I’ve just spent almost three weeks exploring Japan and along the way visited several theme parks. Two of which we had already planned to visit and two others that we ended up visiting in the moment. This includes Tokyo DisneySea, Universal Studios Japan, Fuji-Q Highland and Suzuka Circuit Motopia.

I first visited Japan 9 years ago and at the time only visited Universal Studios Japan; you can read that trip report here:

Tokyo DisneySea

This was the first park of the trip and my third ever Disney park (Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney Studio Park being the other two). We didn’t have enough time to visit both Disney parks on this trip, so opted for DisneySea because of how highly everyone talks about this park (and for Fantasy Springs). We arrived at the park at 8:30, with the park set to open at 9. We’d heard that the process to get in was pretty quick even when the lines are long as the staff are efficient… this was not the case. We didn’t get into the park until almost 10 (not a complaint, just something to note for anyone planning to visit). Once we were through the gate, I immediately jumped into the app and started trying to book passes to jump the queues for as many rides as possible.

The first impression enter the park under the hotel is one of the most mind blowing first sights I’ve ever had walking into a theme park. It is so beautiful, so detailed and it makes me want to see it all at once. We began exploring the park in a clockwise direction towards Port Discovery. Walking to this land, it honestly didn’t feel like you were in a theme park, everything looks so well considered, amazing sight lines, detailing, atmosphere, it’s all just incredible.

    

Our first ride was Nemo & Friends Searider. I didn’t really know what this ride was, but my wife is a massive Finding Nemo fan. The ride was essentially a 3D simulator ride and made you believe you were shrunk down to the size of a fish and go on a journey with the characters. A well executed ride, but nothing out of this world. We then ventured to Mysterious Island to ride our first free past pass ride, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. To access this ride you have to enter into the centre of the volcano, which alone is absolutely insane, but then you work your way down towards the water and under the volcano. The ride itself was really impressive and give you the impression you are actually underwater and see all of these underwater creatures, very immersive and enjoyable ride.

 

We then had our first paid fast pass ride, Toy Story Mania. This was only our second ever shooting dark ride (Justice League being the first) and my god this was so much more enjoyable. All of the mini games were very fun, the queue and station theming were great and the shooting system (while tiring by the end of the ride) was easy to use.

From here we had to make the very long journey to the back of the park as we had our first fast pass (This was the fast pass we were able to secure as soon as we entered the park) in Fantasy Springs, Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival. Fantasy Springs was by far the area of the park I was most looking forward to and I had stayed spoiler free for the most part. The first impressions as you enter into the land is mind blowing, it’s just beautiful. It really does feel like a fantasy. The music starts to change, the landscape changes and you become fully immersed into what they’ve created. When your within the land you can’t see anything else but the land you are in. We headed to the right into Rapunzel’s Forest. The queue for the ride was really well executed and the loading procedures were so fast, organised and effective. The ride itself is a boat ride that doesn’t have any drops or lift hills and takes you on a very shortened version of the Tangled movie. The animatronics and execution of the scenes were unlike I’ve ever seen in person, it actually creates emotions. And that final lantern scene was beautiful and made me feel like nothing else in the world mattered in that moment. Sadly the major downside to this ride is it feels like it’s over before it’s begun, it’s way too short and should’ve been at least double the ride time, but it is still absolutely worth riding and paying for a priority pass.

  

    

As it was nearing lunch time, we decided to stay in Fantasy Springs and eat at the Royal Banquet of Arendalle. The menu wasn’t massive, but its offerings were very enjoyable. To enter this sit down quick service restaurant you had to do a mobile order and show the order at the entrance when it was ready. Then once you’re inside it tells you what counter to collect your order from and that’s it! It was a very simple and fast process and didn’t require any waiting. The dining area had a massive amount of tables, so there was no issue finding somewhere to sit, and it was a really pleasant space to sit and relax amongst the craziness of a Disney theme park day. I’d highly recommend anyone visiting this park to visit this restaurant for lunch and a place to relax.

After lunch our ride was Journey to the Centre of the Earth. This was the ride I was most looking forward to, but with a 4.5hr standby wait time, my only hope to ride it was with a fast pass (thankfully I managed to secure one while we were sat down for lunch). This ride is set within the volcano and takes out on a journey deep into the centre of volcano exploring what lives within. I had stayed relatively spoiler free for this ride, but knew it had a similar ride system to Radiator Springs or Test Track and there was a massive animatronic. Before we had even boarded the ride, the queue line was mind blowing. It has so much detail, effects and the use of an elevator to give the impression you are dropping deep into the volcano. The ride itself was incredible and ended up being my favourite ride in the park. It wasn’t necessarily overly thrilling, but the suspense, animatronics, darkness and use of smoke and fire made the experience unlike anything I’d ever been on. And that last massive animatronic before you are launched out of the volcano was incredible. This ride has to be a must do for anyone visiting this park because it will blow you away.

  

When then explored the ‘Mermaid Lagoon’ and ‘Lost River Delta’ lands and like the rest of the park was really impressed with the level of theming and the rides on offer. Mermaid Lagoon is the only dedicated kids ride land in the park and offers a great variety of flat rides. I was really hoping to ride Indiana Jones, but with a 3 hour wait, the single rider line closed and being unsuccessful in getting a fast pass, sadly we had to miss out on this.

 

 

We then ventured into the Arabian Coast to ride Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage. This ride had the shortest wait time in the park at only 15 minutes. I had heard this ride was an enjoyable boat ride and generally always has a short queue and after riding it, I don’t know why because it is really really good. It’s a gentle boat ride filled with hundreds of animatronics, music and effects and is probably the longest boat ride in the park. It’s just a classic and fun ride.

 

After this we headed back into Fantasy Springs because how could we not! We wanted to explore even more of the land while we tried to get priority passes for the other rides. This land really feels like its own seperate park and you could honestly just spend the entire day in here exploring every corner and detail. We were lucky to get a fast pass for Anna & Elsa’s Frozen Journey and it was for in 15 minutes after purchasing. And wow what a ride this was. The story telling, detail, effects and animatronics were unlike anything else. This ride was fantastic and was easily my second favourite of the day. And the length of the ride really allowed you to get fully immersed into the story, which is what Rapunzel’s ride unfortunately lacked.

Unfortunately that would be the last ride of the day as the weather had dramatically changed and was now very very windy and cold. We originally wanted to stay for the nighttime shows, but these were cancelled due to the weather.

Generally speaking, we did eat at many different food outlets and stalls throughout the park to try different things, but the only place we dined was within Frozen. And for merchandise, we didn’t actually buy anything because there wasn’t actually anything within any of the stores that was of interest. The merchandise we found to be very much targeted to the Japanese market (for obvious reasons), so there wasn’t even a magnet or tshirt that appealed to us.

Overall, what a fantastic day and easily my new favourite theme park. However, while using the app and booking passes is a simple process, it’s does make the day pretty stressful, especially when you’re trying to make sure you get on everything you want. Any opportunity I had I would be in the app refreshing it to try and buy or secure passes for various rides because most attraction waits were between 1 and 4 hours. Throughout the day I was trying to get a Standby Pass for the Fantasy Springs rides, but had no luck, which is why we had to buy the Priority Passes to be able to ride them. From the start of April you no longer require a Standby Pass for Fantasy Springs attractions, but that means the queues are now up to 5 hours for the majority of the day.

 

Fuji-Q Highland

I’ll be upfront about our visit to this park, it wasn’t originally on our list of places to visit due to time constraints. However, we do manage to spend about 1.5 hours wondering around the park for reasons I’ll explain shortly. We hired a car for the day from Tokyo so we could go and explore the northern areas of Mount Fuji. To get her via train can take over 4 hours, but driving was only 1.5 hours. I highly recommend to anyone who wants to see and explore Mount Fuji, but doesn’t necessarily want to stay a night out there. As we arrived in the area, we actually drove directly past Fuji-Q and the views you get of the park and awesome. Getting to see these coasters in person made me realise why people make the trek to visit this park. We explored the Lake Kawaguchi region in the morning and because we had some spare time over lunch we decided to stop in the Fuji-Q before heading to the Chureito Pagoda.

Part of our reason to justify visiting the park for only a couple hours was because it is actually free to enter to park. The park has a pay per ride system, or a ride all day option that basically makes it like visiting a normal theme park. As we drove, it was ¥2,000 to park and then get a free entry ticket from the ticket booth, which we had to scan to be able to enter the park. At this point it was around midday, the park had been open a couple of hours and the car park appeared to be relatively empty. This made me think that there might be a change I could get to go on at least one of the coasters (spoiler alert, this was not the case). The first area of the park you walk through is ‘La ville Gaspard et Lisa’, a French inspired street with good theming and plenty of eateries to choose from. I didn’t know much about this park, but this level of theming made me think maybe the whole park was like this…. I was very much wrong. There was some theming in Thomas land, but otherwise that’s about it. And maybe it’s not really necessary because you visit this park for the insane coasters and the incredible backdrop that is Mount Fuji. We decided to do a full loop of the park to see what it had to offer (in terms of food and to see what the wait times were like). Very quickly my hopes to possibly get on a ride or two became a dream because despite what I deceived to be very low crowds, every coaster had a wait time of a minimum of two hours.

 

 

I had heard that this parks dispatched times were bad, but wow they have to be some of the worst in the world. I couldn’t even tell if they were running multiple trains because they had dispatches of over 5 minutes between the trains arriving into the stations and leaving. If you thought Villages were bad, think again. The wait times also didn’t help because they now only have 3 major coasters in operation, all of which have decent ride times. Do-Dodonpa closed several years ago now and all that remains is the loop and only a couple months ago Eejanaika also had an incident and now very much looks like it could be closed for some time. Obviously it was a little disappointing I wasn’t going to get a chance to ride anything, but it wasn’t originally in our plans to even visit the park, so I was happy to just be there and see it in person.

In terms of the rest of the park, it did feel run down and I don’t know if I had set the park too high because I had always heard good things about it, but it was underwhelming to walk around. With two major coasters closed amongst 4 or 5 other flat rides closed and the operating flat rides looking like they need some love, everything was a bit meh. Don’t get me wrong, the operating coasters did look like a fantastic experience and really these are the main reason to visit this park. But for anyone who is planning on going, don’t expect much else outside these coasters, the incredible backdrop and the food was decent for theme park food. And after witnessing the dispatch times, it could honestly take you all day to just ride the 3 coasters even on a quiet day.

On our way out we stopped by the Fujiyama observation deck, which for about $15 allows you access to a lookout with amazing views of Mount Fuji and the park, but is surrounded by the track of Fujiyama. After the first drop, the train ascends up to the rides second highest point because looping round this lookout; a very cool experience and you don’t have to renter the park to access it!

 

 

Universal Studios Japan

This park I was able to visit nine years ago during my first trip to Japan and was very excited to visit again particularly for Super Nintendo World, to get to go on the ride within the Wizarding World and to go on some of the attractions I loved last time. Before visiting, I had the main goal to get the Universal Express Pass 7 because I wanted to make sure we could actually achieve everything we wanted to because of how busy this park gets. And with Nintendo still requiring an entry time, this express pass guaranteed entry and every ride. Anyone who is wanting to visit this park, if you can afford it I highly recommend you get this pass. They sell out very quickly, but to fully enjoy your single day that I’d say it’s a must. For us entry tickets were $100 each and the Express Pass was around $250 each. This made it a more expensive day than at Disney, but far less stressful!

We visited the park on a Tuesday, which isn’t the busiest day of the week for this park, most major rides had wait times between 2 and 4 hours. We had timed entry for the Wizarding World for 10am (this land doesn’t require an entry pass like Nintendo). The park opened at 8:30, but we didn’t arrive until 9:30. Unlike Disney’s security system, Universal’s was a lot more efficient and while the line was almost as long as Disney’s, it took us half the amount of time to get into the park. Once in, we headed straight for Hogwarts. My wife and I are big Harry Potter fans and while I’d been here before and we’d done the studio tour in London, we were very excited to experience this land to its fullest (something I didn’t get the chance to do last time).

I love the entry into the Wizarding World at Japan; to my understanding it’s very different to the entries at both American parks, but walking through the forest and (almost) separating yourself from the rest of the park was very well executed. We headed straight for Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, a ride I unfortunately missed out on last time. And having never visited the American parks this would be my first ever time experiencing this ride. The wait time was around 2 hours, but with express you skipped straight to the lockers and then join the regular queue, making the wait around 15 minutes in total. Having read all about this ride, but having never watched a POV it was still very much a surprise even after the ride opening over a decade ago. What an impressive ride this is, especially with the immense amount of technology involved (particularly considering how long it’s been open for). The loading procedures were so efficient, it’s impressive how high capacity this ride actually is. It’s filled with screens and practical sets and effects that all blend very well together. The ride system was unlike anything I’ve ever been on and it did make me feel a little nauseas (which I’d heard some people feel after this ride), but it was only brief while getting off the ride. My wife wasn’t able to ride this (due to a recent surgery), but last time I visited they offered a Hogwarts Castle walk-through experience, where you walked alongside the rides main queue, but you bypass the rides station so you don’t have to ride it. This was great because it allowed you to experience the immersive detail of the queue and it never has a wait. Sadly, we asked about it this time before the staff said they don’t offer that anymore. I’m not sure how long they haven’t offered it, but it’s a real shame they’ve done so.

 

Next up was Flight of the Hippogriff, which had one of the longest lines in the park the whole day. If you don’t have express pass or don’t get to this ride first, it absolutely isn’t worth it. It’s fine for what it is and they have two trains operating, but it just isn’t a high capacity ride. We spent the next hour or so experiencing the entire land, checking out all of the stores and detailing; it’s so enjoyable to just walk around this area of the park. Earlier I mentioned this land almost separates you from the rest of the park; the reason it almost does this is because with Donkey Kong Country open, that land backs directly onto the Wizarding World, so you can see parts of that land behind the Hogwarts Castle.

  

Heading out of the land we made our way anti-close wise around the park, so next us was Jaws. I remember absolutely lovely this ride last time and I enjoyed it just as much this time. It’s such a classic ride and I wish there were more rides like this around the world because even though I couldn’t speak the language, the story was clear and it’s such a gem. I truly hope USJ keeps this ride for as long as possible, since it’s the last.

We then ate at the Boardwalk snacks for lunch before heading to Water World. This was the fourth time seeing this show (USJ once before and twice at USS) and it’s still just as good as the first time. I’d happily watch this show any time I visit a Universal park that has it because it’s so well out together (like how Police Academy was).

We made our way through Jurassic Park (we come back here later) to head towards Minions Land. Last time I visited this park it was the Back to the Future ride, so I was interested to see the change and how they modified the ride to suit Minions Mayhem. The land itself was really well executed, with lots to look at, a couple of stores and a variety of food options (I highly recommend the Minion steamed bun). We had an Express Pass for Minions Mayhem and it was the first time ever expressing this ride and other than a simulator style ride, I didn’t really know what to expect. In summary, it’s fine; a one and done; you can skip it if you aren’t sure whether or not to ride it. I don’t know if the setup for the ride differs to other versions of the ride (would be interested to hear from anyone who’s ridden different versions), but the setup and ride system was exactly the same as what Back to the Future was. So much so, it seemed like they were still using the original dome/screen because you could seen all of the panel joins and it was pretty distracting. The ride experience I did find a little nauseating too, almost more than Harry Potter.

 

 

We then continued our loop around the park through New York and Hollywood. I had hoped to ride Space Fantasy, but this wasn’t included in our Express Pass, the wait was 2 hours and no single rider option. With the closures of Spider-Man and Backdraft, this area of the park did feel pretty lacking, which is a real shame because both of those were great attractions (Spider-Man remained my favourite ever ride before this trip). We explored the many stores in these areas and found the merchandise offerings a lot better than Disney. It could be because it was more of what we were interested in, but it felt like there was a lot wider range of products to choose from.

It was later in the afternoon at this point and there still a few things we wanted to do before our nighttime entry into Super Nintendo World. We made our way back to Jurassic Park to ride what still remains as my favourite coaster, Flying Dinosaur. I first rode this when it had only opened a few weeks prior to my first visit and was interested to see if it still had that well known B&M smoothness and if it still scared the hell out of me. The answer to both those questions is yes. There are only two rides that I’ve ever been on that genuinely scare me, The Giant Drop and this! The intensity, forces, speed and just the whole damn layout are insanity. But my god it’s so much tun. I was lucky enough to get front row on this ride so I could see everything we were about to face. Surprisingly this time I didn’t grey/black out (last time I didn’t many times), so I could truly appreciate every aspect of the ride. I would honestly visit this park just to ride Flying Dinosaur! And the efficiency of the load and unloading has got to be the best in the world. They have two stations and three trains always in operations. There is no stacking (unless there’s an issue), so this means there is always a train load, a train out on the track and a train unloading. Hats off to the team that operate this because it’s incredible to watch and experience.

We then made our way back into the Wizarding world to have dinner at the Leaky Cauldron. The line was this restaurant was almost an hour long at lunch time, but for dinner it was only 5 minutes. They offer English pub style food and it’s an enjoyable meal for the pride you pay. At this point it was now dark, so we spent a bit of time walking around the land to enjoy its lighting and ambiance before making our way to the land we’d been most looking forward to, Super Nintendo World.

We’re of the age where we grew up playing these games, so to be able to experience it in real light was very exciting. We’d obviously seen photos/videos of the land online, but the feeling of walking through the pipe into princess peaches castle and into the land was unlike anything else. There was so much to look at, it was very overwhelming but I just wanted to stand there and take it all in. I can see why this land could over stimulating for some people, but for us it was just pure joy and excitement. We made our way through to the land to ride Mario Kart.

   

   

The scale of entrance into the ride was so impressive, but it just got even better as we made our way through the queue. The detailing and scale of everything was mind-blowing and we probably could’ve spent a long time just looking at it all. You collect your Mario hat that the AI googles connects too at the end of the main queue area before heading into two different rooms; once shows you how to wear the hat and the next explains how to play the game during your ride experience. I’d heard the game aspect usually took people a few rides to get the hang of, so I was sure to play close attention because I was only getting the one opportunity to ride. Now I had watched tried to POV or two of the ride when it first opened, but they honestly don’t do the ride experience justice. If you wanted, you don’t have to wear the googles and you could just sit back and enjoy the sets because they are really well executed, but the game aspect was so much fun. To be able to play MarioKart in real life made me feel like a little kid again, it was so much better than I had anticipated. The ride takes you through a blend of all of the iconic MarioKart tracks and it’s all executed so well. During the ride’s explanation they suggest that you should aim to collect over 100 coins and that I managed to do, so I felt like I picked up how to play the game/ride pretty quickly.

   

  

   

We then made our way to Yoshi’s adventure, which is just a slow moving tracked ride that allows you to see the Nintendo land from a new perspective, with a show scene halfway through the ride. We enjoyed it for what it was, but definitely isn’t a must if the wait time is too long. Because we were entering the land at 7pm and the park was closing at 9pm, we didn’t see value in spending $50 on the power up bands to experience all of the mini-games. But honestly, you could probably spend your entire day in this land just playing all of the mini-games and you’d have a great day (if that’s your sort of thing).

It was now time for Donkey Kong Country and the ride I was most looking forward to riding at this park, Mine Cart Madness. The Donkey Kong land itself isn’t massive and is mostly taken up by the ride itself. But like the Super Mario area, the detailing and Easter eggs were everywhere. Again, so much to look at and do, with lots of mini games, food options, a store and a Donkey Kong meet and greet (sadly it was too late in the day for an appearance). It was 8pm at this point and Mine Cart Madness was still listed at a four hour wait and the queue went all the way back to the entrance of this land (the ride entry is all the way at the back of the land). Even with Express Pass the wait was still about 30 minutes, as the ride vehicles only seat 4 people, but that is a crucial part to the ride experience. The station does have a moving platform and the vehicles were only spaced out around 15-20 seconds on the course, so the throughput is very high.

      

 

The ride itself was so much fun! I’ve read mixed reviews online with people saying the ride it way to short and is rough, and while yes I wish the ride time was longer, it already takes up the majority of the land and due to the vehicle being attacked to an arm that extends down to the track, they don’t want to ruin the illusion when you’re off the ride. The ride itself isn’t necessarily rough, because it does run smoothly, but it does throw you side to side at a few moments on the ride, but I perceived this as being on purpose. You are riding a Mine Cart, that is jumping track and is turning on two wheels, which in reality wouldn’t be a smooth experience; so it all just adds to the narrative of the ride. There are water and smoke effects, animatronics and show scenes throughout the ride and all of it coming together made it a really fun overall experience. It’s not worth the four hour wait, but I’d wait an hour for sure.

 

It was almost time for park close, so we began to make our way to the park exit after an incredible day and a greater appreciation for how awesome this park is. However, with now only a 10 minute wait (actually just a walk on), I had to get a night ride on Jurassic Park. This ride had been closed for 18 months as part of a massive refurbishment and had only reopened earlier this year, so I was excited to ride it in what should be in perfect condition. Because it was a cold and windy night in Osaka, I opted for the back row as the ride-ops said this is where I would get less wet (they were correct). It was so great to ride one of my favourites again, particularly at night and in such great condition; a perfect way to end the night.

 

Suzuka Circuit Motopia

The reason we got to visit this park is because we attended the Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix. As part of your entry into the event, you also get unlimited access to the entire theme/amusement park, which is integrated into the race circuit. This park is a little tricky to get too, so it’s definitely not a must visit on your Japan trip, but it has a good selection of rides. It is a free park to enter and you just pay per ride, or can purchase an unlimited ride ticket. On our first day at the F1 we entered into the event through the Main Gate, which is also the main gate for the park itself. The park it split into multiple lands, which include a water park, kids area, a driving school type zone, but the main area we walked through was called GP field, which is right alongside the race track and features the parks main coaster, GP Racers and a giant Ferris wheel.

  

GP racers is a Hoei Sangyo (Japanese manufacturer) coaster that has duelling frack with ride vehicles only seating two people per vehicle. The track is less than 500m long, so it’s a relatively short ride experience, but like Motocoaster at Dreamworld, offers a motorbike style ride experience (with a lift hill). This ride experience is so much more comfortable than Motocoaster, because you sit sit like you are riding Jet Rescue, but the ride vehicles are like a bike so it offers the same sensation as Motocoaster should do without all the pain! Still a fun little coaster and glad I had the opportunity to ride it.

 

Conclusion

Overall a fantastic trip to Japan and after 9 years, still enjoyed it just as much if not more. The theme park highlights obviously being DisneySea and Universal Studios, with Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Fantasy Springs, Flying Dinosaur and Super Nintendo World being the major highlights from both parks. Obviously the massive crowds play a major part in the experience and can dampen it if you don’t have express passes. While we found the overall quality of ride and the theme park itself to be better at DisneySea, we ended up having a better overall day at Universal because it was less stressful and we didn’t have to worry about being on the app to secure ride passes, otherwise we’d be standing in line for hours and wouldn’t really achieve much.

Edited April 16Apr 16 by themagician

Really nice, as someone who is going to Universal on September 26 this is helpful. Probably won't go to Wizarding World right on opening, we will have a fast pass which includes that, SNW and the JW rides with the first two having timed entry. We're hoping to get the other 4 main rides done first (Space Fantasy, Hollywood Dream, Minion Mayhem and Jaws) before doing the others.

We unfortunately can't go to DisneySea as we're only at the main park from 3-9 on either October 4 or 5, which is a weekend. One of my family members wanted to see the castle so we're thinking of spending the afternoon there, I'm only hoping to get Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and the kiddy credit in ToonTown done.

Also going to Nagashima on October 3, hoping it isn't busy so I can get all the credits. Hotels and flights are booked so we can't change plans around, we're going September 24 - October 7 and staying September 24 in Singapore, September 25-28 in Osaka (includes day trip to Hiroshima), September 29-October 1 in Kyoto, October 2-3 in Nagoya, and October 4-6 in Tokyo, flying out on the 7th.

Edited April 16Apr 16 by TBoy

9 hours ago, TBoy said:

Probably won't go to Wizarding World right on opening, we will have a fast pass which includes that, SNW and the JW rides with the first two having timed entry. We're hoping to get the other 4 main rides done first (Space Fantasy, Hollywood Dream, Minion Mayhem and Jaws) before doing the others.

For your reference, even though the express has a timed entry for the Wizarding World, it isn’t actually required and you can enter and explore the land whenever and as much as you like. 

Hollywood Dream has very long lines, so I would priorities doing that first. Having done it on my first visit to the park, I did find it to be a pretty mediocre B&M and wouldn’t suggest waiting anymore than an hour for it. Then go for Space Fantasy because it isn’t too far away, then Minions Mayhem (again don’t wait more than an hour for this) and then Jaws. Jaws had about a 90 minute wait majority of the day, but it’s single rider line was about 10 minutes all day (so I would suggest doing that if you’re party doesn’t mind with possibly splitting up).

9 hours ago, TBoy said:

One of my family members wanted to see the castle so we're thinking of spending the afternoon there, I'm only hoping to get Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and the kiddy credit in ToonTown done.

I didn’t get to ride it because we didn’t go to the park, but from what I’ve heard the Beauty & the Beast ride is the best in the park. I would honestly make that the major priority (or pay for the Priority Pass if you can get one).

12 hours ago, TBoy said:

Really nice, as someone who is going to Universal on September 26 this is helpful. Probably won't go to Wizarding World right on opening, we will have a fast pass which includes that, SNW and the JW rides with the first two having timed entry. We're hoping to get the other 4 main rides done first (Space Fantasy, Hollywood Dream, Minion Mayhem and Jaws) before doing the others.

We unfortunately can't go to DisneySea as we're only at the main park from 3-9 on either October 4 or 5, which is a weekend. One of my family members wanted to see the castle so we're thinking of spending the afternoon there, I'm only hoping to get Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and the kiddy credit in ToonTown done.

Also going to Nagashima on October 3, hoping it isn't busy so I can get all the credits. Hotels and flights are booked so we can't change plans around, we're going September 24 - October 7 and staying September 24 in Singapore, September 25-28 in Osaka (includes day trip to Hiroshima), September 29-October 1 in Kyoto, October 2-3 in Nagoya, and October 4-6 in Tokyo, flying out on the 7th.

I’d cough up the $20 for a fastpass for beauty and the beast above the toontown coaster every day of the week. One of the best trackless dark rides out there in my view.

Nagashima is from my experience rarely busy outside of the peak summer period. I also went on a weekday around the same time and the park was pretty much empty, so could do everything I wanted many times over. Hakugei and Steel Dragon are outstanding and don’t forget to do the classic stuff (unfortunately the 1st gen Intamin drop tower and shuttle loop they have was closed on my visit)

 

Edited April 17Apr 17 by Baconjack

Going to TDL and not forking out the $20 to ride Beauty & The Beast would be a travesty. It has to be seen to be believed.

great report @themagician

brought back many memories from my visit 16 months ago. 
its a shame you missed out on Indy, was a great rice. Did you get on Raging Spirits? 

journey was so impressive, and we had zero prior knowledge of the ride so we’re blown away by the ending. 

agree Spider-Man was fantastic at USJ and I’ll miss that when we get around to visiting again. We did Space Fantasy with The Ring overlay and it was a bunch of fun. We waiting about 60-70mins and probably wouldn’t have waited any longer tbh.. 

flying Dino is hands down the best coaster I’ve been on. We had front row too, and the intensity and experience can’t be matched to anything here in Australia 

It’s a shame Indy was closed and amazing ride, as Brad said, Flying Dinosaur is hands down the most extreme coaster I’ve been on. Japan is a beautiful place can’t wait to go again. I think Epic Universe is on our to do list in a couple of years. 

2 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

Did you get on Raging Spirits? 

It didn’t for the same reasons I didn’t ride Indy. And to be honest, riding it wasn’t a priority 

4 minutes ago, Ash said:

It’s a shame Indy was closed

It wasn’t closed all together, it was just the single rider line that was closed and the wait was too long.

On 18/04/2025 at 3:59 AM, Brad2912 said:

Going to TDL and not forking out the $20 to ride Beauty & The Beast would be a travesty. It has to be seen to be believed.

I enjoyed B&TB, and paid for DPA to ride it a second time (first included in our package). I think it deserves some of the kudos it gets but it isn't all that and a bag of chips. As for trackless darkrides, I still personally prefer Mystic Manor over B&TB. Now that i've done it, I can't say i'd be willing to line up the 3+ hours it gets. I'm not even sure i'd pay the $20 a second time - unless I was visiting with someone who hadn't been - in which case sure - experience it once, but I think people overhype this attraction *just a tad*.

On 18/04/2025 at 3:59 AM, Brad2912 said:

its a shame you missed out on Indy, was a great rice.

I think the setting at Disneyland, nestled amongst the jungle cruise and treehouse tops it. The ride experience itself isn't much different from California - and it's in English.

 

On 18/04/2025 at 3:59 AM, Brad2912 said:

journey was so impressive, and we had zero prior knowledge of the ride so we’re blown away by the ending.

^This. total dark horse. We didn't ride it until towards the end of our last day - and wish we'd done so earlier so we had more time to go back and do it again

 

On 18/04/2025 at 6:23 AM, themagician said:

It didn’t for the same reasons I didn’t ride Indy. And to be honest, riding it wasn’t a priority 

It's a fun little coaster and packs a punch but it isn't anything to write home about. The disney setting is cool, and the view near the top is breathtaking - but the experience itself is rough - you're not missing much (though for a 9yo coaster junkie, it delivers that adrenaline fix in amongst the more experiential rides).

 

14 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

I enjoyed B&TB, and paid for DPA to ride it a second time (first included in our package). I think it deserves some of the kudos it gets but it isn't all that and a bag of chips. As for trackless darkrides, I still personally prefer Mystic Manor over B&TB. Now that i've done it, I can't say i'd be willing to line up the 3+ hours it gets. I'm not even sure i'd pay the $20 a second time - unless I was visiting with someone who hadn't been - in which case sure - experience it once, but I think people overhype this attraction *just a tad*.

I waited 2 and a half hours when I was there last year. Still thought it was a really solid ride, but agreed not as good as Mystic Manor having been on both. I can see why a lot of people like it, especially if you know all the songs (I didn't, but the preshow and pepper's ghost illusion were standouts)

If one is pressed for time and want to do everything, then yeah the $20 is worth it, it's an elite dark ride. The park was reasonably quiet (for tokyo disney standards) on my visit and in 1 day I was able to cram in all the dark rides except for mansion, as well as big thunder and Splash without paying for DPA once.

Quote

^This. total dark horse. We didn't ride it until towards the end of our last day - and wish we'd done so earlier so we had more time to go back and do it again

Yeah I rope dropped journey when I went, was the number 1 thing I wanted to do (because i was very unprepared with getting timed entry to fantasy springs). Best ride in that park hands down, and my favourite Disney ride so far. The usage of the test track system is elite. I paid for DPA just so I could ride it again at night. Unfortunately as a tall fella I missed out on raging spirits because the height cutoff is strict - such is life I can't ride Superman or jet rescue anymore without slumping my lower back slightly. Have heard the Disneyland Indy is poorly maintained compared to the Disneysea one so intrigued by the preference for california.

Edited April 22Apr 22 by Baconjack

8 hours ago, Baconjack said:

Have heard the Disneyland Indy is poorly maintained compared to the Disneysea one so intrigued by the preference for california.

I mean, Tokyo is 6 years newer than Anaheim, and OLC do tend to throw way more money into upkeep. Plus they had 6 years to learn their mistakes before building it.

I saw Anaheim's version in the first 12 months of opening so i've also seen it working at it's best. Maybe it's just the purist in me preferring the original over the copy - but it's really hard for me to explain the differences (I don't go through cataloguing "oh, snake effect #4 isn't working properly today" and I couldn't tell you scene for scene what the differences are in each either) so it's a certain je ne sais quoi feel between the two - despite having 25 years to 'grow in' - DisneySea's location for the ride just felt artificial. The immersion wasn't there, Whereas walking into adventureland, passing the jungle cruise, walking down the outside queue with boats passing by the lush jungle... the atmosphere before you even enter the interior queue just felt 'different'. The ride being in english helps a lot too. 

23 minutes ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

despite having 25 years to 'grow in' - DisneySea's location for the ride just felt artificial. The immersion wasn't there, Whereas walking into adventureland, passing the jungle cruise, walking down the outside queue with boats passing by the lush jungle

I haven’t been to the OG Disneyland, so I can’t definitively compare the two, but from the outside DisneySea’s version felt very grown in. The entire Lost River Delta area felt very immersive and like it has been there for hundreds of years because of how well the area is themed. 
 

Correct me if I’m wrong, to my understanding this is the first impression of Disneyland’s version?

In comparison to this being the first impression for DisneySea’s version

Edited April 22Apr 22 by themagician

18 minutes ago, themagician said:

Correct me if I’m wrong, to my understanding this is the first impression of Disneyland’s version?

Yeah no, IMO the first impression is standing quite a bit further back from that.

But that's just it - you can't even see the temple for all the jungle that comes before it. The climate changes before you even enter the temple as you delve deeper underneath the jungle canopy.

21 minutes ago, themagician said:

In comparison to this being the first impression for DisneySea’s version

This is a photo opportunity, not a temple. It just feels artificial. And despite DisneySea having a great respect for sight lines, the temple is visible well outside the delta.

Just my opinion

Yeah i probably have recency bias on Indy at DS via DL. I rode Indy at DL 25 years ago, so whilst my memory of it was that it was amazing, i couldnt accurately highlight the differences between the two (aside from the language change, which of course is real difference). I also have no memory of the outside/queue of Indy at DL.

On 22/04/2025 at 7:50 AM, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

I enjoyed B&TB, and paid for DPA to ride it a second time (first included in our package). I think it deserves some of the kudos it gets but it isn't all that and a bag of chips. As for trackless darkrides, I still personally prefer Mystic Manor over B&TB. Now that i've done it, I can't say i'd be willing to line up the 3+ hours it gets. I'm not even sure i'd pay the $20 a second time - unless I was visiting with someone who hadn't been - in which case sure - experience it once, but I think people overhype this attraction *just a tad*.

we paid for it twice (once on each day of our visit) - mainly because i wanted to film it the second time to re-live long into the future as the first ride i was just taking it all in and blown away. I haven't ridden mystic manor, so for me B&TB is the ceiling in my experience of dark rides - but given yours and others reviews, i cant wait to one day do MM.

 

 

19 hours ago, Brad2912 said:

mainly because i wanted to film it the second time to re-live long into the future

I totally get this, and used to film experiences like this frequently until one day I took a step back and realised I rarely watched my own recordings - sure, I might open up the hard drive and trawl back through old stuff every so often -  I still like to re-experience them every now and then, and believe me I wish more people had recorded rides we've since lost to history, like at Wonderland, or even LTRR, Bermuda, etc....but online POVs on YouTube now do a much better job, and with much better equipment than I have, so i've stopped holding the camera up so much, and just try to take it all in outside the confines of a tiny screen. 

I really enjoy the time and experience (and the look on the little guy's face) much more that way - i'd encourage you to put the phone down and just enjoy it - someone else has definitely already done a POV that captures it much better than we ever could!

On 16/4/2025 at 9:52 PM, themagician said:

With the closures of Spider-Man and Backdraft, this area of the park did feel pretty lacking, which is a real shame because both of those were great attractions

Out of no where, USJ has just opened a replacement for Backdraft. Unfortunately it’s just a replica of the Villain-Con Minion Blast that can be found at Universal Florida (which I haven’t read or seen good things about). It’s great they’ve added a good crowd soaker attraction, but my initial reaction is it’s a shame it’s this (especially when Backdraft was so good).

19 hours ago, themagician said:

Out of no where, USJ has just opened a replacement for Backdraft. Unfortunately it’s just a replica of the Villain-Con Minion Blast that can be found at Universal Florida (which I haven’t read or seen good things about). It’s great they’ve added a good crowd soaker attraction, but my initial reaction is it’s a shame it’s this (especially when Backdraft was so good).

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.

Edited July 15Jul 15 by TBoy

5 hours ago, TBoy said:

Wondering if I should skip it

Honestly, even with express for the major attraction, you probably won’t even have time to go this ago. I haven’t experienced the one in Orlando, but if it was me I would skip it and use your time more wisely for other attractions that get the longer queues that aren’t on your pass.

Also, if you have Jaws on your pass as an option, don’t waste it. The wait time for Jaws generally isn’t that long, or go as single riders (your chance of being able to ride with your friend/partner is high on this one).

12 minutes ago, themagician said:

Also, if you have Jaws on your pass as an option, don’t waste it. The wait time for Jaws generally isn’t that long, or go as single riders (your chance of being able to ride with your friend/partner is high on this one).

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.

Edited July 15Jul 15 by TBoy

9 hours ago, TBoy said:

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.

The park typically opens an hour before it’s advertised opening, so be sure to get there at least 1.5 hours before the opening time.

Thats definitely the best order to do those three rides in, and then if you have time do Minions. If you don’t, you’re not missing out on much, but it’s definitely worth walking through the land because it has been executed really well.

If you're staying in a Universal hotel, they'll tell you the actual planned park opening time the day prior - and yes it's always at least an hour before advertised.

5 hours ago, DaptoFunlandGuy said:

If you're staying in a Universal hotel, they'll tell you the actual planned park opening time the day prior - and yes it's always at least an hour before advertised.

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

2 hours ago, TBoy said:

one has even suggested getting there later than opening which isn't good

Possibly the worst option of the lot. going in later reduces any hope you have on getting through the whole park. You're guaranteed to miss something. They're not like our local parks. You've got to get there early. 

When we visited last year, the official gate time was 10am. our hotel told us 8am and we were in line at 7:30. We waited 15 minutes before they started scanning us into the park. 

4 hours ago, TBoy said:

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

I would get there early and meet up with your group later if they aren’t bothered about some of the rides you’ll be able to get on.

When I visited, Mine Cart Madness already had a 4 hour wait at the time the park was advertised to open.

Another relatively quiet new coaster is also opening at USJ tomorrow! https://www.usj.co.jp/web/en/us/campaign/snoopy-festival#:~:text=July 18%2C 2025-,Snoopy's Flying Ace Adventure,-One of Snoopy's

Its rumoured to be a Vekoma family coaster, but I don't think the layout is known.

This is great for a park that desperately needs capacity. 

Is it just a replacement for the existing indoor Snoopy coaster?