Monday, 24 December 2012
It was getting dark by then and some of the polite crowd had started their vigil for the evening show. We decided to go check out Terminator 3D (long queue), then Shrek 4D (a longer queue) and then we went back to Spiderman (a much longer queue). The evening show had started when we exited Spiderman but it wasn't a parade or anything so we didn’t join the crowd.
Today was the day we planned to go to
Universal Studios Japan and we woke up early. I had checked the opening times:
it would operate from 9 am to 9 pm tonight. We left just after 8 and took the
Whity Shopping Town underground route to JR Osaka station. We bought tickets at
the machine (if you go to Universal Studios Japan and take the train there, do
buy tickets for the return journey too. It’s simple as it’s already stated at
the machine that the fare from Osaka station to Universal City is ¥170 per person
so you can just buy multiples of ¥170 tickets).
We took the Osaka loop line to
Nishikujo and changed for the train to Universal City. The train was already
waiting for us on the other platform so we just crossed over and boarded it (a
bit like at Chan Sow Lin station here). There were hundreds of others also
waiting to descend upon the theme park (and I was kind of hoping the crowd
would be smaller on a weekday).
We emerged out into a very, very
windy morning - no surprise as the theme park is by the bay – so strong that I
wondered how we were going to survive any rides in those blustery wind
conditions.
Somehow, despite the gale, we made it
to the ticket counters and bought our tickets. It costs ¥6400 for everyone
above 12 but we could use a coupon from our 2-day unlimited pass (one of those
few coupons that we could use after the 2-day had passed) for ¥200 discount.
Better than nothing, folks, better than nothing.
We went in and walked through
Hollywood to the Space Fantasy ride. We had to deposit our bags into lockers
before going on the Space Mountain ride. The locker was too small for our stuff
so we had to take two lockers. You have to deposit ¥100 to lock your locker but
you get your coin back when you open your locker. We joined the queue - such an
orderly queue! No pushing, no queue-jumping! - to board. I enjoyed it but el
niño had a headache from the ride. Plus, the ride was in the dark.
Next, we headed to New York for the
Amazing Adventures of Spiderman ride. El niño loves Spiderman and I told him I
rode the ride twice in Orlando. Again, we joined the queue. Different queue,
different people, but a similar disciplined orderly queue. It was a long queue
but the ride was sure worth it.
After that, we headed for San
Francisco where we rode the Back to the Future ride and then the Backdraft
experience where they showed you how special effects of a movie are done. Next
was the Jurassic Park ride - had to don ponchos for the ride. Good thing I
brought raincoat from KL. El niño had to buy one for ¥400. Even the seats were
wet so I was glad to don my raincoat. Next, we rode the Jaws boat at Amity
Village before heading to the Waterworld for the 12 noon show.
After the Waterworld show (it’s
called Miami Vice at the Universal Studios Florida), we sauntered over to Universal
Wonderland where Sesame Street Fun World, Hello Kitty Fashion Avenue and Snoopy
Studios are. I wanted to check out Hello Kitty while el niño wanted to check
out Snoopy Studios (we did both, me dragging him to meet Hello Kitty!). We had
lunch first at Snoopy’s Backlot Cafe - fish burger meal with fish filets, some
fries and a soft drink thrown in. It cost a hefty ¥1150 each.
El niño wanted to ride the Big Bird’s
Big Top Circus (merry-go-round) so I told him to go alone while I waited. We
then checked out Hello Kitty then we went on the plume ride at Peppermint
Patty’s Stunt Slide. I had thought we’d get wet all over again and while the
canoe was wet, it wasn’t too bad (also because we had donned on our ponchos
again). In fact it was quite good that we immediately queued up for it again!
It was a longer queue this time.
After that, we rode the Snoopy’s
Great Race roller coaster. A pretty mild one because we wanted to test if we
would proceed on to The Ride but poor el niño had another of his dizzy spells
so no, we didn’t go on Hollywood Dream: The Ride at all.
It was getting dark by then and some of the polite crowd had started their vigil for the evening show. We decided to go check out Terminator 3D (long queue), then Shrek 4D (a longer queue) and then we went back to Spiderman (a much longer queue). The evening show had started when we exited Spiderman but it wasn't a parade or anything so we didn’t join the crowd.
We had to wear 3D glasses for both Terminator 3D and Shrek 4D shows
We had checked some of the stores in
between but most things didn’t quite tempt us so we went back to Hollywood to
check the Universal Studios Store. There were just too many people and again, I
was at a loss of what to buy. No t-shirts (because it was winter) and besides,
the more affordable things are hankies and magnets and even those didn’t come
cheap.
We had earlier wanted to stay until
closing time but as we had done and watched and rode pretty much most of it, we
decided to leave. It was not yet 7 pm when we left and after waiting for the
train, changing trains and journey time, we reached Osaka station before 8.
We ventured to Isetan Mitsukoshi and
bought our dinner from the food hall there. One chap there spoke good English
and he helped us with our purchases. Then of course el niño wanted to check out
the toy department so we rushed there (because they were closing at 8:30 pm)
before rushing out when Isetan closed.
It had been a full day so after
checking out Hankyu and then Hanshin departmental stores at Umeda, we headed back
to our hotel.
To be continued
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