Another Coaster for my Collection

Last weekend, I took an overnight trip down to Nagoya to visit my favorite amusement park. I say weekend, though I really visited Nagashima Spaland on Monday, since my days off are Sunday and Monday. It was a really good day: the weather was warm and crowds were light.

Nagashima has all kinds of great rides, and if I lived in Nagoya, I would probably try to visit every week. One of their coasters, Steel Dragon 2000, still holds the record for the longest in the world. It's 97 meters tall, has a 93.5 meter first drop, reaches speeds of 153 km/h, with a nearly 2.5 km-long track. All four of those were records when it was built. It used to have ugly, bulky, uncomfortable trains that looked like this:

After discovering that Do-dodonpa coaster toy, I checked a little online and found this toy. Choro-Coaster is the name it's given, though there was a whole line of Choro vehicles. It was made by Takara, who was also involved in the Do-dodonpa car. This one isn't of as high quality as the Tomica vehicle, but it is 20 years old.

As far as I can tell, this is the only other coaster toy car issued in Japan. I've seen yellow and blue versions, so I'll probably get a blue version to complete the set. And who knows, maybe I'll discover other coaster toys here!

As I mentioned, this is the old train style. The ride got new trains several years ago which are much smoother and more comfortable.

And this trip to Nagoya wasn't just about coasters. I visited two card shops and a card show on Sunday! Once I get everything scanned, I can start sharing my haul.

Until next time...