Day 14 - Friday 20th
This was the day I was really looking forward to and Nic was dreading, especially because of the all the marketing we saw throughout the trip so far. We were off to Universal Studios Japan. They had only just started their Halloween Horror Nights and the marketing was literally everywhere. So, anyway we grabbed some food and got on the train over to Universal.
Straight out of the train station you enter CityWalk which is really crammed and crazy compared to the Orlando one. There was also a construction wall on one side making it feel a bit more tightly packed – turns out it’s just for staff parking. The hotels looming over everything was weird too.
CityWalk has it's own Octopus ball museum
Turns out we turned up on a stupidly busy day. We had to join the masses in the queues for tickets. In a realisation that these crowds were by far the worst we had seen we had to splurge money on very expensive fast pass ticket things. The idea of spending loads on these was horrific but it needed to be done.
Crowds <///3
I'll explain now that in Japan the Universal Halloween is pretty much split into two events. During the day it's mardi-gras/festival themed and then in the evening the zombies come out to play and all the special attractions open. This is why you'll see loads of kids characters on posters and that. I love this idea though, best of both Worlds.
A Universal trip report wouldn't be right without a photo of the globe
EXCITEMEMT
We enter the park and the first thing which is a major shock to the system is that they have Streets of America (amazing theming I should add) under a massive roof. You don't really notice it apart from when you look back at photos.
So many people <//3
Their stall theming was amazing
There were a couple of characters roaming near the entrance so we had our photo taken with Bert and Ernie and the female woodpecker (name escapes me).
The theming was incredible
We ended up accidentally catching a Hello Kitty show which was random.
Everyone had gone straight to Hollywood dream so we decided to just go back to it later in the day.
The man with a sign was the end of the queue
Another odd thing about this park is that it's so close to everything else, just outside the park is a giant bridge that somehow just fits nicely into the background of the American street sets.
The detail in the sets was brilliant
This massive stage was for the kids Halloween show which we annoyingly missed because it's only on once a day.
After walking around for a bit and realising that all the queuelines were already horrific we ended up joining the first group of peeps for Terminator 2: 3D. Nic had never experienced this attraction and it was one of my favourites in Orlando so I was excited to be seeing it again despite the language barrier. It was just as incredible as I remember, the 3D is probably the best I've ever seen and all the effects and actors are just awesome. It's so sad to think that in a couple of years this attraction will be no more.
Glad we didn't have to queue in this stupidly long cattle pen
We randomly decided to head over to the very bright and colourful kids area known as Wonderland.
We ended up being big kids and riding the Hello Kitty themed 'cupcake dream'. It's just a spinning tea cup ride.
So many bright colours
The whole area is split into three themes, Hello Kitty, Snoopy and Sesame Street. As part of the Halloween celebrations the characters were themed to fit into a 'trick or treat' theme. It looked pretty awesome but it also looked like something you had to pay extra for.
We then headed into the Snoopy Studio where we queued around 20 minutes for the cred. I loved some bits of the theming like all the birds that stick out of the house once the train enters the brake run.
We were going to ride Jaws next but noticed that Waterworld was about to start and I really wanted to see it. So we ran and just about made it in before it really kicked off.
Suffice to say the show area and arena is excellently themed and I thought it looked amazing. The show itself is also pretty good with plenty of stunts and fire. Fire is always good (apart from on my face or in my home).
Instead of heading to Jaws next we ended up going over to Jurassic Park to try and beat the queues. The area felt really immersive and somehow better than the Islands of Adventure version. Jurassic Park is one of the only rides in the park to have a single rider queue and we decided to use it. This worked so well that we pretty much walked on and ended up on the same boat. The ride itself is exactly the same as the Orlando version and is excellent fun. Also got quite wet, this was needed on a very hot day.
The shop was filled with awesome merchandise....
The theming inside the store was also great.
And then outside a dinosaur was on the loose!
The amount of people not noticing the dino and then getting terrified when it was pointed out to them was high. Probably one of the best streetmosphere acts I’ve seen in a park.
Jaws was up next and yet again was an excellently themed area. I missed out on the Orlando one so was excited about finally getting to ride one. Turns out the queue was uber long so we used up one of our pass things to skip the queue. I say that, we still ended up queuing for ages, which in a way was nice because we got to see all the awesome queueline theming.
So we finally got on to a boat and the first thing I notice is how big the boats are, was quite surprised by that. The ride itself I didn’t like, was just lots of meandering about on the water and then “oh look, a shark”. I think the bit in the shed was the best bit due to it building up the tension of what could happen next. Yeah I can’t quite put my finger on it but I just couldn’t get my head around why people would love this attraction.
Anyway the tat shop at the end was just as awesome as the Jurassic Park one...
Outside the Jaws shop was the only time we really saw Hogwarts under construction, it felt really far away from the rest of the park. When that opens later this year it is going to be crazy busy.
Back in the Jurassic Park area we grabbed a drink from an epically themed vending machine. It also had misters and on a hot day misters are very welcome.
More awesome theming
As part of the Horror Nights one of the restaurants was themed to Jason from Friday the 13th franchise. It seemed really popular despite the huge prices on the menu.
Oh yeah, not forgetting the 90 minutes wait time to get in!
I really love all the America street sets even if it contains Backdraft (I ride I disliked in Orlando). Luckily it was closed on our trip to make way for a temporary experience themed to a popular TV show or film (looked like a paranormal detective show). The experience actually sounded cool but not for non-Japanese speaking peeps.
We soon found ourselves in the queue for Back to the Future. Another ride I missed out on in Orlando. The queueline was horrific but we just sucked it up and joined the end. It was quite a slow moving queue too. The ride itself is awful, the old simulators just sort of throw you around in really jolty motions (just like the Simpsons ride then). The film I could have sworn was a little out of focus too and was just a bit rubbish. I expected more for such a fantastic film franchise.
In one of the other buildings there was another short term attraction. Before going I really wanted to do it (shoot real people dressed as zombies with real pellet guns) but there was just no way I was going to fit it into our day.
We ended up waiting for the mardi-gras themed parade next. The plan was to watch it near to where it starts and then run into Space Fantasy after it passes us. This is what we ended up doing but in the process we missed the awesome bead-throwing and confetti. Oh well. The parade was awesome, so upbeat and fun. All the cast involved just looked like they were having an awesome time and it was just so bright and colourful. The parade ended with a float and a mass group of guests they had found who were in fancy dress. Yeah, I loved this parade a lot.
Fun fact: I just found out that the pink character this lady is wearing is a Seasame Street character specifically designed for this park
Random guests by loving life
Oh yeah, it’s not over yet!
Elmo was loving his cape
And that was that, all the percussion guys and the singers etc were live broadcast throughout the huge parade route and they were awesome. I found a video that gives you a good taste of what it’s like –
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfY1znTgoRo[/youtube]
So as planned we then dashed over to Space Fantasy, an indoor spinning rollercoaster. You have to dump loose belongings into a locker first which takes a 100Yen coin (gives it back to you later). The queue was a decent length for the coaster but we decided it would be worth the wait. Outside is a massive cattlepen which then sends you into greenscreen booths for a random photo opportunity (sad to find out it’s not just Merlin) before you enter the batching area for the next stage of queue. Next to the batching area is a cool robot that moves about and has a smiley face. You then enter a round room where there’s lots of cool light and then you walk along a few corridors before hitting the loading area. For a spinning coaster it’s extremely efficient and there are loads of staff members around making sure everyone is loaded and secure as quickly as possible.
So the ride – I don’t want to go through it step by step as it’s best to just go and experience it. I can tell you it’s full to the brim with light effects, cool on board audio and a room that made me jump (loud noise) every time. Unfortunately on our first go we stopped on one of the lift hills for about 5-10 minutes before continuing on. Once off at the station they grouped all of us up and sent us back round to get another go. Love it <3
It’s by far the best spinning rollercoaster I’ve ridden, it’s fast, spinny and very fun. A big feature of the ride is that it’s all about flying through space and ending up going into the Sun where you meet all these little ‘Sun fairies’ which are totally kawaii (cute). I really fell in love with this ride, it’s just so fun.
A sun fairy
I totally got one
She’s like their Mum or something?
It was time to go from one fantastic attraction to another... Spiderman. I’d only experienced the Orlando version in its full HD resolution so I was glad to find out that they’d only just re-opened the Japanese version in the same glorious resolution. My memory is starting to go here but I think we might have used a pass for this as I remember pretty much walking straight onto the ride. It is of course, one of the best dark rides in existence.
I still love all these street sets
We were heading back over to the main entrance area when outside Space Fantasy we saw a large group of peeps had formed a performance area so we stopped and waited in the heat of the Sun for about 15 minutes before a bunch of performers from the parade came out and did a really cool performance. It was really lively and they got quite a few guests involved too. It was worth waiting around for.
Worth pointing out that all the drummers were from America and only spoke to the guests in English
We were getting hungry but couldn’t find a restaurant we were happy with or they were too busy so ended up picking up some meat filled buns. Nic got an Elmo and I got a Hello Kitty. They were yummy and very filling.
Is it me or does Elmo look evil?
What to do next? Oh this looks fun...
We were so excited about being able to ride ‘Backdrop’ or the ride car that runs backwards. They even had a sign counting down to when it wouldn’t be going backwards any more (10 days). However during some research for this report I just found out it’s now been made a permanent thing as it was so popular!
Anyway, things didn’t exactly start out so well for us. As we got there we discovered they had closed the Backdrop queueline as it was full (they didn’t want anyone else queuing for it) and the only way to get in the queue was with a ticket. Now, absolutely no where did it mention this ticket system and to say it annoyed us would be an understatement. We spoke to several cast members with not a lot of luck (hard to communicate due to the language barrier). After some nagging we discovered that the single rider queueline was still open but would be 3 hours! We decided it was our only option, I mean, we couldn’t NOT ride it backwards.
Well, the queue was not 3 hours. It was a long wait, yes, but it kept moving and we were on after about an hour and a half. This was definitely helped by a lack of normal backdrop queue resulting in a whole train just for single riders. We were over the moon when we were finally sat down and leaving the station. Choosing what music to play was a hard decision, all bar one track I’d heard of and I loved what the other tracks were. It was a fantastic ride experience, smooth, fast and the air time over the hills and down the first drop were heightened by the sensation of not knowing what’s coming next. We both loved it, fantastic ride. It was then time to run round and join the normal Hollywood Dream queue. Still a ridiculously long queue (I can’t remember how long we queued in the end) but it was worth the wait. While not as exciting as going backwards, it was still a solid, fun ride. I think having on board ride audio certainly helps the ride too.
It was now starting to get late and that meant the zombies would soon be let loose on the park. Nic really doesn’t like zombies or anything scary so stuck to the main entrance area and the kids area. I went and queued for Space Fantasy: Ringu edition. Oh jeez, I’ve never felt so frustrated in a queueline. The rides that get a Halloween night makeover close for an hour, what I didn’t plan for was that everyone joins the queues within this hour break (I was also under the impression that the single rider line was closed- it wasn't). So turning up a little late to the party I join the back of a 2 hour queue which for several 10-20 minutes was stood still due to staff waiting to expand the cattlepen queueline. To be honest I wasn’t wearing a watch and not knowing how long things are taking can sometimes make the situation worse. Just when the queue wasn’t moving would I ever get frustrated though. Apart from that it was a fairly smooth continuous flow of people.
As soon as I entered the inside queue the changes began. The first holding room the lights dimmed and they projected the beginning of the Ringu tape. I am not making this up but as soon as this was projected 90% of the group started to panic so when the Ringu girl appeared at the door we had to go through you can imagine the reaction. I found it hilarious, I don’t think the rest of the group did though
. We then had to walk up the corridor where the Ringu girl disappeared. After that it was a fairly standard queue before getting on the ride. The ride itself they had turned off all the lights and effects and the on board audio had changed to creepy music and kids saying stuff (apparently extremely freaky stuff judging by the reaction of the lady sitting next to me) and other generic creepy kid sounds. I think the only time I got ‘scared’ was when it was quiet, dark and the suspense of not knowing what would happen next. Unfortunately the ‘pay-off’ was just the projection of the Ringu girl on the wall on the end break run. Sad face. So despite the ride still being good I was very disappointed by the changes inside and the long time I had to wait to discover that.
They have a spinning ride vehicle model outside to show you what will happen inside
Obviously by now it was dark outside and the event was in full swing. I still had ages before meeting back up with Nic so I decided to walk around the entire park to see what they had in terms of zombie happenings. Well it was definitely wide spread and there were quite a few different things going on. It’s hard to take photos of people moving in low light so apologies for the quality of most of the following pics...
Caged zombies would escape and start running around
Every now and then ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson would play and all the zombies would do the dance. Clearly the best thing to happen throughout the event
Big searchlights were being used to track down zombie hoards.
A hoard of zombies would attack a ‘guest’ and then be broken up by a police guard or two, paramedics would take the ‘guest’ away on a stretcher
Chainsaw wielding madman anyone?
By the time you saw this sign it would be too late
A truck of dead bodies with a zombie or two for fun
No idea what this thing was that was lurking around the Jurassic Park area
Several watch towers had been set up around the Jaws area
A zombie feeding point thing
I still had loads of time so decided to join the queue for the Mummy walkthrough. I was inside in about 5 minutes, the capacity of this walkthrough was ridiculous. The lady providing the safety talk for the group I was in clearly did the whole spiel, she then looked at me and was like “umm, follow torch?” I tried to show her that I fully knew what to do (this wasn’t exactly my first horror walkthrough experience). After reassuring her, my group went in through the Anubis room (there were two walkthroughs set up, I couldn’t believe that was even possible). The theming inside was beyond anything I had seen before, was really awesome. Unfortunately most of the scares were only experienced by the guy in the front, who to be fair was hilarious to watch.
After that I headed over to the Hello Kitty area to meet back up with Nic. She revealed she had re-ridden Backdrop (jammy so and so). We watched the zombies for a little bit more before deciding to make our last attraction Shrek 4D (everything else had too much of a queue). I loathe Shrek and Shrek 4D. Oh well, it was kinda worth it to discover how you exit their cinema...
Yep, the screen goes up and you walk through it
What’s weird about the cinema is that the pre show room is made for Shrek and then the exit shop is all about Sesame Street. After the film we spent ages and lots of money in the shops before finding food in CityWalk. We could have eaten anywhere in CityWalk (even yummy Mos Burger) but we found ourselves in Hard Rock Cafe. The food was as you’d expect it to be, filling and very delicious.
This is just popcorn flavours
It was then back on the train to our hotel. It was such an amazing day, I really love Universal parks. Just a shame we had to sort of rush our day there and it was stupidly expensive.
