To be honest, I did not actually plan to visit this park. I only visited because I had a spare day at Osaka to kill and wanted something different from Universal Studios Japan. Due to the 1 day rail-pass (see below), I was able to visit the parks in the morning to take the rides, return to Osaka in the afternoon and come back at night for their Christmas event!
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| The park is also open at night for the Christmas lighting event! |
Getting There
Hirakata Park is located about a 5 minute walk away from Keihan Railway (note: NOT JR) Hirakata Koen station. This station is halfway between Osaka and Kyoto. You may take the Keihan Railway either from Yodoyabashi station in Osaka or Sanjo station in Kyoto.
In fact, here is a good deal for overseas visitors: Kyoto Osaka Sightseeing Pass (Hirakata Park). You get both the train ticket and the theme park admission TOGETHER for a low-low price of 1000 yen (normal admission is 1400 yen).
Note that as with most Japanese theme parks, rides are priced separately from the theme park admission. You can either pay per ride (300 to 700 yen per ride) or purchase an unlimited ride pass for 3000 yen (2700 yen with the rail pass). Also, note that you can only purchase an unlimited ride pass at the ticket booth OUTSIDE the park. The ticket machines inside only sell 1 ride tickets.
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| Purchase your ride passes before entering the park... |
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| or you will be stuck with these ticket machines |
Overview of the Park
Hirakata Park is located on the side of a small hill. Most of the rides are located at the base of the hill. There is a "shopping street" near the entrance that is actually home to a couple of indoor kids attractions and an arcade .. and a MacDonald. The wooden coaster, observation wheel and a couple of small rides are located at the top of the hill.
One key thing is that unlike the big chain parks, Hirakata Park does not seem to have many English speaking staff. As such, either have your translator app ready ... or just be so familiar with theme park rules that you never need to speak to a staff member. :D
Elf - Intamin Wood Coaster
The signature ride of the park, and the only ride to cost 700 yen is Elf. This is a classic Intamin wooden roller coaster. As with most classics, the emphasis is on the drops rather than fast pacing or airtime. However, before you can appreciate this, you need to find the entrance. This is ... not easy. There is no big sign saying "Elf" or "Wood Coaster". You basically need to walk towards the general direction of the ride, go into the footpath under the track and look for a line of people queuing up.
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| Finally found the entrance... |
The ride itself is not bad. Basically, the first half of the ride is a series of "big" drops and turnarounds, then the second half is a bit more fast paced with a couple of twists and hills. As the main clientele of this park are not exactly thrill-seekers, you will hear a lot of screams even on this moderately intense ride. Nonetheless, I really liked the screaming as it added to the mood of the ride.
On the day I visited, the park was operating 2 trains. As such, the queues were very manageable and never exceeded 15 minutes. I was able to take the ride 4 times (row 2, 5, 7, and 9), and I find the back row the best. Also, the ride an night was really quite an experience. As the ride is located at a quiet area of the park without much lighting, you feel like you have traveled back in time or transported to a deserted area.
Korrotruck
The next coaster I took is this kiddy coaster Korrotruck. Note that unlike the modern kiddy coasters, these classic Japanese coasters have very small seats. As such, if you are a parent accompanying your kid, you will find that you need to tuck your legs to the side just to lower the safety bar. The layout is also quite interesting with the first half being some hairpin turns (like a wild mouse) and the second half has a few bunny hills.
Fantastic Coaster Rowdy
This is an interesting coaster. Firstly, the manufacturer, Meisho Amusement Machines, is not one which you hear often outside of Japan (although according to RCDB, they actually built 91 roller coasters). Also, the layout doesn't is quite interesting - a mix of hills, turns and slow sections mixed together with no particular order or pattern. Think of it as a mini Jet Coaster.
Due to the small 12 seater trains, the queue was quite long even though Hirakata Park was operating 2 trains.
Crazy Mouse
This is a standard wild mouse ... or so I thought. Basically, a wild mouse is a type of coaster with very tight hairpin turns that make you feel you are going to slide out of the side of the car. But once I got onto the ride, I realised that the pacing is a lot better. In fact, there wasn't any point in the ride where I felt a break in the ride, which is quite unique for wild mouses.
Interestingly, Hirakata Park is not very efficient at allocating seats. Basically, if you are in a group of 1 person, they will assign you 1 person to 1 car even though there are 4 seats in 1 car. As such, crazy mouse had a crazy long queue.
Red Falcon
Red Falcon - the largest ride at Hirakata Park. This ride really dominates over the park - for almost half the park, it feels like the track is on top of you everywhere. Basically, Red Falcon is a Jet Coaster. A jet coaster is a coaster type unique to Japan that involves a mix of turns, drops and sudden transitions. Many jet coasters, including Red Falcon, also follows the terrain. Although this is branded as a adult coaster in it's heyday, it is considered low to medium intensity by modern standards.
As the ride was down with some technical difficulties during the morning, I was only able to secure 1 ride at the end of the day - after a 40 minute wait. I am sure it will give a great view of the park if you ride it during the day.
Other Attractions
Of course, being a family oriented park, the true strength of Hirakata Park is in it's family rides. There is a good variety of both indoor and outdoor rides, an arcade. For the brave kids, there is also a disko spinning ride, 10 storey drop tower and a log flume.
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| Remember this from Escape Theme Park? |
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| Yes, there is also a small animal exhibit! |
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| No I did not mix up the ride type. There is both a log flume and a rapids ride! |
Christmas Event
During the Christmas season of 2019, Hirakata Park has 2 main experiences - for day and night. In the daytime, there is a winter carnival with ice skating, snowman building and other activities - great for kids. As it was a separately ticketed activity, I did not enter as I wasn't in the mood to ice skate that day.
The other one, at night, is the Illumination. The park comes to life with a plethora of lighting, Christmas music and, of course, the rides. The lighting is divided into a few zones such as the "forested" themed area near the wood coaster, the main street with a giant Christmas tree and a more ... oriental inspired area with lantern-like lights. Think of it as a mini Nabana No Sato.
The Verdict
Hirakata Park is a true Japanese classic. You don't go to this park for the thrills, but for the nostalgia and atmosphere. In that, Hirakata Park delivers in spades. It also offers a good selection of rides and activities for the whole family, especially to those who are not true thrillseekers. I mean, lets be real. Noe everyone is going to appreciate giant rides like Steel Dragon 2000 or 绝顶雄风, but even the most hardcore coaster fans will appreciate a classic, relaxing ride on a family wood coaster.
- Roller Coasters: ☆☆☆
- Thrill Rides: ☆☆
- Shows: ☆
- Family Rides: ☆☆☆☆☆
- Theming: ☆☆☆
- Operations: ☆☆☆
- Overall: ☆☆☆☆
Find Hirakata Park interesting, why not look at these other "local" parks.
- Sunway Lagoon, Malaysia
- Knights Valley, Shenzhen, China
- Jinjiang Action Park, Shanghai, China
- Nagashima Spa Land - though this is really stretching the definition of "local"