First Drop on Universal Studios Japan's Flying Dinosaur Now Installed

© Made_In_USJ via Twitter

Some exciting progress was made this past week on The Flying Dinosaur at Universal Studios Japan.  Most recently we saw the topping out of the ride at its maximum height, showing its truly imposing structure looming over the entire theme park.  Now we're able to get a good look at the B&M designed flying coaster's first drop, seen above.  These photos are all from Twitter user Made_In_USJ, who posts regular updates on the ride.

© Made_In_USJ via Twitter

I expected the coaster's first drop to be a straight downward plunge, but it turns out that I was only half right on that.  The ride does have a significant section of straight drop, but eventually begins to curve toward the left as it nears the ground.  This 'head-on' look at the drop makes that pretty clear.  I am quite pleased that the ride is dropping fairly low to the ground since this is all taking place over the walkways of the Jurassic Park area.

© Made_In_USJ via Twitter

This photo was also featured in the stream of updates and was too pretty not to share.  You can see the building for the Jurassic Park River Adventure ride on the far right - the ride will be traveling past that and into the splash lagoon for that ride.  That means there is still plenty of layout to be revealed as we keep following the ride!