We encountered another chatty gent (this time a retiree) on our way to Universal Studios in Osaka. He kept patting Josh on the head and shaking his own in wonderment about our extended break from work (it sounds like they get about a week at best).
I felt fairly smug about my shorts and short-sleeved shirt selection on the train - it was clear skies and an expected 17 degrees. The frosty winds that greeted us at Universal Studios in turn had the rest of my family grinning wryly.
While we waited in line for the place to open - The Hollywood Dream ride screamed overhead. It was like your traditional rollercoaster (albeit very sleek and shiny), but played in fast-forward (is that still a term in the age of mp3s?). I somehow volunteered to ride this monstrosity with the larger two Martin children as Jen took Josh to spend some time in a place frequented by Elmo, Snoopy and Hello Kitty.
Hamish was tall enough to ride accompanied by a breezy 2cm (which would equate to your typical Year 8 student), and the constant warnings about objects flying from pockets did not reassure me.
We were pinned snuggly to our individually-moulded seats, and could select our own music piped through the head-rest. As I could not find the Funeral March, I opted for Get Back by the Beatles. The initial climb was not that high (I kept telling myself), but the breakneck speed at which the thing plummeted down the other side had me clenching so tightly that I managed to put my calf muscle into spasm. Brave old Lily (who had been casting mocking looks in my direction as we lined up) was blubbering/squealing theatrically. Hamish was loving it. We survived, and I wondered what the particular Hollywood denizen was taking to have inspired that particular Dream.
....okay - aside from the terror and cramping calves, it was fun.
The kids (including the apparently recovered Lily) insisted on dragging Jenny onto The Dream as soon as we rejoined her and Josh. So I braved perhaps the slowest Tea Cup ride in existence. Josh even raised an eyebrow at me mid-ride as if to say, "Is this it?".
We moved on to a fairly snazzy-looking Carousel, and Josh had a ball on a giant blue elephant. The others had returned just in time to meet the one and only Elmo (both boys overcame their mascot phobias sufficiently to high-five him and in Hamish's case, to goose him).
We rode down a water-slide in teeny inflatable rafts, the water soaking our posteriors in a seemingly targeted fashion. It was hard to feel embarrassed in a place where others were wearing Big Bird plushies as hats however.
As we lined for Caramel Popcorn (yes we went there), it was becoming increasingly apparent that we were having a much better time here than at Disneyland. Perhaps it was that the queues for rides were frequently 15 minutes or less, or maybe it was just that the attendants appeared genuinely (rather than scarily) pleased to be there. My thought is that we happened upon Universal Studios on a reasonably quiet day - but it was great.
Continuing the theme of overly-moist rides, Jen took the bigger two on Jurassic Park - the Ride. The presence of a number of ride-goers in rain-jackets was not reassuring.
It was at about this point that Jen felt it best that she take Josh back to Tiny-tots Town, and I accompany the bigger two. I was busy taking their photo in front of one of the Deloreans from Back to the Future, when a couple of Japanese ladies offered to take a photo of all three of us. I was in geek-heaven. Somewhat bizarrely, they then asked to have their photo taken with the two kids in front of the above-mentioned Delorean (I am thinking 'Delorean with foreign children' trumps without).
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| I admit it, I was humming the theme song as this photo was taken. |
The Back to the Future ride was really fun, combining some overdubbed-cinema and getting thrown about in your seat for good measure. The same can essentially be said of Spiderman - the Ride.
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| Seasoned-posers. |
We all had some afternoon tea in a place accurately called Cafe Pink - it made your teeth ache just by looking at it. We dined on cupcakes and ice-cream (the kids had some blue mint choc-chip, all-natural I imagine), and noticed a Carnivale (a standard fare of Japanese theme parks apparently) assembling outside.
The kids picked up some headbands, Josh going for his beloved Cookie-monster, Hamish opting for Elmo, and Lily (somewhat appropriately I would venture) for Oscar the Grouch.
We ended up watching the Carnivale - Joshie was hugely impressed that he saw both Cookie Monster and Elmo on the ONE float.
We called into the Hard Rock Cafe on our way out for a ludicrously early dinner - dining amidst the cheerful ambiance of hard rock/thrash metal (Joshie actually bopped his head along at one point). All of us were verging on sleep on the train home.
Tomorrow was going to be Nara - but has turned into another day in Kyoto (just to give us a sleep-in as well as a break from the trains in the morning).
