Day 4: Universal Studio Japan
Posted by Unknown , Wednesday, January 6, 2016 7:29 AM
Day fooouuuurrrr! It was Universal Studio Japan day! We had one full day to spent in Universal Studio Japan (USJ). I would, probably, compare the park a little bit with Universal Studio Singapore. Anyway, we woke up earlier because we wanted to get there as soon as possible. We had Japanese style breakfast on hotel (Shin-Osaka Station annex hotel), which is delicious as fast as we can. Then, we directly walked to Shin-Osaka train station. We took train from line 16 to Osaka station, stop in Osaka station and change to lane 1 (Osaka loop line), stop at Nishikujo station and change train (JR Yumesaki line) to Universal City station. The trip took about 15 minutes and cost JPY 220. However, as mentioned in earlier post, we used JRpass so we didn't have to pay anymore. After arrived at Universal City station, just follow the sign to Universal Studio. If you can't find one, just follow the crowd. Universal City located right outside the station. We walked through Universal City along with a large number of crowd. Then, we arrived at Universal Studio gate. We didn't even stop to take picture with the globe. We directly headed to the gate and queued there for about 10 minutes before finally enter the park. The queue in USJ was not as neat as any line in Tokyo. Apparently, not only the line on the entrance gate, the line for picture with characters was also a mess. Well, you can say there was no proper line.. Very different with DisneySea.
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| mom in Universal City |
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| the line to enter USJ |
Anyway, we finally got in the park! As usual, we tried to get the park map (provided at the entrance gate). But then, all the maps we can find were in Japanese. I tried to ask for the English version but they didn't have it at that time. So we just took the Japanese one and hope we could survive the day with that. At the first glimpse, it was just like Universal Studio Singapore (USS). The park was divided into 8 area, Hollywood, New York, San Francisco, Jurassic Park, Amity village, Water World, Universal Wonderland (there are 3 smaller theme here, Snoopy, Hello Kitty, and Sesame Street), and Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Hollywood themed building will be the first to welcome the visitors.
Of course, we were super excited about Wizarding World of Harry Potter (WWHP). That was definitely our first destination. The WWHP really wasn't disappointing! Actually, it was pretty amazing. I think WWHP deserve one special post itself. I will talk about it as detail as possible on my next report post. Wait for it!
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| Hogwarts! |
In this post, I will talk about the attractions in Universal Studio Japan (clockwise, except Harry Potter world). Notice that many attraction name followed with -the ride. Well, i don't make it up. Seriously, they really feel like they need to put -the ride there. Lucky for us, we went there on a not so crowded day and able to tried almost all the attractions. Anyway, here we go:
Hollywood
1. Hollywood Dream - The Ride (Backdrop)
The only roller coaster that you can see in the park. There are two kind of coasters, Hollywood Dream and Hollywood Dream Backdrop. Don't be confused, both coaster use the same track. The only difference is the direction of the coasters. Hollywood Dream is like another roller coaster, riders sit facing the direction of the car. In Backdrop, the coaster move backward. In both coaster, you can individually choose the song you want to play during the ride. On my time, we got 4 song choices. I chose "Feel This Moment" since that was the only song I knew. The track was quite long and it worth the 50 minutes wait (for Backdrop). The line for these attractions are separated from the entrance gate. Backdrop's line is always longer than Hollywood Dream.
2. Shrek 4D Movie Magic and Sesame Street 4D Movie Magic
Shrek and Sesame Street theater located next to each other, with different show time. I tried the Sesame Street 4D movie magic. Elmo, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Bert, Ernie, and many other Sesame Street characters are there! However, if you are not a die hard fan, you better don't waste your 20 minutes for this attraction. The 4D effect and the chair movement are just not impressive at all.
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| El-mom |
3. Space Fantasy - The Ride
While queuing for this ride, I was almost give up because from the monitor that show safety guidance, it seems like a spinning ride. I just could not handle spinning attraction so I almost want to give up. My brother encouraged me to do it and I went on to do it. It turns out........ THANK GOD I DID NOT JUMP OUT OF THE LINE! The ride was so good. It is like an indoor roller coaster, only the car is round and can spin. The spinning was not so bad though. You are taken into a cool space journey.
New York
1. Terminator 2 - 3D
There is nothing much I
can say about this attraction because I didn't try it. If you ever try this,
please kindly share your experience in the comment section! :D
2. The Amazing Adventure of Spider-Man - The Ride 4K3D
It’s
like Transformer ride in Universal Studio Singapore. You will be seated in a
car and Spiderman will protect you from the enemy. You’ll feel like you are
really in Spiderman’s world. It was just so real. The queue is quite log for
this ride but you can use single rider or fastpass to cut the line. We went
there on Christmas session and there was a Christmas special show. During
shows, the lines in almost every attraction are much shorter. You should stand
by in front of the entrance! However, by cutting the line, you probably miss
the details inside the Daily Bugle which is pretty fun to see! :D
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| inside Daily Bugle |
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| Voice of Angels |
San Francisco
1. Back to the Future - The Ride
You probably know about
this ride. Yes, it's the same old Back to the Future ride. For those who don't
know, the concept is like Amazing Spiderman ride, but still, age cannot lie.
But somehow my brother and I enjoyed it.
2. Backdraft
Witness the process of
making the movie Backdraft (1991) live in front of your eyes! Here you can read
about Backdraft http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101393/. I personally think
the one in USS is better. In USS, they present Spielberg's movie while
Backdraft is Ron Howard's. I didn't say taht Backdraft is not good, it's just,
too old.
Jurassic Park
As usual, in Jurassic
Park there is a Jurassic Park - The Ride where you will be
seated on a round boat and Dinosaurs appears. T-rex and Raptors try to eat you,
the suddenly the boat slide down and you get all wet. If you just want to enjoy
the sensation and don't want to get wet, you can buy a rain coat for JPY 300
inside the park. However I will suggest you to buy one on Daiso for JPY 100
only, prior the day you go to USJ.
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| bump into this legend in front of JurassicPark |
Amity Village
In Amity Village, there is only one one attraction, Jaws - The Ride. It is like any other Jaws ride in any Universal Studios. You ride on a boat with many others with one Japanese as your tour guide. Although the tour guide speaks entirely in Japanese, for non-Japanese speaker, like me, it wasn't very hard to understand the story. In short, we are taken into a tour and in the middle of the tour, our tour guide is told to be careful of the attack of sharks. Then, sharks appear, theatrical act by the tour guide, explosions, and gun shots accompany you for the rest of your journey. Well i honestly can't say that this is the best ride ever but it is quite entertaining.
Water World
It's a stuntman show!
They speaks in Japanese but you don't really need to understand the story to
enjoy the stuntman actions. However, if you can understand Japanese, it would
be much better since they interact with visitors, make jokes and stuff. If you
sit in the splash zone, don't scream and don't be angry if you really get
splashed. If was quite a show though. Full with actions, explosions, gun shots,
screams, smokes, and surprises.
Universal Wonderland
Universal Wonderland is
a world for kids. It divided into three smaller themes, Snoopy Studio,
Hello Kitty Fashion Avenue, and Sesame Street Fun World. As
for teenagers and adults, there are nothing in Universal Wonderland. The rides
are for kids. However, I really encourage you to at least visit the Universal
Wonderland. It is located next to Harry Potter World. Even if there is nothing
for you there, you still can enjoy the atmosphere from your childhood. If
lucky, you probably bump into Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Elmo, Hello Kitty, or
Cookie Monster to take a memorable picture with your childhood hero!
At the end, we agreed to
skip the LED parade. We read from several bloggers and their review just not
good enough to make us stay. Instead, we went directly to the station. Right
before the station gate, there was a street magician. We stopped for a while
and he was quite entertaining. Surprisingly, the train was delayed for 14
minutes and it was dead freezing. After the train finally came, people were
just trying to enter the train no matter how full it was. To stand tall was
hard. That was the most crowded train I've ever experience. It was fun though!
In one station, a man still tried to push the crowd inside the train and he
sleeve ended up stuck on the train's door so the train need to open the door
and close it again to free the man. He then (tried to) bow to all the passenger
in our car and apologize for causing problem. What a manner!
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| street magician |
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| the crowd in train station because the train is delayed for 14 minutes |
That's the end our day
in USJ! tomorrow we'll move to Kyoto and visit many Kyoto's tourist spots. I
will also make a report of how to get into the tourist spots effectively
without a tour.
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