Ski resorts with mountain coasters aren’t an entirely unusual sight. Even ski resorts with small water parks aren’t incredibly hard to find. But ski resorts with a full blown amusement park tend to be much less common.
Rusutsu Resort, located on Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido, is a ski resort made up of three fairly distinct mountains. Mt. Isola and East Mt. are connected, but West Mt., which reaches 715 meters above sea level, sits on its own. At the base of West Mt., in addition to multiple hotels, an onsen, and a golf course, is a full blown amusement park.
The Rusutsu amusement park is the largest on the island of Hokkaido. It features 7 total roller coasters, 11 thrill rides like the Free Fall, multiple different Go Karts and trains, a haunted house, a mirror house, and much more. Plus during the summer vacation the park offers a few water slides, a pool, and a lazy river.
One of the park’s most unique roller coasters is the Ultra Twister, a thrilling ride that keeps you barrel rolling, dropping, and spinning throughout. But the other roller coasters offer their own version of thrill. The Hurricane is a suspended roller coaster, the Loop the Loop takes you on one of Japan’s largest coaster loops both backward and forward, and the standing coaster lets you feel the speed a g-forces on your feet.
This ski resort amusement park goes far beyond the typical mountain coaster, and combined with an onsen, a full blown golf course, small water park, and summer hiking, it’s easy to see this mountain making its way into a Japanese summer vacation.
