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HAPPY HALLOWEEN FROM JAPAN!
Universal Studios, Osaka, Japan.
October 31st, 2013, 11:49pm.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! YAY! Well, it's not exactly Halloween at home yet, but it is here!
Today was a great day! Real woke up early to go explore the famous garden right outside out hotel. Then we had breakfast and found our way to the Universal City Station. There was a really short line to get into the park! It was awesome! I hoped that the whole day would be like that! Alas, it wasn't. It wasn't busy in the morning because everyone was waiting for night fall...
We went on many rides. They were all the same though. There was the Spiderman Ride, The Mummy Museum, Jaws the Ride, Back to the Future Ride, Jurassic Park Ride, and a Hollywood roller coaster. We went on all of them. The Spiderman Ride was a 3D ride, made to make you feel as though you're in a car, saving the world with Spiderman. It was pretty cool. Not for weak stomachs, though. This was Real's favourite ride! My favourite was the Hollywood roller coaster. It was a really long ride that took you all around the park, at lightning speeds! The best park was that it has built in speakers for each seat, so you can choose your favourite type of music to listen to. It was so much fun!
We waited for hours for the other rides... From best to worst would probably be, Jurassic Park, Jaws, the Mummy Museum, and Back to the Future. Jurassic park was a lot like Jaws, in that it just takes you around touring the setting, and the animals pop out at you from in the water and on the ground. Real got a good video of it actually! The worst was the Mummy Museum and Back to the Future. The Mummy Museum was bad mostly because we waited in line for it for nearly 2 hours. All it was was a haunted house that you walk through! You're put into teams of 6, and the "Team Captain" is given a candle. How appropriate was it that the candle was handed to me? I mean, I'm just so great at being Team Captain... right? *Sigh.*
My whole team turned out to be a bunch of chickens. Even the teams behind us were scaredy cats, too! See, the candle turns blue when you can proceed, and it turns off when you're supposed to wait. I followed instructions, of course. The Mummy's and monsters need time to prepare to scare you, right? Of course, the wimpy teams behind ours caught up to us, as they simply sprinted through the whole maze. And I'm just there, walking through calmly, with about 15 people glued to my back, pushing me through first and screaming like little babies. It was quite humorous, actually!
For some reason, Halloween makes me feel confident that nothing is scary. Of course, there are some exceptions... Like horror movies and stuff. But I feel like I'm so into Halloween that all the creepy monsters would just see me as an accomplice rather than a target! That feeling was reinforced the further I went into the maze.
Since I was first, I could see the scares coming way before they came. I made eye contact with most of them. They seemed to say, "Well, since you're first, and obviously really brave, I won't jump out and scare you. I'll just scare your friends."
They would all wait until I passed to jump out and freak out my group. And the groups that were glued to ours. It was hilarious! I led the group out of the maze, and handed the candle back to the staff. I thought. Wow. That was so not worth it! At least I got an ego boost out of it! ;)
The Back to the Future ride was the crappiest ride I've ever been on! It was a really long wait, and all it was was a simulator that took you through the centre of the Earth. It wasn't even fun. In fact, I felt really nauseous afterwards. And I was really mad about that, because it was nearly time for the zombies to be unleashed upon the whole Universal Studios' grounds.
I sat on the curb, had some water, and lucky started feeling better before the time came. The time I had been waiting for!
The alarms started sounding, and a Japanese man came on the intercom screaming and yelling something. I didn't understand what he was saying, but I was able to interpret and let my imagination do the rest. From my point of view, he said something like, "Everyone! Get to safety! The zombies have escaped our research facility and are headed straight for your location!" Then he cut out, and you could hear he was being mauled by something. "Save yourseeehhhlllvvssszz...." Then there was silence for a brief moment. Suddenly, zombie wails and moans filled the air. Sirens and hors began blaring, and select locations around the park began flooding with amazing actors in amazing makeup. Near Real and I, a group of girls started screaming and running. It was like watching opposing magnets act with each other. Everyone just fled from the zombie's way. And they were heading straight for us! Suddenly I realized that they were everywhere, surrounding us! They had blood on their shirts, ripped clothes, open sores, gashes on their arms and faces. They had contact lenses to make them look truly dead and rotting. Their teeth were even done up! And yes, I know this because I got close enough to some of them to see!
The further we made out way through the park, the more we saw. Near the Jurassic Park area, there were different zombies. Big mutated ones! They stood about 7 ft tall, obviously on stilts. They had huge prosthetic makeups on their heads, making them tower over the people. Their bodies were melted and gross, with blood and guts all over then. Their faces were twisted in a disgusting expression. They walked slowly, like giants, only bending down swiftly to creep out a passerby. Some of the girls walking by screamed and nearly broke out into tears. That's how real it was! I thought they were so awesome! I followed them for a good 10 minutes, while Real tried snapping pictures of me with them.
We went around, discovering tons of things to do. Every once and a while, the song "Thriller" by Michael Jackson would come on, and the zombies would stop dead in their tracks an start dancing. It was hilarious! But beware, for once the music stopped, they snapped out of their trans-like dance and switched back on to hunting mode! It was amazing! I had so much fun! We tried finding a horror rated restaurant to eat at, but they were all full or needed reservations. We ended up eating at an Italian restaurant in the park. It was funny because for a moment, everything seemed civilized. But once we stepped back outside onto the streets, we stepped back into chaos and havoc!
I later discovered that you can buy a necklace that glows, symbolizing to the zombies that you are willing to get attacked! I ran to the store and put it on. Which basically screamed, "EAT ME!" to them! It worked! They chased you and got right up to your face! On my hands and knees, a pack of them swarmed me, staring me right in the eye! It was like a real zombie apocalypse experience! Well, not really. Because if it WAS real, 1) I'd be dead. 2) I wouldn't be so excited about it. I'd be terrified.
The whole time I couldn't stop thinking of Joel, my Auntie Paige, and my cousin Chloe, as I know all three of them are obsessed with the Walking Dead and zombies. They would have loved this experience. I wished I could have just teleported them to be with me!
Well, I guess all I can do is share the pictures and this blog. I hope I explained it well enough to make it as vivid as possible!
I was sad to go home, but the park closed at 9pm. We made our way back to our hotel, and packed to get ready for our trip home tomorrow. TOMORROW! Boy oh boy, I can't wait to get home. Yet, I know that once I get there, I'll be missing it here.
It's been fun Japan, but there's no place like home!
See you soon, Calgary!
Love always,
Lindsay Lehr
- comments
barbara Cool!!!