Bucket List Parks: Fuji-Q Highland

Nestled at the base of Mount Fuji in Yamanashi, Japan is a park as eclectic as it is innovative, a haven for theme park lovers and world travelers alike: Fuji-Q Highland. It’s a something-for-everyone kind of spot that still pulls off the act of being wholly itself. It’s a smaller park, so small that charm may be a word assigned to Fuji-Q, but I think that word undersells its grandness. Because this small park packs a punch. Boasting a “Big 4” roller coaster lineup and an array of non-coaster attractions (including two year-round haunted attractions), Fuji-Q Highland uses every acre of its land to produce a one-of-a-kind, immersive guest experience. 

Bucket List Parks 

In my months spent social distancing in Florida, dreaming of going back out to parks again, I developed this running list of places I just had to make it out to as soon as I could. Some are American parks, like Six Flags Magic Mountain and Silver Dollar City. Many were European and many were chains (see: Europa Park and Universal Studios Japan, respectively). But the first park that came to my mind, the one I daydreamed away at from my couch, was Fuji-Q Highland.

So why is this a Bucket List Park? More than that, why is this my number one Bucket List Park? And why should it be yours, too? The first (and most obvious) reason is the ride lineup. That “Big 4” I referred to earlier is no joke. Any one of these rides could be your next favorite coaster.

The “Big 4” 

• Do-Dodonpa (previously just named Dodonpa prior to a speed increase and addition of a massive vertical loop in 2017) is a creation of U.S. manufacturer S&S. A compressed air launch coaster, this is the world’s fastest-accelerating coaster. (You’ll see that there’s a pattern with Fuji-Q Highland’s rides—that record being breaking records.) The ride is a punch in the face that you asked for, and perhaps the most intimidating ride at the park, even to the most seasoned of coaster enthusiasts. The ride opened in 2001 with a launch shooting from 0 to over 106 miles per hour in 1.8 seconds to 0 to 111.8 miles per hour in less than 1.6 seconds. (To put that in perspective, a Porcshe 911 Turbo S, one of the world’s fastest cars, boasts a top acceleration of 0 to 62 miles per hour in 2.6 seconds.) This is speed that is hard to even imagine, which is part of why this ride is so daunting—the unknowing of it all. American coaster enthusiast can try to equate the experience to, say, Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure, but that hydraulic launch coaster rolls in at 0 to 128 in 3.5 seconds. Nothing to turn your nose up at, sure, but still incomparable to the Do-Dodonpa experience. (An important distinction to make is that this is the world’s fastest accelerating coaster, not fastest coaster altogether; that title still belongs to Formula Rossa at Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, which clocks in at just under 150 miles per hour.) 

  

   

• Eejanaika, another brain child of S&S Sansei, is a 4D, or 4th Dimension coaster that strongly resembles California coaster X2. This is a coaster model where riders are positioned on either side of the track, their rotating independently of the ride to create a beautifully scrambling experience. If X2 was most famous for being the ride that would bankrupt legacy manufacturer Arrow Development, Eejanaika was the light in the dark that said perhaps all hope was not lost. When S&S absorbed what was left in Arrow in the early oughts, they paid tribute to the beloved, if not financially impractical, 4th Dimension coaster model by debuting this iconic ride. With an improved design and construction plan, this coaster is rumored to be even wilder and more fantastic than X2, and is most guests’ favorite coaster at the park.  

  

   

• Takabisha is the latest of the “Big 4” to hit the scene at Fuji-Q Highland. This Gerstlauer steel coaster held the title of the world’s steepest coaster, with a first drop descent of 121 degrees, until being dethroned by TMNT Shellraiser at the new Nickelodeon Universe in New Jersey. TMNT Shellraiser is an exact clone of Takabisha with one exception: its first drop is steeper than Takabisha’s by—wait for it—half a degree. Even with this coaster hitting the scene, Takabisha is still a record-shattering addition to Fuji-Q Highland, and riders of both these coasters stand by Takabisha being the superior ride. All that’s to say: Takabisha is still worth the trip. 

  

   

• Though Fujiyama is not the flashiest of Fuji-Q’s coasters, it may still be its most iconic. Nicknamed “King of Coasters,” Fujiyama opened as the largest roller coaster in the world in 1996, and though the landscape of the roller coaster industry has changed significantly in the 24 years since then, Fujiyama still stands as a beacon of innovation and one-upping that is absolutely still prevalent in the 2020 theme park scape. With 6,709 feet of track and a top speed of 81 miles per hour, Fujiyama is still one heck of a coaster. Though its manufacturer, Togo, does not have the best reputation in the states (perhaps I’ll talk about the infamous Big Apple Coaster, AKA the universally accepted world’s worst coaster, another time), this is a pleasurable and airtime-packed ride experience that can’t be missed on a trip to Fuji-Q.

Location Is Everything 

So we’ve talked about the rides, but what else? Again, this park is located near the base of an active volcano. Mount Fuji can be seen on the skyline of this park and makes for a beautiful photo op no matter what area of the park you may find yourself in.

With that said, it does take some planes, trains, and automobiles to make it out to Fuji-Q. Luckily, a train runs quite consistently from the hub of Tokyo all the way out to Yamanashi—and more than that, there’s a stop right at the park. This trip will take you about two hours, granted you get yourself out to Japan. Still, to be able to say you rode the world’s fastest accelerating coaster while staring down an active volcano is one massive feather in the cap of any thrill-seeker or adrenaline junkie, and is absolutely worth the effort.

For Fans of Halloween Horror Nights: 

While on the topic of adrenaline junkies, the park has not one, but two scare-themed attractions, one of which the Super Scary Labyrinth of Fear, a walk-through haunted house themed to an abandoned hospital. Burrowed in a more secluded and—well—creepy section of the park, this attraction is staffed with scare actors year-round to itch the scratch of Halloween Horror Nights enthusiasts (see: me), especially after Universal’s unfortunate (yet very understandable) cancellation of the event this year. In addition to this attraction, there’s the Endless Haunted Mine. This attraction more closely resembles a ride, strapping you into a vehicle and putting headphones over your ears to physically trap you in the experience. These year-round spooky attractions catch the envy of those who wish that Halloween spirit lingered throughout the year. This is the quirkiness of Fuji-Q that’s irreplaceable and irresistible. 

The atmosphere of Fuji-Q looks to be similar to an old-fashioned midway, brightly-colored and lively. Though the park is on the smaller side, it twists and weaves in and out of itself like a never-ending game of Snake. The skyline of this park, with its brilliant attractions and classic theming and picturesque location, is precisely what I think of when I think about a theme park: the thrills, the nostalgia, the wonder. It’s a place I’ve visited a thousand times in my mind, but not once in reality.

It’s so unique, so itself, and so iconic…that it’s hard to put into words exactly why this park is one that tugs on me. It’s a Bucket List Park, and that’s about the best way to put it.