Tokyo Disneyland Christmas Trip Report
At the start of the holiday season, we visited Tokyo Disneyland to experience the Japan castle park’s ‘Christmas Fantasy.’ In this trip report, we’ll share 50+ photos from the parks, including seasonal entertainment, decorations, and more.
This is our favorite time of year to visit–not just Tokyo Disney Resort, but Japan, period. For the last two years we’ve gone at the tail end of Halloween and stayed for Christmas season. You can read all about the planning logistics in our HalloXmas: the Ultimate Disney Trip post.
For this trip, we started at Tokyo Disneyland for Halloween, then took the Shinkansen to Kyoto for the beginning of fall colors season there (read our Kyoto, Japan Fall Trip Report on TravelCaffeine.com for more on that leg of the trip), before return to Tokyo Disney Resort for Christmas. This approach gives us the best of all three worlds.
It’s taken me a while to post this Christmas trip report because I debated whether to write it in the first place. Few people read these, and our posts about Tokyo Disney Resort probably alienate more readers than anything. I am cognizant and sensitive of the fact that some readers view these posts as being a way of boasting about our trips to Japan, but that’s really not my intent.
We share our experiences from these parks because we adore them and want others to share in the experience, whether that be vicariously through our posts or with these being as the resource for planning your own trips to Tokyo Disney Resort.
Many readers have told us that traveling to the international parks is intimidating, and we’re striving to make it more approachable–because it’s not nearly as inaccessible as you might believe.
Anyway, Christmas is our absolute favorite season and it’s ‘holiday break’ time now anyway, so I’m going to indulge myself with this quasi-trip report. Basically, I’m going to share some thoughts via text, followed by a photo dump afterwards.
Unfortunately, Tokyo Disneyland is a bit light on holiday spirit this year because the park’s 35th Anniversary is still underway. That celebration brought with it a new day parade, nighttime spectacular, stage shows, fireworks, and a lot of decorations. For this Christmas season, Tokyo Disneyland had to work around the 35th Anniversary decor and entertainment, which makes the park a little less festive.
As a result, the tree that traditionally stands in World Bazaar is not up this year, there’s no holiday nighttime spectacular, and the only Christmas entertainment is the day parade. Tokyo Disneyland still felt incredibly festive–there are storybook vignettes all over the Central Plaza, lights on Space Mountain still dance to the tunes of Mannheim Steamroller, and there’s garland galore.
For anyone visiting the park for the first time since April, the ‘dual celebrations’ is great news as they get to double-dip in the 35th Anniversary and Christmas offerings.
The other good news is that there are unique photo ops, such as the new Christmas tree in Fantasyland that likely wouldn’t exist but for the 35th Anniversary displacing the regular holiday decor.
The Fantasyland Christmas tree looks nice in the photos here, and it definitely has a sense of storybook charm to it..at night. During the day, it’s more like something Charlie Brown would pick out.
It’ll be interesting to see whether Tokyo Disneyland does this again next year once the 35th Anniversary is over and the main tree returns to World Bazaar. It’s a nice detail in Fantasyland, but I suspect it’ll be one and done.
The other thing I’m betting doesn’t return next year–or at least, I’m hoping it doesn’t return–is the the ‘Disney Christmas Stories’ parade. They usually get new holiday parades every couple of years, meaning 2019 would be time for a new one.
Tokyo Disneyland normally does parades incredibly well, but this one doesn’t do much for me. I’m not sure why–the music is catchy, and performer costumes are beautiful, and some of the floats are elaborate and detailed.
Disney is so masterful at evoking a sense of elegance and nostalgia at Christmas, and this has neither. It’s hard to articulate how it misses the mark, and maybe it’s just me, but it’s my least favorite seasonal parade that Tokyo Disneyland runs.
I don’t feel the sense of holiday warmth that other Disney Christmas productions, including both the Walt Disney World and Disneyland parades, achieve. I guess it just feels a bit too bubbly for my tastes.
One thing that does not disappoint is the attraction overlays that Tokyo Disneyland does for Christmas. We do Country Bear Christmas/Jingle Bell Jamboree more than any other attraction, and it’s the biggest reason why we visit at this time of year. (No joke–read our Merry Country Bear Christmas post for more on our love of this overlay.)
There’s also Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare, which is a variation of Haunted Mansion Holiday at Disneyland in California. The Tokyo overlay is rumored to have been created for Florida, but was rejected by Walt Disney World management.
As far as the beauty of Tokyo Disneyland at Christmas, I think photos speak louder than words, so here are a bunch of ‘reasons’ to visit Japan in November or December. (A few of these photos are from last year that I just never got around to sharing.)
Finally, a bit of a sales pitch. A major aspect of Christmas at Tokyo Disney Resort that we love is that everything is included in the price of regular admission. This means in a regular day at Tokyo Disneyland, you can watch 3 parades–the regular day parade, Christmas parade, and Dreamlights.
Not to go on too much of a tangent, but it’s somewhat odd to hear from people dropping $90+ on Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, $80+ for Early Morning Magic, etc., who think the ~$65 one day tickets at Tokyo Disneyland–which includes more entertainment than a hard ticket event at Magic Kingdom–are too expensive.
In fairness, airfare is likely going to cost more. This is especially true if you are flying from a smaller city, refuse to do any research, and want to cherry pick an example of $2,000+ person flights. Of course, as with anything, a little bit of comparison shopping and waiting for deals will yield better results. We’re talking flight prices below $900/person even for smaller airports; even more research (and good timing) and you can score deals for under $600.
That’s still more than most people pay for flights to Orlando, but once you add park tickets to the mix, the gap starts to close. The cost difference will disappear entirely for anyone who stays at a Deluxe Resort at Walt Disney World, as the monorail loop Sheraton and Hilton Tokyo Bay routinely can be booked for $150/night on weeknights. But we digress. The point is that visiting Japan doesn’t necessarily cost as much as you might think–you can find more thorough budget tips in our Money-Saving Tips for Visiting Tokyo Disneyland post.
Ultimately, hopefully this post shows a bit of why Christmas is our favorite time of year in Japan. While Tokyo Disneyland was a bit light on holiday cheer this year, Tokyo DisneySea stepped up its game with one of the best pieces of holiday entertainment we’ve ever seen. (If you’re interested in seeing photos from Tokyo DisneySea at Christmas, let me know; if there’s enough interest I can throw together a quick photo report from there, too!)
If you’re thinking of visiting Japan for the first time and are overwhelmed with planning, definitely check out our Tokyo Disney Resort Planning Guide. It covers much more than the parks, from getting there to WiFi to currency and much, much more. For more photos and an idea of what we did day-by-day during our first visit, read our Tokyo Disney Resort Trip Report.
Your Thoughts
Have you visited Tokyo Disneyland at Christmas? If not, is this a time of year you’d like to take a Japan trip? Any questions? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
We finally went to TDR this year after four years of reading your blogs and being convinced it WAS attainable. Honestly, this is the first two week vacation my husband and I had ever taken (we usually take shorter trips due to our PTO actual rates) and I felt like 2 weeks in Tokyo could cost as much as two weeks in WDW and we got to see like 4 other cities. So, even if the audience is small, you’re having an impact on some of us. I read this blog, travel caffeine, and my guy, TDR Explorer for weeks leading up to our trip.
Also, Country Bears Christmas all in Japanese is a gift we don’t deserve in America.
Enjoyed reading the report and seeing the photos.
Please publish more.
I’m lucky enough to have been and enjoyed both Disney parks to Tokyo.
I traveled from Australia.
Been to WDW three times. 26 hour total travel time there last time. Long trip but of course well worth it.
Please don’t stop posting about TDR. Like others have said, your readers are not just American (also from Australia). I find it bizarre anyone would read you posting about your experiences (esp the way you do it), as anything apart from helpful, and something to learn from!
Tokyo Disney land is definitely on our wish list. Please keep posting about it. I find it terribly intimidating to book it but know you will help me overcome ! â¤ï¸
Add my voice to those wanting to see the photos from DisneySea.
Merry Christmas Tom and Sarah!
Please publish your Disney sea photos! Because of your blog I’m taking my first trip to Japan in April, and I love to read about your adventures.
Thanks for all the good advice and beautiful photos, and Merry Christmas!
Are the Tokyo parks crowded on Thanksgiving week? Thank you
Please excuse the accidental double post.
Thank you very much for all the tips and info about Japan parks. Please don’t let negative opinions to discourage you from sharing the info here. Your articles are really easy and fun to read. And at the same time they are really informative and helpful
There are always going to be people out there who are negative or “suspicious”, or who simply disagree.
For me personally your blog always was a great source of information which is fun to study – as an added bonus.
We are going to Japan – not Christmas time though. And the trip is not about Disney. But we are going to visit Disney parks, as long as we are going to be in Japan. And we are grateful for the great tips about visiting the parks, and also Japan in general.
Thank you again!
Personally I love ready your trip reports from any Disney trip. Being Australian, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Shanghai are definatly closer than the American parks but we are yet to visit them. Reading your reports help us to decide when to go and were absolutely invaluable to me when I was planning our trip to Walt Disney World last year. Our holiday would have been nowhere near as successful and memorable with your blog. So Thank You so much for all of the time you put into writing up your reports and blog posts. I’m sure I am not the only one who appreciates you sharing your knowledge and increadibly photos.
Time is the problem for us, too. I’d LOVE to see the Tokyo parks someday, but it’s the overall travel time from the East Coast that seems impractical. A stop at DL would help break up the actual travel, but likely lengthen the overall trip. For now, I do appreciate the reports from these international parks. WDW will always be our home resort, though – we can get there in about 2 hours on a direct flight which is much more appealing!
I love your Japan posts so please don’t stop! I would love to see the DisneySea Christmas too! I haven’t been but you make a convincing argument and we are thinking about it more and more. I don’t ever view your articles as anything more than a generous sharing of knowledge. I know that when we do pull the trigger on a Japan trip your posts will be invaluable in the planning – so thanks in advance.
How crowded are the Tokyo parks on thanksgiving week? Thank you
Oh my!!! Seeing the photos from Disney Japan makes me happy for Japan, but sad for those of us who visit Walt Disney Wolrd in Florida every year for the holidays. My family and I remember watching the Christmas Country Bears every year, as well and The Contemporary Resort changing it’s outside lights to red and green, as well as placing a huge Mickey Mouse wreath at the entrance of the monorail from the park. It seems to me that Japan is out decorating The Magic Kingdom. We miss it so and discuss it every year. This year Epcot seemed to have half the amount of holiday decorations it did last year. We hope every year before we venture to Orlando it will be better than the year before only to be disappointed.
Please post the DisneySea pics! I think the people that accuse you of bragging are just jealous! Tokyo Disney (and japan in general) have been on my bucket list since I was little, so for now I want to live vicariously through others lucky enough to go.
I can attest to the fact that Japan (including TDR) can most definitely be done on a budget. My fiance and I booked flights for $865 round trip (total cost for 2 people out of LAX with travel insurance) in November 2017 for a mid-April 2018 visit. I will never stop bragging about that, but it did take several months of Google price tracking. We stayed in the Sheraton and went to TDR for 3 days and spent another 7 days in Tokyo. All in all, we spent about $3000 on the whole trip. We ate fairly cheap (but still delicious) and bought inexpensive but nice souvenirs. We saw the price for tickets to Tokyo out of LAX drop again in November 2018 so it seems November may be a good time to book tickets on a budget.
Selfishly, I appreciate these posts, as we’re planning a Japan trip in the next couple of years. I’d love to see some photos from DisneySea as well. When does “Christmas” actually start at TDL? Is it right after Halloween?
Thanks, as always, and Happy Holidays!
We cover that starting in the third paragraph here: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/halloween-christmas-combined-tokyo-disneyland-trip-guide/
Happy Holidays to you and your family, too! 🙂
The discussion re: flight times is kinda insular I am sorry. Yes dont get me wrong its a heck of a long time, but if you want to do it you need to spend the air time. I am from down under so to get to many places in the world takes a loooong time. For us the closest is HKDL (done it at least 4 times), then 13 or so hrs to Anaheim (done it twice), add another 5 or so hrs for Orlando (once) and France similar to Orlando flight time (Euro Disney once). Why do we spend so long in a tin can – quite simply to broaden our horizons and see some amazing things that we would/couldnt normally see – the DL experience is one but the cultural experiences in these far away places justify the means far more than just focussing on DL and shouldnt be your motivation for visiting another culture
Great points!
I can understand this perspective, but the practical reality is that international travel is intimidating for a lot of people, and Disney can serve as the motivation for making such a trip, and the conduit for stepping outside their comfort zones into more ambitious, real world cultural experiences.
It’s hard for me to knock others’ motivation when it’s a trip that wouldn’t have happened but for Disney.
You are spot on with the cost analysis! We went to Japan for a week and the total cost was $3,000 including flight give or take a few hundred bucks! We hope to make the Hallow Xmas trip in 2020! Merry Christmas Brickers!
Wonderful write-up! I greatly appreciate your coverage of the international parks (especially considering I will be living in Tokyo next year). I understand not writing about them if the articles aren’t getting enough views, but please don’t stop because it somehow makes some readers feel uncomfortable…
If you’ve got time and enough others want it, a Disney Sea Christmas review would be amazing!
Merry Christmas and happy New Year!
We are going to WDW next year, but hopefully the subsequent Disney trip will be to Japan. We’ve crunched the numbers and, like you say, it’s doable financially. The kicker for us is the time investment more than anything. We only get so much time off, and dedicating 20 hours each way merely for travel is hard to swallow (considering that we can drive to Orlando in less time). If we are going to dedicate that much time to traveling and to jet lag, we want to spend a good chunk of time in Japan in many parts of the country. But it’s going to be some years before we can have that many days available to both of us when the kids aren’t in school.
That’s a fair (and accurate) point about time. One thing we did for our first trip to Japan that I’d recommend considering is a couple of days at Disneyland before flying to Japan. The three benefits of this are decreasing your in-air travel time (since there direct flights from LAX), cutting costs (since Los Angeles to Tokyo is regularly $500-600 RT), and the obvious one of getting to see Disneyland. It’ll add more overall time to the trip, but it’s a good way of double-dipping on both California and Japan.
Thanks, Tom. We are considering that possibility. We live in the DFW metroplex and have 3 non-stops to Narita available to us each day (American and JAL), though there is a premium on those as opposed to flying through LAX or Seoul. We are likely still several years away (now that we decided to go to WDW next year), but it’s never too early to begin dreaming!