The second park today was Kijima, which had been included in the itinerary for one reason only...a wooden coaster called Jupiter. But before enjoying that we had the rest of the park to explore with no more than 4 coasters and a bunch of side-attractions to keep us entertained.
First up was Gold Rush a lengthy mine train ride with no queue. Whilst the track looked nice and big the same could not be said of the trains. There was no leg room whatsoever, I think thalidomide victims would find this a bit of a squeeze.
The second coaster was much more pleasant to ride, although the layout was a little dull. It was nice to see some locals in a park though.
Yet another dragon, this one was a little different to those previously ridden in that it went round for 4 laps as opposed to the usual 2.
Coaster number 4 is a looping corkscrew ride where you're not allowed to enjoy yourself if you have black eyes.
The ride itself was fine and with not competition was the best of the four so far, which isn't usually the case with a corkscrew ride.
The park has a rather unique splashdown ride in that the boat has had a roof retro-fitted onto it. Not sure why when the point of the ride is to get wet.
The downside to doing that is that the boat is carrying much more weight than normal and hits the water far harder than anything out there. One of our group broke two and bruised two other ribs on this when someone else on his row kept a backpack across his chest leaving a gap between the body and the restraint. When the boat hit the water the guy without the backpack was thrown into the restraint. It was so bad that he left the trip and flew home that night. We had spare ribs for dinner in his honour :)
Onto Jupiter now. The coaster was built in 1992 and has aged quite badly and it is one of the longest wooden coasters in the world which means you get beaten up for quite a long time. But having said that I couldn't stop riding it although that might have been because my legs were so beaten up by the experience that I couldn't get out.
A lot of the group hated this ride but for a small retarded minority, me included, it offered a decent challenge and a good hour of enjoyment.
Not surprisingly given what the area is known for the park has a small hot spring in which to relax and warm your feet, if that's your thing.
Tim enjoys dinner with the King.
Snow White and the lego dwarves.
The park's big wheel is a little unusual in that 2 of the seats have had the cabins replaced with totally exposed cable car seats with just a lap strap to stop you falling to your death. Surprisingly it wasn't that exciting, perhaps if the seats tipped a little forward at the top the park could have had the scariest ride of the trip.
A view of Jupiter from the top of the wheel. I was hoping for a shot of the car going around the track but the despatch wasn't that great and none arrived for the entire duration of a wheel revolution.
Random park characters.
Having done the coasters it was time to try some of the other unique attractions. First up was a haunted walkthrough but not themed around the usual characters (Jason, Exorcist, Freddy Kreuger etc.). This one was themed around masked Mexican wrestlers. Now because I've done a few haunted walkthroughs before I know what to expect most of the time and the only thing that scares me now is stuff I've not come across before...like masked Mexican wrestlers. Yep, I got scared...a lot with some of the statues coming to life and jumping out when I was least expecting it. The final room was also quite cool with another masked wrestler who put us into various camera poses.
The other cool attraction where we spent quite a bit of time was the Segway ride area. None of us had done this before so thought it would be quite a laugh. After a quick induction where you learn how to balance on it you're then let loose in a little enclosure where you quite surprisingly get more and more comfortable with the ride and end up clowning around.
Some clowned around more than others.
Some couldn't control their rides properly and crashed into the barriers.
and one or two required extra supervision.
Kijima is an OK park, where the wooden coaster will be the reason foreigners visit but it would be the walkthrough and Segway that most will enjoy.
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