Osaka Universal Studios, Japan

After a lot of chit chat I managed to persuade Jason to go to Universal Studios...yes!!! I was so excited!

I set my alarm extra early to make sure we got to the ticket booth first and ensured early entrance to the park. I thought I was eager...the Japanese were there even earlier and were frantically running around when the gates opened. I tried to get Jason to run but he was having none of it.

We'd got the speed tickets that meant that we skipped the queues for the major attractions and were given a time slot for the Harry Potter area. It didn't seem that busy for most of the rides but it probably made sense to get the speed tickets for Harry Potter and the big rollercoaster, American Dream, alone.

We tried to go on everything: Spiderman, Back to the Future, Shrek, Terminator, the Waterworld show, Space ride (which was my personal favourite), and loads more. Harry Potter really surprised us, neither of us are particular fans, but the whole area is amazing and there's so much attention to detail. We treated ourselves to butter beer, but couldn't persuade Jason to buy a wand or cape. We were amazed by the main Harry Potter ride; fantastic 4D effects, water and fire in front of your face, action packed. But I'm afraid the Flight of the Hippogriff was rubbish (that might be slightly unfair, I'm sure younger children loved it).

I loved the whole day, especially because of all the extra Christmas touches. There were Christmas parades, Christmas songs played throughout the theme park, huge Christmas tree and twinkly lights...it made me feel all Christmassy!

This is our last entry for Japan. We spent our last day finishing our Christmas shopping in Kyoto and making our way to a hotel near the airport. Looking forward to finding some warmer weather in the Philippines.

P.S. We didn't take our big camera so I'm afraid the pictures are only off our phone.