Going backwards on a roller coaster for more than a little bit doesn't really appeal much to me. Shuttle coasters are awesome, and some full-circuit attractions that have a section of reverse travel – like the Revenge of the Mummy rides – are among my favorites. When the whole thing goes bass-ackwards, though, I'm sort of queasy and grumpy by the time it's over. And: this Bolliger & Mabillard layout didn't look very exciting anyway.
But: music. And also but: "Backdrop" is sort of pretty clever.
Anyway, it did open and we got on and I'll be damned, but going backwards was not only really fun, it was better than doing it vanilla style.
Like Hollywood Rip, Ride, Rockit, Hollywood Dream allows you to choose your musical accompaniment; unlike HRRR, there is only a handful of selections. For my first ride, backwards, I went with whatever J-Pop selection was on the list. When in Rome...
Turned out to be a swell, upbeat song, and I suspect that some editing was done to better time it to the flow of the ride. The seats are comfortable (B&M, duh), the audio is crisp and loud (with no aural spillover from any of the cars near you), every drop and turn is a terrific surprise when you don't see it coming (funny how that works, duh), and I never felt queasy at all. Yay!
Thanks to some appropriate piece of paper in our wad of express tickets and special passes – or for some other reason I'm forgetting, anyhow – we were able to run right back around and grab another ride facing forward. Decent high jinks for sure because MUSIC + ROLLER COASTER is always equal to or greater than GOODNESS.
Backwards was my fave, though, and I think that was the case for just about everyone. Way to go, Universal and B&M!
(The trains, by the way, looked fairly sensational even in the drab light of this day, with all their sparkly lights twinkling magically. I will come back and try this ride out at night. Maybe they could have gone more Art Deco or Streamline Moderne with them, all shiny black and chrome, more "Roaring 20s Hollywood," but whatever, they look very Japanese as is, so they're just fine and I'll shut up about it.)
We walked out through their CityWalk, which was almost a little too familiar.
Familiar or not, I love this neon guitar a bunch.
And the big blue gorilla, too.
That night, we made our way to another part of the area for a big group dinner.
It was this yakitori joint and the meal was out of sight. Delicious, with beer and saki flowing freely. Mr. Kitagawa, our host at Yokohama Cosmoworld two days hence, joined us there as well. Next day, Harikata!
To be continued. |
