Yamanashi weekend w/M&SIL - Fuefuki sakura/hanamomo, Kagetsu stay & Fuji Q Highland

My MIL came to visit us again, but this time with my SIL! They ended up arriving just in time for the delayed sakura bloom in early April which was a nice coincidence. 

After first discovering hanamomo last year a little too late, I had planned to try to do a weekend visit in 2024 during our last spring here and planned to make it over to Fuefuki, also known as Peach City! My IL's visit was timed during this, so we all drove over together. 

Yatsushiro Furusato Park

Our first intended destination was Yatsushiro Furusato Park. We encountered some traffic on the way over, so we arrived a bit later than intended and all of the parking lots were full, full, full. Luckily my husband was able to get parking on an alternate site not too far away and we were able to enjoy the park! There were lots and lots of sakura trees in full bloom. 

There were a few peach trees as well, but the highlight for this park was definitely the cherry blossoms and the city view. 

There was a small selection of food trucks at the park. While the lots were full, the people were pretty well spread out and it didn't feel squished or crowded like I've seen at some popular hanami sites. 

We sat on the (dead lol) grass for a snack and to enjoy the view before walking through more of the flowers and back to the car.

It's a photo dump because do these flowers actually need any more explanation? Lol. 

The amount of peach trees in this city, the bright pinks along the hillsides and how they're laid out is 1000% better experienced in person and was difficult to capture in a photo. This area didn't seem too train-visit friendly, so would recommend a car for the best way to get around and see the most. 

e-Bike rental from Kin-ou-en

My MIL had requested a rental bike reservation at Kin-ou-en which I made by phone about 3 weeks prior to our visit. Reservations are for 2 hours at a time and our time slot started at 12:00. We were provided helmets and instructions for using the ebike before heading off.

Using the bikes, we were able to navigate some of the narrower roads very easily, but it is very steep getting to the most recommended flower viewing spot. 

Unintentional quick stop at Kogonin Temple 広厳院 on our way up.

The land/farms that the peach trees are planted on are private property, but the road is public, so we enjoyed looking at them from the bikes.

Finally reached the viewing spot thanks to the electric assist on the bikes! There aren't any peach trees immediately next to the viewing platform, but there was a large sakura tree in full bloom.

Got our fill of the view (again, better in person) and a bit of rest, then readied up on the bikes for our ride down. 

The downhill route allowed us to see more of the view, but admittedly, I thought it was a bit scary riding the ebike down the road with how steep it was. I didn't end up being able to take out my phone during most of the ride because I had to hold on to both brakes!

Back down at ground level, we used the bikes to explore a few more of the farms (from the road) that we had just viewed from up high. 

We returned the bikes to Kin-ou-en a little early and then explored the facility's "Peach Land" where they have their own peach trees that we could actually approach/get close and walk through. We were able to see some of our favorite variety of hanamomo which has the multiple colors all on one tree, and even on the same flower!

On the way to our hotel for the night, we stopped at the Shingen Mochi Factory for a little shopping. They had a few festival stalls set up in their parking lot and some sort of stamp rally going on. 

The rest of the group did the self-led factory tour and got a snack while I held our place in line for this strawberry milk manju which was ridiculously priced as 3 pieces for 25yen (limit 2 boxes per person). 

Meisekinoyado Kagetsu overnight stay + meals

Our accommodations for the night was graciously arranged for us by my MIL, booked at Meisekinoyado Kagetsu 銘石の宿かげつ. We arrived with great timing for check in. The grounds of this hotel are beautiful and I'm glad we were able to see it with the natural sunlight this day. 

My husband and I had a standard Japanese room (tatami with Japanese-style futon beds) which was huge and had a direct view and access to one of the gardens. My husband was able to just open the door and feed the koi right from the room lol.

My MIL booked the hotel to include dinner, so we took a chance to relax and settle in before meeting back up for our assigned dinner time. 

Dining was done in a private room with a Japanese course meal, about 70% of which was prepared and waiting on the tables for us. 

Staff later brought in drinks (as requested), rice, 3 additional dishes one-by-one + dessert and said we could stay in the room as long as we liked. 

^ the tempura dish seemed to be a favorite from the group

Our reservation was also booked with breakfast, so after a relaxing night, we had a Japanese breakfast!

Iijima Fruit Farm strawberry picking

My MIL arranged for strawberry picking on the second day. This is an activity we've done nearly every spring we're in Japan, and it's always a little different! This one had a check-in reception in the parking lot and then we were directed to a specific greenhouse for Iijima. 

The staff in this greenhouse greeted us with the standard plastic tray w/condensed milk, offered us the use of a locker for our bags and then escorted us to our designated aisle. She introduced the different types of strawberries available, but the only one I remember is benihoppe and the white strawberry lol.

This reservation was for 30 minutes, AYCE and we were limited to this aisle (which had our name from the reservation on it). 

FujiQ Highland

Not part of our original plan for this day, after strawberry picking, we headed straight over to FujiQ Highland! We passed it on the way over to Fuefuki because we rerouted due to traffic and the group voted to change the itinerary if the weather was good. And it was!

even got a small Fuji glimpse on the way over

While we were driving, we purchased the face-recognition 1-day free passes online and registered our photos. Once we arrived, we parked (no problem, lots of space), and walked right in using the face scan.

I had been bracing myself for long wait times because we were visiting on a Sunday with great weather and I think it might have been the last weekend of spring break. But we were fortunate! Even at midday, the wait for Fujiyama was only 40 minutes for us and we jumped straight into the line. 

Actually, it might have only ended up being 30 minutes which was not bad at all and a time way to launch into our visit. Fujiyama is the "King of Coasters" with a 3 min ride and a world record height of 79m (when it opened). It's definitely a thrill ride and I absolutely recommend this one if you're into roller coasters.

For something a little tamer next, we went over to the Fuji Airways ride which had an Attack on Titan theme in the first half of the day which we didn't want to miss. 

Although it feels long because you don't really move in the line too much, the wait was also pretty short, and the theme from the anime was pretty well applied to the ride imo (as someone who has never seen the anime lol). 

We're all big Pizza-LA fans, so we stopped to check out the nearby Pizza-LA Express. It didn't have their favorite pizza (Pizza-LA bulgogi), but we did try the teriyaki chicken pizza, the Fujiyama (FujiQ-limited) pizza, a bolognese pasta and some fries. The fries were actually the biggest hit lol. 

An almost clear view of Fuji which was really great in person with the blue sky.

A new ride (since our last visit in October 2022) opened called Zokkon which has bike-like seating. The wait was 60 minutes when we first entered the park but only 30 minutes by the time we finished with our lunch. I thought I needed more time for digesting, so my MIL and I sat this one out and opted to keep watch for my husband and SIL from the outside.

It does reverse for a little bit after this one end point. My husband and SIL are in the second "car" from the top. 

My husband said he enjoyed this one but it wouldn't have been worth a 1 hour wait. 

Then it was time to visit the Naruto x Boruto village part of the park! 

There's a shooting game similar to Disney's Toy Story Mania that had a very short wait when we arrived.

The ending scoreboard includes a photo that was taken at the beginning of the ride which I think is a nice addition. 

Another new (I think) addition since our previous visit is the Impossible Games. With the bright red theming and merry-go-round horses items outside, it's hard to miss! We hadn't heard of this attraction before and were absolutely not prepared at all lol. 

It's an interaction round-based challenge for teams of 1-3 people. You start by establishing your team with the staff member and then getting a briefing and starting point for round 1. If you don't earn enough points in the games per round, you don't advance. This attraction is available in English and Japanese and does require you to move around a bit. We were pretty clueless for our first visit and got eliminated in Round 2, but I can easily see how it can get addicting to play!

The next ride of interest was the Sky Tower Swinger (Tekkotsubanchou) which has a construction theme. It has a height of over 50m and is basically a giant version of the classic carnival spinning swings. The line wasn't very long when we got in, but after a 15 minute wait, the staff ended up shutting down the ride for the time being due to strong winds. 

We opted to hop out of line and downgraded to the regular swings, but it is definitely not the same experience lol. 

Took a break from the spinning and got a snack at the nearby food court before going on what ended up being our final attraction for the day.

We returned to Fuji Airways to check out the second version of this ride. In the morning, it was Attack on Titan. In the afternoon, it has an airplane theme of exploring the areas around Mt Fuji in different seasons. 

We were all feeling a bit fatigued at this point and it was getting cold, so we decided to leave the park. Made a small purchase while walking through the Lisa and Gaspard Town and then hopped back in the car. 

We drove over towards the Kawaguchiko area and managed to get a table at a recently opened gyukatsu place that has a very similar (in items and style) to Gyukatsu Motomura called "Beef Cutlet Restaurant koushuya 牛かつ専門店 甲州家" on Google Maps. 

The service was a bit slow (you can tell they are newly opened) but it was a good chance for my SIL to try beef katsu which is something we typically recommend to visitors. If you are a tourist in the area, definitely recommend trying to get a reservation if you're visiting for dinner on a Sunday.

We had an uneventful drive home from there and that completed our weekend getaway! 

We had a lot of fun seeing flowers (cherry and peach blossoms) on foot and by ebike, relaxing at a Japanese style hotel overnight, having AYCE strawberries and then enduring the thrill rides at FujiQ Highland. We were blessed with delightful weather when the forecast had originally shown possible rain and it all came together to be a whirlwind start to my M&SIL's trip!