This applies if you are planning to go to USJ about 45-60 days prior and planning to buy USJ Express pass. I also see many posts indicating they’re unable to buy Express pass as it ran out even weeks before.
I am posting this just as an act of giving back since most pages out there and Youtube tips refer you to book via Klook or USJ English page. These avenues will set you up to fail, let me explain why.
Klook: Buying USJ via Klook randomize your time of entry. You may get lucky and get reasonably good pace/time, but law of probability works against you. Imagine scenario where you enter SMW one hour before park closure, or that you only have 2 hours in SMW before rushing to Harry Potter in afternoon, etc. Spending $150pp, do you want to gamble your chance? Me don’t think so.
USJ English Page: If you select English language to buy tickets, you will be automatically redirected to an external official agency that sells the ticket. For some reason, the availability for Express pass in this page is extremely poor. Availability 2 months out constantly marked as out of stock. This becomes source of confusion for manu Redditors. They are booking it so early yet no stock? I simply think that they just don’t sync their inventory often enough with USJ Japanese page
Ok, now we have those two avenues out of the way – what is the best way to book USJ Express Pass? Yep, you guessed it, USJ Japanese Website. https://www.usj.co.jp/web/ja/jp
Here are some tips to have a successful USJ Japanese Website experience:
Before booking tips:
1. Register in advance USJ Club member (see the top page to register). You have to convert your name to Katakana / Hiragana. Just use Google translate or other name conversion website.
2. Book as soon as inventory is released. Tickets seem to be currently released in batches 2.5 in advance. Currently up to July 31 is available. These tickets are booked very quickly – especially the preferred time slots. Booking in the morning EST (say 8AM) will get you fresh inventory (for any new release).
3. Search for the Express Pass you want to book. I don’t need to list the options as you can see them on website.
Pro tip: Some attractions that you want to ride (eg Spiderman, Jujutsu Kaisen) may not have that bad of a wait time to justify Express Pass (1 hour or less typically) . Some rides like Doraemon, Mario Kart, Yoshi Adventure, Hollywood dream roller coaster absolutely require Express Pass (1-2 hour wait). So even say you want to see Spiderman, but may want to ride Doraemon, you may want to get Doraemon instead. Data on ride wait times: https://www.thrill-data.com/waits/park/unit/usj/
4. Pick your time slot: USJ released all the possible combination of Express Pass entry time via table. You can look this up within the Express Pass page within the type you want. Each combination is marked with a number (1) to (120). Checking this table is crucial because when you book your Express pass, it only gives you schedule for Mario World and Harry Potter area entry, and you won’t see the entrance time for the other rides timed entry (Doraemon, Spiderman, etc). You can pick say generally time you want to pick before booking.
Pro tip: When selecting your time slot. Understand which button to click after you translate to English and restore page back to Japanese. If the page is in English translation, the time slot simply will not appear.. This is the only page which translation doesn’t work.
Pro Tip: Other than rides, consider other events you want to attend in the park. There is NO LIMIT parade that runs during the day. Unfortunately, this may be difficult to accommodate depending on your priority. Personally, I have to miss this to prioritize AM in Super Mario World.
5. Delivery Method and Paying: Always pick QR code. I was not able to to pay via my Visa, but my Amex seems to work. Heard apple pay works too if you use iPhone (does not get triggered using iPad).
6. Final tip: Arriving at the park early is a well known tips (1.5 hour before opening). This allows you to get to SMW early to do the mini challenges and toad cafe (no express pass for those!), so after youre done Mario Kart (say by 11-12PM), you are ready to explore other part of the parks.
Good luck! Feel free to ask me any questions you may have.
3 comments
I have a couple of questions, first regarding buying directly from the USJ web, I was told to avoid that because is not possible to pay through main “western” debit/credit cards. Do you know if this is true?
And second, I am attending there basically because my kid is a huge Nintendo guy, so the main target is getting into that area. Are you saying in the 6th point that if we are early enough we can get in even if we have scheduled a time slot later in the day?
Might just be me being a bit dumb, but any advice on registering as a USJ Club member without a Japanese address? No idea what to put in the post code / address boxes as it won’t accept my UK post code.
Just to throw in my 2 cents. I was at USJ yesterday (a weekday). The wife and I had purchased regular day passes through Klook.
We got to the park at about 7:15AM. There were already people waiting ahead of us but we were still early enough that we had a good spot in line. At about 8:30AM the staff came out to let in the people who had early access (they were waiting in a roped off area). At 8:45AM they opened the gates for us normal people.
Once we got in, we noticed everyone started running/jogging towards SNW. We did the same and we got in without any issues (no special tickets or anything needed). We stayed there until about 1PM.
Something to note – USJ offers “timed entry” tickets to get in to SNW which you can get through the USJ app AFTER you have scanned your park entry ticket and entered the park. We tried to do that once we got in because we thought that was the only way to get to SNW. But it turns out if you get to the park early, you can just go to SNW immediately without any special ticket. The “timed entry” tickets weren’t even an available option in the app.
I did notice that the “timed entry” tickets kicked in later that morning (maybe around 10-11AM). Which means if you were not in SNW by then, you would have to register for one of those tickets and can only get into SNW at the time specified on the ticket.