Traveling: Japan 2025

Tuesday, 21 October 2025

Japan 2025 - Part 5

Universal Studios Japan

Wednesday - October 8th 2025

Since Claudia and I are also big fans of themeparks, we had to visit Universal Studios Japan as well. We had already been there in 2018, but back then we had bad luck with the weather. Luckily today the weather was fantastic and so we were looking forward to a great day in the park. First we had waffles for breakfast at Starbucks and then it was time to get in line to enter the park. Once inside Universal Studios we headed directly to Hollywood Dream - The Ride, our first rollercoaster of the day. Usually that attraction gets very busy with long wait times, but we were able to ride it right away. The rollercoaster was a lot of fun and a first for us. Next stop was The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but we didn't do any attractions and just strolled around the beautful area. Afterwards we did Jaws, a boat ride with special effects based on the famous Steven Spielberg movie.

Starbucks

Universal Studios Japan

Hollywood Dream - The Ride

Universal Studios Japan

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Jaws

Amity Village

Then we headed to the Jurassic Park area and since it was already pretty warm, we got frozen strwberries to cool down again. Japanese themeparks get very crowded, that's why we bought an Express Pass in advance to make sure we get to ride all the attractions we wanted to. One of those rides was The Flying Dinosaur, a flying coaster, and thanks to our Express Pass we got to ride it without queueing. The flying coaster was intense, but I still liked it a lot. Although it was very warm, we skipped Jurassic Park - The Ride, because it was a boat ride with a huge splash at the end and we didn't want to get wet. So we headed over to San Francisco and checked out Minion Park. There we experiences Illuminations Villain-Con Minion Blast, a moving walkway shooting attraction that was just okay. Due to the high temperatures we decided to take a break and enjoyed an ice cold beer at the boardwalk overlooking the lake of Universal Studios.

Jurassic Park

Snack

The Flying Dinosaur

Universal Studios Japan

San Francisco

Illumination's Villain-Con Minion Blast

Minion Park

New York City

Drinks

Universal Studios Japan

Now it was already noon and since we got hungry, we stopped at Louie's N.Y. Pizza Parlor and ordered two vegetarian pizza combos with fries. Although it was an odd combination, the food was really good. For the afternoon our Express Pass included a timed entry to Super Nintendo World, but until it was time we still had some time to kill. So we just strolled through the airconditioned shops, got ice cream and took a look at the Universal Wonderland with its Snoopy and Hello Kitty areas.

New York City

Lunch

Hollywood

Ice Cream

Snoopy

Finally it was time for own personal highlight and we were allowed to visit Super Nintendo World. The whole land just looks amazing and growing up with playing the Super Mario games made the land even more spectacular. The first attraction was Mario Kart: Koopa's Challenge, an augmented reality dark ride based on the famous Mario Kart video games. I didn't like it that much and still think it's overrated. Next was Yoshi's Adventure, a cute family ride where we had to find several dinosaur eggs along the way. The next highlight, at least for Claudia, was meeting Toad and get a picture with him. Afterwards we headed to Mine Cart Madness inside Donkey Kong Country. Mine Cart Madness was such a fun and surprisingly good rollercoaster themed after the Donkey Kong video games. By now we had done all attractions inside Super Nintendo World and so we just browsed through the shops and took some pictures until we had to leave again.

Super Nintendo World

Mario Kart: Koopa's Challenge

Super Nintendo World

Yoshi's Adventure

Meeting Toad

Donkey Kong Country

Mine Cart Madness

Donkey Kong Country

Super Nintendo World

After Super Nintendo World it was time for another beer break before having dinner. We stopped for pizzas with fries again at Louie's Pizza Parlor. Once the sun went down Halloween Horror Nights started and the streets of the parks were filled with zombies and other creatures to scare us. The atmosphere was really cool, but sometimes also a bit scary. Our Express Pass also included Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey and also we missed the time frame by a couple of minutes the cast member was so nice and still let us in. That was our last attraction for the day, but before we left the park we walked around the Hollywood and New York City areas to see more of the Halloween Horror Nights performances. Back at the hotel we had one last beer and called it a day.

Universal Studios Japan

Drinks

Dinner

Universal Studios Japan

Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

Universal Studios Japan

Universal CityWalk

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Tuesday, 21 October 2025

Japan 2025 - Part 5

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