Visited Fuji Q again last week for the first time since 2017.
Dodonpa was very depressing to see being cut up, the whole station building is gone, most of the launch has gone and it's mostly the loop and a bit of the turnaround left.
Eejainaika is as insane as always, took my breath away every ride and it's still firmly my =1 coaster. Just insane from start to finish. I do worry for its future though.
Also had an interesting experience towards the end of the day, where they had put the 2nd train on.
The train came into the load/unload platform, and the restraints wouldn't unlock. The second train came back in afterwards and stopped on the transfer track. They then slid the transfer track WITH RIDERS ON IT, into the maintenance position. They then rolled the 1st train backwards from the station back onto the transfer track. Then forwards again into the station, and the restraints unlocked.
So the second train load of passengers basically spent 15 minutes sat in a cold maintenance shed waiting for all this to happen.
Rode
ZOKKON for the first time as well. Very strange coaster, it's fun, surprisingly forceful, but I dunno. It just seems like a lot of budget went on the station and the landscaping, but the ride itself leaves a lot to be desired. They also hype it up a lot, moreso than Eejanaika - warning you how crazy it's going to be - when it doesn't warrant it at all.
Think of it as a strange budget mix of Tron Lightcycle Run and Hagrids Motorbike Adventure.
The operations at the park are as irritating and as slow as ever. So so many stages to being checked and reminded and instructed. The Eejanaika process is now:
1. Spend 30 minutes queuing when theres about 20 people in line.
2. Stand in front of a facial recognition camera which is mounted too low for even Japanese visitors, so everyone has to crouch down awkwardly.
3. Go to the locker area and put your stuff in a locker, at this stage the order of the riders gets mixed up so you can end up anywhere on the train.
4. Get asked to show you have nothing in your pockets, they want you to pat your pockets and show them (lol)
5. Go through a metal detector
6. Stand in a pre-batching area, on your row number, waiting for the presentation to begin. They then present the seating position to you on a big printed sign on the wall, both sides of the station in unison, while they point at the sign with a stick. Basically says to sit back against the headrest, brace your legs against the leg rests and hold on. They make everyone do a chant similar to "Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes" to confirm you understand
7. Move to the batching area, and wait for your turn.
8. 15 minutes later get on the train, fasten the seatbelt, the ops do your butterfly restraint and additional seatbelts, and then get you to pull the belts to show they are OK.
It's so so slow and riddiculous and if you're going with limited time, get the fastpass option because even with an almost none existent queue, the ride operations are so so bad you need it!
Also, they closed Takabisha 1 hour before the park closed, which is a complete pisstake. Whilst in the queue for a final ride on Eejanaika, they were playing announcements as each ride closed, and it was way too early.
I still like the park, but I worry with their current attitude to ops and safety, that they could possibly remove Eejanaika, leaving them with a pretty crap line up compared to the past. I hope that Dodonpa will get replaced with something substantial or cool.
that is frustratingly slow, that should not take 40+ seconds. Don't see why they didn't do an LSM boost out of that (like Hagrid's first one after the station).
