Nagashima Spa Land

Kuwana, Mie, Japan

“It feels like visiting a Six Flags park during the 90’s… in a good way”

The two biggest players in the Japanese theme park industry are Disney and Universal. Their resorts are located in Tokyo and Osaka and many theme park enthusiasts want to combine these parks in one single trip. That’s super-easy, by the way. Thanks to Japan’s fabulous high-speed rail network, large distances can be covered in no time. While travelling between Tokyo and Osaka, your train will probably stop at Nagoya station. Honestly… Nagoya isn’t the most exciting city on Earth. The city centre is grey and there’s not much to see. However, one of the country’s largest amusement parks is only a short bus ride away. So please disembark the Shinkansen at Nagoya station and walk to the nearby Meitetsu Bus Center. From there, you’ll be on your way to Nagashima Spa Land.

ROLLER COASTERS

Nagashima Spa Land offers 13 roller coasters, including world record holder Steel Dragon 2000. During my first ever trip to the park, this legendary ride remained closed due to strong winds. This was unfortunate to say the least, but we were luckier during a more recent trip. We finally managed to ride this Millennium Force of the East, but I should admit that it didn’t blew me away. The ride is supertall and very long, but it doesn’t offer the largest possible thrill. The first drop isn’t that steep and the second hill didn’t provide the airtime I was hoping for. Besides, those spread-out curves aren’t intense at all. Surprisingly, the final stretch of camelbacks turned out to be the most out-of-control part of the ride, including a good amount of airtime. In the end, I’m not totally disappointed by Steel Dragon 2000, but it definitely isn’t a huge thrill machine.

Most weekdays outside of school holidays are apparently very quiet at Nagashima Spa Land, so we got private rides on most attractions. Private rides on two Schwarzkopf coasters… that feels like heaven. Nagashima Spa Land offers a Looping Star and a Shuttle Loop, both classic coaster models. The smoothness of these rides is remarkable and I like the fact that they use a lap bar instead of an over-the-shoulder restraint. Other classic rides include the Corkscrew, a double Wild Mouse and two smaller family coasters. I’d like to compliment Nagashima Spa Land’s maintenance crew for keeping these senior rides in great condition.

Nagashima Spa Land offers a good variety of old and new coasters. Arashi and Acrobat are two of the latest additions to the park’s lineup and they cater to the thrill-seeking crowd. Arashi is one of those 4D Free-Spin Coasters manufactured by S&S Worldwide. These rides can be found at multiple Six Flags parks across the United States and they provide a good thrill on a limited footprint. Personally I’m not a huge fan of them, but it’s a perfect fit for a thrill destination like Nagashima Spa Land. Acrobat is a B&M Flying Coaster that opened in 2015 and it’s a direct clone of SeaWorld Orlando’s Manta. I have always praised Manta for its strong layout and intense ride experience, so the same is automatically true for Acrobat. Unfortunately, the Japanese version isn’t nearly as beautiful as the one in Florida. Nagashima Spa Land made a good effort to reproduce Manta’s famous splashdown effect, but the queue and station have a very simple appearance. Honestly, Acrobat is a fine ride, but it’s not nearly as impressive as the B&M Flying Coaster that can be found 150 kilometres further…

During my 2015 visit to Nagashima Spa Land, I was especially impressed by White Cyclone. This was an impressive Intamin wooden coaster with a track length of 1.7 kilometres and a height of 42 metres. And despite its roughness, I enjoyed every moment of it. Still, Nagashima Spa Land decided to give the ride a massive makeover. Hakugei became the first (and still only) Asian roller coaster manufactured by Rocky Mountain Contruction. This American company is still relatively young, but it has already delivered lots of world-class rides. Hakugei is no exception to that rule. Some of the elements you may expect: an incredibly steep first drop, a great Zero-G Stall and multiple hills with awesome airtime. This is undoubtedly the best roller coaster in Nagashima Spa Land and maybe even in Japan. Not to be missed.

Nagashima Spa Land offers the world’s longest roller coaster, one of the world’s best RMCs and one of the most bizarre roller coasters I’ve ever seen: Ultra Twister. I used to think that this coaster type only existed in Roller Coaster Tycoon, but there are a few of them in Japan. This Togo pipeline coaster seems odd and the train looks like pure science fiction. The experience is actually not that good: it’s a bumpy and very short ride.

OTHER EXPERIENCES

Those of you who want to ride every single ride at a theme park, will need more than one day at Nagashima Spa Land. The park is enormous and there are a ton of rides. Nostalgic attraction lovers will adore the old-school Intamin Free Fall, the number of flat rides is huge and there’s a large kiddie area in the southern half of the park. By the way: be sure to ride the Ferris wheel for the best possible views on Hakugei and the Ise Bay. We were also pleasantly surprised by a darkride called Farm de Bang Bang, and not just because of its hilarious name. This ride opened in 2019 and it’s a budget version of Disney’s Toy Story Mania. Despite its rather blurry graphics, the interactive games turned out to be quite fun.

WORTH A VISIT?

We had a great time at Nagashima Spa Land. The park once again confirmed its status as Japan’s coaster capital. Japan’s other famous thrill destination (Fuji-Q Highland) has incredible rides like Do-Dodonpa and Eejanaika, but the atmosphere and operations at Nagashima Spa Land are superior to those at Fuji-Q. Nagashima Spa Land is a great amusement park with quite a few stunning roller coasters and a good amount of thrill rides (they even have 3 swinging pirate ships!). Staff are excellent, queues are generally short and the park is impeccably clean. This is actually the perfect coaster break if you’re travelling between Osaka and Tokyo.

Do you regret the fact that there aren’t many Ultra-Twisters left? Do you think that this is Japan’s coaster capital? Would you be interested in riding 3 different swinging ships in one amusement park? Share your opinion in the comments section at the bottom of this page.