Today was our Universal Studios Day.

Started out with our commute on three different trains to get to Universal City . Then a short walk to the gates, where there were many fairly long lines. We got our passes and started our day at Universal.

Halloween is still over a month away, but all the shops here had all their Halloween goods out and it seemed like every second person or couple, were fully decked out in their Halloween costumes. I must say this, that the Japanese don't do anything halfway.  

First off we went on the Space Fantasy ride, which is an indoor roller coaster, that also spins as it coasts through all the stars and planets in semi-darkness. Eve was a trouper, as she generally does not like roller coasters.

Next we hit the 'Minions' area. Many small shops, foods and one large store. Eve was in her glory here, with all the Minion paraphenalia and different kinds of foods. She picked up a few items, and I got her some chocolate banana flavoured popcorn, in a Minion container .

Next along the route was the Back to the Future ride. This was a stationery ride, in a Back to the Future type Delorean, with the screen in front projecting where we were going. The vehicle was on shocks and made the ride seem to go all over the place, when in fact we never left the room.

We checked out the Backdraft attraction which was a walk through various fire scenes and explosions. Like so many of the attractions, Japanese was the language with limited English. The "Jaws" boat ride took us through shark filled waters on a tram....that shark tried to eat us! 

We went on the newest area of Universal, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and it was quite amazing. They did a great job of building and replicating the buildings and feeling of the movie. We didn’t go on the ride there, as there was almost a 3 hour wait for it, but did wander the streets, taking many photos. We tried the Butterbeer and it was quite good . This area was very crowded, probably as it was the newest and many people hadn’t seen it before.

We took a break for lunch - it was tough to decide as there were many Japanese as well as North American, French and Italian food spots - we went with some excellent fried chicken, fries and some drinks from Amityville.

"Jurassic Park" our last ride of the day. Due to the popularity of this ride, we had to get our tickets in advance. They only let you get one ticket, with each entry pass at a time, which designates your ride time window. Our time was from 16:20 – 17:20. You can get another pass, but not until the starting time of you current pass has passed, which would undoubtedly be sometimes a few hours later. This is a great idea, as there was no line and everyone gets a chance to go on the ride. Just make sure you hit your time slot.  

"Jurassic Park" ride warned on entry, "you will get wet"! Nice! The large boat ride with about 25-30 people on board made its way through various scenes with an assortment of dinosaurs . Eve was asking where the T-Rex was and just then a huge one was around the last corner - as we were all concentrating on this huge T-Rex the boat dropped several stories and landed with a huge splash - and yes, we got wet!

After Jurassic Park we walked around the grounds a bit more taking in the shops and items we missed earlier as well as revisiting some of our favourites. Then it was just 2 trains to get home - we did a LOT of walking today!

For supper we were looking for something simple and decided to cruise the hotel neighbourhood. We didn't have to go far as the next building had a restaurant with some interesting menu items. another new experience. We had seen these types of restaurants around but this was our first try - The restaurant has a menu displayed, you pick the item you would like, then find the corresponding number on the adjacent vending machine. the machine "takes your order", collects your money and you present your order ticket to the attendant . Each of our orders cost 620 Yen, about $6.60 CDN. Greg ordered what he thought was Udon noodle soup with shrimp and got a large bowl of Udon Noodle soup plus a big bowl of rice and 2 large tempura shrimp. Eve ordered was looked to be a pork cutlet with salad and got a large pork cutlet, salad, miso soup and a large bowl of rice. There was complimentary tea and the waitress noted we could help ourselves to more rice. It was more than we expected, especially for the price!

Next up, the exciting task of laundry! Each of our hotels on this trip has a laundry room for guests. All the washers are no charge but the dryers are about $1 for 30 minutes. All the machines are stacking washer and dryer units. I sit here, typing the blog out, in the laundry room, watching the baseball game between the Hanshin Tigers and the Yokohama Baystars and having a Kirin Prime Brew Stout (maybe we can get this for the Irish Pavilion next year).