The finer details of our day and transport are finalised each prior evening with the help of “the Google”. It gave us a few options for getting to USJ at various times and costs, so we met in the lobby at 7am and caught taxis to Kyoto train station. There we bought tickets to Universal Studios station (with the help of a friendly ticket seller who narrowed it down to two trains to keep it simple for us).

As we waited on the platform for our train, we noticed other trains with “women only” carriages. Jess told us when researching the trip she had read that a lot of sexual assault happens on these trains, which is why those carriages exist. I immediately had three thoughts: 1. We finally found a downside to this society for which we have been noticing more pros than cons; 2. Now I have something else to worry about and watch the kids closely; and 3. Why can’t we catch a bullet train to USJ 😬😉

While personal space could not exist and it was standing room only, the train ride went well and we even managed to get a seat eventually for Ross with his sore back.

We arrived at Universal at 8.40am and headed straight for Harry Potter World after booking our timed entry into Super Nintendo World. Everyone went on the Hogwarts rides while I minded bags, shopped and lined up for butterbeer (behind 120 other people! I had time to count them!)

We then wandered around to Super Nintendo World to do the rides there. We all did the Yoshi ride, and then I lined up for popcorn while the others did the MarioKart ride. Popcorn was ready as they exited the ride, so we tried caramel peach popcorn and mushroom cream popcorn. I have tried so many new things on this trip, and have been glad I did for the most part. I will not, however, be straying from plain salted or buttered popcorn again…..

Unlike Disneyland, there was only one restaurant where you could mobile order lunch, so we had burgers and cokes there and continued exploring. There were several rides left to do but everything had a 1-2 hour wait!! Even for single riders the minimum wait was 100 minutes!!

We arrived in Minion Park and most of the kids decided to join a 90 minute ride there. Ross and I went in search of coffee, and Jess joined us in search of souvenirs. We explored some of the other lands, found coffee that we promptly tasted and disposed of, and sat down to wait for the others. While every other wait line had underpromised and over delivered (meaning they were always off the ride before the end of the stated wait time at the entrance), the Minions ride took longer, and the kids were not impressed with it.

We then regrouped and decided as much as there were a few other rides they would like to try, no one wanted to line up for another 110+ minutes, so we left!

We stopped in Starbucks for a frappucino before working out the train system well enough to get back to Kyoto. There was a food hall across the road where we told everyone to choose their own adventure for dinner, and then we caught taxis back to our accommodation.