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Follow the Yellow Brick Road! The park map now shows the WoZ Precinct

Flight of the Wicked Witch has started testing

It all comes down to money\cost. See they removed Police Academy because the stunt performers (of which that show had A LOT) were really expensive - they were paid the same rate as a movie stunt person (naturally so) and the HWSD show was a way to cut labour costs. Unfortunately the guys who drove those cars were also professionals, and cost a bit too. Additionally, within the confines of the arena, there were bound to be collisions with barriers, and other vehicles from time to time, so the body work \ smash repair was also costly. The Mitsubishi Evos were high performance vehicles and required a lot of maintenance - especially the breakway car. We saw the jump ramps in the early show previews (up on two wheels, etc) early on but that element didn't appear regularly and was very high risk. I imagine that the show wasn't as cheap as they thought it'd be - and add on top the cost of rebuilding the arena to accommodate it. They had to cut some parts of the show almost immediately as the chance of damage and the cost of repairs was just too high. HWSD2 was born out of a need to reduce labour and maintenance costs for the drivers and the Evos. Cue Showtime. they've got their own crew, offer a fixed price contract (or at least they have done so elsewhere), and they're used to putting on shows on the show circuit across the country. It sure seems like a no brainer for Village to be able to offer a show without having to bear the risk\cost of damage and drivers. it's basically just outsourcing the show to a third party and letting them use your facility. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the country boy from the outback came to compete with his city cousin in a set right out of an Italian village. Long Live The Police Academy Stunt Show.

I'm not sure how my tip of "make sure you specify how many in your room" has caused so much debate, lol. It doesn't change the fact in Japan, it is the first and only time I've ever been stopped and charged more for a second person. I'm fairly well traveled so I have quite large sample base to go off. It wasn't a bitch, and again, merely an observation. Also, not sure if a on site hotel perk, but some express passes were available the morning of second visit. We were almost going to, hesitated again at the cost, and decided to not proceed. In the end, we achieved everything we needed to in the 1.5 days, albeit minus one Halloween attraction.

Thank you for shutting down @Brad2912 he's a flog and about time someone put him in his place.

I take the post as being more of a word of warning for things you might not necessarily expect to think about. The one about taking 40-50 mins to get anywhere actually kinda resonates. The transport network is amazing, but for the most part it tends to run all stops in central areas so not always quick, so factor that in when hopping about, another factor is that huge Imperial palace complex, which means all the subway lines go around it, so not necessarily always direct A to B. Likewise, when I've booked hotels I tend to just get lazy and put my details in, so a 2nd person may be an issue if you forget to do that.

Just got back from Japan Sunday. Here's some advice. Disneyland and Disneysea do mid-week. We did a Tuesday a week apart. I made the mistake of staying way too far away on the first visit, and got to Disneysea too late to get Fantasy Springs entry. Oh well. Disneyland the week after rained all day, so lines were fantastic! The park was empty after around 7/8pm except for Main Street. Universal - that park is a mess. The Express Pass can only do select rides; you opt for 'packages'. We found single rider OK. Still struggled to get on everything with the 1.5 day pass. Unfortunately we missed the fact it needed to be consequent visits, so had to spring for a second day pass. We got Nintendo entry at around 11am still. This was on a weekend too, mind you. But if you can get up early and/or stay on site, try to get it as early as possible. You need to scan in to get the app entry, not just be on site. Disney/Universal park hours reportedly open an hour earlier than posted times. We didn't get there early enough. Staying til close helps also, as people tend to leave after the main show/parade but Universal in Halloween is still a mess. The locals LOVE shows/parades/anything they can take photos of. Use this to your advantage and go hit the rides first/last up. Staying at a resort also allows you to get pass outs (or can you make other excuses? Who knows). Nagashima Spa Land ops are a joke. Go on a quiet day and still will struggle to fit everything in. Steel Dragon is amazing in the last row. We paid the $15 (or was it $10?) to get express pass one time. In Tokyo, it felt like everything was 40-50 minutes travel from one another. No matter how close it appears on a map. We changed our hotels halfway through the trip to stay on site, ended up making life A LOT easier. I don't really have any specific advise but feel to PM if you have any questions. I found Japan really easy going and quite tourist friendly, SO LONG as you have something like Google Maps to assist with transport. Make sure you go get a Pasmo or Suca card (QC) ASAP when you land - otherwise every train line basically has its own company and ticketing systems. The Go Card-like cards allow you to top up and you can use these throughout Tokyo, Osaka, Nara (and I assume elsewhere). Google where to purchase. You just buy your Shinkansen (bullet train) as needed. Don't fear unreserved seating, we did this as we decided to do an open jaw booking (Osaka to Nagoya then on to Tokyo the next day). Hmm what else. Make sure you book the hotels as 1 or 2 people per room (or whatever arrangement you have). I ALWAYS book my hotel as 1 person except when it has something like breakfast or executive lounge included. But in Japan it was a problem EVERYWHERE. We just caught on and amended bookings. The Japanese are mega rule followers. Every part of the T&C is upheld. Late checkout, theme park ticketing (lol read above) - this is a good and bad thing, but it caught us out a few times. In the US and Europe it tends to be a bit more of a conversation and sometimes you get lucky. Cash is good for topping up the QC cards above. Other than that, we only needed cash for the express pass and food machines at Spa Land. Try researching flight prices at flights.google.com. JAL has the best leg room and seat width. I'd say Singapore is next (we did this, via Singapore). Have fun, I've caught the bug and want to go back already!