Seibuen Amusement Park (西武園ゆうえんち) is a long standing theme park located near Tokyo in the Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture. Having opened back in 1950, the park went through a heavy renovation that ended in 2021. This capped off with the debut of a large scale attraction called Godzilla the Ride that opened on May 19th, 2021.
The experience is a flying theater motion simulator ride, very similar to Soarin' Over California (now Soarin' Around the World) at the Disney amusement parks. It features Godzilla and Rodan battling King Ghidorah as the audience tries to evacuate in an armored vehicle belonging to the Special Disaster Counter unit (特災対 - Toku Sai Tai).
Godzilla the Ride is directed and written by Takashi Yamazaki, prior to him working on Godzilla Minus One (2023). It's produced by Shoichiro Tsuno and features a score by Naoki Sato. The experience is roughly five minutes in length.
Below is a commercial that promotes the attraction:
On April 22nd, 2023, the ride saw minor improvements. These enhancements were directed toward the simulation effects, in particular changes to the mist and wind systems used on the audience. Seibuen Amusement Park drew attention to this by calling the new version the "Unlimited Version" (アンリミテッドver.). Noted in a press release.
On July 14th, 2023, the attraction was temporarily replaced by Ultraman the Ride. This shared much of the creative staff of Godzilla the Ride, including director Takashi Yamazaki and producer Shoichiro Tsuno. Starting on September 14th, 2023, these two attractions now share the same space with the Ultraman themed show generally playing in the morning and Godzilla the Ride playing in the afternoon. A current schedule can be found here.
Starting on July 31st, 2024, Godzilla Battle Line ran a collaboration event for Godzilla the Ride. This featured Godzilla and King Ghidorah from the attraction as playable characters in the mobile game. In addition, it also featured promotional imagery that mimicked the main image from the ride although replaces the Special Disaster Counter unit armored vehicle with an MBAW-93, which was first seen in Godzilla vs. Mothra (1992). Some of the new artwork, such as the one for the "Godzilla the Ride Key Art" battle memory, does still feature the armored vehicle, though. The mobile game also used the English title of "Godzilla the Ride" for referencing the attraction.
