Eric S.
Yelp
YEAR OF THE DRAGON
Brace yourself for the fire-breathing fury of the world's longest roller coaster.
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***extra special foreword: it's taken me 7 years to get to this point, my 1000th review on Yelp. I thought for a long time about what person/place/thing should be deserving of the milestone, and determined that it'd have to be freakin' legendary. All it took was a single circuit on this behemoth to know I'd found the holy grail of thrill rides.
So fasten your seatbelts, stow all personal belongings, place your head against the headrest and hold on tight as I present number one thousand in all her Yelptastic glory.
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Steel Dragon 2000 is, without a doubt, the crown jewel of Nagashima Spa Land. Though the Japanese amusement park boasts a serious collection of coasters (the RMC hybrid 'Hakugei', B&M flyer 'Acrobat', and classic 'Ultra Twister' come to mind), none come close to the 1-1/2 mile long gauntlet of SD2K.
Built at a cost of $52,000,000 USD (which equates to a ridiculous 5.7 BILLION Yen), this mammoth ride was unveiled in the year 2000, which coincides with the Year of the Dragon in the Asian zodiac. Most of the cost is due to a "beefed up" support structure needed for earthquake protection, a Japanese government regulation.
There are roughly a dozen roller coasters of a similar style currently operating in the USA including Wild Thing @ ValleyFair, Steel Force @ Dorney Park, and Mamba @ Worlds of Fun. Steel Dragon was their most ambitious project, evidenced by the fact it cost 5x more than those other hypercoasters.
On the day we visited, the forecast was bleak. Rain kept most of the park's rides closed into the afternoon, and Steel Dragon was among them. The coaster gods were merciful, however, and bestowed upon us a clearing in the skies that allowed JUST enough time to get on the first train out of the station.
The clunky trains by Morgan were swapped out back in 2013 in favor of snazzy, streamlined trains by B&M (which are crazy comfortable). Ride operators will make sure you're secured before the train departs the station and starts climbing the mind-numbing 318ft lift hill.
It takes 1 minute 15 seconds to ascend to this height, which feels like an eternity in coaster time (side note: Steel Dragon's lift hill *alone* is longer in duration than many roller coasters). I LOVE the suspense and build-up of this part. The ascent into the clouds is so freaking long, a 2nd chain has to take over at around 150ft.
Though the view from the top is terrific, the 307ft plunge to the ground will leave you speechless. A peak speed of 95mph reached at the bottom is good enough to be tied for 6th-fastest in the world! What follows is a 252ft tall parabolic hill and a 201ft hill that leads into the spaghetti bowl turnaround.
Similar to the island segment on Millennium Force @ Cedar Point, SD2K's halfway mark is packed with positive G's. This section of the ride is the only part without straight track, on what's otherwise considered an 'out-and-back' roller coaster of the "giga" variety (those 300+ feet tall). After these low-to-the-ground maneuvers is the ride's mid course brake run.
Once you exit the MCBR, it's airtime city, baby! Steel Dragon 2000 is absolutely relentless with the camelback humps on the return trip to the station. Those in the front two rows will experience 'floater' airtime and those in the back will witness what's refer to as 'ejector' airtime, flying through two different tunnels before the station brakes.
SD2K was closed for 3 years (from 2003-2006) after one of the coaster's wheels sheared off and broke some old dude's hip in the wave pool. That'd be a temporary setback in Donald Trump's US of A and they'd have the thing running again within 24hrs, after paying hush money to the old dude and his family.
Alas, I only could manage a single ride before the weather soured once again. I'm BEYOND grateful that the ride operators at Nagashima Spa Land worked diligently to get this coaster up and running; if we'd made the trip to Japan and not gotten on this mythical attraction, I would've been devastated.
* TL;DR *
Steel Dragon 2000 will forever hold a place in this adrenaline junkie's heart. It's relentless with speed, high G-forces, and tons of airtime across a magnificent 8133ft journey that clocks in at 4 minutes long. I flew 6,300 miles to snag the elusive ride credit and couldn't be happier to check off this particular box.
Besides being #1000, this review also marks several cool milestones for yours truly: it's my 200th "first to review" as well as my 200th coaster credit overall, the latter of which is something I'm very proud of. Although I've barely scratched the surface at 4% on roller coasters worldwide (200 out of a possible 5036), I'm only just getting warmed up.
So here's to the next thousand reviews, chasing the remaining 96%, and following your passion.
