Universal Studios Japan

So after going to sleep early, we got up early and headed to Osaka after checking out (I accidentally booked one less nite than we needed, but we decided just to hotwire a room in Osaka). Osaka is a very convenient hour or so train ride from Kyoto. We got there a good hour before the park opened. I’m actually fairly proud of the fact we were able to do this for the parks we needed to. After we got our tickets and chose our express passes, we got in the massive line to go in. And just before 8:30, Woody Woodpecker and his girlfriend came out to greet everyone. Once the gates opened, everyone rushed in to the park.

Japan Day 5 Universal Studios by C. E. Beavers, on Flickr

Universal is another park with a covered ‘main street’. My first impression of the park and CityWalk were that they were definitely modeled after both of the US Universal parks, and that's great. At this park, you choose which type of Express Pass you want. You get 4 main rides at timed slots, then get B leave rides (You choose between 2 rides for the 3 slots) you can use at any time. This is a busy park with long lines, so we wanted to maximize our Express Passes and play it smart. Hollywood Dream, the park’s mini B&M Hyper, is running one of it’s 4 trains backwards and calling it Backdrop. We decided to hit it up first thing since it’s only one of the trains, and they were running 2 forward.

Hollywood Dream: Backdrop-This was a lot of fun! You enter a tunnel very much like Hulk’s (But without the effects) for the lift hill. There was decent airtime on all of the hills as you drop then go over the entrance, then into a hammerhead turn, back over the front gate, then hop and turn up, over and thru buildings around the front of the park. There’s a helix at one end, and then you’re done. The ride has a beautiful red train (Like a red background curtain on a stage), and the trains all have great light packages. I really enjoyed it!

Japan Day 5 Universal Studios by C. E. Beavers, on Flickr

Universal Studios Japan kind of took some of the best parts and concepts of USF, USH, and IoA, and put them in one park. We walked around and saw the entrance to the Harry Potter area, which is tucked back in a corner and not visible from the rest of the park, for the most part. We walked by JAWS (Yay JAWS!), in the Amity village area, then in to Jurassic Park. No one had really made it back here (I think a lot of people detour to Harry Potter, and those that do make it back here early go to the new coaster), so there was no wait for Jurassic Park The Ride. We decided to go ahead and ride it. There were parts that were slightly different, and its a mirror of the Orlando version. The ending T Rex was better done than any of the others I felt. It was a lot of fun, and no wait.

We had lunch, and then eventually dinner as well, at Mel’s Diner. Burgers both time, and they were good. We walked all around the park to check it out. So many things look and feel familiar, or are just a little bit off. On the other side of the park is another credit, a space themed spinning indoor coaster that is said to be quite good, so we got in line for that, which was about 30 minutes.

Japan Day 5 Universal Studios by C. E. Beavers, on Flickr

Space Fantasy The Ride-First off the queue is very well themed. As best I can tell, you’re supposed to be a new singing act, or you’re joining a couple of animated characters at singing. Or something. Regardless, there are to CGI hosts and there’s music. The coaster is indoors, highly themed, and the J Pop is actually really good. This was one of the best surprises of the trip! The spinning action was really fantastic. Each room was themed. There were a few surprises. The music was great. There were laterals and some decent drops. I wish they’d bring a version of this to the US!

After that we headed over to a ride I never tried in either USH or USF, but, like JAWS, is still an option at USJ, Terminator 2: 3D. The preshow was far too long. The hostess must have been pretty good because everyone in the room was laughing. If you’ve never ridden, you start in a room where a ‘rep’ for Cyberdyne does a presentation, plays to the crowd, then shows a video that gets ‘hacked’ by Sarah and John Connor. Of course, here its all in Japanese, so although I got the just of the video segment, I had no idea what the hostess was doing, other than asking people where they were from and making jokes. Everyone laughs, so I hate I missed out.

Japan Day 5 Universal Studios by C. E. Beavers, on Flickr

Then you head in to the theater for a demo of the new T1whatever robots, and of course, chaos ensues as Skynet Skynets, and Terminator Terminates, saves John Connor, and takes him into future. All in 3D! The show is actually really good, and I like how they use the seats for jump scares.

It’s September at Universal Studios, and that can only mean one thing, Halloween Horror Nights. I’d never been to any HHN, and the Japanese version is quite different. Mazes start opening at noon, and haunts/shows/etc. roll out during the day, then at 6pm (It gets dark at 6 in September in Japan), they release the street haunt zones, and change the music, etc. So since we were near our first haunt and it was noonish, we went in. It was Chucky themed, and while the production value was really great, it was just ok. I wondered if this was what their mazes would be like, but since I wasn’t really there for HHN, it didn’t matter.

Our first two Express Passes were over in Potterville, so we walked across the park to there next. At this park’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter, you feel like you’re in some themed HP section not near anything else. It was crowded, but you’re really not near the rest of the park. The theming is as fantastic as I imagine it is in the other parks, and of course people eat it up. We walked thru and rested for a bit before we headed to the Forbidden Journey to use our express passes.

Japan Day 5 Universal Studios by C. E. Beavers, on Flickr

Harry Potter & The Forbidden Journey-I’ve done the Kouka arm at Epcot, but this was different. Oh, first, the queue was quite impressive, even if I’m completely unfamiliar with the source material. It was well done, especially the talking pictures. We boarded our vehicle with our glasses on and off we were. I must say, it was very well done. The 3D was cool, the movements of the arm were really great. Then, quite near the end of our journey the ride stopped at a screen, with our vehicle slightly tilted. The entire ride and all announcements are in Japanese, and I wasn’t sure what the announcement they made was, but was hoping it was some variation of “Your ride will restart shortly”. And we did. The rest of the ride was cool, even though the room we were in didn’t finish, but both of us got off feeling queasy. I Think it was from the stop, as it abruptly pulled us out of the 3D world and movement was then less than natural.

Japan Day 5 Universal Studios by C. E. Beavers, on Flickr

We were offered passes to ride again, but declined, especially since I feel we got the experience and were both quite queasy, so we had a butter beer and hung out till our next Express Pass, which was for the Hippograff coaster. It's just another roller skater with better theming, so there’s that. Credit.

After leaving Harry Potterville, we headed to the other nostalgic attraction at the park, JAWS! It's a clone of the USF version (R.I.P.), and even though it was in Japanese, I knew what was going on, and was able to explain the little I needed to to Isaac. Ah, memories. And shark killing.

We stumbled upon the small lines where they were giving timed tickets for two more haunts later that evening, the Exorcist and Nightmare on Elm Street mazes, which are timed ticket only so we picked them up for later. One thing USJ does for HHN is turn Backdraft (another oldie from USH), and T2:3D into haunts after a certain hour. Backdraft was Deadman’s Forest, and since there wasn’t much of a line, we decided to check it out.

Japan Day 5 Universal Studios by C. E. Beavers, on Flickr

Deadman’s Forest-You enter the preshow for Backdraft, but instead, there’s some preshow with military personnel where they show a video about infection, some type of military exercise gone wrong, gives you a number that I realized later was a combination, and then send you into the main show room for Backdraft. Again, it’s in Japanese, so I was picking up some stuff here and there. The main show building had some kind of ‘creature’ attacking the military folks. It was kinda sucky, and I didn’t know what they were saying, it was too dark, and not much went on, so when it let out, I was like ‘meh’. Wasted time. Or so I thought. What I didn’t realize that once you get out of the show building, the rest of the attraction is an actual haunt, and this one actually kind of ‘maze like’, with different options on which way to go. Granted, it wasn’t as scary being outdoors and in the daylight with zombies, but it was a good set up, and I’d bet at night it was more fun. Eventually, though, you end up at this long gate of different rooms you have to hurry into and you have to remember the 6 digit code to be ‘decontaminated’. Thankfully the group of kids with us entered it, we were sprayed with life saving mist, and survived. Thank god for those kids!

Since we had a choice on our ‘anytime’ Express Passes, and had done JAWS, T2:3D, andJurassic Park without waits, we decided to use our first second option on Spider-Man. I’m assuming this one got the 4K upgrade, because the video was much clearer than last time I was at IoA.

The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man (In Japanese)-I’ve always loved this attraction, and was excited to do it again. Like in Florida, there is still a bit of theming in the Express Pass queue for the Daily Bugle. Otherwise the ride is exactly the same…Just in Japanese this time. Not much else to say, I like it, and had fun.

Japan Day 5 Universal Studios by C. E. Beavers, on Flickr

It was finally time to use our Flying Dinosaur Express Pass. This is the park’s newest attraction, a B&M flyer, and lines are often well over 2 hours, as was the case today. We sauntered up in front of all of that because Ballers (of course), and were quickly on the ride.

Flying Dinosaur-I would rank this as my second favorite flying coaster. The first drop is fairly straight and really good, then you do an amazing airtime filled flip. Next you fly up, twist, dives down and then head straight in to the pretzel loop, before coming back up, diving back down, twisting, turning, flying all around Jurassic Park, and then hitting the brakes. It is very well done, integrates with the section of the park nicely, looks impressive within the park, and B&M flyers thus far have been better than the Vekoma or Zamperal versions. I give it an A.

Japan Day 5 Universal Studios by C. E. Beavers, on Flickr

Next we did our timed passes for the 2 mazes we had tickets for. The Exorcist maze was interesting. For both mazes, you wait in the queue side by side, and one house is the Exorcist maze, then next the Nightmare on Elm Street maze. You’re given a tied/segmented bedsheet and sent in with about 5 other people, all holding the sheet. Of course, everyone wanted the 6’2” big Gaijin (Japanese for Foreigner) to go first, and the problem with this was that. Unlike American parks, they wait and scare the middle of the group, so I missed out on quite a few scares. The theming and production was very good tho. All of the famous scenes were represented, and the ending got everyone but me.

Then you do the Nightmare maze. Also very good, with iconic scenes from the movies. This time I was put in the back holding the bed sheet, so at least I got to see everything, and again, it was very well done.

Now that it was time for our final timed Express Pass headed back to the new Minions area and did the Despicable Me ride and hung out for a while. This is how they re-themed their Back to the Future ride, and it was well done, but I’m so over 3D moving simulators.

Japan Day 5 Universal Studios by C. E. Beavers, on Flickr

We went back to Mel’s for dinner, and at this point the park was starting the rest of their Halloween stuff, which included a show on the Main Street, zombies, and random loud BOOMs (a great Idea I’d always thought would be cool) going off. Oh, and dancing zombies. Because at different intervals, each zombie ‘troupe’ will start dancing to the music in a choreographed show. All over the park.

I wanted to do Terminator again because after 6, Sadako from Ringu (The original version of The Ring, where she’s named Samara) takes over T2:3D. Unfortunately, the line was very long, and because of the long preshow from earlier (that I’d hoped they wouldn’t repeat) we opted out and did another spin on Space Fantasy instead. Just as good the second time, and so worth it. There was another haunt over by the Chucky haunt that we attempted to do after that, but it was also time ticketed only, and we hadn’t seen where to get tickets for it earlier. We walked down a pathway and ended up behind the park, near the back of the Jurassic Park building. There were still random zombie troupes here, often performing for just 2-5 people. I assume this pathway is opened because the park does get packed, but it was not needed this nite. We emptied back around at Terminator, and this time the line had shortened tremendously, so we went in.

Unfortunately the same long preshow started. In anticipation of this, we had walked over to the doors that open into the theater so I could sit on the floor amongst the crowd. Same hottest, same banter. The first time it went on WAY too long as you stand there, and my feet hurt. But this time I was better because I was sitting. Then the video for Cyberdine plays…but when it cuts to static for John and Sarah Connor to ‘hack’, the static stayed a little too long. Then the TV and all of the lights went black. Everyone was slightly startled by the change, and then, up on the stage where the hostess was supposed to be, a spotlight very quickly pulses on and off, as you see Sadako standing there, before the lights come on and the hostess hurriedly gets everyone into the theater.

We sat about 3 rows form the front. Everything starts back up again much like T2 does, and as the ‘presentation’ was getting underway, a young Japanese girl sitting near us gets up because her phone was ringing, to which the host goes back in to her Schtick of making fun of people. I was surprised as being on your phone or it ringing in public like this is very uncommon and I rolled my eyes at the girl getting up to answer her phone over to the side…Then the show really started. The girl screamed and died. Just like in Ringu. She was a plant. And she was very good. Then it happened a couple more times as phones started ringing (Of course, that’s the whole plot of the movie). Then the hostess gets a call and also screams and dies. Then the lights go off and Sadako takes her revenge. This was amazing. The video from Ringu plays on the big screen. There are several actors in the theater dressed as Sadako all over, and so it looks like she’s moving all around just like in the video. She comes out of the well. There's the T2 smoke effect. The hundreds of people in the audience were terrified, and I admit, it was the best use of something like this to scare a crowd I’d ever seen. I was so glad we did it. Very well done. And they could easily do this at the parks in the US…If they still had T2:3D.

Japan Day 5 Universal Studios by C. E. Beavers, on Flickr

That Ring show sounds really cool!

It was absolutely fantastic. It creeped me out (especially since the one actor closest to us kept coming up to the americans, it seems, but the way they did it, it was so good. I just happen to be a fan of Ringu and The Ring, so that helped, but it was one of the better haunted attractions I've done.

Great TR's!

I have a few comments:

- About the Space Fantasy ride, it is a Mack spinning coaster that run at ton of two car trains. It now runs in two different modes: late January to late June with VR and late June to late January with no VR. "Dreams Come True" is an Osaka J-Pop bad and they are notable for creating the signature Hollywood Dream: The Ride on board song, Dreams Come True. The Dreams Come True version is brand new this year and when I rode Space Fantasy in 2016, it was the most WTF thing I've ever been on. They loaded half the seats as the cars were locked in place and everyone rode in a forward position. You visited Kyaru Pamyu Pamyu "Dream Factory" when monsters invaded and she even created a song for it called "Cosmetic Coaster"...

In 2017, the VR theme was Evangelion, a well known Anime about angels coming down to Earth and humanity creating giant robots to fight them. In 2018, the theme is making me return to the park with family: Final Fantasy for the 30th anniversary.

- Hollywood Dream: The Ride songs rotate throughout the year. Did you recognise any that you could pick?

- The T-Rex on Jurassic Park is AMAZING. This video shows her in all her glory at 5:50. Wonder if IOA could upgrade theirs to that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KcwueFrIPo

- The Ring version of T23D sounds amazing. When I went in 2007 in June, they had not started doing Halloween stuff.

I actually picked a J Pop version of Timberlake’s Can’t Stop the Feeling on Hollywood Dream Backdrop. On the second ride I let it pick for me and I think it picked the song you’re talking about.