Despite it being summer, the sun was low enough to start casting shadows on the ground by the time I got to Benyland. I had hoped to arrive early in the afternoon, but my delays at Lina World meant I had less time here. Thankfully, the park wasn't busy and I had a good time with the time that I had.
It's a small park, similar to Lina World. There's a carousel and lots of other kids rides.
The front ride area has a pirate ship, of course, and teacups!
To get to the more thrilling side of the park, go through the castle. It's small, but perhaps larger than the Disneyland castle. Then again, maybe not. The castle serves as an entrance to a short tunnel, over which a roller coaster passes.
Two coasters are located atop the small hill. I'll get back to those later.
The park has a Top Spin 2, called Top Spin 2, with a fairly short program. It never filled up by any means, but there seemed to always be someone else there to ride it when one cycle finished. That was the case at all of the rides - no lines, other than waiting for the prior cycle to finish.
The park's most "intense" coaster might be the Corkscrew, painted green. As far as corkscrew coasters go, it's fairly standard but at least it's not too rough.
It is the larger coaster you saw in the picture after the castle. It goes up the lift and down the drop, makes a U-turn, goes through the corkscrew, and then gets back to the station. The red track is "Roller Coaster", which is the park's first coaster, built in 1968. It's pretty tame, and is themed to a steam train.
If you didn't see it in many of the other photos, the park has a Ferris wheel. The "thrill" side of the park (through the tunnel) has some nicely manicured lawns and landscaping.
The lawns were freshly cut. I saw some garden maintenance going on during park hours later in the afternoon. The park's third coaster, Yagiyama Cyclone, can be seen in the distance.
I like the cabin-like gondolas on the Ferris wheel! Let's take a spin...
Corkscrew sends another group of passengers through a cycle.
Go-Karts on a simple track. Note the walls that double back to allow the go-karts to have a longer ride in a short space.
Another shot of Corkscrew. There are a lot of trees here which are hiding most of Roller Coaster.
There's Roller Coaster on the lift hill! The front ride plaza is somewhat visible from here.
Yagiyama Cyclone. I thought it was pretty fun and if I had had more time at the park I would have gone for a good handful of rides.
Megadance ran a very tame program, just bouncing up and down lightly most of the time. Yes, that's what the ride should do, but it's like they really toned it down.
There's a haunted house. It seemed to be an upcharge attraction. Maybe it wasn't and I missed out!
Come, enter my haunted house! I will eat your babies!
See what I mean about the landscaping? Trees, grass (which isn't perfectly green, but it's well-manicured), sharp hedges.
Benyland doesn't have a lot, but I really like Top Spin rides so I went on that a few times. Honestly, I can't find a reason to return, but for amusement park fans or those in the Sendai area looking for something fun for the kids, it's a decent half-day stop. There's a zoo next door which would combine for a nice day off.
Benyland is open 9:00-17:00 (until 16:30 in November) everyday from about the second week of March to the last week of November; it opens on most weekends through the New Year, then closing for about two months in January and February.
Admission is 800 yen for adults, 400 yen for kids; all-you-can-ride Free Passes are 3500/3100 yen respectively. Individual rides are 100-500 yen each. Access is easy by bus from Sendai Station; ask for details at the tourist center. You'll probably be headed to Bus Stop 12 to catch a number 9 or 11 bus.
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