Our 184th entry in this blog is Ate Rei and Sai’s first time trip to USJ (Universal Studios – Japan) in Osaka, Japan. This is Papa Dave and mine’s second time though 🙂 This is one of six Universal Studios theme parks worldwide and was the second to open outside the United States. USJ was opened last March 2001.

Here is Ate Rei and Sai, ready to dive in the park! Hope they are ready with a lot of walks and talks 🙂

The park is similar in layout to Universal Studios Florida and contains selected attractions from both Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood, in addition to a small number of unique attractions. The very first area we visited was, of course, Ate Rei’s very reason why she is excited to come here: the Harry Potter area.

This area is called The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was opened last July 2014. It contains the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride and the Flight of the Hippogriff roller coaster. The village of Hogsmeade is also recreated. Two features in the Japanese park not found in Orlando are Hogwarts’s Black Lake and live owls.

The place always looks like its winter. I wonder how this will look on pictures during summer, when people are just wearing sleeveless and shorts, but the rooftops are full of snowy dramas. hehe 🙂

The area is huge! This is a great photoshoot area for fans of the movie series. A lot of shops similar to the ones in the books/movies are here. Some shops are Filch’s Emporium of Confiscated Goods, Zonko’s Joke Shop, and of course, At Rei’s favorite, Ollivanders Wand Shop in Hogsmeade.

How can we not take photos of ourselves and the teams we belong. Sai’s fave color is blue, so he picked Ravenclaw. Ate Rei loves to be in Gryffindor but openly says she wants to be in Slytherine. But her outfit for the day is fit to be a Hufflepuff 🙂 Papa gets to be the one in Gryffindor and me, Slytherine 🙂

We went inside a show in Harry Potter area and Ate Rei was chosen to be the one who gets her own wand 🙂 The wand choses the wizard, remember? 🙂 But it comes with an almost 3,000 yen cost to actually get the wand so we put the idea aside and think about it for a while. hahaha!

We explored the food stalls and went to buy their churros sticks with different flavors depending on the house you choose. Next, we went to the shark ride 🙂

This is the Amity Village. Inspired by Steven Spielberg’s Jaws film. There is a scenic boat ride with special effects and animatronics of the titular shark.

We then proceed to Sai’s most awaited area, the Jurassic Park! This is also inspired by Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster film franchise of the same name. There are 2 rides here that Sai is not ready to take on yet. hehe… Jurassic Park The Ride is a water-based amusement ride and The Flying Dinosaur is a steel flying roller coaster.

But for now, we just explored the place, watch the dinosaur shows, and ate the dinosaur foods. hehe 🙂

I was impressed with the designs and details inside the Jurassic Park. Any one going in there will be amazed, even if you think dinosaurs are too childish for you? nah! It was one of the best areas we visited 🙂

Our next stop is the Super Nintendo World. Following several years of declining gaming revenue and console market share, Nintendo sought avenues to leverage and develop its intellectual properties, entering into a theme park partnership with Universal Parks & Resorts. This just opened last March 2021, during the pandemic.

There are a lot of people in Nintendo area. The first ride we lined-up is Yoshi’s Adventure ride. This is an omnimover ride themed after the Yoshi character and series. A lot of fun details are around, specially if you are familiar with the Mario game like me 🙂 Mario games are our era!
Guests enter the queue through a yellow Warp Pipe at the base of “Mount Beanpole,” with signage resembling the spin-off series’ logo. Guests then pass through hallways filled with objects from the series, such as Hint Blocks and Smiley Flowers, in an art-style based on Yoshi’s New Island.

Our little Sai looks scared but I know he is just as excited as me 🙂 Each ride vehicle has three Yoshi Egg shaped buttons on a dashboard, colored in blue, green, and red. If guests press the buttons in their vehicle as they pass the corresponding eggs during the attraction, they earn additional character stamps within the Universal Studios smartphone applications.

We also did the Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge (known in Japan as Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge). This is an augmented reality dark ride that serves as the anchor attraction of Super Nintendo World. The ride is primarily based on the Mario Kart 8 video game.

The ride’s exterior and queue are modeled after Bowser’s Castle. The queue gradually reveals that the ride’s plot involves “Team Bowser” (Bowser and the Koopalings) challenging “Team Mario” (Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Toad, and Yoshi) to the “Universal Cup.” This is a super fun ride! I got lots of points! hehe…

Our next area is a place where we can rest our feet from extreme walking. 🙂 The Waterworld show named Waterworld: A Live Sea War Spectacular. This is a live water stunt show showcasing many special effects.

Next, went to the Minion Park. This place is so colorful that your eyes will pop out! haha. This is an area inspired by the Despicable Me franchise. It opened in March 2017. We had fun with the 3D ride Despicable Me Minion Mayhem, a computer-animated simulator ride featuring the characters from Despicable Me movie franchise. A lot of small kids are in this area. Who doesn’t love the minions?!

We then strolled around the park to look for snacks. We strolled along different areas such as Hollywood, New York, and San Francisco. So this is how it feels to be in those places. 🙂

We then watched the show: Sing on Tour in the Hollywood area. Ate Rei and Sai had so much fun looking at the characters they are familiar with. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to take photos inside the show. This is a musical theatre attraction based on Illumination’s Sing film. The building’s exterior is themed as the “Illumination Theater.”

We also did the Spider-Man 4K3D ride. That was an intense ride! After that, we continued strolling through some roads of the park until we reach the Universal Wonderland area.

One of our fave is the flying Snoopy ride. We also peeked inside Snoopy’s Sound Stage Adventure. This indoor playground is packed with fun tricks and devices for kids to enjoy.

There is a Hello Kitty Fashion Avenue and Sesame Street Fun World. A lot of things are happening here. We can spend the whole day in this area alone 🙂

We decided to head back to Harry Potter area to buy Ate Rei’s merchandise. She bought a wand (a small wand that is actually a ballpen) and a notebook. I bought a pasmo holder for myself 🙂

After buying Ate Rei’s merch, we headed back to Jurassic Park for Sai to buy his own souvenirs. He bought 2 small Jurassic Park cars and this face mask 🙂

It is getting dark and getting colder. We slowly headed back to the entrance/exit gate. Our day in USJ is almost done!

We also checked other stores for some souvenirs and cookies (can’t afford) hehe. 🙂 Took a lot of photos before heading to the exit.

But before the day ends, we had dinner at Bubba Gump, one of our all time fave restos.

And that was our one day trip to Universal Studios Japan. Hope we can visit again some time. Until then USJ! 🙂