Best Tips for Maximizing Your Day at Universal Studios Japan on a Budget
My first trip to Universal Studios Japan was back in September 2023, and I have to say as a Disney Parks fan, this was a whole different experience for me. I did all my usual prep, lots of online research, executed on my plans (and rolled with the unexpected), and here are the biggest takeaways to help you on your Universal Studios Japan planning journey!
Should you get Universal Studios Japan Express Passes?
First, there are several things to know about the Universal Studios Express Passes.
There are different tiers (at different prices) which give you access to a different number of rides and certain specific attractions.
Double check the details of the express pass to determine if what it has to offer is right for you. Most of them offer timed entry into Super Nintendo World, but read the details!! You can find the different tiers of tickets on their Express Pass page
Express passes CAN sell out. If you're purchasing tickets ahead of time and are certain you want an express pass, it's best to get it early. You can also purchase it on the day of, but you run the risk of it being sold out.
Express passes are separate fees from the regular entrance ticket. You will need both if you plan purchase the express pass.
Because this is a budget-friendly post, most of my tips and takeaways are based off of NOT purchasing an Express Pass. The Express Passes cost more than a single day ticket and as someone who is very conscious of budget, I opted to skip out on these.
However, if this is either your very first time going or one of the only times you may be able to go and you want to be sure that you get to as many attractions as you can, this may be something to consider.
Timed Entry - What You Need to Know
Many of the popular lands in Universal Studios have what's known as "Timed Entry Tickets" which you can see through the USJ app.
If your Express Pass comes with guaranteed Timed Entry tickets, then you'll know that you will for sure be able to enter the land and will be able to reserve them ahead of time if you purchased your Express Pass in advance.
However, if you didn't get an Express Pass or your Express Pass doesn't come with Timed Entry for that land, you will have to get a "Standby Entry Ticket" which is basically a first-come first-served timed entry to the land. These are free, but you can only request a Standby Entry through the app once you've entered the park.
Currently the two lands that have Timed Entry are Super Nintendo World and Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Wizarding World sets up Timed Entry on an as-needed basis, so if it's not too busy you may not need one. When I went, we didn't need Timed Entry to enter. Check the app to know the conditions on the day of.
Universal Studios Japan now offers a similar system to their attractions as well! This wasn't available when I was there, but it looks like it operates just like how the old Fastpass system at Disneyland did. Through the app you can reserve a time to return to an attraction without having to wait in line (and without an additional fee!).
Standby Entry Tickets aren't guaranteed though, so there's still a chance you won't get in, but it's definitely worth a shot!
Super Nintendo World
Super Nintendo World is such a big attraction, it deserves its own section. This was my primary reason for visiting Universal Studios Japan, so I absolutely had to get in to Super Nintendo World.
Tip #1: Arrive SUPER early to potentially skip Timed Entry
You may think it's an exaggeration to arrive at the park hours before it opens, but you'll be surprised just how many people are ready and willing to do so.
The day I visited, the posted park opening time was 8:30AM. We left our Airbnb at 5:00AM, and arrived at the Universal Studios entrance around 5:45AM and there were already lines upon lines of people waiting to be let in to line up for the entrance queue!
Around 6:30AM we were let into the main esplanade where we once again lined up at the park entrance turnstiles and waited for the park to open.
At 7:30AM they actually opened the park and let people in! That means we had a whole extra hour in the park regardless of the posted opening time.
The most beneficial part about this for Super Nintendo World is that anyone is allowed in regardless of Timed Entry tickets. As long as you enter the land before the official park opening time or before it fills up, you can spend as much time as you'd like in there.
Of course, everyone has the same or a similar idea, so you're not going to have the land to yourself for very long (it fills up FAST), so you still need to prioritize what you want to do.
Even if Super Nintendo World is not the goal, following the official posted hours and planning to arrive at 8:30AM would have put us one hour behind everyone else. And the amount of people that visit USJ is honestly very overwhelming so any time that you can get with even just a few less people is a privilege.
Here's what we prioritized in order:
1. Get power-up bands
There are kiosks at several spots in the land and they're available in the stores as well. If the kiosk at the pipe entrance is busy, just get them inside. You'll want to activate these ASAP because basically everything inside benefits from having it already activated and connected to your USJ app.
2. Mario Kart: Koopa's Challenge
There was no wait since we did this first, but the next time we saw the line it was already 60 minutes long. Connect your power-up band to your kart to earn coins from the ride!
3. Yoshi's Adventure
Super Nintendo World only has two rides, and the wait times for those can get long. By the time we got off Mario Kart, the wait for Yoshi's was already 50 minutes, but it wasn't going to get any shorter. Yoshi's Adventure is a slow ride that takes you through the land (think it's a small world), and it's very cute! It gives you a great vantage point of the whole area!
4. Kinopio's Cafe Line
Kinopio's Cafe operates on a return time ticket distribution. I'm not exactly sure when they start issuing tickets, but if you want an earlier return time, make sure you visit Kinopio's Cafe to grab a ticket. Since this wasn't something I realized ahead of time, our return time wasn't until 11:15AM.
5. Power-Up Band Games
The rest of the land has all these different sections with little mini games that make you feel like you're in your own version of Mario Party! Most of these games are individually played, so the lines for these can also get quite long since everyone gets their own turn. They're so fun though and are worth the wait! You'll need to win at least three mini games to qualify for the Bowser Jr. boss challenge.
Kinopio's Cafe
As I mentioned above, you will need to get a return time ticket to be able to line up for Kinopio's Cafe. This is a fun experience and definitely worth a try if you can fit it into your day. It does take quite some time though - when you're able to return to get in line, the line to order is still pretty long. The dining area is very cute though and the food isn't bad for park food!
We ordered the Mario's Bacon Cheeseburger, Super Mushroom Pizza Bowl, and the Goal Pole Cake. The cheeseburger was a pretty solid filling option.
The mushroom pizza bowl basically consists of pizza filling on the inside of the bowl covered by the breading top that makes up the mushroom head. This was a cute dish in theory, but it definitely felt like it was more for presentation than for food content.
The goal pole cake was yummy and more filling than I was expecting. It was sweet and a little tart and I loved the layers. Presentation was of course a huge plus!
Other Snacks in Super Nintendo World
There are a couple other snack stalls that you can visit while you're in Super Nintendo World. One is Yoshi's Snack Island where you can get a yakisoba filled calzone different fruit-flavored lassi drinks. I tried the calzone and the melon lassi, and both were pretty good! The calzone is piping hot in the center, so be careful when you take that first bite as the noodles may spill out. The melon lassi was pretty refreshing and sweet.
We also stopped by Pit Stop Popcorn to try the flavored popcorn and get a light-up Star popcorn bucket. It is one of the cutest things I've seen and the only popcorn bucket I've ever wanted, and I'm so glad I got it! A popcorn bucket purchase comes with a bag of flavored popcorn as well. I'm not sure if the flavors rotate, but I chose the mushroom popcorn and it was savory and delicious!
Hit all the '?'s and Tap all the 'M's
The land is riddled with '?' boxes and M signs on the walls. Use your power-up band to interact with these for that extra bit of fun. Some boxes require a lot of leg power if you're not very tall!
Character Meet and Greets
Throughout the day different characters come out for photo ops and meet and greets, like Princess Peach, Mario and Luigi, and Toad. Some health restrictions were still in place when I visited so there were dividers placed on the ground separating us from the characters, but they were still just as interactive and sweet!
You can fill almost an entire day just in Super Nintendo World, but there's still so much to see outside of the parks! We ended up spending about half our day here, but it was all totally worth it.
General Park Tips
Tip #2: Get the USJ Mobile App
So many things are going mobile now, and USJ is no exception. All Timed Entry requests and QR codes are facilitated through the app. Checking wait times is available through the app as well which can help you determine what to do next. You absolutely need the app (and decent data reception) to be efficient at this park.
Tip #3: Prioritize Top 1-3 Activities
Without an Express Pass, it's hard to ensure that you'll get to everything you want to do because the wait times and the amount of people in this park is truly a lot. But I think you can still get a lot done and have a very fulfilling and fun day without necessarily getting to everything.
My main priorities on this trip were Super Nintendo World (check!), the No Limit parade, the Jujutsu Kaisen area (and merch always!), and Wizarding World just to see the Black Lake, all of which I was able to do which was great!
The No Limit parade was lots of fun with lots of cute floats! Definitely recommend it if you enjoy parades! (It is pretty long though!)
A couple other things I wanted to do was the Spy X Family park-wide scavenger hunt and the Flying Dinosaur ride. Unfortunately the Spy X Family event required guests to get their clue cards in the morning, but because we were in Super Nintendo World we missed it completely. I was a little bummed out about that, but I was still glad I prioritized Super Nintendo World!
I did get to visit all the different areas just to see the attractions and shops, so all of that was fun, and I had a great time. I noticed the lines for practically everything was sooo long, so we mostly spent our time sightseeing the rest of the day.
A lot of the specialty foods will either run out or have extremely long lines especially when it's late in the day, so keep that in mind when you're deciding what areas you want to visit first and what foods you want to try.
Tip #4: Use Single Rider Queues When Possible
Most of the big coasters have a regular standby queue and a single rider queue. The one thing I noticed about Universal Studios Japan compared to other parks like Disneyland is that the single rider queue isn't always super short compared to the regular standby, but it can save you a bit of time!
For example when I was looking at the Flying Dinosaur queue, the single rider queue was 180 minutes compared to the standby queue which was 210 minutes. 30 minutes isn't a huge difference, but it's definitely worth it if you're trying to pack in more rides.
Of course, now that there's an attraction Standby Entry option, that might be better than Single Rider, but it's still a viable option if you can't get a Standby Entry time.
Tip #5: Don't Wait Until the End of the Day to Buy Merchandise
It's going to be a hassle to carry around merchandise all day, but I definitely think it's worth it (or you can rent a locker!) when you see how the enormous the lines get at the end of the day when everyone else is buying their merchandise. On top of that, you may actually see items SELL OUT when the shelves were full that very morning! So if you want to guarantee you get the items you want when you see them, buy them as soon as you're sure. This also brings me to the next tip.
Tip #6: Save All Your Merchandise Receipts For Tax-Free Refunds
Universal Studios Japan has a convenient Tax-Free counter near the entrance of the park that you can visit on your way out for the day to apply for your Tax-Free refund. Food purchases are not eligible for tax-free refunds, but all merchandise is! There is a minimum spend that allows you to qualify (which is true for all tax-free refunds), but they take all the receipts into consideration. So keep them in a safe place throughout the day so they're easily accessible when you're at the counter.
The one thing to note here is that they will take the items and seal them in a bag until you leave the country, as is true for other tax-free counters as well. So if you plan to use any of the items while you're there, those won't be eligible. The employees did allow us to count our power-up bands in the sum total even though we used them for the day, we just weren't able to access them for the rest of the trip because they got sealed in the bag afterwards.
Tip #7: Ask for Stickers from Employees!
This is just a fun little thing, but most if not all the employees have stickers that they carry with them. All you have to do is ask them for stickers and they'll give you some cute ones!
Just say シールおねがいします (shiiru onegai shimasu)!
Other Things To Note
Something a little unexpected for me was how similar everything at USJ was priced to US parks. I was honestly a little surprised because the Japanese Disney parks have some pretty low prices compared to the US parks (we're talking 40-50% cheaper). Headbands at Tokyo Disney were about half the price of headbands at USJ. The merchandise at USJ is obviously still very cute and I did buy a decent amount of things, but your yen won't get you quite as far in this park as you might hope.
Universal Studio Japan's seasonal events are super cool! When I was visiting they had 4D ride experiences dedicated to Jujutsu Kaisen and Doraemon. They also had the special Spy X Family park-wide event. These are always seasonal and rotate pretty often, so make sure you check their website to determine what event will be running when you visit!
In general, I think you can have a really awesome day at Universal Studios Japan whether it's your first time there or you've been there multiple times. The most important thing is setting your expectations. You most likely will be able to do all the things the park has to offer, but that just means there will be more waiting for you when you go back!
As long as you have fun and stay flexible you'll have a great time!
