Another photo of Senso-ji Temple and the Skytree for no good reason at all.
Again, I am completely illiterate in Japanese, but I'm pretty confident that the bottom row of symbols reads "Thriller Car."
Reason No. 68,302 Japan is better than [INSERT THE NAME OF ANY COUNTRY YOU'D LIKE HERE]: every park in Japan has at least one dark ride and/or walk-through. Well, okay, I don't know that for sure, but every park on this trip sure as hell did. Every. Park. Even Sea Paradise! And almost all of them had more than one; some had SIX!
Hanayashiki has more than one scary attraction and for a park so small, that is simply miraculous. Best of all, one of them is really, really good. Thriller Car is not the good one. But I'm of the opinion that there are no truly ugly babies and there are no truly bad dark rides. Even the "bad" ones are a hoot, and when they are "bad" and in Japanese, well, you've got something special. Thriller Car is, indeed, special.
Right out of the gate, Thriller Car takes you through this I don't know quite what to call it, this "patio furniture" tunnel, with two big openings on the left-hand side (the photo above is taken through the second of them). You think they could have made this tunnel fully enclosed, a little darker, edged it a little further towards being, you know, "thrilling," but that didn't happen for some reason. Maybe if tiny kids start to freak, parents can toss them out to a non-rider, before the ride actually does become "thrilling?" Your guess is as good as mine.
Anyway, it does make a right turn into the mountain and for a little bit, it is pitch black, and there are some loud noises. Not "Persons With Heart Conditions Should Not Ride" thrilling, but moving in the right direction.
For the next few minutes, we trundled around in the dark, passing by several stunts, most of which were so poorly lit, they could hardly be seen. But there were some ominous sound effects, and some Japanese muttering and groaning and wailing, and it was goofy and silly and AWESOME. I rode three times, yeah, that's right, go ahead and laugh, I don't care.
This is the entrance for the walk-through, the Haunted House. If you like the scary, do not miss this attraction. For my money, Haunted House is the best reason to visit Hanayashiki. (It's in the building over the Shounkaku Gate, on the second floor? I had to go up stairs to get there, I think.)
As luck would have it, I went through alone (pretty certain that I and the poor guy sitting out front were the only two people on the whole floor). To get from one space to the next, you have to find and then slide open a door, like a classic Shoji screen, closing it again behind you. And it is DARK in there. I had so much trouble finding the first door, I almost gave up. Seriously. And that got me very jumpy.
But I made it in, and for realz, my heart was pounding. Moody, super-creepy, and genuinely frightening, I came out of there shaking like a leaf. And I'll never respond to the sound of a crying baby the same way again. SWEET!
There is at least one more scary attraction here (!!!), called Ghost Mansion, but that, too, was closed. Turns out we did get to experience a number of these types of things on the trip, which are simply dark rooms where you sit and listen to a spooky story with "surround-sound" audio effects through headphones. Some were better than others, but all were good for a few kicks. I imagine that Ghost Mansion would be at least okay, at worst.
Last, there was a 3-D theater that the map included as part of the "Mystery and Panic" selections, but it was down as well. Still another reason I'll come back to Hanayashiki some day.
So four scary jobbies, at this teensy-weensy little park. That KICKS ASS.
All in all, I had a swell time here, a nearly perfect way to ease into the insane amusement park dork-orgy that the next two weeks were going to be.
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