Universal Japan Single Rider

[gavin]

It's been years since I went, and I know people here have been a lot more recently, so I just wanted to ask about experiences with USJ's single rider lines. According to the park map, the following rides have it:

Spiderman
Hollywood Dream (though seemingly not the backwards option?)
Elmo's Go Go Skateboard (whatever, not arsed)
Flying Dinosaur
Jurassic Park
Jaws
Evangelion XR (seems to be a VR layover of Space Fantasy)

So, that's quite a decent list, but for some reason doesn't include Harry Potter. My main concern is Flying Dinosaur really, and I'm trying to decide whether to fork out for an Express Pass or rely on Single Rider.

My question is, for people who've been recently, were they running the single rider lines well/at all from what you could see? If the rides on the list all run it, then the only real queues I can see would be for the backwards train of Hollywood Dream and Harry Potter.

 

[davidm]

When I last went (+2 years ago) - I remember the SRQ on Space Fantasy was very useful, but wasn't running all the time (towards the end of the day they shut it) - and the SRQ on Hollywood dream was one SRQ line and then they just allocated you to forwards/backwards when you reached the platform depending upon what they were loading at the time, so was pot-luck which you got. I don't recall using the SRQ on the other rides tho so perhaps they don't offer them all the time? - I definitely Q'd a while for Jaws but don't think the other rides were too bad that day.
And they shut Qs well before park closing time too if they were big; which was annoying.
( the one "trick" I do recall was rushing to get the timed ticket for Potterland-entry first thing to get in there early, then going around the Q for tickets again and getting a second timed slot for later in the afternoon so could get in again later - act dumb&western in front of the hosts and they gave me a ticket rather than using the machine again).
I did mess up though as their "special attraction" (which at the time was a Biohazard thing) was also a timed ticket and these had run out by the time that I realised you needed one.
The fastpass things that you can pre-book - seems they are very popular tho' and sell out?

 

[gavin]

Yeah, the fastpasses look a bit **** considering the price. Like, even the best ones only let you use it once each on 7 things from what I can make out, and a couple of those are choices, like Jurassic Park or Jaws, and not both. Unless I'm being a mong.

 

[SimonSays99]

Maybe also helpful on deciding if you want a Fastpass is this fansite with crowd predictions: http://usjinfo.com/wait/pre_callendar.php?year=2017&month=05&park=#land_cal

My days in May all are predicted with 30 percent capacity - however much that is - so I'll try without FP...

Also useful might be the unofficial waiting times app. EDIT: Today (23.03.17) USJ had for their major coasters far longer waits (3-4h tops) than Fuji-Q (1-2h tops)...

 

[HeartlineCoaster]

If the forwards and backwards Dream are already a completely separate entity in terms of queue, it kinda makes sense that only one could have single rider. All depends on where they batch from I guess.

Hopefully where the map says single rider isnt available on certain days, they just mean when it's too quiet to bother, so you'd be OK either way.
That's how USS run it, if that means anything.

That Evangelion thing is confusing at best.
It isnt listed under attractions, but it is mentioned in the fastpass selections and rulings. It also swaps from a pass 7 to a pass 4 on 21st April.
Space Fantasy is listed as a 'temporary closure' Jan. 4th, 2017 -- Jun. 25th, 2017.

 

[Ben]

Nah you're right about the Express Gavin - we got the most expensive last year and you can only use it once on each attraction and have to choose for some of them.

TBF, when we went nothing actually had an awful queue apart from FD - everything else was less than an hour. Even like FJ which they said was 70 mins was like, 20. And Backwards HD they said would be 90 and it was 30.

The only thing I saw them using SRQ on was HD but that was running pretty late and just shoved you on whichever side out of forwards and backwards. Because we had Express though I wasn't paying that much attention, and then yeah, we queued like 10 for Jurassic Park, 20 for Potter and 30 for Backdrop so we COULD have survived quite easily without the Express.

They weren't bothering with timed entry to Potter either so I guess it depends how busy the day is when you go.

 

[gavin]

It should be quiet. Some local enthusiast site has it predicted at 30% capacity. It's a Tuesday and it's a couple of weeks before "Golden Week" starts, which is their insane holiday. I'm guessing that before a major holiday should be OK.

 

[SimonSays99]

But watching the wait times on the unofficial apps for FujiQ, USJ and Disney I found that USJ has even longer waits than FujiQ - the last weakdays, which are Cherry Blossom and Spring Break holidays USJ regulary topped at 3-4 hours for both coasters while FujiQ had 1-2 hours for Fujiyama & Takabisha, Eejakana topping at 2-3 hours...

So for now I expect longer waits at USJ than FujiQ.