Im visiting Osaka in April and thinking if anyone knows
1) the cheapest ticket option where to buy
2) if super nintendo world option worth it
3) any tips about USJ?
Universal Studios Japan at Osaka
jes on 13/02/2025 - 08:31
Comments
Use the single rider queue. Save on fast pass.
My wife and I did this when we went. Worked great.
Whilst a great option for some, op hasn't mentioned with or without kids. Also that won't get you into Super Mario World or HP. Getting there stupid early or buying a fast pass will. Child swap is also a great option for those with littler ones.
Yeah, you can choose the times, so it'll typically bundle the areas together (harry potter, nintendo etc)
1) I purchased my tickets online from the USJ website if I remember correctly.
2) May as well check it out
3) Everything is in Japanese - all the ride dialogue, all the parades etc. If you don't speak Japanese you'll have a hard time having any idea what's going on! Still fun though. If they still have the Harry Potter world you have to try the Butterbeer. Give yourself a full day, they have fireworks or a show at night which was cool.In relation to 3, get a data plan and Google translate = no problem with Japanese.
Hard to do that while you're on an interactive ride!
Super nintendo world is worth it, however don’t buy the band (not worth it) and dont do the yoshi ride (boring). Do the mario kart ride. Do the harry potter ride in the castle.
1) the cheapest ticket option where to buy
LOL
2) if super nintendo world option worth it
Depends if you like super nintendo stuff?
3) any tips about USJ?
Have fun.
check klook for discounted tickets
Unless you're a Nintendo mega fan or under 16 super Nintendo world will be underwhelming imo.
Have you been?
Yes. I went with the fast past so I had a set time to get in. I like Nintendo/Mario, but it was still overcrowded. The setting was nice but unless you want to wait 2 hours for the Mario Kart ride (arguably worth it) or 30 mins to hit a block with your first (didn't do it) I wouldn't recommend it.
Sounds like a reasonable review.
Nintendo World is still very new so not at all surprised the crowds are crazy and the wait times are long.
I went to Disneyland in the USA after the first starwars ride opened and it was the same. Crazy long wait times. Not sure the ride was worth the wait to be honest. I hear the 2nd ride that opened is far better, but the first one was kinda meh. Not sure I would wait 2-3 hours for it.
There's a donkey kong area and ride now
@spackbace: I was there before that so couldn't comment, but my ride they have there is the flying dinosaur.
the cheapest ticket option
Employees get good discounts…
Worked there for three years performing in one of their shows.
Can attest that free tickets are best tickets.
Especially when we got to do the Nintendo world test days before it opened to the public
Spend the day at Don Quixote/Book Off Super Bazar instead!
We went to Universal two weeks ago.
Book SNW tickets asap! We missed out trying to book (Klook) a week before going. However, when we arrived at Universal (early) we went straight to Hogwarts and we virtually had the entire place to ourselves as everyone literally runs to SNW. Best time for Jurassic park ride was during the Water World show times as a fair amount of people walk around the corner to watch that. Line up was only 20mins (you will get soaking wet). Also download the mobile app as it has wait times for the rides and works as a google maps within the park.
There is a McDonald's as you are walking to the entry from the train station that does world class hash browns too. Pick you lunch times too as the restaurants get busy.
Absolutely get a fast pass package, otherwise you'll find yourself standing in lines all day for two rides. Just match one up with the rides you want to go on.
Nintendo World is definitely worth it. Mario Kart ride is excellent, Yoshi ride is more for smaller kids but you get some excellent views of the area, food in the Kinopio Cafe is surprisingly decent.
If you go on the Jurassic Park raft ride, find somewhere to stash your gear before you line up — for some weird reason it's one of the few rides that doesn't provide lockers, and if you bring your bag with you on the ride it'll get drenched. Learnt that the hard way.
- Not really a thing. Just buy direct or via Klook.
- I'd skip it honestly, it's overcrowded. The mario kart ride is decent but unless you're a huge mario fan I think you could find something else to do.
- Jump in the single rider lines where possible. Even if you're with someone else. We did it a few times and even ended up getting on the same ride together anyway.
Went recently (mid Jan) and USJ was not a pleasant experience and not something we'd do again.
People end up concentrating around the 2 worlds (Super Mario/Donkey Kong + Harry Potter) meaning it was constantly overcrowded (pushing/shoving/no place to sit/people stopping randomly to take photos). Super Mario World was endless lines (if you get the band, it's endless lines to do everything). Then because of the limited rides - you end up waiting at least 2 hours for Mario Kart and possibly 3 hours for the Donkey Kong ride.
On the flip side - the other parts of USJ (Hollywood, Sesame Street, Minions, Jurassic) are all much more pleasant and far more reasonable wait times.
Wife went on the Pterodactyl ride and legit looked like the scariest ride I've laid eyes on (wife confirmed). You are horizontal (imagine a pterodactyl clutching you in their claws) while going through loops at high speed.Your mileage may vary.
Flying Dinosaur is the best ride I have every been on!
was endless lines
New to theme parks? Lines are a given. You'll spend 1/2 the day standing in lines!
To be fair, that DK world only opened in December, so of course was gonna be nuts in Jan
been pre & post nintendo world, nintendo world was totally worth it. as others said, it's one big openmouthed photo op, with a semi decent vr mario kart ride. but it's a decent wait… they should have donkey kong country open now though, who's rollercoaster looked pretty cool and it may spread people out to be more bearable…
wait times are huge unless you're extremely lucky on an offseason day. it seems expensive but pony up for the fast pass queue jumping by buying way in advance or you'll be waiting 1-3hours depending on the ride. the only really impressive rides are the jurassic world coaster and the harry potter castle ride tho really, you're at universal for the atmosphere, otherwise you'd goto fuji-Q-highland which is one of the best theme parks i've been to.
from memory, if you don't prebook your timeslot for nintendo world, you gotta be in the park and book it through some confusing process, all while the timeslots are getting slammed by everyone. don't mess around or you'll be left hanging all day til closing time or miss out. got stuck waiting til after 6pm for my slot, had a daylight gawk around and then and went straight into mario kart queue which took ~2hrs, then came out at night to gawk around further with light snow, glorious. it is a whole day outing tbf and it actualy was even cooler at night time, but yeh don't mess around booking a slot at yr preferred time.
i dont even know or like harry potter but drink the butter beers… like all of them.
Here are my tips:
- Buy 3 months in advance. (Fast Pass can get sold out)
- You can buy through Klook.
I bought the Fast Pass and make sure the times are reasonable. So, you can enjoy one area for about 1-2 hours and an extra 30 mins to walk to the next one.
Best Sequence:
1-Harry Potter
2-Mario World
3-Donkey KongI bought the Fast Pass and entered the park at 10AM. Less traffic on road/train. No long queue at the entrance (although Fast Pass has a special entry lane).
- Play the main rides then buy the merch. I queued for more than 30 mins just for the Mario Kart popcorn bag.
- There are street performances which I think they are very talented.
- Be ready for some disappointments. The flying dinosaur ride was closed due to technical difficulty. I think I was lucky enough to be stuck in the middle of the ride.
- There was a Detective Conan show/cabaret at the Theatre. It was okay but they were speaking in Japanese, so didn't understand what they were talking about.
- Food is cheaper and better near the Universal-City JR station.
- Allow the whole day at least 8 hours inside the park.
Klook is the easiest way to buy overseas, if I remember correctly.
I missed out on fast pass for the rides I wanted (and entry to Super Nintendo) but it turned out to be a good thing! Just went on a normal pass, went on a weekday, arrived a bit before the gates opened. The queues weren't as bad as the ones I've seen online.
I was inside by 8:15am, registered my pass on the app immediately as I went through the gates and claimed a timed entry to Super Nintendo World at 9:30am. Went to Harry Potter world and it was still pretty quiet. Then went to SNW and that was where all the crowds were, didn't get the powerband queues for the activities were crazy too
Tips:
- Enable location services for the USJ app prior to getting to the park, you can use it for the on-the-spot reservations for in-demand restaurants and cafes
- I found rides that had a 45 min wait time was actually only 20mins and one time it was only the time to walk to the start of the ride (Hippogriff ride)
- Use single rider queues if you don't mind not riding with friends/family. Saves a heap of time and no fastpass needed
Literally here right now. They open super early compared to the posted time on the website etc. ie today it wasn’t supposed to open you til 9:00, but we’ve already done 2 rides in that time before 9, and we got here at 7:45.
Get an express pass and be prepared to wait in queues.
Is that an express pass queue?!
Nope. A 15 minute queue for Jurassic Park. It was actually 14 minutes in the end.
Nice!
We're going in April, looking forward to it 🙂
@spackbace: Express passes will be your best friend. In the end, I ended up doing the following:
Arrived at 7:45, got an all-day locker, near Hello Kitty toilets, they were full very quickly and for $5 (you get a $1 refund at the end of your use if you press the button, I pressed a few others and ended up making my money back from others who forgot to lol), headed straight to Jurassic Park - The Ride, did that once, then headed to Despicable Me - Minioon Mayhem, again just walked on, no queue.After that, I got pictures in Minion World, and it got very busy thereafter, so I beat the crowds to it. Did Jurassic Park again, and then did Singles Line at Space Fantasy. The queue time said 45 minutes, but it only took 15, and I found that the rest of the day, any time the sign said a big number for singles, it was usually a lot quicker. After Space Fantasy, I had entry into Nintendo World, did the three rides there and got the hell out because it was soooo packed and busy. Note: You can buy all the merch from there and from multiple other locations outside the world. Didn't bother with the wrist tag things as it was $50. Went and had lunch; the pizza place in NY seemed the best value. Any restaurant we looked at was fully booked already, so if that's your thing, do that early. After lunch, we Expressed through to Jaws. Quality.
Queued singles at Space Fantasy again, around 25 minutes this time, then had express passes into Harry Potter world. Did the two rides in there. The only downside was I was too tall for Flight of the HippoGriff, but I got two bonus express passes as a result and an apology. Don't waste your time on Butterbeer, unless you like fizzy caramel creaming soda stuff.
After that, I decided to use the remaining express pass that I bought on Flight of the Dinosaur, quality ride, 10/10. Now it was about 4:30, and I had two express passes left with any choice of ride. Decided to explore some of the shops and streets until about 5:15, then headed back to FOTD to do it at sunset, and with Osaka lights coming on, it was great and highly recommend. Now, dark, did Jaws again, despite knowing what to expect, it was a totally different experience. Did Jurassic Park again, twice in a row, through singles, with five-minute waits each time. Now it was 7:30 and 1 hour until the park "closed", so I went and did FOTD but queued in singles as the regular entry had shut due to the queue being 100 minutes. Singles also had 100 minutes, but only took 60, but I found that reasonable given the ride was quality and it was really the first queue I'd waited in all day.
After that, it was 8:30, so the park was technically closed. Still not satisfied with what I'd done, I hurried over to Space Fantasy to do it again through Singles. It was a great way to end the day. Then walked back through a nearly dead park, except for all the influencers and TikTokers doing their thing under the neon street lights, to get my things from the locker and make some money from the buttons and get a few weird looks from some other people in the nearby shop. Walked back to the exit, getting pictures along the way of the buildings, and then ate dinner at 9 pm at Hard Rock on the boardwalk. Just be aware if you're planning on eating there that they slap the 9% consumption tax on as you pay.
Overall, I'm really happy with the day, and I wouldn't change a thing. I did everything I/we wanted to. Hope you have a good time too.
My best tip is get a fast pass package and if you can book it 4 months in advance (most bookings in japan seem to open up no earlier than 4 months) . If you love nintendo & harry potter ts definitely worth it. Although as everyone said its all in japanese their theme parks put ours to shame!
It gets super crowded with locals on weekends so go during a weekday if you can for any theme park in japan.
The minion ride is really good as well.
We loved it when we went last year and are going again in june so yes definitely go.
Klook is a good place to book and is slightly cheaper and better to understand than going through the USJ website.We had a choice between Universal and Hiroshima and picked the former. Regret it to this day. Spent the whole day riding like three five minutes rides even with the fast pass. Universal was not that great and Nintendo world was a let down in terms of things to do. That said, they didn't have the Donkey Kong ride built when we went but even that wouldn't have made up for the disappointment. Even food and drink options were annoying as you had to line up for an hour just to get access to those.
When I went the second time, my friends and I agreed the fast pass was a good idea. I think we waited 2-3 hours in line for the Jurassic Park coaster the first time.
We stuffed up and booked all our fast passes separately on Klook tho… with different times. I suspect if you buy them together you get the same times, or can apparently even choose the times (don’t remember this option).