A Day At Tokyo Disneyland
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On our trip to Japan we decided to go to Tokyo Disneyland. There is another park called Disney Sea which is the only one in the world, but we chose Disneyland because there were more rides for my Mom and I to do. Disney Sea looked to be more thrill rides and we are not a fan of coasters or big drops.
Before going to the park we decided we didn’t want to wait in the long lines for the park to first open so we planned to arrive between 9-10 am. Now, Disney fanatics will tell you that is way too late to arrive at the park, but arriving an hour or two before opening for the chance to snag some standby passes held absolutely zero appeal for us.
With that being said, arriving a bit after opening meant we were unable to get any standby passes and to be honest it was kind of a bummer, but one we quickly got over it since we saved our feet all those standing hours. We did read later that you should check continually throughout the day to see if any standby passes have become available. We did check a few times for tickets, but I guess we should have been checking multiple times an hour.
Take it or leave it but here are some tips to help you with your trip:
Send A Letter Back Home to Yourself
- Send a letter from Disney! You can buy postcards / stamps inside the House of Greetings store in the World Bazaar area. There is a mail box right outside the store that you can drop the postcards in. By doing this, a special commemorative stamp will be used on your postcard! It’s a lot of fun to see it when it arrives in your mail box back at home.
Food
- Pre order your food on the Disney app. It makes it so much easier and you don’t have to wait long times to order or get your food.
- The popcorn lines can get crazy long at the carts so be prepared. We went to the Big Pop to look at all the popcorn buckets and probably waited 30 minutes to get in which I don’t find terrible . When you buy a bucket if you don’t want the bucket filled they will give you a voucher to use at any popcorn stand.
Gashapon
If you want to do any of the gashapon machines you have to have a stand by pass. I personally think its kinda dumb, why not just have a normal line and limit how many each person can get. We were able to find one machine that didn’t force you to have a standby pass and it was in the store by the Leo and Stitch experience in Tomorrow Land.
Parades
Don’t be like us and get stuck by the Parade route! We kept on trying to go around it and ended up wasting a good chunk of time. Our plan was to try and hit a couple rides during the parade hoping for a shorter wait time. It didn’t happen.
Rides
- We went to the park on a Wednesday in the middle of December and the ride times were from 30 minutes to 200 minutes. And honestly on some of the wait times I would take as a suggestion because you might wait longer. We were in the park from 10am to 8pm we were only able to do 5 rides.
- Disney Premier Access: we decided to buy this pass once and it was for The Beauty and The Beast Ride which had the longest wait. Definitely well spent. I believe it was $14 USD per pass.
Bring With You
Make sure to take extra battery packs for your phones. We forgot to bring our extras and the ones we brought lost charge fast so we started freaking out how we could get them charged (we needed some battery on the phones to get us back to our hotel that was 40 minutes away lol) but luckily we found out that the park has battery pack renting stations. All you do is download an app, scan the QR Code on the rental station, and then hit rent. They charge you after you return it, I had a little trouble getting it to work but I think that was because of my phone.
I definitely recommend at least trying one of the Tokyo Disney parks and if I’m ever back in that area I might have to give Tokyo Disney Sea (only one in the world) a try!
Hopefully our mistakes and fun finds will help you have a great experience at Disneyland Tokyo!
More Japan fun here:
Gotta Stamp Them All – Ultimate Guide to Collecting Free Stamps in Japan
Explore Kiyomizu-Dera Temple Area + Kimono Rental Experience
