kidcoaster 2

It's nice right now just cold and cloudy, but the freezing rain is coming in a few hours...

Had a Coke earlier.

Personally I love Universal Parks the most. Always seem to have a great time at the parks and they all have some great selection of rides about some of my favorite movies.

The McDonalds commercials where they try and look "Hip" to the younger crowds.

Considering over half of my top 10 is Intamin it's no surprise they get my vote. Their reliability may not be the best but the ride experiences are way better than the others.

The next day we left the hotel after breakfast to head to the park I was looking forward to most on the trip, Universal Studios Japan! It took several trains before we arrived at the park, the train station dumps us right into City Walk (Well half a city walk as it's only one side). We walked to the entrance where our hosts took us downstairs (Yes down stairs as the park entrance is on top of the park's offices. We were taken to one of the rooms where the park gave us a very great and detailed presentation on the history of the park and even discussed attendance and the flops and successful moves the park has done through the years. The honesty of this park just blew me away. After the presentation we were supposed to be walked to Hollywood Dream for the first ride but it was still down for weather so we were walked to Space Fantasy. Space Fantasy It is really hard to describe this ride (Besides being manufactured by MACK) it was just random, weird, and very awesome! If you have on it than you know of the Mirror Room which was the best part. Back To The Future The Ride After Space Fantasy we went straight for BTTFTR. Being the last in the chain I was looking forward to getting to ride it before they eventually removed it. You could tell the ride is out dated but it was really nostalgic. Going all they way into the future of 2015 was neat . Jurassic Park Being we were already soaked we figured why not ride a water ride. It was the exact same as Hollywood and Orlando. JAWS This was the main reason I signed up for the trip after it was announced USJ would be an add-on. It was the exact same as Orlando was just with crazy Japanese skippers! At least here Harry Potter and JAWS can co-exist (Well at least for now). Snoopy's Great Race This was the best themed kiddie coaster I have ever seen. It was your typical roller skater though. We wandered around the snoopy area and checked up on Hollywood Dream before heading to take another ride on Space Fantasy before grabbing a drink at Finnegan's (I LOVE special themed drinks all around the park!). Spiderman The Ride Turns out during our visit Spiderman was down to get the upgrade the Orlando version just got but USJ was nice enough to give us a peak at the upgrade before it opened to the public in the following weeks. There were no pictures allowed during the tour except the maintenance area. They ran a stationary car through the entire ride program in the maintenance bay and then gave us the new 3D glasses and took us on a walk through the entire track! With the projections running! They were even stopping some of the projections to show off the tiny details that were added they you wouldn't be able to see during the ride. At one point they even let us into a projection room. It was the coolest back stage tour I have been on! So a huge thanks to USJ and the members from our group for making it happen! Hollywood Dream & Hollywood Dreams: Backdrop Ok so did I mentioned it was pouring ALL DAY! I mean seriously the sky was just dumping a bucket on us all day. We were about an hour and half before we had to leave as we left the tour. Someone got word they may finally open so all of us headed over (It hasn't run all day). We all had express passes (Thanks R&E!) so we all got inline for the express (Normal line was about an hour at this point) after a few test runs followed by more rain (Rides in Japan do not run if it is sprinkling) we thought there was no way it was going to open. Finally it opened so our entire group went in first and we all took over the who train for Backdrop (Well except the front (Back?)). I am pretty sure everyone choose Smap-Battery for their song (Listening to it as I write this report!). It really was one of my favorite coaster experiences as you could feel all the excitement in the air from everyone on the train and those in line! There was dancing on the train and plenty of people whooping for joy! Backdrop was pretty fun with some pops of air. We did forward right after but it felt kind of lame. Overall a good ride for the park though and Backdrop was obviously a hit since it is now a permanent attraction, so congrats to USJ! We grabbed another ride on Space Fantasy before we had to leave for our welcome dinner. We got off the train and walked to a very tiny restaurant where we were met by Mr. Kitagawa of Yokohama Cosmoworld! We were treated to endless yakatori, rice and just a ton of awesome food! Also endless drinks and Saki! No better way to kick off a trip! Next Stop: Hirakata Park and the Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine! Welcome to Universal Japan! Home of all the classics the other Universal parks didn't want! To get to the entrance you have to go through (1/2) City Walk. The park entrance plaza with Hollywood Dream. Of course a globe pic. Inside the corporate office. First ride Space Fantasy! A look at the New York section. Looks just like Orlando! See Orlando! But plus Hollywood Dream... ... and some Spidey! Hollywood Dream from across the lake! Amityville from across the lake. Looking toward Jurassic Park. Thank you for the Power Of Hollywood! Get all your weird Japanese souvenirs here! Watch out Doc... you're next! Delorian Who wants Chinese in Japan? Hogwarts in the distant. Shouldn't Disaster be here? Or a Walking Dead Maze? Of course the jeep is here. Jurassic Park! "Welcome to Jurassic Park" or "ジュラシック·パークへようこそ" Welcome to Amityville! First lunch. Hogwarts looming over Amityville Bruce is still the price of the village here. Oh boy! Our boat and great guide! Thanks for saving us from JAWS! Amity had a play structure... who knew? If you ever wondered what the inside of the kick a$$ vending machines of Japan look like well here you go! Moving on... It was Easter in Japan? Our next stop is in that building. The inside looks great! All for a kiddie coaster! At this point I didn't realize the rain case my lens to get stuck. Hollywood Dream over the Sesame Street area. I won't lie I kinda wanted to do this. Really cool thing I seen. There was no one in this section of the park when we went through so the staff was making art with flower pedals. That is a Elmo face on the right. They have one here???? Who wants one??? Quick Lap They had Terminator as well! Our hang out for the next 30 mins. USJ had several signature drinks. Universal Studios Japan Highball. It was really good! Time for the kick a$$ backstage tour. The only photos we were allowed. Incase you ever wanted to see the maintenance bay. Two movies in one theater! The group heading to Hollywood Dream. That line has been like that all day! That "days remaining" countdown doesn't matter anymore. You can ride it anytime now! Time to head out. Song list on Hollywood Dream. I recommend #1. Not intense but a fun ride. If you can only choose one make sure you ride Backdrop. Heading back to Space Fantasy for one last ride. One last ride One last walk through City Walk. Our station at the end of City Walk. Our welcome dinner restaurant! That's all! Hirakata Park and Fushimi Inari-taisha Shrine next! This was our next stop!

This is one of the better videos I could find of it. You go all the way up than you fall about 10 feet where you hit a set of brakes before continuing your fall. It's a really weird but awesome feeling. Looks we are all hanging our head in shame.

^ Love it! I'll throw in some more haunt pics. The night these were taken we had special guest RJ Haddy from Sci Fi's Faceoff. I got my make up for the night done by him. Just starting Final product SCANDI!

Too cold to go and take a pic so here is the best I could find. Looking down into downtown from the ohio line.

A few of my favorites... Fried Gyoza and Popcorn - Tokyo Disney Sea Potato Patch - Kennywood Pulled Pork - Knoebels Raclette - Europa Park Lasagna - Rainbow Magicland Ms. Knotts Fried Chicken - Knott's Berry Farm Frozen Butterbeer - Islands of Adventure Cinnamon Bread - Dollywood Chili - Dollywood Skillets - Silver Dollar City Thanksgiving Meal - Holiday World Popcorn - Tokyo Disneyland

I had a much better day at Fuji Q than I did during my visit to SFMM! It's a shame as it seems like the park has so much potential if they would just get better management in there who has some customer service common senses.

I was trying to figure out where they were coming from, thanks!

Sadly every day I hear more and more buzz about Blackfish on the net. But every time you defend Sea World or try and put out the facts no one wants to hear any of it.

Nice TR. Sucks about Cheetah though since it seems to be the star of the park. Hopefully it will be on my path sometime take a visit.

^^ Being that you will be there Mon- Wed it won't be bad at all, TTD will be maybe a 45-60 minute wait at most. I wouldn't get Fast Lane but that's your choice.

^ Yes, still won't be terrible yet.

Memorial day it self isn't too bad, the rest of week is dead.

Ugh.... www.clickorlando.com/news/willie-nelsons-seaworld-concert-canceled/-/1637132/23341472/-/glet8t/-/index.html

Can't wait to see it when it's done. Seems like a great choice for the park.

Jack Rabbit is my favorite!

Some parks (namely Six Flags parks, but there are others) have these basketball challenge games in which winning gets you a basketball. And yes, when people get them, they feel the need to show them off e.g. dribbling them, tossing them, and basically just being as obnoxious as possible with them. I'm glad Kennywood only gives them deflated.

Good start to the report! And very nice photos! Can't wait to see more!

This! But plus a quick visit to Universal Studios Japan.

I would gladly take a mega-lite and a set of flyers.

Finally the weekend!