- Why Do the Japanese Drink Milk After an Onsen - 9 December 2024
- How to Use an Onsen – and Not Look Like a Tourist - 8 December 2024
- 6 Things Not to Miss in Iwase - 7 December 2024
Going to Universal Studios Japan will never be a really cheap day out, but how much should you budget for? Here’s an idea of how much things cost in the park – and how much I spent on my last trip. And some ideas on how I’d save cash next time.
Article by Helen Foster. Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links. See our Affiliate Disclosure.
Studio Passes
These are the entry tickets to USJ; everyone must have one of these to enter the park.
The price varies depending on the season and day of the week. Weekdays are cheaper than weekends, and busy days are more expensive than quiet ones. You can save as much as AU$16 by visiting on a cheaper day in the same week – and it will also mean smaller queues.
I visited on a Tuesday in November while Halloween Horror Nights was on, so it was busy. My Studio Pass cost AU$106.05—about $20 more than visiting on a quiet day in January. I bought it from Klook because I find it easier to use with foreign cards.
Express Passes
Queues at USJ can get long, and as I only have a 45-minute tolerance for shuffling along in one, and my friend had never been to the park, an Express Pass 7, which covered all the big rides, was non-negotiable.
Again, Express Passes vary in price by day and season, and I admit I was a bit shocked by the cost this time. Mine cost 21,800 yen, including the tax and again, I bought it via Klook. It’s worth its weight in gold for the time it saves you, but it’s a significant outlay.
Again, if you go on a quieter day, the Express Pass will be slightly cheaper. You can also save a significant amount by choosing one of the many Express Pass 4 combinations (which cover four main rides rather than seven) if you’re not bothered about doing all the headline rides. I will do this next time I go, as I don’t ride Flying Dinosaur and Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey nearly made me throw up, so that’s off my list, too.
If you have more patience than I do, are traveling solo and can use single-rider queues, or you don’t want to do all the big rides, then you might not even need an Express Pass. See how to decide in our guide to whether you need an Express Pass.
We were at USJ during Halloween Horror Nights, and unlike the US, this is not a separately ticketed event, but included with your Studio Pass. However, they do sell an Express Pass that helps you jump the lines and we bought that as well. This cost 15,800 yen.
Some of the attractions were running at 70 minutes by the time we got on them in the evening, so I was glad to have it… However, HHN wasn’t as good as I thought it was going to be, so if I went again, I wouldn’t bother with the pass. I’d just go to the attractions early in the day when they are less popular.
Hotels
I prefer to stay in Osaka rather than right next to USJ, and one reason for this is that it’s hard to find a more budget-friendly hotel close to USJ.
I chose the fun Henn na Hotel in Shinsaibashi on this trip, a 30-minute journey away from USJ. It’s a robot hotel, which means you get checked in by dinosaurs and they have little dancing robots in reception.
The room cost me 32,400 yen for three nights booked eight months in advance. Some of the nice touches included free breakfast, free cookies – and they even had some alcoholic drinks for adults in the evening!
Check rates for your trip here.
The last time I visited USJ, I stayed at Henn na’s other robot hotel in Namba which is a little cheaper but doesn’t have the extra touches. See rates for that one here.
If you are coming to Osaka purely to visit USJ, staying by the parks might be more convenient. It might also be better if you are traveling as a larger family as the rooms there are geared toward bigger groups which can get pricey in Osaka city. See more in our guide on whether to stay near USJ.
Transport
Like many people, I flew into Tokyo, and if you do the same, you’ll need to include the cost of getting to USJ in your budget. Many people don’t realise how much this can cost, so don’t forget this.
If you catch the bullet train between Tokyo and Osaka, where USJ is located, it will cost around 14,000 yen per person – half that for children.
I actually flew straight to Osaka on a connecting flight on a through ticket. This added about AU$10 to the flight price when I booked my international flight—a lot less than getting the bullet train or booking the flight separately.
It did make my initial journey much longer, as between connections and the flights, I didn’t arrive at my hotel until about five hours after I would have reached a hotel in Tokyo, but that was the price I paid for saving cash!
The good news is that travelling to USJ from Osaka is inexpensive. The metro costs a few hundred yen, with the exact cost depending on your hotel location and route. My return trip from Shinsaibashi to USJ was 860 yen.
Food and Drink
This is where most of my spending money went that day. Not because it’s super expensive, but because there are so many cute things to consume, and one of my friend and I’s aims for the day was to plough our way through them!
Snacks and themed drinks cost around 600 to 900 yen, and we had everything from Halloween Butter Chicken Curry with a mini gravestone to Banana-Flavoured Ice Cream sandwiches in the shape of a minion – and the fun bubble tea and whipped cream drinks below.
It cost about 3200 yen each to reach the point where neither of us could eat any more sugary or fatty junk food! At this point, I’d have paid the same again for a spinach salad!
If you prefer a more substantial meal, a combo-style meal will cost around 1500-2700 yen; a burger and chips at the Snoopy Backlot Cafe is cheaper than a steak or chicken dinner at the Lost World restaurant in Jurassic Park.
If you are on a budget, check the restaurant section of the USJ website before you visit. It will show you meals and prices at the different restaurants, and you can choose to try and end up near a more wallet-friendly option at lunchtime.
Children’s meals are also available. These cost around 1000 yen depending on the restaurant and meal choice.
USJ can be funny about snacks being taken into the park, but they do allow you to take in a fillable water bottle of under 500ml, so you can save some money by filling that up.
Merchandise
I pack very light, so I don’t have room in my case for a lot of souvenirs, but there are shops everywhere at USJ, so if you have more space or less willpower, you could walk away with everything from plush minions to a complete set of Gryffindor robes and spend a fortune!
Here’s an idea of pricing for a few popular items if you are a shopper
Ridiculous Headgear
This is the one thing I buy at every park: ears at Disney and a daft character headband at USJ. They add to the fun of walking around, and if the cast members see you wearing their favourite character, they get very excited. My Fluffy the Unicorn was very popular, especially when they spotted the Zombie Unicorns on my dress as well.
The headbands cost around 2800 yen, depending on the design.
Powerbands and Wands
Rides are not the only fun thing to do at USJ; you can enhance your experience in Super Nintendo World and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter by playing games with Powerbands and Wands.
Powerbands cost 4900 while wands cost around 5500. You can also use both in the US Parks, or if you already have wands or bands from the US, they work in USJ, too.
Harry Potter Robes
A set of robes bought in Hogsmeade costs 16,000 yen. Although, according to the people in my USJ Facebook group, these are a little cheaper at the Warner Bros Studio Tour, so if you’re doing both, you might want to buy them there.
Popcorn Buckets
Themed popcorn buckets are not just a Disney thing. USJ does them, too.
Again, the price will vary by design but expect to pay around 5000 yen a bucket. The flavours at USJ don’t seem as inventive as those at Disney, but the queues were still very long.
And that’s it. Adding it all up my trip to USJ (including one night of my hotel stay) cost me about AU$650, which is a little over US$400 or £330. Now that I’ve seen that in writing, I need to go and lie down!
As I said, you can do it cheaper by choosing the day you go, only buying the Express Pass you need (and you wouldn’t need the second Express Pass we had), and not attempting to eat the entire park’s supply of treats! Although, where would be the fun in that last one?
