Our visit to Universal Studios Japan 
Our second day in Osaka was reserved for a one thing, Universal Studios Japan. We ensured that months ago we got our entry passes and also some express passes and arrived at the entrance to the park around 09:00 where after passing through security and ticket checks, we were ready for a full day of rides, shows, and fun.
We went straight to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter area where we wandered through Hogsmeade, through the shops towards the castle of Hogwarts where even though our express passes covered the ride “Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey”, the line was just so short at the time that we just went through and rode it. Now since we had the express pass, and both Xander and Eloise were keen to do it again, we did, this time by breezing past the lines.
After we completed our rides, we again wandered through the magical village of Hogsmeade where we had some butterbeer, basically a very sweet cream soda, and then looked through some of the shops which were filled with wizard wands, robes, lollies and many more magical trinkets, all in all, a great morning was had!
After we eventually left the area, we lined up for about 30 minutes and did the Jaws boat ride which was a bit of fun with a large shark circling us. From there, we made it to Waterworld to watch the show, which although we didn’t understand a word, we still enjoyed the show. Even though we sat in the ‘Splash zone’ and all of us except for Xander got soaked!
After this it was time for us to use another of our express passes, this time the Flying Dinosaur, a crazy ride where you are strapped in and then lying down along the ride. This ride further continued to twist and turn you all around, lying upside down at times, by far one of the scariest rides we have ever done!
We finished our time in Jurassic Park by riding ‘The Ride’, a boat ride through a park where a few dinosaurs showed up and a massive last ride ending up making a big splash… where we again got wet, it’s a good thing that it was a hot day after all.
After a quick lunch, we made it over to the Super Nintendo World world for some nostalgia. The area is amazing however the rides are all super popular and waiting times are about 160min so we just walked around and enjoyed the atmosphere.
From there we moved onto the Minion Park where we played the ‘Villain-Con Minion Blast’ shooting game, where although Xander gave me a run for my money, I still managed to beat him and got the highest score!
To finish our day, we wandered through the New York area and decided to watch a 4D show called ‘Detective Conan”. The wait didn’t appear to be too long however once we were past the lines we then had to wait again, standing up and crowded all around, for what felt like forever before we were allowed to sit. The show itself, once again in Japanese, was just about ok, we’ve done 4D before which had more effects and was more fun.
Anyway, after this we were all exhausted and just travelled back to the Dotonbori area where we had a dinner which included some local okonomiyaki, karaage chicken and fried squid before we wandered the streets for short while until our legs gave up on us and we headed back to our AirBnb and called it a night.
We had a great day with lots of fun rides and were absolutely exhausted by the end, but it was worth it just to see how happy both Xander and Eloise were all day!
