When Chris picked Japan as our next travel destination, I became passionate about doing 2 things: going to Super Nintendo World and going to Costco. Today, we accomplished 1 of the 2 goals. I’m not sure we’ll even attempt to complete the other. Costco here is out in the burbs, much like it is in the States. It’s a lot of time to dedicate to a grocery store you’re not going to buy anything at.
Ticket Logistics
Super Nintendo World is hella expensive, and the only way I could rationalize the cost, as well as stealing a day from Chris’ agenda, was to declare it my birthday present. A month delayed, but totally worth it.
How expensive is it? Well, the base ticket price for Universal Studios Japan isn’t that bad; it’s comparable to an amusement park in the States. Unfortunately, you probably won’t get into certain key areas like Super Nintendo World without an Express Pass. Since this was the only reason I wanted to go to Universal Studios in the first place, it had to happen.
There are various levels, and they start roughly twice the price of the entrance fee. There’s even a VIP experience option where you get a personal tour guide for your visit! To get the options I wanted? Yeah, it was 4 times the ticket price.
Chris is currently researching Express Pass equivalents for the same park in Florida. Y’all, we got a steal by going while in Japan! It seems like the park is bigger in Florida, but the prices are for sure higher. They don’t deny you entry to certain areas of the park like they do here, but you don’t get one park ticket to rule them all. Nope, you have to buy individual tickets for each section of the park you want to visit. Clearly, I’m out of touch with how this works.
Everyone wants the Express Pass for obvious reasons. This means that when the window opens to buy them on Universal Studios’ website, they sell out practically immediately. You can still get them from a reputable source like Klook, but you don’t get to pick the times for your reservations. I’m also reasonably certain you get the dregs, but that might just be because I really would have wanted to do Super Nintendo World first and not last. Yes, it IS all about me.
Park Entrance
The park officially opens at 8. Everyone online says it opens unofficially about an hour early. There were so many people when we arrived that I couldn’t confirm if this was true or not. What I can confirm is that the entrance did not have the orderly lines I expected. I would have expected a snaking line guided by chain link or mental fence leading us to the counter to scan our tickets. This was the furthest thing from the case.
What we actually had was a huge mob of people all swarming to get to the Entrance. There was no pushing or shoving, but there was very much a swarm all heading in the same direction. When a gap opened up, the swarm quickly moved to fill it in.
We eventually made it to the gates and entered the park. It was around 8:30, and our first reservation wasn’t until 9:40, so I proposed we head to the gift shop and get our fancy Nintendo bands for later. This was a mistake of sorts. They are great fun when you’re in Super Nintendo World, but other than that? They’re awkward and plasticy. It was a hot day (high of 86 – don’t laugh Southerners!) and there isn’t a ton of shade in the park. We didn’t enjoy wearing them and often stuck them in my bag to give our wrists a break.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
Our first Express Pass reservations were in Harry Potter World. I really wish this franchise didn’t have such a horrible transphobic author. HP World was everything you’d expect it to be. It looks like the town. There’s a ton of Butterbeer and photo ops. We went on the 2 rides from our Express Pass and then left to spend time with less objectionable franchises.
Universal Wonderland
We came. We saw the rides were for kids who are much littler than us. We said hello to Elmo and then headed back out again.
Jurassic Park
We entered Jurassic Park and traffic was immediately stopped for a triceratops crossing the road. Why was it crossing the road? To get to the meet and greet, obviously.
The first ride we came across was Jurassic Park – The Ride. We got into the Single Riders line, which had half the wait time as the regular line, and off we went. It’s fine if you have time to kill and/or want to get wet. The best part is the T Rex at the end, just before you splash down the hill. I got a bit damp. Chris was sitting closer to the front and got soaked.
Next up, we went on The Flying Dinosaur. This is by far the best ride in the park, assuming you like coasters. It’s one of those that’s designed to imitate flying (picture Superman, but you’re still quasi seated). It’s fast with all sorts of loops and twists and turns. It’s gloriously thrilling. We went on it twice. I would have done it a third time at night, but I couldn’t handle standing in line for it after being in the park all day.
Amity Village
I’ve never seen this movie. I know they should have had a bigger boat, but that’s it. We ate Pizza Danish at one of their restaurants and rode the JAWS ride just because it was part of the Express Pass package.
It’s a boat ride and goes in a big circle. The boat is chased by a shark, and our driver has a monologue throughout the ride. She shoots the shark with her gun several times. It ends up getting electrocuted at the end of the ride. Spoilers.
Let’s ignore the fact that the shark gets electrocuted in the water upon which we are sitting in a metal boat. Let’s instead focus on how incredibly cheerful our tour guide’s voice was during her monologue. I’ve absolutely no idea what she was saying as the shark chased us and she shot at it, but her tone was definitely not fearful or angry. I shouldn’t judge. I’d be horrible in that job, saying the same thing over and over and over and over again. It’s probably more fun to shake it up with cheerfulness.
Minion Park
Have I mentioned that it was hot and there’s very little shade? We consumed a lot of ice-cold beverages and ice cream as a result. Most of it was purchased from Minion Park and was therefore Minion-themed. I have no regrets.
We went on the ride Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem. It’s one of those sit in a mostly stationary car and watch a huge video screen while the car jerks around to simulate movement rides. We were promised banana scent. My nose has been broken of late (I smell smoke when there is none), so all I smelled was burnt rubber. The ride was fun tho.
All of the setup for the ride had English subtitles on the monitors, so I knew going in that we were applying to become Minions. Gru has a fancy machine that mostly works to turn boring humans into Minions, although they sometimes get fun shapes. IUD Minio,n anyone?
Once we got into the ride, it was all in Japanese. Chris got lost, and so I had to explain the plot to him after we left. I won’t spoil it for anyone reading this blog.
New York / Hollywood
This is largely a waste of space. There’s a ton of generic shopping for all the various franchises in the park, as well as a few restaurants. One of the restaurants, Finnegan’s, is closing permanently next month, but its current ad says, “Have some Western-style food in an Irish pub in Brooklyn”. I love how wacky this is.
There are also a few areas for shows like SING! And various Pokémon and K-pop groups.
In general, though, all the nooks and crannies of this space are used for filming TikTok videos. You’ll find a ton of younger people doing various dances and such with NYC in the background. I’m too old to understand.
Bored
I have never been bored in an amusement park before. Okay, that’s probably not 100% fair. It can get boring waiting in line for a ride, but you usually get to people-watch or watch TVs that are showing XYZ content related to the ride. This is the first time I’ve been at an amusement park and run out of things I want to do.
Because of the timed entry thing, we couldn’t get into Super Mario World until 6:10. By 3:30, we had ridden all the rides. We’d even done the good one a second time. There weren’t many shows. I’m not sure if this has changed in the last 7is years (the amount of time since I’ve last been to one), but I swear there used to be a ton of shows to let you sit down in air conditioning and be entertained.
At 4 PM, the only shows left were Waterworld at 5:15 and a hostile Zombie takeover of the park at 6:30. We went to Waterworld. It had a huge perk of being next door to Super Mario World.
Waterworld
Why is this franchise at Universal Studios? I don’t know. Chris has never seen the movie because he’d heard it was so bad. I love the movie and actually own and have read the book.
It’s just such an old story that was never that big of a deal. There’s no merchandise available, and even Space Balls recognized that’s where all the money is. Plus, there’s nothing else to the Waterworld section of the park besides the arena where the show is? Why waste this much real estate?
I’ll tell you why. The fans are fanatics! The doors opened and people RAN in to claim the good seats. There’s a splash zone, and it was the first to fill up. There were no empty seats in this arena.
I couldn’t understand the language, and the acting was a bit over the top for my taste, so I spent my time people watching instead. Everyone else was so into the show! A number of them even stayed afterward for bonus tricks and chances to get wet.
Super Nintendo World
Finally! It was time for the pièce de résistance! We may or may not have snuck in slightly before our assigned time slot, but only by 20 minutes. And by snuck in, I mean they scanned and accepted our Express Pass early.
After that, it was straight on to the first ride: Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge. I did zero research on the various rides in the park, let alone Super Nintendo World. Chris, on the other hand, was extremely excited for this ride because of the technology involved. Everyone receives fancy, adjustable Mario hats. We wear them while standing in line. This isn’t the cool part because let’s face it, there are cooler Mario hats available in the gift shop.
The cool part is the visor that you attach to said hat when you sit in the car. There’s a cord that connects the visor to the vehicle, and the whole shebang superimposes a virtual reality into your field of view. This means that as you’re on the ride, you’ll see other vehicles, shells, etc.
The ride is a race, like Mario Kart, where you’re steering along the course, collecting coins, and firing shells to knock out the competition. It’s chaotic, hilarious, and fun! Highly recommend. My second favorite ride in the park.
After all that chaos, we went to Yoshi’s Adventure. Neither of us knew anything about this ride. Turns out it’s an extremely leisurely stroll through Super Mario World. Allegedly, you are trying to find the eggs in the park and push the button when you find them, but no one was keeping score. I used the time to stare in awe at my surroundings.
Our last ride of the evening was Mine Cart Madness. I have heard about the one in Florida where the mine cart jumps the tracks just like in the game. This one didn’t quite do that, but it was still a ton of fun. A bit jerky, but it’s a mine cart. That’s kinda how that’s supposed to work, I feel.
After that, the Collect Them All game began! We wandered around the park collecting coins at the question boxes, finding the hidden 8-bit characters, finding all the letters for “KONG” (just like the game!!!), and the bonus Pikmin.
I absolutely love how the Pickmin were everywhere in this section of the park.
We wrapped up the evening by taking a few last photos in front of the entrance before fighting our way past the zombie swarms to get to the train back to our hotel. A day well spent.
