my experience at universal studios japan as a wheelchair user ⟡ ݁.
i visited universal japan for the first time last week, and boy was it an emotional rollercoaster! i thought i’d pop together a blog post so that other disabled people planning a visit to USJ know what to expect!
our experience getting tickets
we arrived at about 10am - most people will try to arrive earlier, but it was the end of the trip, and we weren’t super fussed about getting through everything or going on rides multiple times! i had read barbara bryan’s blog post on holidayplanning.com.au (read it here) where she was able to line up and get discounted tickets with their NDIS documents. sounded simple enough!
expecting it to be very straightforward, we lined up and i presented my NDIS plan to the staff member at the ticketing desk. what ensued was 20 minutes of back and forth on translation devices where the staff member and her supervisor informed us that we were not eligible for the discounted tickets. why? because my documents did not have a photo to identify me with. they referred to the parks policy, which i have since tried to search for and found no information on. in fact, there is actually nothing on the website about discounted tickets for disabled people at all!
it is important to note that japan’s disability certificate does have photographic identification on it, so i completely understand why they may enforce a policy where documents need to have photo id. however, knowing that others had recently gained access to the discount with the exact same documentation as mine, i was confused as to why i was being refused. i tried showing them my passport and how it was the same name and details, but to no avail.
despite my protest, we ended up paying full price for our tickets after wasting a good half an hour. this set a really sour note on the rest of the day! if you are planning a visit to USJ, please be aware that if your government documentation does not have a photo on it, you may not be granted the disability concession!
guest support pass
a little rattled from the ticket experience, we made our way into the park and straight to the guest services office on the left side of the entrance. our mission now was to get a guest support pass, which is a pass that allows disabled visitors to get a return-time for attractions to avoid standing in line. i was a little anxious now about getting access to this, due to the experience with the tickets. they informed us that in order to get one, we would have to go to a ride and ask for one there. so off we went to hollywood dream!
now, i had done enough research prior to my arrival that i knew that being a certified plus size babe, i may not fit onto all of the rides at usj. but in my frazzled state, i had forgotten which rides i might have difficulty with. turns out, i don’t fit onto the hollywood dream ride (they have a tester seat hidden behind the line entrance). our morning goes from bad to worse!
i finally manage to get the guest support pass at the jaws ride. the process is fairly straightforward - a staff member will ask you a few questions, like whether you can independently transfer in and out of the ride, whether you can do x y & z to evacuate in case of an emergency, etc. there were a couple communication breakdowns due to the language barrier, but eventually we were given a card with a return time on it. the ride, despite knowing absolutely no japanese other than a few basic phrases, was still enjoyable and from this point on, my day started to improve! with the guest support pass, i also went on the following rides - mine cart madness, mario kart koopa’s challenge, and the flying dinosaur (not for the faint of heart!)
general accessibility at USJ
now, it is really important to note that i have the ability to stand and walk short distances, which is obviously not the case for all wheelchair users. if you are planning on visiting with quite limited mobility, there will likely be very few rides you can get on! thankfully, there is detailed information about each of the rides and their access requirements on the USJ website, so you can make the call on whether it’s worth going or not.
all areas of the park were wheelchair accessible, although i did note a distinct lack of drop curbs around the hollywood dream ride - not inaccessible, just may need to backtrack to get up onto the curb if you miss it. i didn’t look into the accessibility for vision or hearing impaired visitors, but there is some information on the website that may help.
staff members were fairly helpful in general, particularly in some of the busier shops like in harry potter world - often times they would usher people out of the way so i could pass through tight areas! if you’ve ever experienced the magic of disneyland though, universal’s customer service falls just shy.
final notes
i really tried to love my time at universal studios japan, but unfortunately the experience was soured by the lack of consistency in policy enforcement regarding the disability concession tickets. at the end of the day, concessions exist for inclusion, so it is a shame that USJ don’t have a publicly available policy surrounding eligibility for these tickets. even more disappointing though, that they don’t even advertise it on their website at all! if you are planning a trip to USJ, just be aware that your government documentation might get rejected, and be prepared to pay full price if it does.
update: response from universal studios japan
i have been emailing back and forth with USJ customer service, and to say their response was disappointing would be an understatement. i submitted a complaint and specific feedback that clear information about the disability concession tickets should be publicly available on the website. their responses are as below:
USJ’s initial response
my reply
USJ’s final response
incredibly disappointed with not only the lack of accountability, but completely shutting me down. in my opinion, they don’t want to advertise the concession at all so that less people know to use it, which makes them more money. safe to say on my next trip to japan, i will not be returning to USJ!
