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Old 25 Nov 14, 07:46 PM  
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Lightbulb マイク&サム·ヘッド東!- A journey to Hong Kong & Japan - May 2014 - Day 6 - UNIVERSAL STUDIOS OSAKA

Day 6 - Saturday 10th May - Universal Studios Osaka

Prepare for a fair few photos here! Got some old classic rides and some new ones which I couldn't resist going trigger happy on the shutter with!

DETOUR DAY! Well, it was perfectly planned, but today was essentially a bit of a detour on our trip when we were in the planning stages. The idea was to fly to Tokyo direct and just enjoy that side of Japan. However, when I saw there was a Universal in Osaka, and all of the wonderful sights Kyoto had to offer, we had to obviously make a quick pit stop.

We woke up late, in our incredibly warm room (we hadn't really managed to master the air con controls before Sam passed out asleep the night before, and the windows didn't open as we were half way up a sky scraper). We were never going to make breakfast and the train we had planned to get from Fukushima, so we decided to bypass breakfast, and after a quick shower we were both dressed and out ready to hike over to the train station.


The first thing which struck us on the way to the station as again how clinical everything was. Everything had it's place in Japan so far. It was so clean and tidy. Everyone stopped at the pedestrian crossings waiting for the signal to cross even without any vehicles coming - like something out of an old silent movie! It was fantastic to see. When we reached the station we fairly easily deciphered how many Yen we had to insert into the ticket machine to get a ticket. I had already looked up train times online (thank god for English options on the website is all I say!) and I had seen a train to Universal City was due approximately every 15 minutes - this was the one we were going to catch (otherwise we would have had to change if we took the first train that arrived).


I imagined that the shapes on the platform meant were certain doors on the train would be and I wasn't wrong. We watched the train spotters at the end of the platform loving every minute of their day until our train arrived and we hopped on - fairly busy for a weekend but it was going to Universal City so understandable. The journey only took about 15 minutes which was shorter than I imagined and pretty much the entire train poured out onto the platform as it arrived.




As soon as you leave the station which is fairly easy to get out of despite the hoards of people trying to leave, you enter out onto Japan's version of City Walk. Its quite small in comparison and to be honest didn't really contain much of any interest - mainly restaurants which we were going to come back to later - we already had our ADR sorted out though Some of the shops sold traditional Japanese style merchandise - not really Universal stuff at all so we bypassed all of this, as we realised we did actually need to get to the ticket booth as quickly as possible as we were yet to possess tickets to get IN to the park!




Never seen this before - photos in front of the Universal globe with surgical masks on!

Next we encountered probably the most friendliest team member you will ever encounter in any Universal park world wide. She switched from fluent Japanese to broken English so quickly you could see she didn't have to think about it - but she was so happy! That smile could just not be wiped from her face that morning. We purchased our tickets for what was about £38 each for the 1 day and entered through the turnstile - the ticket team member had thoughtfully given us stickers and an English map as well so we had them in hand too!


First difference you'll see - massive roof over the main street into the Studios - reason being is that Japan sees a LOT of rain at times. So instead of thousands of people seeking shelter in shops drenching the place out, they created a simple roof where thousands of people can stand under - perfect idea! You'll also notice a hell of a lot of pink banners - they do seem to love their pink, and indeed the character Snoopy over here! Although there were some shops and bits to look at here, our stomachs were GROWLING - so we headed to the first place that looked like it would sell breakfast - and it did.


The Beverly Hills Boulangerie was just what we were after - an array of pastries, tarts, sweet treats and yoghurts greeted us. There was no queue so I took the lead, grabbed a tray and grabbed what I was after...


Yep! A croissant, a strawberry and mascarpone parcel - and some crazy milk drink which had Smarties on the top. It was pretty good! We only spent about 20 minutes in here for breakfast as we were aware the park had been open almost an hour now and was starting to fill up, so we had to get started on the rides. We didn't have Express Passes as they cost an additional £35 per person ontop of the entry fee, and it being "just" Universal Studios we didn't see a massive need to buy them.


As you can imagine, Hello Kitty was... EVERYWHERE Just like we were soon to find out in Disney, Universal Osaka was still, mid May, celebrating Easter. Each to their own!

As you walk into Universal towards the right through Hollywood as it were it does seem to have an incredibly Orlando vibe to it - nigh on identical minus and plus a few things. For example, there is a roller coaster next door to where T2-3D should be...and the Hello Kitty shop () however, there was a Mel's Drive In! We'd be going there later I'd made sure of that!




We had no intention of stopping in this land (similar to the Woody Woodpecker area in Orlando really) but here in Osaka we had a Snoopy-land! Perfect for the younger visitor, lots of little rides for the children and the non thrill seekers, plus a gigantic Snoopy to have many selfies with. We only stopped here for pictures, honest. I had to literally drag Sam out of there before she ended up joining a queue for something. Because the ride I really wanted to ride was just next door...


IT LIVES ON here in Japan!

Of course the only down side was that it said 85 minute queue time outside the front of the ride. I'm sure many of you remember queueing in that boiling heated wooden shack in Orlando for 85 minutes or more back in the 90s, and this was no exception. The weather was very similar to Orlando today. Hot and sticky. And there didn't seem to be many of those fans that spray water at you attached to the ceiling either - uh oh!




Fortunately for us, through the majority of the day, it seemed the park grossly overestimated the wait times for most of the rides, and 85 minutes turned into 45 minutes. But to be honest, even if it was 85 minutes I would have waited for it - this is the only place in the world to ride Jaws now (the snippet in the tour in California doesn't count!) so it had to be done. Loved how the thumbing was still the same, including the video they play in the queue line - which was in its original English format just like in Orlando back in the day. We soon boarded the boat and was greeted by our skipper for the tour - the only 2 downsides to the ride is that firstly the ride itself was entirely in Japanese so the only bits I understood were the screams (and from what I could remember of the ride script - which is most of it!), and secondly - no cameras allowed! I asked a team member at the end why no cameras and he said they may get wet and gave me a thumbs up




We posed for a few photos as we left the ride, and could see this beauty being constructed in the background...


Unfortunately, Osaka's take on the Wizarding World of Harry Potter wasn't due to open until later in the year, so this we would have to bypass. It really did however take away from the genuineness of Amity though - I would hope that now its complete it would be hidden from view with taller trees or the like really! Just for Jaws' sake! Whilst Sam went to the loo I grabbed us some drinks because we were about to go and sit in a show and the temperature was rising even pre-midday! I'd seen this show before in English, where as Sam was non the wiser (even though she's seen the film).


The show itself is based on the hit movie Waterworld (you wouldn't think it - would you?). Although the Californian version uses actors you may recognise from the TV in-between shooting seasons of their hit shows, I have no idea who was in this Japanese version. They may be hit film/tv actors - they could be team members. I'll never know. Merely because of course from start to finish, it was in Japanese thankfully I knew the gist of it - Sam said she can't wait to see it in California just to understand it!




As with the Californian version - all of the baddies just want to pick on you and get you absolutely soaked. Thankfully we were sat right at the back so didn't stand much chance of being picked on (good thing too as I wouldn't have understood what was going on if we had!) - although for a minute I did get a bit worried as one of them came in from behind us with a microphone!




The show is high octane pretty much from the word go, lots of zooming about on boats and jet skis, lots of gun fire and fighting. And as I'd seen it before, I knew this beautiful sight was about to happen


I was absolutely dehydrated when we left the show - which is strange because the heat never really gets to me too badly when in Orlando so it was strange it was getting to me here. I grabbed another drink, turned right, and realised Islands of Adventure had been smushed together with Universal Studios...


It does seem that the great thing about this park is that it does contain some of the best bits from all the American Universal parks which means you can't really complain!




It was strange to look out over the lake (which is more similar to the lake over at IOA rather than Universal Orlando) and see some of the resort partner hotels in Universal City rather than the Hulk and the Lost Continent!

We were both pretty hungry and needed a sit down in the shade, so we took the long route around the lake, through the Jurassic Park/America area before arriving at Mel's Diner for lunch. Unfortunately we were pretty disappointed with the lunch because it really didn't match the standards of Mel's over in Orlando - mainly because there was no absolutely divine offering of a thick chocolate milkshake! The burger and chips tasted ok but the presentation in a building site style polystyrene box was a bit off putting - felt like I was in a canteen!


The meal's entertainment was created by all of the park guests opening the umbrellas on the tables which had been tied down by staff because the wind speed was picking up somewhat - followed by staff dashing out of Mel's itself to tell them to stop and then timing them back up again. If I said this happened at least 20 times throughout lunch it wouldn't be a lie!

After lunch we were both feeling a bit better and decided to head back through the bits of park we had just powered past on the way to lunch. First stop was this beautiful gem which is only really partially still there in Orlando...




BACK TO THE FUTURE!

I loved this ride as a kid, and even though I do love The Simpsons ride it just doesn't compare to the brilliant original! The queue line has been adapted for its surroundings here in Japan, but the theming is all still pretty much the same. The only exception (from memory) is the pre-loading area before you are despatched into loading rooms for the safety video, where these balls were rolling around a pipe maze. Unfortunately we were told repeatedly that there is no cameras allowed what so ever inside the building and must be kept in our bags - which is annoying as I really wanted to get some pics of the interior! I can only guess over in Japan they have some incredibly strict copyright laws where video footage featuring the movie/actors are being used.

The ride itself is still exactly the same - however all audio is dubbed over in Japanese which slightly ruins it - but when in Rome...!

We spent ages in the gift shop afterwards with Sam choosing bits and pieces to buy, as well as having an interesting interaction with a team member on her t shirt with Sam struggling to understand what she meant until she gave a big thumbs up!




Next was the San Francisco area which is similar in design to that in Orlando. It has the burger place as well as a place seemingly dedicated to popcorn (the Japanese love their popcorn - as we would discover in Disney). Interestingly a lack of Mummy/King Kong/Disaster in this area - instead an experience named "Backdraft" - based on the movie from the early 1990s. I'd never seen the movie before but Sam had, so she imagined it must be something along the lines of the Twister show in Orlando. We went in not knowing what to expect as most of the dialogue was once again in Japanese - however the videos they played during the first parts of the experience were in English with Japanese subtitles.

I later learned that California had the attraction but replaced it with the Transformers ride. For those looking for a description - it was similar to Twister, with a massive finale at the end in a warehouse with lots of sparks and flames and explosions and moving floors and things. Certainly worth while to get out of the sun


We both wanted to go on Spiderman as it was practically next door but the queue time was absolutely huge, so we headed back towards the Jurassic Park ride. The queue was 90 minutes earlier in the day here when we came past but was now down to 50 minutes, so we decided to give it a shot. With these queue times we were only going to get to go on it once so we may as well now! The queue was only really about 30 minutes so it wasn't too bad. We did however get absolutely soaked, which was I wasn't expecting as its normally a light spray on other versions I've been on!


The Spiderman queue had come down to 50 minutes as well by the time we had gotten back there - unfortunately Single Rider seemed to be operating for some and not for others (no idea why!) so we joined the standby queue. It was about the advertised time and no surprises there really - the queue was out the back and around the side of the building! The ride is again identical to Orlando but it was nice to see some familiar favourites over here. It was located in the same building as The Mummy over in Orlando which was surreal to see!

We stopped by for an ice cream (the queue was huge!) just outside of Spiderman after riding as it would be a nice afternoon treat. The team members were great in trying to translate English into Japanese with pictures and pointing and lots of smiling and nodding, I ended up with Chocolate which is just what I was after. They even had team members in the queue with PDA's taking orders, very efficient.


Next was a ride we truly had absolutely zero idea what it was. I think this is the first time I've ever been on a ride where both of us really had absolutely no clue. All it said on the park map was...

Step aboard a Solar Shuttle to journey through the wonders of the Solar System on a mission to save the Sun

It also said it had an on ride and off ride photo and that we weren't allowed to carry ANYTHING whatsoever even in pockets. Thankfully they had free lockers going just outside so we deposited all of our worldly possessions and joined the queue. The queue said that it was 90 minutes and it really was - definitely the longest queue of the day. Just before we entered we had our "off ride photo" which of course we didn't bother purchasing.

*** Spoiler alert for those who really don't want to know until they visit - skip the next paragraph! ***

As you enter the building its a bit similar to entering Men In Black. You enter a small room which holds probably 30-40 people at a time where a little video is shown to you and a bit of audio is played, before you head on further into the queue line which is laced with lots of neon and colourful lights. When we finally reached the loading platform it became evident what kind of ride it was - it seemed similar to that of Crush's Coaster in DLP. The car was very bright and colourful with lots of lights all over it. The team members waved us goodbye and wished us luck on our mission, as we headed around the corner into a dark ride room. Lots of shooting stars and colourful lights and music played as we hoisted our way up several lift hills. The ride wasn't as intense as Crush (not that Crush is that intense) but it felt more crazy because we didn't know what we were to expect with every corner and dip. It felt like it went on forever but its actually a very short ride. Lots of times it also felt like we were about to come crashing into another ride vehicle - it was crazy, but absolutely amazing. Definitely a great ride to try as we loved it!

*** Spoilers over ***

Next was the biggest disappointment for the day - Hollywood Dream - The Ride. We had both been looking forward to going on this roller coaster all day, and I had been intrigued to see what it was like ever since I had booked the holiday! It featured a separate queue line to go forwards on the coaster, and also a queue line for a special part of the train where seats were facing backwards. Interesting!

As we entered the queue line a cast member pulled me aside and was asking if we had ridden the ride before, I said no we haven't first time. So he said ahh special seat! I thought we were getting some form of upgrade! How silly of me. He directed me to the seat over by the entrance which was to see if you would fit in it! I couldn't believe it. I have a little extra padding on me but I'd hardly call myself larger than the average theme park goer - having always fitted in every ride seat in the world with plenty of room to spare! He pushed the ride harness down on me several times and said no sorry! I said I'm sorry what do you mean no sorry? "Too Big! Sorry! " with a smile and a bow. Couldn't actually believe it - I was being denied entry to a ride because of my size.

At the time I felt totally ashamed, and sorry for Sam as well because she was so looking forward to riding it. I offered to wait for her at the other end but with a 120 minute queue she said no, though I could sense she still really wanted to go on it. However as the holiday went on I found out that some Japanese ride vehicles really aren't built for the western tourist at all, and provide very little room (even for people of Sam's size - which is tiny!) so it made me feel a little better. I personally couldn't see anything wrong with the harness as it felt exactly the same as every other roller coaster I'd ever been on. Maybe they were just being over cautious. I don't know. Anyway, moving on - we decided to join the queue for Shrek 4D - me feeling sorry for myself and Sam trying to cheer me up!

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Old 25 Nov 14, 07:47 PM  
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Shrek 4D was good as usual, but didn't take any pictures as I was spending the time feeling ashamed like I'd done something wrong (still can't believe it typing this!) By the time we exited Shrek 4D night had begun its descent over Osaka, and the streets were lined for the evening parade. I don't know about you but we don't really bother with Universal parades - nothing can compare to Disney parades in our eyes so we decided to head towards our dining reservation for the evening - of course this wouldn't be complete without one final long winded trip to the gift shop on the way out, where we purchased some souvenirs.



We had to leave the park for our dinner as it was out on City Walk - our favourite restaurant of all...


I had made a reservation (something they don't let you do in London for some reason!) but we were about half hour earlier so we just asked for a table for 2 and sat down. Something I have always noticed about Hard Rock - how the people working there seem to absolutely love it. The servers were fantastic despite limited English and we muddled through just right.

I had opted for what has become known as my favourite dish - the Chicken Fajitas with a side dish of Mac & Cheese, and Sam opted for just the standard Mac & Cheese with Chicken.




Unfortunately Sam's tolerance to anything remotely hot (spice wise) is absolutely non existent - for example, in DLP earlier in the year, Sam had had some Mexican Rice from the place opposite Big Thunder Mountain, that really was just rice in a tomato sauce with some cut up bell pepper, there was no hint of spice for me at all - her mouth was on fire. Luckily she had made a card for both Hong Kong & Japan saying no spice on it - funnily enough it never came out of her purse but she managed to get across she wanted no spice - unfortunately mine came also without any spice! Never mind ey.


For pudding we opted for this beautiful creation with 2 spoons so we could share it. I could have easily demolished it on my own but I knew Sam wanted some so I couldn't be greedy

We settled the bill and headed back towards the train station (I had been looking at train times on my phone through my pocket wifi - brilliant device - we only had a few minutes until the next direct train otherwise it would have been a connecting train so we didn't half shift!). All of the merchandise outlets were closed by this point, but to be honest they didn't hold any merchandise we'd be interested in buying from the looks of it on the way in so we weren't too disappointed.

Once back to the locality of the hotel I grabbed a few drinks from one of the millions of vending machines lining the street at every corner in Japan, and we headed back to the hotel and pretty much hit the sack as soon as we had got in and called home. It had been a long day and the heat from the sun hadn't done our energy levels any good! Tomorrow we were heading off to Kyoto about 30 miles north east of Osaka to take in a bit of culture so we needed our sleep!

Thanks for reading Day 6 of the TR. Again sorry for the lateness of it, lots of trials and tribulations this end but we are now back on track. But it is nice to eek it out - gives me something to focus on periodically until the next holiday! Stay tuned for Day 7, please leave comments below!
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Old 25 Nov 14, 08:49 PM  
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Aw I'm sorry you didn't get to ride. :-( Great day apart from that. Your next holiday looks super exciting! Can't wait to read more, we're in planning stages. Can I ask what form of payments are best ie cash or card on that side of the world?
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Old 26 Nov 14, 12:06 AM  
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Japan is very much a cash in hand type of society, as is Hong Kong. However I found most places accepted major credit cards (probably not as much Amex - as in the UK!) - all of the theme parks accept card at pretty much every outlet (except maybe popcorn stalls etc) as do most major shops and malls. However some smaller shops you find on the high street may be Cash only. Plenty of ATM's about but beware some only work with Japanese cards. Either way don't be worried about finding a way to pay, I had no issue at all despite all you read on the net
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Old 8 Dec 14, 11:14 PM  
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good trip report, I'm hoping to get a day here on our trip to Japan in 2016 (!)
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Old 14 Dec 14, 10:53 PM  
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A great day. Sorry you didn't get to ride, you aren't big at all. Looking forward to day 7
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Old 12 Mar 15, 06:21 PM  
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Really enjoying your trip report. I am visiting Osaka for US and Tokyo for DL and many other sights in September 2016 and this gives me a great insight. Universal looks great fun and I was looking to see if it would be worth the trip as I am going to Tokyo and Kyoto but from what I see I think it is worth it.
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Old 12 Mar 15, 06:30 PM  
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Thank you

Yes Universal is definitely worth a trip if you're over in that neck of the woods. They've got some old favourites both retired and still going from Florida, plus they have a couple of unique attractions which mix it up a bit!
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Old 12 Mar 15, 06:36 PM  
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Thanks sounds fantastic!
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Old 12 Mar 15, 06:44 PM  
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Worth mentiong the face masks that you see many Japanese wearing. |It isn't because they don't want to catch germs. Quite the opposite. It means they have colds etc and they don't want to spread them. Sneezing in public and blowing your nose is considered to be very impolite.
Shame about the Hollywood Dream Ride. Think for that reason and the fact many of their rides are the same as US we'll give it a skip next year.
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