Universal Studios Japan (Halloween Horror Nights 2024)
Having visited Universal Studios Japan in April this year, I was not really in a big rush to return so soon, or so I thought. There was still no word on Donkey Kong Country's opening (due by 2024), and that was one of the draws for me when planning my April visit, as it was originally announced for a Spring 2024 opening.
However, after looking up the seasonal event lineup, I quite spontaneously decided to make another trip in October. I am not a horror fan, so Halloween Horror Nights was not high up on my list of things to do - I have never attended HHN in Universal Studios Singapore either. That being said, the Halloween event at USJ seemed to be fairly tame in comparison to the Singapore event in terms of scare level, with only 1 haunted house this year - Chucky's Carnival of Chaos, along with other shows and character greetings featuring Hami-Kuma and Pokémon.
Meanwhile, the Demon Slayer XR Ride also made its return after the successful Mugen Train overlay earlier in the year. This time, there was an all-new XR experience based on the Swordsmith Village arc, running from July 2024 to January 2025. At the same time, Hollywood Dream and Backdrop were both operating as per normal - the coaster was under scheduled maintenance through much of April during my previous visit.
These 2 factors contributed to me deciding to visit the park again along with a friend from Singapore. Expecting larger crowds due to Halloween season, we opted for the 2-day pass on Sunday and Monday (Oct 6 and 7), which cost ¥20,700. To further maximise our time in the park, we also got the Express Pass 4, for the same combination of rides as my previous visit (Demon Slayer, Mario Kart, Harry Potter and a choice between Hollywood Dream, Flying Dinosaur and Jaws) for ¥16,800.
Learning my lesson from my previous visit, we headed to the park extremely early this time. With a scheduled opening of 8.30am, we arrived at the park gates just before 7am after a brief breakfast stop, where I had my first ever McDonald's meal in Japan. They opened the park at precisely 7.30am, but it still took a while to get through the gates because we were unluckily in a row where the staff was extremely thorough with his bag checks. To be honest it was quite frustrating watching other lines file past so quickly while we were stuck waiting for the staff member to "do his job really well", and finally entered the gates at around 7.45am.
Rides
1. Hollywood Dream: The Ride - Backdrop
We did Backdrop first as that line tends to build up more quickly compared to the front-facing ride, and got through the queue within a short 15 minutes. This time they had new audio tracks for Halloween season, including the opening theme from Chainsaw Man, "Kick Back", and Halloween favourite "Show" by Ado.
I enjoyed Kick Back - it was the perfect energetic and adrenaline-pumping track to kick-off the day, and after listening to some of the other tracks on later rides, I think this is my favourite of the lot.
2. Hollywood Dream: The Ride
Besides Kick Back and Show, the regular Hollywood Dream ride also features One Piece and Demon Slayer story tracks to choose from. Listening to your favourite characters is fun but doesn't work as well on the ride as a good rock track in my opinion. It's also worth noting that all the audio tracks are at a really loud volume, especially apparent at the end of the ride; I received a "Loud Environment" notification each time I rode. I suppose they didn't want the audio to be drowned out by the sounds of riders screaming their lungs out.
3. The Flying Dinosaur
My friend was adamant about skipping this ride, so I ended up going for it alone, and managed to ride it 11 times over both days. The lines weren't too bad: Single Rider typically took 20-30 minutes, while I also clocked a number of rides around opening and closing in the regular line with only 5-15 minute waits.
4. Demon Slayer XR Ride — Race to Swordsmith Village
While I felt that the previous Mugen Train theme fit the ride perfectly, the Swordsmith Village arc also worked well for this version of the ride. The only minor gripe I had was that there were one or two abrupt scene transitions to depict different parts of the story, whereas in the Mugen Train ride it was just a continuous scene throughout the entire ride, so the story flowed seamlessly.
The souvenir photo for Mugen Train also had a cool train design as compared to a regular frame for the Swordsmith Village. The photo price also increased by 10% to ¥2200, but I decided to get it anyway.
On the first day, we had the Express Pass and were through in 20 minutes or so, just like my previous visit. Meanwhile, on the second day, we decided to try out the Single Rider line and it was an excruciatingly slow wait of about 75 minutes (the sign did say 110 minutes). Later in the day, due to a heavy downpour, and with the closure of most outdoor rides, we decided to endure the regular queue: with a posted wait of 160 minutes, we ultimately waited for about 90 minutes.
5. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey
It was really warm on the day of our visit (28°C), so before heading for our Harry Potter ride (with Express) at around midday, we stopped for a refreshing cup of Butterbeer. The ride was fun, but felt slightly less satisfying to me this time - diminishing returns finally kicking in, perhaps.
6. Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem
Having cleared many major attractions and still having a bit of time to spare before our next Express Pass for Mario Kart, we decided to get in line for Minion Mayhem with a 45-minute wait. While posted wait times are often overestimated, this one was actually pretty accurate. I'll probably skip this next time with it opening soon at Universal Studios Singapore.
7. Mario Kart: Koopa's Challenge
Despite having done this ride in my last visit, I was still slightly confused by the ride mechanics and what were the targets we were actually supposed to shoot at. Nevertheless I still succeeded at attaining the passing score of 100 points.
8. Jaws
On the second day, I did Jaws via the Single Rider line, and it was a walk-on! However, most of the action on the Jaws ride is on the left side of the boat, so Single Riders do have a big disadvantage here, as you would likely be filling empty seats on the right. Nevertheless, it was a good ride to rest from all the walking around the park.
Halloween Horror Nights Attractions
1. Chainsaw Man: The Chaos 4-D
Like My Hero Academia earlier this year, this was another anime attraction which I went in without any context. I thought it was quite amusing, though there were quite a lot of water effects (to simulate blood splatter) in comparison. I was definitely not expecting to get that wet in a 4D show.
2. Biohazard: Night of Heroes
This year, instead of a traditional haunted house, there was a Resident Evil live immersive horror show. This was perfect for someone like me who dreads haunted houses and jump scares. The show was more action than horror, featuring the various heroes from Resident Evil fighting against some zombies. I thought it was a rather cool concept, but given there is a fairly high capacity for each show, the 360-degree action might not be very visible if you happen to get stuck in the middle of the crowd. Fortunately I was nearer to the side, such that I had a mostly unobstructed view of one side of the action at least. The immersive aspect included some of the zombies rushing through the crowd too, but aside from that, there was nothing gory or scary.
I do wonder if this type of attraction would reappear in future iterations of HHN or would they revert back to having a haunted house, as I am pretty sure a haunted house would cost less.
3. Street Zombies
Of course, no Halloween Horror Nights is complete without some classic scare zones. There were a total of 7 different areas, each featuring different types of zombies. I only walked through some of the areas because there was no other available route I could take to attractions like Flying Dinosaur, Hollywood Dream and Biohazard without passing through the zombies. That being said, while I did get a few jump scares from some of the more aggressive and fast-moving zombies, it was still a somewhat amusing experience trying to actively avoid their path or even using other guests as shields while walking through the zones.
I must say that while the costumes were quite impressive, it seems like the areas themselves were not really decorated in the theme, unlike in Singapore where the scare zones are also themed with other props, which might make for a more immersive experience.
4. Death Eaters Takeover
Within the Harry Potter Hogsmeade area, there were also Death Eaters roaming around. The Dark Mark was also cast onto the Hogwarts castle. There were supposed to be some battles and action sequences to witness but I didn't manage to be there at the right timing to catch those. It was still enjoyable to roam around with a more spooky atmosphere all around.
Food
Swordsmith Village Hyottoko Dining Hall
The Saido restaurant was transformed into the Swordsmith Village Dining Hall, serving Demon Slayer bentos and desserts. I opted for the Mist Shokado Meal, which featured a good variety of small dishes, including tempura, sashimi and steak. None of those were particularly amazing but still, it was a well-balanced meal with numerous tasty side dishes like tofu and eggplant. I also had the Black Sesame Mousse (inspired by Snake Hashira), which was also quite tasty.
I was pleasantly surprised at the food standard here. Although the meal was rather expensive at ¥4,200, the higher price is somewhat understandable given that it is a full service restaurant as opposed to most other quick-service restaurants where you order and collect your food at the counter. One downside of dining here was that the service was quite slow. Additionally, given the Demon Slayer theme, it was also fairly popular, and we couldn't simply walk-in and had to reserve a later time slot for lunch.
Food Carts
I tried Nezuko's Strawberry and Matcha Donut as well as Zenitsu's Chocolate and Orange Croissant. I think I liked the Donut better, but neither were particularly memorable. I also had the "Mummy" Tiramisu Churritos, which was quite yummy.
Studio Stars Restaurant (Pokémon)
The Studio Stars Restaurant served Demon Slayer food during my April trip. This time, it was Pokémon-themed, and seemed to be one of the more popular food options in the park, aside from maybe Kinopio's Café at Super Nintendo World, attracting a large crowd close to meal times. I had the "DJ Gengar Appears?! Pastry-wrapped Black Beef Stew Meal" and it was by far my most disappointing theme park meal ever, made worse by the fact that we also had to wait quite a while for it.
Finnegan's Bar and Grill
Finnegan's Bar was another full service restaurant that we tried on the second day for dinner, and also required a time slot reservation. It had a special Biohazard meal and drinks for Halloween. I was once again pleasantly surprised by the food here. I thought it was quite good (a solid 7/10) - the pork ribs were tender and the soup was hearty. The special Chris Redfield Spiced Cola was also decent, but I felt that the add-on alcohol was too mild and did not do anything to improve the taste of the drink.
