Day Five: Space World and Uminonakamichi Seaside Park!
Space World was a park that I've known about for a LONG time. We didn't do it on our last Japan trip because it's really far away from Tokyo and we weren't ready to venture that down "south."
Space World is probably best known for "Titan" which is that mythical fourth Arrow Hyper Coaster built around the same time as Desperado and Pepsi Max. Hardly anyone has been on this ride, hell, even RCDB only has a handfull of photos. I had heard rumors that it's a "Magnum clone" but what we found out today is that's it's anything but! This ride is SO different from Magnum in every way other than the first drop drops and the trains. In fact, it reminds me more of Excalibur at Valleyfair than Magnum! Download the video and find our for yourself!
The other coaster this park is known for is "Venus." You've probably heard or seen pictures of the coaster with "a space shuttle in the middle of it." That's this one. Again, myths surround this ride as it's a "Mauer Shone, but designed by Schwarzkopf." Honestly, I have no idea if it's true or not. It certainly "feels" like it could be.
Overall this park was really nice. They had three other coasters, two of which were pretty much kiddies and one really messed up indoor "Gundam" ride! (Derek would kill for this!)
There was no one at the park, and in fact during the last hour we were there we didn't see Titan run once! You'll see in the photos what I mean by a "dead park!"
Oh, yeah, there was also one of those Vekoma "Wakiki Wave Super Flip" things which was REALLY psycho! I don't think one ever got built in the states, so this was kind of cool to ride!
Next up we visited a bizarre place, "Uminonakamichi Seaside Park"
This was a "bonus park" for us, and since it was only about 45 minutes away from Space World, and we were done with Space World by 1pm, we knew we could hit this place.
We didn't have much information other than it seemed like they had a pretty decent sized coaster and we knew the train station was RIGHT at the entrance to the park.
When we got there, it seemed like the place should have been closed. Both due to no one visiting, and it seemed like some rides have been removed recently. There were flat rides like an Enterprise that were on the map, but certainly not in the park!
It was creepy like Nara Dreamland in the sense that no one was around and there were these large plots of land in between sections of the park where nothing existed. The park itself seemed better maintained than Nara.
It's also part of a much larger "aquatic" complex where it looks like there are marine animal shows and a water park during the summer. The rides park looked kind of sad, though. We felt bad for it!
RCDB says the name of the coaster is called "Jet Coaster" but in front of it there was a big Dolphin sign....hmm...not sure what it was called!
The ride itself was actually quite big, but also kind of pointless. There were a couple of decent sized drops, no airtime or forces to speak up, some helixes, turns, and meandering around.
From the coaster we spotted something even more interesting....an obstacle course! This one was almost completely over water! Similar to the monkey bars that Joey was too much of a wuss to do at Farup Sommerland, water was under almost all of the obstacles. Not as deep at Farup's, but still water, and considering it was freezing outside, quite threatening!
Needless to say no one fell in! =)
Anyway, here's a few photos. You can find the entire photo and video update here:
http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum...ic.php?t=21216 
Venus - Yes the ride really is as cool as it looks!
Titan is that "other" Arrow Hyper. It's nothing like Magnum even though I was told it's a "clone!"
Nothin like being at a park where litterally there are only two other people there besides you!
--Robb
these are wonderful pics
Linear Mode
