TLDR: We bought last-minute Saturday tickets at the gate (on Friday, the day before) we were worried about crowds since I've heard that you just shouldn't even try USJ on a Saturday without express passes but decided to go for it. We had the best day ever and got into Nintendo Land, rode every ride we wanted (except Demon Slayer), and had an amazing time at Halloween Horror Nights! BIGGEST TIP: You can buy tickets at the gate the day before (if your card doesn't work online like ours) so you don't have to wait in line in the morning and can make a b-line for Nintendoland before timed entry starts.
Hi everyone! I recently returned from an amazing honeymoon trip to Japan with my new(!) husband. We went to Osaka, Kyoto, and Okinawa and had an amazing time (maybe I'll do a full trip report idk). What I wanted to talk about in this post was our experience at USJ on a Saturday, during Halloween Horror Nights, with no express passes. Before deciding on Friday to go I did a lot of reading on here and other websites and the general consensus was that USJ is WAYYYY too crowded and if you go on a Saturday, good luck getting on any rides without an express pass. This put me off wanting to go but near the end of our trip we decided that we had seen enough of Osaka to be content (this was our second time there) and that USJ is cheap enough (compared to the US parks) that if it was no fun and way too busy we could just leave early. I attempted to buy tickets online but much like Tokyo Disney my card didn't work so we decided to just take the train over on Friday morning and buy Saturday tix. I recommend this!! We waited in line for about 20 minutes on Friday at 10 am for tickets but when we got to the park about an hour and 15 mins before opening on Saturday the line to buy tickets was wayyyyyy longer. if you want to make it to Nintendoland I would say definitely buy tickets in advance.
With that info out of the way here was our day with approximate wait times!
Arrived at 6:50 AM to get in line before the park opening. I had read online that if you make a b-line for Nintendo land at opening you can get in without timed entry, we did this and it worked!
7:45 Entered the park: walked at a brisk pace to Nintendoland and got right in line for Mariokart (we did single rider, posted times: SR 40 mins, Normal 70 mins, real wait: about 25 mins)
8:20 took pics around Nintendoland
~8:45 got in line for flying dinosaur: posted time: 40 mins, real wait: about 20 mins. Literally one of THE COOLEST COASTERS I'VE EVER BEEN ON! I may have liked it even more than Velocicoaster at Universal Orlando.
9:30 Headed to Harry Potter: It was about 36C out so we were dying of heat, the solution…frozen butterbeer!! After we got that we shopped a bit to try and cool off and then decided to get in the 70 min line for the Hogwarts ride. The real wait was more like 50 mins.
11:15 Got lunch at the Three Broomsticks: Had the Halloween set and it was pretty good!
12:15 Walked over to Hollywood Dreamer: We did Backdrop first and the posted wait was 50 minutes I think but it was more like 25 maybe, it was wayyyy quicker than estimated. They had two Halloween exclusive songs we wanted to ride to: Kickback from Chainsaw Man and Show by Ado so we decided to do kickback for the backwards ride because it just seemed right lol.
1:00 attempted to ride Demon Slayer: We got the Tanjiro popcorn bucket and the soy sauce popcorn (which was delish) and then attempted to ride the Demon Slayer ride but the posted wait was 120 minutes and after barely moving in line for 30 minutes we gave up and left the line. The ride ended up shutting down later (I think it was because of HHN, not a breakdown) so we never ended up riding it but, oh well. We then did some shopping and I bought some Ado HHN merch because I'm a huge Ado fan and I love exclusive collabs.
2:00 Rode Jaws: I was hyped to ride Jaws since I never go to ride the one in Orlando. I was amazing and I bought a really cute Jaws sweater vest after the ride! Posted wait time: 65 mins, real wait time: 60ish mins.
3:30 Re-rode Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey: We enjoyed this ride so much and the posted wait time in the app was like 35 mins but when we got there the time was already up to 80. We decided to wait anyway because the line moved way faster than the posted time earlier in the day…but then the ride broke down lol. We were really close to the front as well so we were supposed to be evacuated last but that mean we sat in line for about 2 hours total. We were a bit miffed as no one was giving information in Japanese or English BUT just when we thought we were about to be evacuated the ride started up again and we got to ride!! So in reality the posted time was 80, it probably would have taken 60 if the ride didn't break down but it ended up taking 90 so really not too bad.
5:00 Had dinner: We had the MOST DELICIOUS Danish pizza things near the Jaws ride. OMG they were devine.
6:00 HHN Started! I've never been to a HHN so I was super hyped to go in Japan, I like that it wasn't a separate ticketed event, it was just included in our 10,000 yen admission. And it was SO FUN. The Zombie costumes were unreal and the actors made it so fun, I liked the Blue Rose Protection Force too and how they played Ado music throughout the evening. There was this huge concert with these creepy/cute bear things and Ado (she wasn't actually there of course) and everyone was so hype, it was a lot of fun.
7:15 One last ride on Hollywood Dreamer: After we had ridden the hollywood dreamer earlier in the day the wait times went up at ton, I think paybe maxxing out at 90 or 100 mins. We had hoped the wait time would go down while everyone was enjoying HHN but it only went up so we decided to just bite the bullet and get in line so that we could ride it forward and listen to Show. I'm so glad we did because the way the ride is lit up at night was a totally different and amazing experience! NOTE: Make sure you check which song number the song you want is by referencing the seat back in front of you because they change the song list between the forward and backward cars and Show went from song #2 backwards to song #5 forwards!
8:45 Time to head out: At this point we had been at the park for like almost 14 hours and we were pretty wiped so we went home and enjoyed the public baths at our hotel. The hot water was heaveny on my sore feet *(*we did about 26k steps that day so we were pretty tired, especially after a few weeks of 20-30K + steps a day lol)
Anyway that was our early Septemer Saturday at USJ. It was absolutely amazing and I think as long as you acknowledge the crowds and enjoy yourself it is totally doable without an express pass!
by Gwyn_L
3 comments
that actually sounds really reasonable! I will be there next week on friday, you give me hope that it might not is that bad. Have a pleasant journey!
Which hotel did you stay at?
> The hot water was heaveny on my sore feet *(*we did about 26k steps that day so we were pretty tired, especially after a few weeks of 20-30K + steps a day lol)
I remember not quite understanding the appeal of hot springs/onsen the first time I was in Japan. It’s just some hot water baths, nice but nothing particularly special.
But I instantly got the appeal when I tried an onsen after some very busy days with well over 30k+ steps each day.
Hot springs are amazing after an physically-intense day, any soreness basically just melts away. I also ended up really liking the hot spring water foot baths that could sometimes be found near volcanos and mountains in Japan.