Hakugei: A Whale of a Ride
In the late 1990’s, the coaster wars were in full swing across the globe. Every park was striving towards building the tallest, fastest and longest thrill rides to outdo the competition and attract an ever growing audience either seeking for their next rush or to spend their vacation time. Of course we all know the fight to build the world’s tallest coaster with rides such as Cedar Point’s Magnum XL-200 and Top Thrill Dragster. However there was another battle being fought, one for the largest wooden coaster. The first of these massive rides to be built during the coaster wars was Texas Giant at Six Flags Over Texas, which took the records for the tallest, fastest and longest wooden coaster. Over the next 10 years, the record for the largest wooden coaster would be claimed four times with other massive wooden coasters being built around the world.
Except, these rides would prove to be unsustainable and begin to offer unfavourable ride experiences as they grew older. While some were forced to be demolished, a solution would be found in 2011 when Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC), an Idaho based coaster construction company, successfully opened their reimagining of Texas Giant into New Texas Giant with their steel I-Box track. The story of Texas Giant was repeated on many wooden coasters across the world, transforming them into world class hybrid attractions. It took eight years for RMC to use their new technology in Asia and the first project was converting Nagashima Spaland’s White Cyclone, the longest wooden coaster in Asia and former tallest and fastest, into Hakugei. Texas Giant has had its tale told - this is the story of Hakugei.
What is a Hakugei?
Hakugei can be translated one of two ways. The first is simply a “white whale” and the second is more interestingly “Moby Dick,” the same name as Hermen Melville’s 1851 novel Moby Dick. Now one may be asking, “Why theme a coaster to a whale or Moby Dick?” A part of that answer can be found in the country Nagashima Spa Land resides in, Japan. Whales have been integrated into Japanese culture for thousands of years. Due to having smaller ships in the past, Japanese fishermen were limited to hunting what they could find off the coasts. However, sometimes whales would either come inland or beach on the shore along with a great number of fish. When this occurred, fishermen would harvest the whale, which the resources gained was bountiful enough to feed a village. As a result, the arrival of the whale was believed by some to be a gift from the gods. As a result, religions were formed around whales called Hyochakushin (Drifting Ashore God) or Yorikami Shinkyo (Religion of the Visiting Kami).
Initially, followers had only requested for more whales to come their way, but as the religion grew it began to become more complex. Similar to other religions, the whale religions were partially built upon respect and gratitude and on fear. To some religions, they deemed whales as being capable of being malevolent gods and angry whale gods resulted in storms and poor fishing. Therefore, many prayed to appease the spirits of whales and to avoid being punished. Overtime, these religions began to converse and merge, eventually creating one whale god, Ebisu. Ebisu is considered to be the god of sea abundance and has been depicted in both human (fisherman) and whale forms. Whales were originally thought to be emissaries of Ebisu and then later incarnations of Ebisu himself. With this status, whale shrines were constructed in coastal areas of Japan, typically along with a Kujira Tsuga (Whale Mound) where the remains of whales are buried.
Whales proved to have a significant impact in Japanese culture and are still relevant to this day, with shrines being present and Japan still performing whaling. Furthermore, there was a legend about a ghostly whale named The Bakekujira. This was a yokai taking the form of a massive skeletal white baleen whale, said to once appear and vanish on the coast of Japan under mysterious circumstances. When broken down into its basic parts, the name refers to a transforming or changing whale. However some have translated the name as Ghost Whale or Goblin Whale. The tale goes that off the coast of Okino Island during one rainy night, fishermen noticed a large white object in the distance. They determined it was a whale and took a boat to investigate. Upon confronting the creature one of the men threw a harpoon which passed through the creature with no harm. As they were able to recognize the whale, they discovered that it was the skeleton of a whale that was moving and alive. However, just as the creature appeared it suddenly vanished, never to be seen again. Some speculated that it was either a whale killed in a hunt or a god of a sort, however it remains unknown.
Whales hold quite a significance in Japanese culture and it’s no surprise to see an attraction built based upon legends. In Japan alone, multiple rides have used Japanese mythology as the groundwork for large roller coasters such as Nagashima Spa Land’s Steel Dragon 2000 or the late Expoland’s Orochi.
Whale Shrine in Shinkamigoto, Japan
Building a Sea of Wood
Pulling this back into the amusement industry, in 1994 Nagashima Spa Land opened White Cyclone - the tallest, fastest and longest wooden roller coaster in Asia. Manufactured by Intamin and designed by Dennis Starkely of the Stand Company, the ride featured large drops and hills as well as signature massive helix. Painted all white and with an impressive light package illuminating the ride gold at night, it had a graceful appearance. Perhaps more impressive is how long White Cyclone held it’s records for in Asia. The coaster lost its height and speed title to T-Express in South Korea’s Everland in 2008, and maintained the length record throughout its operating life.
However after two decades of operation the ride became more difficult for the park to maintain, similar to other large wooden coasters built during the 1990s. With a combination of newer rides being built and ridership falling for the attraction, Nagashima Spa Land knew they needed to do something about the ride.
White Cyclone at Nagashima Spa Land
Capturing a New Thrill
Similar to what Nagashima Spa Land did when looking for a ride to build for 2000, a team set off to the United States to visit parks to try new rides and see what they could bring to their park. This proved to be successful in the past as it gives the park an idea of what kind of experience they want and how they could make the product fit with their goals. As we have seen when Nagashima Spa Land rode Mamba at Worlds of Fun and used that ride to build Steel Dragon 2000. This time the team went to Six Flags Fiesta Texas in San Antonio Texas with the intention to ride Batman: The Ride, the prototype S&S Sansei 4D Free Spin coaster to evaluate the ride experience. Which eventually will result in the addition of Arashi in 2017. While at the park the team also took interest in Iron Rattler, a RMC Hybrid coaster and a redo of the former Rattler. Impressed by the ride, it was determined they wanted to bring a similar experience to their park and it was a solution to their problems with White Cyclone. The decision was made to close the attraction on January 28, 2018 after 24 years of operation.
Bringing Hakugei to Life
To contract RMC to bring a new hybrid coaster to Japan, Nagashima Spa Land had to go through japanese attraction broker Sansei Technologies. In order to enable sales of rides outside of North America, RMC partnered with Vekoma to reach potential clients around the world. In 2018, Vekoma was acquired by Sansei Technologies, granting a direct path for parks in Japan to purchase Vekoma products. With Sansei Technologies adding Vekoma to their portfolio along with the previously owned S&S Worldwide, Hakugei became a project handled by three companies. RMC would provide the track, trains and be the project supervisors. While S&S was responsible for the components such as the lift, brakes and engineering installation. Finally, Sansei themselves would take control of the deconstruction of White Cyclone and install necessary structures to comply with Japanese building codes. In September 2018, Nagashima Spa Land announced the ride would be named Hakugei with a price tag of 2.88 Billion yen ($25 Million) and it will be ready to open for the park's 55th season.
For the theming, the ride loosely plays off of the story of Moby Dick. In the novel, it details the story of Captain Ahab aiming to capture the giant white whale through a perilous voyage. On the ride, there are subtle thematic decisions. Each of the trains are adorned with a ship steering wheel, alluding that the trains are a ship traversing the blue track on the white structure. Or the rough seas riders will experience to conquer the white whale, or Hakugei.
The ride itself was designed by Alan Schilke to be a double out and back roller coaster, meaning the ride does two large laps around the structure before returning to the station. Furthermore it was designed to be the tallest, fastest and longest hybrid coaster in Asia with a height of 55 meters (180 feet), an 80º drop, a top speed of 107 kmh (66.5 mph), 1,530 meters (5,020 feet) of track and three inversions. Plus if you look at the lift hill carefully, you can see the original path White Cyclone took riders on! The ride has three six car first generation trains from RMC able to secure 24 riders each with an individual seatbelt and hydraulic lap bar.
To begin their voyage, riders drop out of the station and get tossed around through four bunny hops before the lift hill. Once at the crest, a slight left turn later and the train drops at an 80º angle, providing a hefty dose of airtime to riders. Massive airtime hills, a high in the sky wave turn and a gigantic Zero-G Stall and wave turns make up the start of the ride before it enters the lower to the ground second lap with more heavily banked turns, airtime hills and two Zero-G rolls before coming to a conclusion. All in all, Hakugei offers riders moments of extreme airtime and fast paced, whippy elements. No other coaster in the park offers a similar experience, making Hakugei a strong complement to the rest of the rides. To see how the ride looks in motion, check out this video to see riders conquer Hakugei!
Was it a Splash or a Flop?
Upon opening on March 28, 2019, the ride was an instant hit among guests. In the first month alone the ride thrilled 55,000 riders and by the end of 2019 over 555,000 riders. Then after 20 months, the one millionth rider had braved Hakugei. For those who enjoyed the attraction greatly, the park sells white whale plushies as merchandise and made an ice cream brand featuring the ride sold throughout the country. As it currently stands, Hakugei is the new star of Nagashima Spa Land along with Steel Dragon 2000. In our 2020 Vote Coaster poll, Hakugei debuted as the 11th best roller coaster in the world and the fourth best hybrid coaster. Then in 2021 it rose to seventh place, overtaking Untamed as the third best hybrid coaster.
Hakugei is one of the largest projects RMC has undertaken and just like their other coasters it has been met with high praise. Taking an old wooden coaster and making it a new ride that has never been seen before to Japan. While also making a subtle nod to the culture of Japan, converting myths and even literature into a thrilling roller coaster experience. Just like Steel Dragon 2000 did when it opened, Hakugei positioned the spotlight back on Nagashima Spa Land and holds it as a testament to the park striving to bring new and record breaking rides to Japan.
The question stands, what is your opinion on Hakugei? Leave a comment or tag us on Twitter and Instagram to leave your thoughts about this ride. Thank you for reading and we will see you all next time.
- Andrew