Universal Studios, Osaka 20th March 2007

Universal Studios is a theme park in Japan that is similar to Dreamworld and Movie World in the Gold Coast. I took the day off school on Tuesday to go to Universal Studios with Tina, Steve, Lauren, Renee, Steve, Karen and Jodi. So we had a pretty big group to go with, but it was cool because the atmosphere was so exciting and we were all pumped because it looked so cool!

When we first got to the park, I saw this robot standing around talking to people, but it was a Japanese robot and couldn’t understand English. I said, “konichiwa” to it and it said, “konichiwa” back to me! Then it looked at me and shook my hand and said, “hajimimashite” which means “nice to meet you”. I was so excited that I was having a conversation in Japanese with a robot!

Then we got inside the park and went on some really cool rides. We firstly went on the ET ride. It was OK, but it was a sort of kids ride. We firstly had to walk through the forest where E.T. was and then after we finished walking through the forest we went on the cars and they took us through E.T.’s land. It was cute to see how they had made the sets.

While we were waiting in the line, these sixth grade students were excited that they were standing next to foreigners and they were saying hello to us and we talked to them for ages in the line. Not that I really knew what they were saying to me, but it was still cool that we could communicate with the little Japanese that we knew. They were really cute. I wanted to take them all back to Australia so that I could teach them coz they were so nice. One of the boys had a whole bag full of lollies that he gave to us because he liked us! I could imagine how difficult it would be for a kid to part with a bag full of lollies just to give them to a stranger, so I thought it was really generous of him! Then we took a big group shot of them when we got out of the ride so that we could remember them. I felt like a movie star in the line because they kept on taking photos of us! They were funny!

After the E.T ride, we went on the roller coaster. It was the coolest roller coaster I have ever been on. In their advertisement poster, they had a picture of some people on a roller coaster riding under a rainbow in mid-air with all stars and stripes around them. I thought we were going to get to ride under a rainbow in mid-air, but it wasn’t so! Talk about false advertising! It was still really cool though. We were laughing the entire time!

The ride that took the cake that day was the Spiderman ride. It was the BEST ride I have ever been on in my life and THAT is a big call! It was a 4-D ride where we got to sit in this car thingy and it would go around a circuit and we had to wear special 3-D glasses to see things popping out at us. All of these villains would come up to our car and sit on the edge of it and would be just about to get us when all of a sudden, Spiderman would come to our rescue and save us! He would always come at the very last second just as they were about to kill us. It was so exciting. I really thought they were going to get me because it looked and felt so real!

Then at one stage, we were falling from this building and we were about to land on the ground when Spiderman made a special web to cushion our fall. That was a close call! He saved us so many times that I fell in love with him by the end of the ride. I almost died about seven times in that ride, but thanks to Spiderman, I am still alive! I can now openly say that Spiderman is truly my hero!

I also saw a short movie of Shrek and The Terminator 2 in 4-D which was also really cool. Again, things were popping out in front of me all the time, and it was really interactive in the fact that I could feel the wind on my face, I could feel the spit go on me when the donkey sneezed, I could feel the spiders crawling up my legs on the ground. It felt like I was actually in the movie! Maybe one day all movies will be like that.

I went a bit overboard with the souvenirs though. I got all this gimmick stuff that I really didn’t need, but I just wanted at the time. Tina, Lauren and I bought these Hello Kitty ears with bows and fake jewels on them. They were heaps cute and we wore them all day.


All in all, Universal Studios in Osaka, Japan was brilliant. I didn’t get to go on all the rides and do everything in the park because there wasn’t enough time, so I would love to go back there. It was so cool though and I would recommend you to go there if you ever get a chance to go to Japan.