Tips for UNIVERSAL STUDIOS JAPAN 2024 🎢✨ Tickets, Express Passes, Wait Times (USJ Osaka)

today I'm sharing my tips from my first time at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka there'll be wait times Express passes and whether they're worth it practical things like lockers how to get there and at the end all about how to get tickets I've been to Universal Studios in Orlando and Hollywood but this is my first time in Japan I asked for tips on my Instagram that's cakes with faces so thank you to everyone who replied what most people commented on is how busy it is and how long the CU are for everything and also that the park usually opens before the scheduled time even by a whole hour so you should get there early it's actually 10:30 a.m. at the moment despite everyone's advice but because we took the night very last night this was the earliest we could get here and it's the only day we could do so we're going to see how it goes it's a Sunday today at the start of March because we don't have that long here and we knew we'd be getting here late we got Express passes for all the major R so hopefully that will help we just came out of Universal City station and Universal City W is right there as you exit I didn't realize it was so close this hotel the park front hotel is right in CityWalk it looks pretty fancy there's also hotels up there the Oriental Hotel and there was one right by Universal City station which would be so close there's the entrance up ahead there's loads of places to eat down here there's mossberger Shake sushiro and lots behind us there's a few few things you can't take in including suitcases no selfie sticks and you can't take in fast food lunch boox or drinks some people told me they got away with taking a couple of small snacks in but not whole lunch boxes it would be a good idea to have something because Q for food can be long there are lockers here near the entrance to store your staff or if you've got any suitcases with you I heard they do get busy so we left our stuff at a locker at the station there are three locations with lockers outside the ticket Gates and two inside whenever there's a ride where you can't take your stuff on there are lockers but they're just for while you're on the ride you can't use them all day these are the East lockers outside the gates well there are a lot of them well there are some free which ones are free how do you know oh I see yeah there are lockers it's 1,000 yen they're pretty big I've seen some people with big cases have no IDE no you could fit a small suitcase in here but not a full siize one there are EXT ex large Lockers near the kennels outside the ticket Gates I have a video All About coin Lockers in Japan with a walk through of how to use them there's Hollywood dream it's so cool how it goes over the entrance they said it was going to be shut while we were here so I'm surprised it's running if you have your heart set on going on a particular ride check on the usj website which rides are down for maintenance we bought our tickets online so we already have QR codes so we can just scan them at the ticket Gates we don't have to queue up at the ticket booths there's quite a lot of people waiting here but it seems to be moving along quite quickly buying tickets in advance is recommended to save time on the day at the end of the video I'll tell you all about how to get tickets and we're in there are some lockers inside the gates so to the right as well the start reminds you of Main Street USA at Tokyo Disney or should I say world bizar you can tell you're in a country where it rains often when this area is undercover this looks very spacious and there are a lot of people here can see loads of people up ahead this is a super cute star popcorn bucket I don't know if you can see that and this is just along the main walkway it's not even in Super Nintendo World it smells good Superstar popcorn bucket 5,000 yen we're excited about the Jaws ride since it closed at Universal in Orlando but first food it's not just the rides that are busy cues for places to eat get really long too it's best to avoid regular meal times so we're eating in lunch early to keep with the Jaws theme we went for amate Landing restaurant it's basically fast food fried chicken gips fried shrimp sandwiches but it's served in jaw's boxes there aren't a whole lot of options for vegetarians there's a list of plant-based options on the usj website and also low allergen meals there are more food options just outside the park at Universal CityWalk which is where we went for dinner in the evening we've got lunch straight away from the Jaws Cafe I heard the food food places get really busy so we thought we'd get eating out of the way early while it's quiet and before all our timed entries here's got the Fried Chicken set which comes in a nice Jaws box they don't have a lot of Veggie options here at Universal so I've got fries and Cake it's not so bad it's got a nice jelly shark cre this is a cream soda flavor roll cake it's quite cold today but we're nice and cozy outside under the heater the roll cake was actually pretty good very light and fluffy the restaurant's food places can get quite busy I just spotted a QR code in the queue there for mobile ordering which is a quicker way to get your food I'd heard about that and I was looking in the app for where the mobile order section was but it's a QR code as you go into the restaurant that you need to scan to do that we're just looking at some of the weit times at the moment it's 11:31 it's a Sunday 75 60 Minutes 60 Minutes 80 minutes for Harry Potter 105 minutes for Hollywood dream oh no flying dinosaurs out of service oh no we wanted to go on that that's the main reason we came 95 minutes Flight of the hippogriff Mario Kart 95 my hero Academia 200 minutes for Demon Slayer that's the longest one Hollywood dream out of service I saw that running earlier we knew Jurassic Park would be out of service was that an actual real Road Bridge there we just seen a huge queue and we thought it was for the flying dinosaur but it's actually just for a snacks kiosk it's the longest queue I've ever seen for chicken legs we just gotone into Jurassic Park and there's another really long queue for snacks we've got Jurassic Park mixed with monster hunter there's the menu there's the flying dinosaur above us if it comes back into action I was looking forward to going on that one ah looks like it's back is there anyone on that or are they just testing it someone told me this R is really [Music] intense unfortunately Jurassic part of the ride's down at the moment it's being refurbed it says we are enhancing this area for the comfort of our dinosaurs this one this one's either the same or really similar to the Jurassic Park ride in Florida so now we're in San Francisco Pier 41 does it feel like San Francisco the constant threat of crime isn't quite there we were in San Francisco last summer I'm glad they had the proper Jurassic Park music and the Jurassic Park section cuz in these American sections they've got sort of generic American music not like in a theme park like Universal in America you'd get themee Park background fantasy music it's a bit funny hearing all these pop songs the themes of the different areas kind of mash together when you go between the sections at some theme parks they try and hide each one so you're totally immersed in the theme for that area but quite often here you can see like I can see Hogwarts in the background the just a minute ago it's quite mixed up I guess cuz it's quite a compact Park everything is quite close together it's actually not too busy just walking around it seems to be cues for food and cues for rides that are really long and busy there's even a Quee to get a picture with jaws here's the key for Jaws it looks long but we have an Express Pass thank goodness we're going in the express pass entrance for Jaws I just showed them the QR code on my phone with the express passes you get a PDF to print out with QR codes I was worried we'd have to carry this A4 sheet of paper around with us all day trying to keep it nice cuz it's so important but you can just show the QR code on your phone which I think is a lot easier with the express part we got some of the rid and areas of time and some of them aren't so with this one Jaws we could go at anytime you could go on Jaws or Hollywood dream you can pick one of the two it felt good to be walking past that really long C the commentary is in Japanese but there's a fair amount of English around otherwise on menus signs and the app bill got splashed by Jaws he was sitting on the edge but it was really good to go on that ride again after they got rid of it in Florida with the express passes the queue only took about 5 minutes that was really quick and a lot quicker than the standby queue the normal queue is about 50 minutes and the single Rider queue is about 25 so that was half the time now it's almost time for our timed entry at Super Nintendo World here we go just as you go in the entrance before you go through the tunnel there's a stall where you can get the bands if you want one they are 4,200 Yen power up bands are for playing extra little games around Super Nintendo World if this store's busy there are other locations that sell them too we're actually 10 minutes early for our time to entry but they let us in anyway I thought they'd be really strict here we are at the entrance you can't really see anything before you go through this oh yeah the pictures changed I don't know if you can see that with the reflections but they change as you go past and here it is I'm glad we got a blue sky today [Laughter] well there's so many moving Parts it is pretty impressive yeah obviously having seen this in pictures so many times it does actually look really good in real life it's extremely crowed yes because once you leave you can't come back in so no one wants to leave there's Yoshi's Adventure Super Nintendo worlds over two levels and it's quite compact which makes it feel more crowded that might ease up once Donkey Kong Country opens and there's more space but that's also going to bring a lot more people in we're going into Mario Kart Cooper's challenge we've got timed entry for the ride so hopefully the queue won't be too long it's quite chaotic around Super Mario World because there's all these little cues as well to do the activities with your I want to say Magic Band I know it's not really called that there's a bottleneck here where everyone wants photos with the Statue this is really detailed even the queue is really well themed the theming in Super Nintendo World definitely lives up to the hype we just went on Mario Kart Cooper's challenge that was fun when you sit down in the cart you put on the VR goggles and it's all around you and you you have to aim by looking around to throw things and shoot all the enemies it was a bit weird to start with getting used to the VR but then you get into it once the ride gets going I really like the Rainbow Road section where it really feels like you're zooming around next it's time for Yoshi's Adventure can you see there's some Pikmin up there says when you see a glowing egg press the button of the same color here's the egg button here we go that's quite a short cute little gentle ride I didn't realize it had the egg collecting aspect that was fun but I think the best part is you get some nice views across the rest of Super Nintendo World and I'm guessing once Donkey Kong Country is built they might remove remove some of the barriers so you can see into that as well now kinopio Cafe you need a timed entry ticket to go into that if you want to eat here get your timed entry ticket as soon as you get into Super Nintendo World there's also a snack kiosk and you can get the Mario cheesecakes at Mario's Cafe and store in the Hollywood area of the park but there's some more Pikmin oh yeah Super Nintendo World really does look as good in real life as it does in all the pictures you won't be disappointed with that the whole land is quite compact really there's this upstairs section and the downstairs section so I think that contributes to how crowded it feels there are a lot of little things to do especially if you get the bands but you do need some organization to even be able to get in here and get on the rides and then again if you want to go to the cafe so just check up on that if any of them are must dues for you make sure you've done everything before you leave because once you exit you can never return so many people are wearing hats or like plushy headbands and things so if you want to dress up a little bit you won't look out of place at all when we first got in I even saw someone in a Yoshi onesie with Yoshi slippers must be pretty comfortable on the feet but pretty awkward there are some vending machines if you want to drink quickly yeah that one super cute most of the rides here exist at other Universal parks around the world but flying dinosaur is unique to Universal stud Studios Japan so it's exciting to go on it and the Jiu-Jitsu kaen ride is only here as well I believe but the right the queue for that is crazy it was 220 minutes earlier that was the longest queue out of everything the weit time is 2 hours or even 80 minutes for the single Rider queue but luckily we've got Express passes there are lots of lockers here because you have to take off all loose items scarves hats everything that is an intense ride it's a flying coaster so you sit down and then it tips you up so you're kind of hanging and I do like that style of ride this one is pretty intense there's no letting up you're swooping twisting and turning and it's quite scary at the start when you're going uphill and you're so high looking down and then it swoops down and there's Parts where you're sort of upside down it's quite the security procedure before you go on because you need to take all your loose items are completely including your necklaces they said and everything from your pockets and they did check our pockets we had to go through an x-ray machine x-ray it was x-ray wasn't it metal detector a metal detector we had to go through metal detectors very tight security I felt like we were going into a real dinosaur cage here's got a Jaws hot dog a jaw dogu it's not quite bread it looks more like a tiaki sort of batter goes with the music this area by the Lakes a really good place to take a break with lots of benches to rest your feet we're going on three to Harry Potter we've got timed entry for this section of the park and once you've left this you can't go back in the same deal as Super Nintendo World and we've got times for The Rise here as well I like how you go through the woods to get to The Wizarding World the theming of this and Super Nintendo World feels a lot more immersive than the generic American areas it said it was time to ENT on our par is but it looks like you can just walk straight in the Black Lake looks really black next we're going on Forbidden Journey this ride did give me a bit of motion sickness in Florida but we're going to do it anyway when you use your Express passes for a ride that's timed when you first go in you have to show them the part that says what time you're allowed to go in and then at the second check they scan the QR code and you can show them a print out or just on your phone there are lots of lockers in here because you can't take anything on the ride it is quite busy and cramped in here though lockers are quite small oh yeah backpack only just fits in yeah we might need more the one you can keep your wallet I guess we just missed the TR was of spirit rally they were doing a meet and greet with photos I've Heard lots of good things about the shows here especially the Frog choir on a cold day the snow felt a lot more realistic here than it does in Florida the black water does reflect the castle really well well the two rides in this area are the same as in Orlando our Express passes included them both so we could skip past this long line waterw the show is a good chance to sit down and take a break the stunts and effects are actually really [Music] [Applause] impressive at this shop on the Main Street going in there's a load of Hello Kitty stuff so fluffy there for the Hello Kitty ears right Universal's open for another couple of hours now but we have a shinan sense attached so we've got to go we had quite a short day here really but we did get through everything on our Musto list and I think that is because we got the express passes they are quite a lot more expensive than the regular ticket but it's the only way to really get through everything if you've only got one day here unless you get here early and plan really carefully if you don't have Express passes you could easily queue for more than an hour for all not just the main rides pretty much all the rides apart from the kids ones which I didn't really look around the kids sections that much we knew we wouldn't be able to get here very early so we picked one that had all the times for the rise and timed entry in the afternoon but there are quite a lot of different options so you can pick the one that works best for you so on to tickets I got my ticket from the official usj website ticket prices depend on how busy it's expected to be I went to the weekend at the start of March which is the off season so it was the second cheapest ticket at 9,400 Yen each if I'd gone on a weekday it would have been 8,600 Yen each I'd recommend going on a weekday if you can because it's less busy there's also two day passes and one and 1 half day passes if the calendar says disabled it might be because there's already a ticket in your basket the next option is Express passes these are optional they're expensive but they're save you a lot of time avoiding some of those really long cues and some of them include timed entry to Super Nintendo World there are free Alternatives which I'll mention in a minute but if your dream is to go to Super Nintendo World and you want guaranteed entry by a pass if you don't there is a chance you might not be able to get in there's a huge choice of Express passes that include different rides I got past seven variety which includes Super Nintendo World Harry Potter and the big rides there's 16 different options some are more aimed at kids and some include more rides than others the one I got was actually the most expensive one at 17,800 Yen per person again the price changes depending on the date it's so much more than the park tickets themselves I'm not really happy about it being that much but with the time I had getting there late and leaving before closing time I wouldn't have been able to get everything done otherwise next select a date for the express part you'll only be able to choose the same date as your ticket next there'll be a huge choice of different times for the area entry and when you go on each ride here there's more than 20 options pick whether you want to do everything early in the day or later and make sure they're all spaced out okay each one is limited availability so if you're getting Express passes I'd recommend buying early so you have the best choice then there are extra tours and experiences which are just optional extras and then you pay you get PDFs by email one for your ticket and one for your Express Pass which you can print or show on your phone I did both to be on the safe side you can use the QR code to scan your ticket into the app a common problem is many people's cards don't work on the official site Japanese websites are quite specific with what security they require so not all foreign cards are accepted if you're having trouble the easiest way is to order on cluke who are an official partner if you don't want to buy an Express Pass there is a free option for getting into Super Nintendo World use the app as soon as you get into the park to get an area timed entry ticket it's free but you can only apply once per day and they do run out so you need to get there early if you don't get one you can enter a lottery for a standby timed entry ticket just in case anyone else cancels theirs you can only enter that once per day if you have Express passes with timed entry you don't need to do any of those things just go to Super Nintendo World at the time on your pass another option is if you get there early enough lots of people have told me they just walked into Super Nintendo World without needing any passes or anything but you do need to get there early before the published Park opening time for cues for rides if you don't have Express passes the single Rider line is always quicker if you don't mind sitting separately so is it worth going if you've been to Universal in Orlando or Hollywood there is some overlap with the US Parks but there are also some rides that are exclusive to Japan flying dinosaur is excellent the theming is similar to the other Parks it does feel quite Compact and doesn't have a ton of rides but it's also extremely busy so you won't get around everything in less than a day it feels quite high maintenance to visit you need more planning with the area timed entry and express passes and even more the free options here's how to get there the station you want is UN unversal City station from Shin Osaka station the shin Canen station which is slightly outside the city you need to get the train to Osaka station there are several options the fastest is the Jr tokaido Sano line also known as the coob line from Osaka station in the city take the Osaka Loop line to Universal City station it's a very quick Journey about 12 minutes some trains are direct and some you'll need to change at Nishi Cujo station transfer to the Jr umaki line to Universal City station just check on Google or Japan travel by Nava time from Universal City station City Walk is right outside there's no way you can get lost just follow everyone else in Yosi onesies so that's it for Universal Studios Japan I hope you found that useful if you've been tell us about your experiences in the comments and I'll see you soon with more Japan videos on Thursdays he

Channel: Cakes with Faces

Views: 14,415

Keywords: universal studios japan, universal studios osaka, usj, universal japan, universal osaka, tips for universal studios japan, tips for usj, usj express pass, usj express passes, usj march, universal japan 2024, first time at universal japan, universal studios japan express pass, universal studios japan rides, universal studios japan review, usj first time, usj guide, how to get usj tickets, where to get usj tickets, how to get to usj, cakes with faces, usj timed entry

Id: SQARw3jW6Xo

Length: 23min 6sec (1386 seconds)

Published: Thu May 09 2024