After conquering Disneyland, we were excited to embark to Universal Studios in Osaka! Nintendo was founded in Japan, and we had just gone to where Nintendo was founded in Kyoto. I never would have guessed such a successful business would have started out selling playing cards. Nintendo world was not ready for us!
We were fortunate to get early entry combined with express pass and be the first ones at the gate to experience the rope drop. That’s a pretty big deal since people start lining up hours before opening times. The workers all wave to you as the park opens which was very cute (kawaii) and sweet.
Once we got into the park we noticed the layout was similar to that of other Universal Studio parks: different themed areas such as Nintendo World and Harry Potter world etc. However, USJ is about 5 times smaller than Universal Studios Orlando. The biggest draw to USJ is the fact they have Mario world and it was the first park to develop a world dedicated to Nintendo! So we made a beeline for that area of the park.
We started fast walking (did you know there’s an Olympic sport dedicated to fast walking) and then we noticed the Japanese families were full blown sprinting, so we joined them! It was a bit of a run, but it was incredible to experience the environment to ourselves. As you can see, it is small but the most immersive experience! It contains 2 rides, various mini games with a purchase of a specialized wristband, a cafe, and a few stores.
We immediately went to Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge. The entrance to this ride took you through a very detailed Bowser’s castle. The queue to get through to get to the underground ride was very long. It goes to show the volume of people that stand in line for this ride. They gave us a Mario hat and when you sat in your seat, you put on a virtual reality visor. This visor allows you to see various characters jump in front of you and to aim your shells.
We had mixed feelings about the visor. On one hand, we have never been on a ride with virtual reality throughout the ride in front of you without any screens. On the other hand, it did take away from the environment of the amazing scenes in the background. It was fitting to end the ride on Rainbow Road.
The other ride in Nintendo World was Yoshi’s Adventure. This was a ride that felt like ones we had explored in Disneyland. Slower paced, amazing angles of Nintendo Land, and fun scenes.
We got reservations at Toad’s Cafe! Like my dad, Andrei was over zealous and ordered way too much food (Spaghetti, a cheeseburger, big bowl of soup, cake big enough to feed 3 people). Just like the other character cafes, Japan magnifies in its attention to detail!
Once you enter into Super Nintendo World, you cannot return back. After seeing Toad (he was so short and cute), Princess Peach, along with Mario and Luigi, we decided we got our fill! We were shocked to see the difference between when we arrived to Super Nintendo world versus our departure. The early entry and the run was more than worth it.
The Flying Dinosaur
We headed to Jurassic Park to ride the largest roller coaster in the park. The Flying Dinosaur was our favorite ride of the day. This ride positioned your body to be 180 degrees horizontally. As it took you up, I kept wondering what would happen if the bars in front of me had suddenly lost a screw. Well at least there were nets below to catch me! Throughout the entire ride, my body experienced angles, speed, and gravity like none before. At one point I think I was upside down laying flat! An interesting thing we noticed was on any thrill ride, they made you show them your pockets were empty… and then you have to be wanded with a metal detector. They are very thorough and don’t want anything falling out!
Harry Potter World
Whil, Harry Potter World is a classic to Universal, the USJ version was considerably smaller, but still had some fun parts. The best part was the butterbeer. Imagine those caramel candies that your grandparents always had but in liquid form! Very delicious.
Easter
Huh, Easter happened a long time ago. Well at USJ… apparently Easter is still a thing in summer. All over the park from snoopy land to sesame street to Minions land we saw so many Easter decorations.
SING tour
By midday, it started getting hot! We saw a theater that advertised the SING tour. Just like the animated movie, the characters performed their main songs. It was very cute and entertaining.
I had originally told Andrei, we have to stay until closing. Needless to say, Andrei was very right when he said we would probably head out around 3 or 4. Our thoughts on USJ.. fun cute theme park to kill half a day (if you have the express pass), but if you are taking away from a day in Kyoto or have limited time… just focus on Tokyo Disney instead. Still a great day and fun way to experience a theme park in a new country!
