It’s 6 AM, and we jump out of bed to get ready and head to Universal Studios. Even though it officially opens at 8, they say they start letting people in an hour earlier. Since it takes about an hour to get there by metro and train, we leave around 6:30, grab breakfast at 7-Eleven, and hop on the metro.
We arrive at Universal Studios Station around 7:20, and the sheer number of people heading there is insane. The streets around the park are already decorated as if they were part of it, and at the entrance, there are about 20 lines of people waiting. Crazy! And sure enough, people are already entering the park. While we move forward, we eat our breakfast, go through security quickly, scan our QR tickets, and we’re in!
First thing’s first—once inside, we open the Universal Studios Japan app (where we had already registered our tickets) to book our access to Super Nintendo World. Because of the high demand, they control the number of visitors allowed in at a time. We get a slot for 10:10 AM—perfect! That gives us time to ride the two roller coasters we wanted to do, hopefully with minimal queues.
The first one is Hollywood Dream: The Ride (you can also ride it backward, in which case it’s called The Backdrop). We loved it! The wait was about 20 minutes max, and the roller coaster was amazing.
The second one is Jurassic Park: The Flying Dinosaur. This one is unique because you sit down but are tilted forward so that you’re lying face-down, with all your weight pressed against the harness. It starts off cool, but then there are so many twists and spins that you completely lose your sense of direction. Blanca and I felt a bit wrecked afterward and needed about 10 minutes to recover. The wait for this one wasn’t too bad either—around 30 minutes or so.
While we wait, we check out a few souvenir shops. We buy some headbands—one with Yoshi, another with the Minions’ teddy bear—and I grab a cap to save myself from the scorching sun (plus the sunscreen we bought yesterday).
Honestly, this place is mind-blowing—it really feels like stepping into a video game!
Here, we go on two awesome rides. The first one is Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge, a mix of go-karts and augmented reality glasses that blows our minds. (By the way, I totally lost—I was terrible at it.) Then we try Yoshi’s Adventure, which is a super chill ride where you hop on a Yoshi and take a slow tour around the area. The downside? We had to wait two hours for each ride… unbelievable!
After riding Yoshi, we decide to grab lunch. You need to book a spot through a QR code, and the earliest available time is 4 PM, so we start looking for something else. But just five minutes later, I check again and—bam!—there’s an open slot in 10 minutes. I book it super fast, and we head in.
The food? Well, typical theme park food, but tailored to the area you’re in. In our case, the Mushroom Kingdom, so we get Super Mario-themed burgers and spaghetti with meatballs. Honestly, it was really good! Super expensive (10,000 yen), but that’s just how it is in places like this. You order at one counter, pay, then pick up your drinks (we got some super unique lemonades with gummy candies inside—delicious!), and finally, you’re taken to the dining area. The place is huge and fully decorated like the Mushroom Kingdom. Within five minutes, we had our food, and I have to say, it was surprisingly good!
After lunch, Olivia does three mini-games, which she needs to complete to unlock another attraction. She has a blast while we follow along (sweating, of course, but at least it’s clouding over a bit). It even starts to drizzle! Once she’s done, and Olivia is super happy, we head to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Here, we ride Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, where you get into a moving cabin that syncs with screens to create a full-motion experience. Super well-done! The wait time is about an hour, but it’s worth it. Then we consider riding Flight of the Hippogriff, but after realizing the ride lasts barely 20 seconds, we decide to skip it.
On our way out, we decide to try the famous Butterbeer from the movies. Honestly… weird. It’s like a super sweet, non-alcoholic beer with a buttery taste and a foamy topping. Not great. The cashier who serves us speaks a bit of Spanish because she’s learning it, so we chat for a few seconds. Super nice staff everywhere!
And just like that, it’s 6:30 PM. We’ve been in the park for 11 hours, and our legs are about to give out. Since it’ll take another hour to get back, we decide to call it a day and head for the train. It’s a shame we couldn’t see everything, but there’s just so much to do!
Back at the hotel, we’re exhausted. We grab some food from 7-Eleven, head to our room, eat, take a shower, and crash. What a day!