The Surprising House! Do you dig Vekoma's "Mad House" attractions, like Great Adventure's Houdini's Great Escape? I do, very much. Turns out they have these mini-Mad Houses at a fair number of Japanese parks ("Surprising House" seems to be the generic in this country). Hanayashiki's is themed to the Three Little Pigs and it was a blast. (There's an even better Surprising House at Hokkaido Greenland.)
The "floating candy house" ride is actually called the Bee Tower, and you can't not ride it because it's a terrific way to scope out the general area, and also because it's very Japanese.
I wonder what the rent is for one of those apartments over there... Anyway, is it called the Bee Tower because if you built a little shack out of candy and flowers, it would attract a lot of bees? Or because the candy shacks fly in the air like bees? I didn't have the language skills or the nerve to ask anyone.
This photo only begins to illustrate how they don't waste more than an inch of space here.
The Senso-ji Temple pagoda, and a floating candy shack. I love Japan so much.
This multi-level structure is where you can find four rides: the Roller Coaster, the Space Shot, the Sky Ship, and the Helicopter. The Sky Ship is a hanging pirate ship ride, which was also closed. And the Helicopter is a pedal-powered ride, another type of attraction we found at several parks. Hanayashiki's Merry-Go-Round, with the red and white top, is to the right.
This is the park's rooftop Shounkaku Shrine "Burabo" and had I realized I could have gone up there, I would have. Next time fo shizzle. |
