Ah, Universal Studios Japan (USJ), the place where childhood nostalgia meets adrenaline-pumping rides, movie magic, and some good ol’ overpriced snacks! If you’re planning a visit, let me tell you why we opted for the 1.5-day pass. It all started with the hype of Super Nintendo World, where Mario reigns supreme, and the fear that we might miss it with just a regular one-day ticket. You see, entry to Super Nintendo World requires a special reservation, known as the “Area Time Entry Ticket,” and no, just purchasing a day ticket to the park doesn’t guarantee you’ll get in. You need to reserve a time on the USJ app after your ticket is scanned at the park. Luckily, it’s free to reserve!
We’ve watched all the YouTube videos, scoured the blogs, and formulated our perfect strategy for USJ in 2024. We ended up snagging a spot in Nintendo World three times! So, buckle up, grab a coffee while you read, and let’s take you through 1.5 days of fun, games, and yes, snacks, with time stamps and all! Note: The Donkey Kong section was not opened when we were there in Summer 2024. Also, if you plan on visiting Fantasy Springs in DisneySea, check out our blog, How to Spend 1 Full Day at DisneySea in Tokyo (With Time Stamps!)
TLDR 🫣
Section Highlights:
- Super Nintendo World: Iconic Mario-themed rides and interactive games. Don't miss Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge and Yoshi’s Adventure.
- Harry Potter World: Experience the immersive Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride and visit Ollivanders for a wand selection.
- Jurassic Park: Thrill-seekers will love The Flying Dinosaur ride, offering aerial twists and turns.
- Amity Village: Home to Jaws, though mostly a photo op rather than a ride.
- Minion Park: Family-friendly, with fun attractions like Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem and a fluffy unicorn shop.
- New York: Take a break and catch musical performances amidst Broadway vibes.
Pro Tips:
- Book tickets through Klook for potential savings and visit midweek (Wednesday/Thursday) for the smallest crowds.
- Use the USJ app for Area Time Entry Ticket reservations to Super Nintendo World OR arrive before the 8:00 AM "rope drop" to avoid needing a reservation.
- Bring a power bank, water, and small snacks (but no full meals). Water fountains are available in the roller coaster lines where you can refill your bottle.
Prep Work: Before the Fun Begins
Let’s start with the nitty-gritty. Just a heads up: Some of the links are affiliate links, meaning we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you if you make a purchase.
Pro Tip: We booked our tickets through Klook for about $222 CAD for two people (which was cheaper than USJ’s official website, oddly enough). Bonus Pro Tip: We visited on a Wednesday and Thursday because those are the least crowded days. School kids tend to take field trips and invade the park on Mondays and Tuesdays, and pass holders tend to show up on Fridays and weekends.
After securing our tickets, we downloaded the USJ app—a lifesaver- and loaded up our Klook tickets! The app is also where you get the ride wait times, access maps, and more importantly, snag that golden “Area Time Entry Ticket” to Super Nintendo World.
Bring a charged power bank too. The only thing scarier than Jaws is a dead phone.
You are allowed to bring water and small snacks into the park, but bringing full meals like bento boxes are discouraged. The food available inside the park is more expensive than what you’d typically pay outside.
Cash, IC cards, and credit cards, including VISA, are accepted without any issues inside the park.
Lastly, prioritize the sections of the park. For example, Universal Wonderland is mostly for kids, so we marked it as low priority (sorry kiddos). Here’s how we ranked the different areas (for us, at least):
– #1 Super Nintendo World: The reason you came to Japan. Period.
– #2 Harry Potter World: Wands, wizards, and the Forbidden Journey ride!
– #3 Minion Park: Fun for the whole family, and by that, I mean a lot of kids. But it’s so fluffy!
– #4 Jurassic Park: Dinosaurs and thrill rides, need I say more?
– #5 Amity Village: Jaws—because who doesn’t love a mechanical shark?
– #6 New York: Broadway vibes with shows and rides.
– #7 Hollywood: Movie-themed attractions – mostly in Japanese.
– #8 Universal Wonderland: Whimsical, and definitely for the little ones.
ITINERARY
DAY 1: The Warm-Up (Half Day)
1:45 PM: We dropped off our luggage at the hotel and made our way to USJ via public transportation. It’s a super easy train ride that will take you about 30 minutes from the centre of Osaka. First things first, we grabbed some onigiri from 7-Eleven ($3 CAD) and Gong Cha bubble tea ($12 CAD) to fuel our theme park adventure. There’s also a Lawson’s and other restaurants right outside the park gates. A little snack before the storm, if you will.
2:55 PM: We tried to enter the park with our 1.5-day passes, but nope, denied. Turns out, you can only enter after 3:00 PM. Rules are rules, and Japan is very orderly! 🙂
3:00 PM: We officially entered the park by scanning the QR code on the USJ app (thank you, Klook!). First order of business: snagging a reservation for Super Nintendo World. Our time slot? The only one left – 7:00 PM. That’s only two hours before the park closes. Therefore, if you’re buying a 1.5 day pass, we recommend that you also try to enter the park exactly at 3:00 PM in order to snag a reservation for Nintendo. We imagine that by 4:00 PM, there would be no more “Area Time Entry Tickets” left for Nintendo!
HARRY POTTER WORLD
3:15 PM: With several hours until we’d be allowed into Nintendo World, we ventured into the magical world of Harry Potter. Go Hufflepuffs!
First up was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, a ride with a listed 60-minute wait that only took 25 minutes (win!). No 3D glasses needed, just some ultra-realistic magic that had us dodging dragons and dementors. It was easily one of the top rides at the park for me. Next, we hit up Flight of the Hippogriff—a true rollercoaster with a 90-minute wait (no luck there, it was accurate).
From there, we window-shopped at Ollivanders and watched kids casting spells with their interactive wands. I was soooo tempted to buy one. I picked up all the wands at the kiosk and tried them out. It’s true what they say – the wand picks you and the Dumbledore one just felt right. But, an interactive wand would have set me back around ~$55 CAD so I opted not to get one.
AMITY VILLAGE & JURASSIC PARK
6:15 PM: After 3 hours in the Magical World of Harry Potter, we made our way to Amity Village for Jaws (just a photo op, not a ride), and then Jurassic Park for the Flying Dinosaur—a ride that had us soaring through the air and screeching like pterodactyls. With a surprisingly short 30-minute wait, we were feeling pretty smug. That’s three park sections down in just a half day. Pro Tip: If these were the only sections you wanted to visit, then it is possible to purchase just the discounted Twilight Ticket, which gives you entrance into the park from 3:00 PM to closing. You wouldn’t even need the 1.5 day pass. But if it’s your first time and you want to get the most out of your time here, then I’d opt for the full day pass, at least.
SUPER NINTENDO WORLD
7:00 PM: Finally, the main event! We entered Super Nintendo World at 7:00 PM on the dot. Right off the bat, we noticed a kiosk with a long line selling Power-Up Bands (Pro Tip: there are more kiosks inside the park with shorter lines). These $40 CAD wristbands let you interact with various coin blocks and experience exclusive mini-games throughout the area. We held off, knowing we’d have plenty of time to pick one up later (and hopefully the line up would dwindle).
The architecture here is chef’s kiss. It’s like stepping into the real-life video game of Super Nintendo World. Our first ride was Yoshi’s Adventure, a cute ride that gives you a bird’s-eye view of the park while sitting on Yoshi’s back. Egg blocks, coin blocks, and all things Mario surrounded us as we cued up for the ride. Yes, you can interact with yoshi eggs and coin blocks while lining up and before you even get on the ride! It solidified our need for those Power-Up Bands and soon.
After Yoshi’s Adventure, which took about 1 hour to line up and ride, we knew we didn’t have enough time to cue up for another ride. Instead, we headed toward Yoshi’s Snack Land, where we grabbed a Green Shell calzone filled with yakisoba and cheese for 800 yen ($8 CAD). Right next to the snack shop, we found a kiosk selling Power-Up Bands. We opted for the Toad band, but they also had Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Daisy, and Yoshi bands available for $40 CAD each—bonus, there was no lineup at this kiosk! With the band strapped on, it was time to start collecting coins! We wandered around Nintendo World, punching as many coin blocks and “?” cubes as we could.
9:00 PM: The park was closing, but we didn’t want to leave. We soaked in the nighttime glow of Nintendo World, staying a little longer than we probably should have. But hey, rules are more like guidelines, right?
DAY 2: The Marathon (Full Day)
5:45 AM: Rise and shine! After yesterday’s warm-up, we were ready to tackle a full day at USJ. And when I say “full day,” I mean we were at the park gates by 7:10 AM, waiting in line with the massive crowd, and snacks in hand from the Lawson’s just outside the park gates (another round of onigiri, plus some other goodies for $16 CAD).
7:55 AM: Rope drop happens around 8:00 AM, despite the park “officially” opening at 9:00 AM. If you want to get into Super Nintendo World without a reservation, you better be part of the early-morning crowd. That’s because you don’t need a Timed Area Entry Ticket if you’re there at rope drop. You can walk into Nintendo World right away. Except, people literally sprint to get in. Employees actually hold signs that say “Please Walk,” because it’s a full-blown stampede to Nintendo World.
Getting there early also allows you to enjoy the area with shorter lines and spend more time soaking in everything, especially during the less crowded morning hours. Arriving too late—like after 9:00 AM—could mean only securing a crummy reservation time, like 7:00 PM, just two hours before the park closes. Pro Tip: We heard that the USJ app will periodically release additional entry times for Nintendo, but throughout the day, we checked and would either get “No availability” or “7:00 PM available”.
SUPER NINTENDO WORLD
8:05 AM: We bee-lined for Bowser’s Castle to ride Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge. There were no estimated wait times on the app, but it took us 25 minutes, which was the shortest wait time we’d experience all day.
8:30 AM: After the ride, we took our time walking around Nintendo World, soaking in the vibrant scenery and collecting even more coins. We made sure not to leave any block unturned—every interactive element in the park felt like a little adventure in itself!
9:15 AM: We spent some time playing a few more interactive games, racking up more coins along the way.
While waiting in line for one of the games, we noticed an employee holding up a large board outside Koppio (Toad’s) Café. On the board was a QR code, which turned out to be the link to make a reservation for the café. You can’t just walk in whenever you want, and thanks to this tip, we secured a 12:15 PM reservation at Toad’s Café.
11:00 AM: Time to hop back on Yoshi’s Adventure! This would be our first time today but second time in total. There were still some coins in the line-up section that we didn’t collect yesterday, so we made sure to grab them this time. After about an hour of waiting, we got on the ride and once again took in the magical land of Nintendo, this time bathed in daylight.
12:00 PM: Just as we got off the ride, we ran into our favorite mushroom-amphibian friend—Toad! After a few high-fives and pictures with him, we headed off to Toad’s Café for our much-anticipated lunch.
12:15 PM: With our reservation at Toad’s Café, we joined yet another line, this time to order food. The menu was overflowing with Toad and mushroom-themed dishes, much to Ryan’s excitement. It took us a little while to choose, but the options were too fun to pass up.
12:30 PM: We finally settled on the chef’s special: omurice with shrimp and mushroom cream stew for 2,400 yen ($24 CAD), the super mushroom pizza bowl with mushroom tomato sauce for 1,700 yen ($17 CAD), a coffee for 350 yen ($3.50 CAD), and a “?” block tiramisu for 950 yen ($9.50 CAD). We had heard rumors that in some parks, you could keep the bowl that came with the mushroom pizza as a souvenir, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case here.
After ordering, we were seated at a table, and it was obvious why reservations were necessary—it was packed! Without the reservation system, it would have been total chaos, and trying to find a table on your own would’ve been like the Hunger Games. While we enjoyed our meal, we also managed to snag another entry into Nintendo World for 7:00 PM that evening, just like we had the day before.
1:30 PM: So, what was the best thing we ate here? Hands down, the super mushroom pizza bowl with mushroom tomato sauce! It had a crispy, flaky top and a deliciously cheesy interior that was packed with flavor. The omurice, by comparison, was pretty bland and a bit of a letdown, but the pizza bowl more than made up for it. After lunch, we said a temporary goodbye to Nintendo World, deciding to explore other sections of the park, knowing we’d be back for more fun in the evening at 7:00 PM.
MINION PARK
2:00 PM: After finishing up in Nintendo World, we made our way to Minion Park. We had a fun time playing with the Bank of Evil, a cute, themed ATM that sadly didn’t dispense any real money, but it was still an adorable stop. After exploring the area a bit more, we decided to hop in line for the Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem ride. It’s a movie-style ride where you climb aboard a vehicle designed by Gru and enter his lab to start the process of becoming an actual minion. The wait time plus the ride itself took about 1.25 hours.
3:15 PM: As we stepped off the ride, we were greeted by the evil genius himself, Gru! After snapping a few pictures, we wandered into the “It’s So Fluffy” shop and window-shopped, marvelling at all the adorable toys and fluffy unicorns from the movie.
NEW YORK
3:45 PM: By this time, I was ready for a nap. The early start to the day combined with all the walking and excitement was catching up with me. That coffee from Toad’s Café? Definitely not strong enough to power me through the afternoon.
4:00 PM: We decided to take a break and sat on the grounds in the New York area, where we watched a musical production. The lively performance had catchy tunes and drumming, but I could barely keep my eyes open.
4:30 PM: My fatigue was real, and that’s when I spotted it—a beautiful patch of grass. Yes, a public lawn! There were a few dads, couples, and other park-goers lying on the grass, catching some sun or grabbing a quick nap. It was calling my name. I wasn’t expecting to fall asleep, but desperate times! I told Ryan to go ahead and enjoy the Detective Conan 4-D Live Show: Jewel Under the Starry Sky—a ride entirely in Japanese, which he was able to follow thanks to his university Japanese courses. I, on the other hand, took the opportunity to nap on the lawn, and after about an hour, I woke up from the best nap ever, fully recharged for the rest of the day. Ryan had just finished his ride and was just as refreshed.
HOLLYWOOD
5:30 PM: Feeling rested and ready to go, we headed to Hollywood. The next ride on the list was Hollywood Dream, a massive rollercoaster where you can choose your own soundtrack to accompany you. I chose “Osaka Lover,” a special edition track for USJ. The line and the ride took about an hour in total.
Honestly, if you’re short on time, we’d recommend skipping the New York and Hollywood areas altogether. The lineups are long, and much of the narration for the rides is in Japanese, making it hard to follow if you haven’t seen the related shows or don’t speak the language.
HARRY POTTER AGAIN
6:30 PM: We made our way back to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter—one of my absolute favourite lands in the park. Though we didn’t go on any rides this time, we just wanted to soak in the atmosphere and admire the incredible architecture again, as we had done the previous day.
SUPER NINTENDO WORLD AGAIN
7:00 PM: After nearly 12 hours, we were back at the nostalgic world of Super Nintendo for the third time during our trip. We spent the final two hours playing more interactive games with our Power-Up Bands, tried on a few pieces of merch, and simply soaked in the stunning nighttime scenery. In case you were wondering about merch prices, they are indeed expensive. If you want photos of any of the merch below, leave a comment at the end and we’ll email you! Here are a few things we looked at:
– 3 piece earring set (6 earrings of various characters like boo, mario, yoshi): 2,300 yen
– 2 “?” coin plush rings: 2,000 yen
– Yoshi purse bag: 1,800 yen – We considered buying this one, but ultimately opted not to save money (see image below)
– “?” coin purse bag: 1,800 yen
– Full body yoshi purse bag: 2,700 yen
– Boo reusable shopping bag with pouch: 2,600 yen
– 5 piece lip cream/stick: 2,900 yen
– Yoshi hair band for washing your face: 2,400 – A Gudetama egg hair band will cost you 1,200 from Don Quijote
– 3 piece mini towel set: 2,500 yen
– Chocolate in a box shaped like a green shell: On sale for 1,200 yen
– Mario head band: 3,000 yen
– Plush toy shaped as a blue shell: 4,800 yen
– 3 piece “?” coin key chain set: 3,000 yen
– A plush earring set (2 earrings with mushrooms): 1,700 yen
– Nintendo switch gadget case: 2,900 yen
The bright lights of Nintendo World against the dark sky were magical once again. By the time the park closed at 9:00 PM, we reluctantly headed back to our hotel, still buzzing with excitement and ready to hunt for some dinner in the area.
TOTAL COST FOR 1.5 DAYS AT USJ: $346 (2 adults, CAD)
Tickets from Klook: $222
Food: $84
Merch: $40 (One Power-Up Band only)
FINAL THOUGHTS
So, can you do USJ in just one day? Technically, yes. But by opting for 1.5 days, we were able to hit all the must-see spots and rides without worrying about the long lines or missing out on Mario magic. Plus, it gave us time to take naps on the lawn. Priorities, right?
My advice: Go for the 1.5-day ticket if you can swing it. It’s worth the extra time to fully experience the park (and all the snacks). Just don’t forget your Power-Up Band, as it makes the interactive experiences even more fun and lets you collect those all-important coins. Trust me, the extra time will let you fully immerse yourself in the charm of each themed area, explore hidden corners, and take in the magical atmosphere at your own pace, without feeling rushed. Comment below if you have any questions!
If you’re curious about how we spent 31 days all over Japan, check out our ultimate blog, How to Spend 1 Month in Japan! Also, if you plan on visiting Fantasy Springs in DisneySea, check out our blog, How to Spend 1 Full Day at DisneySea in Tokyo (With Time Stamps!)
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