Today, we went to USJ in Osaka. We were at the gates by 8:45 am. Getting off the train, I could already see a build up of people. We got bad advice from a friend that works in USJ that the crowd estimate for today was not so bad so we did not prepurchase tickets nor did we buy express tickets…
Everything (and I mean everything- food kiosks, toilets, restaurants, shops ) we did inside had a queue, not a short queue. Is it just me or are cashiers slower here in Japan? Despite the fancy POS that collect your payment and spit out change, I find paying for anything slower here.
The first ride we did was flying snoopy. We waited 50 minutes for that. Next was the spinning cupcakes, merry o round and the toddler car track rides. By this time, I knew I had to split from the group to secure a spot at the snoopy cafe for lunch. It was only 10:30 and the snoopy cafe already had a queue overflowing to outside that big restaurant. Even though they had a preorder online and pickup system at the restaurant, the queue was still a 45 minute wait.
In Harry Potter, the shops were packed- arm bumping packed. Forbidden journey queue estimate was 1.5 hours. The only thing we got to do in HP was the 15 min magic show. By this time our legs were tired and decided to sit in a bench in Jurassic to wait for our nintendo timed entry at 3:10.
Nintendo was the reason for this visit so this is where we were willing to line up. Another 1 hour wait to buy the star with popcorn. Mario kart wait was 140 minutes same for yoshi. I had to sit out those rides and separate from the group because my toddler was too short. To enter kinopi’s cafe, again I had to wait 1 hour. By this time my 5 year old was tired and crying.
I can tell, USJ tries its best to make everyone happy. All the staff and greeters were exceptionally cheerful. Assigned tables at kinopis was necessary.
I know Friday is a big holiday. Today is only Tuesday. Where did this massive crowd come from?
by reluctantcatholicmom