Our trip to Tokyo Disneyland left us thinking that Tokyo Disney might just be the best of Disney theme parks. Whether you’re planning a trip to Tokyo Disney, or interested in learning about Disney parks overseas we – have some unforgettable and helpful experiences to share with you about why Tokyo Disney is the best!
For as long as I have known Jessica, she’s been a Disney fanatic. Whenever there is a moment of indecision of what to watch, I can always count on her to suggest something like Aladdin, Mulan, Wall-E, or Tangled. She is one of those fans that refer back to Disney movies when trying to remember something of importance that occurred in her life.
For example… instead of remembering the year that her family moved into a new home, she recalls, “it was some time while Mulan was still in theaters.”
I’m sure though, she can’t be the only person out there who does this. Right?!?!
As kids, we were both well acquainted with the Disney parks in the United States. Growing up in Arizona, Disneyland was the park Jessica knew best. While I, living in Ohio, was most familiar with Disney World. We were both very fortunate to have the most spectacular parents who took us many times to the parks. I believe this really is where the fondness for the parks comes from. I mean, how could a kid not fall in love with a place that is a catalyst for happiness and unforgettable loving memories with their family? It’s almost like Disney’s high.
We do share a love for many of the same Disney movies and relish the time we make to slow down life to enjoy them together. We’ve visited Disneyland California countless times. We even skipped out on family Thanksgiving one year to instead spend it with thousands of others at Disneyland.
Having visited the Disney parks in the United States, many times, we would often talk about how we wanted to visit one overseas. We were sure there would be similarities and things that felt familiar, but there would undoubtedly be differences too and how interesting that would be!
Our first opportunity to visit an international Disney park came while we were in Japan. Never would we have guessed that Tokyo Disney would be the most memorable Disney experience of our lives.
Tokyo Disney consists of two parks. The first and most familiar is Disneyland. This second is something called Tokyo DisneySea and is similar to Disney California Adventure. They are two separate stand-alone parks, and each requires a separate ticket for entry.
The Tokyo Disney compound is located on the waterfront in Tokyo Bay, just southeast of central Tokyo. As with most places in Tokyo, you can quickly get there by train from anywhere in the city. Coming from Shinjuku, it took us about twenty minutes.
Maihama Station is the gateway to Tokyo Disney. This is where you’ll need to get to. At Maihama station, hoards of Mickey-ear-wearing park goers transfer to the Resort Gateway Station to board the Disney Resort Line (or as I like to call it… The Mickey Monorail). This looping train route carries passengers to Tokyo DisneySea Station, Bayside Station (for the resorts), and Tokyo Disneyland Station before returning to the starting point. It really is easy to find your way there and get to and from either park.
Where to Stay?
Where you stay when visiting Tokyo Disney should be based on what your overall trip plans are. If visiting the theme parks is just part of your trip, then I would recommend finding accommodations outside the Disney Resort area. There are countless exciting places and colorful neighborhoods to experience within Tokyo that you’d be doing yourself a disservice by spending all your time at one of the Disney Resorts. The public transportation system in Tokyo is easy to use, fast, reliable and will take you anywhere you need to go within the city, including the Disney Parks. Staying outside the Disney Resorts is also a considerable cost saving. Saving money on your accommodations leaves more money in your pocket to spend in the park and on fun things!
If the sole purpose of your trip to Tokyo is Disney then definitely go for it and stay at one of the park resorts. In total, there are ten different resorts to choose from. However, If you are going to stay in the park, then I feel the best experience is to stay ‘within’ the park. Of the ten resorts, only two of them are actually connected to the parks; The Tokyo Disneyland Hotel and the Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta. If I were to choose one for us… we would stay at the Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta. The hotel is extravagantly designed in true Disney Imagineer fashion sporting an architectural blending of the Italian Riviera and Tuscany. Besides its impressive appearance, the resort straddles the entrance into the park, and one entire half of the hotel has unimpeded views of the park. If you stay here, request a room on the Porto Paradiso side of the hotel. You won’t regret it!
Ticket Prices
Compared to Disney parks in the United States, Tokyo Disney is much more affordable. As I write this now, an adult ticket for entry to a single park is $68 (USD). Tokyo Disney does not offer a so-called ‘Park-Hopper’ pass that allows visitors to go from park to park in a single day like those sold in the United States. They offer single-day tickets to one park, two-day tickets (one park per day), and three-day tickets (where on the third day you are welcome to come and go between the parks as you wish). We bought the 2-Day ticket package, which was just what we needed!
General things to be prepared for…
As a general recommendation, it is always a good idea to prepare for rain. Tokyo, on average, receives sixty inches of rainfall a year. That’s a lot! It rained on us while at Disneyland and almost canceled the electric light parade. It is a good idea to bring a packable poncho with you. If you forget one, have no fear, they are available for purchase throughout the park once the raindrops start falling.
This probably goes without saying, but be prepared to walk and be on your feet all day. Wear some comfortable shoes and even consider bringing a clean pair of socks to have in case your feet get wet from a sudden shower.
The best way to find your way around the park is by using one of the many Tokyo Disney Apps that are available. During our visit, we found one that had a map of the park, displayed up to the minute wait times and included the schedule for all live shows. Your best bet is to wait until you arrive in Japan to search and download one of these Apps. From our experience, most of these apps aren’t available for use/download outside of Japan. There is an ‘official’ Tokyo Disney App out there too, however, unless you can read Japanese you will not find it very useful. Fingers-crossed with future updates, they will be offering additional languages.
Tokyo Disneyland
The Tokyo Disneyland theme park represents the quintessential experience when you think of visiting a Disney park. Here you will find many of the same landmarks, environments, and attractions made famous at Disneyland California and the Magic Kingdom in Florida.
When you enter Tokyo Disneyland, you walk straight into the World Bazaar. If you’re lucky, you’ll be treated to one of the many daily live shows that take place there. This area feels very reminiscent to the well known Main Street USA, at the California and Florida parks. But, you’ll notice some differences make Tokyo Disneyland’s World Bazaar unique. Beyond the Bazaar, there is Adventureland, Westernland, Critter Country, Fantasyland, Toontown, and Tomorrowland. During our visit, they were also working toward the completion of a Beauty and the Beast themed area.
Notable attractions at Tokyo Disneyland:
Star Tours
Big Thunder Mountain
Space Mountain
Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters
Haunted Mansion
Pirates of the Caribbean
Splash Mountain
In addition to the above headline attractions there are are also a couple of rides entirely unique for Tokyo Disneyland. The first and most notable is Pooh’s Hunny Hunt. At first, I was skeptical about this attraction and was quick to write it off as an apparent childish ride. During our visit, the wait times were consistently one hour or longer, adding to the rationale for passing it up. However, after the electric light parade, we noticed the wait time was only thirty minutes. We figured… why not give it a shot?
The queuing area snakes through enormous pages of a Winnie the Pooh story that transports you into the Hundred Acre Wood. The animations of Pooh and Tigger were of a life-size scale and created a very immersive environment. When it was our turn in line, Jess and I climbed into our own little honey pot car. The ride took off very quickly, and the proceeding four minutes blew our mind! Pooh’s Hunny Hunt is a 100% trackless. The vehicles perform a fast-paced, intricately choreographed, dance spinning and zooming in-between each other; all while following along with Pooh on his adventure. We had never experienced a ride of this kind before, and it left us speechless when we got off. Do not skip it! I am so glad we didn’t!
Another attraction only found at Tokyo Disneyland is Monsters Inc. Ride and Go Seek. This ride is an interactive experience where riders become part of a game of flashlight tag. You are seated in your own Monsters Inc. mobile and equipped with a flashlight. During the ride, you follow Sully and Boo around shining your light at various different targets that react when hit by your light beam. It is similar in style to Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters and will likely become one of your favorites too.
Tokyo DisneySea
If you have ever visited Disney World in Florida, you understand the scope and scale of Disney theme parks can go WAY beyond just traditional Disneyland. The possibilities for creating immersive Disney inspired environments is limited only by the imaginations of the Imagineers. Which, in reality, feels to be quite limitless.
Tokyo DisneySea is an example of Disney’s excellent execution of extraordinary ideas. From the moment we entered the park, we felt like we were in a place where imagination came to life. The whole park is built around a waterfront style experience. Walking in you are greeted by the enormous Mediterranean Harbor that has a transportive effect and made us feel like we were in Venice, Italy. The additional themed areas include the American Water Front, Mysterious Island, Port Discovery, Mermaid Lagoon, Lost River Delta, and the Arabian Coast.
Notable attractions at Tokyo DisneySea:
Soaring: Fantastic Flight
Tower of Terror
Toy Story Mania
Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull
Raging Spirits
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Like Tokyo Disneyland, DisneySea has a couple of attractions that can’t be found at any other Disney park in the world. One of these rides is Journey to the Center of the Earth. Based on Jules Verne’s famous novel, this fast-paced ride takes you on a journey through fascinating worlds as you descend deeply into the earth’s core. This ride is similar in style to the Cars ride in California but takes riders on a far more fantastical journey.
Another unique attraction only found at DisneySea is Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage. There isn’t anything particularly special with this attraction, and it is a more traditional ride reminiscent in style to It’s a Small World. Attractions like these are a perfect intermission between the more fast-paced attractions.
Why Tokyo Disney is SO GOOD!
For one – the people. During our visit, we couldn’t help but take note of how adorable the spirits of all the park goers were. Over and over again, we witnessed the sheer joy and excitement of the guests around us. Everyone seemed to be Disney super fans!
There is one moment that stands out in particular. We were in Disneyland, near Toontown, and caught a glimpse of Daisy Duck swarmed by a crowd of people. We walked over to take a closer look, and it appeared Daisy was offering to take one last picture with someone in the crowd before saying good-bye. Everyone around her were waving their hands in the air pleading to be picked. Daisy singled out one last person, a thirty-something Japanese woman dressed from head to toe in Daisy Duck merchandise. Upon being selected, the woman burst into tears of joy and could barely collect herself to get her picture with Daisy. It was unbelievable and so precious to see this woman’s shameless love and affection for Daisy Duck. We witnessed similar moments to this more than once during our visit.
Aside from the superfan status of the guests, we also noticed the majority of visitors were in groups of five or more people. These groups stood out because they were generally all wearing matching outfits, costumes, or merchandise. The most popular by far was the plaid skirt and navy blazer prep-school look. At first, we assumed it was just school groups, but after closer consideration, we realized school wasn’t even in session. It was actually during a school holiday that we were visiting the park. There were also groups of people that chose to dress in all things Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, etc.
The ‘stuff’ aka merchandise available for purchase in the park, for a true Disney fan, is like heaven. Not only are all the prices reasonable, but all the merchandise is unlike anything we had ever seen in the USA. Sure there were Mickey/Minnie ears, but the variety of ears available was incomparable to other parks we had visited. There were Chip and Dale hair bands, Donald Duck Hats, Roger Rabbit bunny ears, Sully and Pooh headbands… I could go on and on.
Another very popular product were these little lanyard pouches, almost like a little purse, each with different characters’ faces on them. People didn’t only wear one of these, rather two or three at a minimum.
Then, the Popcorn buckets! These things were seriously the coolest! Each was about the size of a small dog and made of hard plastic with a flap door to access/eat popcorn through. They came in various styles from Cinderellas pumpkin carriage, Mr. Potato Head, Olaf the snowman, and the one we bought – Dumbo. Again, typically, we saw people carrying more than one of these around their bodies at once.
Sure the buckets were cool and all, but for me, the excitement came when I started to realize there were many different flavored popcorns available. Sure in the USA, we maybe have buttered popcorn and kettle corn, but they go way above and beyond at Tokyo Disney with their flavors. Just to name a few, curry, soy sauce & butter, garlic shrimp, strawberry and my personal favorite honey! As an avid popcorn-oisseur, I was in my glory. To make it even better… you get free refills with the purchase of your popcorn bucket.
All of the creative and affordable merchandise creates a culture of collectibility. The park’s guests proudly wear their collection while visiting the parks. Whether it be something purchased from that current visit or items obtained from previous visits. There were many instances where Jessica saw something a person was wearing and asked where they found it. Only to be disappointed when they told her they bought it during a previous visit.
Above all the other things that make Tokyo Disney so terrific it is the overall affordability that really makes it the best. As mentioned before, a one day ticket will cost around $68 (USD). Compare that to about $150 (USD) to visit one of the parks in the United States. That is a significant difference. We still have a hard time understanding why the ‘happiest place on earth’ sets families back SO much in the United States.
We really couldn’t have asked for a more magical experience during our visit to Tokyo Disney. It has left us wanting to take all our family and friends back to share the magic with.
