Well it's taken two trips to Japan to do it, but I finally made it to Universal Studios Japan!
All to go on the Back to the Future ride. Which turned out to be one of the most underwhelming rides I went on. Ahem.
When I was looking at the park guide I was thinking there wasn't actually all that much to see. And actually it probably would have been pretty easy to see everything in a day. I went on all the rides (I think!) and saw most of the shows except for the Shrek 3D and Animation show. I'd seen a few of the other shows and they were all in Japanese, so still good and all but you don't get the full experience out of them.
I got there at 8:45 for a 9:00 opening. At least that's what the website said but it didn't actually open til 9:30 :(
Hard Rock Café
Entrance to Universal Studios Japan
Universal Studios globe
First up I hit the "Hollywood Dream" roller coaster because it looked like the ride that would be the most popular later in the day (I was right!). Went on that three times in a row (as a "single rider"). (There's lockers right by the ride for this one).
Universal Studios Store
View along Brighton Way
Then had a wander round, doing Jaws (in Japanese, but I'd seen a video of it in America so knew about what was going on), Jurassic Park (the front left seat will get you very wet), Backdraft (first bit all in Japanese but fire show at the end was pretty spectacular), Back to the Future (meh..! long wait, no singles line, and not helped by having a really tall guy right in front of me obscuring most of my view), Spiderman (this was fun, went back on this later in the day), Space Fantasy (this was a great little roller coaster - in the dark with fairy lights so very pretty; I ended up going on it four times - twice early on and twice later in the day - and had a different experience each time because the carts spin around. Too much fluff at the beginning too), Terminator 2 show (bit of a lame intro with this woman being funny in Japanese, then into a theatre which had a reasonable 3D show with some live actors interacting with it), Waterworld show (at 14:30, and I'm sure a good chunk of the park was there - it was very crowded! But a pretty decent show), into the "Wonderland" to look around and went on the water slide.
Bette Midler star
Jaws shark
Entrance gates to Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park 4WD
Lake
View towards Hollywood Dream and Universal City
Happiness Café
Hollywood Dream roller coaster
Delorean from Back to the Future
Space Fantasy The Ride
Universal Studios Store aka The Beverly Wilshire Hotel
Hello Kitty bus
Crowds at the Water World show
Hello Kitty, Elmo and Snoopy
Hello Kitty flowers
Wonderland
So now I'm mostly done but it's still pretty early. So decided to do the Hollywood Dream roller coaster a few more times. Another four times in fact ;) The singles line meant no queueing which was totally awesome.
Hollywood Dream roller coaster entrance
Guy planking next to a no parking sign
Had some dinner (very expensive beer and pizza, but it was nice), went back and repeated a few things (see above), then went back to Hollywood Dream, doing it another seven times.
So I went on the same roller coaster fourteen times in one day! Win!! Best experience was definitely in the middle of the train. Front was ok, and back has the good dip at the beginning, but the middle gave you the best feelings of weightlessness as you went over bumps.
At 19:30 I got off and wandered around taking photos of the buildings with their pretty lights on.
Brighton Way of Universal Studios by night
Hollywood Dream by night
Brighton Way of Universal Studios by night
Schwab's Pharmacy by night
Ron Howard star
Montmartre by night
Mel's Drive-in by night
Studio Stars by night
And at 20:00 watched the Magical Starlight parade. I'd seen Nat's photos of this but wasn't prepared for how huge the floats were. For someone who likes bright shiny coloured things I was in heaven heh (although it was a little loud).
Magical Starlight Parade
Magical Starlight Parade
Magical Starlight Parade
Magical Starlight Parade
Magical Starlight Parade
Magical Starlight Parade
Magical Starlight Parade
Magical Starlight Parade
Magical Starlight Parade
Magical Starlight Parade
Magical Starlight Parade
Magical Starlight Parade
Magical Starlight Parade
Magical Starlight Parade
And then I went back to the hotel for a pretty late night.
Universal Studios globe by night
Hard Rock Café by night
Entrance to Universal Studios Japan by night
Universal City Walk sign
Pretty lights on Universal City Walk
Distance covered on the GPS: 50.8 km
Steps walked: 28564 (taking off 2000 for bumpy rides, although no idea how much it actually was)
Photos on the Canon: 136
Photos on the Sony: 69
Videos: 6