Universal Studios Japan

On my last day in Osaka, I went to the Universal Studios Japan (I will call it USJ throughout this post). Usually, I am not the kind of guy who goes to themeparks 🎢 but in Japan it is almost a Must-Do.

I have found this great article which details how to not spend all day waiting in line for the attractions: https://thetravelintern.com/ultimate-usj-guide-…

Believe me - they are not exaggerating in that article! I followed their instructions (almost to the ladder), went on the supposedly least busy day but still had to wait sometimes in line for 80/90 min 🕚 I didn’t mind though since this gave me time to finally write my last two FindPenguin posts about Nara and Osaka. 😉
USJ opens really early and I tried to be there an hour before that (as suggested in the article). But when I arrived, there were already many people inside the park. Some were even already riding on the roller coasters 🎢 According to the official website, the park opened at 8.30 am that day. I was there at 8 am. So, I don’t know how they managed to get into the roller coasters at that time but I guess there was some early access option, I didn’t know about. 🎟️

Anyways, after activating my online ticket and entering the park I reserved a time slot to enter the Super Nintendo World around lunchtime - anything earlier was already booked out! Then I went straight to the Spider-Man 4K 3D ride. Here I had to wait ⏳ only 15 min. in the single rider line. The 3D ride was thrilling and fun. While we where moving in our car, we saw in our 3D googles how Spider-Man rescued us many times from various villains 🦹 who wanted to do harm to us. The wind, heat and water droplets we were exposed to made the ride even more realistic. That joyful adventure was over after a short while of being thrown around. So, off to the next attraction.

I think visiting USJ is a complex endeavor which certainly requires preparation and planning if you want to get the most out of it. Next on my itinerary for the day was the „Wizarding World of Harry Potter“. I was passing by „The Flying Dinosaur“ ride of Jurassic Park but I didn’t dare to queue for this extreme roller coaster 🎢
In contrast, the Harry Potter world is a fascinating replica of many places you know from the books and films with a lot of attention to detail. Showmen like the one with the little dragon (see the video) made the illusion even more perfect. For a moment we were in Hogwarts where many imaginary creatures 🧙‍♂️ lived and magic 🪄 was possible. I liked this part of the park a lot. The roller coaster ride required me to wait 80 min. in line but was also particularly thrilling.

Then it was already almost 11.30 am - my time slot to enter the „Super Nintendo World“ was about to begin.
In that part of the park I went to „Yoshi‘s Adventure“ ride as well as the „Mario Kart“ ride. Yoshi‘s Adventure was really for small kids. No thrill - only slow motion through the Super Nintendo World to encounter familiar characters from the Super Mario Franchise. It was still good fun but the Super Mario Kart ride was better. The appeal of the latter was that it was a mixed reality game 🎮 Your holographic opponents were projected into your glasses during the ride and you could collect points by throwing turtle shells at them. I only collected a measly 122 points - the all time record was at 300 and something. Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and Toad have been pretty visually disappointed with me when I crossed the finish line. 😅
Overall, the Super Nintendo World was built in a way that you could participate in the game as a character (e. g. by punching mystery blocks etc.). I spent a lot of time in that part of USJ. But at 2 pm I needed to eat 😋something and the restaurant in the Super Nintendo World was temporarily closed. So I went to Jurassic Park and had some expensive meal deal with chicken nuggets 🍗 and fries 🍟 and coke - not very Japanese. 🙄

With a full stomach I was ready for the next waiting time in the queue. I went to see „Shrek‘s 4D Adventure“. This was a show - not a ride. Waiting time ⏳ was initially 70 min. but it felt shorter. It was well worth it although the show was in Japanese. I guess animated movies like this are simple enough to be enjoyed even by people who don’t know the language.

I spent the entire day in the park with roller coaster rides, waiting in line, walking around and making photos … The day was fun but USJ (and probably also the Disney related theme parks in Tokyo) is heavily commercialized 💰 There were merchandise shops in every part of it - even on the 800m connecting the park with the „Universal City“ train station. So, good luck if you go with your kids 😂 The admission fee to the park is „only“ 50,- EUR per person but if you add expenses for candy, merchandise, meals etc. you can easily spend 500,- EUR or more as a family of four in one day. It’s crazy! Out of curiosity I researched 🕵️ some statistics and it seems like USJ had 12.37 mio. visitors in 2022 while making a revenue of approximately 200 billion JP¥ (1.2 billion EUR). That is on average approximately 548 mio. JP¥ (3.35 mio. EUR) per day. Or 100 EUR per person - pretty much what I had spent that day. It was a cool experience 👍 and after that I was ready to move on and continue to my next destination. But that’s a story for my next post.Read more