Eejanaika
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By the time we got out of this ride it was around 6:45 and the park closes at 8.  We noticed that there was a car on the Dodonpa track again so went to try and cut the line with our special ticket.  We were greeted by a man holding a sign that apparently said the ride was done for the night and not to bother lining up because we wouldn't get on.  We showed him our tickets and tried to convince him that we should be an exception because we already waited in line for an hour for nothing.  His only response was to make an X with his arms and say "finished."

We decided that we should go on Fujiyama or eejanaika one more time before leaving the park.  Fujiyama was still open but the opportunity for me to do eejanaika again, with my eyes open, was far too appealing.  We ran to the other end of the park just in time for the last ride of the night.  There was no line and we got the prime seat (ichiban, baby) and I got to do it with my eyes so wide they were bulging out of their sockets!!  It was amazing!!  It was SO much better with my eyes open, even in the dark.  Go here http://www.themeparkreview.com/videos/eejanaika.htm to see a video of the ride (start at 2:10 to see the first person perspective from start to finish).  This time my picture did not look like my face was imploding and I bought another set of 4 stickers (for 400 yen).

Having experienced the best parts of the park, minus Dodonpa, we headed to the bus stop and then the train station and got a 2 hour, 1800 yen train home.  My advise to anyone planning a visit to Fuji-Q would definitely be "stick to the rollercoasters!"

(By the way, my camera was dead so I don't have any pictures save the stickers above.)