THE JAPAN MOVIE

We walked to the train station and got tickets for Universal Studios. After a short 20 minute trip, we were there. When we got out of the train and were walking around Universal Studio Street (I think this is what it is called). Either way it was a street filled with stores of merch from all sorts of characters prior to going into the park. We walked past them and lined up to get inside. This is when we noticed all the umbrellas (thankfully Dana was smart and brought hers) as well as fans. So many fans. If we had only fans, we would have been much better off. After about an hour, we made our way in. (there were probably 10k people just in line trying to get in.) The start of the park is big streets filled with shops, and food that was all themed. Super Mario was everywhere! There were Harry Potter sections, Hello Kitty, Snoopy and more. We made our way past the shops to the main pathway. The park had a pathway that went around connecting all the different theme parks. The two we were interested in were Super Mario and Harry Potter. We headed over to Super Mario, waited in line only to be told that we needed a timed entry ticket (that we didn’t have). So we got one (it was part of our pass) and then had to walk to the back of the line. We were both dying from heat at this point so we decided to go get some drinks. We got a frozen mango on a stick. It was so fresh and cold. We also got an ice melon drink. It was amazing too. After sitting down (Franklin might have died temporarily on that bench), we headed back in line to go see Super Mario World. We started walking through and got to the outside of Peach’s Castle. Outside of the castle, Dana went and bought the Super Mario band. This band connected with the universal app so when you go through Super Mario World, you could collect coins and stamps to complete a stamp book. There were also some pipes just outside of the castle that allowed for some awesome photo opportunities. We finally went inside Peach's Castle and there were framed photos as if it was right out of N64 Mario. On the other side was something hard to describe other than Magical. A full world of moving creatures all from the Super Mario universe. It was epic. You could go and hit blocks with the Mario bracelet and hear coins, there was the jumping match game that is inside the game, there were Goombas and Shells moving around. Just so well done. Dana went and punched all the musical notes, Franklin hit the coin blocks. It was a ton of fun. Also hot… So we walked over to Bowser's Castle. It was epic. The entire Castle, outside and inside was themed incredibly well. Every fine detail. The walls, the doors, the lights, there were books that all had game related titles that were cool like “How to grow a prana planet, etc. It was amazing. This castle was also air conditioned. It allowed us to get a break for an hour and half. It was a nice break from the sun. By the end of the line, lots of people were sitting on the rails, or on the floor. One lady even brought a stool.  We finally made our way to the front of the line and went into a room where we put on our Mario Helmets. Around the room were suits for each racer in glass cases. It looked really fancy. We finally made our way to the carts. You put on a helmet and use AR, you look around with your head and have to shoot enemies and other carts. All of this adds up to your wristband for stamps and coins. When you get out of the ride, you are inside of the Mario shop. We spent some money here getting all kinds of cool things. After this we went and checked out the Donkey Kong area. This was themed very similar to the game. There was a spot where you beat drums. Franklin did that as Dana recorded. 

At this point we were hungry and wanted a place to sit down and relax. We went to the one place in the Mario world that had service for food. They were fully booked for the entire day. We headed out of Super Mario World and towards a place called Grille. We struggled to find it and almost opted to just stop and eat at this really old school looking diner. Dana noticed Grille across the street so we went and lined up. After making our own reservations, we had an hour to wait. We walked around a bunch of the shops. It was mostly just looking for nice places with AC to cool off and survive long enough to get to the next store. The time came and we went for lunch. It was an Italian place. We ordered a Meatball Pizza and tomatoes and cheese to share. Remember above when I said that Dana would like meat twice in the same day? Well, when the Pizza came, Dana started taking the meatballs off the pizza. Franklin tasted part of one and told her to try it. Dana liked the meatballs as well. They were pretty massive. She had a couple on her pizza and enjoyed it. The food was very good. 

After lunch we went to the land of Hogwarts. The first thing you see before going in is Ron’s blue car smashed up. Lots were jumping on the hood as if the car just hit them. The best I could do was to get Dana to stand next to it for a photo. Then we continued our journey into the Harry Potter theme park. There was the Hogwarts express which was massive. It looked amazing. Then just past that was all the shops. They all had fake snow on the roofs, and all were as if it was just straight out of the movie or books. A store for wands. A store of wizard gear, etc. It was amazing. We walked to the end of the Hogwarts theme park. We almost went into the Castle ride but it was an hour wait and we both were exhausted at this point. Dana made the decision to head back to the hotel.