TBoy

I did see a box full of green wristbands in the locker area, however we weren’t given them and were given the QR code papers instead. That was the most confusing part of the day for me. Luckily none of the three rides it didn’t fall out (although on the last I felt something falling out, the only thing I had in my pockets was the QR code) but you end up spending the whole ride worrying if the paper slip fell out during the ride or not. Not sure what happens to people without pockets although I didn’t see people get denied access because of it.

Flying Dinosaur This coaster is the best coaster I’ve ridden, probably doesn’t mean much as this is my first international park. It’s a B&M Flying Coaster built in 2016 and a great addition to the park. Queues were short as we had fast passes. Very intense especially the pretzel loop section but I loved it. Whips you around and is very fast. Very efficient operations with four trains, same with Hollywood Dream. Only bad part is it can be a bit jolty at times but it’s a small negative, I can see why as 9 years of constantly running faster than most coasters would put a bit of age on it. The main problem is with the locker system: what happens is you get a slip with a QR code from the ride assistants to scan onto a locker: this opens a locker where you put your stuff in. You take the slip on the ride with you, but what if it falls out? Would just like better communication, otherwise the ride is amazing. Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem Since it was only 10:40 after doing those five and we had time to kill, we decided to do Minion Mayhem. It was listed as 40 minutes: it was a walk-on as we used single rider. This was the only ride in Minion Land we did: skipped Villain Con and Freeze Ray Sliders as the waits were too long. Unlike the other clones of it around the world, this works more like BTTF/Simpsons, given it was converted from the former in 2017. You enter small pods of 8 rather than sitting in a room together, in which the pods are lifted up into one large room once the ride begins. It’s fine for what it is. Nothing too special but not the worst ride in the world. Audio was in Japanese but only the pre shows had English subtitles. Jurassic World The Ride After having a lunch break and a reride of Flying Dinosaur thanks to one of my family members who was too scared to go on (but had the pass with it), we decided to go on this. Similar to Jurassic Park it’s animatronic heavy which I love. Theming is great and the drop/splashdown portion is the highlight of the ride. It gets you drenched: fountains burst alongside the splashdown. Harry Potter Nearly missed this as I went for a reride on Hollywood Dream (forwards this time) and my phone was missing. I found it luckily and off I went. Theming is great throughout the land: no Hagrids and it’s a clone but it’s one of the most beautiful areas in the park. Forbidden Journey A simulator/dark ride hybrid, it’s wonderfully themed with large portions of attention and detail given. It’s very intense: more than I was expecting. Only 10-15 minutes wait due to our express passes. The interesting part is that near the end of the ride it broke down in front of a screen. No evacuations: the ride restarted a few minutes later. We got to ride it again which we took advantage of. Not a good idea though: the other two I went with were sick. Flight of the Hippogriff A nice ride for the kiddies, it’s a clone of Road Runner at Movie World. Unlike that, the theming is a lot better, Hagrids Hut and other things located as scenery in the queue. Very nice theming for a kids coaster. Super Nintendo World It’s a miracle we even got here: a family member got sick from Forbidden Journey and we had to take care of them. They got better and off we went to SNW. I loved the interactivity through the land, only got 1 of three keys as we had to go to our timed entries so couldn’t finish the Bowser Jr Minigams. Koopa’s Challenge The headline attraction of the park. Even with express tickets it was still a 30+ minute wait due to how popular it is. I loved it although I wished the glasses were bigger. It didn’t fill my vision and at times it would feel like some characters would just disappear or have only one half of their body visible. Yoshi’s Adventure A simple and slow yet fun ride which gives amazing views, especially as the sun sets. One of the things you was hit the eggs located on your vehicle the same time you saw it: I found all three yet no prize. The wait was 65 minutes yet we only waited 15. Gives great views but best skipping if 65 is stated. Mine Cart Madness Added to the park last year, this is the newest addition to SNW along with the Donkey Kong Country mini area. The wait was 120 minutes: although we only waited 15 with our express passes. It isn’t very long or fast but it’s a fun overall ride for what it’s worth. We had dinner after this and I went on a night ride of Flying Dinosaur: took around 45 minutes although the queue seemed to be getting longer and longer as I waited. Didn’t have time for the mazes: we left after I finished Flying Dinosaur although we did see some performers wondering around the park from around 7 onwards. Universal Wonderland and Minion Land weren’t “haunt zones”: you could spot the performers around the rest of the park, especially in the main circle around the lake. Overall I had a great day. Good planning meant I got on everything I wanted with time for rerides. There are some flaws with the language difference between the workers (Japanese) and my group (English) but everything else was great. Very efficient operations as well (except for Space Fantasy which only had one half of the trains operating for some reason).

Just thought I would make a thread for my trip to Japan, all my park visits will be listed here. Universal Studios Japan - September 26, 2025 We went here the day after we landed. We got up around 6am, leaving at 6:45 and getting there at 7:05. There were a bit of crowds on the train but many were already there once we got to security: We eventually got to the gates at 7:30, in which the park opened at 8. There were a decent amount of crowds here and we were a good way back from the front. Anyways, we got in soon after. My first stop was to turn right, in which rode: Hollywood Dream A B&M Hypercoaster (not really a hypercoaster as the height is less than 200ft) As this was my first stop, crowds weren’t too bad. I went in standby in which the queue was listed as 15 minutes: it took around that long for me to get on. My first ride was the “Backdrop” where the train is facing backwards. I loved it: thrilling but not too intense to start my day. Space Fantasy The Ride/SpyxFamily XR Ride A Mack Indoor Spinning Coaster, the ride usually switches between Space Fantasy and an anime-themed overlay, right now it’s SpyxFamily but has been other animes like Demon Slayer and Doremon. The rides listed wait time was 60 minutes , though I used single rider and the wait was only 20-25 including the short preshow. You’re supposed to put on VR headsets on this ride, in which it displays an animation themed to SpyxFamily in accordance with the track: mine wasn’t working so I lifted it up, allowing me to see what the ride looked like without they overlay. All the lights were on as if the ride was running normally. An alright ride but I wouldn’t wait an hour for it. Snoopy’s Flying Ace Adventure This is the park’s new coaster, a Vekoma Family Coaster similar to Road Runner but shorter. This replaced another Snoopy themes coaster built by Senyo, and is the parks newest coaster, only opening a few months prior to my visit. It’s alright for a kids coaster. The theming is good for something that small, simple but it fits in with the area. The coaster was also pretty good for something with young children as it’s target audience. Only a 10 minute wait so might as well get the credit. JAWS Originally built with the park in 2001, this is the last remaining version in the world after it’s clones in Florida and Hollywood closed years prior. Not very intense but the wait was only 5 minutes so we decided to hop on. It’s a fun ride: love the audience interaction and the animatronics. The only bad thing is with SNW and Harry Potter it kind of ruins the sight lines, it’s obvious it wasn’t built with them in mind. Still better having that than no SNW/Potter though.

Yeah that was my plan. I believe they both have the highest average wait times out of the whole park so we are hitting them first. I was just wondering whether what time to head there as I know it always opens at least 1 hour before but I heard from a popular enthusiast channel (can’t remember who exactly) on the day they visited it opened 90 minutes hecore

Hi everyone - We’re in Osaka now, just one last question. Universal opens at 8:30am tomorrow according to their website, but I know they always open at least an hour beforehand. Should we arrive at 7:30 or 7? We’ll need to get up an hour before and be out of the house around a half hour before we arrive (journey from our apartment to Universal takes around 30 minutes according to maps). We’re packing essentials we need for tomorrow so we will be slightly ready beforehand. We’re planning to stay until closing (9:30pm) which gives us at least 14 hours. We have fast passes for everything SNW, Harry Potter and Jurassic Park related, which means outside of the kiddy rides in Universal Wonderland we don’t have passes for Space Fantasy, Hollywood Dream, JAWS and the three Minion rides (Minion Mayhem, Minion Con and Freeze Ray Sliders). I’m willing to skip all the Minions rides although one of the other two I’m with wants to see the Minions.

I'm hoping this is just for the first year and a more permanent one is built next year. It's a bit annoying that the show limits capacity by closing off Gold Coaster and the general area. My personal guess is the area marked will either be used as the outdoor area, or a hallway leading from the house in the exhibition centre to the outdoor area in Trolls Village. The Trolls Village area I feel would be better for the outdoor section as it isn't currently used now and it allows for a more permanent and larger backyard which doesn't have to be torn down and rebuilt every year, especially if the house remains in the exhibition centre full time. There are some questions in regards to logistics with the house using the exhibition centre: I assume the Wiggles show held in November will probably be moved to the amphitheatre in Dreamland and the ice skating rink could potentially use the dodgem area. The big problem remains with Tailspin: I feel that could potentially be closed off too as it's literally right next to the potential backyard and I don't think the housemates would like people on the ride potentially trying to yell at them from the ride, get their attention etc. Yes I believe they could see TOT from the backyard in the original show but it isn't like it was right next to the backyard, the ride facing right where the people could see the housemates and try to interact. Unfortunately that would then limit capacity even more having 2 rides and a restaurant closed off.

The difference though is, despite the sheep shearing being cheaper than the others, it likely isn't popular enough to justify the costs unlike the others. Let's say the tiger maintenance costs $750,000 a year and gets 500,000 visitors, that is $1.50 per visitor. But if the sheep shearing show costs $250,000 to run and only gets 100,000 visitors, then that is $2.50 per visitor. The tigers are therefore more value for money than the sheep shearing show, despite costing more.

The good part about Mad Max is you don't have to completely demolish and rebuild the set ala Police Academy -> Hollywood Stunt Driver. You can keep the shells of the buildings but make them look abandoned and dusty to fit the Mad Max theme. But yeah, I feel that HSD3 is more likely unfortunately with a similar or identical set, hopefully the stunts make up for it.

Their website lists projects from both Universal and Disney (Waterworld + Lion King) so I have hope in them, from the sounds of things it should be better than what Showtime FMX have done as they're more specified toward theme park specific shows rather than just stunt shows. Just hope Village give them a large enough budget rather than cheapening out (which, unfortunately, would be expected nowdays). Please please please be a Mad Max show, not "Hollywood Stunt Driver 3" although from the description it sounds like that might be the case. At least there is a varied amount of stunts it seems (it mentions multiple things such as highfalls and motorbike riding ) rather than just cars drifting around the whole show and nothing else.

"After conducting guest feedback, we have determined that guests prefer Superman to be closed rather than open"

If Superman does close I can't see them removing it. I reckon it's arguably the second most well-known ride at the park behind DC Rivals (with Scooby and WWF close behind) but I can see a lot of angry people if it does get removed. Considering both Scooby and WWF got major refurbishments, I can see Superman getting the same treatment. Replace the launch track with LSMs and redo the pre-show and queue, keeping the ride layout the same whilst offering a different experience from the previous one. The only problem is if Zamperla rather than Intamin redoes it as TT2 is very unreliable. Otherwise if not I can see them replacing Superman with something similar. I would love to see an Intamin Blitz themed to Batman continue to have the top hat and pre-show element, but change the layout to one that uses the grass area between Superman's current layout and the studios. Something similar to Gotham City Escape at Parque Warner Madrid with a similar queue area and vibe.

I believe Warner/HBO own the series but unsure about the merchandising and theme park rights. Sony still retain the game rights, and likely the merch and theme parks rights (at least for the games, not sure about the series)

Hopefully if true they re-do it from scratch and make a completely new one but knowing Village nowadays they will make it even cheaper than HWS2 to cut costs and reuse the same set being used since 2008. I would love a Mad Max stunt show: it's Australian, you don't need to perform much upkeep given everything is rusty and abandoned and it's the perfect theme for a stunt show.

Technically we had Shrek 4D from 2005 to 2010 at Movie World, although I believe DreamWorks (pre-Universal) owned the rights rather than Universal and it was just licensed to them unlike most rides

Glad to see this and Villain-Con open, hopefully it will spread out the crowds somewhat. Also another credit thankfully Probably will end up doing this third before JAWS/after Hollywood Dream and Space Fantasy, most likely a one and done for the credit

We aren't unfortunately - we're staying around 2 stations from Universal so we're closer to everything else. I'll make sure to get there early as I've heard from others that they apparently open early to disperse crowds rather than everyone coming in at once, although I'm unsure if my group wants to go 1.5 hours early, one has even suggested getting there later than opening which isn't good

We don't have express pass for that, the only ones we don't have express for (outside Universal Wonderland) is Space Fantasy, Hollywood Dream, JAWS and the three Minion Land rides. I'll be prioritising the three non-minion ones so I'll only do them if we have time. We'll have around 6 hours before our Harry Potter passes (as the park opens at 8:30am) and around 90 minutes between our Harry Potter and SNW timed entries so I think we could fit them in depending on if we do the others beforehand. We're currently planning on getting there a bit before opening and doing Hollywood Dream, Space Fantasy and JAWS whilst the crowds are in SNW/Harry Potter.

Interesting to see they've added this, a bit sudden but I guess it's cheap and something with decent capacity to help disperse the crowds somewhat. Wondering if I should skip it, from what I hear from the reviews in Orlando it isn't great and this seems like just a clone of that. At least it doesn't seem like something that will have a long wait given you just stand on a moving walkway rather than boarding/unboarding onto vehicles. We do have until 2:20pm for our first express pass (Forbidden Journey) so we could get this out of the way as a one-and-done.

We're thinking of getting there around 2-2.5 hours before opening, from my understanding the park usually opens 30m-1hr before listed to ease in the crowds, especially with SNW. We're hoping to get there early so we can be one of the first in and quickly do Hollywood Dream and Space Fantasy whilst most others are going to SNW/Harry Potter. I was hoping to use it - unfortunately I have a party with me, but one wouldn't want to do Hollywood Dream at all (afraid) and the other would only do it forwards. We're lucky it's only a group of three - we were thinking of going to a waterpark in Thailand back in 2023 but we couldn't because there was only one source of transport for the group of 10. And the last time we went to the Gold Coast back in 2022 we had a group of 8, so it's a lot smaller than most holidays. Hoping to do Waterworld at some point - if we get everything without an express pass done quickly we'll have time to do so. Still hoping of doing it - but if we have to sacrifice one then that would be the one. It just seems like a normal simulator - nothing of note compared to the others.

I believe the merchandising rights for Bluey are owned by the BBC, not the ABC. Dreamworld could still hypothetically do so and put it in Dreamland (I think that's what happens with Wiggles, I don't think they're owned by ABC like the others) but as said it would be too expensive. Bluey is one of the most streamed shows on Disney+ in the US so the BBC would likely charge a fair amount for the rights.

An update: we've booked our Universal tickets this morning: as said before, we will be going on the 26th of September, which is a Friday. The pricing was the highest tier: a bit worried it will be busy due to that. All of our group (3 people) have also got the Mine Cart and Selection Express Pass, which includes everything in SNW, Harry Potter and either Jurassic Park/JAWS or Flying Dinosaur/Minion Mayhem. I'm very excited for Flying Dinosaur but one of the others isn't, so they're giving me theirs for it which means I get 2 gos. Our group all has the same return times of: 2:40pm: Forbidden Journey 3:10pm: Flight of the Hippogriff 4:50pm: Koopas Challenge 5:20pm: Yoshi's Adventure 5:50pm: Mine Cart Madness The good thing about this is it allows us to quickly get the ones without express done at rope drop (Hollywood Dream, Space Fantasy, JAWS, Minion Mayhem) whilst also allowing us to walk around and experience the park, have lunch etc. A bit lucky we even got the express passes: we checked at 7:30 this morning and it said "No Stock", but it managed to come back thankfully

Thinking about it, the soundstage wouldn't be a good place for the house. Yes the indoor portion is soundproofed but it would be very expensive. The show runs for 2-3 months most years and Ten/Endemol Shine would likely be competing for the soundstages against the larger studios wanting to film there who have much more money. Plus if the sets were kept intact for new seasons, they would either have to pay 9 months worth of rent for it to just be sitting there not being used, and if they re-rented it each year they would have to spend the cost of demolishing and rebuilding the house each year which would bump the costs up even more. And another thing is they couldn't construct the outdoor portion as the soundstages are surrounded from all four corners by roads, and the noises from the construction crews and DC Rivals would fill the area even if they found a way to do it. They could build that portion indoors but that would mean the housemates are stuck in there with no sunlight for up to three months

It would be cool if they did that, especially with the "nostalgia" angle they are trying to bring back, but by the looks of things and the separation of the park and studios it seems like the only thing theme park related is the house being in a soundstage that's next to Movie World

My idea would be to somehow gut the area. Keep Road Runner, JDS (but update it), Marvin, the Parents Room and Arcade but flatten everything else and bring it indoors. Something like this at the WB park in Abu Dhabi could work but on a lower budget: perhaps a combination of matte paintings, more space between buildings and building facades closer to the walls (rather than building the whole building) could work. This would not only reduce having to spend money on repaints thanks to the sun but allow a difference to the other parks in having an indoor kids section. On a hot summer day in January where the park gets the most visitors, most families would likely rather be inside an air-conditioned indoor kids section rather than standing right in the heat.

As someone who went there recently on a Saturday, when I went it was mostly little kids and their parents, and the only non-kiddie rides operating were the three coasters and the tree swing. TNT had some wait but not more than one train, and Project Zero literally had nobody in line for most of the day. Even the bumper cars, the mining coaster and the kids train seemed to have a longer wait than Project Zero, which had a maximum of six people riding at once with some cycles operating with only 1-2 people. I think what John Verga said about how "if the weathers bad, Melbournians don't go" is true. The weather was decent that day, but too cold for the slides to open. And since the slides weren't open, many people chose not to go. I asked a family member if they wanted to come with me and they said no for that reason. I honestly was thinking of this recently, and I thought of financial issues being a reason. Most of the phases they've announced to be coming haven't happened yet, perhaps the coasters underperforming could be putting investment on hold. I couldn't see any construction on that visit, so they aren't likely putting anything in for 2025. If they put something in for 2026, that would be a 4-year wait between TNT/PZ and the new attraction.