USJ Express Pass - Piece of Paper?

[Runnsally]

Hi, all. I have an upcoming trip to Universal Japan and was unable to get the Official Website to accept any of my credit cards, so booked a ticket (already scanned into the app - no problems) from one of the "official" third party sites (kkday). The 7 ride express passed are individual sheets of paper (in Japanese, but able to translate) with a QR code on them. For the expresss pass rides/land access, I assume I bring the paper and they scan the QR code each time? Appreciate confirmation if anyone else has done this. Thanks!

 

[Flossbolna]

We got the express pass from Klook and it was one sheet of paper with QR code. They scan that. They want to see it at entrance and then at the merge point is where they actually scan it for real. It seemed a very tedious process for some reason even though I can’t tell you why. But it seemed more cumbersome than at Disney with similar passes.

 

[Runnsally]

Thanks…a pretty high stakes piece of paper!

 

[Flossbolna]

Thanks…a pretty high stakes piece of paper!

Totally! It was a very rainy day when we were there and I had it in a ziplock bag to protect it from getting wet! I think it was the most expensive sheet of paper I ever owned!

 

[princesscinderella]

We are going there in a couple days too so I’m glad to hear the answer to this question. I feel the same about our little JR rail passes. I collect them from the family each time and keep them in a plastic sleeve that hangs from a lanyard. They are flimsy compared the to Tokyo subway 72 hour pass which are more plastic.

 

[Flossbolna]

We are going there in a couple days too so I’m glad to hear the answer to this question. I feel the same about our little JR rail passes. I collect them from the family each time and keep them in a plastic sleeve that hangs from a lanyard. They are flimsy compared the to Tokyo subway 72 hour pass which are more plastic.

That’s why I love anything electronic! Even if somehow I would lose my phone, I “just” need to buy a new iPhone and can restore it from the cloud.

 

[soniam]

You don't have to use paper. You can have them scan the QR code from your phone. However, we found that they had more problems trying to scan phones. Many of the team members doing the scanning are in the sun, and the scanners aren't very good. Bring paper, but you can always revert to the phone.

 

[buzlite]

Wondering about the express pass. Are the rides time specific?

 

[fatmanatee]

Wondering about the express pass. Are the rides time specific?

I actually just bought this, so I can speak to how it works, but short answer is “sometimes”. I got a package of seven, it includes Super Nintendo World (basically the reason I got it) and HP (much less of a priority lol). ALL rides in this selection are timed entry, five of them. There are two other express passes included, but I don’t believe it’s timed entry for those, and for one of them I have a choice of two (Jaws vs a coaster).

When I was looking to book they had a handful of timed entry options, earliest for SNW was around noon with a few closer to the end of the night, my trip is in a month so I guess I was sorta late to this. I honestly wasn’t sure if I was going to do this, but I got spooked when reading reports of long lines and with some uncertainty with the new Donkey Kong area (still no opening date!), decided to just lock in a guarantee.

They have several express packages, some with only four rides, but I’d guess that most, if not all, include timed entry.

 

[buzlite]

Thanks for the great info. We tried going a couple years ago but due to poor planning was a total failure. Showed up at 10, couldn't get into SNW and all rides were 2h plus. Express pass/VIP tours all sold out. Rode minions and walked around and then went back to Kyoto. We definitely are planning to be more prepared this time. Donkey Kong looks amazing and it should be open by the time we get their. I think we'll do the Express pass but will need to remember to book early when it becomes available.

Did you get to pick SNW entry time when you bought your express pass or only day of?

 

[fatmanatee]

Thanks for the great info. We tried going a couple years ago but due to poor planning was a total failure. Showed up at 10, couldn't get into SNW and all rides were 2h plus. Express pass/VIP tours all sold out. Rode minions and walked around and then went back to Kyoto. We definitely are planning to be more prepared this time. Donkey Kong looks amazing and it should be open by the time we get their. I think we'll do the Express pass but will need to remember to book early when it becomes available.

Did you get to pick SNW entry time when you bought your express pass or only day of?

You pick entry time before you buy. I’d go to Klook and play around with it to see what your options might be. I’ll be there in mid November and like I said, options were dwindling. There’s supposed to be one to guarantee entry to SNW without the express pass (and hence it would have been significantly cheaper), but that was sold out for my day. I’d guess that they eventually have something for Donkey Kong and I was kinda waiting in the hopes that they’d announce the opening with details but it was getting too late for me.

 

[zavandor]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but maybe this may interest the OP as well. I'll be there on November 21st and park hours will be 9am to 9pm. They're among the shortest I've seen (a few days here and there are 9am 8pm otherwise they're usually longer) so I guess it's not forecast to be supercrowded. We have not bought any express pass, are we fools?
Anyway, at what time is it better to be at the gates? 8am maybe? Do they open earlier that scheduled like they do in TDR?

 

[fatmanatee]

You pick entry time before you buy. I’d go to Klook and play around with it to see what your options might be. I’ll be there in mid November and like I said, options were dwindling. There’s supposed to be one to guarantee entry to SNW without the express pass (and hence it would have been significantly cheaper), but that was sold out for my day. I’d guess that they eventually have something for Donkey Kong and I was kinda waiting in the hopes that they’d announce the opening with details but it was getting too late for me.

Update to this: with Donkey Kong scheduled to open next month (literally a month after I went ), Klook is now offering express pass packages that include the DK ride. I took a look at what’s available on a random day in mid-January and some of them are already sold out, so if anyone here is interested I would urge them to lock in something when it becomes available. Was definitely worth the extra expense, lines were crazy over there.

 

[fatmanatee]

Sorry to hijack the thread, but maybe this may interest the OP as well. I'll be there on November 21st and park hours will be 9am to 9pm. They're among the shortest I've seen (a few days here and there are 9am 8pm otherwise they're usually longer) so I guess it's not forecast to be supercrowded. We have not bought any express pass, are we fools?
Anyway, at what time is it better to be at the gates? 8am maybe? Do they open earlier that scheduled like they do in TDR?

Also answering this question late, since now I know: they open up early. When I went they started letting people in about 35 min before scheduled opening. I showed up about an hour before scheduled opening and it was fine, more than enough time to get a timed entry to SNW if you didn’t want to do express.