Fuji-Q Highlands Discussion Thread

Dodonpa regularly has three plus hour waits. Japanese people don't cut lines, and they don't complain about waiting for rides. (Check out TDL and TDS on a Sunday for confirmation.) It's a difference in the culture. I've gotten used to waiting for US holidays to visit parks, or I go on Saturday when everyone else is still in work or school.

Yeah, six day work weeks and six day school weeks. Oh, and 'Summer Break' is 4 weeks in August. Think about these things, kiddo!

EDIT:

It's pouring, but it's supposed to clear up tonight. I'll be up to the Q tomorrow, even if it's raining. Sorry!

^The whole six days thing sounds very... Jewish.

I guess the whole five car module was the only way to reduce weight. Maybe use a different type of metal (Rearden Metal! [anyone?]).

It seems like the other way they've tried to get it to not valley is by having a longer downhill slope after the raven turn and then proceeding to have no HUGE elements like X's high-up mid-section.

I think the overbank is taller than the full-full.

The video is pretty crazy. The first drop seems to have more than a full rotation. The first raven also seems to have more than a single rotation, as well.

If the first drop is ~260~ feet, and the IRT is also @ 200 feet, then there should be plenty of 'oomph' to get the cars through a whole bunch of extra spins as it travels through the course. I guess we'll know soon enough.

^The whole six days thing sounds very... Jewish.

Actually... with the Japanese culture it is not uncommon for the man of the household to work six days a week, between twelve and sixteen hours a day and sleep all day Sunday.

I guess the whole five car module was the only way to reduce weight. Maybe use a different type of metal (Rearden Metal! [anyone?]).

They could always just mold the trians out of Fibergalss or Carbon Fiber.

If they make cars out of them why can't they make coaster trians out of them?

Is this coaster actually operating??? And if it is, is there a POV of it?

^ They just finished the track a few days ago, so no to both.

I have to apologize.

I have 67 pictures from my trip out there on Tuesday, but I've been insane busy with some personal business. To hold you off until tomorrow and I can put the pictures up, here's the juicy bits:

Track's done. (We knew that.)

Train is on site. (It's in the station and VERY hard to see.)

The whole ride appears to have been repainted, or at least buffed, cuz it's SHINY!

Fujiyama's trains have been repainted AGAIN. They seem to match EJ's train.

The Great Zaboon (shoot the chutes) is getting a new paint job.

Red Tower was down for some sort of maintenance.

Mt. Fuji still has snow on it.

See ya tomorrow!

^Cool! Thanks Chris

That Ful-Full looks sick from da video. The trains goin upsidedown while the seatz are twisting and spinning and going upsidedow. Itz gonna be crazy. And it has a lot more seat effects and expieriences that X dosent have.

Um, yeah. It's called Spell Check.

Anyway.

I'm going to try to put the update together, so here it goes:

More than three months later, the outside raven turn is FINALLY connected at both ends.

This one's for Elissa.

Can you see the train in there? I'll post the video in a bit, it's easier to see it that way.

It's Ferris Wheel time!

Fujiyama's newly painted train. It's black with a rainbow flame job. Sorry for the lousy angle.

Apparently even the locals have 'signature moves' now.

Perspective is everything. Nice looking coaster there, huh?

Yes, I can see that EJ isn't very big. See? It's barely twice as tall as the Mad Mouse!

In case anybody was wondering about the big thing that Fuji-Q denied the existence of up until about 30 days ago.

EXTREME ZOOM of the final twisty bit.

I thought I had a closer view, but this little picture is the best shot of the work on the entrance gate. (It's not a white frame anymore.)

Yes, much better idea to go Tuesday instead of Monday.

I can't believe I stood between the rails and took pictures next to Floyd there just two months ago!

This is where Red Tower (S&S Space Shot) sat today. They also took off the tents over the queue area.

EJ pays a little tribute to his older brother X.

Three sexy curves. Full-Full, Half-Half and a half flip. Yummy.

EJ through the trees! (I nominate EJ as the official abbreviation for Eejanaika.)

This angle again because after 6+ months, the ride is finally put together!

They had some yen left over after spending 3.5 billion on the coaster, so they are making this building. It's probably the onride photo shop.

There are valley escape platforms already in place on both sides of the overbank.

Because the last photo had other stuff, this one's for the Lift Hill Enthusiasts. That guy is WASHING the stairs.

George is standing guard over the entrance to the completed lift hill.

Landscaping under the ride has begun and lots of the construction walls are coming down and new pretty fences are going up.

The ramps and walkways are done.

There's the final twist.

The brake run looks finished. (We knew it was.)

I'll say it now, there were more people working on the site this day than all the other trips combined!

That section FINALLY looks finished!

It's looking SOOO good!

I was so excited to be here for the last time before opening, I started shooting before I even stopped the car!

Part Deux:

There's a flat bit after the inclined brake run before going into the station.

There is so much technogeeky stuff in here, someone is bound to wet themselves!

The King of Coasters and the King of Mountains.

EJ's brake run (again) through the trees!

They painted the inside roof of the station with this cool design.

Here's the other evac platform.

I didn't climb the stairs this time.

Overbank and a tree!

Just in case you forgot when the ride is opening, here's another new poster for you.

This motor will probably be coverded in grease soon, too.

These girls either know someone I don't or traded something I don't have to get that close to EJ.

There's that evac platform between the Full-Full and the overbank.

Cool picture. I took one like that, too.

The wind measuring device will shut down EJ in winds of over 5 miles per hour. (Probably not to far from the truth.)

JAPANESE dirt, the last twisty bit and the top of Pizza: The Ride.

Stanley is hard at work, too! He's making random piles of JAPANESE dirt.

Hard at work, cleaning (or painting) the brake run platform.

Finally! Random piles of JAPANESE dirt. And Pizza: The Ride.

There seems to be a little contrast between the sides, back and front of the station building.

Here's the spare yen/possibe photo building. Maybe some souvenier squid cookies, too?

I liked this angle.

More tangly goodness.

There's going to be a walkway right under the first drop.

Another angle on the last twisty bit and a little of the other evac platform.

This angle shows where EJ's entry plaza will be, right behind the mouse.

EJ! Your train is showing!

EJ-27Jun06.zip

Here's the Video if TPR lets it post...

This thing looks soo good. It's a shame it's soo far away. Anyway, those who will ride it: have fun!

Is this ride the same "Spec" as "X" at SFMM..?

Same inversions,height and speed etc..?

Is it Bigger and higher..?

ahhhh.. nice pics.. ive been waiting for some time to see the finished product. I love the station's design. Although its basically a box shape, the design pattern is cool.

The next wait, is to see the vid of the ride in action. I actually want to see how the japanese guests will react to this ride. It's always amusing to see their facial reactions. I'm sure this a new terror to some of 'em. I bet that one popular japanese show will make it out there with some interesting segments later on.

defintitely looks good

Is this ride the same "Spec" as "X" at SFMM..?

 

Same inversions,height and speed etc..?

 

Is it Bigger and higher..?

X: http://www.rcdb.com/id750.htm

Eejanaika: http://www.rcdb.com/qs.htm?quicksearch=eejanaika

Awsome pictures Chris!

I can't believe a coaster so big could be so short!

-Martyn

As this thread's local X junkie, let me point out another observation:

When driving into SFMM, the first thing you notice now is X's two raven turns (inside and outside) side by side, with the inside one much taller than the outside one. It's as if they were trying to say "hey everyone, check out these two new insane elements!" On Eejanaika, the outside raven turn is tucked back much further away from the big inside raven turn. This is probably because the overbanked turn is much shorter than X's big curve, so it doesn't take as much distance to go through the (probably also shorter) half-half and then into the outside raven turn. Also, that brake run looks a bit steeper than X's brake run. Should be interesting, considering it also has that extra little forward seat flip move that I've seen in the video.

Matt

You sure you took enough photos, Chris???

It's looking great. Hope whatever landscaping they can put in, under and around it will be nice. One Pagoda-like entrance arch does not a 'themeing' make. Or something like that.

(Haven't started the book yet, BTW Chris. Soon soon.)

Actually, Bill, I took a couple other pictures that I didn't post. (67 in total, what'd I use? 50 something?) I'm about to add the short videoclips I took tring to show the train and the overall complete view from the ferris wheel.

The VERY short, shaky and generally sucky little video is posted at the end of all the pictures back on page 54. I don't know why, but the video is super clear when I look at it as a .mov in Windows Media Player, After I convert it to a .mpg it still looks fine, but once I run it through Windows Movie Maker, it looks like crap! It was only 3MB, so I didn't even compress it at all except the required zipping. Any suggestions?

Don't use Movie Maker!! I hate it! Stick with mpg, or better yet XviD. That's what I use. What format does it come off your camera as? If it is a DV camcorder, you could even MPEG2 compress it and use interlaced mode. Mmmmmm....... 60fps goodness. If that is too big, XviD should be much smaller in size, and still excellent quality. But yes, dump Movie Maker, and say hello to my friend VirtualDub!

Matt

Uh, so It's only going to have one train op? That will kinda suck considering the 2 out of 3 time's I visited, it was PACKED. But it's the Japanese, I bet they can load those trains faster than you can say...Eejanaika

300th post...w00t

http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com/coasters/yellowpages/coasters/eejanaika_fuji-q-highland.shtml

Says it will have 3 trains? I just think they haven't put the second train on yet. I can't imagine them only having 1 train ever!

It will probably run two trains and have the third for when one of the other two falls apart.