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Wizarding World of Harry Potter- Osaka

By Chelsea
When we were in Osaka, we went to Universal Studios Japan.  We had been excited about this day because we had never been to a theme park before.  It surpassed our expectations!!

We were all affected by the time change so when we woke up very early, we decided to head out.  We took 2 trains and a subway to get to USJ.  Even at 7 in the morning, we weren't the first people in line!  We waited for ~1 hour and the park opened at 8am (even though the website said 8:30am and this was what we were originally planning around).  On that particular day, we didn't need a timed entry pass so we went freely all around the park. We went on a Thursday and it was pouring rain in the afternoon, so there were less crowds.

Entrance to Universal


We went to Harry Potter world first.
Hogwarts Castle


We ran straight to the Forbidden Journey ride. There's usually a ~3-5 hour wait... We walked straight in without an express pass! The Forbidden Journey ride is in the top 5 rated rides in the world! We went through Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry to reach the entrance for the Forbidden Journey ride. The ride was in a room surrounded by screens that made everything 3D.  Dementors swarmed around us for some of the ride, spiders spat water on us and dragons breathed hot steam. We were also playing Quidditch with Harry and Ron. When we dove with Harry on his Firebolt, it was awesome! We flew back into Hogwarts and the whole Gryffindor house was on a screen applauding us.

After this ride, we got a hot butterbeer that was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  good.


Butterbeer

Most of the little shops in Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley were open and it was fun going in all of them. Parker's favourite shops were Honeyduke's and Ollivander's. Nathan's were Honeyduke's and Dervish and Bange's.  Chelsea's favourite shop was Ollivander's.  In this shop, Chelsea got chosen for the wand selection presentation.  She got to use a wand and cast spells in front of a group of 20 people.  It was fun to watch.

Honeyduke's

Ollivander's shop

Wands for purchase

House points

Chocolate frogs

We went on some other rides before heading to Minion World!!! There were minions EVERYWHERE! On Buildings, in the streets, everywhere. We went on 2 rides in Minion World. One was in a car-  kinda like bumper cars, but without the bumping. It was for young kids! The other one, the boys liked better than The Forbidden Journey! It was called Minion Mayhem. The wait was super long, but there were different things to keep us entertained along the way! The ride was fairly long (for a ride) so it was worth it! The ride was just like The Forbidden Journey, as there were 3D screens all around us. We were seated in a car, with about 7- 8 people. We pretty much banged into stuff the whole time! We went down a black hole. HEHEHE...



Parker and Mike went on the Spider man ride as well.  They loved it!

There was a SING ON TOUR show inside, so we watched it. It was decent!!!

Overall, Universal Studios Japan was a hit! (Even though it was raining!)


This was written by mostly Chelsea, Nathan and a bit Parker.....









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