Planning a trip to Tokyo Disney but not sure where to start? Let me help. I have been to Tokyo Disney three times—most recently last October. But I encountered a lot of incorrect or unhelpful information when I was trying to plan the last trip. I’ve been to every Disney park other than Shanghai, and I also had been to these parks before, so I was really looking for a really comprehensive guide to Tokyo Disney from the perspective of someone who has been to at least some of the other parks. I never found that, so I’m making it for you. And though I’ve only been to Tokyo Disney once since Fantasy Springs opened, one of my best friends went earlier this summer, so together we have some pretty good intel on what to do and not do.
I tried to share everything I learned here, but I’m also happy to answer other questions you might have. And PLEASE check the official Tokyo Disney website to see the latest rules and options before you make a booking, because the rules change very frequently!
Planning and booking
If you have any flexibility in your travel plans, I’d recommend visiting Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea on weekdays—and double check that those weekdays are not public holidays in Japan. The middle of the week is better than Monday or Friday, but if you have to choose one park to go to on a not-ideal day, I’d go to Disneyland on that day and DisneySea on the “better” day.
Unlike other Disney resorts with multiple parks, there is no park hopper ticket option, so you’ll need to decide ahead of time which day you want to go to which park. I’d also recommend buying your tickets in advance, because they are for specific days, and they can sell out. The best option is on the official Tokyo Disney website, but if you can’t get that to work—I couldn’t—you can use Klook (please note that is a referral link and I may earn a small amount of money if you use it). If you happen to be a U.S. military family in Japan, you can also get tickets through the ITT office on base, but they are not discounted.
When choosing a hotel, note that Tokyo Disney is fairly far from the most popular tourist areas for hotels, so if you don’t want to deal with a long train or taxi ride to and from the parks, I’d book a hotel nearby for the night before you go to the parks and the night of your park days.
There are several Disney hotels, as well as “Good Neighbor” hotels (some of which are closer than a few of the Disney options), and we’ve stayed in a handful of them. But it’s important to note that while all of the Disney hotels get you early access to Tokyo Disneyland, only two (Fantasy Springs and Mira Costa) offer early access to Disney Sea. The early entry—called “Happy Entry“—is only 15 minutes before park opening, but it makes a HUGE difference.
I will discuss this more under the Tokyo Disney Sea heading, but if you have specific rides you want to go on, or you have limited time, or you just hate standing in lines, you should also SERIOUSLY consider a vacation package. These open up in blocks roughly 6 months ahead of time (this is an up-to-date list of which open on which dates), while hotel-only reservations open 4 months ahead of the first night you want to stay. The more popular hotels sell out quickly, so it’s best to figure out what you want to do and even practice with a different date ahead of time to see the options and how much it might cost. We did not get a vacation package and I REALLY regret it, but we did stay in a Disney hotel (albeit one that didn’t have Happy Entry for Disney Sea). My friend was very wary of spending the money for the vacation package, but ended up being really happy she did. I will definitely get one the next time I go.
Tokyo Disneyland
This is going to sound silly, but Tokyo Disneyland is the Japanese version of the original Disneyland in California. What I mean by that is that it looks very similar and has many similar rides… but they’re all at least a little bit Japanese. The food is a big difference, and the fact that the ride narration/etc is in Japanese, not English. But everything seems more kawaii, more orderly, more technologically advanced.
They have a few epic rides that don’t exist elsewhere, like Beauty and the Beast. But there are also some—like Pooh’s Hunny Hunt—that are very similar to rides at other parks, but are significantly more popular in Tokyo. If you have Happy Entry, you should definitely use it here and walk quickly to a crowd-favorite ride like Beauty and the Beast. And if there is a bit of a line already, you can use that (short) time to book passes for another ride you’re interested in (see below for more on booking fast passes). We were able to knock out several of our priority rides very early in the day this way, and that gave us freedom to just play it by ear for the afternoon.
Unsurprisingly, the parades and fireworks are great here. Something you’ll notice, though, is that Japanese guests will bring a little mat to sit on while they wait for the show to start. You can buy similar mats in the parks or at the Disney store if you want to do the same! We brought ponchos purchased at Disney World in the mid-1990s.
The layout is also different, so make sure you check your map.
Tokyo Disney Sea
Disney Sea is completely different than any other Disney park. I’m not even sure how to describe it other than to say it’s beautiful, but some of it doesn’t feel like a Disney park to me. Americans will definitely get a kick out of the “American waterfront” section, and I really love Mermaid Lagoon and Arabian Coast.
The big lagoon in Mediterranean Harbor is also very impressive, and is the location for a lot of the cool shows and “greetings.” And this park has Duffy and Friends character meet-and-greets, which is not something you’ll see at most other Disney parks around the world.
Disney Sea also has Fantasy Springs, which is only about a year and a half old and is honestly incredible. The problem is that it’s so incredible—and popular—that without a vacation package or a very early wake-up to stand in line for hours before the park opens, you may have to wait in VERY long lines to experience any of the rides.
Things have changed somewhat since we went, so we weren’t even able to ENTER the Fantasy Springs section during daylight hours. We did get to ride the Rapunzel ride, which was gorgeous, but that’s it. And any glance at the app during normal business hours will show you that you don’t want to simply hop in line whenever you feel like it.
Skip-the-line passes
If you can’t get a vacation package or Happy Entry, your best bet to avoid hours-long lines for the most popular rides is to get some kind of fast pass. The types that are currently available are Disney Premier Access (which costs money) and 40th Anniversary Priority Pass (which is free). However, the two types of passes offer faster entry to different rides, and the ones available for the Fantasy Spring rides do all cost money (about $15 per person as of right now).
You may be familiar with the way some type of Disney fast passes/Lightning Lanes/etc work or have worked in the U.S. But these are different—most notably in that they cannot be booked until you’ve scanned your entry ticket into the park, and they have to be booked through the app. So in order to get passes for the most popular rides, you need to enter the park as early as possible and then book the passes the second you step inside. This is part of the reason people line up hours before the park opens and then all cluster immediately inside the entrance gates. We showed up more than an our before park opening on a weekday and there were hundreds of people in front of us.
Like fast passes at other parks, you can’t just book your whole day at once. You either have to wait an hour or use your pass before you can book the next one (whichever comes first). So you don’t want to book something right away just for the sake of booking something. But you also can keep updating the app throughout the day, and other things could become available as people cancel.
If you’re visiting from outside Japan and don’t have a Japanese cell phone, you’ll need to get a Japanese SIM card, pocket wifi, or phone plan that allows you to use data in Japan. Wifi is not readily available in the parks, but you need it for the app. You’ll also want to go ahead and download the app ahead of time, load the tickets for your entire party into it, and poke around inside the app to see what everything looks like. Then, once you get in the park, you’ll (hopefully) be able to grab the passes you want right away. (One extra tip here that I read after I went: If you are having trouble with the app and can’t book passes right away when standing at the front, go to Guest Services and they can help you.)
Food
Something that may seem very “duh” to you but was not to me is that the food at Tokyo Disney hotels and parks is very Japanese. What do I mean? Not just that you can get sushi and ramen and seaweed, though they are all readily available. I mean that even the desserts and snacks and drinks are very Japanese (e.g. a soy-sugar churro, or a pumpkin milk and coffee jello drink). And things like pizza or hamburgers will not look like the pizza or hamburgers you’ve seen or eaten elsewhere.
This is not necessarily a bad thing, of course, but if you or your children are picky eaters (or have food allergies), you should be prepared. The first time we went, I was both pregnant and not prepared, so I ended up eating a lot of dessert and snack items to avoid accidentally consuming seafood (because of an allergy). This latest time, I combed through every single menu and wrote down what my daughter and I would (or could) eat at various restaurants, then kept a list so that we wouldn’t have to search while hangry. And it *is* possible to get Mickey-shaped chicken nuggets, actual Italian food, vegan options, and Mickey waffles along with all the different types of flavored popcorn.
The popcorn honestly deserves its own subheading, but this is already too long, so I’ll just advise you to try as many flavors as you can! My favorites are honey, cheddar, and strawberry.
Merchandise
The merchandise at Tokyo Disney is awesome, and it’s way cheaper than the merchandise in the U.S. parks. And the featured characters and types of items are different because they are catering to a different market. You’ll see much more Winnie the Pooh, Marie (from the Aristocats), Chip and Dale, and Baymax, and you’ll also likely see several items with the oysters from Alice in Wonderland! The popcorn buckets are also super popular as souvenirs, so you may want to look ahead of time to decide which one you want to get (or go to The Big Pop in Tokyo Disneyland).
Japan also has epic Disney stores where you can buy all sorts of cool souvenirs, and there’s a big one in Ikspiari, a big mall that’s accessible by monorail from either park.
But believe me when I tell you that if you see something you want, you need to buy it right then. Yes, there are a few things that you’ll see in multiple stores, but a LOT of the merchandise is limited to one store in one park. For example, if you want any Duffy and Friends merchandise, make sure you buy it at Disney Sea, because they don’t carry it anywhere else.
No package or plan?
If you’re more of a “show up an hour after the park opens and just see where the day takes us” kind of person, you’re probably kind of freaking out. I get it. Rope dropping is not normally my thing, and I also like to just kind of play things by ear. And you can do that at Tokyo Disney and still have a good time! I promise. It’s just that if this is a once-in-a-lifetime trip for you, you should probably have a plan, or you’ll end up missing out on some of the iconic rides and experiences… or waiting a ridiculously long time for them.
And don’t be afraid of rain. My friend and I both went to Tokyo Disneyland on rainy days and it wasn’t packed either day. But do bring raincoats! And a blanket or jacket or something for when it gets dark—we were hot all day at Disney Sea and then were freezing at Disneyland once the sun went down, so we ended up buying silly fur character hats for everyone and a Chip & Dale scarf to use as a blanket.
Please comment below or send me an email if you have more questions that weren’t addressed in this post. And have a fabulous time at Tokyo Disney! Below are some affiliate links to the items pictured in this post, in case you’re interested.
Disney Sea photos: Rapunzel girls’ dress and tiara; doll dress; women’s lavender puff-sleeve dress, Rapunzel mini backpack, earrings, ear headband.
Tokyo Disneyland photos: Mulan girls’ dress, pink raincoat; women’s Baymax dress (by Her Universe but it’s out of stock), animal-print sneakers, floral raincoat (same brand in different print, different brand in similar print), Minnie-inspired belt bag, bracelet; men’s Star Wars cherry blossom shirt.