Background
In July 2023, our family visited Kyoto and Osaka! This has been at the top of our family wish list for a few years. We visited in late July and combined this trip with a Hawaii visit and 3 days in Seoul. We visited Asia previously (Tokyo 2017) but this was the first time Ellie came and the first time we visited the Kyoto/Osaka area.
This post covers our visit to Universal Studios Japan and a brief visit to the Osaka area.
Read all of our 2023 Korea/Japan posts at the following links:
- Seoul, South Korea: Flights, Logistics, and Hotel Info
- Seoul Day 1: Myeongdong, Namsangol Hanok, Seoul Tower
- Seoul Day 2: Hanbok rental, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Gwanham square, Hongdae
- Seoul Day 3: Gangnam Area, COEX Aquarium, Myeongdong Night Market
- Kyoto, Japan: Flights, Logistics, and Hotel Info
- Kyoto Day 1: Higashiyama Temples: Maruyama Park, Yasaka Shrine, Kiyozdemeru
- Osaka: Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan and Osaka Dotonbori
- Kyoto Day 2: Arashiyama River Cruise, Monkey Park, Bamboo Gardens,
- Kyoto Day 3:Aeon Mall, Nishiki Market, Pokemon Center,Gion Matsuri Gallery
- Kyoto Day 4: East Kyoto Temples: Philosophers Path, Nanzeji Temple
General Tips for Amusement Parks
Research: As early as possible, start researching your plans and have a rough idea of what your priorities for the day will be. There are also constantly changing procedures for how the lines work with names such as fastpass, maxpass, lightning lane, genie, etc. Even reading what other people have done 2 months ago may not apply to your visit, but it’s still good to get a general idea.
Get there early! I know it’s vacation and sleep is valuable, but the first hour of the park is a prime time to get as many rides in as possible, and then you can take a mid-morning break to re-group and figure out the rest of the day. If you’re staying off-site, you’ll need to add time for driving in, going through security, and making your way through the turnstiles. Also, often the parks will actually open 30 minutes before official. Again, read some of the blogs that are dedicated to staying up-to-date on current procedures.
Save time and money on dining: We packed some snacks and ate them while walking between rides. Take advantage of mobile ordering in the park and quick-service options. Share a meal when possible, and save room and money for snacking (Both brought from home and purchased at stands)
Prepare yourself and kids for lines: Unless you’re going on a truly slow day such as a rainy Wednesday in the off-season, you’re going to experience lines. Activities and snacks and patience patience patience are so important. Phone apps and other games are nice to bring along. Also, many lines have theming that you as the adult can help direct attention to and ask to point out characters and colors.
Don’t minimize “small” rides and experiences: This is a tip for myself as well as others. Don’t be overly focused on big-name rides. Some of the characters will have minimal waits and some of the artistry shouldn’t be rushed through just to get on to the next item on a to-do list. This is especially true when line waits get long. Is it better to wait in a line for an hour for a 5 minute ride or spend some time in a playground or looking at fun sculptures.
Park Highlights and Itinerary
Universal Studios Japan
Date of visit: July 2023
Kids’s ages: 5.5-year-old Ellie and a 8-year-old Carter.
Highlights: Nintendo Land, Jurassic Park Coaster
We decided on this trip to not purchase the extra add-ons Express Passes. These options allow you to pay fees to skip lines either for a group of rides or individual rides.
One of the key tips for all theme park trips is to start your day on time. “Rope drop” is the term used for arriving 30 minutes early and being at the entrance turnstiles when the rope drops to mark opening.
In the morning, we took a train from our hotel in Kyoto to Universal City where we spent the morning and afternoon at Universal. Although the park was open from 9a-8p, we compromised with our theme park hating family members (cough cough) and prioritized a few sections with arrival at 8am and plans to stay until lunch and then explore Osaka.
This was a rough itinerary of all the highlights we hit:
Universal Studios Japan: We bought tickets ahead of time from Klook and got to the front gates at 8a, one hour before official opening. We didn’t buy any express passes and planned to head straight to the Nintendo area. For the Nintendo area, you need a specific entry pass which you can get as soon as you enter the gates. I messed up my app (turn it off and turn it back on Jennifer!) and we ended up getting tickets for 11am. We did some rides in the Jurassic area and Harry potter world. Ellie was not big enough for the Harry potter ride but the rider swap system worked out great for this area. We watched a short parade and then headed back to our main reason for making the trip to Universal: Nintendo Land!
Nintendo Land: Oh my goodness, this area was so fun!! Even besides the rides, the whole area was so cool with moving scenery and characters to visit. We didn’t purchase power bands or any snacks in this area (because sometimes we’re cheap lol) but still enjoyed the area so much. Ideally, we would have entered earlier when lines weren’t as long but it is what it is.
We grabbed a lunch ticket for the cafe (that we ended up not using) and went to the yoshi ride. This wait was about 45 minutes and there were lots of sights along the line. We also brought books and snacks and made sure to potty break ahead of time. The ride itself was a slow tour around the area. Really fun but I don’t know if I’d wait 45 minutes again.
Finally, we headed towards the headliner, the mariokart ride. The line was 70 minutes long. The kids had books and we did our best to keep spirits up but we were definitely grumpy. The ride itself was crazy awesome. Similar to the Disney parks Spiderman and Toy Story rides, you put on 3D glasses and drive and try to shoot shells at coins. It was a lot!
Dotonbori: After our long day, we took a train to Osaka to sight-see and eat dinner. There’s tons to do here that we didn’t have time for including castles, ferris wheels, temples, and other sites. We walked along the canal and took a pic in front of the famous Glico running man advertisement. Have you seen this picture? Did you know it’s an advertisement for candy. Apparently, the marketing was that caramel candy gives you energy! Weird! We also explored the Dotonbori area. This area is full of people and crazy signs and advertisements. If we had more time, we would have loved to do more food adventuring in this area.
We stopped for ramen at Ichiran. This was the best food of our whole trip. This was a single serve restaurant with a little counter with 30 seats where a little door opened and your food was delivered in front of you. I wanted more ramen! So good!
More Asia 2023 Posts
Read all of our 2023 Korea/Japan posts at the following links:
- Seoul, South Korea: Flights, Logistics, and Hotel Info
- Seoul Day 1: Myeongdong, Namsangol Hanok, Seoul Tower
- Seoul Day 2: Hanbok rental, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Gwanham square, Hongdae
- Seoul Day 3: Gangnam Area, COEX Aquarium, Myeongdong Night Market
- Kyoto, Japan: Flights, Logistics, and Hotel Info
- Kyoto Day 1: Higashiyama Temples: Maruyama Park, Yasaka Shrine, Kiyozdemeru
- Osaka: Nintendo World at Universal Studios Japan and Osaka Dotonbori
- Kyoto Day 2: Arashiyama River Cruise, Monkey Park, Bamboo Gardens,
- Kyoto Day 3:Aeon Mall, Nishiki Market, Pokemon Center,Gion Matsuri Gallery
- Kyoto Day 4: East Kyoto Temples: Philosophers Path, Nanzeji Temple
