Our 10 Tried and Tested Tips For Visiting Universal Studios Japan On A Budget
Ready to make a Universal Studios Japan plan and don’t want to break the bank? I hear you! We LOVE exploring Japan and we LOVE visiting theme parks, but we don’t want to bankrupt ourselves to do so. Which is why I thought it was a good time to share our tried and tested tips for visiting Universal Studios Japan on a budget.
We’re planning our next trip to Japan, which will include a two day trip to Universal Studios Japan, but because we’re taking a whole month-long trip this time, we want to save some money on our USJ trip this time.
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!
Don’t Buy USJ Express Passes
Whether or not to buy USJ Express Passes is one of the most frequently asked questions about the Universal Studios Japan park. These are ‘skip the line’ passes that you have to buy before you arrive in the park.
In Universal Studios Japan you can pre-purchase an Express Pass and gain guarenteed access to a certain number of rides, depending on the pass you choose. 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. But these are EXPENSIVE! Buying Express Passes can cost as much (and sometimes more) than the park admission charge.
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! If you plan ahead, visit on a weekday (when crowd levels are lower) and even consider visiting the park during the quieter low seasons, then you really don’t need to buy an Express Pass and this will save you a fortune!
🎡 Read my post: Visiting Universal Studios Japan without an Express Pass: Tips and Tricks for more information about how we made the most of our day in the park!
Buy Your Universal Studios Japan Tickets From Klook
We ALWAYS buy our USJ tickets from Klook. We do this for several reasons:
- The tickets are delivered instantly , straight to your phone
- You can use your tickets straight from your phone (no need to print them out before you go).
- My exclusive reader discount code means Klook tickets are the cheapest option
⏰ Universal Studios Japan tickets are date specific and they can sell out fast!
👉 Click here to check availablity and book your Universal Studios Japan tickets
🎁 Use my discount code THATMUMTRAVEL5KLOOK for an extra 5% off
Buy Outfits and Merch Before You Go
Of COURSE you’re going to want a magnet, or keyring, or (insert whatever souvenir you like to collect from different locations) that says Universal Studios Japan on it. But it can be easy to get carried away with the cute (and spendy) merchandise, which is definitely not the best way to save money at Universal Studios Japan.
I do have a tip to help. If you’re travelling with kids like mine then they’re also likely to want to dress head to toe in Mario costumes, buy Mario plushies, and even Mario lego (can you tell they were excited to visit Super Nintendo World!?) We SAVED SO MUCH by buying these in advance from Amazon and taking them with us. This applies to outfits and accessories for us adults too. Plus the boys loved that they were all dressed up before we even arrived in the park.
I’ve put a list of what we took below:
- Mario and Luigi hats
- Mario and Luigi t shirts
- Mario plush teddy (We gave the boys these on the morning before we went into the park to satisfy their souviner cravings and they LOVED it! It helped build the excitement)
- Harry Potter costume (These are SO EXPENSIVE in the parks, but our Potter-mad youngest was desparate to be Harry Potter for the day)
- Jaws t shirt (Did you know that USJ is the only Universal Studios that still has a Jaws ride?)
Of course we still let the boys choose a souvenir on site! We’ve tackled this in different ways depending on their age – when they were younger they could choose one toy each. Now they’re old enough to understand money they’re given their own budget (usually £20) to buy whatever they like – our boys collect the plushie keyrings when they’re in Japan.
Stay Off Site in Osaka
There are loads of amazing looking on site hotels in Universal Studios Japan, but we’ve actually never stayed in these. It’s no secret that the official Universal Studios Japan hotels look magical – many have themed decor, fun extras, and unbeatable proximity to the park. But here’s the reality: you’ll pay a SERIOUS premium for that convenience.
Instead we stayed at the Hotel Dans Le Couer in Umeda and we enjoyed it: it was in the perfect location for exploring everything Osaka had to offer, and around 30 minutes away from Universal Studios Japan by train. The hotel was actually connected to the train station!
If you want to explore wider Osaka as part of your trip AND save some money then staying offsite is a great idea. We opted to stay in Umeda, and we liked it so much, we’ve booked another Umeda hotel for our trip back to Osaka and USJ next year.
Looking for a point of comparison? I’ve put a full list of official Universal Studios Osaka hotel partners below for you to check out:
The Park Front Hotel at Universal Studios Japan
Liber Hotel at Universal Studios Japan
Eat Smart (Before And After The Park)
Now i’m not going to lie, we LOVE the cute themed theme park food in Japan! Nowhere in the world doesn’t it better! So you’re going to want to eat in the theme park – because the aim of this piece is to save money, but not to deprive yourself.
So we choose to eat smart. That means visiting your favourite Konbini before you go into the park to grab breakfast AND snacks to take into the park with you (our boys even managed to find some Mario and Pokemon candies in FamilyMart and they were thrilled!)
You then only need to buy one quick service meal in the park and we allowed budget for one cute themed snack each too (popcorn, candy floss, ice cream sandwiches, etc). This saved us SO MUCH money, but we still got to enjoy the fun themed food and themed snacks – because we never want our boys to feel they’re missing out on any aspect of the Universal Studios Japan experience – we’ve travelled far too far for that!!
Bring a Refillable Water Bottle
We always find drinks in theme parks (especially fountain drinks) to be so expensive! And our kids prefer water to fizzy drinks on hot days anyway. So we carry refillable water bottles with us for grabbing quick drinks in the lines or on the go, especially when the sun is shining. We use these metal water bottles because they keep the water colder for longer.
There are water fountains and free refill stations all over the park, so it’s easy to refill your bottle for free whenever you need to. But these aren’t super well advertised (probably because the park would rather make money from selling bottled water!) You’ll find these fountains at:
💦 The Main Entrance area, near guest services and the lockers
💦 Universal Wonderland area, near the Snoopy Studios restrooms and Hello Kitty cupcake dream ride
💦 Wizarding World of Harry Potter – near the Flight of the Hippogriff ride
💦 Near large restroom blocks – most of the bigger bathroom facilities have water fountains located outside
💦 Ask at quick service (fast food) restaurants – most will give you a free cup of iced water
Travel Cheap And Easy With IC Cards
Universal Studios Japan does have a large parking lot, but spending the day here can be pricey (even if you’ve hired a car for your time in Osaka!) It would be much cheaper, and actually much easier, to get to USJ via public transport. This is very affordable in Osaka, but you can make it even cheaper by using an IC Card (a transit card that gives you a discount per journey compared to buying your tickets as you go.
Not sure how to get to USJ? Don’t worry, i’ve got that covered too:
🚄 I’ve written a step-by-step guide on how to get to Universal Studios Japan here.
Example Family Budget For A Day At USJ (Family of Four)
We are a family of four, travelling with 2 kids who were aged 10 and 7 when we last visited Universal Studios Japan. This means that we purchased 2 adult and 2 kids tickets (we will need 3 adults and 1 kids ticket for our next trip sadly). If you’re travelling with 2 adults and 2 kids then I pulled up the costs for a typical budget-friendly day at Universal Studios Japan to help you work out how much it will actually cost.
| Tickets | (2 adult and 2 children including Klook discount with code) | £148.46 (This would be £156.20 without the discount code) |
| Transport | (Round trip train fare from Central Osaka for 4) | £6.50 |
| Food | (Konbini breakfast and snacks, quick service lunch, and 1 treat) | £50 |
| Souvenirs | (1 per child, with larger souvenirs purchased in advance) | £40 |
| TOTAL | £290.50 |
Now, i’m not suggesting £290 isn’t A LOT of money for a day out to a theme park, especially if you’re travelling on a budget. But when you think that people buying Express Passes typically spend over £1,000 just on their park tickets alone, this really is the most budget trip available, without felling like you’re travelling on a budget!
🎢 Check out my Ultimate Guide to Universal Studios Japan so you can see all the rides, restaurants, and other tips for visiting the park
Conclusion
Visiting Universal Studios Japan doesn’t have to blow the budget. And honestly? We all thought the magic of the park was in its rides, atmosphere, and the fun we were having together, NOT from how much money we were spending!
Skip the Express Pass if you can (this is the biggest money saving tip) and bring your own snacks in your back pack. Buy your tickets in advance, and think outside the box when it comes to souviners. These are the main tips that will help you to cut your costs without cutting out any of the fun and excitement for you or for your kiddos! We’ve proved that it’s possible – and I hope we’ve shown you how you can do it too!
✨ Ready to book your Universal Studios Japan adventure? We recommend grabbing your tickets through Klook for the best prices and easy mobile entry.
🎁 Use THATMUMTRAVEL5KLOOK for a 5% discount, which will give you enough cash to pick up a souviner or some sweet treats for free!
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 been to Universal Studios Japan without an Express pass? Or did you splash out and get the express pass? How was the experience? 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!
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