Rising at the crack of dawn the team set off from the accommodation just after 0600, still dark outside and with chill still in the air the team set off on the walk to Tsukuba centre as there were no buses running early enough. With most of the team still half asleep heading into Tsukuba there wasn’t much chat or liveliness coming from the group. On arrival at the train station they got the tickets and jumped on to the Tsukuba express to Akiharbara. On arrival they then changed to the inner local line and into Tokyo city. The trains and the stations were both busy with morning commuters, as the team weaved and dodged through the sea of people hurrying to catch their trains, they finally made it to the Fuji-Q bus platform with 5 minutes to spare.
Boarding the coach most of the team instantly fell asleep knowing the journey was going to be a good 2 hours. Fast forwarding through the coach journey the team started to stir just in time to witness the level of snow that had settled. As the bus came through the valley all eyes were now on Mount Fuji, the skies had cleared and was a strong blue with hardly any clouds and the sun was beaming down onto the mountain, it was a spectacular sight.
The bus took another turn winding through the low ground passing a small town which was covered in thick white snow, and then the first glimpse of the theme park was visible, a huge rollercoaster track with a vertical tracking one side and a sheer drop the other, most of the team were already excited and taking photo’s others were discussing which rides they intended to do or in Russ & Ancels case which rides they were not going to go on!
The coach arrived and the team had a quick brief about safety and sticking together and timing for meeting later for returning to the bus, after that their was a quick team photo. We took the photo Japanese style with all the players jumping in the air before the photo was taken, the part we wont mention is Dave C’s landing which would have scored a good yuko!
On entry to the theme park there was a bit of worry as most of the rides were currently closed because of the weather, but they would be opening once they had been safety tested. The group split off and spent the day adventuring round the park. As the day went on more and more of the rides opened including two which were currently in the World Record books. A few wasted no time on jumping on them and having that thrill and adrenaline they were seeking from the World’s steepest rollercoaster drop which was a horrifying 121 degrees. Other players got their horrors in a different way by means of the Haunted House, where Sarah & Alex T were petrified sprinting off from a doctor chasing them with a scalpel in the dark light! This was finished off perfectly as Sarah lost her footing in the panic in front of a crowd of highly amused people queuing to go in. Russ had failed to lead his team through a maze and not get caught by security camera even though apparently he’s recce and supposed to be stealthy.
Some of the group met up in the afternoon for lunch and discussed the days activities so far, then ventured up high in the ferris wheel and took some amazing pictures of the park with Mount Fuji in the background. Rich Jarvis realised that he wasn’t as confident on rides as he had originally thought, realising this whilst upside down going backwards at a considerable speed.
As the day closed to an end and the team met up out the front of the park it was all smiles and laughter telling stories about the rides and who squealed like a girl on the big rollercoasters (Mr Paske). We boarded the bus and headed back to Tokyo station and finally back to Tsukuba, the team arrived back at the accommodation around 22:00 and headed straight for the showers and to pack their bags. Happy faces after the theme park but also sad as the trip was over the group had an early start in the morning as the journey back to the UK had arrived.
UKAF JUDO 