Today we visited Universal Studios Japan. I’d been before (by myself) four years ago but the park has had some very notable changes and additions since then.
Chief amongst them is the Mario World, which opened last year. It’s a remarkably well designed and crafted representation of Super Mario’s graphics in real-world form. The picture gives you the idea of how wonderful and magical it looks, but in-person, seeing everything animate around you with all the correct sound effects really makes you feel like you’re in a Mario level!
Universal made excellent use of space too: the area is quite small for a theme park and has only two rides (one for kids), but the vertical design and the inclusion of loads of hidden gimmicks you can activate with a wristband (¥4200, sold separately!) results in an area that could keep someone busy for far longer than the size would suggest.
We rode the Mario Kart ride which was astounding. You don an augmented-reality visor before boarding, and as you ride the world around you comes alive with other karts and enemies that you can shoot with shells to earn points. It’s mad and overwhelming and technically astonishing but also loads of fun, and unquestionably the most impressive ride I’ve ever been on.
However it’s not the best ride – for me that honour still goes to the Harry Potter ride, which I rode today for my seventh time (and Kristin’s sixth). Every time is great, and I could happily ride it over and over. I wish the lines had been shorter so I could have.
Indeed, the park was extremely busy today. Ride lines quickly exceeded two hours, and people were even lining up for restaurants and shops by 9 am (the park opened at 7:30). I believe it would have simply been impossible to ride everything in one day with crowds like today’s, since you’d need more time for lines than the park is open!
We were successful though, and managed all four rides and one show that we had targeted in advance. We also had a much-better-than-it-had-any-right-to-be lunch at the Harry Potter restaurant, and caught the ‘no limit’ parade that ends soon.
The most unusual ride we went on was a dark roller coaster themed after Sadako, the ghost girl from the Ring films. While the Sadako link was very slim, the coaster was truly pitch black, and since the carriage spun around as it rode the tracks it made for a very thrilling experience! It was far better than we expected.
The parade was fun, with the Pokemon and Mario floats being the obvious crowd pleasers. As you can see, almost everyone was filming it as well. I wonder how many of those videos will never be viewed?
And as a souvenir update from my last visit: they still sell the Spider-Man and Minions cup noodles but have now added a Jurassic Park version which is turkey leg flavored! I wish I could have bought just one of each to review on this blog; alas they were only sold in boxes of several.
It was a fun day at a great park that continues to give Disney some very strong competition. And with USJ embracing Japanese properties and ever-expanding (a new Donkey Kong zone opens this year) I’d say there’s a decent chance I’ll return again one day 🙂