Yomiuri Land by Kwan

Japanese amusement parks has been known for the fun and creativity they can offer, and finally, the time has come for me to introduce the biggest and probably the most famous amusement park of Kangawa prefecture, the Yomiuri Land.

Initially, I must admit that it was hard for me to set high expectation for this amusement park. This is due to the fact that I have been to Fuji-Q, one of the craziest and most frightening amusement park in Japan (and in the world, I dare say), a few months before.  As such, I was a little bit concern that I might end up comparing the two and not enjoying Yomiuriland as much as I should.

However, all my concerns were gone once the tour was finished on that day. Yomiuri Land may not be a mega-sized theme park like Disneyland or Fuji-Q, but it still offers a great variety of unique attractions, creativity, and some extremely beautiful sights that no other amusement parks can offer.



We began the tour by arriving at Keio Yomiuri Land train station. From here, we can take a Gondola Sky Shuttle (200 yen for a one-way trip) which will take the visitors directly into the amusement park (which is located in the middle of the mountains near the city area).



The leaves in the mountain are still changing colors when we visited, which means that we can get a magnificent view of the surrounding mountains while riding on a sky shuttle. And as the sky was clear on that day, we could even see the top of Mt.Fuji as well. Can any other theme park offer a scenery like this? I don't think so. ;)



The top of Mt.Fuji and autumn leaves, as seen from the sky shuttle.

 

Our first attraction of the day was "Bandit",the biggest, most popular, and most thrilling ride of this place. You may notice here how there is such a few people waiting in the queue. This is indeed one of the best thing about Yomiuri Land; the place is not insanely crowded like other bigger theme parks, which means it takes less than 10 minutes to wait for each ride. What's more, if you buy a free pass ticket, then you get to ride it again and again until you manage to memorize every single turns and ups and downs of this roller coaster. Yes, no need to wait 2 hours for just one ride here.



The main attractions here are not limited to rides. Here is the ancient Egypt-styled adventure where you can go in and face numerous challenges and trials inside such as running through a room filled with laser beams. The queue here was also not too long so it was possible to play again and again and again until you are totally satisfied.



Other attractions in the park include:

A Go-Kart ride: The course is a lot longer than I expected.



House of Terror, where ghosts (mainly Japanese, despite  the place being a western-styled mansion) awaits you. There is also a game here where numerous clues will be given to you along your journey throughout the house, and you have to point out the real culprit at the exit. It's probably a kid's game so the clues are not too hard....except for the fact that everything is in Japanese.



Wanpaku Train Oliver: a cute little train ride through a small garden with mascots and character models everywhere. The history and details of the park is also explained during the train ride. Quite a pleasurable experience, but  I must admit that having three grown-up men (me and my friends) riding it quite a bit awkward.



This ride is called Merry-Go-Landdog. Instead of horses, here we have LANDDOGs, the mascot of Yomiuri Land. I must say I love this dog's design (especially those creepy staring eyes).





White Canyon: another thrilling ride here. The selling point is how classic (aka ancient) it looks. You can actually hear the woods creaking as you ride the coaster, which really adds to the excitement.



Momonga (Japanese word for flying squirrel) is also recommended. It may be an extremely short ride with just one loop, but the special thing here is that you have to STAND while you ride it. Yes, it is the first time in my life going through a roller coaster loop while I was standing.



Crazy Hyuuuu and Crazy Stooon: One of them will shoot you straight up, then you go directly to the next tower, which will let you fall straight down.



The Sea Lion show, where you can observe the extreme cuteness of these creatures.

The Ferris Wheel can be a boring attraction in many theme parks but not here. Yomiuri Land is surrounded by beautiful forest and mountains so watching the scenery from such height is definitely worth a try. Unfortunately, the queue after sunset was  getting ridiculously long so I didn't get to ride it at night (which should be even more beautiful due to park illuminations). Nonetheless, the view of the park from above during the day is still beautiful.

The mountains surrounding the place is very vibrant thanks to the autumn leaves and if the weather is good you can also get a clear view of Mt.Fuji. I also love the fact that there is so much nature surrounding the place instead of only man-made attractions.

As we needed a little break during the evening after spending 3-4 hours being thrown around on the roller coasters, we all went to the park named "Seichi Park" which is located right next to the main part of Yomiuri Land.

The park has a beautiful and relaxing atmosphere, especially near sunset. Visiting here during fall also provides a great opportunity to watch leaves changing colors (and the sakura blooming during spring should be rather nice as well).



The temple and the pagoda at Seichi Park

And now comes the park's real highlight (I feel I've used this word somewhere above already, but this park does have many highlights indeed), the event called JEWELLUMINATION where the entire park is lit with multi-color lights from 5 pm onward.



Illuminations is one of the things you seriously NEED to see during the cold season in Japan, and I must say that Yomiuriland has one of the most beautiful illumination I've seen by far. As much as I would love to describe everything in details here, I'm afraid that I may run out of adjectives to describe how nice it looks. Thus, I'll leave it to these photos to describe the rest of my experience.

This Jewellumination event is run until March 11, 2012.

Also, please be reminded that the park will get very crowded  after sunset due to those who come to see the lights. The queue will get quite long here, so it's best to arrive at the place during the day and enjoy all the rides (with near zero waiting time) then close of the perfect day with this illuminations.

All in all, Yomiuri Land is a perfect place to spend your day and night. I think that sums it all up. :)






Yomiuri Land can be easily reached by train from the major stations or by bus. However, my personal recommendation is to use Keio line and take the train to Hashimoto Station. Get off at Keio Yomiuriland Station. From there, you will have an opportunity to ride the sky shuttle directly into the park, which costs only 200 yen and provides a magnificent scenery view.

For detailed information about the ticket prizes, opening and closing time, and other ways of accessing the park, I suggest taking a look at the park's official website.

• http://www.yomiuriland.co.jp/english/
• http://www.yomiuriland.co.jp/jewellumination/   - - the website regarding the Jewellumination event, with a nice promotional clip as well