17 Tips for Visiting Universal Studios Japan

Hogwarts Castle

We visited Universal Studios Japan (USJ) midweek, in April 2019 (not during the school holidays). These are our tips below.

1. Be strategic when you go

Do not go weekends, golden week, school holidays. Also avoid Mondays and Fridays if possible.  This is particularly important for this park as USJ is a magnet for school holiday crowds. Check the crowd calendars online http://www15.plala.or.jp/gcap/usj/ You will notice that the Calendars are in Japanese – open them in a Chrome browser and it will translate a lot to English for you automatically (this tip works for all Japanese websites). From the Calendar you can tell what is a busy day from a not so busy day – there is a table at the bottom of the screen that tells you the level of crowd congestion.

2. Buy your tickets from Klook.

I’ve used Klook several times all over Asia and have never had a problem– they give you a little discount off the entry price and the ticket is emailed directly to your mobile phone. Be aware that my ticket took about an hour to get sent to my email inbox. Usually with Klook its pretty much instantaneous, but with USJ it wasn’t an instantaneous delivery. I bought tickets with a combined discount from Osaka Aquarium.

When you buy from Klook you will need to know your preferred dates you wish to go. You will notice on the website (either Klook or USJ) that there are three ‘tiers’ of dates – Tickets A, B and C. They vary in price according to how busy the park is. On busier days –you will pay more money! So the tickets you want to try and get are the Ticket A ones (for less busy days). When you have selected your tickets you are locked into that day- OR the Price Tier (e.g Ticket A Days only) – please read the fine print on the Klook ticket information. You can then just enter the park by showing your ticket from your phone. Very easy. A child's ticket is aged 4-11 years.

Also note that Klook only sells a limited number of tickets so once you know the date – make sure you book as they do sell out.

3. Stay close to the Park

I can totally recommend staying at the Hotel Keihan Universal City. It’s a reasonably priced hotel, clean and in a safe area. It is surrounded by 3 Lawson outlets and about 20 cafes and restaurants so there are plenty of food options. It’s a 5 minute walk to the USJ entrance and a 2 minute walk from the Universal City JR Train station. We were based here for 12 nights so we got to know the area very well.

The Airport limousine bus for Osaka International Airport (KIK) drops you off at the nearby hotel, Hotel Kintetsu Universal City. The Airport Limousine bus also picks you up from this hotel. It takes less then 5 minutes with suitcases to walk there from Hotel Keihan!

Another advantage we found staying here was the crowds on the train were always going in the opposite direction. During the mornings, when we were heading out to Kyoto or Himeji – there were very small numbers of people on our trains as the crowds of people were heading into Universal Studios for the day. The same thing happened at night – often the trains were empty heading to USJ after 7pm.

4. Go to the Park as early as possible

This park notoriously opens earlier then the advertised time on the website. We found on the day we went it opened 15 minutes early. Many people online report this so make sure you get there early.  By the time we were there (15 minutes early) -100s of people were already there- and we were on a Tier A (not busy) day! I was imagining horror lines all day but actually it was not too bad at all. We did all the rides we wanted to. We headed first to Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey where the wait was 50 minutes.

There are stacks of people even on a non-busy day- but the park does seem to disperse the crowd.

5. Do you need an Express Pass for rides?

It really depends on when you go. Tier A days you don’t need the Express pass. Most ride wait times were 30 minutes. Harry Potter and Despicable me were both about 50 minutes. The Spiderman ride and Jaws were both 30 minutes. The Express passes are very expensive so unless you are going on an extremely busy day I would suggest that they are not necessary. Go early and see tip 6.

6. Use the Single Rider lines!

One way to get through more lines is to always use the Single Rider lines. Spiderman single rider line was only 5 minutes long. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey also has a Single Rider line too.

Spiderman ride - use the Single Rider line to save time

7. Have a Plan on what rides you want to see

When I visit theme parks I break down each area into the rides that we ‘must do’. So for instance the rides in Minion Park were Despicable Me and Freeze Ray Sliders. These were our must do rides. I did this for each area of the park. It doubles as a checklist at the end to make sure that you have done everything. It also means that once you have finished with that area of the park you can move on and not ‘backtrack’ (unless you really want to at the end). You can check current rides for each area of the park on the official USJ website. I also strongly recommend at the same time you  check for ride closure and scheduled maintenance too.

Our plan once we got in to USJ was to head straight for the Harry Potter Forbidden Journey ride (skipping everything else we saw on the way). Go for the longest wait time rides first! We then went land by land around the park in a anticlockwise direction.

The new 'Freeze Ray Sliders Ride'

8. Ask Staff attendants for free stickers

Staff attendants will hand out free stickers – but only if you ask for them. Some have none. Some have a lot. The ones from Minion Park have Minion stickers only i.e are very specific to the area. My daughter ended up with 100’s of USJ stickers.

USJ Stickers are free -you just have to ask

9. There is a Child Swap feature for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey

If your child is too young and/or too short for the Forbidden Journey – tell the attendant at the entrance to the ride. They will give you a special ticket for a child swap. You will basically queue up but towards the end you are sent to a special ‘movie’ room where your child will wait whilst you and your partner take turns doing the ride. The movie room shows Harry Potter movies! The Forbidden Journey ride is a 4D simulator/dark ride. You ride in these special 'chair lift' seats – but you need to keep your head back at all times (which means if you have a child on the ride – they cannot see you!).

If you do the Child Swap for this ride - there is no need to put your  backpacks etc in the lockers. You can keep them with your child and the non-riding partner.

10. Avoid the Shows if short on time – they are all in Japanese
A lot of the shows in USJ are all in Japanese with no attempt at any subtitles or translation devices   (that are found in Tokyo Disneyland). Similarly, USJ pre-rides were all in Japanese. Terminator had a 30 minute pre-ride entirely in Japanese. Same with Backdraft. Of course, when you get to the main ride/show – the language barrier did not matter – it was just the pre-show. I am not saying to miss these rides entirely – just be aware that the pre-show is entirely in Japanese.

11. Universal Wonderland is great for smaller kids
This area is a kids paradise for kids aged 3-7. There are plenty of things for really young kids to do and the area is extremely colourful. There is a Flying Snoopy ride that is exactly like Dumbo – except that it's Snoopy. There is also a rather large undercover area (great on a rainy day) filled with rides and interactive activities for kids of all ages. There is also a Hello Kitty Shop in this area of the park too.

12. The Jaws Ride
You will get wet if you sit on the left hand side of the boat in the Jaws Ride. Not soaking wet.

13. You must choose between the light show parade and Harry Potter night show
At USJ, it’s impossible to do both the Harry Potter light show and the night electric parade as their respective start times are very close. The night parade starts later than advertised which caused us to miss the Harry Potter lights show completely (You can see a bit of the Harry Potter show from outside the park so we saw a bit of it another night. Not ideal).

The Electric Parade was on at 7.25pm. The Harry Potter Hogwarts night show was on at 7.50pm. I thought perfect – we can see both. But the Electric Parade did not start until 7.42pm. So ended up missing Harry Potter. It really is impossible to see both shows. I have also heard this from other people on social media.

14. Harry Potter and Magic Wands
Note that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter area of the park is smaller than Orlando’s Universal Studios (about half the size).  USJ includes Hogsmead and Hogwarts Castle (there is no Diagon Alley or Train ride). Many of the shops you cannot go into (unlike Orlando). The inside of the castle is shorter then the Orlando line. Hogwarts in Japan does have a black lake though.

Hogsmead. Photo taken first thing in the morning. Everyone was running for the rides!

The entrance to Hogwarts castle

Note the Black Lake

Frog Choir at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Flight of the Hippogriff

I do recommend buying an Interactive Wand. The interactive wands are about $50 AUD. Watch the Ollivander's ‘Wand Choosing ceremony’ and then go and choose your wand to purchase. You will be able to do numerous magic tricks in the park.

Ollivanders

Do note however that the Interactive Wands you purchase in America do work in USJ Wizarding World. Yes, we carted our wand all the way from Australia to Japan just to use at this park. There are less areas to perform the magic tricks then in Orlando – HOWEVER – the magic tricks were easier to perform (they worked most times first or second go!) and the magic tricks did different things from what we saw in Orlando (so it was well worth taking them!). You will find more areas to perform magic near the side wall of Hogsmead (near the train).

You can get Butterbeer at two locations within the park – The Three Broomsticks and Hogs Head. Be aware that Butterbeer is very sweet. We tend to get the ice cream which is delicious! (butterscotch flavour).

Moaning Myrtle can be heard in the female toilets. She speaks in Japanese only – but you will know its her!

On busy days you will need a timed entry ticket into the Harry Potter Wizarding World area. You can get this timed entry ticket (free) at Central Park (check with Park attendants or on the official website in case this changes). For Tier A Days – we did not need a timed ticket that day.

Note you can just walk through the castle if you want (and not ride the ride). Just tell a Park attendant.

15. You get to dress up for free at Harry Potter World! 
Near the Hogwarts Express train you get to try on some Harry Potter gear (robes and scarfs for free and you get to take photos of yourselves near the train (with your own cameras). They also take a photo of you inside a replica of the Hogwarts train - but you must pay for that photo and you can't take a photo with your own camera for this part only. However, they do give you a free online sample image of this photo inside the train! Anyways, it was a lot of fun and something that you don't get to do in Universal Studios Orlando. There was also no line up for this when we went!

Me! in front of the Hogwarts Express Train

16. Eat your dinner early or after after the park closes
Food places shut at Universal Studios Japan at 6pm (for 8pm Park close). Some restaurants are open (around the parade route), but the vast majority are closed so your choice in food is limited. Eat early or eat after the park closes.

There are multiple restaurants and 3 Lawson's outside USJ in 'Universal City Walk'. You cannot go outside the park however to eat and re-enter the park though. So bring snacks and eat later. As the park closes sometimes at 8pm - its still time enough to eat outside the parks.

17. Where did we eat (that was Kid friendly and cheap)
We ate Pizza at Boardwalk Snacks. Quite reasonable food. 

Note the opening times and how early they close!

If you wish to send a 'Invitation letter to Hogwarts School' to your child - a great free one is here: https://m.photofunia.com/effects/hogwarts_letter

Overall we had a great time at Universal Studios Japan and I'm glad we stayed so close to the park. We could just walk back to the hotel at the end of the day. 

We loved Harry Potter World - the Interactive Wand magic tricks were a highlight as they did some completely new tricks. It was heaps of fun as well getting to dress up in Harry Potter robes and scarfs and take photos. We also greatly enjoyed Jaws (better then the Universal Studios Los Angeles ride) and we loved the Minions ride Despicable Me. There is a long line for Despicable Me (we waited 50 minutes) because the ride vehicles take only about 8 people at a time (similar to the Simpson's ride in the United States Universal Studios theme parks). Try and sit in the front row for the best experience (tell a staff member early on so they can seat you in the front).

I hope you enjoyed reading about Universal Studios Japan. If you would like to comment please do so in Comments as I would love to hear about your experiences.

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Read more about 
36 Tips for travelling in Japan
More on Japan (Pokemon Cafe, teamLab Digital museum and more) 
Tokyo Disneyland
Tokyo DisneySea
Universal Studios Japan

Until next week,
KJ

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There is noone here as everyone has run for the rides #Universalstudiosjapan #universalstudios #wizardingworldofharrypotter #harrypotter #hogsmeade

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