Today, Thursday, August 24, we took the kids to Universal Studios Japan, which is in Osaka. We figured why not, school hasn’t started yet and we’ve had to sort of ignore them a bit while we get all the business of setting up accomplished. Plus, the kids were formally accepted to the international school so we can celebrate! The application fees were not wasted. *Phew*
To get to Universal Studios Japan (here they call it USJ, which we shall also call it) we need to walk to the bus stop and take the bus to the Senri Chuo Subway Station. Then we ride the subway on the Midosuji Line. At Umeda Station we transfer to the JR (Japan Rail) Line and we ride this on the Osaka Outer Loop. The Universal City Station is a few stops off the Outer Loop. It took a little over an hour and cost about $28 each way for the 5 of us to take this complete route.
Upon exiting the University City Station we walked out onto a pedestrian street that looked a lot like Universal City Walk in Los Angeles (including a Hard Rock Cafe!). Basically a lot of shops and restaurants. Definitely a reminder of Downtown Disney too. The first things to catch your eye are: Starbucks, McDonald’s, TGI Friday’s, and The Gap.
We have never been as a family to Universal Studios Hollywood so I hope that anyone reading this who has been there recently will comment and tell me how USJ compares to Hollywood. When I was a kid we went to Universal Studios a few times and it was very bare bones and the highlights were the Psycho House and the tram ride where Jaws would rear up and scare you with his big fake teeth.
But USJ is a top of the line amusement park right up there with Disneyland in my opinion. They are celebrating their 15th anniversary so it’s new enough that they have taken all of the best parts of Universal Studios Hollywood and completely made it into a 6 Flags/Disney type of experience. When we arrive, the ticket window lines are long and all of the express passes have long been sold out. Right now there is a theme called “Universal Jump Summer” which encompasses the animae shows of Shonen Jump, Dragonball Z, One Piece and Death Note. The boys are pretty excited about it.
I’m looking forward to riding this gigantic roller coaster that appears to go all the way around the entire park. I’m not sure what it’s called though. And the Wizarding World of Harry Potter has arrived via Hogwarts Express too. Here we are standing in front of Hogwarts holding our outrageously expensive yet completely obligatory Butterbeer (BAH-TAH-BI-RU in Japanese).
Halyard:
So when my mom said she didn’t know the name of the roller coaster she wanted to ride, she didn’t mention that she didn’t know what it was at all, even when she wanted to visit it. Our family decided to split up, my mom and I supposedly going to the ride she wanted to see, and my dad and siblings heading off towards an attraction with a Spider-Man theme. As we walked in one direction, my mom saw a ride called Space Fantasy, which someone had told her was the ride that goes all the way around the park. She decided that we should get in line, despite the excruciatingly long 90 min wait. We slowly advance up the line, despite still maintaining a considerable distance from the building housing the attraction. As we weave closer to the opening, I begin to realize what the cars look like, and how they differ from the ride that we had seen weaving around the park. I had pointed this out to my mom moments before we got in line, but it was disregarded, like most of the advice I have. Whether me being right is directly connected to how little my input matters, I don’t know. So as we stand there I continue to point out that we’re in the wrong line, finally pulling up a picture on google images of what the interior looked like. We’ve been standing in line for about 45 min now, and still not believing me, my mom took my phone and added 3 words to my search, finally realizing that I was right. Again. By now it’s too late to leave the line, and my mom finally starts realizing what’s around her, mainly the huge screen showing a spinning vehicle. This is when my mom starts freaking out, continuously repeating that she hates the teacups. This is when I realize best part of a panic attack is when it’s not yours. So we’re standing in line, and my mom is not only crushed by the fact that this is not the right ride, but the fact that she has a 70% chance of loosing her lunch. Finally we get to the front of the line, and board the car. Spoiler alert, it was worse for me than it was for her. The ride is just like Space Mountain, except faster and far more entertaining. However, at the end there is a section full of enough disorienting light and sound to make someone (me) blow a sensory fuse. Overall though, it was fun, a lot of fun.
Avalon:
Hell0! And this is Avalon. Universal Studios was really fun! We did quite a few things at Universal Studios. Harry Potter land was probably my favorite. Because we got to drink butter beer, we got to go to Honey Dukes, and I, just me, I got to use a wand that is special to only Harry Potter Land. It did certain things in that place but I got to use one for free. We also got to go on a Terminator 2 ride which was really fun and we had to wait in line for 40 -45 minutes not that long though it felt like it was 20 minutes. We also got to go on a Spider Man ride that was super fun cause when it looked like you were going up you were actually going straight so it looked really cool.
Note: Avalon got picked to be the participant in the magic wand presentation at Ollivander’s shop. That’s what she meant by it – the wand – did certain things – the magic – in that place – Ollivander’s. When it was over she was handed the wand. The show dumped you out into the gift shop of course, whereupon we were asked if we would like to buy her prop for 5000 yen ($50). Nope! Avalon had her heart set on a buying a golden snitch. The snitch has wings that move but it needs batteries. We took a look under the battery cover and it looks to be a small, odd shaped, square-ish battery which we have never seen before. We are on a battery seeking mission now.
Kaiyo:
Personally, my favorite part of Universal Studios was not Harry Potter land, surprisingly, but the Terminator 2 4-D show. It was a huge theater where the movie was mixed with live actors moving in and out of the screen, which was really cool. It also had some amazing special effects. My second favorite thing was the Amazing Spider-Man ride. It had the same concept as the Terminator 2 ride where the screen mixed with your surroundings, except that you are moving during it, which adds a couple of cool features. For example, how the ride starts moving fast and the screen shows you falling which makes you feel like you’re falling. Overall, I liked the Terminator 2 movie slightly better because the special effects were better than the Spider-Man ride. About Harry Potter land, it was really fun, but all the lines were extremely long. We still looked through the shops and Hogwarts which was amazing, and all this on top of butter beer which tasted awesome. Overall, Universal Studios Japan was a lot of fun and I can’t wait to go again.
*By the end of the day I figured out that the ride I actually wanted to go on is called HOLLYWOOD DREAM. Next time!
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