It was my first time to visit Fuji Q Highland. For those who don’t know about this place, it’s a theme park near Mount Fuji, and yes, you can definitely see the famous Mt. Fuji from here. It’s pretty popular because of its intense rollercoaster rides but we’re not here for that. You won’t see me riding those scary rollercoasters for sure!
We arrived past noon time, just in time for the afternoon pass sales. I didn’t really want to ride anything, I just want to explore the place and get familiarize in this side of the town. We ditched the pass and asked for the free admission ticket, which you could get from the ticket counter if you asked for it.
Our first destination was actually to eat! I wasn’t in the mood though, but my partner was starving. He even ate half of my roast beef bowl, even after eating ramen. The food was not that great, but at least the tables and chairs were a bit comfortable. It was an air conditioned area too.
My partner was curious to try the VR, so before we left that air conditioned area, we tried the VR. You could choose a “scenery” you like and I chose for him. I chose an intense looking rollercoaster for him, but he wasn’t affected at all. Maybe it wasn’t that intense for him. Or maybe he’s just aware it’s only VR, not the real one. The “scenery” to choose from were all the intense roller coaster rides of the theme park. You could probably say this is like a trial version or a practice area then you could go to the real one after. Since we didn’t have a pass, we paid for it.
When we went out, ready to face the intense heat, we were so stunned to see many food stalls that sell delicious looking food. Way better than the ones we had just now. But it was too hot outside, even the shade from the table could not protect you from the heat so at least, we convinced ourselves our choice earlier was at least okay.
We saw so many rides and the best part was that the theme park wasn’t crowded at all. It was a weekday after all. But maybe weekends too? Not sure. Anyways, we’re headed to the farthest point to go to our destination for the day - the haunted area.
The famous and the most scariest haunted house in Japan (as they say) was what we came here for. They say it takes 40 minutes to complete the entire journey. And while I stood at the entrance, I was already starting to regret my life decisions. 🥲
To enter the お化け屋敷 (haunted house), you need to pay an additional fee. If you have a pass (afternoon pass or day pass), you need to pay an additional 4,000 yen for your group of 4. Since we didn’t have a pass, we paid 8,000 yen for our group. Each group is up to 4 people. We’re only 2 so it may seem expensive, but I’ve seen some people wait outside the haunted house looking for strangers to pair up with them and split the bill. The only problem is that inside, you have to be with your group all the time. So it could get awkward for strangers. But well, it’s also an adventure.
The haunted house was actually an old hospital. The story was that it was a corrupt hospital in the old times, and many poor souls have wandered there ever since. I won’t spoil much, you could check it out for yourself.
6 groups at a time were allowed to be inside. It was so dark! Like, really really dark! At first we were watching an introduction video of the hospital and then it got so creepy and scary! Ugh! If you could just see me, you’d ask why I kept closing my eyes. 🙈😱
We were taken into an “admission room” to watch a video and that was also probably the time they took our “admission photo”. After that, each group was guided to the “starting area” where we were given a small flashlight that doesn’t lit as brightly as expected. We were the 3rd group from that batch, and as expected, yes, I let my partner go first while I was holding his tshirt from the back. My other hand was busy covering my right ears, to prevent myself from surprising sounds and from shouting out of fear.
The first few rooms were fine. Because I could hear the screams of the group in front of us, I could prepare myself emotionally and mentally. They’re a group of college looking young people with 2 girls and 2 boys. They’re very careful in walking, so we were able to meet up with them. Meeting up wasn’t allowed in the rules, so they told us to go past them as they would take time.
The first group in our batch was a group of 3 foreigners, and while they seem to be not so scared, they’re kinda slow so we asked again if we could go first. They were fine with it so now, we’re the first group in our batch to go explore the scary hospital. Aaaaargrrgh! I couldn’t prepare myself!
If it gets too scary, there were doors to “retire” or to end the journey and I really wanted to retire every now and then but my partner thought our money would be wasted if we did so.
We ended the entire haunted hospital in just 15 minutes. I also couldn’t believe our record. We were so fast! Probably the fastest?! And no, we didn’t run, we were just walking normally. But my partner is so used to walking in Tokyo like how salaryman in Tokyo walks, so imagine that pace. I was only able to shout one time when the ghost was so close to me. That shout was so intense though, like all my pent up feelings in that one shout.
I could say we conquered the haunted hospital and we did well! It’s so important to trust your companions and to be courageous.
After that, we were in another cafeteria, and this time, I was still trying to calm myself. My hands were still so cold from that haunted hospital! We didn’t buy anything there and proceeded to explore other places in the theme park.
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We got into a GeGeGe No Kitaro collab area, and while this anime is about folklore creatures and scary beings, I wasn’t scared at all. My partner had a grilled fish while I was busy checking the souvenir shop.
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Our final stop was the Naruto Village where we saw many life sized statues of the characters from the anime but I barely know them. Honestly I haven’t watched Naruto at all, but at least my partner did so he could recognize them. There was an AR game you could play while inside the “village” but we were pressed on time, so I wasn’t able to do the “quests”.
I’ve played one game where I need to roll a ball and it should stop on the right colors. 3 tries, 3 fails. It was hard to make the ball stop in the right place but at least I enjoyed it a little. I wanted to try the VR game there too but there’s no more time for us left to stay there for long.
As we were about to exit the theme park and walked back to the bus stop, we saw a beautiful Mt. Fuji looking at us from a distance. I was so moved. It was a beautiful last day of being 34.
Happy Hive Power Up Day!
It’s been a while since I last posted, so here’s me hoping I could be more active here this month. As usual, busy with work, and after work, I couldn’t do much as I’ve been so stressed lately.
Hopefully I could relieve my stress writing posts, no? I actually think it’s a good idea. 😆
There’s still time left, don’t forget to join #HPUD!
Thanks for reading!
See you around! じゃあ、またね！
With love,
All photos are taken using my phone unless stated otherwise.