So for the past few days, I've been on winter break. The first day of winter break, me and three other friends decided to go to Universal Studios Japan. 3 of us haven't been there before (me included), so we were super hyped to go.
First thing I would like to note is that it's SO easy to get there! By train, it only costs about 400 yen (around $3.50), and the train station exit exits right in front of the park. It has never been this easy and quick to go to a theme park, lol.
Second of all, tickets here are a lot cheaper than they are in America. In America, Universal Studios tickets are about $100. Here, they're about $60. I was expecting it to be a little cheaper because many things in Japan are cheaper than in America, but I didn't expect it to be THAT much cheaper. Holy crap, it was a huge difference.
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| Front of the park selfie! |
Of course, the first place we all wanted to go to was Harry Potter World. It's the main attraction at USJ, and they don't have it at the Universal Studios in Hollywood (yet), so we ran there first.
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| Hogsmeade |
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| Sirius Black |
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| Hogwarts Castle! |
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| Hagrid's motorcycle |
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| Hagrid's house |
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| Selfie in front of Hagrid's place |
One thing I noticed about USJ is that all the wait timers are extreme overestimates. In the Universal Studios in America, usually the wait timers are somewhat accurate. However, here, for example, the Harry Potter ride that lets you go through Hogwarts said it was about a 3 and a half hour wait, and we ended up waiting for barely even an hour. Worth.
Also, all the employees are SUPER happy and cute. They all look like they are genuinely happy with their jobs.
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| My house flag! |
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| The newest Ravenclaw prefects |
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| Inside of the castle |
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| The sorting hat! |
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| In line for the ride |
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| Inside of the castle |
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| The Weasleys' car |
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| The fat lady |
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| Hog's Head |
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| James and I trying on robes |
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| I'm a real wizard! |
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| Buttbeer is way too sweet, but I really wanted the mug |
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| Learning how to fly for the first time |
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| Ravenclaw...right? |
I've already been to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter before in Florida, but I love it so much so it was still just as great as the first time. I just wanted to buy everything, but of course, everything was extremely expensive. Sigh. I did buy a Ravenclaw scarf and a butterbeer mug, though. Maybe next time when I come back I'll buy a wand.
We chose a day with bad conditions, which means it was a good day to visit an amusement park. It was a rainy, cold Wednesday. No problem, the less people the better!
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| This Snoopy ride was way too cute |
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| Trying on the big fluffy hats at USJ |
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| Hi. |
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| Jurassic World! |
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| The characters here are too cute! |
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| Yay! |
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| Soaked after going on the Jurassic World ride in the first row. Plus, it was raining |
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| The giant Chrimbus tree |
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| Even the shark from Jaws was feeling festive |
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| Spiderman! |
Because there weren't many people there, we got to ride pretty much every major ride. We didn't get to see shows or ride some of the smaller rides, but we were okay with that. Pretty much everything at USJ was the same as the Universal Studios in America, but the characters they have here are cuter. For example, Hello Kitty, Snoopy, and Elmo.
At night, we watched a projection mapping show for Christmas. It was a bit disappointing, but I guess since it was raining hard outside, they had to cut it short. I wonder what the actual show would've been like, though.
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| Pretty photos regardless |
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| And with the Chrimbus tree |
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| Last selfie before heading out |
We were all super tired by the time the park was closing, so we did some last minute souvenir shopping and headed home. Overall, it was a really successful day at USJ!
Now, a couple days later, I'm preparing for my winter break trip to Tokyo and Taiwan! Tomorrow, I'm gonna be flying to Tokyo, staying there for a few days, and flying to Taipei. Also, Monday, Austin and Sergio are gonna be flying to Tokyo to meet up with Christian and I. Then, the whole squad is gonna meet up in Tokyo and go to Disney Sea together. I'm super excited!
Of course, tons and tons of photos will be taken during the trip, and I hope I remember to update my blog with new photos soon. If not, they will be up...eventually.
