Mount Fuji & Fujikyu Highland

Shinjuku

After going to Disneyland on Friday, Wictoria, Kim and I agreed on Disneyland being a nice and cutsy place - yet for kids. Still we had an unfulfilled need for extreme thrills and decided to go to Fujikyu Highland.

Fujikyu Highland is a themepark in Fujiyoshida,which is at the base of Mount Fuji, Japan's highest mountain.

Shinjuku

On Sunday we headed for Tokyo and Shinjuku for the 1 hour and 50 minute busride to Fujikawaguchiko, where we'd be spending the night at K's House Mt. Fuji, a backpackers hostel.

We paid 2700 Yen (170 NOK) each for a bunk bed in a dorm room with six beds - yet we had the whole room to ourselves. Everything was super neat and clean, and we had access to a shower, laundry, internet, kitchen, TV room, etc.

Japanese style communal lounge

Communal living and dining room

The weather was crap as it was raining, and it was already pretty late when we arrived. So we chilled out, had a very unhealthy meal at a restaurant and went for a bath in an onsen (hot spring) at Onsenji Yumedono Ryokan, right around the corner from the hostel.

It was nice. And hot. And we were naked. And there is no pictures.

Kine on a well-known sugar rush, due to the Fanta that matches her top

We found this stack of cards in the communal area at the hostel.
It's from a Norwegian gym

Wictoria drawing

Wictoria and her good friend Pocky

Bright and early Monday morning we took the train one stop to Fujikyu Highland.

Fujiyama, once the world's tallest rollercoaster. Sweet!

Photo: Kim Daniel Engebretsen

Looking a bit pale and shell-shocked, you say?
Yah, that was pretty much our look for the day

Eejanaika

When we first arrived Eejanaika wasn't running, because it was raining slightly. But we persiviered and sat down to wait for it to start running.

In this way we really beat the crowd when it suddenly started to run and we ran for the entrance and managed to be passengers at one of the first rides of the day. When we went back out a 3-hour-line had already formed.

Ejanaika was the second "4th Dimension rollercoaster" ever built when it opened in 2006. As a "4th dimension" roller coaster its seats can rotate 360 degrees forward or backward in a controlled spin, thus allowing Eejanaika to invert 14 different times, even though the actual track inverts only three times.

Wictoria and Kim.
Please notice Wictoria is still clutching her God damn kanji flashcards, as always

Then we headed for Dodonpa, a rollercoaster where you reach a speed of 172 km in 1.8 seconds. When it opened in 2001, it was then the world's fastest roller coaster. As of 2007 it is the 3rd fastest in the world but still has the highest acceleration at launch time.

We waited for nearly two and a half hours in line

And it was totally worth it

Dodonpa

The Haunted Hospital

In order to actually get all the way home to Togane we had to take the bus at 5 p.m.

So to my sorrow and disappointment, we didn't have time for The Haunted Hospital - the world's largest haunted attraction. The attraction takes 60 minutes to walk through.

Wictoria had been there last year and she said it was horrifyingly scary, full of live actors inside, wanting to scare the bejesus outta ya.

It looked so creepy as I stood outside. My father lives and works in a small place in Norway called Dikemark, which used to be a secluded area with mental hospitals. Now most of them are shut down, and still I remember passing them when he used to take me and my sister for a walk in the area when we were kids. And the haunted hospital looks so much like them.

Even tough it would have been cool, I think it might be a good thing I didn't go in there. I have a lively imagination and wouldn't be able to sleep at night. To this day I haven't watched a scary movie ever since I saw the The Grudge five years ago.

The area seen from the ferris wheel

Mount Fuji behind the clouds.
Even people who 'live there' haven't seen it properly because of the clouds