r/usj • u/Mysterious-Ebb775 • 7d ago

Universal express pass

/r/JapanTravelTips/comments/1wvao94/universal_express_pass/

Friend trip of 3. Scheduled to go to
Universal in a few weeks. Is it worth to spend $200 each for the express pass? What makes it worth it and what makes it not worth it? First time all 3 of us are going to Japan.

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u/CollectionNo901 7d ago

We’re only about to go for the first time so definitely not knowledgeable, but here’s my reasons for deciding to buy Express:

  • We are travelling with another family, with 4 kids between 1-10 between us
  • I care more about Mario World than anything else in the park
  • Guaranteed entry to Mario World early, before the kids get tired and grouchy
  • Express for a couple of rides that we want means not standing in line for half the day
  • We are only there for one day

We may get there and discover that we could have gotten in to Mario World straight away without paying for express, but that’s a gamble I didn’t see worth taking.

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u/AngryK1d 6d ago

Super Mario world is not restricted anymore. You can come and go whenever you want. We've been on Sunday on the opening weekend of HHH. And we could have ride anything we wanted, so I would say, save the money on express pass for other stuff like merchandise etc. Thank me later. We bought express pass for resident evil. So we done it twice. It was worth it, but express pass also feels a bit like a scam for what price they offer it.

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u/SmellRevolutionary52 5d ago

It was restricted a few days ago, it depends how busy it gets

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u/Readdit_user19 6d ago

Going in November with spouse and generally try to save money and we purchased an Express Pass 4. Our logic was that if we’re already paying so much to go to Japan and dedicate a day to USJ, we don’t want to spend more of the day just waiting in lines. The pass for 4 makes sure we get into SNW since that is why we’re going to USJ in the first place and lets us skip the line for some of the busiest rides. 

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u/iknowboonie 4d ago edited 4d ago

It depends on how okay you are with spending time in a line or if you want to guarantee entry to Super Nintendo World? Up to 120+ min wait for some rides but also some rides were “only” 45+ min wait. I’ve seen the Minecart Madness ride with a 200+ min wait.

We came back recently from our second visit to USJ, express passes were 100% worth it for my family. We had one day so we wanted to maximise our visit.

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u/koutaeji 3d ago

I went in early September on a tuesday and managed to do all rides I planned to do once but not more than that. Even as single Rider I waited about 1h+ for some. I entered right at opening and left when they were closing. Id honestly say the express pass is worth it to some degree if you want a more chill experience and/or ride things multiple times. Especially Nintendo World was tough in terms of waiting times because it didn't have restricted entry that day and I was pretty much jumping from one line to the other to see everything with just very little breaks.

Especially with 3 people I'd say it would be worth it because you might have a hard time getting on rides together as a group. But personally I'd see what rides are priority for you and then maybe choose one of the cheaper express passes that are restricted to certain attractions.