Revisiting Universal Studios Japan a Decade On: Part One (14/03/2024)

Universal Studios Japan was the only park during our trip that wasn’t new to me. I crumble slightly more into dust every time I recall this, but I visited USJ once before in June 2014, less than a month before The Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened its doors. I still rate it as one of my favourite theme park days; it was a warm, sunny, weekday visit, and the park was incredibly empty, to the point that we only found one open restaurant (we were the only diners there), our longest queue was 45 minutes for Hollywood Dream – The Ride –  Backdrop, and we were able to lap Jurassic Park: The Ride. It was an incredibly chill day; we bought our paper tickets at the gate around opening time, and then just strolled between attractions, giving each other piggyback rides along completely clear pathways, as we navigated via a pre-downloaded low-resolution jpeg map on my iPod Touch, with no rush to get things done.

Back in 2014, with not another guest in shot: a rare sight at USJ these days.

Anyone who knows anything about today’s USJ would probably not recognise the park from the description above. USJ is one of those parks that doesn’t seem to have a quiet day anymore, with anything under a 60-minute wait seeming almost like a walk-on, and even food stands requiring the same time commitment as middle-ranked attractions. For this reason, I was a little uneasy about returning to USJ, as the experience was never going to be as good. However, I reasoned to myself that because my experience in 2024 was going to be so incredibly different to my experience in 2014, I might as well compartmentalise that original trip as to a park that doesn’t exist anymore for all intents and purposes, and go in with an open mind as to what a modern USJ can offer.

This will be the first of two blog posts about our day at USJ, this time focusing on Super Nintendo World, as we spent a whopping 14 hours in the park, so there is just too much to cover in one alone.

No Sleep for Fans of Toad

We decided straight away in the planning for our USJ day that Super Nintendo World was going to be our number one priority, and once we started looking into Express Passes, we soon realised we were going to be starting our day early. Initially we looked at Express Passes on the English language site and if I recall correctly, we found many of them to be already sold out over a month in advance, so we switched over to the Japanese site, where lo and behold, there was still good availability. To start with, we were vaguely willing to stump up the (significant amounts of) cash to use the Express Pass system. However, once we got to the part in the booking process where it assigned us a number and we had to consult a daunting chart of around a hundred different possible day itineraries to find the one we’d be given (e.g., enter Super Nintendo World at 11am, ride Yoshi’s Adventure at 11:30am), we decided we didn’t want to be so constricted and potentially miss out on what was at least my most anticipated ‘attraction’: Kinopio’s Café, Super Nintendo World’s sort-of table service restaurant, “run” by Chef Toad.

Chef Toad welcoming us to his fine eating establishment.

I have absolutely no interest in the Mario franchise and sorely wish Universal had started with a Pokémon land instead, but there’s something about the character Toad, Chef or otherwise, that’s just so appealing. Maybe it’s the screeching voice, maybe it’s his dumpy little body under that silly mushroom head; whatever it is, I knew I needed to visit his café and be blessed with food crafted by his own fair stubby hand. Kinopio’s Café seems to often operate on a return-time ticket system and you need to be there early in the day to secure one, and, coupled with the fact that you need to get a timeslot on the park app to enter Super Nintendo World itself during normal park operating hours, we worried that there was a good chance that we would get into USJ and be given too late of a Super Nintendo World timeslot to grab a Kinopio’s Café return time.

This fear cemented our decision to arrive around 90 minutes before the official opening time of 8:30am, as we had heard that USJ tends to let guests into the park around an hour early on busy days, and that before the official opening time, guests do not need a timeslot to enter Super Nintendo World. This is an unofficial policy not mentioned anywhere on USJ’s website, so I feel sorry for any tourists turning up at 8:30am, oblivious to the queuing hell and app lottery they’re about to needlessly endure.  

And so, all for the sake of that little mushroom man, we hauled ourselves awake at 4:30am, to be able to arrive at Universal Citywalk with hundreds of other keen beans at 6:40am. At around 7:20am, the gates opened and we were in.

If you think you're going to be the only people getting off the train at Citywalk at 6:40am, think again.

Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge

Entering the Mushroom Kingdom with all the other keen beans.

Power-walking over to Super Nintendo World, and following the vast majority of the crowd, we made a beeline for Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge, the headline ride. We joined the queue just after 7:30am, and walked for a good few minutes through empty queue space before waiting around 20 minutes to get to the point of being given our AR headsets.

Getting our Mario caps on, ready to race terribly.

I knew already that I wasn’t going to love the ride, but I did enjoy it, and I was especially impressed with the trippy Rainbow Road sequence near the end, which gave the best immersion and sense of speed. I think the biggest thing holding the ride back is that it desperately needs to be ridden multiple times to be fully appreciated, and that’s simply not possible due to its popularity and the land’s entry policy (i.e., you can’t re-enter Super Nintendo World once you’ve left, unless you manage to secure a new timeslot). I didn’t find the controls for the ride particularly intuitive, but I didn’t want to spend too much of my concentration on understanding the mechanics at the expense of taking in the scenes, which were a good blend of physical props and AR technology, so I left my one ride feeling both like I’d failed the game element, and hadn’t seen all there was to see.  

Kinopio’s Café

Having done the ‘big’ ride by around 8:15am, our minds turned to Kinopio’s Café. We could already see a small queue forming, so I asked a member of staff when the café opens, and was told “around 9am” in a way that suggested it might possibly open sooner. We were also told they weren’t sure if it was going to be using the return-time system during the day, so we should queue. As ridiculous as it felt to be lining up for a 2-course meal at such an early hour, USJ is ridiculous and you take food when you can get it, so we dutifully joined the queue for Kinopio’s Café around 8:40am, finally placing our orders at the counter around 55 minutes later.

Inside Kinopio's Cafe, a surprisingly spacious and adorably themed restaurant.

This felt like a very long time to wait for a theme park meal, but it was worth it. For one thing, the building is charmingly themed inside, and if you’re lucky like we were, you might be placed near a fake window with a screen of Toads going about their errands. The Toad work ethic is outstanding because these guys didn’t even stop getting the dishes out to guests when Bowser and his crew arrived amongst a swarm of thunderclouds to wreak havoc. This must be why our food only took 10 minutes to arrive. Secondly, the service is lovely and so much better than I was expecting: staff take you to your table, and bring your food to you on a trolley, explain the dishes in Japanese, making comments like “the piranha plant is about to bite,” and offer to take your photo for you. I didn’t like the first photo at all, and our server could tell, so she happily took some more for us. Thirdly, the food is really cute.

Going gremlin mode with my long-awaited pizza bowl.

I ordered the Super Mushroom Pizza Bowl that I’d had my eye on for months, as well as the Goal Pole Cake and the speciality drink, Super Star Lemon Squash. This came to 3350 yen, or around £17.60, which was actually by far the most expensive meal of our entire trip, but still not bad at all given the quality of the experience. My friend ordered one of only three vegetarian options on the menu, the Piranha Plant Caprese, and the Goal Pole Cake. I really enjoyed my Super Mushroom Pizza Bowl, even though it wasn’t what I had originally envisioned, being not much like a pizza and instead more like a (delicious) bowl of oil, with a lot of bacon in it for something that didn’t mention bacon on the menu. It frustrates me no end that both Disney and USJ often don’t state the meat ingredient in their dishes; if I see something described as a “tomato and mushroom pizza bowl” I’m going to assume it doesn’t have meat in it, but I would be wrong. My best advice for vegetarians, vegans and those unable to eat certain meats is to stick to dishes that explicitly state they are vegan/plant based (vegetarian dishes don’t seem to be flagged as such) or make peace with occasionally having to pick out some mystery meat from your cheese.

The oily interior of the Super Mushroom Pizza Bowl.

My friend didn’t particularly enjoy her salad, partly because nobody starts a day at a theme park with a salad unless they’re desperate, and partly because the fresh tomato didn’t seem awfully fresh. We both loved the Goal Pole cake however, and the lemon squash was pleasant, even if the jellies in it tasted of nothing. I would happily order the same items again if I went back – and I would go back again, because it felt like an attraction in itself, and something special. This was by far the highlight of the day, and if I hadn’t had the opportunity to bask in the warm glow of Chef Toad’s presence, I may have struggled to cope with the almost 12 more hours of park day to go.

 

Meeting the Legend Himself

Walk around USJ and you’ll soon realise that no one really cares about Mario and Luigi; Toad is where it’s at. Toad hats are everywhere, and Kinopio’s Café has as much buzz as Mario Kart. This is why it’s baffling that Super Nintendo World has chosen chaos by making Toad a roaming character rather than a more formal meet-and-greet, unlike Princess Peach and Mario and Luigi. It was great to see him plodding about, but the poor guy is the height of an average 10-year-old and is left to fend for himself with a minder keeping a surprising distance as he’s mobbed 360 degrees by children, pushy parents, and adults alike. I’ve never really wanted a photo with a mascot before, but I really wanted a photo with Toad. It became clear however, despite being told by his minder a little coldly that we’d “just need to wait our turn” that our turn was never going to come because we weren’t aggressive enough. As petty as it sounds, this left me in a really sour mood, as the lack of a system penalised more reserved guests, such as myself, and rewarded those who were willing to invade the actor’s personal space the most. Hopefully, USJ will make Toad a queueable meet-and-greet one day – they’ve sure managed to queue-ify literally everything else!

Toad meeting his adoring fans like the celebrity he is.

Yoshi’s Adventure

We waited about 35 minutes for the only other ride in Super Nintendo World, the slow-moving, short kiddie ride, Yoshi’s Adventure. The best bit of this ride for me was getting to vibe along to the slightly demented Yoshi’s Story theme that plays throughout, but this ride is definitely for children and diehard Yoshi fans, as it’s painfully short. The queue was also a little depressing, as rather than use the purpose-built queue in its entirety, we were funnelled out of a backdoor to line up in a narrow space between two show-buildings near some AC units. It felt like the sort of space you’d go to for a cheeky smoke. Clearly the park was expecting the queue to reach a length that needed the whole main queue and the extension, but I couldn’t imagine waiting more than 45 minutes for this ride.

The view from Yoshi's Adventure.

(Not) Using the Power-Up Band

After our ride on Mario Kart, my friend bought herself a Power-Up Band to use throughout the land on the physical set and screen-based mini games, and in between other activities, she worked on doing the necessary tasks to unlock the final game, Bowser Jr. Shadow Showdown. I say “worked” because she had to make a concerted effort to do the mini games, as each required queuing for 15 to 30 minutes, and the pressure was on to succeed in the games, as you needed to win three of the five possible games to unlock the three keys necessary to challenge the final one. On a busy day, this means you could need to dedicate close to 3 hours of your day to completing all the games – and that’s leaving aside all the blocks you can hit around the land to collect coins, and other interactive points. Interestingly, Bowser Jr. Shadow Showdown had no wait time at all when my friend played the game around midday, which suggests that the majority of guests are either not completing three mini games, or are simply not aware of the activity as it’s not out in the open. I was only allowed to spectate from a distance during this game, so whilst I can’t comment on how fun it is to play, the use of the player’s silhouette on the screen really reminded me of a super-fancy version of a Mii-based Wii Play mini game from 2006.

It was also very much possible to lose the mini games, as quite a few guests did, and this would be especially infuriating if you’re just trying to get another key to take on the last game. I didn’t watch my friend do all of the activities, but I stood with bated breath as she was paired up with a bunch of 4-year-olds to complete Piranha Plant Nap Mishap, in which you need to run around as a team smacking alarm clocks to turn them off within a time limit. Guests without a Power-Up Band are not allowed to provide backup, so whether my friend would need to queue up again for another 20 minutes was in the sticky little hands of kids, and I think I would have protested to the staff if they’d failed to pull their weight, like an over-invested parent at a children’s football match.

I knew before visiting that playing mini games tied to a completionist’s nightmare app was not something I wanted in a theme park, and watching these games did not change my mind. The games were short, looked fairly unrewarding, and were high-pressure on a busy day, with a large queue of people watching the player’s every move, surely accompanied by a gnawing anxiety that they’d mess up and need to join the back of the line again. It’s a nice idea finding new ways to make a land interactive, but I don’t think most parks need it, when rides, themed dining and walkable spaces have the same effect – and I especially don’t think USJ of all parks needs it, being a place that feels frantic enough as it is, without having your precious time divided even further by game-ification. The only people I can see really getting the most out of the Power-Up Bands are Annual Passholders and perhaps some Mario enthusiasts willing to spend their entire day in the land. We spent 5 and a half hours in Super Nintendo World (almost an entire off-peak British theme park day), and we weren’t exploring every nook and cranny!

The Merch

 

I was left fairly disappointed by the merchandise in Super Nintendo World, both in Mario Kart’s exit shop, Mario Motors, and the main store, 1-UP Factory. Yes, there was endless Mario stuff, but most of it was very generic and other than it being technically exclusive to Super Nintendo World, it looked like you could buy it anywhere. A while back there was some lovely Kinopio’s Café merchandise and I would’ve loved to have got hold of the t-shirt, but inevitably, it was all sold out, so I just got myself a mini Chef Toad plush keychain (1600 yen/£8.42). I like picking up a pin badge at each attraction I visit, and I saw a fun Chef Toad one, but annoyingly, you could only get the pins in a blind box and none of the other designs appealed as they were, once again, generic Mario. The best thing about the 1-UP Factory shop was having a nice little chat with the cashier who asked where I was visiting from, which morphed into me telling her about my visit a decade ago. The staff at USJ were (almost) all an absolute delight; even more so than Disney, they seemed super friendly and engaged. I especially loved the middle-aged gentleman whose whole job seemed to be just gently vibing to the music and creating a good atmosphere near the blocked-off entrance to the Donkey Kong expansion.      

Final Thoughts on Super Nintendo World

As with all of USJ, I feel this land is well-executed and real thought has gone into even the smallest details, like the Pikmin dotted about as easter eggs, but it’s a victim of its own popularity. I can’t currently see there ever being a time when Super Nintendo World is a relaxing place to visit, with no timeslots, as it’s such a bottleneck. The Donkey Kong themed coaster opening soon was testing when we visited, and hopefully it’ll spread the crowds a little, but USJ has so many guests, I worry the extra ride will just absorb people with no discernible impact on guests’ perceptions of crowd levels.

Kinopio’s Café was by far my favourite aspect of the land, and easily the best dining experience I’ve had at a theme park. If you aren’t fussed about getting on every single ride at USJ in one day (and let’s face it, you’re not getting on every single ride in a day regardless), I would recommend giving Kinopio’s Café the approximately 90 minutes to two hours of your visit it will need. Japan does themed dining so well, and I thought this was a great example of it, even as someone who isn’t a massive Mario fan.

In general, I do think Super Nintendo World still works as an experience if you’re only familiar with the Mario franchise rather than an active fan, but I do think it will impact your willingness to endure the long lines to engage with any of its interactivity, and I would strongly advise considering before your visit just how much of your day you are willing to devote to the Mushroom Kingdom, or it'll slip away faster than you can say "Mamma mia!"