Super Nintendo World is absolutely swarming right now, what with it being just over a month since opening, The Super Mario Bros Movie just coming out, spring break, and the first week of good weather LA has had in months! These marketers know what they’re doing!

The Super Mario Bros Movie

We watched The Super Mario Bros Movie the night before visiting Super Nintendo World as a pre-game. While I can’t personally speak to the movie’s nostalgia factor since I don’t play video games, I know that there are a ton of references that fans will enjoy. The movie is pretty much all references and no plot, but hey, sometimes you just need something that’s not that serious! My favourite sequence was towards the beginning of the movie when Mario and Luigi were running to their first client. It was a great adaptation of the game mechanics without being too literal, and it was a great scene for characterisation as well.

Super Nintendo World

The next day, we headed out to Universal Studios Hollywood bright and early, and made a beeline to Super Nintendo World. We only had two things on our itinerary: Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge and Toadstool Cafe. The only other things to do at Super Nintendo World are the four mini games, which you need to buy a power-up band to play (they’re kind of like the wands at Harry Potter World), but you can just buy one for your party and pass it around if you don’t want to shill out the bucks.

Despite arriving only 30 minutes after the park opened, we snagged some of the last spots for Super Nintendo World’s virtual line. Luckily I found a link for Toadstool Cafe reservations the previous night, so we were able to book that on our drive over once the link went live for the day. Otherwise, we would have had to wait until we got into Super Nintendo World to scan the Toadstool Cafe reservation QR code, and they definitely would have been fully booked by the time we got in.

Without thinking too much about it, I accepted my friend’s invite to Six Flags off the high from Disneyland and Universal Studios. I’m an amusement park girlie now, didn’t ya know? I went to bed binging POV videos on Youtube, slowly realising what I was getting myself into, wondering if I’d survive the day ahead.

The first time I ever went on an extreme roller coaster was a trip to Six Flags Great Adventure (New Jersey) during summer camp in middle school. I have no idea what my friend and I spent our time doing, because we were too scared of the big kid roller coasters. We probably just ate a lot of food and browsed the merch shops, but at some point, we figured we should probably go on at least one. Working up the courage for Bizarro (now Medusa), we promised to hold each other’s hand through the whole ride. As soon as we tottered on the first crest, it was every woman for herself. We immediately released each other to grip our own restraints.

Entering the Hayao Miyazaki exhibit through Totoro’s tunnel with Joe Hisaishi playing overhead, I could have cried! When the tunnel opens up, you’re met by clips from Miyazaki films projected onto the walls. I had to remind myself that I could marathon the films once I got home (which I definitely did), and with great effort, pulled myself onward.

My favourite parts were the installations, anything related to Princess Mononoke (my favourite Studio Ghibli film), and the character design BTS. It was especially fun to see the various iterations of Kiki’s hair blonde, red, blue; long and flowing, tied down in pigtails; before settling on her brunette bob decorated with a red bow. Another cool thing I learned was that Miyazaki would write poems about his characters to convey their personalities to his animators, which were displayed on the walls of the exhibit.

Before leaving the museum, I popped by the museum store to grab the Hayao Miyazaki art book as a keepsake. You’re not allowed to take photos inside the exhibit (only the hallway outside), but it’s all documented in the book except for the installations — so still worth a visit, but not the end of the world if you couldn’t make it. I’m so grateful I got to visit this temporary exhibit twice before it ended, and now I’ll have this art book to flip through whenever I want! One day I’ll have to make my way to the Ghibli Museum, Ghibli Park, and Jiufen.

I was a bit apprehensive about making a trip to Universal Studios on the actual week of Christmas, but we had a friend to entertain! In the end, we had nothing to worry about, even without Express Passes. We arrived right when the park opened and hustled down to the Lower Level for Jurassic World, The Mummy, and Transformers rides — we’ll have to come back in February for the opening of Super Nintendo World! As you can see, Jurassic World was pretty much empty, probably because nobody wanted to get drenched first thing in the morning. We didn’t think that far ahead, but the shivers really added to the thrill haha. The Mummy was sooo much fun; we rode it two times without having to line up. By the time we got to Transformers, the lines started forming.

With the Lower Level complete, we journeyed up the escalators to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter on the Upper Level. I could have spent the rest of the day strolling around Harry Potter World — not even riding the rides (the Harry Potter rides are a bit tame and I’ve already done them in Japan anyway), just enjoying the shops and ambience. Shout out to the Fizzing Whizzbees! They’re bee-shaped milk chocolates with strawberry pop rocks and they’re SO good. I wish they came in cute keepsake tins, but I’d stock up on them regardless.

We probably walked in and out of Harry Potter World five different times, but we also went on other Upper Level rides (Kung Fu Panda) and saw some shows (Water World, Special Effects Show, Studio Tour). The park didn’t start feeling overwhelmingly chaotic until evening — maybe because of the evening light shows, plus the park started restricting the traffic to one-way only, so we had to walk in circles to get around — and that was our sign to turn in for the night.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Nothing like Disneyland on a Tuesday! My brothers and I arrived right when the park opened, and our only plan was to ride Space Mountain over and over until our friends arrived, but alas, Space Mountain was “temporarily closed” !!!! A bunch of friends had told me to plan an itinerary before getting to Disneyland, but I was swamped with school and didn’t have time, and I figured I’d just follow everyone else around after getting my fill of Space Mountain.

Thus, we were back to the drawing board. My brothers and I used our precious phone battery to look up potentially fun rides and studied up on how Lightning Lanes worked with the Genie+ Pass while waiting in random lines for random rides. By the time our friends arrived, we were pros. I’m so frickin prepared for the next visit 😉

Later in the day, Space Mountain finally opened and you better believe we hauled it over! It was the best ride of the day! I don’t think I blinked once and I have the tears to prove it haha.

We stayed at the park until the fireworks, sort of haha. In the evening, we bided our time shopping for souvenirs and resting outdoors at one of the cafes on Main Street with a perfect view. I got myself a soup and hot cocoa, and our waitress gave me a free refill and another full cup to go! I was absolutely stuffed but I mean… I couldn’t turn it down! In the end, the fireworks were cancelled because of the wind, which was hilarious because our friends have been trying to catch the fireworks at Disneyland for years but the fireworks always happened to be cancelled for one reason or another. Gotta love keeping the tradition alive!

On the shuttle back to the parking lot, my legs immediately turned to jelly, and walking from the shuttle to the car took all my concentration because I was sure they’d give out at any moment. Absolutely spent, absolutely well-spent.