Thrills, Spills, Minions, and Mushrooms at Universal Studios Japan

“Whatever you do” I tell Mr Fletche, “DON’T look for a YouTube video of The Flying Dinosaur ride at Universal Studios Japan“. I had promised Mr Fletche that USJ was all about Mario and Luigi and Donkey Kong. I’d even procured us Express Passes with access to Super Nintendo World. I conveniently forgot to tell him that our pass also included a fast-track to the “most intense rollercoaster in the world”

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Universal Studios Japan wasn’t a given for our itinerary during our short time in Osaka. It was in, then it was out, and then it was in again. We’re not ones for theme park tourism, but we do like a good rollercoaster. I’d heard horror stories of two hour queues. After all, USJ is the third most visited theme park in the world (sorry fellow Brummies, Drayton Manor doesn’t make the list)

I thought Express Passes were ridiculously expensive, and the best ones disappeared the moment they went on sale at some ungodly hour. So I left it up to chance. And as if the universe decided to reward my laziness, I randomly logged onto Klook a few days after tickets dropped and spotted an Express Pass 4 with exactly the attractions we wanted, on the exact day we wanted. It was official. Universal Studios Japan was BACK on the itinerary.

Osaka was the final stop on our long-awaited Japan trip. You can view all the rest of my Japan content here – and there’s a lot to share!

**This blog post may contain affiliate links. This means that if you go on to make a purchase or booking after clicking through one of my external links, then I may make a tiny bit of commission, at no extra cost to you!**

Purchasing tickets for Universal Studios Japan

Tickets go on sale 60 days in advance, but the most popular Express Passes sell out almost immediately. Dynamic pricing applies, meaning weekends, Japanese holidays and other popular times are more expensive. I tried to buy tickets through the official USJ website, but the site was shockingly slow. Since the prices were identical, I ditched the official site and booked through Klook instead.

So how much DID those tickets set us back?

You can access the USJ Park for as little as £50 per person for a basic Studio Ticket. That gives access to the park and all the rides, but has no fast-track option or timed entry for areas such as Super Nintendo World. An Express Pass does NOT give you USJ Park entry, but does give fast-track access to a number of rides. This is where it gets confusing, as there are various Express Pass options for a different combination of rides.

Super Nintendo World doesn’t require a separate ticket, but you do need to book a timeslot. If you have an Express Pass that includes any SNW ride, it automatically books a timeslot for you. If you don’t have an Express Pass, you’ll need to reserve a timeslot through the USJ App once you enter the park.

We opted for the Express Pass 4, giving us fast-track and timed entry to Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge and Mine Cart Madness in Super Nintendo World, The Flying Dinosaur, and ONE of either Jaws or Jurassic Park the Ride. Our Express Pass 4 was around £115, on top of the Studio Ticket, meaning our admission was around £165pp. Admittedly, that’s quite a chunk of change.

Getting to Universal Studios Japan from Osaka

USJ is located on the outskirts of Osaka but is easily accessible from the city. We caught the Kinetsu-Nara Line from Kintetsu-Nippombashi station (the closest station from our hotel) to Nishikujō Station, and then the JR Yumesaki Line to Universal-City Station. Our journey was around 40 minutes, and like all Japan train travel, was absolutely seamless.

If you’re staying in Umeda, you can get the Osaka Loop Line from Osaka Station to Nishikujō Station, and then transfer onto the JR Yumesaki Line.

🚅 Arriving from Tokyo? You can catch the shinkansen to Shin Osaka Station. You can read more about our bullet train experience here! 🚅

Our Universal Studios Japan experience

By the time we booked our tickets, only a few timeslots were left for the Express Pass 4. We ended up with a 6:50pm admission time for Super Nintendo World. This was a little later than we would have liked, but we decided to gamble on a slightly later start to our day at USJ.

We arrived at around 10am and left just after 9pm. I never imagined we’d fill 11 hours at USJ but they had to kick us me out kicking and screaming for more.

We emerge from Universal-City Station onto CityWalk, full of shops, restaurants and bars. Honestly, you could probably spend a whole day here alone. Naturally I dive into the first store I see, and amuse myself making Mr Fletche try on all the headwear.

It takes us about 20 minutes to get through the USJ entry gates. It’s time to put our plan for the day in action, with a little help from the USJ app. We plan to hit the big rides that aren’t on our Express Pass first, then chill out a little in the afternoon prior to our Super Nintendo World timeslot.

Download the USJ App to track live wait times and a full park map. It’s also useful for finding toilets and food vendors! If you haven’t purchased an Express Pass which includes entry to Super Nintendo World you can book a free timed entry on the app once you’re inside the park gates.

Hollywood Dream

Closest to the entrance, our first coaster of the day is “Hollywood Dream – The Ride”. Hollywood Dream actually has two options: the traditional forwards ride, and “Backdrop” – the same but backwards. Backdrop has a queue of around 80 minutes so we opt for the more traditional forwards track to ease us in. The queue time is posted at 55 minutes, but we make it through in 40.

Once we reach the car, we stash our belongings in the cages on the exit side, which only people from our ride can access. I take off my glasses and, now half‑blind, strap myself in for a thrilling ride. We get to choose our own on‑board soundtrack; I get tossed around to Taylor Swift’s Shake It Off.

Jaws – The Ride

This classic was one of the Express Options on our pass, but with a 40 minute wait posted we decided to take the standard queue. Our wait was only 30 minutes, but passing through Amity Village as we waited gave us plenty to look at. And it turned out to be one of my favourites of the day. We board our boat with an extremely enthusiastic Japanese tour guide. We can’t understand a word but his frantic hand gestures that suggest we may be entering shark territory are hilarious.

Our peaceful boat cruise soon becomes anything but as we find ourselves face to face with Bruce the shark. There’s water, there’s fire, and there’s a final showdown with the toothy predator.

Flying Dinosaur (Express Pass)

After narrowly escaping from Bruce – and only slightly wet – we head for Jurassic Park for the first of our Express Pass rides – the aforementioned Flying Dinosaur. We wisely decide to do this one before lunch. The posted queue times are around 55 minutes; we make it to the front in just 15. I have a nervous single rider to my left; I promise to hold her hand if it all gets a bit too scary. I’m not sure if this is of more comfort to her or to me.

As the carriage tips forward, and we are suddenly lying face down, I’m beginning to reconsider my life choices. And I wonder if my hotel breakfast may make a reappearance. Luckily for me, the riders behind me, and the onlookers under me there’s nothing to worry about. We spin and we loop and we dip and we turn 360 degrees so we’re suddenly staring at the sky going headfirst into a corkscrew. I love it.

A note for the visually challenged and spectacle-wearers – the lockers for your belongings are just before the final section of the queue for the ride. Trickier still is finding the correct locker again AFTER the ride, with blurry vision and probably with the added challenge of your head spinning from the coaster.

Jurassic Park The Ride (Express Pass)

We’ve not had enough of dinosaurs yet. We use our Express Pass for Jurassic Park – The Ride. This is one of the two optional rides on our pass. We queue for just 10 minutes, compared to an hour for standard riders.

We are seated in a raft with a very excitable group of young lads. At first they seem to be intent on rocking the boat and throwing water on each other. And then they start squealing every time anything remotely scary happens on the ride. Like the Jaws ride – but without the jumpy tour guide – we take a leisurely river cruise ride through a brand new dinosaur petting zoo. Until it all starts going a bit wrong, you’re plunged into darkness, and all sorts of animatronic creatures try to eat you.

My top tip for Jurassic Park the Ride? If you’re offered the chance to buy a poncho, take it. You WILL get wet during the final plunge. We did not have a poncho. We did get wet.

Minion Villain Con Blast

Our next stop is Minion Park, a riot of colour and bananas. Instead of elbowing the small children out the way to meet and greet a real-life Minion we content ourselves with photos with these chaps. My lovely straight hair did NOT survive the Jurassic Park drenching.

We were going to skip the rides here, but as we have plenty of time we head for Minion Villain Con Blast. The queue times are posted at 30 minutes, and it takes us around about that time to get to the front.

The ride is a moving‑walkway shoot‑’em‑up; we grab our E‑Liminator X blasters and compete to earn a spot in the super‑villain group, the Vicious 6. Naturally, I prove to be an exceptional shot, and I fully expect to deliver the keynote speech at a Villain‑Con near you very soon.

Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem

Mr Fletche isn’t a huge fan of 3D motion simulator rides but I convinced him that if its a ride suitable for kids, I’m sure he can tolerate it. And it’s actually a really fun ride. Even Mr Fletche agrees. The posted wait times are around 40 minutes; we’re at the front in around 25.

While we wait, the screens entertain us with quizzes to see whether we’d make good Minions. Turns out I’m Bob. When we reach the front, the team gives us a bit of a safety spiel, explaining that Gru has invited us to his lab and we’re about to undergo Minion training. Then we take our seats in front of a giant screen and don our goggles for a high-speed, bone-rattling adventure.

Once we’re done in Minion Park, it’s time for a little rest and relaxation. We stroll around the park, taking in all the different areas. It’s late afternoon now, and the sun is starting to set, meaning we get some gorgeous soft light on the buildings. We watch a show outside the Hotel Empire, and grab a beer lakeside.

On purchasing a beer: the bar staff quiz Mr Fletche about how we are travelling to and from the park. Once they’re satisfied that the only person driving is the guy at the front of the train, they finally hand over our drinks. The cups are branded with “ALCOHOL” in giant letters, marking us out as a pair of lushes 🍻

Our Super Nintendo World entry time is 7:20pm. Not wanting to get caught in any queues and risking missing our Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge time slot, we start to make our way through the park at around 6:30pm.

We had little interest in visiting Harry Potter World, especially as the Forbidden Journey ride was closed for maintenance, but as it was on the way to SNW we popped in to watch the spectacular light show projected onto an imposing Hogwarts. If you are a Potter fan then the attention to detail in this area is excellent. I did particularly like encountering Moaning Myrtle in the toilets.

Super Nintendo World and Donkey Kong Country

USJ has one of only two Super Nintendo Worlds in the world – the other being in Universal Studios Florida. But there’s something special about visiting in Nintendo’s home country. We rock up just before 7pm, but there’s no-one checking for timed entry tickets.

We enter via a glowing green pipe, and emerge into the Mushroom Kingdom. We’ve literally entered a video game world. There are Thwomps and Goombas. There are waving Piranha Plants and warp pipes. Visiting after dark seems to give it an extra thrill, with everything lit up

If you’re interested in accessing a whole bunch of interactive features, you can purchase a Power Up Band. These work in both Super Nintendo World and Donkey Kong Country. We were more focused on the rides. The first of which was Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge.

Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge

Our Express Pass time slot was for 7:20pm, but we had arrived needlessly early, before 7pm. With a non Express Pass wait time posted at 30 minutes, we decided to join the queue and ride early. The wait was actually only 15 minutes, so we were on and off before our Express Pass timeslot.

The queuing area for Koopa’s Challenge is fantastic, pulling us deep into the bowels of Bowser’s Castle. (Koopa and Bowser are actually the same character—the spiky dragon‑turtle hybrid known as Koopa in Japan goes by Bowser for English‑speaking audiences.) We don our helmets – I never quite get my goggles right, which is my excuse for not winning the shell-throwing race. It’s chaotic and fun, with the Rainbow Road section being a particular dizzying highlight.

Mine Cart Madness

From Koopa’s Challenge, we make our way to the newest area of Super Nintendo World, Donkey Kong Country. With a bit of time to kill before our 19:50 timeslot, we chow down on a jungle themed hot dog.

This was the ride that made us most appreciative of our Express Pass. The USJ app had shown a 90+ minute wait all day, and was still at 100 minutes just before 8pm. Our Express Pass meant we shot through the queue quicker than a monkey in a mine cart, and we were on the ride within 15 minutes. This ride is EXCELLENT. A proper old-fashioned rickety coaster, with sections of the track which well, look like they’re not quite finished yet. It’s very short though – disappointingly so if you have waited well over an hour.

We have time to do a little shopping on our way out of the park. We restrain ourselves, with just a few little souvenirs to add to the headwear purchased earlier in the day. Exhausted but exhilarated, we head back to Universal-City Station for our ride back into downtown Osaka.

Useful Universal Studios Japan tips

• Use the lockers inside the entrance to store bulky bags or coats. You’ll need a ¥500 coin – there is a change machine available. You’ll definitely need another layer or two for cool November evenings
• Plan to do the top rides early as wait-times soon soar. A 40 minute wait isn’t so bad when you realise the lines will only get longer throughout the day
• There are single rider lines for many rides, although the posted wait times didn’t appear to be much shorter.

Best time to visit Universal Studios Japan?

So many posts and forums beforehand stressed the importance of getting to USJ at least an hour before opening time. With Express Passes purchased and a Super Nintendo World slot secured for later in the day, we decided on a more leisurely approach. We arrived at USJ station just before 10am, giving us time to purchase the obligatory headwear before entering at around 10:30am.

We enjoyed being at USJ as the sun set and we saw the park – quite literally – in a different light after sundown, especially the streets of “New York”.

Its important to note that we went in November, on a weekday, outside of the school holidays. The park was busy, but not crazily though. Nothing like that time I went to Disneyland Paris on New Years Eve on a blind date. (Missed that crazy tale? You can read more here!)

Do you NEED to pay out for a Fast Pass?

Of course not. You can arrive at the park two hours before opening, pelt at full speed to Super Nintendo World when it opens along with hundreds of others, and then queue for at least two hours on the other rides. But that didn’t sound like a fun day out for us. As SNW was key for us we wanted to guarantee our timeslot beforehand so we could plan our day around that. And we thought that if we could maximise our time by fast tracking a couple of non Mario rides we would balance it out with other queues.

In hindsight, the only ride where we saved a significant amount of time was Mine Cart Madness. At 8pm the general‑admission queue showed a 100‑minute wait, but we used our Express Pass and boarded within 15 minutes. Our longest non‑Express‑Pass queue was Hollywood Dream, which we tackled right at the start of the day; we waited 40 minutes even though the posted time was 55. Overall, we found that actual wait times were shorter than the estimates on both the USJ app and at the ride entrance.

Is it worth visiting Universal Studios Japan?

I worried about the cost, and I worried we’d spend the whole day stuck in queues. I worried we’d waste one of our precious, few days in Japan. But the visit was worth every penny, even with the extra cost of the Express Passes. As a grown‑up couple, we threw ourselves into a wide‑eyed world of magic and fun. I may even have skipped once or twice. It ended up being one of my favourite days in Japan—even if my wrists did ache from waving goodbye to every member of staff on the way out.

I try my hardest to keep the information in this travel guide up to date; however if you notice anything has changed please let me know! Happy travels, Emmalene