Sunday I went to Tobu Zoo. It seems that the "trolley park" idea hasn't completely died out in Japan. In the early days of the 20th century, trolley lines would build amusement parks out at the end of their lines so that people would have a reason to use the trolley on weekends. Most major cities had at least one; some had several. Tobu Zoo is owned and operated by the Tobu railway company, and is not completely at the end of their line, but it's about an hour outside Tokyo (or 35 minutes on the express train).
As we approached the park, the train passed through an area with quite a few rice paddies.
When I got there, most of the rides were running, but because of high winds, Kawasemi, the Intamin steel coaster wasn't...and it was the ride I most wanted to go on. But they said that if the wind died down during the day, they would start running it. Here it is in all its non-running glory:
Right after I got there, thunder started to be heard in the distance. Uh-oh! They closed down all of the big rides, but the テントウムシ (Ladybug) coaster was running. At least I would get one coaster ride in, even if it was just a little one!
I went through the haunted-house walk-through, and the (very disorienting) mirror maze while waiting for things to open again...
Finally the thunder stopped (without ever turning into rain) and most of the rides re-opened, including Regina, the park's wooden coaster. I went on it...it is a really fun large coaster with a nice helix. However, something that I'd forgotten from the 2005 trip until I was waiting...this park has the slowest loading procedures I've ever experienced! It took 5 minutes from the time the train pulled into the station until the next train departed. First they unloaded the train, and only then started letting people in for the next train. Even though the line was short, it took forever.
But, when I was almost on board, I happened to look over and see a train going up Kawasemi's lift hill! I was going to be on the next train for Regina, so I waited for it, then hurried over to get in the queue for Kawasemi. (As it turns out, it was a miracle that I happened to see the train, because with the slow boarding procedures, it was only visible for about 5 seconds out of every 8 minutes.)
And then, as I was about to board, the thunder started again, and they stopped running it. Argh! But this time it was for a good reason, because in a few minutes, they sky opened up and it started absolutely pouring...with hail mixed in to boot. I took refuge going through Galaxy Walkers, which was another mirror-maze attraction, but with some fun interactive elements...at the beginning, you're given a weight to hold, and then at the end, you encounter five balls, and have to pick the one that weighs the same as the weight at the beginning. It took me a couple of tries, but I got it.
More rain, more hail...eventually it slowed down, and I got some soba for dinner. Afterwards I noticed that they were sweeping the water out of Kawasemi's station, so I hung around, and sure enough, they opened it! This time I got on.
It was a fantastic ride. Not tall for an Intamin steel coaster, but it featured my favorite Intamin coaster element, the "Stengel Dive." This is a bit hard to describe, but it's basically a non-inverting corkscrew. The track follows the shape of a corkscrew, but as you enter it, it twists around so that you're right-side up at the top instead of upside down. As you are going over the top of the hill, the track is twisting under you in a really fun way. And Kawasemi had four Stengel Dives!!!
Quick description of the ride: you go up a 100' elevator lift, and then down a steep hill to a ground-level highly banked turn over the water. The first Stengel Dive goes back under the lift; then you have a nice air-time-filled hill leading into another ground-level turn-around. Then 3 more Stengel Dives back towards the lift, another turn around, and a series of bunny-hops leads back to the final turn-around going back into the station.
It turns out that they ran it only four times before the wind picked up again, but I was on two of them, both times in the front car, and the second time in the very front seat. I was a happy camper!
Kawasemi means "kingfisher." Look at the lovely calligraphy on the sign, and see whether you can match it up to the kana カワセミ。
Elsewhere in the park, there was this cute little stand selling cute little fresh-baked bear-shaped sponge cakes. These are a popular park food here. The kana means, "Mr. Bear Sponge Cake".
A couple shots looking back across the lake at the park as I was leaving...
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