Tina Simone

Eeehhh!

Let’s spend the day at Universal Studios Japan! We took the train from Kyoto to Osaka and got off in Universal City! We went in early December, so there were Christmas decorations and lights all over Kyoto. We wanted to get there as soon as the park opened, but after falling asleep on the train home the night before, we decided to sleep in. We got there around 11 a.m. and stayed until about 7ish p.m. after the fireworks.

We got the Universal Express Pass 4: The Flying Dinosaur that let us into the Spider-man ride, the Harry Potter area and Forbidden Journey, Super Nintendo World, with Mario Kart, and the Flying Dinosaur. It was WORTH IT! It was needed, and I stress needed for Mario Kart, Forbidden Journey, and the Flying Dinosaur. The lines were so long, and the park was massive. I don’t think we could have enjoyed the park without it. At one point, we walked to Nintendo World early, but because the park was full, they told us to return during our timed entry.

Our first entry was for Spider-Man, but we got there too late and missed entry. So we went straight to Harry Potter and watched the wand show before we picked up our wands. Can you guess which wands we ended up getting? I’ll give a hint: It is the most crucial wand of the story. We went on the Forbidden Journey ride, which was so much fun! We were “flying” through the sky with video projections from the movie that interacted with us, and they had a dragon with heat. Once we finished the ride, we found a short line for Butter Beer! I got the cold beer, and Ty got the hot one. They were both so good, but I wish I had gotten the hot butter beer with Ty.

There was a little bit of time after, so we walked around the park before heading to Nintendo World! It was so cool, like my inner child was bursting, lol. We went straight for the Mario Kart-Koopa Challenge, and the lines were so long that even the fast-pass line waited about 30 minutes. The ride was cool. I was confused, and it took me a second to realize we were racing each other and not racing together, lol. We bought some of the Mario hats after the ride (we hoped to use them on the Go Karts in Tokyo, but because of copyright infringement, we could not :p ).

We finished up with the Flying Dinosaur and randomly saw a wildlife event afterward. By wildlife, I mean dinosaurs, lol. That was one of the best rides, but it was just scary enough to feel some adrenaline. The dancing and fireworks were a nice end of the day. Amusement parks are nice, but the walking was so tiring after a while, especially since we had been hitting 15,000 steps each day. If you’re going to Japan and want to go to Universal Studios, I recommend going early on your trip. I honestly don’t know how we went the whole day without eating, too.

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