About USJ in Osaka

I have a few days spare that I haven't arranged yet, and many friends suggest going to USJ if I haven't been, whiles this is my first time in Osaka and I've been to Tokyo 4 times already, I'm still considering if I should go to USJ, what I really want to know is, is it really worth paying the high price at 7800yen, as I won't be going on any rides, are there any other things to do inside, and lastly are we able to get tax free on these tickets.

Thanks

Hi!

As far as I know, nope, the tickets are not tax free, though some purchases in the park might be? I'm not big into buying merchandise.

USJ has shows, shopping, parades, and food, but I personally wouldn't want to go if I wasn't going to go on any rides. I like rides.

How much the shows, shopping, parades and food are worth to you varies by your particular interests.

Going to USJ without riding any attraction... why you want to go than. In this case the price is not worth.
there are some shows, but not as much as in Disney.

I have a few days spare and have not arranged anything yet, a friend asked me to help purchase some stuff, well a dragon ball pop corn bucket, so if there are other thing to do inside, and enough to get me through a day, i wont mind, i'm not interested in rides.
But I still think its a waste for me if I dont go on the rides. Do you know if these pop corn buckets is available at the universal walk out side of the park, I think thats what it's called.


Thanks

Have you done any research on USJ yourself? Look at the website and decide if you want to go.

I have , but they don't explain in details what each theme has to offer apart from a few like harry potter and a few others say it's a roller coaster ride, a 3-4D cinema etc.

Hi,

No, you can't usually buy the popcorn buckets outside of the park, they're one of the big pieces of merchandise people like to buy in the park. (The same for Tokyo Disney, they're super collectible and there are limited edition ones.) They also aren't usually tax-free because they're food related vs. shirts.

Tell your friend if they really want you to go, they should pay for your ticket then, or think of what you would be willing to consider fair since you don't like rides. There are some non-roller coaster rides, like Jaws, but in general USJ has wilder rides than TDR. It has a bunch of motion simulator rides, a few real roller coasters, some kiddie rides, a water ride, and a few shows. (We've watched one of the HP ones and went to the wand shop.) Supposedly, they have a really good evening parade now, but I've not seen it. I know there is some sort of parade show in the middle of the day because we saw the glitter from it. The HP shows have a good mix of English and Japanese. If you're really into HP, just wandering that part of the park might be fun. But you need to be really into HP.

In your situation, I wouldn't go. I like rides, so I am planning on going and even though I go to FL on a semi regular basis, it's actually cheaper for me to visit USJ than Universal Orlando. *shrugs*

Thank you for the detailed information, I will just have my friend do his own shopping when he makes a visit to Japan. You have been very helpful.

Hi!

Glad I can help. I want to stress, I do like USJ. We went once and are planning to go back next trip, but both my daughter and I like rides and my daughter is currently super into Harry Potter. I'm not a big theme park shopper outside of omiyage, though I am sure my DD is going to want something HP. Last time our big purchase was a picture.

If you are looking for something to do in Osaka, outside of shopping and seeing my friends my favorite hands down was the Osaka History Museum. I think it was really well done and a lot more interesting than I expected. Osaka Castle is kitschy fun and I once walked around visiting temples/shrines connected to the Siege of Osaka Castle. I also enjoyed the kitsch of Spa World. There are also a lot of destinations I love that are easy day trips from Osaka, like Nara, Kyoto, and Uji. If you don't have a rail pass there are a lot of private lines connecting these destinations and it's not all that expensive. Last trip I paid out of pocket to go from Osaka to Kyoto, because the Keihan line was not that expensive and got me back to my hotel without any transfers. So there are plenty of other things to keep you occupied without a trip to USJ.

Good luck!

Thanks for the suggestion, I will be visiting Nara, Kyoto, Kobe and Osaka, and I only have 4 days left not decided yet, but there are some pretty good places I will visiting including NIFREL, Amanohashidate and Arima Onsen, I will draft out a Itinerary soon and post it up.

I went to USJ too and did no attraction either because i don't like it. but was really fun. i love Harry Potter so i could enjoy the park so much. they have a lot of good food and stuff to see.

https://yuriedayo.blogspot.com/

I heard Nifrel is quite disappointing and the animals are not taken care of properly. Read some reviews before going just in case!

@yurie

Thanks for the heads up, I've looked into your blog, it seems like you have been to many places in Japan, and I also been to some places you have visited, you blogs has given me some ideas for my unfinished plan, have you been to Kusatsu, it's a nice place to visit, since I haven't finished going through your blog, you probably have already visited Kusatsu.

@ruby

I've done some research about this, the only thing I found is some enclosure is kind of small, especially for the hippo, tiger and crocodile/alligator, apart from that, it seems like they are well taken care of.

Thanks to all for the information.