I’ll be the first to admit that I’m an avid theme park fan. I’ve visited theme parks all over the world (well over 50) so I like to think I know my stuff when it comes to roller coasters. Fuji Q Highland has been on my bucket list for a number of years, as I unfortunately missed it during my last visit to Japan. So, I was understandably excited to experience it when I returned to Japan in 2023!

I’ll start with the positive elements of the park, with the first being its location. I’ve never seen a theme park that has such an incredible backdrop. Almost every single ride gives you the most amazing view of Mt Fuji. When we visited it was a cold but clear day in December, so it was in full view. The park is also spotlessly clean and was well looked after.

The rides I experienced when visiting were very good, but there were some standout attractions that really took me by surprise. Fujiyama which is nicknamed the ‘king of coasters’ was extremely forceful but great fun. As soon as you leave the lift hill it’s non-stop, and I loved it, even if it is a little rough in places. Takabisha was also a very smooth 121 degree, beyond vertical drop roller coaster. It also featured a 100km launch which was incredible. Their new roller coaster Zokkon was also very good, with multiple launches, a backwards drop section and more.

There are however some negatives which did massively impact my day out. Theme parks operate all over the world, and as I mentioned, I’ve visited parks all over the world 100’s of times – but Fuji Q has to be the worst operations out of any theme park I’ve ever visited.

Queues are agonisingly slow, because of a combination of a number of factors. These include excessive safety briefings, facial recognition cameras for entry and inefficient loading of available trains. Zokkon, when we visited on a quiet day in December, had a 120-minute queue and using only one train. It honestly was painful to watch.

We only had an afternoon at the park and even though it was quiet we only managed 5 rides. 5 hours, for 5 rides, and that was also paying for a ‘Priority Pass’ for Zokkon. The Priority Pass was very expensive (2300 JPY) but was necessary as otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to ride it. There seemed to a lot of closed attractions that were closed for maintenance, but these weren’t advertised on the website.

I would argue that Fuji Q is an amusement park, not a theme park, as outside of Thomas Land, there is very little theming. Don’t go expecting Disneyland – as you will be disappointed.

My final gripe is the park shuts at the advertised time, so if a queue is 2 hours, the ride queue will shut 2 hours before the park. It’s worth bearing in mind if you’re visiting and wanting to ride something specific.

Overall, we got on everything we wanted to during our visit, but we did need to utilise the Priority Ticket system which was expensive. It was a fun but frustrating experience, so if you’re planning a visit, be prepared to queue!