Universal Studios Japan and Universal City Walk (27 February 2015)

The moment I heard that Universal Studios Japan would be opening Harry Potter Wizarding World, I made it a part of my wish list of places to visit. Alhamdullilah my wish came true on my 6th year wedding anniversary :) 

We pre-bought our tickets via Japanese Travel Bureau (JTB) in KLCC, so we managed to skip the line at the ticketing booth. If you're a Harry Potter fan like me, please note that you need to pre-book slots to go in the HP section. There's a machine at the end junction between Hollywood and Wonderland for you to get your HP tickets. Don't worry there's no extra charge involved.

USJ Map (Source Google)

UNIVERSAL WONDERLAND

 

 Behold the home of Elmo, Snoopy, Hello Kitty and Woody Woodpecker

We checked in the Woody Woodpecker Eternal Wish Studio, kinda cool because the kids can take part in the interactive paint games. They had some sort of a free giveaway for children when we were there, and each of my babies received a Cookie Monster light bracelet, stickers and activities book.  Awesome!!!

Snoopy Studios : Where you can find Charlie Brown and Gang. Love the studio (the fact that it is warm inside the building truly help :p). Anyway because we were rushing to go in HP (our time slots were at 12.30pm) We didn't cover Elmo and Hello Kitty "house". After that it was too late to come back to make the rounds.

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

After passing "King's Cross" at the entrance, we were greeted by a huge stone sign with Hogsmeade on it. It is literally my fantasy coming to life. Seeing Zonko's, Honeydukes, Olivanders sprawled right in front of my eyes is just surreal (my type of fangirling). The others was oblivious to my excitement with the exception of Ryan, who shared my happiness no thanks to the intensive briefing I gave him on HP before leaving for Japan. My only problem with Hogsmeade was you have to line up to get in every store and it was super duper packed. Despite all that I still managed to get myself a wand (yes I bought a freaking wand) and some HP trinkets.

Can I have an owl please???

From Hogsmeade to Hogwarts :)

 Enjoying warm Butterbeer (it is non-alcoholic) in the cold winter. Feeling? Heaven...

Amity Village : Jaws

* Jurassic Park was under construction when we were there *sad*

San Francisco

OMG wearing that cape out was a big fat mistake, I thought it will be ok because the day started of sunny. However, it was super duper cold by 4pm due to the wind. I was freezing so much that I had to buy a long sleeve sweater from Hard Rock. So much for my "Blair Waldorf" moment :p

New York, New York

 The 3 minutes ride that took about 60 minutes to queue -__-
Thank god Ryan enjoyed it

 Universal City Walk

You can find the famous Takoyaki museum here. There's several specialty shops one being "Jump Osaka", a good place for Anime fans. Ryan was ecstatic that we managed to find some Naruto merchandise here. There's also Dragon Ball comics and other unrecognizable anime.It was interesting (and expensive) experience haha

Tak dapat picture with the real Glico man, dapat picture with his mini me pun boleh lah :) 

We truly enjoyed our experience here, mostly due to Harry Potter. To tell you the truth the layout is pretty similar to USS. Other than Harry Potter, the other attraction is pretty much dated, as compared to Singapore where the character is more "up to date" (i.e. Transformers, Madagascar etc). That is not really a cause of complaint to me actually. I do hope we'll get another opportunity to visit USJ again

USJ Website : Press Here
Ticketing Information (JTB) :  Press Here