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I honestly don't know how you wrote such a glowing review of a park where you rode two rides, stood in line for six hours for them

All of which could have been totally avoided had they followed the advice of many, many people on these forums, including ourselves by NOT taking the train and instead taking the bus so you could get to the park early enough to buy the FastPasses or at least get in 1-2 rides before the insane lines form.

 

When I come back I actually wouldn’t mind planing on doing two days at the park

No. You don't need more time at the park. You actually need LESS time at the park, but be smarter about how you approach it. The last two times we visited the park, we were there on days just like yours, but we got on every single coaster in the park, some of them multiple times, and also did dark rides, flat rides, etc, and one of those visits we didn't even stay until closing. You just have to be "smart" about your visit.

 

Seriously, why would you subject yourself to the world's worst operated amusement park for LONGER than you need to be??? Ugh, the idea of spending two days at Fuji-Q just infuriates me.

 

At 3 hours and 15 minutes, it had to be the longest coaster I’ve waited in line for and was worth it!

There is no ride on the planet that is worth waiting in line 3 hours and 15 minutes for. Especially one where you could have not waited at all for with better planning.

Edited by robbalvey
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^You don't need us with you! We love to help people learn how to do it for themselves. And I don't even care if someone doesn't follow our advice, it doesn't affect me, I just don't understand how someone can go to ANY park and have two rides in six hours and be happy. Plus, Fuji Q...ugh!

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Fuji-Q's definitely a park you really need to plan everything out ahead of time: the day you visit, how you get out there, how early you think you need to arrive, etc. Going on a slower day and/or getting a good pick of the Zekkyo (Fastpass) tickets really makes a huge difference. Good to see you still had a good time regardless.

If I was the sole person on this trip, I definitely would have done this and looked more into the transportation aspects and the best ways to get to the park earlier, but since I figured that what was planned was the best way to get there I didn't bother to research how we were going between the parks before the trip. I had no problem making it from the airport to the hotel at the start of the trip and after the trip on my own going back to Cosmoworld and then down to Osaka and back to Tokyo for the airport. Those parts of the trip were on my own and I always double-checked the routes I planned to take before I travelled over and while I was there enroute and had absolutely no trouble and missed 0 trains.

 

Yea... no, I really don't agree. You can grab food or do the bathroom between rides or plan ahead like every other park. I've spent 7 years in a country where even though there are signs everywhere saying no queue-jumping, people are constantly allowed by ops to have lots of fathers on their own hold a place and then have 2 kids, a wife, and grandparents constantly pushing past me or getting rope dropped into the line. If a line is 2 hours, I really don't think its right that 80% of the group aren't there for a good portion of the line. It makes the outdoor theme-less pens lines slow to a crawl as well.

 

If you do ever go back from Tokyo, I'd highly recommend the bus deal of ticket+bus combo online. It dropped me at the park before opening. I also tend to grab a ride on one of the big coasters before hitting the fast pass booth. Sometimes they're already gone anyways for more popular rides so I risk grabbing that ride at opening. Last few times I went the original Dodonpa opened later than the other big coasters so I waited the 30 minutes there while people darted to other open rides and was rewarded with only a 30 minute wait. This was on an "empty" day when all the flats where walk-on, lines never got higher than 60 mins for Fujiyama and Eejanaka, 90 mins for Takabisha and Dodonpa still hit 3 hour lines all day.

I did think it was kind of dumb to have a policy like that, but it wouldn't shock me that they do that because they know you will be in line that long and it kind of would cut down on the complaints on needing to use the restroom while in a long line.

 

I honestly don't know how you wrote such a glowing review of a park where you rode two rides, stood in line for six hours for them, stood in line for food, and was at the park for like 9 hours!

 

Like others have said, the reason we never use the train to get to this park is because it won't get you there in time for opening.

 

Ugh, this whole report just really makes me second guess going back here this summer.

 

I get that a lot of these policies WORK because they are in Japan with amazing Japanese people that follow the rules and are polite, but in a country that prides itself in efficiency this park just sticks out like a sore thumb.

 

I'm kind of surprised as well honestly. I was kind of just more than happy to just see the park and expected to ride three rides and that's it (and even that I fell short!). I can take poor operations and capacity, but if you combine that with poor maintenance upkeep, rude and slow staff and rude fellow guests, thats my limit. When I left the park I honestly didn't feel miserable and want to not go back and I think that's kind of why I came away with the review that I have. I think another part had to do with thinking "when in Rome" especially when it came for waiting in line for a machine to order my food from a machine, then getting in another line to pick up the food. Efficient? Hell no, but I figured that they have them at some restaurants in Tokyo, so why not?

 

I honestly don't know how you wrote such a glowing review of a park where you rode two rides, stood in line for six hours for them

All of which could have been totally avoided had they followed the advice of many, many people on these forums, including ourselves by NOT taking the train and instead taking the bus so you could get to the park early enough to buy the FastPasses or at least get in 1-2 rides before the insane lines form.

 

When I come back I actually wouldn’t mind planing on doing two days at the park

No. You don't need more time at the park. You actually need LESS time at the park, but be smarter about how you approach it. The last two times we visited the park, we were there on days just like yours, but we got on every single coaster in the park, some of them multiple times, and also did dark rides, flat rides, etc, and one of those visits we didn't even stay until closing. You just have to be "smart" about your visit.

 

Seriously, why would you subject yourself to the world's worst operated amusement park for LONGER than you need to be??? Ugh, the idea of spending two days at Fuji-Q just infuriates me.

 

At 3 hours and 15 minutes, it had to be the longest coaster I’ve waited in line for and was worth it!

There is no ride on the planet that is worth waiting in line 3 hours and 15 minutes for. Especially one where you could have not waited at all for with better planning.

If I knew the bus got us there sooner I definitely would've jumped on it and said something, but since the trip was put together by a group of people, I kind of figured that it was planned out so I didn't need to look into it. I usually get pretty detailed into figuring out whenever I go on a trip how and where I need to go and regret falling short on this. Why we left when we did, I think it was brought up that it was to avoid rush hour and the train pushers and combine that with the mentality, "its as Tuesday, people are in school, and it's not the holiday. What's the worst it could be?" The train pushers issue honestly was something I could've cared less about.

 

Thanks for the advice. I think I guess I was looking at the two days based off of my experience on this past visit and not if I got there earlier before opening (which I was kind of hoping for). I plan to go back to Japan next year for a more solo type of trip on my own and I will definitely do the bus/combo ticket to get up there earlier. I will probably have a few more questions once I start getting more detailed on the planning.

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Great reviews and photos of FujiQ, or should I say Fuji Queue. I can't believe how consistently awful those lines are in any report.

 

I just don't understand how someone can go to ANY park and have two rides in six hours and be happy.

 

I think I've done that before at Epcot, but that's a rare and very special case since I was distracted by all the food and World Showcase.

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Great reviews and photos of FujiQ, or should I say Fuji Queue. I can't believe how consistently awful those lines are in any report.

 

I just don't understand how someone can go to ANY park and have two rides in six hours and be happy.

 

I think I've done that before at Epcot, but that's a rare and very special case since I was distracted by all the food and World Showcase.

No, she means like ride two things in six hours because you stood in line three hours EACH for them! lol I go to Epcot all the time and will hang out for hours and not ride a damn thing! Very different kind of non-frustrating experience!

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The thing that really bothers me is all coasters at Fuji-Q, besides Do-Dodonpa, can have high capacity if they try. Eejanaika and Fujiyama can easily run three trains with some coding modifications, and Takabisha absolutely don’t have to duel. It’s the management’s fault that this place is so bad.

 

When we went to Fuji-Q, it was a rather busy Thursday and all big coasters had 3 hours+ wait times. But we followed the bus, FP, low capacity ride first advice and got every coaster, major flat ride, river rapids and the Thomas dark ride done before 11:30 am. That afternoon was a total rainout but we still rode Fuji Airways, Dodonpa and Fujiyama again and left before the park closed! Proper planning goes a long way and can make your experience at Fuji-Q so satisfying that you don’t have to go back so you can spend one more day in the most amazing city in the world.

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The thing that really bothers me is all coasters at Fuji-Q, besides Do-Dodonpa, can have high capacity if they try.

THIS! Exactly THIS! And even Dodonpa *could* have higher capacity with some operational changes. The whole concept of having to lock EVERY FUCKING LOOSE ITEM away and then hand you some janky key put to around your wrist just baffles me to no end. Yes, this is a low-capacity ride, but Fuji-Q have figured out ways to make it even LOWER.

 

And they DO have the ability! Case in point: During one of our visits to Fuji-Q we watched Fujiyama run with one train and a 2+ hour line the entire day. About 45 minutes before closing, we thought "man, those ride ops are going to be here a long time after the park closes" but low and behold, they quickly and I mean *quickly* threw on the second train, and we watched them HUSTLE that 2+ hour line and have it totally cleared out about 20 minutes after the park closed!

 

That's fucking bullshit, IMO. If they can do that at the end of the night so they can all go home, they can do that all day long.

 

And this is not a "when in Rome" scenario because the rest of Rome isn't ANYTHING like Fuji-Q!!! That's what frustrates us when reading his review. If the rest of the country was this disorganized and poorly managed when it comes to efficiency (and trust me, we've been to enough countries to see where that scenario IS the reality) I'd almost understand it, but in Fuji-Q's case, I almost feel as though the park is taking advantage of how nice and patient the Japanese culture is by presenting them with something that is so far outside their norm and seeing just how far they can push it.

 

When we went to Fuji-Q, it was a rather busy Thursday and all big coasters had 3 hours+ wait times. But we followed the bus, FP, low capacity ride first advice and got every coaster, major flat ride, river rapids and the Thomas dark ride done before 11:30 am. That afternoon was a total rainout but we still rode Fuji Airways, Dodonpa and Fujiyama again and left before the park closed! Proper planning goes a long way and can make your experience at Fuji-Q so satisfying that you don’t have to go back so you can spend one more day in the most amazing city in the world.

Yep, that's the way to do it.

Edited by robbalvey
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If they wanted to, they could've done one major locker area in between Do-Dondopa and Takabisha for both rides if they wanted to. That definitely would've helped.

 

They forced me to place everything in a locker for a key of many of the parks. Tokyo Dome for Thunder Dolphin, Joypolis, Spin Runway at Yomiuriland, all of Fuji-Q, Nagashima for Steel Dragon, Acrobat, and Star Flyer (They at least allowed me to wear my glasses since I had a strap), and Dive Coaster at Cosmoworld. I disliked it because I know if they stay on for Skyrush, they're not coming off for anything else.

By the way, those keys were annoying to open and kind of looked a little dangerous. Lol

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They forced me to place everything in a fluffy, fluffy bunny filled with medicine and goo for a key of many of the parks. Tokyo Dome for Thunder Dolphin, Joypolis, Spin Runway at Yomiuriland, all of Fuji-Q, Nagashima for Steel Dragon, Acrobat, and Star Flyer (They at least allowed me to wear my glasses since I had a strap), and Dive Coaster at Cosmoworld.

Yes, but none of those places you just mentioned did it as slowly or as horribly as Fuji-Q does. I've been to all those places, too and also had to lock all my stuff away as well. Again, case in point: Explain to me how a park like Universal makes you put EVERYTHING away on rides like Space Fantasy and Flying Dinosaur yet still manages to crank through a metric shitton of people per hour?

 

There is simply *NO EXCUSE* for how poorly Fuji-Q is run and it has been that was for the past 14 years in which we have been going fairly regularly. I'm not sure why you keep giving this park the benefit of the doubt. It's terrible.

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I remember once I had a balled up tissue in my pocket years ago when I got on Dodonpa and didn't even know it was there and they unlocked a whole train and made me put a balled up tissue in a locker and get a strap just for that. I like at USJ, for Flying Dinosaur, they found a way to let you keep your stuff for the majority of the queue to use your phone but have it in a way that it doesn't slow down operations when it needs to be stored.

 

I've been to a ton of Asian parks where I've had to plan out beforehand and been in parks where there is 3 hours line across the board like DisneySea or even parks that don't offer fast passes and still had a good day regardless and not been grinding my teeth. Fuji-Q on the couple of times I've been I end up more stressed than enjoying the park half the time. Constantly having to check the weather forecast for even tiny amounts of rain or wind. Having to gamble getting that 1st ride at opening vs going to the fast pass booth which tends to open whenever it feels like it. Even then spreading those out to take in for account operations and getting different times I find myself having to watch the skies for weather and closures for the later times worrying.

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I remember back in 2013, when TPR went to ride Takabisha, we were put through the "everything goes in the L- ER" etc.

Then we were given this key on a flimsy wrist band, that felt more loose than any watch I'd ever owned.

 

Then, when we got back to the Ls to get our stuff, I noticed a key, on the floor, nothing attached to it.

And nobody from the staff had noticed it, or had noticed it, and just wasn't going to do anything about it.

 

Fun wierd times at Fuji-Queue.

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To be honest, why do you guys still spend any money to visit this theme park? I recognize that they have some fantastic and unique attractions for sure, but based on everything I have heard and seen on Fuji-Q, it seems like a theme park enthusiast's actual hell on earth. Even with proper planning the park will find a way to screw something up that no other park can.

 

Like, how is going there more fun that doing literally anything else in Japan instead?

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To be honest, why do you guys still spend any money to visit this theme park?

This is actually a fair and very valid question. If it were up to myself or even myself and Elissa, we probably wouldn't go back. In fact, we have skipped this park the last two trips we have made to Japan because your description of it is pretty much accurate.

 

BUT... for example this upcoming trip to Japan in June we are going to visit because...

 

1. We'll have new people who have never been, and...

2. They have something "new" there...

 

So because enough people will want to go, we'll suck it up, get to the park ass early in the morning, one of us will "camp out" at the FastPass booth and get as many tickets as we can for our group when they become available, and once every one gets on everything at least once, we usually take a vote to see what time we end up leaving the park.

 

It's basically making the best case scenario out of the worst possible situation.

 

Like, how is going there more fun that doing literally anything else in Japan instead?

Again, another extremely fair and honest statement and I don't actually have an answer to that because you're 100% correct...

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^Oof! Understandable regarding first time visitors. I mean, I would...probably...still go there if only to experience the world's quickest coaster launch. I can see both sides. Those guys are lucky you will be doing the "legacy fastpass" technique of one person collecting them all for everyone as well.

 

It's weird reading their Tripadvisor. Everyone seems basically cool with the wait times and fast-pass craziness there. Somewhere like Disney or Universal gets complaints all day about wait times and things that are otherwise completely reasonable, while the Japanese I guess are too polite to speak up about the operations of this park. Funny world.

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^Oof! Understandable regarding first time visitors. I mean, I would...probably...still go there if only to experience the world's quickest coaster launch. I can see both sides. Those guys are lucky you will be doing the "legacy fastpass" technique of one person collecting them all for everyone as well.

 

I was very grateful for the sacrifices Robb and Elissa made waiting for fast passes during the 2011 trip. But even with those passes saving time and riding a few exciting coasters, it was just depressing being in the park. It felt more like being in a Chinese park than a Japanese park.

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^Oof! Understandable regarding first time visitors. I mean, I would...probably...still go there if only to experience the world's quickest coaster launch. I can see both sides. Those guys are lucky you will be doing the "legacy fastpass" technique of one person collecting them all for everyone as well.

 

It's weird reading their Tripadvisor. Everyone seems basically cool with the wait times and fast-pass craziness there. Somewhere like Disney or Universal gets complaints all day about wait times and things that are otherwise completely reasonable, while the Japanese I guess are too polite to speak up about the operations of this park. Funny world.

I was totally expecting a god-awful busy day when I decided to suck it up and make the best out of it, but got pleasantly surprised when it was a lot slower than I was expecting (longest posted wait was 2 hours for Dodonpa less than a week after it reopened, but dropped to about an hour alongside all the other coasters; Zekkyo tickets were also still available well into the afternoon). If I could guarantee a day like that, I wouldn't mind going back if I had nothing else I wanted to do. Knowing how much of a gamble it is to plan going out there, I probably wouldn't press my luck again unless I really needed to (as said, probably only if I was with someone who really wanted to go, or if they added something new and crazy).

 

The only unfriendly Japanese person on my whole trip was a ride op on Takabisha, who shouted "NO!" at me, because I had my PAPER PARK TICKET in a ZIPPED POCKET

My first ride on Eejanaika, I forgot to take my shoes off, but since I had talked with the operators in Japanese, they figured I would understand Japanese instructions ("We humbly request that you please remove your shoes"). Another time, someone else had forgotten to remove something, and an operator had to try her best to explain in English ("No good! Take off!"). Between those cases, I think the harshness in their English was more from a language barrier as opposed to them deliberately being rude.

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