After all this sightseeing of the days before, this had to happen sooner or later: We overslept! This day of all our days in Japan. Why? Because we had planned to travel a little further down to Osaka... to visit the Universal Studios Japan!
Universal CityWalk Osaka
Universal Studios Japan entrance gate
By train it takes half an hour to get from Kyoto to Osaka. Here we experienced the Japanese punctuality – once again! For our trip planning we had rented a portable wifi, which was quite useful as for instance to google train times and connections.
New York City
New York City
Google told us, that we should take a certain train at a certain time to go to the Universal city. Two minutes earlier another train arrived. Thinking, that this was the certain train we got on, just to realize a few minutes later that we were riding in a complete different direction than intended. But once again, we experienced the Japanese helpfulness.
Minion Park
Minions Cookie Sandwich
As we realized that we were wrong, I asked a girl which train we should take. She couldn't speak English very well but we communicated via google translate. It was beyond question for her to ride back to the station where we needed to switch trains and to escort us to the right track.
San Francisco
Jurassic Park
San Francisco
I was thrilled as we walked through the big Universal gate and it felt like going on an US vacation in Japan – heaven! Even though I knew that possibly this wouldn't be the perfect vacation. As a wheelchair user you (and the carer) have to pay the full price at the entrance. Which would be totally fine if you were able to go on all the rides like in the US theme parks. But this is not the case .
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Butterbeer
Hogwarts Express
Like in German theme parks, or maybe even more strict, ride staff made sure that riders were in good health before going on a ride. Our first ride of the day was the 'Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man'. The friendly staff at the entrance told us when to come back, so we didn't have to wait in line. As we returned we were able to enter the building through a special entrance with a lift to the ride's station. Here, we were told that I had to walk to the ride vehicle without help (which luckily worked out more or less because of the ride's gates that I could hold on to). So we managed to sneak on the ride in a way.
Amity Island
Jaws attraction entrance
Jaws attraction exit
This is a controversial topic because it is about safety, I know. But in my opinion it is safe enough to go on a ride with one or more carers who could help in case of an emergency. Getting on the ride had been easy compared to getting off the ride. Because ride staff thought I was ambulatory, a friendly guy came to the ride vehicle and took me under his arm and started walking next to me towards my wheelchair a few meters away, I lost my jeans and nearly landed on the floor – I guess that was the last time I was able to go on this ride for ever - at least it was a Hollywood-style appearence.
Waterworld
With this experience in mind I knew that this theme park day wouldn't be as normal and happy as usual. I wouldn't be able to go on rollercoasters. What made this even worse was the fact that the one ride, I had come to go on (and I actually would have been able to go on with my wheelchiar) was closed for maintenace: Jaws! And at the end of the day we only were able to do Backdraft, the special effect show, that the US Universal Parks used to have, too. Before leaving the park we managed to sneak on Jurassic Park – The Ride, as well. Nevertheless I was happy to visit this theme park, that was on my bucket list and maybe I will be back to experience Jaws in the future. Continue here.
Backdraft
New York City
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