THEME PARKS: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN

This sight is always so welcoming

To be honest, we did not plan to visit Universal Studios at all. We decided on a whim when we thought we had nothing else to do in Osaka. Nevertheless, it was a great decision. We spotted a gift shop in front of the entrance and guess what, One Piece goodies! Anyways, we ran straight for the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I did not expect a line to form to just get into the grounds of the magical world. In addition, we had to redeem a separate ticket to enter at a specified time: 12.00pm, which was only 3 hours to go. That gave us time to roam around the park more.

As I unraveled the map, I knew where I wanted to go. I wanted to relive my childhood memories of coming to Universal Studios, riding the Back to the Future The Ride. Fun Fact: this ride is the only one left in the world of its kind and it was a perfect ride to start the day. The queue was roughly 40 minutes long and we were patiently waiting for our turn to ride the simulation coaster. I was excited because it would be Kristie’s first time on this ride. It did not disappoint her.

We headed outside the area to find ourselves in a Minion Wonderland. There was a minion parade taking place and everything was yellow and blue. There was a food stall nearby and we decided to get some minionized-snacks. We then headed into Terminator which is still the same as I remembered it. As we left the studio, our stomachs growled.

Right in front of us was a Hello Kitty stall and we were immediately drawn to the cute pork and cheese filled Hello Kitty buns. I personally liked the Minion bun better than this one, Kristie disagreed. Anyways, it was finally time to get into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, FINALLY!

We were welcomed with rows of trees that created a path for us to follow and in under 5 minutes, I felt that I was in a different theme park; Hogsmeade. I for one am not a huge fan of Harry Potter, unlike Kristie. Despite this fact, I was amazed at the attention to detail the architects had to Diagon Alley, to Hogwarts and the curators who filled the stores with magical items brought to life from the books and movies. We made our way slowly, but impatiently to the most coveted ride, Harry Potter and the Hidden Journey. We stepped into the line for the ride, passing the sign that said “Wait Time: 180 mins”. It did not seem like much at that time but we were wrong. Our excitement was quelled after queuing up for an hour as our only entertainment were the people in line (the guy in front of us literally put a bag of ice which melted into water between his armpit.) The weather was not helping at all. I felt as if I was in a sauna and was about to get a heatstroke or something. This better be worth it! And let me tell you, after 2 hours, it was. The ride was fun and different than any other. I was impressed.

We then went outside to visit the shops and our goal was Butterbeer. No, it is not real beer but it seems to be non-alcoholic beer with vanilla flavoring. Anyways, a mandatory “mustache” shot had to be done. It was definitely thirst quenching but not filling. We decided to find some food after we bade farewell to the enchanted world.

We got lost trying to find a place to eat and eventually ventured into Snoopy world to finish our Bun Hunt (haha that rhymes!) The last bun that we ate was a custard filled Snoopy bun which tasted really good after a long hot day.

With that, we closed our day and headed back to Osaka! Stay tuned for our next blog post!