Tokyo Disney Parks Trip Report - A Budget Visit

[DisneyDrum]

So I've been a member here for a long while, but this is the first update where I think I can provide some first hand insight. I've just gotten back from a trip to Japan, and I spent two days at Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea. There is a decent amount of information on the parks online, including yeti's great thread. I'd like to provide some practical information for people interested in traveling to the Tokyo parks, which I had a hard time finding before I visited. I was also on a limited budget for my trip, and I'm happy to say that it is possible to do an affordable trip to the Tokyo parks. I was in Japan for business, but I added some extra time to do my own touring. Most of the cost for a trip to Japan is the flight (~$1500), so having work cover that was very helpful. The total cost of my two day/three night park visit was around $550, which was nicely in my budget.

I'll be adding more information to this thread over the next few weeks, but I'm happy to answer any questions. My summary: the Tokyo parks are the best theme parks anywhere. Tokyo Disneyland is the best incarnation of a Disneyland style park. It feels very familiar (in terms of the rides, layout, etc.) but the upkeep and design is just one step better than the others. Tokyo DisneySea is just amazing. It's really the epitome of themed design, and each of the lands are just incredibly detailed. Journey to the Center of the Earth is the best ride I've been on. The online videos simply do not do justice the the entire ride experience. The atmosphere really makes it feel like you're going into the center of the earth with Jules Verne. This ride, by itself, makes it worth seeing the park.

Here are a couple of photos to start things off...

The castle....

A view of the parade from the Swiss Family Treehouse. You can see Splash Mountain and Mount Prometheus in DisneySea in the background.

Mount Prometheus

It's super cool at night

The entrance to the submarine voyage ride at night.

More to come!

 

[Nemo14]

Loving this!

 

[MickeyPeace]

Even seeing the branches of Swiss Family Treehouse looking perfect and like an actual tree is impressive.

 

[DisneyDrum]

I guess I'll start things off chronologically. This post will be a little bit logistical, but I think it might be helpful. I was traveling in Japan by train, so I got the the resort via Tokyo station. I did a lot of train traveling, so I got the Japan Rail Pass which was very convenient. From Tokyo station it is very easy to follow the signs to the Keiyo line. It is a bit of a walk, but there are escalators for the many sets of stairs. You ride the train for six stops and you're at Maihama - the Disney resort stop. I ordered tickets ahead of time online, so my first stop was at the ticket center in Ikspiari (basically a classy, indoor downtown disney)

You don't want the welcome center, which is what you see first. The ticket center is inside and downstairs in the shopping mall.

The welcome center also closes early, while the ticket center doesn't.

I then went to my hotel. There are three types of hotels that serve the park. There are the Disney-owned hotels, which are right next to the parks and are superbly beautiful. They are also insanely expensive. The next tier of hotels are official hotels, which are on property but a bit further out. They offer either monorail or bus service to the parks. These hotels are slightly cheaper and are often western branded. I selected the third tier of hotels, which are the partner hotels. These are further out and require you to take a bus to get to the parks. I selected Hotel Emion Tokyo Bay, which was an excellent choice. It was very affordable at $100 a night. Buses for the 20 minute ride to the parks left every 10 minutes. The room was gigantic, and I got a balcony with a park view (albeit in the distance). It was easy to get the the hotel from the Shin-Urayasu station, which is the one past Disney.

From Shin-Urayasu, exit on the right side and go around the left corner of the shopping mall. Take a right turn, and you'll see the hotel.

I had a massive room

My view from the balcony. Mount Prometheus is on the left. You can see I had fairly rainy weather.

Alright...now we can get to the actual parks. Arriving at Tokyo Disneyland. The first thing you see if the beautiful Disneyland hotel

I wandered around the hotel a bit before the park opened, and picked up some breakfast at their store. Certainly more American than most breakfasts in Japan

The train station for the monorail line is really nicely themed

Even on a rainy day there is a line to get in at opening.

Although in general there were none of the epic lines. Both days I was in the parks it was fairly quiet. Once you get in..

You get a fairly short Main street and the castle. Next update will include more Tokyo Disneyland shots!

 

[Greenkai3000]

Subscribing!

 

[DisneyDrum]

I started off towards Tomorrowland to get a Fast Pass for the newly opened Star Tours. I really lucked out-going in the middle of the week in June kept the lines down. It was also rainy when I went-nothing some rain gear couldn't take care of. As a result of strategic Fast Passes and Single rider lines (You can ride Splash Mountain and the Indiana Jones rides as much as you want by going through the fastpass lines and saying single rider), the most I waited on line was 20 minutes.

Tomorrowland looks like the Florida original with bold colors.

Space mountain also looks familiar

But the load area is very cool (and blue). The interior projections are also very well done, and suitably disorienting. I was the most surprisingly impressed by how fun space was.

Then I ran over to Pooh's Hunny Hunt. The ride is, without a doubt, the best incarnation of a dark ride. It is the most fun ride in the park, and descriptions or pictures don't do it justice. I did take a video, but I'm not sure it's much better than others you can find online. The trackless vehicles are just such a different experience, and being able to explore whole scenes really makes the ride. I rode and later got a Fast Pass, because even on a quiet day they go fast and there is a good line.

Star Tours is pretty much a copy of the new Florida version, except in Japanese.

The Haunted Mansion is its own experience, particularly because it's sitting right in Fantasyland. The hosts have interesting costumes, but don't really do the ghoulish stuff.

The outside has this nicely done annex to hide the show building. The ride itself has a little different layout...some of which is better (graveyard scene and introduction) and some of which is worse (ballroom scene and ending)

This is how the Japanese do stroller parking. No seas of mashed together strollers

Now on to the other side of the park....it also looks a lot like Florida with a moderately improved layout

I had lunch in critter country, at Grandma Sara's kitchen. It's a restaurant built like an underground burrow within splash mountain, with areally excellent design. They serve Japanese interpretations of "southern"? cooking...I had chicken and potatoes covered in cheese over rice. It was excellent, but unique.

Splash mountain is also an excellent ride. The queue runs through the mountain, with load being a giant cavern with waterfalls and beautiful rock work. The ride itself is a bit longer, and everything is in excellent condition. It is odd hearing Zip-a-dee-do-dah in Japanese though..

In the next post I should be able to cover the rest of the Disneyland rides and scenery!

 

[DisneyDrum]

So...to finish up Disneyland, I next got tickets for "One Man's Dream 2", the main stage show. You have to get tickets ahead of time via a lottery. It was an interesting show, fairly good dancing but not outstanding. A couple of interesting scenes involved tumbling ants....

And a pretty goof villains scene with live fire (one place where Japanese safety standards aren't higher then the US). They also had these odd henchmen in red robes...I think Tokyo invented them but I'd be interested to know if they are actual Disney characters.

Then off to Adventureland...it looks just like Florida with a bit more space

One think about the Japanese parks is that popcorn is everywhere. Most people buy souvenir popcorn boxes, which then then carry around all day and eat popcorn from. The boxes are very expensive-but you can get a disposable box for not that much money. The popcorn is also exotically flavored...honey is one of the more normal options.

The daytime parade is well done. Not really my thing, but very beautiful floats.

I then went on Big Thunder Mountain again...the ride is excellent, a bit longer with some fun details

You get a nice view of Disney Sea and splash from the top. For Dinner I went to the Queen of Hearts banquet hall. Sticking to the wonderful counter service restaurants helped keep the costs down. The theme is very festive, as well as the food. I chose the heart-shaped beef patty for its sheer ridiculousness.

Wrapping up the evening, there was no line for the castle so I went inside. It is nice inside, with a little Cinderella display. However, it is not worth waiting in line for.

To finish off the night is Dream Lights. It's a spectacular parade, with all the familiar floats but with very nice lighting effects. The genie float is particularly spectacular (ask if you want a video). It was raining a fair amount at this point, so apologies on the picture quality.

And finally there is a fireworks show. While the fireworks themselves are nice, the show is only about five minutes long. It was nice though to wait around and do a bit of people watching.


So that finishes off my day at Disneyland. Next comes the more exciting pictures and the even more exciting park-Tokyo DisneySea!

 

[dennis-in-ct]

Can't wait to hear the rest. Thank you for posting.

 

[tare]

I am so loving this post. Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[DisneyDrum]

And I'm back, now with Disney Sea. Words cannot describe the awesomeness of this park, so I'll let the pictures do it.

You enter at the bottom of the fabulous MiraCosta hotel, off of a fairly small entrance plaza

The park entrance is the coolest I have experienced. You walk through this beautifully themed tunnel

And there is Mount Prometheus

It's an amazing reveal.

For the sake of efficiency I went over to Toy Story mania, which is both new and has lines just like the US version. It's in the New York section, which is very well done. It is themed to a Cony Island amusement park, which fits brilliantly. Unfortunately the inside is the same as the US parks. In terms of the theme it is a bizarre transition-New York to Andy's room. I know its the same in California, but I expect more from Tokyo.

The outside is very nice though

After getting a fastpass for Tower of Terror, I was off to Mount Prometheus and arguably the best ride ever.

I ended up riding Journey to the Center of the Earth more times than I can count-the lines were very short. So there will be lots of pictures spread throughout the update. Some advice-although there is fastpass for this ride(which I also used a lot), you want to wait in the queue at least once. Preferably the first time you ride. It really sets up the show, and there is tons to see. The entrance is inside the cave, and the first thing you see is lava.

There are laboratories located throughout the queue with interesting things to see

The rock work is astounding, and you're clearly in a volcanically active zone. This was a water fountain...

The details are amazing-even the air conditioning ducts have themed brackets and covers

You wind your way up to a bank of elevators

And then you enter an elevator to the center of the earth. The first thing that hits you is a smell-part machine shop, part cave. I don't know how they did it, but it just smells right. You go down, with lights, sound, and wind rushing past. This trip is part of the amazing technical design of the ride-which is as almost as impressive as the actual ride. It probably won't hit you until you've ridden once or twice, and I'm not going to spoil the secret

You end up in this cavern, on a walkway above a cliff. You walk down to the loading area for the beautifully designed ride vehicles and journey further down, before rocketing back up to the park. I'll have to see if I feel like posting the video....

Too many pictures!

 

[DisneyDrum]

Outside is the famous gyoza sausage bun cart. It always has a crazy long line, even on on a rainy day with few people ion the park.

Very yummy...

And they've got a Nautilus just sitting in port

which overlooks the entrance to the amazing 20000 leagues under the sea ride. Not only is the technology of the ride great, but the storyline and effects are also spectacular. You've got a little spotlight to point around for most of the ride, and with three different windows in your sub, you 've got lots to explore. The front window is the best though.

And then I had a fastpass for Tower of Terror to redeem. More to come!

 

[DisneyDrum]

There is a elevated railway that runs through new york and gives the whole area life

Tower looks familiar

The staff at the Tokyo parks keep the park in excellent condition. One of the most ridiculous illustrations of this was the staff mopping up the rain with actual mops. It was raining all day, but they had staff members working to keep everything dry.

I should have mentioned before-the Fastpass machines are beautifully designed. They use an optical scanner, which seems to work better.

The tower is well designed, and themed to the hotel of Harrison Hightower, an eccentric collector of artifacts from around the world (played by a favorite imagineer). There are artifacts everywhere...literally dusty cases filled with hundreds of items. His most recent purchase is an idol who didn't like Mr. Hightower.

The preshow features the story of the idol, who comes to life and disappears midway through the show. I'm still not sure how they pulled off the disappearing trick. His green eyes appear throughout the queue and ride.

The ride itself is good, although I think they have moderated the drop profile a bit.

The New York section is fairly authentic, although I'm not sure any company would have advertised pure Harlem river water.

And back to Mount Prometheus

I had lunch in the Volcania restaurant, which is a counter service establishment near Mount Prometheus. Its backstory is that the steam from the volcano is used to cook the dumplings. In any event, it's an awesome, affordable place to eat lunch.

They also play the old Living Seas BGM

The Lost River Delta was next, which has all of the Indiana Jones attractions.

The Temple of the Crystal skull has the same layout as the Disneyland version, but with unique effects. The queue has a pit of skulls, some well designed glowing rockwork, and just a really cool temple atmosphere. The ride has a tornado, smoke ring, lasers, and other neat effects. It also has a single-rider line which no one uses, so you can ride quickly and easily.

There is also Raging Spirits, which is a very small looping roller coaster. The temple around the ride is fairly nice, and it has a single-rider line. The ride itself....it has a loop?

I then wandered back to the Bay, where Legends of Mythica was being performed. This was one of the few shows where understanding Japanese would have been helpful, but the floats/barges are amazingly beautiful.

I then went off to explore Arabian Coast...

 

[Zman-ks]

Great pics! Following along!

 

[DisneyDrum]

Last couple sets of photos. Thanks for the feedback everyone!

Arabian coast has a lot of neat buildings. There is a two-level carousel.

Some of the best flowers in the park

I was there during the Duffy the bear clebration, so genie gets to play with Duffy. Also in Arabian Coast is the Magic Lamp theater. It's a cool combination live performance/3D movie combo, which has English subtitles if you ask an attendant. The other impressive ride is the Voyage of Sindbad. It's a very well done classic dark ride, with a super catchy song and nicely stylized figures. Including this giant

And Sindbad...

The outside of Sindbad is also spectacularly done.

I grabbed a snack of maple balls

And went to explore the fortress. This is the castle in front of Mount Promethius, and has a host of hidden rooms and exhibits. There is also some sort of interactive game, but it's only in Japanese

Looking out onto the harbor

A very cool model of the solar system to play with...

Pendulum

You can also explore the ship, which has cannons that fire smoke at passing vessels...

And we're still in a Disney park...

In the spirit of ships, I also wandered around the US Steamship in port in NY. This is literally a fully-decked out ocean liner, in every detail. It is fairly mind blowing to wander through, as all it really houses is a couple of restaurants and Turtle Talk with Crush (which was added after the park opened). It's a great example of building to a theme just because you want to make it accurate.

I then had dinner at the Arabian Coast quick service restaurant. Again, their quick service restaurants are spectacular places to eat, with good food and reasonable prices.

I had a curry combo with a Duffy panacotta. It looks a bit weird, but it was tasty.

Next up is the evening events, with Fantasmic and night shots of the park!

 

[Darth Tater]

Brilliant trip report so far!

 

[alissafalco]

Love it!

 

[JCtheparrothead]

Great report!

 

[DisneyDrum]

And the last big post! Tokyo Disney Sea at night is even more spectacular. This is the one time where a tripod would have been nice (they aren't allowed, sadly)

So much great lighting...

The nighttime show is Fantasmic-same storyline, but much cooler. The biggest advantage is that everything is on barges, so everything is free to move around, including the water screens and fountains. I would recommend trying to see the show from the center of Mediterranean Harbor-while there are a lot of viewing areas on the sides, you're at a bit of an odd angle. All of the floats and the dragon affect are spectacular, although the LED screens do look a bit dated. I've got some pictures, but they aren't the best...

On the technical side, every single one of the speaker and lighting towers extend and have themed covers when not in use. It is a bit excessive, but not surprising...

After Fantasmic, I rode Journey to the Center of the Earth a couple of more times. There was no line, so I just kept riding...

A night shot of the empty queue

On my way out of the park I looked around the MiraCosta hotel. It's spectacular-from the detailed exterior to the spectacular lobby. I was a particular fan of the fresco representing every section of the park as a goddess. Sadly a stay here does not fit with a budget trip.

And that wraps up my big photo updates. I've got another small post or two, and I might post some of my videos. I'd like to thank everyone for reading along-I've really enjoyed sharing my trip. Hopefully some of my tips will be helpful, and feel free to ask questions-I'm not going anywhere!

 

[alissafalco]

Thanks for sharing, it was a great report.

 

[DisneyDrum]

Here's an aspect of Tokyo Disneyland I didn't cover-the merchandise. There are lots of shops, but everything is very tailored to the Japanese market. That means there are many fancy gifts packaged in colorful tins and boxes. Most of these packaged items are food and are really not that interesting. It's a cultural thing to give gifts to everyone when you return from vacation, but they don't make particularly good souvenirs. A lot of the merchandise is also very character driven, which is not really my style. There are very limited clothing options, but there also a lot of unique items (Mickey mouse dish sponges, anyone?) I ended up getting a nice pair of Disney chop sticks-both culturally appropriate and they have a lot of cool styles. What I really wanted though was something specific to DisneySea and Mysterious Island. This is basically impossible to find-after searching through many stores, I finally found one rack toward the back that had Tokyo Disney model cars. Not only were they really affordable, they had a beautiful Journey to the Center of the Earth car. This find really made my trip, but the merchandise just isn't designed to reflect the parks much.

A quick shot of my finds...