Tokyo Disneyland Resort

[saint.piss]

 

[PenguinCowboy]

Just got back about a week ago from a three week trip over to Japan (we did Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto), and I may post some bigger collective thoughts on things eventually, but wanted to pop in a couple observations, tips, and tricks that helped us (or surprised us) in the meantime specifically for the Disney parks!

We did one day each at Disneyland and DisneySea, and our experiences were definitely a mixed bag between the two parks, net positive for sure, but definitely some frustration mixed in (equal parts "I wish I knew this" and "I knew this, but it still sucked" haha). I'll split this into two parts to avoid it being the Great American Novel, but wanted to put some thoughts out for sure.

For Disneyland, one day to see the park was a perfect amount of time for us! We had no Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain, so your mileage may vary there adding those two back into the mix, but truthfully even if we had to juggle them as well, it was very doable. We booked our tickets through Klook, and the booking was super simple (we got them right at our two month window, but truthfully there was no need to get them that early.). For Disneyland/Sea, the tickets are linked directly to a specific date, meaning we could have added them right to our app as soon as we got our confirmation email, but we didn't want to chance things so held off on adding them to the Disney Tokyo Resort app until the night before (Universal tickets are divided into A,B,C etc days, so they can't be added in advance, so we were just wary). The app is very familiar, especially if you've used the stateside MyDisney type apps, and we ran into no issues with translation or other localization stuff. You can scan in your tickets on your individual phones for each member of the group, or do all the tickets on one central phone if you wish, but we put them on each of our phones individually to increase standby pass chances. The app then allows you to create a group so any reservations, tickets, etc will include all in your party (not sure if the US parks app does this, but it was a definite unknown before getting there how the tickets would be linked, and it was a snap). The only issue we ran into was the occasional data lag, but this was more due to high user traffic than anything else, so would chalk that up to the day.

The single most important feature of the app we used was the Premier/Priority Pass function. Premier Pass is the paid Lightning Lane/Genie+/Fastpass/whatever you want to call it feature, and allows you to pay for reservations (if they're even available), while the Priority Pass is a free reservation system available for the 40th anniversary celebration. Not sure how long this will stick around, but as of September 2024 this was our saving grace when it came to seeing a number of attractions. Like the US parks, you do kind of have to be glued to your phone, but it's a free attraction essentially, so don't sleep on the utility of it. You can access this as soon as your ticket has been scanned of the day and you are in the park, and will show you what is available and for what times. These update semi-frequently during the day, so keep watch, but also don't be afraid to get something less than ideal first, as you can book again after a cooldown period (about an hour and 45 minutes after the time you booked it at, or right after the return time). For Disneyland the main free attractions you want to keep an eye out for are Pooh's Hunny Hunt, Monsters Inc, Big Thunder Mountain, and Haunted Mansion.

We started our day getting there at about 7:45 for a 9am park open. They opened security not too long after, and then we sat in front of the gates until park open. Don't be afraid to bring some food or drink (prepackaged, sealed, you shouldn't have an issue with security), and an umbrella to shield from the sun, it is BRUTAL. They opened the gates to hotel guests at 8:30 and then regular guests at 8:45, so it pays to be there early. Our main interests were in doing the attractions exclusive to Tokyo, so those are the ones we wanted to hit hard and early. Everything else kind of falls into the available space between, haha. This meant Pooh, Monsters Inc, and Beauty and the Beast were the big three (we don't really care about Bamax)

Right away we made a b-line to Beauty and the Beast, which was unfortunately down. We immediately got onto the app and booked a priority pass for Pooh at 10ish, and went back to Monsters Inc. We did standby for Monsters, which was lengthy, but not unbearable. If you can get it early you can avoid the crowds you can avoid having to use a Priority Pass for it. When we finished Monsters we immediately checked Beauty in person (app still said it was down), and by a stroke of luck we ended up walking right on as they opened it up. We had essentially no wait for the ride, finished up, and were right at our Pooh window. As soon as we scanned our Priority passes for Pooh I got right on the app and booked a Big Thunder Priority Pass for later in the evening. This was probably 11am, and that was the final Priority Pass we booked for the whole day. This shows how quickly they can be exhausted sometimes, so definitely the earlier the better.

From that point it was kind of a looser day, keeping an eye on wait times, we were able to knock out Fantasy Land after Pooh (Pinocchio, Small World), move to FrontierLand (Country Bears, lunch at the Hungry Bear, the curry was amazing, Riverboat) then finish our arc into AdventureLand with Jungle Cruise, the train, Tiki Room, and Pirates. We doubled back to Snow White later in the day, and we kept an eye on Splash the whole day, but waits never went down. We killed time looking through the Main Street shops, and then headed back to Roger Rabbit (detour for some treats at Queen of Hearts). Kind of a hike, but we were in sort of a waiting period at this point until our Big Thunder time came up. Finally, we made our way to Splash after Thunder and just decided to stick it out and waited for the hour posted wait.

As we left Splash we ended up stumbling across the nighttime parade, so an added treat that we caught it (although we were fighting and weaving past it as we made our way to our final stop, Beauty and the Beast). We ended up right in line for Beauty just as they capped it for the night, which was amazing, but it did unfortunately mean we sacrificed getting back to the Main Street shops for nighttime shopping.

This is the final point about the Tokyo resort (and Japanese theme parks in general) that I wish I had been more clued into before going. When they say the park closes at 9, this is a HARD stop. The employees largely rely on public transit to get home, and service ends pretty promptly at midnight, so they really have to push to get guests out in order to get the cast members home on time. We very much so lucked out with getting in line for Beauty at 8:45 (park closed at 9), because they will absolutely start closing lines as early as an hour prior to closing if they want to (this came back to bite us at Universal a week or so later). The Main Street emporium shops stayed open for a bit longer, but unfortunately the side shops very much close right on the dot (much to my dismay, I really wanted the magic rising churro from the Magic Shop, ugh).

Over all an amazing time, but definitely a little learning curve too. Hope that these tips help with DisneyLand travel, DisneySea is it's own beast, and I will cover that in an eventual part two, haha.

 

[Mad Dog]

Just got back about a week ago from a three week trip over to Japan (we did Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto), and I may post some bigger collective thoughts on things eventually, but wanted to pop in a couple observations, tips, and tricks that helped us (or surprised us) in the meantime specifically for the Disney parks!

We did one day each at Disneyland and DisneySea, and our experiences were definitely a mixed bag between the two parks, net positive for sure, but definitely some frustration mixed in (equal parts "I wish I knew this" and "I knew this, but it still sucked" haha). I'll split this into two parts to avoid it being the Great American Novel, but wanted to put some thoughts out for sure.

For Disneyland, one day to see the park was a perfect amount of time for us! We had no Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain, so your mileage may vary there adding those two back into the mix, but truthfully even if we had to juggle them as well, it was very doable. We booked our tickets through Klook, and the booking was super simple (we got them right at our two month window, but truthfully there was no need to get them that early.). For Disneyland/Sea, the tickets are linked directly to a specific date, meaning we could have added them right to our app as soon as we got our confirmation email, but we didn't want to chance things so held off on adding them to the Disney Tokyo Resort app until the night before (Universal tickets are divided into A,B,C etc days, so they can't be added in advance, so we were just wary). The app is very familiar, especially if you've used the stateside MyDisney type apps, and we ran into no issues with translation or other localization stuff. You can scan in your tickets on your individual phones for each member of the group, or do all the tickets on one central phone if you wish, but we put them on each of our phones individually to increase standby pass chances. The app then allows you to create a group so any reservations, tickets, etc will include all in your party (not sure if the US parks app does this, but it was a definite unknown before getting there how the tickets would be linked, and it was a snap). The only issue we ran into was the occasional data lag, but this was more due to high user traffic than anything else, so would chalk that up to the day.

The single most important feature of the app we used was the Premier/Priority Pass function. Premier Pass is the paid Lightning Lane/Genie+/Fastpass/whatever you want to call it feature, and allows you to pay for reservations (if they're even available), while the Priority Pass is a free reservation system available for the 40th anniversary celebration. Not sure how long this will stick around, but as of September 2024 this was our saving grace when it came to seeing a number of attractions. Like the US parks, you do kind of have to be glued to your phone, but it's a free attraction essentially, so don't sleep on the utility of it. You can access this as soon as your ticket has been scanned of the day and you are in the park, and will show you what is available and for what times. These update semi-frequently during the day, so keep watch, but also don't be afraid to get something less than ideal first, as you can book again after a cooldown period (about an hour and 45 minutes after the time you booked it at, or right after the return time). For Disneyland the main free attractions you want to keep an eye out for are Pooh's Hunny Hunt, Monsters Inc, Big Thunder Mountain, and Haunted Mansion.

We started our day getting there at about 7:45 for a 9am park open. They opened security not too long after, and then we sat in front of the gates until park open. Don't be afraid to bring some food or drink (prepackaged, sealed, you shouldn't have an issue with security), and an umbrella to shield from the sun, it is BRUTAL. They opened the gates to hotel guests at 8:30 and then regular guests at 8:45, so it pays to be there early. Our main interests were in doing the attractions exclusive to Tokyo, so those are the ones we wanted to hit hard and early. Everything else kind of falls into the available space between, haha. This meant Pooh, Monsters Inc, and Beauty and the Beast were the big three (we don't really care about Bamax)

Right away we made a b-line to Beauty and the Beast, which was unfortunately down. We immediately got onto the app and booked a priority pass for Pooh at 10ish, and went back to Monsters Inc. We did standby for Monsters, which was lengthy, but not unbearable. If you can get it early you can avoid the crowds you can avoid having to use a Priority Pass for it. When we finished Monsters we immediately checked Beauty in person (app still said it was down), and by a stroke of luck we ended up walking right on as they opened it up. We had essentially no wait for the ride, finished up, and were right at our Pooh window. As soon as we scanned our Priority passes for Pooh I got right on the app and booked a Big Thunder Priority Pass for later in the evening. This was probably 11am, and that was the final Priority Pass we booked for the whole day. This shows how quickly they can be exhausted sometimes, so definitely the earlier the better.

From that point it was kind of a looser day, keeping an eye on wait times, we were able to knock out Fantasy Land after Pooh (Pinocchio, Small World), move to FrontierLand (Country Bears, lunch at the Hungry Bear, the curry was amazing, Riverboat) then finish our arc into AdventureLand with Jungle Cruise, the train, Tiki Room, and Pirates. We doubled back to Snow White later in the day, and we kept an eye on Splash the whole day, but waits never went down. We killed time looking through the Main Street shops, and then headed back to Roger Rabbit (detour for some treats at Queen of Hearts). Kind of a hike, but we were in sort of a waiting period at this point until our Big Thunder time came up. Finally, we made our way to Splash after Thunder and just decided to stick it out and waited for the hour posted wait.

As we left Splash we ended up stumbling across the nighttime parade, so an added treat that we caught it (although we were fighting and weaving past it as we made our way to our final stop, Beauty and the Beast). We ended up right in line for Beauty just as they capped it for the night, which was amazing, but it did unfortunately mean we sacrificed getting back to the Main Street shops for nighttime shopping.

This is the final point about the Tokyo resort (and Japanese theme parks in general) that I wish I had been more clued into before going. When they say the park closes at 9, this is a HARD stop. The employees largely rely on public transit to get home, and service ends pretty promptly at midnight, so they really have to push to get guests out in order to get the cast members home on time. We very much so lucked out with getting in line for Beauty at 8:45 (park closed at 9), because they will absolutely start closing lines as early as an hour prior to closing if they want to (this came back to bite us at Universal a week or so later). The Main Street emporium shops stayed open for a bit longer, but unfortunately the side shops very much close right on the dot (much to my dismay, I really wanted the magic rising churro from the Magic Shop, ugh).

Over all an amazing time, but definitely a little learning curve too. Hope that these tips help with DisneyLand travel, DisneySea is it's own beast, and I will cover that in an eventual part two, haha.

What were your impressions of Beauty & the Beast, Monsters and Pooh?