Universal Studios Japan - Tips for getting the most out of your tickets (without having to get an Express Pass!)

Visiting Universal Studios Japan was one of the highlights of our Japan trip. Who would want to miss visiting the Wizarding World of Harry Potter?! (Definitely not us!) But after reading a lot of reviews about the place, I knew we had to have a game plan if we wanted to get the most out of our tickets (and based on our long, exhausting, but fun day, I believe we did get our money's worth).

Based on the numerous reviews I've read online about Universal Studios Japan, most recommend getting the Universal Express Pass since there are so many people going to this amusement park. Honestly, you would think that going on a weekday and not a school holiday would help you avoid the crowd, right? But we went on a weekday (Tuesday) and a school day, but there were still so many people! I estimate about 90% local and 10% tourist.

The crowd going to USJ - this was before 9 in the morning.

So... do I recommend getting the Universal Express Pass? If you have the funds, then why not? But since my family and I were on a budget and didn't want to spend another 6,000 yen on the pass, we just went with the regular 1-Day Studio Pass, which cost 7,400 yen per adult and 4,980 yen per child (4 to 11 years old). Kids under 4 are free.

Here are my tips for getting the most out of your Studio Pass:

1. Buy Advance Tickets - either online or through partner hotels/agencies

Did you know that you can actually buy your admission tickets on the USJ website (https://www.usj.co.jp)? Yes, you can... but not on the English site - only on the Japanese site. This can be a problem for people who can't read or understand Japanese (like me), so I'm linking to this blog that explains step-by-step on how you can purchase tickets on the site: buying advance tickets on the USJ website. My brother was the one who purchased our tickets on the website. But if you find this too complicated, then you can purchase in advance through partner hotels and agencies. 

Buying advance tickets will definitely save you time since you don't have to wait in line to purchase tickets once you arrive at the park - you can go straight to the entrance like we did. 

More time to take pictures since we already have tickets. :)

2. Designate one person to get the Timed Entry Tickets to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Since the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in USJ is fairly new (opened in July 2014), it continues to bear the brunt of the crowd going to the park. So to avoid getting it too congested, USJ requires you to have timed entry tickets to enter that part of the studio (the timed entry is supposed to be only for peak times, but everyday seems to be crowded in the park).

If you get the Universal Express Pass 5 or 7, then you already have a scheduled time to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Since we didn't get the pass, we designated one person in our group to get the timed entry tickets. 

After entering the park, we gave all our studio passes to my brother Coy, who ran to Central Park where the timed entry tickets are being issued (you actually see a lot of people running in the same direction, most likely with the same purpose). He was able to get us a timed entry between 9 to 10am, and we met up with him near the entrance to Harry Potter, which was already getting crowded with lots of people falling in line to enter. Since it was already past 9am, we also fell in line already, and after going through a long, winding, forest-like path with "creepy" sounds according to my son (it's actually the theme song of Harry Potter, which helps you get into the mood of the place), we were finally able to enter the Wizarding World of Harry Potter around 10am.

Is that Harry Potter next to us?!

Hogwarts Express!

After taking some pictures, we headed straight for the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey 4K3D ride... we queued for about an hour before we were able to finish the attraction, which was pretty amazing even if we didn't understand a thing! (It was in Japanese - all of the attractions are.) When we left the ride, the waiting time of the line was already 3 hours! We also rode the Flight of the Hippogriff, then we wandered around the Wizarding World for a bit, enjoying the wonderful sights. Butterbeer is definitely a must try while you're there!

Hagrid's Hut

Flight of the Hippogriff 

My son enjoying his butterbeer.

Ollivander's Wand Shop

We headed out of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for a late lunch since The Three Broomsticks (the food place there) was full! Before heading out, make sure you've had your fill of the place, since you may have to get a timed entry again to enter.

3. Once you leave the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, you now have more time to go on rides and wander around the rest of USJ

After leaving Harry Potter, we ate a late lunch at Amity Landing Restaurant across the Jaws ride, then we split up so that some can go on rides while others went to Universal Wonderland so the kids can enjoy. The children had the best time at Universal Wonderland, and thankfully the queues were pretty short for the rides there. 

Everyone loves Elmo!

Sesame's Big Drive

Cute and yummy buns

Hello Kitty's Cupcake Dream

Big Bird's Big Top Circus 

Snoopy's Sound Stage Adventure

4. Last Tips!

We  had a great time at USJ - it has a good combination of adult rides and kiddie adventures so that all of us enjoyed. My last tips for you are:

- Come early to the park: USJ is supposed to open between 9am to 9:30am, but they usually open the gates early since there are so many people! We arrived at the park at around 8:30am and people were already going inside. Here is how you get to USJ using the train stations:

Click to enlarge - taken from USJ website

- Leave earlier than closing time: If you don't like crowds, I suggest to leave a little earlier than closing time because there are so many people crowding the train station when the park is closing.

- Go on a weekday and avoid going when it's a holiday in Japan at all costs: Well, I don't have personal experience going to USJ on a Japan holiday, but I've read that it can be super crowded with at least 4-hour queues. There was already a lot of people when we went on a weekday/non-holiday, so what more for a weekend or a holiday!

- Skip the shows if you can't understand the language: We skipped all of the shows since they're all in Japanese. USJ is pretty big so there are lots of things to do even without watching the shows. 

An interesting thing to note is that because we went on October, they had some special "halloween" shows and rides, and instead of a night parade, there were zombies and scary music all over the park past 6pm (no zombies in Universal Wonderland though, since that's the place for kids). We had ridden the Amazing Adventures of Spiderman 4K3D near the back of the park, and once we got out of the ride, the park had turned into the set of a horror movie. We had to walk to the exit of the park passing a lot of zombies walking on the street with creepy music and sounds of a saw. The kids were terrified! My son had read about the zombies coming out past 6pm in one of the brochures, and he was telling me that we had to leave before the zombies came out. I thought at first that they were limited to one part of the park, but they were everywhere! I guess it's fun for adults, especially with a lot of park goers also in costumes, but the horror park just frightened the kids. 

The kids were pretty scared of these zombies all over the park!

Where's my brother?! Hehe

So that's it! I actually think a 2-day Studio Pass is a nice idea if you want to do all (if not most) of the rides and also spend lots of time at the Harry Potter part. This was our original plan, but then we decided to just go for a 1-day Studio Pass. We still enjoyed our other days in Osaka - there are really so many things to do in Japan. I want to go back!