Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea

On my recent trips to Japan, I spent some time at the Tokyo Disney Resort and visited both Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea.

Overview

Growing up in Southern California, you are, by default a Disney person. It’s kind of a rite of passage. Your first trip with your parents as a kid is the high bar for magical moments. The countless friends who would visit from out of town to see the original Disney park made you the de facto tour guide. Nearly everyone in Southern California has some sort of “inside tip” on what to do and where to get the best secret view of the fireworks. It’s just the way it is.

Honestly, after all my trips, the Disney magic was starting to wear off. Yes, the park is still magical and I enjoy going, but the last few times I always noticed the negatives – the crowds, that weird smell, and the millions of strollers.

Yet, when I was planning my trip to Japan, a Disney experience was a MUST. The thought of getting to explore a familiar place in an unfamiliar land was inescapable. The more I read online, the more I was convinced that it was going to re-ignite the magic I was missing in my Disney experience.

If you are planning a trip to Japan, a Disney excursion is an absolute must. My detailed notes and thoughts are below, but in short, seeing the normally reserved Japanese people show their joy and exuberance for a very American brand, gave me a pride and perspective that reminded me of my own joy. Yet, the Tokyo Disney experience is not wholly American. It’s a wonderful Japanese-American hybrid that yields a unique experience and a trove of memories that I’m still enjoying (now over a year later).

I took 2 trips to Japan in July 2019 and on each trip I visited a different park. If you only have time for one, I’d recommend the DisneySea park since it is unique to Japan, but if you have time, visit both parks.

Tokyo DisneySea – Attractions

I visited this park on my first visit to Japan. It’s the least “Disney” of any park I’ve been to (at least in an obvious way) but it has all of the Disney charm. For me, its more of an adult park vs Disneyland being more of kid’s park, but that’s not to say kids don’t have fun here.

The park is arranged around the “sea” theme and each land is somehow connected to an ocean or sea – Mediterranean Sea, American Waterfront, Mysterious Island, Port Discovery, Lost River Delta, Mermaid Lagoon, and Arabian Coast. (Side note, this park originated as an idea for Disney to build another park in Long Beach, CA and the steamer ship you see in the American Waterfront looks very much like the Queen Mary.)

I really enjoyed all the lands (except Mermaid Lagoon, which is the kid’s area and I didn’t spend much time there), but my favorites were Mysterious Island and the American Waterfront. My favorite rides were located in Mysterious Island (Journey to the Center of the Earth and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea). This land is a very Jules Verne/steampunk land in the middle of the artificial volcano that dominates the park.

Two other rides at the park, Indiana Jones and Tower of Terror, are near identical copies of the ones at Disneyland. Indy has a few more effects, specifically the giant smoke ring and the smoke tornado that make it special on its own. Tower of Terror (now Guardians of the Galaxy themed at DCA) is centered around a mysterious idol that causes mischief. The idol disappears in front of your eyes in the ante-room when they explain the story (in Japanese of course).

The other attraction of note is the Sinbad’s Storybook Voyage. This is a simple boat ride that follows Sinbad on his voyage around the world. I wasn’t familiar with the story of Sinbad but this ride is well done and worth it. I guarantee you will walk away trying to sing the theme song, “Compass of My Heart.” It’s played over and over during the ride and gets logged in your brain like “It’s a Small World.” I later found out it was written by Alan Menken (here is the song in English).

Lastly, I’d recommend Big Band Beat as a fun show. It’s a Broadway-style revue with all the Disney characters and a ton of incredible dancers. It’s in English so it was easy to follow and enjoy. One remarkable thing to note is how well the costumed characters move in this show, especially when you realize they are basically blind in those costumes and those feet are giant. It’s crazy good.

Tokyo Disneyland – Attractions

I visited this park on my 2nd trip to Tokyo. I took advantage of a rare slow day and bought a Starlight ticket that gave me entry at 3pm until closing at 10pm for a discount. Since I was told that this park is basically a copy of Disneyland in California, I thought it would be sufficient. It was, but I could have honestly spent the whole day here.

To say it is a near identical copy of Disneyland, it would be wrong. The castle is MUCH more impressive but the park itself feels more like the original Disneyland that I remember as a youth. For example, Tomorrowland hasn’t been redone with the bronze and whatnot color scheme and Space Mountain has the original flat escalator up to the entry door. These are things I remember from Disneyland as a kid, so I was VERY excited to see them still preserved in Tokyo.

Also, the layout of the park deviates pretty significantly in the Adventure and Frontierland areas – so much so, that I had to ask where certain rides were. In my 9 hours in the park, I was able to get on a surprising amount of rides and attractions.

• Space Mountain (twice)
• Star Tours
• Big Thunder (twice)
• Haunted Mansion
• Pooh’s Hunny Hunt (twice, because its incredible)
• Electrical Parade
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Cinderella’s Castle Walkthrough

I won’t give you my review on each of these, but I will call out Pooh’s Hunny Hunt is one of the most fantastic rides I’ve been on. It’s a trackless ride, so the ride vehicles move independently, and as you move through each room, your experience changes depending on which vehicle you are in. It’s hard to explain, and even video doesn’t do it justice, but trust me when I say you should ride it multiple times if possible.

Lastly, the Electrical Parade at Tokyo Disneyland is a prime example of the differences between the Tokyo resorts and any other Disney Park that I’ve been to. The quality and craftsmanship of the floats in this parade put every other Electrical Parade float to shame. They go all out and it’s completely worth your time to stay and watch this.

While watching this parade, I was standing behind a group of Japanese girls who were clearly fans of this parade and definitely fans of certain performers on the floats. One girl had a camera with a lens that seemed to be 2 feet long so she could get close up shots of the performers. If a performer looked their way, they cheered and giggled as if he/she was a pop superstar.

Food and Dining

Food and dining at the Tokyo Disney Resort is a whole thing. I mean it like the kids do. It’s a THING. This will by no means be comprehensive but I would be remiss to skip this entirely because it is as much fun as the shows and attractions. TDR Explorer does a great job covering the resort but does an especially great job with the food and the rotating specials. Spend some time there if you want in-depth info.

Here are my eating highlights:

• Green Alien Mochi – These are as cute as they are delicious. They are shaped like the Green Alien characters from Toy Story and filled with chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry custard/pudding. I honestly felt bad eating them (but not really).
• Churros – In my opinion, no Disney trip is complete without a churro. The Tokyo Disney churros are shaped like a Mikey head (when you look at long ways). There are tons of churro flavors that change regularly, but I only had the standard cinnamon and a melon flavored lightsaber-themed churro.
• Popcorn – While at DisneySea, I sampled several flavors of popcorn – strawberry, chocolate, and black pepper. All were delicious and worth trying. There are about 9 or 10 different flavors in total, so go wild on this. The standard serving was ~$3 and you can get a different souvenir bucket at each stand.
• Gyoza Sausage Bun – If there was any food item that I think symbolized the East-West fusion that IS the Tokyo Disney Resort, it is this. Instead of being small and bite sized, like most gyoza, it is a supersized “hot dog” wrapped in a soft bao-style bun.
• Ice Cream – I had 2 different ice cream treats – Tiramisu Ice Cream Sandwich and the Sea Salt Ice Cream Monaka. The Tiramisu Ice Cream Sandwich is pretty much a standard ice cream sandwich but the strong and delicious flavor of tiramisu (one of my favorite deserts). The Monaka is a lightly salted vanilla ice cream and sweet jam sandwiched between two pink shell-shaped wafers. It was unique and delicious.
• Sit Down Dining Restaurant – While at DisneySea, I ate at the Horizon Bay restaurant. One of the things I found was that the food prices at the Tokyo Disney resort are MUCH more affordable than at the CA resort. I had a four course meal of katsu, veggies, salad, soup and bread, with a beer upgrade, for something like $20. This was restaurant quality food at a non-theme park price. For the record, I did not make reservations but they are recommended for some locations.

Miscellaneous

Here are all the things that didn’t really fit into any other category, but seemed worth a quick mention.

• Tickets – You can buy your tickets at the gate but I would STRONGLY recommend you buy them in advance. Having your tickets beforehand will save you at least 30-45 minutes when you arrive at the park. My recommendation is to go to one of the Disney Stores in Tokyo and buy your tickets there. I bought mine at the store in Odaiba but there was one in Shibuya as well. Note: Not all Disney Stores sell park tickets, so check the website for which specific stores sell them.
• Ticket Options – There are a few different ticket options available at the Tokyo Disney Resort depending on what day you go. The most basic ticket is the 1-day Passport, but there are a multi-day tickets as well. If offered, there are two discount/partial day tickets – the Starlight Passport and the After 6 Passport.
  • The Starlight Passport can be used after 3pm on weekends and holidays
  • The After 6 Passport can be used after 6pm on weekdays.
• Crowds and crowd tracking – Like most things in Tokyo, crowds can be an issue, so plan ahead and if possible, plan your visit on one of the slower days. When I went to DisneySea, it ended up being a crowded day but because I got there when the park opened, I was still able to enjoy most of the park. A few rides were not allowing standby riders because they were full for the day. When I went to Tokyo Disneyland, it was a slow day so I was able to do a ton with a “Starlight Ticket” (See above). TDR Explorer has a great post about crowd calendars. In short, the best calendar is in Japanese only and you have to use Google Translate to figure it out (and even then, its a little difficult). From my limited experience, it is pretty accurate.
• Show lottery – This is something unique to the Tokyo Disney resort and, to be honest, I only spent a cursory amount of time understanding, but it’s worth raising if shows are important to you. Because Tokyo and because crowds, there is a lottery system for each show. You scan your ticket at a kiosk for a chance to see a show at a specific time. If you are denied, then you can do standby for any performance. Note that the FIRST performance is open seating, so if there is a show you really want to see, go to the first one. TDR Explorer has a very in-depth blog about the whole process here.
• Hand-washing stations – Scattered throughout the park are hand washing stations. When I was there, they were “good ideas” but in this time of Covid, these seem like a necessity.
• Mickey-shaped foam soap – At the above mentioned hand-washing stations, the foam soap dispensers dispensed foam in the shape of Mickey. Talk about a hidden Mickey! Truth be told, I washed my hands a few extra times just to see Mickey-shaped foam soap.
• Shopping and merchandise – If you want any souvenirs, leave some time in your schedule for shopping. Merch at the Tokyo resorts is very seasonal and you can only get it there. I left too little time for shopping and stupidly thought I could get some of the items at the Disney Stores in Tokyo, so I definitely missed out on a few choice souvenir items. Don’t make my mistake.
• Transportation from Tokyo – It is simple to get from central Tokyo to the Tokyo Disney resort and it takes about 15 minutes from Tokyo Central Station. On my first visit, I was traveling from Shinjuku and the total travel time took about an hour.