Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea theme parks were the girls’ favourite places in Tokyo. With popular Disney characters, parades and fun rides, a day out in a Disney theme park will definitely excite most kids, and even adults.
You can enjoy a gondola ride at the Mediterranean Harbour at DisneySea just like the one in Venice, Italy.
You can enjoy the Mermaid Lagoon at DisneySea with rides for young kids, and an entertaining acrobatic show at the Mermaid Lagoon Theatre.
There was also Ariel’s playground which looked just like from the set from the Little Mermaid movie.
My kids favourite ride in DisneySea was the Aquatopia at the Port Discovery section of the park pictured below.
10 Tips for visiting Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea
Even though it was not our first time at a Disney theme park, we did learn some things during our trip to Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea that we did not experience at other Disney theme parks.
Tip #1: Buying tickets
There are a couple of Disneyland theme parks around the world, but there is only one DisneySea, and that is the one in Tokyo. We highly recommend going to DisneySea in addition to Disneyland. It is not possible to cover most of the attractions in both parks in a day. In fact, you cannot even complete all attractions, parades and shows in one park in a day. You need at least 2 days to cover both parks. It is also cheaper to buy a 2-day pass than buying two 1-day passes. The catch is that the dates will be consecutive and fixed for both parks. It is highly advisable to buy tickets online. This does not only save you precious time queuing, but it guarantees you entry. My friend tried buying tickets when she was already in Tokyo but couldn’t get tickets.
You can buy tickets online at Voyagin. Here are the links to Tokyo Disneyland tickets and Tokyo DisneySea tickets.
Tip #2 – Fastpass
The one thing that would dampen the spirits of any Disneyland guest would be the long queues at the attractions. Fortunately, the popular attractions offer free-of-charge Fastpass tickets that would allow visitors to reserve a later time slot where they could skip the long lines. For example, the tickets taken at 10am is for Fastpass tickets between 11-11:45am . You cannot take a second Fastpass ticket until the first one is used or until about 2 hours later.
While Fastpass is a common feature at Disney parks, it seemed that the Fastpass tickets in Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea get snapped up faster than at other Disney parks that we’ve been to. As such, our advice is to arrive at the park when it opens and take the first Fastpass immediately when you enter. Take your second Fastpass as soon as you can, because by noon almost all the Fastpass tickets would have been issued out.
One of the Fastpass is for The Magic Lamp Theatre at the Arabian Coast pictured below.
Tip #3 – Best Seats for the Fantasmic Show
The Fantasmic Show was a popular nighttime show at DisneySea. Many visitors reserved good spots at least 2 hours before the show. The best place to catch the Fantasmic Show is at the platform near Lido Isle overlooking the Mediterranean Harbour.
After the show, be sure to take a walk near the Mediterranean Harbour that had canals just like the ones in Venice.
Tip # 4 – Avoid weekends
We visited Tokyo Disneyland on a Saturday and it was a big mistake! Although there was no difference in ticket prices between weekdays and weekends, the queues were much longer on weekends than on weekdays.
Tip #5 – Cinderella’s castle
When visiting Disneyland, you must head to Cinderella’s castle to see the grand interior. Girls dressed in princess gowns would enjoy sitting on the throne or try Cinderella’s glass slippers.
Tip #6 – Bring a mat, not a selfie stick
Unlike other parks, most locals brought mats to sit to reserve good spots and wait for the parade or show. If you want to get a good view of the parades or shows, then you would have to find a good spot early. To avoid wasting precious time, buy food for takeaway and eat your lunch or dinner while waiting for the parades or shows.
If you have a selfie stick, leave it at your hotel because Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea do not allow the use of selfie sticks.
At the Happiness is Here daytime parade, everyone was seated while watching the parade and cameras were kept below the top of the head so as to avoid blocking other people’s views. The Japanese are so respectful of one another.
Tip #7 – What to eat
Must-try! A hot favourite amongst visitors was the waffle shaped like Mickey Mouse. It was only available at Disneyland’s Great American Waffle Company.
Tip #8 – Try various popcorn flavours
There were many stalls around the park selling popcorn, but each stall sold a unique flavour of popcorn. The girls favourite was Jalepeno and Cheese. It sounded spicy but it wasn’t. The chocolate popcorn was nice too!
Tip #9 – Souvenirs
Most character-based souvenirs were sold at a souvenir shop nearest to the attraction, so when you see something you want to buy, buy it. Don’t hope for it to be available at other souvenir shops.
Similarly, different stalls sell different souvenir popcorn container designs depending on what attraction is nearby. For example, near the Toy Story attraction, the container was a three-eyed Alien from the same movie. Don’t rush to buy the first souvenir container you see. If you are a fan of Minnie, or like pink, the pink polka-dotted container in the shape of Minnie’s ribbon was really nice.
Tip #10 – Best seats for the nighttime show in Tokyo Disneyland
There are two nighttime shows that occur one after the other. The first one is the Electric Parade Dreamlights where you could catch many Disney stars on colourful floats.
Shortly after the Electric Parade, the Cinderella Castle comes alive with 3D video projections of various Disney fairy tales at the Once Upon a Time show. My girls’ favourite was the story of Anna and Elsa from Disney’s Frozen movie.
The best location to watch the Once Upon a Time show is at the Central viewing area. To get the best seats in the house, visitors had to try their luck at a “lottery” machine at Tomorrowland.
If you are not that lucky to get the reserved seats like me, the next best location was the standing area immediately behind the central seating area. When we were there on a Saturday, the area was already packed 2 hours before the show. However, if you choose to sit around this area, you will not get to see the Electric Parade. Instead, try finding a seat where you can enjoy both the Electric Parade and the Once Upon A Time show. Alternatively, find the best place to watch the Electric Parade, and then move quickly to the central area for the second Once Upon a Time show.
“Happiness on High” is the last part of the nighttime show. Fireworks shot up behind the castle in a kaleidoscope of colours.
Here are two segments of the Once Upon a Time show from the Disney movie Frozen that we enjoyed.
Where to Stay
We highly recommend staying at a hotel within the Disney resort when you are travelling with young kids. The nighttime shows would finish late in the evening, and to return to the city would take about 30 mins by train.
We were very surprised that Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay Hotel, an official Disney resort hotel, offered quite good rates. The family room with 2 double beds and an extra bed was able accommodate my family of 5 because 2 kids under 12 stay for free when using existing beddings. Getting one family room at the Sheraton with an extra bed was cheaper than getting two rooms at a 3 or 4 star hotel near the park. Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay Hotel also offered direct shuttle bus services to/from the airport. The only catch is that you need to book early to get the early-bird discounted rate.
You can check rates and availability here: Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay Hotel.
Other Disney resort hotel that offers accommodations for family include:
This is really useful, thanks.