If you like the U.S. Disney parks, the odds are high that you’ll love the two theme parks at the Tokyo Disney Resort.
Tokyo Disneyland opened in 1983 with a high standard, even by Disney’s notoriously high theme park standards. That commitment didn’t break, even as the construction budget ballooned past expectations. In 2001, Tokyo Disneyland was joined by the Tokyo DisneySea park, home to many ports and adventures set around the 189-foot Mount Prometheus volcano.
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Along with the two Tokyo Disney theme parks are six Tokyo Disney Resort hotels and a monorail with access to many other nearby hotels. From can’t-miss rides and snacks to how to get tickets, where to stay and how to get around, here is what you need to know before visiting Tokyo Disney.
Tokyo Disney basics
Tokyo Disneyland is the original park in Tokyo Disney. It is a traditional Disney “castle park” with themed lands that may strike you as quite familiar, including Adventureland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Toontown and more. The castle itself will likely look familiar as it is modeled after Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World.
Don’t write it off as a replica of Disney World, though. It’s inspired by, but certainly not a copy of, the Florida park.
Two monorail stops away is the newer park, Tokyo DisneySea. This park is the most original of the two, and it’s unlike any Disney park you’ve seen before.
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It’s also home to never-before-seen rides, such as Journey to the Center of the Earth and Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage, not to mention all the new rides in the new Fantasy Springs portion of the park.
There’s even an entire steam-powered ocean liner in the park. You can actually go inside to explore, eat, take selfies and make TikToks (which seem to be a very common pastime here).
How to get Tokyo Disney tickets
One of the best things about Tokyo Disney is that the tickets are much cheaper than Disney tickets in the U.S. Based on the current exchange rates, adult Tokyo Disney tickets start around $50 per day while teen and tween tickets are $42 and child tickets are just $30 per day.
There are also evening tickets that start at $30 for adults. These tickets can be used from 5 p.m. onward during the week and 3 p.m. onward during the weekends and holidays.
Related: How to use miles to fly to Japan
You can purchase Tokyo Disney tickets online at the official Tokyo Disney Resort starting at 2 p.m., two months before your desired visit.
Note that tickets sometimes sell out. However, if you stay at a Tokyo Disney hotel, you are guaranteed access to tickets, which eliminates some stress. Additionally, don’t be surprised if the Tokyo Disney website (and many websites in Japan, frankly) is persnickety about accepting some U.S. credit cards.
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The Chase Sapphire Reserve® and The Platinum Card® from American Express were pretty reliable in our experience, but you may have to try various cards to get the purchase to work as there’s not a fully consistent pattern of what will go through. If all else fails, the Klook app or website has Tokyo Disney tickets, among many other popular attractions in Japan; it is pretty reliable with U.S. credit cards. The downsides of booking with a third party are prices can be a bit higher, and dates can’t be changed once purchased.
Regardless of how you purchase your Tokyo Disney tickets, know that all tickets are single-day tickets; multi-day tickets aren’t currently available. Tickets are also limited to just a single park per day as well, with no park hopping offered.
How many days to spend at Tokyo Disney
Naturally, how much time someone wants to devote to visiting Tokyo Disney — especially when there is so much to see and do in Japan — will vary based on a long list of factors. However, if you really want to experience a good amount of what Tokyo Disney has to offer, you need at least one full day devoted to each park. Plan to stay from open to close.
But now that Fantasy Springs has opened in Tokyo DisneySea, you may very well need at least a half-day more than that to feel like you had enough time to do most of the unique rides and experiences there. So, we’d recommend at least two full days for Tokyo Disney and, ideally, three days if you want the luxury of time on your side.
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That said, if you just want to take the train in and have one Tokyo Disney-themed day, you will still have fun. Instead of cramming everything in, just try to enjoy what you have time for on your trip. If you only have one day, we highly recommend arriving at least an hour before opening time to get in line and be ready to make the most of your time.
Just know that if all you get is a taste of Tokyo Disney, you may immediately start planning your next visit.
Getting to Tokyo Disney
If you are arriving at Tokyo Disney from Tokyo proper, taking the train is an inexpensive and efficient option. Two Japan Rail lines, JR Keiyo and JR Musashino, run from Tokyo Station at the city center to Maihama Station, right by Tokyo Disney.
The ride from Tokyo Station to Maihama Station takes 15 to 20 minutes. Guests traveling from other central areas of Tokyo will likely have a 10- to 30-minute train ride on other JR or subway lines to reach Tokyo Station first. Transiting the enormous Tokyo Station can be intimidating at first, as there are long walks, lots of escalators and moving sidewalks between connecting trains.
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Trains also connect Tokyo Disney to Tokyo’s two major airports, Narita International Airport (NRT) and Haneda Airport (HND), but other transportation methods may be preferable with luggage and tired kiddos. The connections to Tokyo Disney from NRT, particularly, are far from ideal; it’ll be a long journey that requires backtracking.
Both of our families booked a private 45-60 minute van ride with Tokyo Airporter between our resort hotel and NRT — a pricey but convenient option with jet-lagged kids.
A more budget-friendly option at 1,300 Japanese yen (about $8) per person is the Airport Limousine bus. Service is more frequent from HND than NRT, but it drops off at many hotels near Tokyo Disney. Check schedules online (searching “Disney” in the destination filter will display most hotels near Tokyo Disney) to see if this option might work for you. Wait until you land in Tokyo to buy tickets for a specific departure.
Related: Beginner’s guide to visiting Tokyo
Where to stay at Tokyo Disney
If you are a big Disney fan (and you have the budget to stay at one of the Tokyo Disney hotels), we recommend one of the six official hotels. The 15-minute Happy Entry headstart it gets you each morning into the parks is a bigger deal than it sounds when it comes to knocking out one or two attractions before the crowds descend. Importantly, it also allows you to purchase Premier Access rides a bit earlier than most of the crowd, as you must be in the park to do that.
Of course, other options are nearby, too, if you’re not all-in on Disney or want to use traditional hotel points for this part of your trip.
If you want to stay at an official Tokyo Disney hotel, bookings open four months in advance for a hotel room and between five and six months in advance for a vacation package. Packages can make sense if you plan to use all of the inclusions — such as tickets, rides and popcorn — especially with the Fantasy Springs passport, which can help you enjoy that part of the park.
Tokyo Disneyland Hotel
The Tokyo Disneyland Hotel is classified in the deluxe tier of hotels (second only to the luxury tier, which is home to just a portion of the new Fantasy Springs Hotel). It’s so close to Tokyo Disneyland that you can almost smell the popcorn from within the park. This Victorian-style hotel gives off strong Walt Disney World Grand Floridian vibes. However, it offers some interesting themed rooms (Beauty and the Beast, Tinker Bell and Alice in Wonderland) that are very much worth it in our view.
Prices here start around around $400 per night.
Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta
Also in the deluxe hotel tier, Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta has its own entrance into the connected DisneySea park. Plus, its rooms offer a view of the park — you can sleep with one eye on the magic all night if you want. It’s a Roman-style hotel that carries mythical stories of the sea into the lobby and rooms.
Rooms with a view into the park are worth it if you can book one, but these sell out very quickly; don’t miss the booking window when it opens. Note: Aside from a very small selection of packaged items in the market, there are no real grab-and-go food options in the hotel.
Tokyo Disney Fantasy Springs Hotel
Tokyo Disney Fantasy Springs Hotel is Tokyo Disney’s newest hotel and the only one with some of its offerings in the highest luxury tier.
This hotel offers deluxe and luxury rooms, and the luxury rooms offer balconies with views over the new Fantasy Springs port. Hotel guests will enjoy the feeling of checking into Fantasy Springs upon arrival at the hotel; it offers beautiful theming and some rockwork views that are only accessible to hotel guests. Once the sun sets and the guests leave DisneySea, look over Fantasy Springs from your balcony or one of the hotel’s many public areas to enjoy the sparkle of the now-empty Fantasy Springs.
The bad news about Tokyo Disney Fantasy Springs Hotel is that, at least for now, this is the hottest ticket in town. Snagging a reservation here is harder than getting a face-value Taylor Swift ticket in the U.S.
Other Official Tokyo Disney hotels
In addition to those three official hotels, there is also the Disney Ambassador Hotel (deluxe tier), Tokyo Disney Resort Toy Story Hotel (moderate tier) and Tokyo Disney Celebration Hotel (value tier). These are generally less expensive than the three above, especially the Toy Story- and Celebration-themed properties. However, none are super close to the parks, so factor that into your decision-making.
You’ll likely take the Disney monorail to visit the parks for the first two hotels, and you’ll likely take a shuttle bus to the Tokyo Disney Celebration Hotel.
Other nearby hotels
If none of the official Disney hotels is the right choice for your trip, 19 other Good Neighbor and Partner hotels offer amenities such as shuttle buses to the parks or resort monorail. Such options include Hilton Tokyo Bay Hotel (which is right next to Tokyo Disney’s Toy Story-themed hotel) and the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay.
How to get around Tokyo Disney
Once you arrive at the Tokyo Disney property, it’s quite easy and efficient to get around.
Tokyo Disney has its own monorail, which makes a loop and has four stations, bringing you to the two theme parks and the resort hotels. This loop is roughly the same size and scale as the Magic Kingdom monorail loop at Disney World in Florida, but it has an additional theme park and more hotels on the same loop.
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Unlike Disneyland and Disney World in the U.S., the monorail is not free. It is highly affordable at 300 yen (less than $2) per ride, but you’ll need to purchase tickets or daypasses at one of the stations to ride. You can’t use a credit card to purchase your tickets, so you’ll need an alternate way to pay, such as yen or a Suica card.
Daypasses are generally more economical if you plan to take the monorail more than twice in a single day. Transit cards like Suica and PASMO (valid on Japan’s other public transit services like trains and subways) also work to pay monorail fares.
While most guests will likely need to take the monorail some of the time, some resort destinations are within walking distance of each other. For example, it’s a relatively easy 10-minute walk between Maihama Station and both Tokyo Disneyland Park and the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel. Reaching DisneySea or many other hotels from any of these locations, however, requires a monorail ride.
Tokyo Disney crowds — and how to minimize your time in line
Tokyo Disney has developed a bit of a reputation for crushing crowds and extraordinarily long lines. Located in the world’s largest metropolitan area, the resort undoubtedly draws a jaw-dropping number of people on any given day.
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Despite what some posted wait times might suggest, you don’t need to resign yourself to standing in two-hour queues. With some research and strategy preparation, our families never waited more than 30 minutes in like for any single attraction.
The key to avoiding long attraction queues is maximizing Tokyo Disney’s two cut-the-line options: Premier Access (available for a per-ride fee) and 40th Anniversary Priority Pass (free). Premier Access functions similarly to paid Lightning Lanes in the U.S. parks, and the 40th Anniversary Priority Pass works like a free version of Disney Genie+.
Free 40th Anniversary Priority Pass
The 40th Anniversary Priority Pass works much like Genie+, but this version is free. You can get one ride pass upon entering the park in the morning. Then, you can get subsequent ones 120 minutes after the last one or when the return time opens for the last one you’ve obtained. With these, you cannot choose the return time and simply get the next available slot for your chosen attraction.
It’s reasonable to assume that if you start right at the park opening, you’ll be able to probably get two of these in a day — three if you are lucky. Be sure to prioritize the one you want the most as they do “sell out.”
Eligible 40th Anniversary Priority Pass attractions include:
Tokyo Disneyland: Space Mountain
Tokyo Disneyland: Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters
Tokyo Disneyland: Star Tours: The Adventure Continues
Tokyo Disneyland: Haunted Mansion
Tokyo Disneyland: Pooh’s Honey Hunt
Tokyo Disneyland: Big Thunder Mountain
Tokyo Disneyland: Monsters, Inc. Ride Go & Seek
Tokyo DisneySea: Nemo & Friends SeaRider
Tokyo DisneySea: Aquatopia (from July 2 through Sept. 18, 2024, only)
Tokyo DisneySea: Raging Spirits
Tokyo DisneySea: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Tokyo DisneySea: The Magic Lamp Theater
Tokyo DisneySea: Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull
Tokyo DisneySea: Turtle Talk
Aquatopia. SUMMER HULL/THE POINTS GUY
There are also character meet and greets available with the Priority Pass, so don’t forget to get one of those if you’re dreaming of that photo..
