r4blue

^I'm sure this isn't what you mean (seeing as I'm not a photographer and have no idea what you're on about ), but here's a pic I took of Kawasemi at dusk(ish) anyway! I went by myself and rode in the front seat, completely alone on the train, which is quite a weird experience. And I also found Regina quite fun at the start of the day, so I thought I'd wait until the end of the day when it had warmed up some more for a great ride... but the opposite happened, it was so incredibly rough the airtime had all disappeared. Then I went back into the city and rode Thunder Dolphin. It might not be the best ride in the world, but I got lucky and was placed in the front seat. Let me tell you, front seat, at night, with lots of screaming girls in the rest of the train... quite a ride! Anyone else ridden a mega-lite and a mega in the same day? It really emphasizes that size isn't everything!

^I have to say I'm not sure, but Manta's trains don't have that 45 degree 'extra' chassis, and I can't think of any other B&Ms that do. Manta's trains: http://www.rcdb.com/4190.htm?p=26959 It's pretty hard to work off such a tiny picture! I'm sure we'll see a proper picture soon enough. I just hope that B&M have sorted out the bouncy seats that I hear make Furius Baco and the S&S 4D coasters so rough on the outside seats. Actually I haven't really heard about X2's trains, what are they like on the outside seats?

You've lost me... The seats appear to be similar to flyer seats (though that image is tiny, you can't tell much from it), but in your own photo of Air you can see flyers have a different chassis to this. The main part of the chassis is across the track and then there's another attachment at a 45 degree angle, then the seat. I can't think what other B&M it could be for.

In amongst all this talk of how the chassis works and if it belongs to the dive machine car, you've all missed the seat attached to it! You can see a dark green restraint with black rubbery-looking shoulder straps coming off it, it looks similar to those found on a flyer. Here's another pic if you can't see it. It's not very easy to see, but when you find the spot of dark green you can see the rest of the seat. There's another one below it too.

I came across this completely accidentally, but pic of the station and trains, and some more information (like 2-car trains!): OSAKA--Universal Studios Japan is set to unveil a galactic roller coaster ride in which human adventurers "rescue" the ailing sun. Built at a cost of 4 billion yen ($45 million), the "Space Fantasy: The Ride" will debut on March 19. Hurtling along at a top speed of 40 kph, guests will travel 585 meters in about four and a half minutes. They will head for the sun, at the request of its "queen," by traveling between Saturn and a group of comets, with moving images forming part of the backdrop. During the journey, which connects two "space craft" seating four persons each, the ride rotates irregularly. The attraction was built on the former site of E.T. Adventure, which closed last May. From the Asahi Shimbun: http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201002260475.html

Couple of teeny tiny updates... Opening soon, and still not much to add! That's the trouble with secretive indoor coasters... But I'll be there opening weekend, camera at the ready. And one more thing, an English advert which, if anything, makes the story sound even weirder... http://www.usj.co.jp/e/

Just a couple of quick things... Name! Logo! And I also found some information about the story (haven't bothered to read it properly yet, but involves a female called a G-Bot, hmm) and that it may be 8 cars per train, though that was on the Japanese wikipedia page and didn't have a source. And I went for a few hours today (it was bloody freezing!) and there are a couple of signs up hinting at what's on the way. Also the 'ET Adventure: The Legend' attraction (which I had a look at because it had a tiny queue) is based only in the old queue of the ET ride, which has been closed since about May, so they've had plenty of time to install everything inside the building where the actual ET ride was. I don't think there will be much to update on this until it opens, but I'll keep my eyes open. Here's the G-Bot page! http://www.usj.co.jp/company/news/2009/1216.html

I don't think there's a topic on this... USJ is building a new indoor coaster based on a space theme for spring 2010. The new coaster will be 585m long and will take guests on a tour of the solar system and will go in the old ET Adventure building (which is currently still in use as ET Adventure: The Legend). The whole project will cost 4-5 billion yen. It's listed on Trips 'n' Pics as a Mack spinning coaster - though I haven't found that info anywhere else, that website's always been accurate in the past. I don't know if this is a Japanese version of the Mummy ride, or if the Mummy still may one day set foot in Japan (though I guess it's unlikely, they sound like similar rides). I last went at the end of October and the ET building was still up-and-running, so they'd better get a move on if they want it ready for spring. I'm going again in a few days, I'll take a look to see if anything's changed since then. I'll get digging to see if I can find any more info, but for now I'll leave you with these sources: http://www.trips-n-pics.com/?id=30 (right at the bottom) http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/new ... s/2528034/ http://sankei.jp.msn.com/life/trend/090 ... 009-n1.htm http://www.screamscape.com/html/univers ... _japan.htm PS. W00t! New ride near me! MOD EDIT by larrygator: I edited your subject line for clarity.

Hello, what's this my eagle eyes have spotted at the back of the Observer's travel section yesterday? Clicky if you can't see image above. 1. Surely SW6. 2. It's a drop! And potentially only a short one by the sounds of it. Backwards? Upside down? Both? It'll have to be something interesting to be a marketable 'world's first'.

Well in this pic: http://www.coasterdom.com/gallery/image.php?d=%2FHersheypark%2FFahrenheit%2FConstruction%2F04-05&p=04-05-02&w=800 You can see the 2 lift chains, and you can also see there's not much of a gap between the station and the lift, so clearly no room for a massive brake run. Intamin must have faith in their design.

^I can't actually find a link right now, but it has 2 lift-hill motors instead of having anti-rollbacks. This is apparently a very safe way of doing it, although I personally know nothing of engineering and don't know how it works But hopefully someone can back me up and explain why it's safe.

^Haha, I'll see if I can convince him to get importing to the US Oh and thanks guys for the updates, it must take quite a bit of effort to do them, especially so long after you've been and the initial enthusiasm's died down a bit. It's much appreciated!

Yes they were! Elissa managed to get quite a few of them! Why do you ask? --Robb Well, my girlfriend is Japanese, and her Dad owns a company which deals with imports and things like that. He bought a Disney license a few years back, and has been churning out Disney products, things like novelty socks, fridge magnets etc. One of his inventions was 'small plastic Disney characters suspended in an inflated clear bubble thing'! So what you guys were playing for were invented and imported by my girlfriend's dad! Here's one of the prototypes from a couple of years ago: It's a small world!

Guys, don't mind me asking, but are the things you're playing for in that machine small plastic Disney characters suspended in an inflated clear bubble thing? I do have a good reason for asking! That machine! That park looks stunning at night. Shame the coaster isn't as good as it looks, it's always intrigued me.

Just to add my approval to the hundreds of people who already have, that was brilliant! Thanks for taking the time to think up witty captions!