Mitsui Greenland

Last weekend we made a trip to Mitsui Greenland with Fyoire. She had never been to an amusement park before - GASP! - so we had to remedy that. This one came well recommended from friends.

In our quest to go places where there have been pretty major earthquakes, we were off to Kumamoto (we actually felt a few shocks from that one that shook the doors and woke Chrys and I up, but didn't bother anyone else). We drove down to the Shimabara Peninsula, took the Ariake Ferry to the other side of the bay and we were off. Roo loved the ride on the ferry - wind, water, jellyfish - oh my!

We got there around 12:30, checked in to the Hotel Blanca. They let us into our room immediately and it was pretty nice - 4 beds, deep Japanese bath, A/C. They also gave us our tickets to the garden area of the park (no rides). We walked out the door, past the foot spa (ahhh) and into the park. I love on site hotels!

From there, we got our wristbands and we were off to the rides. The wristbands were cool barcode things. All we had to do was flash them at the entrance, they scanned and we were waved on. Awesome system, since only those that want to ride have to buy bands/tickets and it's much cheaper to just get simple admission tickets.

There wasn't much for Roo to do, even though they had a long list of things that were ok for the under 2 crowd. We didn't seem to stumble across any interesting ones. She did get to go on the 'horseys' (carousel) and that made her day.

Fyoire and I, on the other hand, rode every roller coaster in that park. Some twice. Sooooo freaking cool. I need more roller coaster friendly people to visit me so I can go back - any takers? - Did I mention, yet, that there were NO lines for anything?! Chrys took pictures and hung out with Roo and Owl (since Chrys and Owl don't really like roller coasters).

Chrys and Fyoire went on the giant slide. I'm told that was great fun. I can do coasters just fine. I'm packed into a box with no control and I like it. However, put me on a cart on a slide and I'm going to be a BIG wuss.

After many hours in the park, we stopped at the foot spa. It was a little cool for our tastes, but nice after a long walk. That night we had dinner that Chrys cooked on an open grill embedded in the table (I think it's called Shabu Shabu). It was fun and tasted great. Beef, veggies, great sauce. Mmm mmm...

Then we slept - hard. Got up the next morning for breakfast at the hotel - nice Japanese/Western combo buffet - and went on our way.