The Best Theme Park Experiences in Japan!

When travelling to Japan there are many aspects tourists focus on: food, temples, onsens, anime…all unique and vibrant parts of Japanese culture. But there’s another area that Japan excels in: thrilling theme parks.

Due to the epic theming, immaculate environments and innovative design, Japanese theme parks really have an edge over their European counterparts. During our month-long trip to Japan during winter 2023/2024 we chose three contrasting theme parks to dedicate time to as well as a few quick rides we enjoyed elsewhere.

Universal Studios, Osaka (visited in January 2024) -Best for all round experience

Although there are Universal Studios Parks in other countries, Osaka is famous for the newly opened Super Nintendo World (read more about how we made the most of our day here). We loved the theming in the different areas, how walkable the park was and how unique a lot of the rides were. A highlight for me was the Flying Dinosaur in Jurassic Park, and Hollywood, Backdrop. Other than these rides, the majority of attractions were dark rides, which means you’ll have a full day of rides ahead even on a rainy day. The newly opened Super Nintendo World only has two proper rides currently: the Mario Kart inspired  (taking place in a superbly detailed Bowser’s Castle) and the child friendly Yoshi’s Adventure, a gentle train ride through a typical Mario landscape. This mirrored the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the main dark ride ‘Forbidden Journey’ looping the queue through Hogwarts with seamless effects before even boarding the ride. And the strangely popular, family friendly roller coaster ‘Flight of the Griffindor’.

Outside of the main draws, the Minion ride and the Spiderman ride (soon to be closed) are both also dark rides which rely heavily on 4D effects, with differing levels of success. Although bigger thrills could be found at Fuji Q Highland, the quirks, innovation and attention to detail in this park (plus the smoothness of the rides) made them some of the most memorable I’ve ever enjoyed.  

Cost: Prices for a standard entry ticket fluctuate based on the predicted crowd levels. Unfortunately, we were visiting on a high expected turn out day so our ticket cost 10,000 yen (equivalent of around £54). If we’d listened to all the online fear mongering, we would have spent a lot more money on express passes, but we found we were able to enjoy every ride and area we wanted to visit (including Super Nintendo World) without paying for any extras. There are also add-ons such as the power up bands (Nintendo World) and magic wands (Harry Potter) that you may consider to be essential if you are a big fan of these franchises as they give you access to extra, interactive areas. All in all, Universal Studios Osaka could be a costly day if you buy in to all the add ons.

Food & Drink: We snuck in some snacks and brought a refillable water bottle. It wasn’t easy to find places to refill the bottle (mainly low pressure drinking fountains). However, one big plus was that as well as restaurants there were plenty of kiosks and drinks stands so we could grab a quick coffee to enjoy while queuing rather than having to waste valuable time inside the restaurants. The restaurants offered a wide range of global foods and targeted different budgets. We had our main meals at Mel’s Diner and the pizza place. Both were speedy, generously portioned and good quality. The most popular ‘themed’ foods we saw around the park were turkey legs and pork ribs from Jurassic Park, various Mario snacks and the (in)famous Butter Beer from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Transport: Easy metro links from central Osaka, Universal City has a dedicated Metro stop. There are many shops and restaurants between the metro station and the park gates (although these were shut by the time the park closes so if you’re hoping for a post-park meal, you have to book up and leave early!)

Operations: I was pleasantly surprised by the on and off loading of the rides. Plus nearly all of them had a single rider queue (except, inexplicably, Flying Dinosaur). The only operations that felt unnecessarily slow and not worth it was the Minions Mayhem ride that led guests through different layers of instructions and waiting areas for an underwhelming dark ride (not dissimilar to others in the park).

Hidden Gem: The Water World Show. Jaw dropping. There was no way we’d have headed for a show if we hadn’t managed to enjoy all the rides we wanted to first. I’m so pleased we saw this. This is a stunt show with a Hollywood budget. I won’t give away all the secrets but as well as a colossal water tank, stunt performers had to contend with flamethrowers, jet skis, explosions and a seaplane. Being close to the action gave us a real appreciation of the skill involved in creating these death defying stunts. Truly impressive!

Fuji Q Highland (visited in December 2023) – Best for intense thrills

For my 40^th birthday, my one wish was to be on an intense rollercoaster. My husband, sister and brother-in-law conspired to make this come true on a scale I couldn’t have imagined. Choosing Fuji-Q Highland as my birthday destination was a stroke of genius. The setting is epic, blue skies and a perfect view of Mount Fuji are a majestic backdrop to not one, but four, record-breaking rollercoasters. Home of the fastest (Do-dodonpa), steepest (Takabisha), twistiest (Eejanaika) and (only just) highest (Fujiyama) rollercoasters in the world, Fuji Q Highland is the destination for serious rollercoaster enthusiasts.

Alongside the rollercoasters, there are many more conventional funfair rides and seasonal attractions like ice rinks and horror mazes (also a record breaker as the longest horror maze, set in an abandoned hospital with 900m of terrifying corridors to explore). The 79m descent of Fujiyama will live in my memory for a long, long time.

Cost: Unlike a conventional theme park, Fuji Q is free to enter (although you do need an admission ticket, to manage the crowds). You can then choose to pay to ride any attractions you select like a regular fairground. However, you can choose to buy a day pass (as we did) for around 7.000 yen (at the time of our travels, equivalent to £37). This gave us unlimited access to all the rides excluding a few temporary attractions (like the vast horror maze). This is great value as the major rollercoasters were at least 2000 yen each.

Food & Drink: As Fuji Q Highland is more of an amusement park than a theme park, there were no up market, themed restaurants. Instead the food was more mainstream ie burgers, pizza, chips. However, it did have a number of kiosks featuring independent food outlets with great local food like garlic fried rice. It was really nice to have affordable, fresh food options. In contrast to this, there was a pizza outlet with a sponsored flying disc ride attached. The pizza was average but the ride was pretty fun!

Transport: The Fuji Q Highland train station is only one stop from the popular resort town of Kawaguchiko. From here buses also ran regularly. Trains were cheap and regular but only began running at 9:40am (for a 10am park opening). You may prefer to catch a bus if you’re desperate to start queuing early.

Operations: Operations were speedier than I’d anticipated but the queues were long and quite dull through lack of theming or decoration. What helped was that the park runs on facial recognition so riders were scanned efficiently rather than having to find their tickets for each ride. Speedy boarding tickets were available at an additional cost and, although we didn’t use them, this would reduce queue times by around 40mins. Due to the size of the park, we didn’t think this was necessary the day we visited. As these do not need to be purchased in advance, you can wait to see the queue time before making your decision.

Hidden Gem: Fuji Airways may not be as thrilling or as eye-catching as the major rides, but for a 4D flight simulator it beat the overhyped Soaring: Fantastic Flight at Tokyo Disney Sea hands down. There were no obstructed views, it used awe inspiring shots of Fuji (making it relevant to the park) and the turn around time was speedy. A great palate cleanser between the extreme rollercoasters.

Tokyo Disney Sea (visited in January 2024) -Best for story based rides

We really debated for a long time whether to spend one of our Tokyo days at a Disney Park. We are not ‘Disney adults’ but we are theme park fans and love the chance to ride a rollercoaster. Online, general opinion seemed to steer us toward Tokyo Disney Sea as it is unique to Japan and targeted a more adult crowd than the neighbouring Tokyo Disneyland. Having loved Universal Studios and Fuji Q, and embracing the spirit of ‘Why not?’ we ventured in to Tokyo Disney Sea, perhaps with our expectations set a little too high. While the park was immaculate and splendidly themed, the queuing areas and thrill factor left us feeling a little underwhelmed.

We were also a little frustrated that there was no single rider option on the majority of rides, even though queues were long and empty seats were visible on all the rides. Having said that, we were really charmed by how much the rides relied on clear narratives and real, practical effects rather than VR or AR. For example, the Indiana Jones ride was the most impressive ghost train we’ve ever seen with an animatronic Harrison Ford begging for assistance, a tumbling boulder and rickety rope bridge all immersing you into the experience. The most thrilling ride may have been the Tower of Terror, but even this was softened by the overstated safety procedures and cushioned drops.

Cost: The basic ticket price was similar to other parks (and cheaper than Universal Studios). It cost 8,500 yen, roughly equivalent to £45 at the time of our visit. That cost would quickly soar if you added on individual ride passes, popcorn buckets, merchandise etc.

Food & Drink: Tokyo Disney Sea is primarily targeted at Disney fanatics, as such there are long queues and reservation only restaurants throughout the park. The only quickly available snacks are the many different flavoured popcorn stands. The weirdest omission we found was that there was no way of grabbing a quick hot drink; these were only available in the restaurants meaning a speedy journey through the park was never really an option. Our favourite food was the Toy Story Alien themed sweet dumplings. Being Disney Sea, a lot of restaurants offered seafood based options. There was only one vegetarian main meal I found across the park, a basic pizza. Costs were generally a lot cheaper than Universal but lower quality.

Transport: An easy metro ride from Tokyo and then a charming, Disney monorail delivered guests to the park, integrating the arrival into the magical experience. There are also dedicated buses departing from Shibuya station.

Operations: The queues are mainly well themed, but definitely repetitive with little interactivity. Some of the rides endeavoured to make part of the queue blend into the ride (such as Tower of Terror). However, the operations were slowed further by no single-rider options outside of the Indiana Jones area and a level of individual safety checks I’ve never seen elsewhere. Unfortunately, this meant that there was no way to beat the queues, unless you were able to access the app and buy individual timed passes for rides.

Hidden Gem: Triton’s Kingdom. We almost missed this altogether, but I’d read that it was worth a look. Outside of some of my favourite rides, it was the only real ‘wow’ moment for me in the park. The underwater playground was beautifully constructed and filled with stunning details such as shimmering ‘underwater’ lighting, floating jellyfish and undulating flooring. For those travelling with young families, I can imagine spending a whole day here.

Some Honourable Mentions…

We also took a ride on Thunder Dolphin at Tokyo Dome City (a fun ride through the Tokyo skyline); spent a day at Joypolis (The Sega indoor amusement park) and Cosmoworld (a more traditional fairground in nearby Yokohama). Due to the ticketing limitations, we did not attempt a day at Studio Ghibli Museum, but it is on our list for our next trip!