Our Complete Guide to a Perfect Day at Universal Studios, Osaka.

(without having to buy any costly add-ons!)

When we planned to come to Japan, we were already excited about the possibility of visiting Universal Studios Osaka. The recently opened Super Nintendo World has been seriously hyped, being the biggest and one of only two on the planet. However, as the day drew closer, we began to get nervous, even downhearted by all the reviews. All online forums seemed to suggest that without an expensive express pass or reserved time slot, we’d be unable to get near Mario and would be unlikely to enjoy more than 2 or 3 rides in the day. Queues were purported to be huge and extremely slow with the expectations of lines up to 5 hours long for the biggest attractions.

Our experience, contrary to our expectation, was one of the best theme park days we’ve ever had. We got on all the best rides, in some cases multiple times; accessed the limited-entry Super Nintendo World; saw shows; sampled the food and still had plenty of time to wander around the brilliantly themed areas, in between.

I would add the caveat that we travelled as two adrenaline junkie adults, our itinerary would have been a lot more challenging with children or in a bigger group. We also prioritised the thrill rides over shows, parades, character meet & greets etc so this approach may not be for you if you’re looking to spend hours in areas soaking up the atmosphere.

So, in our experience, it is possible to enjoy all the rides with a regular entry ticket without the expensive add-ons but there are a few things we had to do in order to make it a success:

8 Top Tips for making the most of a standard entry ticket to Universal Studios, Osaka

1)Arrive ridiculously early (the gates may open ahead of schedule)

We were staying in Shin-Okuba, so set our alarm for 4:50am. Out of the hotel by 5:20am and straight to the metro with a light rucksack packed with a convenience store breakfast. As we journeyed closer to Universal Studios, more and more passengers joined who were clearly on the same mission. Most in some sort of costume, so our early morning commute included Mario, minions, and various pupils of Hogwarts. As soon as the train pulled into the Universal Studios station, everyone began to run to secure their place in the queue. Far from being stressful, there was a gleeful thrill to being part of the excitement. We were about 5 rows of people deep in our queue by 6:15am.

Being Japan, the queuing was extremely courteous and orderly with a shared sense of anticipation and wonder. When Universal staff appeared, they were greeted like celebrities with everyone cheering and clapping them. With the crowd having swelled during the hour we’d been waiting; the park opened its gates early at 7:15am (45 mins earlier than advertised) for the standard ticket holders.

2) Run to Super Nintendo World (then to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter)

First, we ran – or rather, power walked – to Super Nintendo World (past so many staff members holding ‘do not run’ signs), straight through a glowing green pipe and into Bowser’s Castle at 7:30am. No need for a timed entry or priority access! Once inside, we had time to take in the surroundings. At this point, many others who’d sprinted there were queuing to buy power up bands. Although undoubtedly a fun addition, giving wearers exclusive opportunities to access interactive features, we were doing Universal on a budget and kept focused on the rides. This also gave us the advantage of strolling into the extraordinarily well themed Bowser’s Castle queuing area, for the Mario Kart ride, ahead of many other guests who had stopped to make a purchase.

Mario Karts was a deliberately chaotic combination of real world and augmented reality effects. The rainbow road was the absolute highlight and felt as close to being inside the game as I can ever imagine experiencing.

We were through the ride and out by 7:57am which was still before the park officially opened at 8am. We were elated! After a quick look around at the incredible artistry that had created Super Nintendo World exactly as it looks in the games complete with thwomps, spinning coins and mushrooms, we ran to the second most popular area: the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

This is the second most sought after area and does still sometimes require timed entry tickets. By 8:15am, we were wandering the streets of Hogsmeade. We enjoyed noticing all the magical details like smoke and trickling water controlled by guests with wands, before joining the queue for a notoriously popular ride: Forbidden Journey. The queue snaked through the halls of Hogwarts with talking paintings and flurries of indoor snow. The queue estimate of 30mins flew by and soon we were strapping into carriages on a moving platform. Jon looked at me and said, ‘I really don’t know what to expect’. But before we could think, we were thrown upside down and through what seemed to be a spinning vortex into the middle of a game of quidditch. Five minutes of dragons, dementors, and creepy spiders made for an intense indoor rollercoaster. Off ride and other side by 8:50am. With the two most popular areas and rides under our belts, we could relax into the rest of the day.

3) Make use of single rider lines

This was a revelation for us as so many rides allowed single riders! The only one that didn’t was in my most anticipated area, Jurassic Park. We entered the iconic gates at 9:10am. Queuing for Flying Dinosaur (an awesome B&M coaster, the second longest flying coaster in the world), we could feel that the crowds were starting to build, plus the theming was quite dull.  The theme tune was pumping round the area though and, once strapped in, it felt truly epic as the ride dropped vertically through dark tunnels and swept over the crowds. Off the ride by 10:15am in time to grab a coffee and watch Dino meet and greet with a cute baby triceratops.

The rest of the morning was jam-packed with single rider experiences. The Jaws ride single rider line listed as only 10mins (compared to 50mins normal). We’d never tried single rider before, but in less than 10mins we were both seated on the boat, one seat apart. It did mean I was squealing and hiding against a small girl next to me each time Jaws appeared. Other than that, single rider was a big success. Hollywood dream, single rider took 40mins (instead of 90mins +). Again, we were in the same car. The ride had speakers built into the headrests so you could choose a soundtrack to scream a long to as you were being propelled along the track. Jon then took the single rider option for Sadako’s Curse, a dark horror ride. He was in and out in under 20 mins.

Next, a slightly incomprehensible minions single rider line unclear what was queue and what was attraction but probably took about 40mins. Mostly involved being flung around while minions said ‘banana’. I stood next to a tall Mario hat wearing man in the single rider line, who turned to me and said, “Fun fact, I’ve ridden my first rollercoaster today!”

But my absolute favourite single rider experience came on our final ride of Hollywood: The Dream. Boarding after sunset, I found myself with a front row seat next to three local teenagers. We agreed to play ‘Happy’ by Pharell Williams through the headrest speakers and synchronised clapping as we hurtled down the first drop.

The single rider experience not only guaranteed better use of our time but also led to plenty of fun interactions with other guests enjoying their day at the park.

4) Time rollercoaster riding during the big parades

The Universal Studios parades have a reputation for being impressive and very popular. Park staff carefully place temporary barriers along the parade route and guests start lining the streets well ahead of the scheduled commencement. We took the opportunity to do one of the bigger, busier roller coasters, and chose ‘Backdrop’, in the old Hollywood area. This coaster’s main feature is that the seats face backwards, and it is one of the few rides you can watch speeding round the tracks while you queue to enter the park. Queuing while the parade was still in full swing meant the wait time was significantly less than advertised and we got on in under 30 minutes. We managed get the best of both worlds by catching the parade finale and enjoyed dancing around to Mario and Pokemon characters before making a swift beeline for the Backdrop ride.

5) Use the crowd calendar to plan the date of your trip

We were visiting over Christmas and New Year so timing wasn’t ideal for a quiet day at a theme park, so we could just do our best to pick the least busy day during our stay. Any national holiday is going to be packed, we chose two days after schools were due to go back but obviously there were many families on holiday. This just made arriving early even more vital. Not only does the crowd calendar help with numbers it can also save you money as the ticket cost fluctuates based on predicted crowds.

6) Check out the park maps in advance and have a plan

Planning for us meant prioritising which rides were absolute musts and then sprinting to those areas first. This approach gave us plenty of time to experience more of the park later in the day without the anxiety of potentially missing out. In fact, by the afternoon we were looking for some down time after having ridden all the rollercoasters.

Our plan was three-fold: Firstly, get to Super Nintendo World as quickly as possible after the gates opened. A thorough study of the map was essential to knowing the route and once those gates open, its easy to get flummoxed by the sea of people and the captivating sights and sounds all around. Super Nintendo World is one of the farthest attractions from the park entrance, so there are plenty of opportunities get take a wrong turn along the way!

The second part of our plan was to get to the Harry Potter area immediately after Super Nintendo World. The third part of our plan was to get to one of the big rollercoasters next. So again, we were very efficient with our time in Harry Potter world; we did the main ride, soaked up some of the street-atmosphere but then headed straight for the Jurassic Park zone and the long-running Flying Dinosaur ride. This coaster was near the Harry Potter world, and it was still just pre-9am by the time we reached it. Crowds were filling up, but we were still ahead of the rush. In addition to our route plan, we made sure to avoid any food, coffee or toilet stops and walked at a brisk pace (but not a run!).

7) Do not rely on park WiFi

There is some limited Wi-fi near the entrance but that’s about it. It is possible to experience the park without it but the live waiting time updates, timed entry booking system plus your digital tickets make the app almost an essential. Have your mobile data plan sorted in advance. For us this meant purchasing a 24-hour pass with my phone network provider, for up to 150mb of data, which we found to be plenty. But be warned, your phone apps might use data in the background without you knowing. Jon and I both changed our app settings for the day so that all but the apps we needed were limited to wi-fi only usage.

8) Book later timed entry slots once you’ve already arrived in the park

Around 10am, while Jon was riding the horror ride, I logged into the Universal app to see if there were any timed entry slots left for Super Nintendo World. The only availability left was 8:15pm. I booked in as, even though we had been in already, I thought we may enjoy seeing the area by night. It was a great choice to bookend the day with Super Nintendo World as it meant we could relax and enjoy the rest of the park without having to rush back there during peak times.

When we returned to Super Nintendo World I showed my phone with the timed entry pass on the screen to the entrance staff. The staff member carefully studied the screen, looked us both in the eye, then exuberantly exclaimed ‘Let’s Go!’, before ushering us in. We arrived just in time to join Yoshi’s Adventure with a 15min queue. Although a cute, children’s ride, it was joyful to journey through Super Nintendo World by night, on the back of a Yoshi, and appreciate all the incredible, bright details, which really popped against the pitch-black night sky.