Universal Studios

The place is amazing. You feel like you are walking down the set of a movie. It is all set out like a city; buildings, roads, street signs and even traffic lights that work! We got there at about 10am and stayed until after 9pm. We still didn't see everything on offer.

My first ride for the day was the E.T. attraction. It was very cute seeings all the different E.T.s throughout the display, as the carriage which looked like bikes took us through. At one stage we went through a room which was black apart from stars everywhere and moving silhouettes of bicycles passing across a moon. It was all in Japanese of course, so who knows what E.T. was saying apart from the fact he wanted to phone home!

Next Lauren and I caught the Monster Rock 'n' Roll show. It was lots of fun to watch. The stage was a scene from a rocky horror show complete with coffins, a big clock, glowing skeletons and the like. There were many characters including Frankenstein, Beetle Juice, Dracula and some rock'n'roll girls who sang and danced throughout the half-hour show. They spoke in Japanese but sang songs in English. They sang and danced to 'Smooth', 'Living La Vida Loca' , 'It's Raining Men' and other songs that got you bopping in your seat.

We ate lunch in a really groovy rock'n'roll period cafe with classic cars parked out the front and the little juke boxes (purely for show) on each table. I had a cheeseburger set which came with a bucket of 2 chicken nuggets and wedges.

Next was Shrek in 4D. This was really cleverly done. You wore the sexy 3D glasses and the extra 1 dimension made you feel like you were there. We were sneezed on (little sprays of water), felt like spiders were crawling up our legs (air jets from under the seat), riding in a horse drawn cart and flying through the air. Princess Sofia was abducted so Donkey and Shrek had to save her. It was fun.

The Terminator 2 attraction was similar to the Shrek 4D, but this was just 3D, no creepy crawly feelings! It was very clever, as there were actors on the stage that seemed to crawl into the movie screen, become Arnold and the boy and interact with the robots and strange melty metal creatures that appeared.

While everyone else went of the Spiderman ride (a simulated ride which carried a warning sign, not suitable for people who suffer from motion sickness) I wandered around, went through the Land of Oz, ate a Funnel cake with ice-cream and strawberries and enjoyed the atmosphere. Once I met up with the others again, I took my motion sickness tablet and tackled the Jurassic Park Ride. At the entrance there were some vending machine selling ponchos. We all bought one, just in case!! We were taken through the land of dinosaurs via a boat, getting up close and personal with many different dinosaurs and finally with T-Rex before shooting down a very steep and tall slide and skidded through water at the bottom. Half way down the slide, when we were all screaming our lungs out, there was a flash (our picture taken). The picture was hilarious, you can almost see my funnel cake! I had to buy it!!

The final ride for the day was the Back to the Future ride. It was a simulation ride and we were travelling in the car that Doc created. It was a flying ride with many close calls with buildings, mountains and asteroids. The lines were pretty long in comparison to any theme Park I've ever been. But when we looked at the capacity for lines and unused ropes we thought we were pretty lucky. The lines moved pretty quickly and on average we waited 40 minutes to get on each ride.

We saw a couple of street shows including Sesame Street and Hello Kitty. The song to Hello Kitty was basically the same as Hey Mickey!! They sang bilingual, one verse in Japanese and one in English. Quite amusing! The souvenirs were bizarre as well. They were selling hats which were the heads of E.T and Elmo as well as head bands with Snoopy and Hello Kitty ears.

It was pretty busy there, especially for a weekday and in comparison to crowds back in Oz. Most rides had a queue time of 40 minutes or longer. It seemed like a long time, but when we looked around to see the potential capacity for the lines we felt a little better! I would hate to be there on a busy day! There were actually information boards scattered throughout the grounds which informed you of the waiting times for the different attractions. The longest time I saw for the day was for the Dream Ride Roller coaster: 140 minutes!! Gotta be keen!

After a long and exciting day it was time to go home. I made it home by 11;30. Thank goodness the next day was a public holiday. I got a well needed sleep in and a whole day of relaxation and nothingness!