Day 8: Universal Studios Japan

Isn’t amazing when transportation planners expect a tourist attraction will get so much traffic that it warrants its own train stop? That made getting to Universal Studios Japan in Osaka a breeze. We took the train the 25 minutes to Universal City Station, which was a quick walk from the theme park’s entrance.

Based on travel blogs, we’d arrived in advance of the park’s opening at 9 a.m. to give us time to go through the lines at security, where they checked the contents of our backpacks, and the ticket gates, where we showed the QR codes from the tickets we’d bought online at Klook. The lines moved quickly and overall it was a smooth process, for which I was grateful.

I was already a little nervous because I’m actually not a big fan of theme parks or intense rides — USJ had been on the itinerary because Van had wanted to hit an amusement park — so I’d told Vannie that she was welcome to ride anything she wanted, I just might have to sit out the scarier ones. But in the end, we ended up riding all rides together, including some I may have sat out previously, and I had a fantastic time on them. We didn’t do any of the high-power roller coasters but there were still some steep drops and deliberately rough turns in some of the rides we did take.

Our Express Passes, which we’d also bought on Klook, included a timed entry later in the day to Super Nintendo World to ride Yoshi’s Adventure, so we prioritized the Harry Potter portion as the first place we wanted to hit before the lines got long.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter #

The entire village of Hogsmeade and Hogwarts Castle was identical to what we’d experienced at Universal Studios Orlando on a cousin trip six years before, which didn’t bother me at all. The attention to detail is amazing. I only wish that all the storefronts opened to actual stores rather than serving only as a facade half the time, but this, too, is consistent with the Hogmeade village in Orlando.

The wait for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey wasn’t bad, maybe 15 minutes, but again, this was not long after the park had opened. By the time we headed over to Flight of the Hippogriff, the wait for that roller coaster was about 45 minutes.

Using the USJ app, we next navigated over to Jujutsu Kaisen: The Real 4D, a regularly scheduled animated show in which you sit in theater seats that vibrated along with the action occurring onscreen.

Lunch #

Van and I grabbed an early lunch at Louie’s New York Pizza Parlor, which I have to say had an impressively efficient factory-like quality to its ordering process in order to manage the throngs of people, many of them non-Japanese-speaking, who came through each day. They had a limited menu in Japanese and English with an emphasis on set meals to keep things simple. We each ended up getting the pizza set, which came with a big slice of pizza and a side of fries, plus an order of fried boneless chicken.

Minion Park #

Once we were finished eating, there was still time before our timed entry to Super Nintendo World, so we hit Minion Park for the kid-friendly Freeze Ray Sliders and park attraction Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem ride.

A sign warned, “This attraction is a ride that includes sudden acceleration, stops, rises, drops, and dramatic feelings caused by tilts and jolts.” Having just eaten, this did give me some trepidation. In addition, I knew this ride, which took place in a car that went nowhere, used the hyper-realistic projection system on a dome screen also present in Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. I had to keep my eyes closed at those parts (which meant I kept my eyes closed most of the Minion ride) because the swirling animations made me nauseous.

Luckily the Harry Potter ride had taken place in a car that was on a track, so the real-life portions featuring animatronics, such as with the dragon, I was able to enjoy.

Super Nintendo World #

Super Nintendo World honestly turned out to be an overcrowded fever dream that I could have done without. It’s in an enclosed space with high walls, that when coupled with masses of people teeming inside those walls, made the area seem quite oppressive.

Nevertheless, we were determined to use our timed slot for Yoshi’s Adventure, which turned out to be a slow-moving kid’s ride.

I didn’t mind it, and it did offer great vantage point to view Super Nintendo World without being jostled by other visitors. When we finished, there was still time left on our timed entry, so we tried to make our way back through the Express Pass line but, pro tip, Universal Studios only allows one ride per Express Pass timed entry, so we were politely asked to get in the normal line.

We’d liked Yoshi’s Adventure but not enough to wait in line for it. There were other rides in Super Nintendo World — Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge and Power-Up Band Key Challenges — but the wait was just too long as well for them so we just moved on entirely.

Amity Village #

Jaws, the boat ride, involved the “tour guide” casually whipping out a giant gun and shooting at the water whenever the shark surfaced. Van and I were not expecting that threat mitigation technique at all (especially in a country where guns are banned), and it caused no amount of entertainment for us every time the tour guide paused to haphazardly take aim at the water, which was followed by a theatrical explosion.

But the surrounding set — the building, signs and nautical accessories — evoked New England so well. We really felt like we were briefly back in the States as we puttered around the “bay” avoiding the shark.

Universal Wonderland #

The kids’ rides in the Universal Wonderland section were a nice interlude between the park’s bigger rides. The Flying Snoopy was a fun diversion. We took a spin in Hello Kitty’s Cupcake Dream, a ride analogous to Disney’s tea cup ride. On Big Bird’s Big Top Circus carousel, Vannie did not take kindly to bald baby who rode beside her and kept staring at her.

Jurassic Park #

Our Express Pass allowed us to breeze right through to practically the front of the line at Jurassic Park - The Ride. The attraction started out reasonably enough — on a “boat” on a track navigating through the island’s lab facilities, now overrun with dinosaurs.

Nevertheless, I knew something bad was coming up. Of all the rides we took today, this one gave me the most dread. I mostly spent the ride shaking my head muttering, “I don’t like it,” and simply, “No,” as I braced myself for the worst. And inevitably, it presented itself at the conclusion as our boat ticked slowly upward on the track and we were met with a roaring T-Rex, only for our boat to plunge steeply down and careen back into the water.

The ensuing splash was such a fun, thrilling way to end the ride. We loved it so much, and the normal line was reasonable enough (since the Express Pass was only good for one pass-through), that after tooling around the kiddie rides at Universal Wonderland, Van and I decided to call it a day with one last go on Jurassic Park - The Ride.

This time, we ended up at the front of the boat. The cast member ushering us into our seats asked if we were okay with getting wet. We’d already gotten wet the first time we’d taken the ride and thought nothing of it happening again.

What we hadn’t accounted for, however, was how much more water you get dumped on you when you’re sitting in the front. At the end of the ride we emerged, soaked to the skin. Our jackets had mostly kept our torsos dry but our pants, shoes and socks were lost causes. Nevertheless, we couldn’t keep the grins off our faces.

We squished our way back to the train to take us back to the AirBnB.