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Universal Studios Japan

December 14th-16th, 2002

I’ll tell you what!  I was bone tired Saturday night.  I was out of the house at 8AM. I taught Uchino for 2 hours, Maki for 2 hours, Muramatsu for 3 hours and in my home for 1 hour.  Gasp!

At the Entrance to USJ

On the Train to Osaka

I didn’t think I would be up for the trip to Osaka, but Mary had reserved the extra large beds on the train. They came with futons, blankets, pillows, pajamas and slippers.  I was impressed... they should have something like this for the airplane to America when we go to visit.

Mary and Anjel

Travis

Kyler and Dusty

Oh... your wondering who Travis is.  There’s a story to be told.

Travis is the recent homestay boy at Nakajo High School.  He was in my class the other day and said he wasn’t having birthday party or anything for his 17th birthday. I felt bad and invited him to go to USJ with us.  Then through a comedy of miscommunicatio and my bad memory, Rotaty Club Japan was going to reimburse me for the cost of taking him. Cool! I thought, but Mary reminded me that it was a present. So when I got the money I just let Travis keep it.

My-O-my, he was a happy boy. Got a free trip and $400 spending money. To tell the truth, it was nice having him along. He reminds me of my son, JC, who is in America... except Travis isn’t whiney and chronically depressed all the time.

For breakfast, Mary had gotten us tickets for a buffet at a fancy hotel. We pigged out because we were hungry from the train ride, to delay lunch and have fun at the park and most importantly... it was free.

After breakfast, we got on a local train that took us to USJ.

Popeye

Snoopy

What’s her name? Cloie?

We spent about 20 minutes of character time then went to get Express Passes (not that we needed them, but we didn’t know). They only let you have one pass per time frame, so we chose the ET ride.

Gasp!

Now I like this next point:  They make all the tall people sit down when the parade comes by.
You know how in America at USFlorida

Olive

Does anyone else think that Olive looks alot like my Grandma (my dad’s mom)?

Anyway, when we got to the park I was pleasently surprised by the lack of crowds.  There was plenty of character face time, they even played with the kids. The lines at the rides were reasonable and I could get seats at all the shows.  Wow! I guess all that bad publicity USJ has gotten in the last few months really helped us out. Like I care if they use too much powder in the explosives to make it more exciting... and we don’t need to drink fountian water, buy coke.  Happy, happy!

Cookie Monster

One of the best rides was the Jurrasic Park ride. As with most rides, there is a long wait for a really short ride. But we waited the 20 minutes and took the plunge.  Bad point:  you have to buy a 200 yen raincoat for each person or you get soaked with water. Great in summer, but to avoided in winter.  Oh yeh, and Kyler couldn’t ride it ‘cause he was too short.

The Plunge

Oh my God! We’re Soaked!

how all the poor parents are carrying their kids on shoulders because they can’t see, and short people (my wife) are just out of luck... not here. Everyone can see very well because only the little kids can stand.

Big People Sit at Parade Time

Isn’t He a Video Game Character?

Woody Woodpecker

Travis asked what kind of Omyage I was going to bring back for them, I said “How about ‘Woody Woodpecker’ brand condoms”. Get it?  Hahahaha.

Yah! Elmo!

Playing Nice

Mummies

Snoopy Land has a giant indoor play land complete with rollarcoaster.  Outside was a water flume ride.  I took Dusty and Kyler in rubber boat... no pics because I didn’t want water in the camera.

They also had a junior playland for little kids.  Lots of easy climbing and slowly spinning toys.

Christmas Spectacular

About 30 minutes before the show started I staked out our places. Anjel and Kyler were sleeping in the stroller so I set them by the fence and saved a big area.

There was singing and dancing, monsters took over and Beetlejuice became the boss of Christmas. Dancing and singing monsters, wild.  Then Santa came and everybody became friends.  Cool.

Leaving the Park

After the show we left the park to go shopping for souveniers. I had a stomachache and found a pharmacy to get help.  Bought some antacid, ahhhhhhhhh... to much junk food.

Then on the train for a good nights sleep. I have to work tomorrow when I wake up in Niigata.  Yawn... Good Night.