USJ Trip Report: Halloween Weekend with a Toddler

Hi Everyone!!

My family and I visited USJ once in February and it did not go the best! I am a huge Disney parks fan and know those parks very well, and was wholly unprepared for USJ, especially with a toddler.

We just visited again on Saturday, October 28th, and it was fantastic!! Definitely a redemption from the previous visit. Here is what we did:

7:40: Walked to the park front from our hotel (Park Front Hotel)

8:00: Checked into the park and immediately booked the Super Nintendo World Pass, which we got for 12:50. Also, booked a free fast pass (Yoyakunori) for the kid ride, Elmo’s Bubble Bubble!!

8:15: Got in line for Flight of the Hippogriff! This is a tiny little kid rollercoaster, so we went on since it is one of the few rides we could do as a family!

8:50: Got in line for the Pokémon meet and greet! They have DJ pikachu, DJ Gengar, Mimikyu, Bannett, and Misdrievious (or whatever his name is). You can only choose one of them, unless you wait in the line multiple times. We chose DJ Gengar because he is my daughter’s favorite! He was very cool and we wished the experience lasted longer.

9:45: Elmo’s Bubble Bubble! Very cute. It’s a kid + adult per little boat, so my husband ended up riding by himself, which was hilarious.

10:15: My daughter played in the little inside area after her ride, then we ran back over to the Pokémon area to see the Halloween Pokémon show! It was so cute and fun and gave my daughter the opportunity to see even more Gengars.

11:00: I left the show slightly before it ended to get in line at the nearby restaurant that had Pokémon themed food. The food was alright, as I find most USJ food to be, but it was cute and worth getting.

12:15: I got in the single rider line for Flying Dinosaur! Omg this was fantastic! I love rollercoasters and I hadn’t been on anything like it. Very highly recommend it. I got through single rider in under an hour.

1:30: Checked into Super Nintendo World! Our toddler was passed out, so we grabbed some frozen treats outside the Mario pipe while we waited. The frozen mango slice was delicious! So refreshing.

I don’t remember the timing for the rest of our time in the area, but I immediately went to Kinopio’s Cafe to get a ticket. I got one for a return time of 3:45-4:00. Then once our daughter woke up, we waited about 40 minutes for Yoshi, and about 20 for Mario Kart via single rider + rider switch.

The rest of our time was spent inside the little kid area, and we took a special zombie free route out of the park.

We prioritized Gengar and Super Nintendo World and I feel like our waits were very minimal, especially for the Saturday right before Halloween!

If you have a toddler that you’re planning on bringing to USJ, make sure that they are very safely 92cm or taller. If they are not, they can only go on two rides in the entire park. The yoshi ride, for example, is extremely slow moving and yet it has the 92cm height requirement as well.

Hopefully this helps someone out there!