Probably like most kids, my boys love theme parks! In fact it’s fair to say that we’re a family of theme park enthusiasts. We love high octane, adrenaline enhancing rides, great theming, and all of the fun that comes from being in a theme park. Yup, even me and Mike at 40-something years old, and old enough to know better! So we’ve visited both Tokyo Disneyland Parks (on several occasions) and Universal Studios Japan.
We considered these essential stops on our Japan visits! But I know that not everyone wants to waste more than one day of their time in this culturally rich country visiting theme parks (especially when there are versions of both parks elsewhere in the world). So one of the questions we’re asked a lot is Tokyo Disney vs Universal Studios Japan- which is better for kids?
Like so many of these questions, there is no simple answer. It depends how old your kids are, and what their interests and expectations are too. My boys would say that Super Nintendo World in Universal Studios Japan was an unforgettable moment for them, but so was meeting Duffy Bear for the first time in Tokyo Disney Sea (my personal favourite theme park!)
In this post i’ll break down all the best child-friendly features of Tokyo Disney and Universal Studios Japan so that you can decide which park will be best for your kids.
- Tokyo Disney or Universal Studios Japan: Which Is Cheaper?
- Which Japanese Theme Park Has The Best Rides For Kids?
- Does Tokyo Disney or Universal Studios Japan Have The Most Child-Friendly Food?
- Meeting Characters at Tokyo Disney and Universal Studios Japan
- What If My Kids Don’t Like To Queue?
- Tokyo Disney and Universal Studios Japan Locations
- Conclusion
- Keep Planning Your Trip To Japan’s Theme Parks
Heads up! This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click and make a purchase, I might earn a very small commission – at no extra cost to you. This helps to keep the blog going. Thanks for the support!
Tokyo Disney or Universal Studios Japan: Which Is Cheaper?
If you’re on a budget, or price is going to be a factor in your decision making process then it’s worth noting that Tokyo Disney is slightly cheaper overall than Universal Studios Japan.
The ticket prices are cheaper (although only marginally), the themed food is cheaper, and the merchandise is cheaper too in our experience. We definitely spent more money in Universal Studios Japan than we did in Tokyo Disneyland.
One day tickets to the Tokyo Disney Parks (both Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea – the prices are the same) cost from £46.29 for an adult, £38.49 for children aged 12-17, and £27.59 for children aged from 4-11. (under 4s enter the park for free).
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By contrast, one day tickets to Universal Studios Japan cost £49.85 for adults, and £31.25 for children aged 4 to 11. Children under 4 still go free, but if you have a child over 11 (as we do) then you’ll pay the full adult price for their admission ticket.
👉 Click here to check availablity and book your Universal Studios Japan tickets
💶 Use my discount code THATMUMTRAVEL5KLOOK for an extra 5% off
Which Japanese Theme Park Has The Best Rides For Kids?
Right, now it’s time to delve into one of the most important questions: which park has the best rides for kids? Tokyo Disney or Universal Studios Japan? And what about those pesky height limits – if you find a ride your kids want to ride, will they actually be tall enough to board?
There are 45 rides and attractions in Tokyo Disneyland. There are 35 rides and attractions in Tokyo Disney Sea. And there are over 60 rides and attractions in Universal Studios Japan.
Because all three parks are aimed at families, they each have their own dedicated area for smaller guests.
In Tokyo Disneyland there are two of these areas: Fantasy Land and Toon Town. In Fantasy Land you’ll find a whole host of child-friendly rides such as “it’s a small world”, Peter Pan’s Flight, Pooh’s Honey Hunt and Dumbo the Flying Elephant. You can also enjoy the 3D Mickey’s Philharmagic Show and take a spin in the tea cups. This will appeal to pre-schoolers and school age kids alike.
In Toon Town you’ll find a bunch of kid friendly rides too. Try Gadget’s Go Coaster (a junior ‘my first coaster’ for kids), Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin, and Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. But Toon Town is great because it also has play areas, water/splash play zones, and this is where you can meet characters too. Mickey and Minnie have permanent homes here while this is also where pop up meet and greets take place.
In Tokyo Disney Sea there is only one obvious area for kids: Mermaid Lagoon. This also has walk throughs and play areas for toddlers to let off steam, a water play splash pad for the younger children, and some kid-friendly rides too. These are all underwater themed – Jumpin’ Jellyfish, Blowfish Balloon Race, and The Whirlpool. There are other kid friendly rides in the park (all of the rides in the new Disney Springs expansion are suitable for young kids) too, but this is the main child-centric area.
Of these two Disney Parks, I think Tokyo Disneyland is best suited for very small children, while older kids and tweens will love Tokyo Disney Sea.
Universal Studios Japan also has its own area of the park specifically for smaller guests. This is called Universal Wonderland. It encompasses three themed zones: Snoopy Studios, Hello Kitty’s Fashion Avenue, and Sesame Street Fun Zone and has over 20 attractions. These include rides and play areas for children that prefer playgrounds and running around to formal rides.
This is a really great area of the park and so much fun for young kids! Some of the stand out rides here include Elmo’s Go-Go Skateboard, Hello Kitty’s Spinning Cupcakes, and the Carousel. We loved playing here, and if your kids are younger than mine were, you’d have a brilliant time.
BUT the caveat is that the rest of the park isn’t as geared towards smaller children. There are more big thrill rides, huge roller coasters, rides centered on the needs of older children, teens, and adults.
If this doesn’t bother you and you’re happy for your smaller pre-schoolers/toddlers to be in one smaller area of the park then they’ll have a great time! But if you’re looking at a wider, all-encompassing experience that your kids can really immerse themselves in then the rides at the Tokyo Disney parks are better suited to very small children.
For this reason if I was travelling with toddlers and pre-schoolers I would favour the Tokyo Disney Parks.
Does Tokyo Disney or Universal Studios Japan Have The Most Child-Friendly Food?
I’m calling a tie on this one! If you have fussy kids or kids who are craving Western food/struggling to adapt to the Japanese diet then they’ll be very happy with the food in both theme park resorts!
On our first visit to Japan my boys were pretty fussy eaters (they have much better pallettes now) and feeding them was one of our biggest challenges. So we loved our days in both the Disney Parks and Universal Studios Japan because we knew we weren’t going to have to stress about finding something they liked.
You’ll find all the usual theme park foods like burgers, chips, and pizzas. Epic desserts and mountain-high ice creams. But they’re all so well themed! The theming of the food in both parks was an unexpected highlight for all of us, and you won’t be disappointed no matter which park you choose.
🍟You can read my review of the best snacks at Tokyo Disneyland here.
Meeting Characters at Tokyo Disney and Universal Studios Japan
One of the biggest differences between Tokyo Disney and Universal Studios Japan is the kind of characters you can meet. And because kids love their characters, this is likely to be the deal breaker in choosing which theme park to visit!
In Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea you’re going to find Disney characters. No real surprise there! Some of the main characters you can meet are:
- The Original Gang. Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto
- Duffy and Friends. Duffy Bear and Shelley May are the two permanent meets from this group.
- Pixar and Princesses (these are available, but tend to be available more infrequently)
- Rare Characters. This is what got my boys super excited! You can meet rare chatracters in Japan you don’t see as often elsewhere in the world like the Three Little Pigs and Clarabelle the Cow. If you’re a big Disney fan, this is a great reason to visit!
In Universal Studios Japan you’ll also find character meets and these are themed around the areas in the park. They also offer pop up events where anime and characters are available to meet (such as the Spy x Family event that’s taking place in the park right now).
Some of the permanent characters that we met during our tip to Universal Studios Japan included:
- Mario Characters. We met Mario and Luigi and Toad. You can also meet Princess Peach and there is a meet with Donkey Kong in the new expansion.
- Minions.
- Harry Potter. Not the main characters, but you can meet with the train driver outside the Hogwarts Express and see the school choir.
- Jurassic Park. There are roaming dinosaurs to meet as well as baby dinosaurs that you can stroke and interact with.
What If My Kids Don’t Like To Queue?
No park on this list is quieter than the other – they’re both consistently very busy! But there are options if your kids don’t like to queue.
Both Tokyo Disney and Universal Studios Japan offer queue jumping passes if you’ve got deep pockets and you’re prepared to pay to skip the line! However this works very differently in both parks – we’ve got first-hand experience of using all of these systems, so i’ve tried to break it down as simply as possible:
In Tokyo Disney you can use Disney Premier Access. This allows you to skip the regular standby line for certain rides by buying a designated time slot and faster entry. You can’t buy this in advance of your visit.
You buy this on a ride by ride basis, and not every ride offers Premier Access services. You’ll also need to download the Tokyo Disney Resort App to buy these passes, as that’s the only way you can get them. Each person riding (including kids) will need to have Premier Access to skip the line on your chosen ride.
So how much does it cost? It varies from ride to ride but you should expect to pay between 1,500 yen (£7.56) – 2,500 yen (£12.61) per person, per ride. There are only a certain number of Premier Access passes per ride, per day, and because you can’t prebook this you could find you miss out on the ride you were hoping for.
By contrast, in Universal Studios Japan you can pre-purchase an Express Pass and gain guarenteed access to a certain number of rides. These are usually the Express Pass 4 and the Express Pass 7 with lots of different versions available, depending on which lines you want to skip. On our first trip to Japan we got the Express Pass 7 (and loved every minute of it) but we’ve also visited without an Express Pass and had a great day!
Because you need to know that, compared to the passes at Tokyo Disney, these Express Passes are pricey! They start from £134 per person for an Express 4 Pass and go up to £192 per person for the most expensive Express Pass 7 option. It’s also worth knowing that as well as being expensive these are also popular: they sell out FAST! So they won’t always be available on the day you want to visit unless you book them as soon as they’re released.
👉 Compare prices and book the Universal Studios Japan Express passes here.
Don’t want to pay this hefty fee? You can read my hints and tips for visiting Universal Studios Japan without an Express Pass here.
Tokyo Disney and Universal Studios Japan Locations
Finally, it’s worth pointing out that Tokyo Disney Resort is just outside of Tokyo (and easy to access from the city centre) while Universal Studios Japan is in Osaka. A 2 hour bullet train ride away from Tokyo. So the location of the parks are something to bear in mind.
If you’re staying in Tokyo and weren’t planning to travel around Japan then visit Tokyo Disney. If you’re travelling around the country, landing in Osaka, or have a JR Rail Pass then visiting Universal Studios Japan will be much easier for you.
I’ve written a post about getting to Universal Studios Japan here if transportation is a concern.
Conclusion
If you’re travelling with toddlers and babies then I would say that, without a doubt, Tokyo Disneyland is the best theme park for you. You’ve got rides like It’s a Small World and attractions like the Enchanted Tiki Room with Stitch that have no height limit at all. Then so many other rides where the minimum height limit is just 90cm meaning most preschoolers can ride.
There’s also the familiar characters, the chance to meet so many of your favourites, the parades, and the general atmosphere of magic and wonder that’s perfect for small children.
For tweens and teens, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Universal Studios Japan. Especially if you’re travelling with boys, which is something I rarely say about anywhere! But with Super Nintendo World, Jurassic Park, Jaws, and even the Minions, all of my own tween boys interests are covered here!
And if your kids are primary school aged? There’s no real wrong answer here: it all depends on your child’s interests. There are dozens of rides suitable for elementary school kids in both park resorts, and my boys have loved (and still love) them both! If you enjoy watching Disney movies together and want a sense of magic then Disney is a great choice. The magic of cinema and computer games more suited to your kids? Then they’re going to love Universal Studios Japan!
Keep Planning Your Trip To Japan’s Theme Parks
Looking for more hints and tips to help you keep planning your trip to Universal Studios Japan and/or Tokyo Disney resort? Check out this further reading, because you can never be too prepared for your big Japan trip!
🎢 Ultimate Guide to Universal Studios Japan with Kids
🐵Donkey Kong Country in Universal Studios Japan: What You Need to Know
🕍 Visiting Tokyo Disneyland or Tokyo Disneysea: Which is Best For Kids?
🎠Tokyo Disneyland Tips: What You Need to Know Before You Go (From a Mum Who’s Been)🎁 Ultimate Guide to Universal Studios Japan (Tips, Rides & How to Book Tickets)
Which one would you choose for your kids? Or if you’ve visited already, which did your kids enjoy the most? Let me know your thoughts in the comments!
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Heads up! This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click and make a purchase, I might earn a very small commission – at no extra cost to you. This helps to keep the blog going. Thanks for the support!
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