Universal Studios Japan announced today that it will soft open to designated guests starting June 8, in advance of an official return on June 19.
The Osaka theme park - the most-visited Universal theme park in the world - closed on February 29 due to the pandemic. Its sister parks in Orlando will be reopening to the public on June 5, following two days of soft openings to hotel guests and certain annual passholders.
While Universal Studios Japan is reopening this month, it is not going to be open to everyone. Only residents of Japan's Osaka Prefecture will be allowed to visit during the soft opening period. The soft opening period will be restricted to annual passholders from Osaka Prefecture from June 8 through June 15, while local residents with advance-reservation day tickets will be able to visit on the 16 through the 18.
From June 19 on until further notice, the park will be open only to annual passholders and the residents of the Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo, Shiga, Nara and Wakayama prefectures in the Kansai region. Visitors must provide proof of residency when visiting and buy their date-specific tickets in advance. Visitors also pass a temperature check, must wear a mask at all times and abide by the park's safety restrictions.
Our friends at Themeparx just posted some aerial photos of the upcoming Super Nintendo World that provide the best overall views of the land yet. There's no word on the park as to when that land will be opening.
Elsewhere in Japan, the Tokyo Disney Resort today announced that it has extended its closure of Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea, although the Ikspiari shopping and dining area began its limited return today.
"The reopening of the Parks will be determined when external and internal conditions have been readied, including the phased easing of closure requests from the government and local municipalities, as well as preparations for Park operations," Tokyo Disney posted on its website. "The reopening date will be announced once it has been decided."
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Japan has been having a tougher time as first it's an island where the populace is packed into major centers like Tokyo. Second is the Japanese culture which emphasizes a "work first" mentality and that doesn't lend well to a pandemic situation. So interesting to see how they handle this as it's a bit more challenging than in the U.S.
I got the privilege of visiting this park back in 2016. It is an awesome place and my favorite Universal theme park in the world. Glad it is opening up once again for people to enjoy. Super Nintendo World has me super excited.
"Japan has been having a tougher time as first it's an island where the populace is packed into major centers like Tokyo. Second is the Japanese culture which emphasizes a "work first" mentality and that doesn't lend well to a pandemic situation. So interesting to see how they handle this as it's a bit more challenging than in the U.S. "
You really really don´t like reality do you? In fact Japan has done extremely great so far, despite rather soft measures. What they did do was start early when everyone in the US and Europe was still talking about its just the flu or herd immunity and similar crap. Being an Island was definitly on the helpfull side of things. There are a couple of other diffentiating factors, both in favour and less helpfull ones in Japan. Early intervention and rigorous contact tracing with isolation seem to be the most important ones.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/japan/
Now as soft as Japans measures were even at their hight they also didn´t just open up again everything, even Theme Parks just because, well just because why exactly? Because we want to and it´s been so long? It will be even longer now, because even US society will not tolerate just killing 3 million, so things will in all likelyhood go in full lockdown again anyway.One really has to be out of one´s mind to open theme parks while (confirmed) active case numbers are still going up fast like in Florida.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/usa/florida/
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Wonder how they’ll fare with the whole ‘please do not scream or shout on coasters and other thrill rides’ rule?