1. I went to QuizKnock's 'Two Worlds and the Mysterious Door' @ Tokyo Discovery City
*Purely my own impressions. No spoilers except for a few parts.
It was already last week, but I went to Tokyo Discovery City on Monday, September 23rd (a public holiday)! I had originally planned to go on the 21st (Saturday), but I thought the first Saturday after it started would be incredibly crowded, so I pushed it to the 23rd. As a result, all the merchandise was in stock, so I'm glad I shifted the date!
The park was crowded overall, but my impression was that it was mostly families with small children. Looking at the puzzle-solving alone, it wasn't crowded enough to be a problem even on weekends and holidays. There are no capacity limits for the puzzles, and I don't think I waited more than 10 minutes for any of the rides.
I went with a friend who also went with me last year; she's not a QuizKnock fan, but she loves puzzle-solving. She only knows Izawa-san from TV (she also knew about Fukura-san's recent marriage—she loves idols), but she's a good friend who also accompanied me to last year's Discovery City and the collaboration cafe in Ikebukuro.
Her reaction when I told her that Discovery City was happening again this year:
'I'm glad it's in the fall...'
Seriously, same.Because I thought I was going to die from the heat last year.
10:30 Arrived at Suidobashi Station
First, I went to the Geopolis zone to check out the merchandise! There were many things I wanted, but I knew it would be hard to walk around if I increased my luggage here, so I only bought 'Quick Japan' for now. (The heaviest item)
Since it was early in the morning and I thought it would get crowded around lunchtime, we decided to have lunch first. By the way, last year I had a collaboration menu item at Yamamoto no Hamburg and it was delicious.
I intended to have some kind of collaboration menu item this year too, but when I walked toward LaQua, I saw lobster ramen that looked delicious, so I ended up eating that. It was super tasty!
12:00
I thought, 'Let's buy the tickets,' but the attractions ticket counter in front of the Tokyo Dome was super crowded! I checked online and saw they were also selling them at the Geopolis B1 merchandise booth! It wasn't crowded there earlier! So, we headed back. When we got there, they said they only handle the 'City Tour Puzzle Rally' kits! What the—! Well, it does come as a set with the amusement park tickets. I guess I have to go to the official ticket counter. So, we headed back to the front of the Tokyo Dome. That was already my third time at the Tokyo Dome just to buy tickets. How crazy is that?
But when we actually lined up, it only took about 15 minutes! I was torn between the One-Day Passport and the Ride 5, but the One-Day Passport is only for today, while the Ride 5 can be used until the end of Discovery City (November 17th). I wasn't sure if we could use everything today, so I chose the Ride 5! Above all, my companion is on Team Izawa, so there are limits to what she can ride. She can't ride things like Thunder Dolphin. So, there was no point in getting the One-Day Passport.
For the door puzzles, I chose the older brother, Mon-chan, and my companion chose the younger brother, Gen-chan! Even though we chose different ones, we were able to act together until the end, and best of all, we got to hear both of their messages ^^
Finally, the puzzle-solving begins
*Contains some spoilers
The thing I had the most trouble with in the first puzzle was W. What was troublesome was that there were too many information boards! Lol
And when other people doing the door puzzles were taking pictures of and thinking about completely unrelated information boards, I'd join in and think, 'Oh, is it that one?' Because of that, I ended up falling into a weird trap, thinking things like, 'Wait, bibimbap? Isn't it bibimba? Is it okay to make the spelling variation the problem?' I'm sure we contributed to someone else's misdirection. If you're going, please don't be swayed by others and judge for yourself.
(By the way, my companion was complaining about the printing. She said it didn't look brown! Lol)
Also, I was shocked by my lack of English skills. 'Chair O...? Chair-o? (Who is that lol)'
And finally, we went on a ride (the one where Mon-chan and Gen-chan were riding a frog and a leopard), and there was a group of three middle-aged men holding puzzle kits riding it, which was cute. Lol. QuizKnock has a wide fan base.
When we went to the next zone, my companion from Team Izawa started saying she couldn't ride the attraction. No way, it just shakes! I thought, but she said she can't handle the drops. I like roller coasters, but I told her it wouldn't be fun to ride alone, though I did ride it for the sake of the puzzle. Well, it was fun, though. Lol
Later, they said on Instagram Live, 'If you can't ride, just tell the staff and they will give you the keyword.' That's great!
While I was waiting for my turn to ride, my companion bought me the 'Can't I just have raw lemon? Squash.' She remembered that I mentioned, 'They were doing this on Instagram!' when we were looking at the collaboration menu in the morning ^^ Since I love lemonade and such, it was delicious as a drink too.
My companion ordered the spell menu named by Tsurusaki-san. She's just ordering things that look delicious, not even because it's a collaboration. And it was actually delicious, too.
After this, the puzzle in the trailer area was also quite difficult. Because it was a holiday and crowded, everyone was moving the chairs! Lol
And for the final puzzle, there were parts I understood because I came last year. I remembered being made to climb up to the giant Ferris wheel last year too. Lol
Puzzle-solving complete!
And just like that, I cleared the door mystery! I think I finished before 5 PM. Even though I took it easy and took breaks to sit down along the way, it took about four and a half hours! Even if you go first thing in the morning, I don't think it's possible to do this plus the 100 mysteries in one day.
Since I had 5 ride tickets left over (my partner had even more), we decided to go to the Ultra Seven VR attraction in the Geopolis zone, as it's something my partner could also ride. I mean, how many times are we going to go to Geopolis... Since we also came here for the mystery solving, this is our 4th time at Geopolis today lol. My pedometer easily exceeded 10,000 steps. Everyone, make sure to wear comfortable walking shoes when you come.
Ultra Seven was genuinely fun. I laughed when Tomokazu Seki suddenly appeared.
The other attractions started to get a bit crowded in the evening, and since my partner had to go home to cook dinner for her husband, we finished today with tickets still left over!
There are 100 mysteries, so I'll come back for a rematch next week.
I don't feel like I can clear 100 mysteries in one day, but it's running until November, so I want to do my best.
I want to eat the collaboration food next time too!
I'm very, very tired, but it was a fun time!
And all of this is thanks to my partner who went with me! Thank you as always.
Looking forward to next week too! lol