What’s the most exciting part of this trip? My son’s answer is definitely “Universe Studios”. In fact, he kept complaining that one day in Universe Studios was so not enough and he insisted that we should spend all our days in Osaka in this place only. This magic place certainly holds irresistible power to a ten-year-old boy.

However, it’s not so great from the beginning. As complete novice of Universe Studio, we didn’t know what to expect. Therefore, when a flashy monopoly brought waves of laughter in one of the buildings, we looked at each other with puzzles, doubts and even regrets: “For that, it cost more than 700 yuan each person? For God’s Sake, we have not a clue about what’s going on here---because every fu*king word is in Japanese!” Luckily, what followed with the monopoly was not so boring. We watched a 3D movie “ Terminator”. It’s so unlike what we’d watched before in normal cinemas. For a moment, we couldn’t tell the stage performance from the movie itself. They blended so naturally together as if the actor on the stage was suddenly dragged into the movie. We still couldn’t understand the Japanese. However, we were so indulged in what we’d seen that it had become less a problem. 

“Terminator” turned out to be just a pre-dinner appetizer. After all, it was just a great feast for our eyes. Universe Studio offered so much more. In the following several hours, we flew with Spiderman, fighting with New York villain; we explored the mysteries of deep space in a spaceship; we took an adventure in Harry Potter’s magic world, where we had been dragged into the dark abyss by dementors; had a narrow escape from a fire-breathing dragon; played quidditch with Harry Potter….. Everything we’d heard, seen, and felt was so feverishly vivid that it was like we had actually entered into one film after another.

My son was totally into it. Nothing could touch him, the 38-degree temperature; the hunger; the thirsty; or the long waiting queue; nothing could stop this ten-year-old boy to have fun. At 1:30, when every adult got hungry, he still begged: “Mum, let’s take a look at Despicable Me. Maybe everyone has lunch now and there aren’t so many people waiting.” Okay, half that spirit in his study, I would have a straight A student as my son.

Anyway, Universe Studio is a Must-go place when you travel to Osaka.  Ticket is about 460 yuan each person. But if you happen to visit it during holidays, like school holidays, Japanese holidays, you’d better buy express pass for several key studios. The price for express pass varies from 200 to 900. And this place might not be a good choice for person with dizziness. In fact, one of my friend almost passed out after Harry Potter’s Journey. Our express pass include Flying Dinosaur, but we all looked at it in awe and gave up eventually---just too much for our heart.