Osaka ( Day Three ) - Fun & Back Young.....

The most exciting morning of our stay in Namba, Osaka  would be this 3rd day morning as the destination is a world of fun, fun and more fun – Universal Studios, Osaka ! I woke up this morning testing out all my limbs, connectors, muscles and even the primary organs to ensure that they are in good working order as it is back to being a kid. It is what I call “ Older Folks Cheat Day”. After a short meet up at the lobby and my usual cup of coffee. I surfed the Net a little bit for some info on Universal Studios and we are off to a hearty breakfast at the McDonalds before heading off to Nipponmbashi Station. Again, we had to contend with office workers who were seen rushing, bustling, running and jostling to board the train; to get to work. I could never get used to seeing people in business suits & tie and smartly dressed women rushing to get on the train to get to work.  

To travel to Universal Studios, we first boarded the train from Nippombashi Station on the JR Line )( Kintetsu-Nara Line – Orange Line ) and head towards Nishikujo Station and use the Sakurajima Line ( Blue Line ) to get to Universal-City Station. The train bound for Universal City was jammed packed with locals and tourist alike with one end destination in mind – Universal Studios! Looking at the locals, they must have hated our guts as we had the time and opportunity to travel and enjoy ourselves at USJ. Guess, there were a little smirks and disgusted look on their faces here and there as our usual tourist pests a.k.a the Chinese tourists huddled in train loads in the train tram heading towards the same destination as we do.  

At the entrance

After the entrance...SYuen & SLing

With the Christmas minion....

At the Sesame Street Studio....

T2 Studio.....

Ah! Talking about trains, yunno, after sometime, you do not want to know about which colored line to take to your hotel and so on because they are so confusing and there is really a lot of train jumping to do if you are going for places of interest and so on. Luckily, Wei & Jade had planned it all and navigation leadership was good too as Wei & Ryan expertise helped a lot. So, thank God for the both of them. That morning, as usual, the weather was cold around 12degrees and wind was billowing strong and chilly. For me, it was like another chilly day for me and I loved the weather indeed. 

One of the attractions

Spidey studio...

San Francisco Bay

Spidey Studio

New Yorkers.....

The smileys....

Minions are in town....

Honestly, I did not feel cold much as I have had much coffee along the day and it kept me warm, though, I had caused a lot of worry to Jade’s mom and the rest of the family as they were really concern of me coping up with the cold weather. So sorry for that but I felt fine in my clothing and so, I wore something thicker but still one piece thick sweater. They say I looked pale and so on but I guess, years of sleeping along the walkway corridors of the house and spending time outdoors had helped me adapt to the weather. 

Minion World..

Fun ride at Minion world...

Butterbeer stand.....at the Wizardry World

Wizardry World...

The castle...

Wizardry World...

Wizardry World

Upon arrival at Universal City, we quickly came off the train and headed out towards Universal Studios. As we walked for about 10 minutes, staring in front of you is the iconic tower that says “ Universal Studios” and it was such a surreal feeling. On your right is the rotation globe “ Universal Studios” and it was such a great unreal feeling that I was there.  Wei immediately handed out our entrance bookings which he had made earlier while back home. It was great knowing that Wei & Jade made the bookings earlier so that we can enjoy a hassle free entrance. There was just a crowd of people there already and it was just a little pass 9.30am Japanese time. There were a lot of USJ helpers in the park and they are a smiling lot. We then posed pictures with little Minions and it was such fun, actually. Wei & Ryan then went on their way to the attractions as they had Express Pass for games and priority rides. The rest of us just got together and enjoyed ourselves with taking photographs. 

Sisters....

Me, SLing & STing.... we had fun

The areas in the Universal Studio Park encompass the Hollywood Area, Jurrasic Park, San Francisco Area, New York Area, Harry Potter Area, Minions Park, Amity Village, Water World and Universal Wonderland. We started out at the 4D Sesame Street show and it was an amazing experience of sights, sound, touch  and feel. Very real experience but everything is the Japanese language. From here, we went on to experience, Cyberdine Theatre for Terminator 2 experience which was also quite real and explosive. I guess, the next obvious stop was the Minion Park and the Kitty Cat Area. Lots of photographs were taken and we moved on the highlight of the park which is The Wizardry World of Harry Potter. It was such a beautiful experience and the scenery of the castle and all that was associated with the film was there, man. Though I believe not of the mumbo jumbo stuff of wizardry and so on, the acts and scenery was very good and as real as the movie set. I guess, the mirror lake facing the castle was awesome while the butterbeer ( more like a vanilla drink with foam ) was sweet and nice. The weather started to get colder by then and everyone was wrapped up warmly. There were a tons of people at this place and soon, we went to the wizardry room and then to the ride room. The wizardry room was more to sell the wand while the ride room was simply an amazing ride. 

Herb chicken with ratatouille, potato gratin, avocado salad and rice.

The pork ribs, potato gratin, ratatouille,cauliflower and brocolli plus rice.

The fun continues....

Snoopy & friends

Snoopy ride

Far away photo of the wizard's castle..

Snoopy ride..

Snoopy ride

Hello Kitty Area....

The walks to the ride was amazing consisting of climbing the stairs with speaking portrait animation on the walls, a wizard’s desk of magic, changing rooms, the twist and turns and the magnificent animation of flying in the air scenes. You could hear gasps, screaming and shouting all along the rides and a very real situation. Luckily , no food materials or contents from the stomachs were found nor experienced during the ride! Seriously, I wouldn’t recommend this ride for the faint hearted individuals or those with anxiety attacks because you’re gonna have a heart attack for sure. It is more to the sudden movement, jerks and turns and twist that would get you real quick in a spin. For me, it was a realistic ride with plenty of excitement and some very scary scene to scare the skin out of you. I must congratulate the creators of this ride as it was as real as it could get and I believe many people will enjoy this ride. However, the walk back to the changing room/locker where you have put your belongings can be quite a hassle as there are a lot, I mean, a lot of people there. But no worries, your things are as safe as they can be especially in the locker. 

We then walked around and met with Wei & Ryan for lunch at a restaurant. We had quite a nice and standard meal comprising of one main and three side dishes. I chose the herb crusted chicken with ratatouille, avocado salad, macaroni cheese and potato gratin plus rice while the rest had pork ribs with three other sides like potato, broccoli & cauliflower, ratatouille , macaroni cheese and potato gratin and potato salad. Tasty and portion was good, I guess. One thing I observed was that there is no such thing as cutting queue and the locals will immediately reprimand you when you do it. It was really a very nice experience to know that law and order is in place at every place in Japan. I truly salute them for their discipline, cultured ways and daily etiquette which was fascinating indeed for me. 

After a hearty meal, we walked around and landed ourselves at Snoopy Area, Hello Kitty Area, San Francisco Area , New York Area and then to the Backdraft  Area which was a lot of fun. Soon, darkness fell and the lighting up of the Universal Studio was stupendously good. There was a parade and Christmas caroles singing on but it was just good but nothing spectacular really. However, all attractions were temporarily closed to accommodate the USJ Parade Show which I thought was just a normal fanfare. I have wanted to go to the Spiderman ride but it was temporarily closed to support the parade show. But I truly enjoyed the San Francisco Area feel and I had managed to get under this heater lamp post which was really ingenious as it emitted heat to those who stood under it. I took the opportunity to get some heat and it was a welcome relief as the weather got so much colder by then. 

Honestly, the coldness did not bug me as much as the nagging from SLing! Hahahhahaaaaaa….poor lady had the best interest of me in her heart! Bless her!  I must say that the lightings at this place made the place so much alive and lovely. To top off the day, we decided to go for the last ride which was the Minion Initiation Ride. The queue was extremely long but we soon inched our way into the ride room. Again, this was a really good ride and again, definitely not for the heart problem patients! I could have sworn that my heart stopped for a few seconds sometimes while my stomach seemed to have a change of place with my liver somehow! At the end of the ride, I wanted to kiss the floor but I guess, it is alright to just keep a straight face and don’t puke the contents in your stomach! BTW, this ride is definitely not for those with back problems as it could aggravate the back problems because of the sudden movement, jerks, twists and turns. I am serious that those with slipped disc and so on will get hell from this ride. Overall, it was a very good and interesting ride. 

As we walked towards the exit of Universal Studios, Osaka and say goodbye to it, I could see HardRock Café on my left while Wolfgang Puck Restaurant on my right together with a host of other eateries and stores. It was really bringing Hollywood to you experience.  I wouldn’t know when I would be back again to this place but I knew one thing, I had a lot of fun today. The whole day spent at this place truly enlightened my heart, transported me back to being a young boy/teen, gave my fragile life a few scares, jump started my heart for some time and made me feel so much younger again. It was truly an amazingly good experience of a lifetime. Maybe, I should have died at the rides probably the Harry Potter one, but I would have died as one very happy old man! Hahahahahahaaaaaaaaa……still, this old bugger got some life left in him to enjoy some more days of fun in Osaka.  

Perhaps the most satisfying feeling of all was seeing SLing and SYuen enjoying themselves out there. Having Ashley as a company was equally good too as she never stop talking, yakking away and making you feel alive with her wise cracks. Seeing Jade taking care of her mom, Geok Lee and STing taking care of her mom, Kiew was equally satisfying. Seeing Wei doing his fatherly duty to Ryan and sharing some moments together were priceless. I guess, these are priceless moments in one’s life and you could never turn back the clock of events and moments. I am thankful that I get this far in life and enjoying the experience. What a great experience that was!

I am truly blessed today…. I truly am……..