originally posted on 2/14/2020
Photo: Jason Wollenberg. View full-sized image.
The closure of any amusement park is sad news to the enthusiast community. Often when it takes place in another country, it is easier to take. However, with the East Meets ACE trip visiting Japan as recently as 2018, those memories are still fresh among ACE members. To hear that Toshimaen (Tokyo) looks to close its gates comes as a shock.
Having opened in 1926, Toshimaen amusement park has almost a century’s worth of memories behind it. Sources have reported that Seibu Group management that operates the park is in discussion with the Tokyo government and United States entertainment company Warner Bros. to reimagine the property. The result could close down the amusement park as it is known today. If this happens, the closure could happen in stages.
If acquired by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, one possible plan is to turn it into a public park that could serve as an evacuation site during disasters. Negotiations with Warner Bros. would bring about a new theme park based on the Harry Potter series. If either of these happens, the beloved park known today would cease to exist. Final word may come this spring.
Photo: John Swarens. View full-sized image.
Photo: John Gerard. View full-sized image.
ACE members were delighted by Toshimaen’s charms on the recent international tour. Among its lineup are a dark ride, a flume, a train, a walk-through attraction, a double (giant!) swinging ship ride (on a roof!), a junior coaster, a powered coaster and an Arrow Corkscrew coaster.
Photo: Tim Baldwin. View full-sized image.
Two attractions are real standouts: Toshimaen’s El Dorado carousel and the Cyclone coaster.
The triple-platform carousel consists of concentric rings that rotate at different speeds from one another. A mixture of seating choices added even more character to the decorative showpiece. If the closure of the park is inevitable, one can only hope this iconic piece can be purchased and saved.
Photo: Dan Brewer. View full-sized image.
Photo: John Swarens. View full-sized image.
The park’s largest coaster is Cyclone. Built in 1965 by TOGO, this nonlooping gem had the most comfortable seating of any coaster on the East Meets ACE trip. With its trains curiously themed to logs, seats lined in velvet and no lap bar, Cyclone is an astonishing installation for anyone who grew up visiting American amusement parks. The layout features numerous smooth drops to the ground and a long tunnel. Its true character and soul are in its simplicity. Because of its placement within the park — as well as its age — a relocation of this ride would be far more difficult.
Photo: Derek Perry. View full-sized image.
On the same property but set apart is a waterpark that offers many more summer attractions.
To see such a historic park removed from Tokyo’s landscape would be a true loss, no matter what new entertainment may take its place.
— Tim Baldwin
ACE News Editor
Attendees of the East Meets ACE enjoyed their visit while at Toshimaen.
Photo: Alex Rigsby. View full-sized image.
@#$%&!
#ACENews