I have been to most of the major theme parks in the U.S., but my bucket list is still full of places in Europe and Asia that I would love to see, but never have. Which park I would want to visit first is a tough choice, but I think Universal Studios Japan just rocketed to the top of this after I saw something so gloriously unhinged. I think I need to experience it in person.
I thought that the best use of the Universal Monsters characters in a theme park was in the Dark Universe land at Universal Epic Universe. However, it turns out I was wrong. I had not previously seen the Universal Monsters Live: Rock & Roll Show that can be experienced at Universal Studios Japan until a recent viral video on TikTok. If you’ve never seen Frankenstein’s Monster busting out Rob Thomas lyrics while carrying a guitar that I am sure he can’t actually play, then you have not lived. Feast your eyes and ears on this.
Excellent. No notes. I need this rolled out to all theme parks. All Universal theme parks,, sure, but while we’re at let’s just work out the rights so that every theme park in the world can have this show. Nobody should ever miss this. Monsters Unchained is a top-tier ride at Epic Universe, one of the best rides at Epic Universe, and the Monster animated figure is incredibly well done, but he doesn’t sing “Smooth” now, does he?
The show only gets better from here. The Wolfman sings Bon Jovi. Dracula sings Ricky Martin. Beetlejuice is the show’s DJ. The Bride of Frankenstein covers “I Will Survive.” This is absolutely insane in the best way.
Versions of this show actually did exist at both Universal Studios Florida and Hollywood, but they’ve been gone for decades. This makes the Universal Japan show a sort of time capsule from a previous era. Japan’s show is actually a time capsule within a time capsule, as it's been running in this form since 2001. The Florida version saw two additional updates to the show before it closed. I can’t imagine this show is going to last too much longer, but I’ll be sad when it’s gone.
The big reason to visit other theme parks is that they frequently have attractions you won’t find domestically. Universal Studios Japan has a lot of anime-inspired experiences that only occasionally make the jump to the domestic parks, such as for Universal Studios Hollywood’s Fan Fest Nights. Tokyo Disney Resort, not being owned by Disney, actually has exclusive rights to many of its attractions, meaning Disney can’t even put them in U.S. parks for a period of time.
