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I tried to get John Longhurst to recall some information about it on a few occasions - what I've been able to cobble together is that he got exclusive rights to build a Corkscrew Coaster with Arrow Dynamics to do a midway style install similar to Cedar Point or Nagashima Spa Land where the corkscrew would head over the top of the pathway. During the construction of Dreamworld, he had a corkscrew fabricated to see how it would look in person, hated it, and when Keith Williams called about building one, he gave the rights away. Interesting to think how that would've shaped the identity of Dreamworld, or if he had the funds he wanted, had built a castle instead of leasing the land to Kenny Lord to build Thunderbolt.

@Joshua Hartas with Fuji Q it's different now because fast passes are now sold from vending machines out the front of each ride, There is no longer a singular booth. Your description is pretty much how I did it, for Nagashima there's a direct bus from the main bus station in the middle of Nagoya. **** In terms of fast passes I splurged a bit on the 7 ride pass for Universal. At Fuji Q and Nagashima I got express passes from the vending machines, and I found that it wouldn't have been possible to get everything done without them ( though of course I could have taken extra days at some of the parks, but I didn't have time) Must dos would be Universal, Disney, Nagashima and Fuji Q and arguably Parque Espana. Around Tokyo their heaps of medium sized parks. Personally I thought Yomiuriland was the pick of the bunch. Tokyo Dome City (thunder dolphin/panic coaster) and Joyopolis are both pretty good. Tobu Zoo (Kawasemi & Regina) and Yokohama Cosmoworld are kind of crappy but have well known coasters you want to ride

I've been to Japan three times (planning 4th trip for next year) and while my interests are more anime related than theme parks these days I still visited Tokyo Disneyland/Sea (multiple times) and Universal Studios (once). Even if you say you're not a Disney fan (I'm not, honestly have no interest in anything they make) the parks are an absolute must. Before I visited I thought there would be nothing to excite me about the parks but honestly they are an eye-opening experience, DisneySea especially, theming is unbelievable and a lot of the rides are bucket-list worthy. As for Universal Studios it was ok, honestly I'm still pissed about being denied the ride on the Hollywood Dream roller coaster because my thighs were too chunky to get the lap bars down on the test seat (I was 95kg at the time, down to 83kg now so fingers crossed for next trip). As for your other question regarding 'unsafe places' the only thing you have to worry about is touristy places like Shinjuku, Harajuku, Kabukicho and other areas with bars/clubs. There's a lot of dodgy establishments where they'll try and beckon you in by using English and then rip you off by overcharging for drinks or just plain rob you. It's never happened to me personally, but that's mostly because I'd only go to a place that actually appears on a Google review and not just wander into any random bar, club or restaurant. On our first trip we stayed in a business hotel (like APA) in the financial districts of the city away from all the glitz and nightlife and touristy spaces. It made what could have been an intimidating and overwhelming first trip overseas a lot more relaxed and safe feeling. Plus the public transport (trains) are so good within Tokyo that even if you're staying away from the tourist areas it doesn't take long (or cost much) to get back into it. Also the hotels are a lot cheaper in these districts too.

Yeah, no further alterations to the ride's track/hardware have been done as far as I can tell. Here's where the original image was taken from, in higher quality and with zoomed out images showing the whole TTD site:

The top hat is still there

Big Dipper and Abyss are both great rides that run rough in summer just by nature of the heat. Abyss was a bit rattly when new, can’t imagine what it’s like now. Abyss should have had lap bars from the start too. Layout wise Big Dipper has abyss beat. No ride in this country flies through its layout like Big Dipper does especially when it’s done a few cycles during the day. And it runs a lot smoother in winter except for the valley between the non inverting loop and the immelman Arkham was like being in a violent car accident in its last couple of years. Gold Coaster was pretty nasty before it got the new trains, now it’s just a bit jerky in 1 or 2 parts.

Start a thread on here asking for advice. A large number of us have been and can recommend parks/rides/food/tourist stuff. I've been twice and trying to find a way to get back again.

I rode it last weekend (three times) and, while there was a definite rattle, it had nothing on the violent shaking Arkham got towards the end of its life. The crowds have been pretty heavy this season and the heat can't have helped either. It may be due up for maintenance but they could be holding off until after peak season.

I might be going to Japan this year I hope I can get on do do

They are both rougher than they should be, but you can sit on Big Dipper and ride it over and over so it wins for me.

One of my favourite things is when someone makes something up and then you get outrage at made up thing. There are lots of reasons why. There could be disabled guests and they want empty cars in the system to make it easier to identify which car has those guests. It might be to prevent a cascade stop. It might be that those cars had their harness reset, and while the ride is fine to continue operating, those cars need to be cycled a few times. It could be a guest half heartedly reported something, and it was being checked out to be sure to be sure. There are a million reasons why, its likley none of the ones I mentioned are why, but I'd suggest putting the outrage back in your pocket.

It's funny, I had to Google 'scooby doo spooky coaster entry' to realise what was wrong with this picture because upon first seeing this picture I was like "wtf have they done to the scooby building". Turns out having a couple trees framing your big ugly white sound stage building does wonders for selling an illusion because honestly this looks like shit.

Not always about Village. They have to work with the Mack schedule also.