180423 USJ - Final Fantasy

after monster hunter, we only had time for one short ride before we headed over for ff. we chose to just browse around. i got my chocobo popcorn bucket earlier in the day and when i was there for the ride around 4+ it was already all sold out!!

 

i also got that cactuar churros for 550 JPY. the greenish thorn thing on it didn't taste good. it was just colored sugar. yeeps. it still looked nice though.

and of cos my beloved chocobo at 3,480 JPY with popcorn was probably the best thing i got from the whole usj. it is soooo cute and if you open the beaks it will actually squeak. kweh!

anyway here we go into the ride! the waiting time was around 80-100mins. but if you chiong to this in the morning first thing, it was actually less than 15mins. we did regret we didn't go for this in the first place and went for spidey instead. if not we'll be able to take it twice...

anyways... in we go! no queuing for us so no one to block our path all the way... and thankfully we got the express pass because there was nothing to see except the following exhibit, which isn't really part of the queue, and the screen on top. the animation was also pretty short (less than 5mins?)

and we are now at the front of the door...

and then we are in! pretty crystal right in the middle that actually shows a prelude of what's gonna happen. basically we are just making an escape in the mogship.

and so we are preparing our entry into the ship..

and into the tunnel we go!

since everything is powered by VR, not much i can take. had a great time watching cloud and sephiroth but i was expecting more characters to appear but nope. it was just ff7-centric. oh well. it was still a great ride nonetheless!

and then into the merchandise store! this is also the same place as where sailormoon stuff was sold since that store is in the middle of all the 4 event rides.

anyway, i've to say i'm quite disappointed with the ff merchandise. the person designing it probably has no idea what the hell ff is, because s/he basically just slapped the logo across everything he can find. so logo + bag, logo + shirt, logo + can, etc etc

1) the t-shirts, bag (cheapskate looking canvas material...). cups - should i even take a picture of the eco bag below? it just looks like an eco bag with a big logo.

2) headphones with logos on both sides. i can't stop laughing at it. it just looks so cheap. i can print the sticker and paste it on my white headphones. and towels with what else, BIG logo. you know if they have even put a little effort into it, like make the logo smaller, embroider it with shiny threads and put it at the side, the decorate it with some iconic characters, it would be so much better. but nope, guess they are rushing for deadlines so logos would sell, no?

3) logo boxed cookie. and when you finally decide to put some characters, they had to be something you eat and shit out. not that my shit will look like the characters later on for me to keep.

4) whaddya know, guess people will pay for a watch with the logo? dear product designer, do you know how easy it is to actually print a face on a watch nowadays? 6k yen for this thing? i don't even want to spent 500yen for it. compare it to sailormoon - they had at least changeable faces and a bracelet strap. but yours... 'nuff said.

5) hoodies and bags with better lv monogram-lookalike  design, but still with a big logo at the edge

6) designer: oh yeh, i think i used too much logos, i better use pictures. and colored ink costs less, black and white looks so much cooler so let's just print a black and white photo on tshirts.

either you have all the colors in the world, or you have none at all!

7) led light stands - the products are a little better when they start to use different characters. but instead of spamming logos, this time they just decided to spam characters.

8) character brooches. but you know, you're not wrong for spamming characters because i might just buy till i get my fav squall. they also had character sweet cans which looked a little like the led stands but i forgot to take pictures of it. 

9) cookie drawers, tumblers, note stand, plushies - i think there was probably 2 designers on the team. one who spammed logos and one who actually tried to integrate the essence of ff using the mascots. at least the cookie boxes had drawer uses this time and looked better. i  almost wanted to get the plushie cos they are so cuteeee

10) ff game (of cos, you should sell the game!), another led stand. key chains, magnets and pouches. i felt like i needed to buy one of the mascots and i finally decided to spend on the key rings since all 3 mascots were inside and i could easily hang them as accessories.

 11) the chocobo hoodies, hat, cape towels and socks were cuter here too

actually who will wear the hats outside of usj? at least the cape towl has uses on beach...

12) and finally they had something done tastefully - mascot necklaces. (though it looks like you could buy them off taobao too)

the day was getting colder so we decided we will go for one last ride - jurassic park water ride before we go on. thank goodness we didn't get splashed on much!

and after starving for the whole day... (the food is so expensive) and surviving on ramune sweets... we decided to go for sukiyaki buffet. it costs about 3,000 JPY per person w tax for dinner time, and comes with free flow haagen daaz ice cream!

 we had like 3 plates of beef and one plate of pork... and some vege and noodles. and we were soon knocked out.

and then we had at least 2 servings of haagen daaz each. yum yum!!

for the rest of the night we just toured around umeda trying to digest all the meat.. came across this pretty neat water thingy near daimaru mall that could show the time and greetings, as well as various pictures. cool!

there was also a basement level with lots of food at lacua (?) and restaurants that look like high level 'pubs' because there was so many workers drinking there even though it was past 10pm. found a super nice green tea!

and some really weird bread...

and then we are off to pack our stuff...

hello, all my sailormoon and ff lovelies...!!!

oh and yes the sailormoon collaboration at GU - all the merchandise were totally restocked so i could get everything i wanted. wheehee~

Do check out the other parts of usj here:

1) sailormoon + minions

2) harry potter + monster hunter

3) final fantasy

180423 USJ - Sailormoon, Minions

the whole point about osaka's trip is basically USJ! that's the only reason that brought me back. there was the seasonal change in rides and this time both sailormoon and final fantasy were in!!! it's only there till june so i had to hurryyyy. thank goodness i live just 2 hours away XDDDD

we woke up at like 730am and reached around 840am, just 20mins before the gates open. in any case i bought my tickets online so i can just show them the QR codes to get in directly. yay! 

i bought the entrance tix at 7,900 JPY + express ticket for sailormoon that included a luna p bottle at 2,038 JPY + express tickets for final fantasy and monster hunter at 2,593 JPY. since i've already been to harry potter and my whole point was ff and sailormoon, this was about the cheapest option for me. i wanted that luna bottle anyway. if not, you could just get the express 4 tickets for ff + monster hunter + sailormoon + conan at 6,300 JPY. however, i wasn't interested in conan. last time i went for the escape game for biohazard i was almost bored to death for 2 hours and i suppose it's more or less the same... so nope, no escape game.

anyway i arranged my trip on a monday so there probably isn't that many people right? WRONG! there was already a HUGE crowd when i reached. thank goodness the gates start to open around 8.50 so we didn't have to wait that long to get in...

we basically ran all the way to spiderman and we got in at less than 5mins. hurhurhuhru. right in the first seat with the best view. and we were the only ones in the whole shuttle that's supposed to hold 12 people. when we were done, there was still no queue. XDDD

next was minions. it was just right beside spiderman, so easy to find. minions land!!!

and i guess this is where all the crowds gathered at because we waited for a whooping 60mins (or maybe less?).

the good thing was there's all this screen around showing minion animation that's made for USJ and it's actually pretty interesting, with english subs. i didn't notice the long wait because i was too busy watching it and it's actually quite long.

just about when i finish the whole episode i was in!

there was a whole story mode before you get on the actual ride, about Gru making a machine to turn people into minions.

and then it was the ride! whee hee! i managed a snap of the final scene hurhurhurhu. we were again, in the middle, at the first row. such luck! bless my clean shot.

short snaps of minions land before we headed to the next ride.

there was also a show that happened later in the day when we passed by after monhun.

next we went for the jurassic park flying predator ride!!! you basically lie flat as if you are flying throughout the ride. it was really awesome!! and we only waited for like 30-40mins.

and finally it was time for my first express pass to be used - sailormoon!

the showtimes happen every 20mins. and you really don't need to queue because not a lot of people were watching it. and you can just get in right before the show starts to avoid queuing. don't really need the express pass unless you want the merchandise...

here are some carts that were selling merchandise just outside the theatre. the popcorn box was really well done but i didn't get it.

someone happened to put that popcorn box beside the 2 cats so i just had to snap it. yes, that bag is a popcorn box. fwaaaaah

here's also my luna p bottle that i collected. it's actually much smaller than expected (about palm size). their ramune actually referred to ramune sweets inside those pink packaging. tasted not so bad.

and then into the theatre we go! i'm actually not supposed to take these pictures but hahahahah oh well bad tourist!

sailormoon is a 4D show so expect water, wind, moving chairs and bubbles! it was a nostalgic recollection for me but i think nampyeon laughed at all the cheesiness... people who have no idea what sailormoon is... better don't waste your time!! oh and there was like massive advertisement for that crystal wand. kept asking people to get it and light it up together to 'save the world'.

and then we head into the real merchandise stores.... photos spam ahead! i'm gonna put up all the sailormoon stuff there is!!

are you prepared! here goes!

1) jewelry hangers, exclusive serenity one as well

2) tea bags. the cans were pretty enticing...

3) sweet cans.. now this is even more purchase worthy since it's in the shape of the transformation device...!!

 

3) the prettiest serenity cookie can which i finally decided to get.

4 different designs and 2 different tastes inside. it was really just too pretty to be eaten...!!!

4) phone pouch/holder but it doesn't seem to be able to hold my phone although it looks quite big.

 5) that magical wand that can save the world. had to take a picture of it for remembrance sake.

6) the shirts that allow you to become hippy sailors

they had other tshirt designs as well as the cape towel too. this picture was taken at the cart outside but they had those in store as well.

7) complete your hippy outlook with these bows...!

8) if you do not want bows you can always have the magical sceptres in your hair instead - yes, these are hairpins...!

9) or maybe you want the whole moon sceptres to be pinned to your bags or clothes instead? brooches here!

10) watch with changing colored rings

 11) one of the prettiest item there - the necklace. (but also easily found on taobao)

12) maybe you will want 5 lip balms all at once too..?? i wanted a lip balm but i didn't need 5...

13) Tumblers, earpiece and totes. the earpiece has a serenity emblem in the middle. i wonder how's the sound/comfort level...

14) stationery - dispenser tape, cases and post-it notes

15) pillows! more totes!

16) right, how can we leave out a gacha for fans to throw all their money till they get the whole collection?

and if you are hungry by now, time to head to the cafe.

i wanted to eat them but on second look, they don't look very tasty so i kept my wallet safe.

on the way to the next ride, we managed to catch the terminator 4D show which was supposed to have like 50mins waiting time.

anyway if you catch the show timings properly, you don't even have to wait. just enter right before it shows. the theatre is so big you're usually bound to have seats. so don't wait dumbly in line for them...

Do check out the other parts of usj here:

1) sailormoon + minions

2) harry potter + monster hunter

3) final fantasy