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guests is Peekaboo Town, a figure-8 coaster from Senyo Kogyo along the lines of a Wacky Worm. Next up in intensity is the park’s oldest coaster. Supplied by Meisho Amusement Machines and featuring crocodile-themed trains, its English name is simply marvellous: “Fantastic Coaster Rowdy.” In order to fit the Crazy Mouse spinning coaster from Reverchon onto the steep hillside, a steel structure had to be assembled with the ride resting on top. The park’s largest coaster, Red Falcon from Senyo


Kogyo, navigates around the top half of the park taking full advantage of the topography. The highlight of the coaster line-up, unquestionably, is ELF (Episode of Little Fairies), a 60-ft-tall wooden coaster from Intamin that opened in 2001 featuring figure-8 layout and a top speed of 36mph.


Dark Ride Dream Yet it’s not the rollercoasters for which this park is most well known, it’s the large array of dark rides that cover just about every genre and type on offer. In fact, Hirakata Park is a dark ride fan’s dream come true. Laser Makai Densetsu Battle Forest is an interactive shooting ride where riders board 4-seater carriages that travel sideways along a track passing scenes of monsters, trolls and gnomes. Anyone beating the required daily score wins a prize which. Around 30,000 people a year succeed. Legend of Luxor is a rather common concept in Japan, though it may seem a little strange to outsiders. Entering an Egyptian tomb, guests must step inside one of eight stone coffins and put on a pair of headphones. Peering out through small holes, they see augmented reality monsters wandering around the tomb. During the show the coffin shakes and your hands, which you must stick out of slots below the eye holes, are poked. At the end of the show guests are given a print out of their fear rating based on how much they flinched. Fantasy Castle is a more jolly dark ride ...unless


you’re afraid of clowns. Cars full of passengers trundle through a castle full of European style clowns and circus animals. Venturing into the penguin room is an especially chilly experience, welcomed during the hot summer months. Naughty Witch’s Labyrinth is another indoor attraction that can be slotted into the ‘quirky’ category. Explorers are given a card which they must scan on entry. Four different coloured crystals are displayed on screen and must be memorised. Whilst roaming around the labyrinth explorers should look for crystals of the same colour. Scanning your card at the right coloured crystal activates a computer based challenge or puzzle. Complete the four games in the allowed time and you win a small prize. Three other, more conventional indoor attractions can be found in the park, including Hall of Mysterious Trick or Formula, where many optical illusions and puzzles can be seen. The Ghost is a fairly typical ghost train except for the addition of headphones which play binaural sound effects to add to the intesnity. Lastly, Adventures Gulli Forest Maze 2 is a mirror maze filled with puzzles in which guests can again win a prize if they complete it in the allowed time.


DECEMBER 2011/JANUARY 2012 “


The family


park has suffered a little since the arrival in Osaka of Universal


Studios Japan in 2001, but still entertains a respectable 1.2 million annual guests





LEFT: An scene from inside Dowsing Mountain BELOW: ELF


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