It’s time for another Universal Studios Japan post! I’ll let you into a little secret: a whopping percentage of my blog traffic comes from my Universal Studios Japan with kids content. So I thought it would make sense to collate all that information into one, absolutely everything you need to know about visiting Universal Studios Japan (USJ) monster post.

Thinking about visiting Universal Studios Japan (USJ) with your kids? We did it (twice), loved every minute of it, and it continues to be one of the highlights of our time in Osaka.

What makes Universal Studios Japan special is that, from Minions and Sesame Street to Harry Potter magic and Jurassic thrills, there’s something here for everyone. And don’t even get me started on Super Nintendo World: the highlight of Universal Studios Japan by a long way!

In this guide, I’ll share:

• What to expect when visiting Universal Studios Japan with young kids
• The best rides for families in Universal Studios Japan
• Tips to beat the queues
• Where to eat, what to pack
• How to book tickets and Express Passes in advance (this saved our sanity!)

Right, deep breath guys, its going to be a big one! Let’s dive in:

1. Why You Need to Book Ahead
2. Is USJ Good for Young Kids?
3. What We Did – Our Family USJ Itinerary
4. Best Rides for Kids
   1. Universal Wonderpark
   2. The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
   3. Super Nintendo World
   4. Minion Park
   5. Amity Landing
5. Is The Universal Studios Japan Express Pass Worth It?
6. What to Pack
7. Where to Eat in Universal Studios Japan
8. Ticket & Express Pass Comparison
9. Final Thoughts
10. Keep Planning Your Trip To Universal Studios Japan

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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Why You Need to Book Ahead

We booked our Universal Studios Japan tickets online through Klook, and I’m so glad we did. Having tickets means you can walk straight in on the morning of your visit without any hassle.

The lines at the entrance were long, and the Express Passes were already sold out by the time the park opened. They often sell out months in advance, especially during peak periods. But we already had one of those too!

For our first day in Universal Studios Japan we had an Express Pass and for our second visit we didn’t. I’ll cover the differences between both of these (and the pros and cons) later!

What I will advise is that you should book your Universal Studios Japan tickets as early as possible. Express Passes in particular often sell out as soon as they’re launched. And the on-the-gate ticket offices have now been closed, so it’s no longer possible to buy tickets on the day.

 Book Universal Studios Japan tickets with Klook
 Compare Express Pass options

🎁 The code THATMUMTRAVEL5KLOOK will get you an extra 5% discount on Universal Studio Japan tickets and all other tickets and activities with Klook. So save it for later!

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Is USJ Good for Young Kids?

Yes! And I’ll say it louder for those at the back – Yes!

If my kids could go to heaven then I think their heaven would look a lot like Super Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan. Our boys were just turned 7 and 9 during our first trip to Japan and they loved any minute.

It’s worth noting that my youngest is very small for his age (small but mighty!) meaning he couldn’t go on many of the bigger thrill rides. We had to do parent swap to take our oldest on the Harry Potter ride, for example. But that really didn’t stop his fun.

If you’re travelling with toddlers or pre-schoolers then I recommend you head to Wonderpark. This area of the park is themed around Sesame Street, Hello Kitty, and other brightly coloured characters perfect for the smallest park guests.

Here you’ll find toddler zones, splash pads, gentle rides, and character experiences. We tried the splash pads, rode the carousel, and took a spin in Hello Kitty’s cupcakes. All of these rides are family friendly and appropriate for visitors of all ages, meaning even the youngest USJ visitor will have a great time.

Elsewhere in the park the colours, boat rides, and fun things to see and do (the Minions area is a great example of this) will also appeal to kids of all ages.

But it is important to note this park is huge – meaning you’ll have to deal with lots of walking, and often walking in huge crowds too. For this reason I would recommend bringing your buggy so little legs have somewhere to rest. If you have toiletting concerns don’t worry about that either – there are toilets literally everywhere (lovely clean ones!) and there are baby care rooms throughout the park too.

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What We Did – Our Family USJ Itinerary

So many people ask what our day looked like and what our family Universal Studios Japan Itinerary looked like. The truth is that we didn’t really have a plan when we arrived in the park (probably a mistake) and let the Express Pass do a lot of the hard work for us!

I went back and looked at the time stamps on our photos from the day, and this is what our Universal Studios Japan day actually looked like on the day where we had Express Passes:

Time	Activity
8:15 AM	Arrived at gate and these had already been opened to let ticket holders in. Stopped to pose for photos by the giant Universal globe.
8.30 AM	Headed straight to Harry Potter Land (no timed entry was needed here) and took photos with the train castle, and rode the two rides here (using our Express Pass passes). Stopped to eat chocolate frogs!
9:30 AM	Went to Universal Wonderpark. We rode the Hello Kitty Cupcakes, the carousel and explored Elmo’s imagination playland.
11.15 AM	The boys were hungry so we had an early lunch at the Amity Landing restaurant, then we rode the Jaws ride straight afterwards then used our express pass for Jurassic Park, which is close by.
1:00 PM	This was our timed entry time for Super Nintendo World! We bought the boys power bands, played all the interactive games, went on both rides, met Mario and Luigi, and then had dessert in Kinnopios restaurant.
5:00 PM	Ran over to Minions land to use our last fast pass and explore the area.
6:00 PM	Dinner followed by the final parade and some sneaky shopping on the way out of the park.

• Parent tip: Use the Rider Swap option for bigger rides like The Flying Dinosaur if you’re thrill seekers—one parent waits with the kids while the other rides, then you switch! We did this for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey because it was included in our Express Pass. Each parent rode and our oldest son got to ride twice! The youngest was happy because the wait area was themed like Hogwarts station and they were playing Harry Potter movies on a big TV!

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Best Rides for Kids

It didn’t matter whether we had the Express Pass or not: on both of our trips into Universal Studios Japan our focus was all about the rides! We did queue to meet Mario and Luigi, but Disney-style meet and greets weren’t really our focus. We just wanted to get on as many rides as possible themed around our favourite films!

You can read my guide to Universal Studios Japan with kids here.

So what are the best rides at Universal Studios Japan for kids? I went straight to the source and asked my kids! Here are their verdicts:

Universal Wonderpark

The ride they liked best here was the Hello Kitty Cupcakes – these are effectively a teacup ride and you can spin yourself as fast as you like. I think what they actually liked is that they span me so fast, and made me so dizzy, I said I was going to be sick!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Both my boys could ride the Hippogriff roller coaster and they both loved it! Word of warning if you’re tall: don’t try to sit in the front seat. Mike is 6ft1 and he couldn’t get is legs in. He had to swap seats with me (I was sat in the second row)

Harry Potter the Forbidden Journey is inside Hogwarts Castle and it’struly epic: a mix of immersive roller coaster and simulator, i’ve never been on a ride quite like it. My oldest says that this is the best ride in the whole park!

Super Nintendo World

Perhaps the most iconic area of USJ at the moment is Super Nintendo World. This is the first Super Nintendo World in the world, and it’s epic! There are 2 rides suitable for kids of all ages, and character meets here.

The Yoshi ride is very tame: if you don’t have a fast pass I wouldn’t waste hours queuing for this. But what I did like about it was that it gave amazing, and unique views of this whole section of the park.

The ride not to miss here? Mario Kart Koopers Challenge! I asked both boys to tell you guys wht they thought about this. All I got was superlatives. ‘Tell them its amazing’ ‘It’s just a wow wow wow’.

Minion Park

There are two rides in Minion Park. These are Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem, which is a 3D ride, and Freeze Ray Sliders, which is a spinning ride. Both of these are great rides for kids, provided they’re accompanied with adults. For the Minion Mayhem ride the height limit is 102 cm or taller when accompanied, and for the Freeze Ray Sliders ride the height limit is 92 cm or taller.

If you only have time for one? Pick the 3D ride! It’s funny, it has a great story line, and it’s a long, fun ride. Even the queue line in this ride was good fun!

Amity Landing

Universal Studios Japan is the only Universal Studios left in the world that still has the Jaws boat ride. We actually rode this twice – it was a ride I loved and felt nostalgic for as I rode it in Florida when I was a kid. But the boys went to it blind and they both loved it too: they were the ones that asked if we could ride it again!

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Is The Universal Studios Japan Express Pass Worth It?

We are in a unique position to answer this question because we visited Universal Studios Japan on two days back to back in the busy cherry blossom season. On the first day of our visit we had an Express Pass. On the second day of our visit, we didn’t! You can read about our experience of visiting without express passes here.

Honestly there are pros and cons of the pass. The pro being the huge amount of time we saves (hours and hours of queue times cut). The con of course being that the Express Passes aren’t cheap, and for our family of four added a huge chunk to the cost of our USJ day out.

There are different types of Universal Studios Japan Express Pass.(Express 4, 7, etc.) depending on how many rides you want to skip queues for. We went of the Express Pass 7 and it included:

• Timed entry tickets (guarenteed access) to Super Nintendo World and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
• Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey
• Journey of the hippogriff
• JAWS
• Despicable Me Minion Mayhem
• Yoshi’s Adventure
• Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge
• Jurrassic Park – The Ride

 Check Express Pass availability and ride lists

Donkey Kong Country wasn’t opened when we visited, but there are now fast passes available for the Donkey Kong Cart Rides via Express Pass too. And you could choose some of the bigger thrill rides if you wanted: we chose these ones because they worked best for our young family.

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What to Pack

I don’t like to carry alot of stuff around when we visit theme parks. I think all those years of lugging buggies and nappy bags around means that I’m enjoying the hands-freedom. Instead we had just one backpack between the four of us (which Mike carried) and here’s what we were glad we brought:

• Light ponchos (for JAWS + unpredictable weather)
• Water bottles (there are water refil stations around the park)
• Portable phone charger (Don’t forget this, I used it twice!)
• Mini first-aid kit (My boys and their endless running also means endless scrapped knees!)
• Sun hats, sunscreen, and sunglasses for everyone.

You’ll find loads of theme park advice, as well as packing tips in my eBook! Japan With Kids: The No Stress Family Guide For First Time Travellers. Get your copy here!

Tip – If you do have to bring a buggy then being a lightweight buggy. These are better because there’s a lot of maneuvering around crowds in the park.

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Where to Eat in Universal Studios Japan

There are so many restaurants and snack cards in Universal Studios Japan: every themed area of the park seems to have one! Because i’ll only review what I know, I’ll list all of the places that we stopped to eat here.

With my hand on my heart, we didn’t have a single bad food experience in Universal Studios Japan. The themed food was beautiful, and the flavour and presentation of everything was exceptional. So here’s where we ate of two days (don’t judge! the boys have big appetites!):

• Three Broomsticks (Harry Potter): Amazing theming here. We stopped for an early morning snack of chocolate frogs and butter beer here but wished we could have stayed for the beef pies and fish and chips, which smelt just like mums cooking at home.
  
• Amity Landing Restaurant (Jaws): This was a random and unexpected choice for lunch. But the boys saw that they were serving shark nuggets and immediately became obsessed with trying shark. This was standard quick service ‘with chips’ fare, but the meals were presented well and the shark was flaky and delicous (I have eaten it before and found it tough)

• Minion-themed snacks are everywhere in Minion land. We stopped here for ice creams after we had been on the Minion Madness ride.
  
• Kinnopio’s Cafe (Super Nintendo World). Kinnopio is what Toad is called in Japanese, and this was a restaurant run by Toads! It was hands down the best place we ate. Even though we only had desserts. We actually ordered all the desserts and shared them, and there wasn’t a single one I didn’t like!

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Ticket & Express Pass Comparison

Option	What’s Included	Link
Standard Ticket	1-day entry	Book now
Express Pass 4	Skip 4 rides and timed entry to Super Nintendo World and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter	View pricing
Express Pass 7	Skip 7 rides and timed entry to Super Nintendo World and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter	Check availability

• Tip: Some passes sell out 1–2 weeks in advance during peak seasons. And in April the Express Passes were sold months in advance because everyone wanted to ride Donkey Kong: so if you think you’re going to splurge on these PLEASE book asap to avoid missing out.
• PLEASE NOTE that if you want to buy an Express Pass then you’ll need to buy at General Admission ticket too! Express Passes are for rides, but they won’t get you into the Universal Studios Japan park!

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Final Thoughts

Our boys are big Disney fans so we didn’t really know what they’d think about Universal Studios Japan. I was also worried that Universal Studios Japan would be better suited to teens and adults rather than younger kids like mine. I needn’t have worried at all – they loved every minute of it! And they would LOVE to go back again (and again).

I do think you need to do a bit of prep, such as making sure you have the USJ app downloaded and that you have your tickets booked in advance to make the most of your day. But we have had two truly amazing days in USJ (both with and without the Express Pass) and I hope we get to go again.

If you’re going soon, I really recommend securing your tickets early:

 Get USJ tickets + Express Pass on Klook
🎁 Don’t forget that discount code THATMUMTRAVEL5KLOOK, because every saving helps!

Keep Planning Your Trip To Universal Studios Japan

Looking for more hints and tips to help you keep planning your trip to Universal Studios Japan? Check out this further reading, because you can never be too prepared for your big Japan trip!

🚄How to Get to Universal Studios Japan: A Step-by-Step Guide
🎢 Ultimate Guide to Universal Studios Japan with Kids
🐵 Donkey Kong Country in Universal Studios Japan: What You Need to Know

Have you visited Universal Studios Japan? Did you have the Express Pass and did you think you needed it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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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!