Surviving a theme park holiday without losing your sanity or savings

With Disneyland, Universal Studios and many other happiest places on earth getting increasingly elaborate and expensive, true joy lies in taking it slow.

- Karen Tee

It was 9.30am at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka and I was already sweaty, out of breath and highly stressed.

I thought I was clever for pre-booking a timed entry ticket to Super Nintendo World and that it would spare me the agony of queueing for hours or, worse, being shut out of this section of the theme park entirely should it reach capacity.

But as someone new to the post-pandemic war zone of theme parks, I was in fact wildly unprepared. My childhood memories of Disneyland visits with my family involved leisurely strolls from ride to ride and plenty of stops along the way to pose for photographs with mascots like Mickey Mouse and fairy tale princesses.

Now, even before the gates opened, there were already queues to get through the main entrance - and this was just the warm-up. Most visitors were glued to their phones, preoccupied with toggling between the park’s app and website to secure reservations and timed entries instead of taking in their surroundings.

Meanwhile, I had spent far too long marvelling at the man-made splendour while walking down streets that looked like New York City, until I suddenly realised I had mere minutes to make it across the park to Super Nintendo World.

So there I was, sprinting like I was late for a board meeting, instead of a park ride with Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach. I made it just in time, but ended up so frazzled that to this day, even when I look at my hastily taken photographs, I still cannot remember the name of the specific ride I was rushing for.

THEME PARK RAT RACE