Universal Studios Japan

Day 21 – Universal Studios Japan [part1]

Oh man... I have been avoiding blogging about this as there are just so many things to tell you about and it takes me plenty of time to prepare the tour, check everything... and it feels now like it all had happened only in a dream.. I would rate this day and a place with one hundred stars haha.

We continue our adventures with Day 21 and the 5th of the camp. This was one of the best day, the most memorable days and all the best-something days I have ever had in the past years and in life, I have tried some things I did not dare before and... well, you know. It was pretty long too as the place we were going to visit was opened until late in the evening. We planned to spend about 10-11 hours at the Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. How cool is that?!

I remember reading back home in Zagreb before the trip a bit the programme of the camp and saw the USJ was on the list of the activities. To be honest, I was not that much familiar with all the attractions and cool things the Universal Studios worldwide offer. I have been to Gardaland a few times and have heard and known of existence of Disneyland and Legoland. Everything else were just some other amusement parks. Well, once I checked what they offer here and what we were going to experience made my jaw drop and I was jumping of joy.

Let me quickly remind how we got here and what was going on hours before leaving for the USJ. We spent almost half of the previous day on the Miyajima island and visited the famous Miyajima Shrine and the big Torii which have been regarded as one of the Three most scenic spots of Japan throughout last few centuries. You can read more about it here. The other half of the day or at least 5 hours we spent on the high way back from Miyajima (and Hiroshima) to Osaka. We arrived in the evening and after settling ourselves in the hotel rooms we headed to the big organized food party in the hotel's area and spent there about 2 or more hours. Before going to sleep most of us had used the room with the washing machine where you pay a little sum (up to one Euro if I remember) and then put our clothes outside on the balcony to get dry until the next evening. Since we planned to go back to the same hotel (which rarely happened on our trips) we could finally make a break with packing our stuff every night.

After a hotel room in Hiroshima we had here shared rooms for about 4-5 people in each. And we were sleeping on the mattresses on the floor but was pretty comfortable. There was also one bathroom and a toilet in the same space... with the door locker not working.

I made sure my digital camera's battery was charging along with my mobile phone. I was also thinking of bringing the analog camera with me... and I did... but the photos did not come up as I wanted... and honestly there was no time for the analog camera. haha I also spent one part of the night awake working on my country's presentation until 3am as it was my turn tomorrow!

Alright... ready for the Day 21? Let's go!

Waking up for the breakfast

We were supposed to get up around 7am and do quickly shower or anything before going downstairs for the breakfast at 8. 30h. We all waited more or less for all the guys to get ready and headed downstairs. Our room was on the 3rd floor and we had the option of using the stairs or the elevator. Once we reached the huge lobby of the hotel we met there a few other campers. We were also among the early birds. If I am right my squad was among the early birds usually (except for Ugur, my Turkish friend, he preferred sleeping as long as possible :D). The breakfast was at the restaurant near the lobby room where we had to give the coupons given to us by our camp leaders for the breakfast. I do not remember anyone checking us but still it was good to be fair and handle it away.

They served us here lots of mixed food with both Japanese and Western meals. Thus one could find French Fries (and some of us were too weak to resist some bits of the food from home haha) and few other things. Since we were about to have a long day I tried to eat as much as possible to survive until lunch and recharge my batteries.

The space we had our breakfast at was a pretty large room with the large windows and a nice scenery behind. I just remember the greenery and the cityscape far away. Actually, when I checked the google maps and the location of the hotel (which bothered me as we were pretty much on the coast) the hotel is situated in the center of delta of Osaka rivers and is an island connected to the mainland with two-three other bridges! And the USJ is not far away from here.

We had about an hour in total to get prepared for the country presentations which lasted about less than an hour. I went to my room to pick up the USB with my files.

Country presentation – my turn

We went to one hall on the 2nd or 3rd floor that had a projector and started „the show“ at 8. 30h. I was sitting next to my Australian mate, Jessie, behind in the room and waited for my turn. I do not remember who else had the presentation before and after me (except for the Italians J ). I brought my hat and a shirt as a representative of the Northern Croatian national clothing... and had some souvenirs such as 'Licitar hearts' which are apparently symbol of Zagreb.

My presentation consisted almost only from the photographs and lasted for about max 10 minutes, I tried to control myself. And if it is to believe the words of my friends they were pretty much satisfied with what they had seen and heard... and I knew I did it this time good after hearing several times „I want to visit you as soon as possible“.

Okay, time ot get ready for the USJ!

Taxi ride to the Universal Studios Japan

Later in front of the Universal Globe.

Source

We had about half an hour in total before going to the amusement park. We were obliged to wear our LC Japan polo t-shirts in order to stay as a group, not to get lost and to take group pictures later. I had been having troubles only with what to take to protect my head... in the end took the straw cap and put into my backpack. The straw cap, the present from my Yanase family back in Gobo for the bike ride, became my holy relict while being in the camp and a very popular artefact the others also wanted to have (and try on their heads) haha. I also made it sure 10x that I took my digital camera fully charged and the analog as well.

We gathered at the lobby 10 minutes before the departure and waited for everyone. Then they told us to leave outside as the transportation had arrived. I was looking for the bus but instead saw several taxis coming to the entrance of the hotel. Alright! Taxi rides in the groups, cool! Once we organized ourselves quickly who was going to go with whom into which taxi I headed to mine. And accidently sat on the right side on the driver's seat forgetting that we are in Japan haha. The guy was laughing of course and then I switched to the left side.

During the 10 minutes ride we were not talking to the guy as it would be of no use, ours was a bit older but even if he was younger I doubt he would be able to speak much in English. Instead I kept quiet and the guys behind were talking.

On our way there we passed by the docks on the huge high way (again several of them going above and under each other). We were now approaching again the area with bigger buildings and skyscrapers and soon noticed a few roller coasters to our right. And the towers of Hogwarts! Everyone was now truly getting excited.

The taxi brought us to the entrance of the park from the northern side, we thanked him and left the car and met the other guys.

Location, opening hours and the prices

As already mentioned the park is located pretty close to the shore and in the central-western part of Osaka relatively close (at least on the map) to the main and the biggest mouth of the river delta that goes through the city. Except for getting taxi from our hotel I cannot tell you this time “how to get there”. You can check that on their website though.

The opening hours are pretty long. When compared with Italian Gardaland near Lago di Garda and Verona it stays open for a few more hours. Generally, during the working days the USJ opens and closes its gates from 9am till 8pm and on weekends it is open from 9 till 9pm! The good thing is that it is not as big as Gardaland so you have time to visit everything in one day, that is something I liked here.

As for the prices here is the list for the one-day entry:

• adults (>12) pay 6 980 yen or about 55 Euros
• children (4-11) pay 4 880 yen or about 38-39 Euros
• seniors (>65) are between with the price of 6 270 yen or cca 49 Euros.

Well, expensive or not.. it surely paid off. Hope to be there again once I become a millionaire. Next time this year.

Splitting into the groups and the plan for the whole day

Once we passed the road we came close to the entrance of the park being visible from our side and calling us there. There was of course a relatively large fence covered with bushes to hide park from the eyes and also make us go crazy as we heard something but could not see anything. One part of the park (except for the entrance) was visible though – Hogwarts! One can see it when arriving by car, taxi or bus from the main road to the parking lot and the entrance.

And then they split us into several groups or teams. As we had been organized into several coloured teams since the very beginning of the camp we decided to stay the same here. I was part of the Team Pink along with Lukas from Czech Republic, Beatriz from Spain, Rainbow from Hong Kong, Anita from Canada and two of the camp staff who were guiding us around and paid attention nothing bad happens. These were Chiho and Kengo.

The plan was that we all go as a group to the first attraction and afterwards split and go freely as we want. We also made agreement to meet at the entrance in front of the huge globe of Universal world at 9. 15pm. Thus having at least 10 hours of fun around.

Each of us got the map of the USJ in English and the entry ticket. Time to go!

Entering the USJ

We headed now towards the huge gates and the entrance of the USJ! There were flags on the tall columns everywhere and one could hear the crowds on the other side of the walls. And the screams from the main roller coaster there – The Hollywood Dream, and our first destination (as I first feared ahaha but then had the best experience there I have to admit).

As as you enter it there is another large yard or “a lobby” between the entrance where you need the tickets and going back through the gigantic gates. What you are going to notice first is the huge rotating Universal globe …and most likely going to get your first selfies there in front of it.

We took a picture there indeed and then went to the main entrance and used our tickets. Everyone was jumping and repeating “just few more seconds, just few more seconds” and then jumping around once we entered it haha. My turn to use the entrance ticket came and soon found myself inside one of the coolest things there.

We found ourselves instantly being surrounded with hundreds of other visits just at the beginning of the amusement park. Firstly, above everything one could see the roller coaster track which went over the huge oval roof that covered the streets and the stores. Speaking of stores, it was pretty colorful in all senses. One could see every second large store being decorated (the facade) into some Western-movies look or then switch to Northern African or Arabic style relying on the diverse films of the Universal production.

There is also a restroom right there to the right before you enter the first street leading you towards the center of the park. We are going to mention this restroom pretty soon as I had to go there before going for the ride on the Hollywood dream (and no, it’s not what you think, I just drank too much water and wanted to feel “free” before thinking whether I was going to survive the next few minutes on the ride or not haha).

Now I have to say that the whole Park or most of the things there are of course artificial and fake, there is a large amount of kitsch and it had to be so to amuse people. And I would lie if I did not enjoyed being there haha and like the others enjoyed fake everything.

The shopping streets

To be honest I do not know how to describe everything here and what to say. The main roads after the entrance were pretty broad to hold a huge mass of people going through it at the same time and as well make it available for the big machines or vehicles to pass by. And you will find out more of it later.

On each side of the street you would see two floors high buildings with different facades, mostly referring to the early 20thcentury buildings of the United States of America. At least you get the feel like you are walking through the streets of some districts on Manhattan (and wait until we get to the part that is the home to Spiderman 4D cinema). Naturally, most of them shops trying to get you in and not rarely could it also be a restaurant.

I think the best description here would be to just look at the photographs below and see it yourself.

We had been walking around 5 minutes stopping every few seconds to take a picture of something, point with our fingers and being excited with every new details we discovered and that might have reminded us of some movie. At one crossroads we picked up to go to the right. Also, as you can see, there was the simulation of the Hollywood’s Walk of Fame throughout the streets. We continued now towards are first destination and soon came to the beginning of the waiting line.

Hollywood dream / The first on the list and breaking the ice (for me)

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I remember I was not feeling quiet comfortable of this as I had fears of such roller coasters. Yet there we were and I was looking at the next ride as the vehicle was climbing up till the edge. Not good haha. But I thought it would be time to beat the d*mn fear and go for it. After all, everyone else there was also excited about it so I tried to be one of them too. Luckily for me, Lukas, the big guy from the Czech Republic also told me he was scared of this haha. That put me instantly into a good mood and the ride now did not seem to be such a big deal anymore. Or at least until I sat there seconds before the show.

Hollywood dream is one of the main attractions of the USJ, probably right after the recently opened Harry Potter World. The duration of the ride is in total about 2 and a half minutes long…or waaay too long once we started climbing up at the beginning. The height we reached and at the same time the maximal height of the roller coaster was about 44 meters. And then the fun starts.

Before even getting into the waiting line the higher force, vis maior, forced me to go to the restroom with few more guys. The rest of our group Pink said they were going to wait for us somewhere in the line. My friend and I had to return to the nearest restroom near the entrance of the park and within 5 minutes were already back.

Now, before going to any of the park’s attractions you can or have to leave your backpack and similar properties into a cupboard. You take there a key that was bound to an armband and once around your hand you are pretty sure you are not going to lose it. Practical. Since I was worried my glasses would possibly fall down (actually, I’m pretty sure something like this would have happened to me) I left them along with my backpack and the camera inside. I was sad for the camera in general as it was forbidden to record the rides and I heard a story they caught one guy on the camera recently, stopped the ride immediately and forbade him to enter the park. So I was thinking it would not be nice if it happens to me. I just wanted to record the rides to share it with you all but … someone already did it on YouTube. Anyway, being half blind there I was just bothered that I will not see some important details and get into a trouble. I asked my friends to help me and warn me if something important is to be noticed.

The waiting line was pretty long with hundreds of rows going left and right. Then we saw our friends being somewhere in the middle but relatively at the end of the line behind 100-150 people at least. Our group was pretty much far away from the rest of the campers … and then the others, who were 50 people ahead, invited us to go over the fence. After thinking for a second whether to do it or not we jumped over the fence and joined the others. At least we were all wearing white polo shirts so it looked like our place was being reserved.

The worst part here is that when you think the waiting line will now start climbing up the stairs till the train … you find out that behind the corner there is still a long line of people. But fine. We had enough time... I had enough time (and Lukas) to prepare for this. I stopped caring though pretty much soon until the moment we reached the stairs and then when we were waiting for the next train – ours – to get in.

Once the new train came we first had to cross the other side of the platform if we wanted to handle anything. I left there actually my bag, just remembered, and put my glasses in the case. I was yeah a bit nervous but tried not to think about anything except for ice-cream. And then we had to seat in. Each row had 4 seats and the special thing about this ride was that you were able to choose what kind of music you do want to listen for the next 2 and a half minutes. There were rock, pop, rap maybe and one more to choose.

I do not remember whether there were 3 or 4 persons in my row but Chiho and Aoi, both camp leader, sat to left and ride of me so I was in the middle, haha. As soon as we went there they park staff came to check if everything was fine and made sure the seats and belts were fastened and stable. They tried to explain me I could choose my own music but my brain was at the moment only calculating my chances to survive so I did not register what precisely I have to do and then chose something totally random.

There are two things that make have a fear of these rides. The first one is not being completely safe with the belts and seat and that I am going to fall down or drop from the seat and die. The second one is if I am too tall for some parts and going to get cut into pieces. Luckily, none of that happened as you can see.

And once the train started going (btw, we were in the middle of the train) I just had Theoden in front of my eyes with “And so it begins…” and started crossing myself for fun but my Japanese friends thought I was doing it for real and quickly started yelling and laughing “No, no no! There is no need for that! ”. How do I know? Haha

Screenshot from the video.

Source

The railway makes a half circle right after the start and starts ascending the 43 meters high peak through a tunnel. You just see the blue sky at the end of the tunnel and have no idea what is awaiting you. I was pretty sure nothing good and was thinking “Oh my, I just do not see myself alive after 10 seconds…and 2 more minutes when the ride is over seems like one astronomical year. ”. Luckily, I did not have my whole life in front of my eyes here but rather accepted to survive the fall now. Few more seconds and we started hearing the first part of the train screaming like crazy. I was just like “Oh sh*t.. ” haha. And then we came to the top and I could somehow see the area around us for 2 seconds before going down. It seemed like an eternity. I just remember seeing some skyscrapers outside the park (remember, I have no glasses) and the railway track far down behind. And then we rushed down.

I remember I felt a huge pressure in the stomach and felt pressed against my chair. I think that all of us with our heads were almost 90 degrees against the floor, my eyes were just looking straight.. I do not remember much of the first two seconds of going down though. Everyone was screaming and I kept silent. I felt like my soul was getting out of my stomach … wondered how long is this strange feeling going to last … and then the train stopped going almost vertical down and started climbing up.

I survived the worst part! And it is one of the best feelings! I started screaming because of happiness and was laughing all the way till the end of the ride. No more fear! It was all about breaking the ice.

Source

For the last 2 minutes there were no more scary parts like this one. The track goes around the area, above the shops near the “main road and square”, then above the lake in the middle close to the Jaws and Jurassic Park sections. There are 2-3 pretty strong curves where you feel like you could jump out. And I did not dare to put my hands in the air and wave as I was scared of having them cut in half by the tubes around, haha.

After we slowed down and the ride was over I was full of impressions and wanted to do it again. I had a little bit a headache of everything but all in all the feeling was fantastic. And Lukas agreed too. We went to pick up our stuff and make a deal where to go next.

I highly recommend going to Hollywood Dream, it is the second most popular attraction of the USJ and is totally worth waiting in the line. Especially the possibility that each passenger can choose to have a song in the background makes it perfect. The music plays right behind your head but when the first time there I just did not hear anything.

I would add that half a day later in the evening we had time only for one more attraction and we choose to go again for the ride here. We were the last to board the train that day and this time it was perfect. I was even the one next to the edge but did not bother me much. And enjoyed listening to some rock song.

Making a tour around the park before going to the next destination

Since Chiho was our “boss” of the group we followed her and the idea was to check Hogwarts and the wizarding world of Harry Potter. We all got again hyped and waited for the next challenge. We were now walking through another big street leading to the lake in the middle of the USJ and the place here was full of restaurants. If I am not mistaken right here is one huge restaurant at the corner that looked like some retro car shop from the past decades and had a few old-timers in front if it. We were going to eat lunch here 2 hours later.

We passed by the Ticketing Machine for the Wizarding world of HP and Chiho told us we probably cannot enter Hogwarts without getting the ticket due to the large number of guests and in order to avoid overcrowding. We continued right and found a cross road with children’s world in front of us. That was of no interest to us of course. And behind it was Hogwarts hidden behind the tall trees densely planted. If you paid attention here you could hear the music, especially the main theme and the one of Dolores Umbridge. I am never going to forget the scene and the music.

We decided to see how much is allowed to without the ticket. Chiho was still behind I believe and was going to catch up with us soon. Kengo stayed with us though so we had no worries. We passed by the entrance to Hogwarts and moved now into the area dedicated to the Jaws.

As expected there was a huge doll of the great white hanging from its tail down on a few meters high wooden construction and the visitors were taking photographs next to the open jaws. And really, if that was the size of the shark from the movie I would totally p*op into pants. Marvelous. All of them fake but still fun. There were also many vending machines to buy the drink around and some souvenir shops with the shirts and caps and the Jaws brand over it. I resisted.

We were going to visit the Jaws later. You could see the rebuilt fishermen town like from the movie and behind the lake where the tour on the boat was the main thing. According to the map and to what my eyes had noticed from far away we had been approaching something I had the wish to see the first! I saw the giant walls with bushes around and the gates which had the name of another park with much larger animals. I told my friend that we have to go there immediately and…

The Jurassic Park was closed

I was close to the entrance and one could hear the main theme song by John Williams. I was so excited like the kids from the movie when they saw the dinosaurs for the first time. But then I got the cold welcome as the gates were closed and there was a table saying that the Jurassic Park is currently closed and under construction. I believe that was due to the new Jurassic Park film so they might have adopted some features of this attraction to the film. It was said to be reopened in 2016. There was also a restaurant that looked like the houses from the first film with the palms on the roof…and the music again. Meh, next time. But I did not want to think about this as there were many more awesome stuff and … Yolo!

Through the center of the USJ to the other side

After sad faces with the Jurassic Park we headed back from the same direction we came. On the map of the USJ there was apparently a passage that goes next to the Jurassic Park attraction and makes a circle around the northern point of the artifical lakes in the center of the park.

We found there several restaurants and fast food houses but decided to wait for lunch a bit more. Many of these restaurants and stores were again redecorated too look like the houses from the Wild West or from the Jaws (and the Jaws was there so... ). At one point I found a wooden dock and used the chance to quickly make a few photographs. Standing there one has a nice view over the other side.

I saw our next destination - the reconstructed streets of New York and the home of Spiderman. On the other side one could also seat right next to the water (there was a fence of course) under the sun umbrellas and drink a cofee or have a snack.

If you turned to the left you could notice the part of the railway of the Hollywood Dream ride. While passing by there later we also saw the other guys having fun on it. I really do not remember seeing anything of the and buildings around when on it... I know there was something blue but pretty foggy... but hey, I had no glasses so do not get me wrong. Close to the lake was also our resturant for the lunch. But more about it later.

Once you turn to your right you see two more bigger platforms (at least looked so) or houses built on the shore of the lake. And the area behind was rebuilt after the movie "Back to the future". Unfortunately, we had no time to go there so I cannot tell you more. One more thing that one could not avoid was the highway bridge behind the park (and outside the park).

While returning to the place where the ticketing office for Harry Potter's Wizarding world was situated I noticed there was an info display and table showing you the number of visitors waiting for each attraction on the list... or was it the number of the minutes you would have to wait as the last person waiting in the line.

We passed now for the first time to the other side of the big street and next to one of the restaurants we visited. This one here, though I am not sure anymore was it ours or some else (they all look the same and have many rooms that you do not know whether it is a part of the same restaurant or some other) had a few old-timers outside. We came to take pictures here later. Chiho was still not with us but Kengo told us we have nothing to worry about.

Now, approaching the New York neighbourhood. And our restaurant, yes, to the left.

I stopped again to take a few photos as I had now a nice view over the other side of the lake where we stood some 7-10 minutes ago. One could see from here perfectly the Jurassic park houses with the roofs made from straw and other material. Ah, we meet some other time. Also, more to the right now was much better view of the Hollywood Dream, still the lowest part of the ride and nothing scary at all.

Through the rebuilt American West and East

We took a walk now through the streets of the American neighbourhood obviously simulating the architecture from the Wild West or the Western coast and then the buildings from the early 20th century of the big cities from the Eastern coast.

This all looked pretty cool and attractive. I especially adore the usage of the bricks which gives it this pre-Second World War look.... something fromt he old movies. I enjoyed observing how they paid attention to the details on the facade and made the balconies that alltogether just seemed like they had jumped from one of the Marvel's movies.

Another thing you are going to like here are the shops on the ground level or the first floor that also use the retro decoration and make you feel like you are on some set. Yes, that is one of the feelings and impressions you get while walking here, especially through between the streets that hide the view towards the other parts of the USJ. You then feel like you are walking through some movie set.

We entered one bigger and much more open street which started with a monument or rather a huge sculpture of some guy all in silver and then far behind it at the end of the street there was a modern looking building and the facade. And that is where we had to go in order to reach Spiderman 4D Ride. I have to add one more thing that catches the eye and is impossible to avoid. There are American flags everywhere and almost on every building they made.

I might have already commented somewhere else that many Japanese seem to adore the US and wear t-shirts with the flags. I just felt the USJ was kind of a big propaganda of the Americans trying to get into your brain with the flags on every corner. Anyway, we approached the building and...

And please check the part 2!

Thanks for reading!

[Part 2]

Here comes the next part of the long and exciting day at the Universal Studios Japan in Osaka! If you missed the first part of the adventures please click here. Now, I do not wish to make long boring introductions anymore but rather to continue with the last sentence.

We walked through the streets that resembled the American architecture of the West and the East... and approached the building and...

The Amazing Spiderman: The Ride in 4D

Once we came to the end of the big street we had to turn right as the entrance for the the next attraction was hidden there.

Imagine you are now standing in front of the large white building of the "Daily Bugle". If you are a fan of the Spiderman cartoon series or movies I guess you now what this is all about. But more importantly, you will notice the giant Spiderman jumping in the air with his web and the title of the ride below. The whole scenery has been put over the columns of the entrance to Daily Bugle and below the clock on the facade.

After first impression the second thing you might notice is the Amazing Hot Dog and Coke standing in front of the building. Lastly, the third thing we noticed was Chiho being back here with us. She got the tickets for the Harry Potter's Wizarding World but was not going to give us the tickets until we got there.

We stood in the waiting line which was luckily already somewhere inside. While waiting to reach the train for the 4D ride we saw some interesting things, such as the office of the Daily Bugle workers, Peter Parker's desk and so on. At first we went through the blue hallway in zig-zag lines and here it seemed like we had to wait an eternity to move forward.

Going through the blue hallways (or maybe it was blue because of the light) the first thing you will notice are the newspapers of the Daily Bugle being thrown around the area. Then comes the next room with the portraits of Spiderman and more Daily Bugle newspapers now together with the delivery boxes and wooden pallets.

The next two bigger rooms represent the office of the Daily Bugle journalist and there was a desk of the main guy everyone hates with the photographs of Spiderman in action printed and glued to his PC and on a small wall.

I have to add that all of the things you could have found there were dating back to 90s. The computers still looked like the big box-looking TVs, the phones were those where you had to turn on one number and wait for it to return to its place and then repeat for the next one... The office of Peter Parker and his table in the corner had the photographs of Mary Jane and some bad guys such as Doc Oc.

After leaving this room we were pretty much next to the real fun. We entered the dark hall with the upcoming vehicles and wait for our turn.

Then the time finally came. The staff working there gave us the 3D glasses and helped to seat inside. There was space for up to 12 people, 4 seats in 3 rows. I sat as the last one in the central row and was told by the staff to put my backpack down between my feet. Luckily I did not have to leave it somewhere else.

And then the ride started! I have had only one experience of 4D cinema earlier and that was in Gardaland back in 2008 with the elementary school and my sister and grandpa. Actually, another sort of 4D experience (where not much was moving crazily but rather there were 4D effects of feeling the water or wind under your seat) was in 2010. Since then I had no opportunity to visit it and I was really looking forward to this ride.

The ride was indeed totally awesome and not without a reason! It was just a mixture of reality and illusion and what is the best - it is like you were there! You should not be surprised that this attraction had earned world prizes for being the best of its kind for several years. The experience here is just amazing and you can see and feel a real immersion into the show. Another thing I was pretty satisifed with were the effects and the vehicles: we really felt like we were travling through the streets... and not probably around in a smaller circle, as it was in the reality.

The ride lasted for about 4-5 minutes and we can all be thankful for that. We were going around the streets of Manhattan, through them, up and down, entering the residental blocks and halls... and meeting tons of evils who tried to scare us away in the beginning by using their super powers they were mastering. Thus we had the current in front of our eyes when Doc Oc was talking to us (in Japanese), the fire and flame we could feel when The Green Goblin was surfing around our vehicle on his floating board. Or we felt water once the water-antagonist tried to punch us with his watery fist.

It happened a few times times that Spiderman "saved" us in the last moment by dragging us to the side. In such a moment our vehicle and the screen would quickly turn to one side making us feel we were actually doing it.

The best part (and unfortunately the sign that this was going to end pretty soon) was when, while escaping the bad guys, we were flying a bit above Manhattan and we jumped from one skyscraper to another, following Spiderman. I remember I was just waiting nervously for the vehicle to start moving crazily while we were having a high jump on the other skyscraper, but at the end we survived. At one moment some of the bad guys got us and we started falling from the very tall skyscaper towards the ground. Here I had the perception of what it would have been like to fall from a 20-40 floors tall skyscapper. And of course - just seconds before hitting the ground and exploding into thousands of pieces - we were saved by the web of Spiderman.

After having saved the day and after the big ending, the ride was over and we left it thrilled and with a little headache. I put the 3D glasses back into the box and was lucky enough not to forget my backpack inside the vehicle. The 4D ride is one of the best and unique experiences you can have in this amusement park and we can thank the modern technology for the opportunities it gives to us and for always pushing the limits forward.

Taking a photo of the ride (and the only thing I bought there)

During the ride Chiho warned us of the moment when there was going to be a camera shot of us and that we could later go to buy it. And you know when did they take a photo of us? While going through the streets of Manhattan we heard Spiderman saying something (but the rest of us could not understand his Japanese) but he was still nowhere to be seen... then suddenly he popped up in front of on his web, said something and took out his camera and we heard the sound and had the flashlight in our eyes. Chicho screamed "Get ready now! " and we prepared ourselves. And I think this was a brilliant idea. I mean, after all Peter Parker was working as a photographer for the Daily Bugle! Haha

After the ride was over we hurried first to the room where there were the photographs on display. Chicho said it might be a bit expensive but I was thinking "yes, If I came here relatively often I would not buy it... but hey, when am I going to visit the USJ in Osaka once again in my life and who guarantees that I would do it? Yolo! Let's go for it. ". We found the photograph we liked and Chiho then talked to the staff behind the cashier to help me with the order. I promised them I was going to scan the photograph (oops, I forgot about it haha). We had to wait then about 10 minutes and went outside the office for taking it. The price of it might have been around 10 Euros but I really did not want to miss the opportunity to have one piece of material memory from the USJ. I got the photograph on the cover as a headline of Daily Bugle in a nice Spiderman USJ plastic folder. And wrapped into USJ gift paper. That is the only thing I had bought there as a souvenir.... and regret a bit not having bought anything else in Hogwarts and Hogsmeade.... but I was thinking I could always ask my friends there to send me something and I'll pay them. :-)

Lunch break at Mel's Drive In

(Photo credit)

We were then considering going somewhere for lunch and maybe joining some other groups on the same "quest". We called the other groups and wanted to meet at one bigger restaurant with a circular inside. We headed back to the 'Hollywood' neighbourhood and passed by one building that had "Terminator 2" written on it. It was some large hall I guess. I was also curious about this place and wanted to visit it but we had no time later and I totally forgot about it.

As we entered this place almost all the seats were taken. We were also not sure if the meals here were the best. Chiho suggested us several places so we just gave it a try and headed first to this one. Except for being very small, this restaurant stayed in my mind mostly because of one long painting on the walls with numerous characters from the Universal Studios production. I saw Clint Eastwood from the Dollars Trilogy and had to go there quickly and take a photo since my grandparents are fans of his films. After taking photographs we had to leave the place as they would probably have made us go away, as we were just (barely) sitting there and not ordering anything.

Then the decision was made! We moved to the resturant close to the lake.. There was a couple of restaurants but the first two seemed to be already overcrowded with people. We checked inside and through the glass but had to leave it without succeess. The last one here to check was the Mel's Drive in which looked like the American Streamlining car stores. It is pretty oval on the outside (thus maybe streamlined too), the facade was lime blue and white with the retro typography used in the titles. In front of the place there were 2-3 old-timers. Since we were now really hungry and we were tired after walking around (it was a pretty hot day) and wanted to finally seat, we agreed to wait for the free seats.

I liked this restaurant and what they offered. After the entry door we still had to pass one more glass door and then I entered first into the room to take some orders. The menus were more or less in Japanese so we needed the help of our friends. This was the part that bothered me a bit as I am totally lost if I do not read and understand with my own eyes what is there on the menu... There were actually a lot of cashiers open but with not a long waiting lines. But we had to find first our table. And it took us about 5 minutes.

There are two huge rooms with the tables and another one is in another enclosed area on a heightened ground you can reach using the stairs. We spent our time in this bigger room. The first thing you are going to notice here are the black and white and black and yellow tiles on the floor. On one side you can find the white and red walls with some paintings in square and circle frames. Above it there were many displays showing the menus and some promotions of the attractions of the park. There were three rows between the tables and seats whereas those in the middle were pretty comfortable. As if we were sitting on the sofas.

We had been circling around and looking for the free table. And we were not the only ones so this was going to be a game where the faster group would have won the table. While Chiho was in the other room (which has only a hallway and the tables are on both sides of the long hallway) some guys told us they were about to leave and we waited next to their table. It was a bit strange and funny but we had no other option. After finally sitting there we left our stuff on the chairs and went in groups to take the orders.

At the end I took the big menu with the huge hamburger, something like McNuggets and the Cola. We had to wait no more than 3-4 minutes in the waiting line and got our orders pretty fast. I think the menu costed between 6-8 Euros. We spent there about 25 minutes before going to the main attraction of the Universal Studios Japan... and that is...

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - The #1 attraction

Oh yes. Time for the real excitement! The dream of every Harry Potter fan was slowly coming true! It took us less than 5 minutes to reach the entrance to the Wizarding World. We passed again by the Hollywood Avenue, the Hollywood Dream Ride and the kids area that did not attract us.

And there it began. We came to the little circular square surrounded by hundreds of densely planted pine trees that we saw in the movies. They were also used as a natural wall to hide the area of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade from the others. As you are approaching the site you can hear the music, the popular soundtracks such as Hedwig's or the Main theme, Harry Wondrous World and the unforgettable Dolores Umbridge's Theme that was playing quiet often there and got stuck in my ears (I think if you play this theme to anyone from the camp it will instantly bring them there! ). In the center of the circular little square you could see 4-5 huge obelisks made of stone and a huge one lying on the ground. At first it reminds me of the Stonehenge site from the UK. This place was both the entrance and the exit from the enchanted area in this park. Chiho gave us our tickets here and it was time to get in!

But not so fast! Once you use the tickets and go to the pathway surrounded with the trees on each side you are not going to pop up immediately in Hogsmeade! You have to walk for several minutes around (like a maze of the tall trees). It goes in a zig-zag path and you don't see anything (just the top of the trees and the sky) but you here the music getting louder and louder. Our excitement was growing stronger and stronger.

At one part, maybe 100 meters from the entrance, we came across Ron Weasley's flying car on the ground among the trees. Here comes "Omg, omg! " part where we had to take some photographs and selfies. After this part you will come to a much broader pathway there one path leads to Hogsmeade and the other one to the exit of the park (after we are done with Hogwarts). You could also see here the towers of the castle behind the trees. Oh man!

Welcome to the village of Hogsmeade!

(I suggest you to listen to the music here as it makes the whole experience of reading the text and looking at the photographs much better! )

The music is now very loud and our minds had just been completely blown away! We were about to literally enter into the film and the book. There were the high walls with the huge passage and an arch above it. There was hunging a metal plate with the "Hogsmeade" sing, the hog and the note below stating "Please respect the spell limits. " Sure! This could be translated better as "please, be respectful of the limits of your wallet" as there were so many things to buy that my soul and eyes were going to explode while trying to pretend not seeing anything. I have to say I regret not having bought some more things, fearing I would not have enough money for the rest of the park and that some things would melt (such as chocolates) on my way bakc home... which in the end was a mistake of mine and felt guilty of not having brouhgt anything home from Hogwarts.

Alas we went inside.

I made another stupid mistake here. I had been walking with my camera around taking a video for about 45 seconds.. and once we reached the hotel and I checked all the photographs I actually recorded a few seconds of my shoes and accidently stopped recording...grr...

The village of Hogsmeade looked totally like the one from the movie and all those fantasy British houses from the movie with the long chimneys and irregular shapes and angles were amazing. If you are a fan of course! You are going to notice lots of these long chimneys and towers on the roofs. Another thing that catches the eyes is the snow, , the artifical plastic one but still suggesting as we were visiting the place in winter. I do not remember actually any scene from the movie when they were in Hogsmeade other than the winter period.

Hogwarts Express

After the entrance we were totally on the 7th heaven and we came across the locomotion of Hogwarts Express coming out from the tunnel in the wall. There were also suitcases and baggages on the stairs next to it. Time for selfies!

And then came one of the most difficult parts for every person, for every visitor.. for me. We were about to enter the shops from the movie and enter the magical world of all the things we had seen on the screen as kids and wished we could buy or hold it in our own hands... and that was about to happen here.

Zonko’s Joke Shop and the Honeydukes

These two were the first stores right on the opposite side of the Hogwarts Express. Once we saw them everyone just started jumping out of joy and holding ourselves for the head not believing our own eyes. In Harry Potter World Zonko was the shop of the twin brothers Weasly with funny items and jokes. But much more important shop next to it that was impossible to resist to get in was the Honeydukes with "homemade sweets".

Oh my, there were several shop windows that kept tons of packagings of some of the msot famous sweets from the novels and the movie. These include Bertie Botts's Every-flavour Beans and the Chocolate frog. And what is best - you can buy them inside! I went inside it and honestly cannot remember all the stuff I had seen there. It was all so colorful and my brain was not able to function normally.

What I remember though were the large groups of packaging of the mentioned sweets. I was taking the away from the shelves and rotating in my hands observing all the details and trying to persuade myself I was really there and not dreaming, haha. I believe most of you know that in the movies and the novels the chocolate frog actually "comes to life" and at the end of the blue box you can find an apprearing-disappering picture of a famous wizard. Luckily, the chocolate frog here did not decide to jump out of the box and make you catch it around the store. But one would get the famous wizard indeed. Another thing I held in my hand and was equally attractive was the Every-flavour beans of Bertie Bott. The packaging was quiet simple and attractive... but the problem with everything there was that it was more than just a bit expensive. It made me cry as I wanted to bring some home but would gone probably broke. And there were so many things yet to see so I had to be very careful with my money. While reading this and checking my photographs of the trip it makes me create all these packagings and feel them with something. :)) The price for the Every-flavor beans was about 15 Euros per box (and they pretty small... the price was more because of the name and not the quality and quantity) and the price of the Chocolate frog was about 10 Euros per box. Hmm, I could have bought one of these... One of our friends actually bought one Chocolate frog and shared it with us. And guess whom she got! Dumbledore, of course!

I went out along with the majority of my friends with half-tears in my eyes haha and headed forward through the street.

"Have you seen this wizard? " and "The Three Broomsticks"

Another thing you are probably going to like is the interactive all-points bulletin of Sirius Black on one board almost in the middle of the street. It was a video animation on a display simulating the one from the newspapers where the photographs move. Sirius black here was holding his number while being imprisoned in Azkaban. Unfortunately, because of the light it was difficult to see the display clarly without plenty of reflections. The more annoying part was trying to take photo or a video of it yet without much success.

Behind the board with poor Sirius there was the entrance to "The Three Broomsticks" and I was curious to see what it looked like. As expected this was a restaurant. I entered it for a minute or two and the interior looked pretty much like the interriors of the inns from Hogsmeade - darker halls made of wood with the gallery or the second floor and a wooden fence. And when you look up above your head the ceiling or the roof looks like from the old houses or the churches, again almost everything made froom wooden planks with some metal rotating stairs leading somewhere. A woman working there approached me but I just told her I wanted to have a look around the place. I saw the prices ont he menu list (and took it with me as a souvenir haha) and here it was much more expensive than where we had our lunch at.

The Owl Post

Once out again we teamed up together after scattering around the shops and headed now towards the end of the street. On the other side of the Hog's head there was the Owl Post shop where you could buy lots of dolls of Hedwig. I really did not want to get in because the dolls were really huge and I had no idea how I would get them with my on the airplane, I had already feared of having too many things in my baggage.

Ollivanders - Makers of the fine wands since 382 BC

Another part I might regret a bit... but just a little bit. Whereas I had no clear memory of the exterior of the other shops from the Hogsmeade and the wizard's street in London with all the stores (forgot to mention that Hogsmeade was mixture of everything) there was one place I remembered perfectly since watching the first movie long time ago. It was Ollivanders store with the magic wands and I have always wanted to enter one and get my wand there, haha.

And here was one store in front of me! Two notable windows as part of the relief of the facade with lots of wands behind the glass. Unfortunately, there was some waiting time and we could not enter it now. Thus I have to postpone it for some other time...

The quidditch equipment

In the same street one could find the show window of some quidditch store (or it might have been only there as an exhibit) with the three balls from the match that were moving. I cannot find the video but here is a photo instead. :)

The choreographies of Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic

Once we approached the end of the street we found ourselves on some kind of a little square and for the first time the look towards the whole castle. But let us wait a bit with those impressions.

In front of us was now a stage and lots of people around. And on the stage there were several young women and men representing the students of schools of Durmstrang and Beauxbatons. It would not be that strange if they were not looking like the Western guys. It confused for a moment whether I got really blind or what as there were girls with the blonde hair and colored eyes as well as the guys who could be somewhere from the neigbhourhood of Croatia. And there was one girl witht he microphone welcoming guests and telling us about the show all in English! That was really strange as I got used to everything there in Japanese. Behind each group on the stage there were the flags representing the schools of magic and a big stone obelisk in the middle.

They had been exchanging the choreographies every 3-5 minutes and they were followed by the music in the background.

The girls in the blue representing the French school performed some dance with the blue silk rotating on the stick. Much more visually interesting was the performance of the guys in the brown with the wooden sticks or staffs. All of them did more or less the same what we had seen in the movies. There were three guys and four ladies.

Behind the stage there was a wall made from stones and additionally the densely planted trees so you could not see through it. But you could see above it. There was this attraction "The flying Hippogriff" which we were also going to visit in 2-3 hours.

The Butterbeer

Right next to our performers there was a huuge wooden barrel with the red top and the yellow title "Butterbeer". Another popular drink and meal from the novels and the movies. You could get your plastic cup of butterbeer for a few euros (for the affordable price) and also get one more expensive where you will be given one souvenir. Under the barrel is actually the cashier of this stand where you can take your order.

This was on our way to Hogwarts castle behind it and we decided to try it after having a ride there. And 2 hours later we came back here and ordered one cup for everyone.

The taste is... pretty interesting. I cannot say I actually liked it though. I think I had much bigger expectations. The top of the filled cup was full of cream that was so sweet you got instant stomach ache and was very difficult to drink. The rest of the liquid part below the surface was also very sweet and not that easy to drink.

But since you are not going to be every day in the Universal Studios Japan I suggest you taking one cup... at least you can share it with someone if you do not like it (and hope the other person is going to drink it haha).

The Black lake

Before entering the area around the castle (and once you enter it and leave it there might be no return anymore) there was a simulation of the Black lake from the movie uppon which was the castle and the mountains.

It was on the other side of the Hogsmeade houses and had kind of a breakwater made from stone (at least from the outside) that went a bit down in the lake. Behind it were another docks or platforms uppon the lack and directly behind the houses. Unfortunately, I have not gotten there so I cannot tell you more. I do not remember as well seeing anything interesting below the surface of the watter. Speaking of the movies we had whitnessed the sea-people similar to mermaids that appeared in the Goblet of Fire but nothing was to be seen here.

On the other side of the lake was a small sand beach or actually made from plenty of little stones. And behind it the forest of the same trees you could see everywhere regarding Harry Potter World. I believe this small part of the shore on the other side was alluding to the scene with the dementors when Harry called his Patronus at the end of the Prisoner of the Azkaban.

Because so many people were around the lake I assume something must have been happening, maybe going up to the surface of the water, every few minutes...

Finally got to Hogwarts after 11 years

Time to visit the main attraction! We started walkng towards the gates of the yard of around the castle. And I have not commented the view yet.

One can see the castle as soon as you leave the streets of Hogsmeade village and enter the square with the Butterbeer and the stage. There is an waymark pointing out the directions of Hogwarts to the right and Hogsmeade to the left. Your eyes will now look straight in front of you and you will see the scene of your dreams from the childhood.

Uppon the hill of rocks (the fake ones of course haha) there is this amazing castle with plenty of the details visible on the model. The castle might look pretty big from far until you start approaching it and than it is obvious it is much smaller. But the interior (discussing soon) looks pretty impressive. In front of the castle is the entrance witht he fence and two columns uppon two boars or hogs with the wings are sitting.

We went there and once we stepped into the yard we at least a hundred people waiting in the for the entrance to the ride. Unfortunately that was only a small percent of the waiting line that was awaiting us. Speaking of the entrance there is also some replica of the obelisk looking column with engraved "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry" and the relief emblem above it.

Well, we have nothing else to do exept to join the waiting line as soon as possible. There was also a display screen showing us how many minutes are we going to wait until getting to the ride... and it was not that optimistic... but not the worse again too. We went optimistically following the marked pathway for the waiting line and then saw it was going to take a bit longer. While approaching the beginning of the waiting line we were walking below the walls of the Great hall of Hogwarts and it was interesting too look it up. =)

Waiting in the line for almost two hours

but it paid off. Yes, unfortunately the line for this 4D ride was the biggest one we have encountered there that day just showing how popular the recently opened ride in the castle was popular. I think we spent no more than 2 hours in total waiting there and moving slowly. It seemed like eternity.

There were just too many zig-zag lines and going up and down, left and right... all the time. Just as we reached after half an hour one end of the space there was an even longer one waiting for us behind the corner.

The waiting line was on the ground level and then started climbing to something that looked like the botanical part or the classroom from the movie. After a while we had reached the place that really looked l ike some of the classes of Professor Sprout. The top of the space was enclosed with some transparent roof and everything was built from the metal (the metal constructions). You could also notice every few meters some bowl or a bucket with plants hanging from the roof.

It was getting really hot now and it was the middle of the afternoon. You can imagine what it was like to stand there and move forward slower than a snail! The worse thing was we were soon getting out of the drinking water from our bottles and had to borrow it from each other. Luckily for all the visitors dying out there there was a tap of water at one point. After reaching it we felt like we had discouvered an oasis in the desert! I drank water all the time but again got thirsty pretty quick. The problem was once the waiting line was at the fence you were exposed to the sunlight and... we were sitting on our buttocks, hiding behind the columns or Lukas, crouched and waited for this misery to end. There was one fun part where we saw some students from the high school or near high school age that were looking at us from below and we started waving to each other.

One interesting part, if you pay attention to the details, was next to the cupboards nearby... we were quiet close to them and I saw that some plants looked a bit weird.. and indeed they were! Mandragoras! The plants that scream once on the surface. These were all luckily plastic and "dead" without such effect.

The torture continued for half an hour more and then we started getting out of the huge line and into the shadows.

We had been now walking again under the cliffs and the castle and I took the opportuntiy to bring you a few shots. We came across one more waiting line but this was much easier to survive though it still lasted about 20-25 minutes at least before we entered the castle.

Entering Hogwarts!

As we were making slowly the circle beneath the caste and started moving forward to the entrance of Hogwarts we saw many other visitors going with the happy faces towards the end of the waiting line. Poor souls. I was thinking as well about potential vandals who would jump over the fence and skip waiting for an hour or two. We all agreed we would beat the person instantly haha. We now approached the entrance and everything seemed to be moving much faster. We were now really excited and felt relieved as the end of our torture was near. Trust me, after this everything else was going to be much easier there!

I was now right in front of the gates of the castle and while still waiting back I could have noticed the entrance looked pretty much like a cave. I guess they were working on the element of surprise and excitement. The shadows were pretty strong because of the afternoon sun and I could not notice any more details. Above the gates there was the emblem of Hogwarts. And then we moved in. :)

The interior of the School of Withcraft and Wizardry or How you are going to be transfered into the movie

With the light inside the details started being visible. There were many columns on the walls and rock inside like from the movie after approaching the castle by boat. The huge colon of people was now entering a tunnel. We were then redirected to go first ot the garderobe which was huge and leave everything we do not need there. The use of camera within the interior was strictly forbidden and I did not want to risk getting caught (hey, we were in Japan, you know they pay attention to everything and especially respecting the rules) so I left my backpack and the camera inside the. The place with lockers was indeed huge and had about 300 of them at least. It was easy to get los in there. And all of it looked like were were going through the basement. Do not forget the music in the background! Alright, time for a tour around the castle until we get to the ride!

I do not remember how much excited I was anywhere else except for being here in Hogwarts. There were so many amazing details and effects that you trully felt like dreaming and waking up in a book after falling asleep after watching the film or reading the book. What can I say? And guess what - after 11 years of waiting for my letter and invitation to go to Hogwarts I finally did it! Sorry, muggles. :P

We were passing through the hallways of Hogwarts and by the improvised Great hall, the classes, the headmaster's office, climbing up the tower, passing by the portraits that were moving and talking.... there are no words to describe the feeling of being in front of the the screen and watching a movie and then suddenly getting into the screen and standing in front of all these "magical" things.

(Photo credit)

I was so sad not being able to take any photograph (and my mobile phone would surely freeze ten times at least and probably take only dark photo without details) but here are a few impressions.

I remember passing by the gryphon statue that led to Dumbledore's office as we started climbing "up the tower" tot he left of it. Throughout the whole walk towards the ride one can hear the music and the voices. Unfortunately, since they were in Japanese I was not able to understand it and had to watch the videos of the ride in the US to get the idea.

The coolest part of the walk were the moving and talkative portraits of the headmasters and other notable wizards on the walls around us. If you remember the scene from the movie when they go up the stairs that start moving left and right and the whole towers on the inside was filled with portraits of wizards and witches talking to you and moving from one frame to another. It was the same here! Well, except for the movable stairs! I enjoyed this so much. They must have put the thin displays within the frames and it all looked just awesome. And it was all just funnier as they were talking to you in Japanese. I believe this whole experience was 100x much more stronger for the HP Fans and geeks. I was also saw happy to see the portrait of the Fat Lady which was supposed to guard the entrance to the dormitory of Gryffindor. I am not sure wether she also appeaered to be frightened and mentioned Sirius Black or I just wish I had seen it.

(Photo credit)

Coming up next favorite room was the office of the headmasters of Hogwarts. The room was pretty large and there was the famous table of Dumbledore and Dumbledore's portrait hanging above it.

We had been also through the Gryffindor's dormitory or a common room but my memories here are a bit blurry.

The last thing worth memory was the hallway just right before the ride. Before you reach the end I guess there were was the room fileld with potions and books for the class Against the Dark arts and the gallery (balcony) where the professors of this course would stand (remember Lockhart or Lupin when talking for the first time to the students). At its end one could see the Sorting hat moving and talking to us. I was able to understand only "arigatou gozaimasu".

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey 4K3D Ride

(photo credit)

This ride is said to be "the world's best attraction" when talking about the 4D experience where all of your senses are being involved into this fantastic eye-candy spectacle. For the first time we had a chance to enjoy the 4000 px resolution of the screen along with the 3D effect! (the Japanese were the first to implement this technology into the park, as far as I am concerned the Uinversal studios in the US still has no 3D here). The ride is total immersion into the world of Harry Potter and all the bothering with waiting and dying outside in the waiting line totally pay off. You are simply not allowed to leave the Universal Studios Japan if you have not been here!

We were so exciting and went to our seats. There are 4 seats per vehicle and all of them are almost separated while standing next to each other. Thus I could not see the person sitting next to me except for the legs and hands waving in the air. We got the 3D glasses too. After you sat inside this "cacoon" the working staff will come to check if everything was fine and also put down over you the safety equipment. I was thinking then "Wow, this must mean then we are about to have some ups and downs during the ride! ".

The ride lasts for about 5 minutes which was a real pleasure. When ready we heard and soon saw Hermione Granger talking to us from the balcony. I guess she explained what was awaiting us. She then dropped some powder or potions and everything soon turned into a magical green smoke that really was a portal in time and space! I first thought of the technique called apparation which was used in the HP world where one teleports to another place phsyically. After few seconds we go out of the building with lots of metal constructions and pop up above Hogwarts, from some tower maybe! Oh my, the feeling that all this is really just started. I totally got lost in time and space here and still do not know how bit was the room or the track we were rotating as the screen was all the time in front of us (and all the props though). When we were moving fast through the ride I got a feeling we were probably going up and down all the time with the seats and also felt the speed (our legs were flying in the air).

I do not wish to tell much of this ride as the best would be for you to experience it yourself. If you want to see what it really looked like (the screen) you can watch the video record of some other visitor here.

You are about to fly behind Harry who is guiding you around the castle, through the castle, escaping from the dragon, go around the towers, being haunted by the dementors, trying to catch the golden snitch while playing quidditch, going to the forest and meet the spiders, fly above the Black lake, through the caves, over Hagrid's cottage, go by the Great hall and meet all the professors... and with the effects of feeling the heat (the dragon's breath) and water... brilliant!

I wish they made the length of the scenes of flying around Hogwarts and the area plus the Quidditch match much longer and give less time and space to being inside the caves and houses with the spiders and dementors as it was pretty dark. Personally I have enjoyed the ride "on the broom" around the stadium and the castle most and my favourit parts as well.

I think this part of the ride was also interesting because it enables us what we actually want - to fly and to feel what it is like to fly and experience the scences from the film. The dragon, the spiders and the dementors were also cool but they were not something cool. The same goes for the 4D ride of Amazing Spiderman where the best parts were jumping on the skyscrapers of Manhattan (okay, and the bad guys :D).

And I got this anxious feel in my stomach that we were going to hit the wooden planks when trying to catch the golden snitch (which was right in front of us and we had to try to catch it with our hands haha) at the huge speed. Actually, moments before the dementors arrived from some kind of "a dark tornado" that popped up from the sky and started chasing Harry.. who was chasing the golden snitch at the same time. And we were following all of them, haha. Harry led us all to some cave with waterfall (now the water was affusing us into the face) where the rocks were falling. He then took all the dementors with Expecto Patronum and you could see the blue light coming right to us but then hitting and disfunctioning the dementor who popped up in front of us from nowhere.

I was just thinking "well, Harry... where the h*ll are you leading us? Could not we just stay there and follow the quidditch? You are not the best guide. " haha.

After escaping the collapsing cave and cliffs we were flying back to Hogwarts and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the forest and the Black lake. The ride here is about to finish (:crying:) and we entered the castle from the main entrance and passed by the Great hall where everyone gathered and waved to us. Then you hear Dumbledore surrounded with the other professors congratulating you (on what? ) and then going back through the greeny portal in time back to Universal Studios Japan, haha. Before leaving the seats one could hear Hagrid reminding you of your stuff in the locker. Thanks Hagrid!

Everyone felt a bit dizzy and my eyes were still rotating because of the effects.

The souvenir shop and the biggest temptation

Of course, after heading for the exit you have to go through the souvenir shop. The name of it is Filch's Emporium of Confiscated Goods. And the last place with all the awesome looking stuff. I even had no clue what everything they were selling here as I tried not to stay there quickly in order to be far away fromt he stuff that would make me go bankrupt haha. And indeed at one part of the room I just had to close my eyes literally with the hand as I wanted to buy everything I had seen.

The whole places was filled with the items and artefacts from the movie and the book that could have been categorized as "everything you were able to find in Hogwarts" (and that apparently Mr Filch would find or was supposed to... ). The room was relatively big and looked like a basement. A very nice basement.

First thing I noticed were numerous dresses and uniforms of the Hogwarts's Quidditch teams, the most popular being the red-yellow one of Gryffindor. I went to one pile of the shirts and univorms (and the sports vest) and tried to wear the small number. I was also eager to buy one... but once I checked the price it was just too much. Except for the uniforms you could also buy the banners. Of course, what is a quidditch match and a fan without a Golden Snitch in a motion? A fan that kept 12-13 Euros in his or her pocket. I even did not notice this at first... Lastly, you can find the scarves too!

One could buy again here some of the magic wands though you have Ollivanders for it. The prices here were about 25 Euros (for the replicas). There were lots of dolls of Buckbeak, Croockshanks, Phoenyx and the rest of the squad.... with an average price fo about 18 Euros. If you are a fan of badges, pins or patches there were those of the four houses of Hogwarts for about 6 Euros. There were caps and ordinary t-shirts with some jokes and slogans about 18-20 euros each. I regret not buying a few postcards for half a euro only... Of you are really into the clothes there is a pack of four pairs of socks for home in all colours of the houses... for about 22 Euros. I guess I will have to visit it again or hope my sister goes there too and write her a list of all the things I missed, haha.

A friend of mine told me he bought the Time Turner Hermione Granger used in the Prisoner of Azkaban for about 9-10 Euros. I saw it later in the bus, it is used as a keychain.

The black school pelerines or mantles were also everywhere and many visitors had been wearing it on numerous rides around the Universal Studios Japan. I remember waiting in the line for some other attraction non related to HP and the Japanese in front of me looked like they came from Hogwarts.

And the last thing that kept me so tempted was actually the famous Maraduers' Map. I kept it in my hands for a minute and thinking whether I should buy it or now. I did not buy it as it was again too expensive, much more than I thought... I really liked the illustrations and this map has been one of my favorite magical artefacts since reading the book... so it was a bit disappointing there.

Flight of the Hippogriff

Alright, I lef the shop without buying anything. A huge succeess for self-control. we were now in front of the castle, it was now maybe around 4pm at least and were discussing what to do next.

We went first to try and drink the Butterbeer and as I described it it was not as good as expected for my taste. Too much cream and sweet which makes it difficult to drink. We sat next to it on the wall and watched the stage with the performers. The audience was now way bigger than 2 hours ago when we left for the waiting line of the main attraction. There was a discussion whether we should go to see the other attraction here or explore more of Hogsmeade and the rest of the USJ (and save about half an hour more). We decided to check it because Yolo.

This time we were waiting on the open area and walked around the garden of Hagrid's cottage. We had to wait about 20 minutes and it was fun to be next to Hagrid's blue motorcycle, the large pumpkins and of course his home! One would expect to see Buckbeak hiding somewhere behind. :-)

This ride was about 2 minutes long (or rather short) and was meant more for the families and children. But it was still fun though. There were no scary parts or something to pump up your adrenaline. Each row of the train had two seats and we put the bags again into a locker on the other side (where is exit after the ride is over).

The most exciting moment? I do not even remember much of this haha just that we were going in many circles a bit up and down through the forest and had once or twice a view above Hogsmeade once and towards Hogwarts. I only missed her not having my camera with me... as it was forbidden.

Leaving The Wizardry World of Harry Potter

Fine. We soon met with the others near the stage but decided to keep forward alone. We were hanging a little bit around the area and were walking towards the exit. Chiho said once we left the Harry Potter area there is no more coming back. That always sounds so harsh!

I was watching again all the shops I had no money for and when finally reached the end where one can see Zonko, Honedukes and the Hogwarts express we took the last photographs and left the gates with 'Dolores Umbridge' music theme in our ears. Time to go to the next attraction.

In conclusion, Harry Potter's World is really an amazing place and worth visiting while there. The only minus here are the prices but you do not need to buy anything to enjoy the magical atmosphere recreated there.

Our next stop is the Space Fantasy Ride. More about it in the part 3.

Thanks for reading!