Want to Recapture Disney’s Magic? Visit Tokyo
Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea are our favorite theme parks in the world. We’ve made that abundantly clear in previous posts. Since our first visit years ago, we’ve implored Americans to visit the Disney parks in Japan because we want others to share in the great experiences we’ve had at them.
More recently, we’ve shied away from the emphatic praise we used to heap upon Tokyo Disney Resort. That’s in large part because it was met with negative reactions from Walt Disney World fans. Many view a trip to Japan as impractical, and we didn’t want our attempts at useful advice to be perceived as useless boasting about our travels. After reading the deluge of negative comments about Walt Disney World from readers in response to a couple of recent posts, we feel the idea of encouraging readers to visit Japan is worth going over again.
Rather than re-treading ground we’ve covered, such as the beauty and how is this really a theme park?! design of Tokyo DisneySea (the world’s greatest theme park), we want to offer some new reasons it’s worth considering for your next Disney vacation. Namely, how in many ways, Tokyo Disney Resort is very similar to the Walt Disney World of the early to mid-1990s. The Disney magic is alive and well in Japan, and for many longtime fans, Tokyo Disney Resort is the Disney you miss.
We often discuss nostalgia, and a big part of the Walt Disney World experience is revisiting old memories. Reliving a moment in time when your kids (or you!) were younger, a goosebumps-induced feeling while watching the fireworks, a memory-evoking scent while walking down Main Street, reminiscing about the first time your kids did Space Mountain, and so on.
The fleeting nature of all things makes these moments difficult to recapture. The drumbeat of time marches on, Walt Disney World changes, and year by year, those feelings start slipping away. (I feel like I’m writing emo song lyrics here, but this is all totally apt.) In fairness to Walt Disney World, some of this has more to do with all of us and the passage of time than it does with changes to the parks. Not all of it, though.
With that said, if you’ve been visiting Walt Disney World for decades and remember when it was a different kind of place, you can go back home again. Oddly enough, that means a trip to Japan. Now, you could attribute our perception of Tokyo Disney Resort being a different kind of Disney experience as being due to the change of scenery and experiencing a new place that isn’t familiar.
We disagree. We’ve visited Tokyo Disney Resort well past the point of familiarity, and that special feeling has yet to wear off. For us, Tokyo Disney Resort has a familiar but different vibe. It’s a special place because it’s a special place, not because it’s new or different.
It’s tough to encapsulate the ‘magical’ feeling of Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea, but imagine chugging four cans of Red Bull, being named the “First Family” at Magic Kingdom, and visiting on a day when every single attraction just returned from refurbishment.
Think of how your senses would be heightened from the caffeine, the service you’d receive wearing those “First Family” buttons, and the excellent condition of attractions. You’re in a vaguely familiar setting and you can imagine those sensations, but they’re probably different than what you’re used to. Maintenance, operations, and service are all superior at the parks in Japan. That is just the tip of the iceberg at Tokyo Disney Resort.
In less abstract terms, you’ll find some of the Disney Parks best original attractions with things like Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, Monsters Inc. Ride & Go Seek, Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage, and Big Band Beat. Tokyo also has some of the best versions of more common attractions, including (arguably) Indiana Jones Adventure, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania, and Jungle Cruise.
Then there’s entertainment. Tokyo Disneyland doesn’t just have a nighttime parade, it has far and away the best one in the world with Dreamlights. (If I set aside my nostalgia for SpectroMagic, I’d even concede that Dreamlights is objectively superior to Spectro.) Tokyo Disneyland also has exceptional seasonal daytime parades, and DisneySea has fun albeit quirky harbor shows. Again, this is all just the tip of the iceberg–I’m trying to keep this concise.
The usual caveats apply. Just as a trip to Walt Disney World is not feasible for everyone, the same is true for Tokyo Disney Resort. Among other things, airfare to Japan can be both cost and comfort-prohibitive. With that in mind, if it’s something you want to do, we’d encourage you to price out this trip before deeming it too expensive, as the actual cost just might surprise you.
Park tickets and Bayside Station monorail loop hotels are both considerably cheaper than Walt Disney World. Counter service meals are about the same, with table service meals being significantly cheaper in the Tokyo parks.
The greatest expense is going to be airfare, and even that might cost less than you think. We’d stress using airfare deal tools and being as flexible as possible. So many times when this topic comes up, we find people spend 2 minutes doing an airfare search for prices like a week from now to “prove” it’s too expensive of a trip.
Of course international airfare is going to be exorbitant on such short notice. If you’re looking for an excuse not to go, you’ll have no trouble finding one. It’s a new destination so you don’t have the same knowledge-base for scoring deals, but try to channel that same sense of deal savvy as you would when planning for a Walt Disney World trip. You still may find it’s too expensive for you, but at least you’ll know for sure.
The good news is that you’ll find yourself spending less on splurges or add-ons you might incur at the other parks. There is no Disney Dining Plan nor are there dessert parties. Easter, Halloween, and Christmas entertainment is all included with park admission–there are no seasonal hard ticket events or pay to play early or late night events. At Tokyo Disney Resort, up-charges are not a thing. You are not nickel and dimed for anything.
Well, we shouldn’t say up-charges are not a thing completely. You do have to pay for the monorail, but that’s due to all rail transportation being governed by Japan’s Railway Operation Act, which sets a fee structure. (This is also why Western River Railroad does not circle the park or provide point A to B transit.)
The upshot is that the Tokyo Disney Resort Line monorail is impeccably maintained, incredibly efficient, and never breaks down. You can walk out of the Hilton or Sheraton, get onto the monorail, and enter Tokyo DisneySea all in under 15 minutes door-to-door.
The bonus to visiting Tokyo Disney Resort is, well, Japan. We are huge fans of the country, having made numerous return visits since our first time several years ago. Kyoto is our favorite city in the world and in our regularly-updated Ultimate Guide to Kyoto, Japan, we make the same kind of emphatic plea for visiting that wonderful city as we have here for Tokyo DisneySea. We’ve also visited and enjoyed plenty of other places in Japan, including Mount Fuji, Hiroshima, Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya, and obviously, Tokyo.
Regardless of your interests, you’ll find something to do in Japan. Whether that be attending the zany Robot Restaurant, visiting one of Japan’s three mind-blowing railroad museums, chilling with snow monkeys on a mountain, seeing the floating torii of Miyajima Island, or simply slurping up some of the best ramen you’ll ever taste. We’ve written about all of these things and many other experiences we’ve had in Japan over on TravelCaffeine.com.
Even if you only like Japan one-tenth as much as we do, you’re in for the trip of a lifetime. It’s a place where the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Even though Tokyo Disney Resort is one very big part of the trip for most Disney fans, we’re convinced that most people will thoroughly enjoy themselves well beyond their park days.
Speaking of which, you’ve probably heard a lot of hype about Tokyo Disney Resort. So much hype, in fact, that you suspect it could never live up to it all. This is something we’ve heard from some readers, who had trepidation about visiting on account of the level of praise. With so many highly-hyped Disney things (Dole Whips, Le Cellier, arguably even Tokyo’s own Journey to the Center of the Earth), the reality does not comport with expectations.
We get this fear, and in light of that, we are kindly asking for anyone who has already been to Tokyo Disney Resort to please leave a comment about your experience.
We want to hear the good and, if there is any, the bad. Our goal is to provide readers with honest and unbiased opinions, and to that end, we might be biased. (We joke that we’re “biased towards excellence,” but who knows…maybe we have this one all wrong.)
As you can probably tell, we absolutely love Tokyo Disney Resort. It brings us an unparalleled sense of joy and makes us feel like kids again. We want to share this with all of you, whether that be by convincing you to take the plunge and start planning a trip to Japan, or just providing updates so you can live vicariously through our experiences. Even if you don’t visit Tokyo anytime soon, we hope you enjoy our updates from the parks!
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
If you’ve visited Japan and the Tokyo parks, how would you rate the experience? Do you agree or disagree with our take on Tokyo Disney Resort? Are we overselling it? Any questions? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
My high school son and I visited Japan for two weeks in April of 2010 and spent 4 days at the Tokyo Disneyland Resort. We had an awesome time but I will share one story that sums it up for me. It was quite cold one evening and while waiting for an outdoor show to begin in DisneySea, I asked a nearby cast member if there was anywhere I could buy some hot chocolate. She didn’t understand my English very well and immediately called over another cast member who did. Once the second cast member understood my request, she literally ran off to find the nearest place to buy hot chocolate. A minute later she came running back to apologize and update me that she was still looking then ran off in a different direction (and I do mean, ran). After another minute she returned and then led me (walking) to the location that sold hot chocolate. I’ve never gotten service like that anywhere else and the hot chocolate was delicious!
For a first-time visiting Japan and the Tokyo Disney Resort, what would be your ideal recommendation for number of days spent in actual Tokyo versus the parks? We’d ideally like to spend 4 days in the parks (2 days for each park) and 2 days in Kyoto, but how much would you allot for actual Tokyo without spending a whole month in Japan?
My fiance and I went to Tokyo Disney last summer. We booked our trip 8 months in advance and were able to find round trip airfare from LA for $726 (we live in Chicago so we had to fly to LA first separately, but even including that it was less that $1000 round trip). That was the most expenisve aspect of our trip.
We were worried about jet lag and the long flight, but they weren’t an issue. On our second night in Japan I had some trouble sleeping, but that was the extent of it while we were gone. Jet lag didn’t kick in until we came back home and we had a pretty tired week. The long flight wasn’t an issue, we actually found it to be easier than 7-8 hour flights to Paris or London. Our totally flight time was 10 and a half hours and instead of frantically trying to get as much sleep as possible on a 7 hour flight, we had time to eat, watch a movie together, and then sleep for a solid 7 hours, wake up and had an hour and a half for breakfast and we were able to hit the ground running.
We spent our first evening in Tokyo DisneySea, along with the next full day and we loved every minute. Our full day in DisneySea may be the best day I’ve ever had traveling. We got lucky with great weather and it wasn’t super crowded, we road everything we wanted multiple times but the real fun was just walking around and taking in the scenery, looking in every shop (each shop has different stuff), and eating all the unique food. The cast members are incredible, so friendly and helpful, and the park was impecable. We loved it so much we went back for a last half day before we flew home a couple weeks later.
We really enjoyed DisneyLand park as well. It was more familiar and suffered in comparision to DisneySea, but they do have some amazing rides. Also we stayed at the Hilton on the monorail for $120 a night and the room was huge (by Japan standards) and couldn’t have been more convenient.
Beyond Disney we spend 4 days in Tokyo and 4 days in Kyoto. Both of them are our favorite cities we’ve ever been too and can’t recommend them enough. The trip was totally worth it and afforable. Also Tom, thank you for all the Tokyo Disney planning info, we used your plans and it helped so much!
Bring it on! We will be in Japan next year and are planning a few days at Tokyo Disney based on your past reviews. Yea!
I went to TDR in May 2017 and I wholeheartedly agree with everything in this post! One thing I remember from childhood trips to WDW was the attention to detail, e.g constant repainting of fences and walls and no litter anywhere. Unfortunately when I’ve been back in the past 5 or so years I don’t think WDW hold themselves to the same high standard that they once did. The good news is that TDR majorly still do, everything is pristine! One of my favorite parts of the day is when you walk in and hundreds of cast members are waving at you – Sarah has been capturing this on her Instragram Stories recently so head over there to see what I mean. It sets the day up perfectly! The snack game at TDR is INSANE – particularly Chandu Tails, Mickey shaped nuggets, green alien mochi, gyoza dogs and my personal favorite the steamed bun at boiler room bites. That’s all before we even get to the attractions which are almost all incredible – my two personal highlights were Honey Hunt and Journey to the center of the Earth (which makes me feel sad every time I think of Test Track, FutureWorld transformation into Mysterious Island anyone?). We stayed at the Hilton on the monorail loop and the rooms were reasonable, nicely designed and large by Japanese standards, as Tom mentions – it’s hotel room to park entrance in 15 mins. The monorail cost is very cheap, a couple of dollars, and the monorail itself is nicer than at WDW. All this is before we even get on to the rest of Japan which is a beautiful country and I can’t wait to go back and visit soon! I would implore anyone who is on the fence about a Japan trip to stop deliberating and book 🙂 I’m from the UK and a week in Japan (TDR, Tokyo, Kyoto) cost less than a week in Orlando would have if we had stayed onsite. I’ve been lucky enough to visit WDW, DL, DLP, HKDL and TDR and while WDW is the largest and DLP is the prettiest (IMO), TDR is by far the best Disney Resort in the world!
Maybe you have covered this in the past articles but what is the fast pass situation for the parks. Would love to hear more details info on monorail price. Look forward to the new posts on these parks I am getting excited!
I’m so excited about the upcoming posts over the next week or so. I am planning a trip to Japan for next year – spring break, plus a couple of extra weeks. Doing Shanghai & it’s Disneyland for a week, then hoping to arrive in Tokyo to attend the final day of the 35th celebration. We’ll then travel Japan & return to Tokyo to do TDR for our final 5 days or so of the trip. We’re using as many loyalty program points as possible (definitely for our airfares & hopefully some hotels) to try to keep costs down. I am working my way through all your posts both here & on Travel Caffeine, and really appreciate all of the wonderful info.
This blog convinced my family to take the plunge and visit Japan and the Tokyo parks in 2015. We not only fell in love with Japan but also the Disney parks. What made the Tokyo Disney parks so special for us? Nostalgia? No, not really for me. I can’t be nostalgic for a place I have never been. Japan is clean, safe and a service-oriented society built on respect. I believe those aspects of Japanese culture are one of the reasons the Disney parks are so special. I think some of our favorite memories are the interactions we had with the cast members and local guests. These are the best cast members in the world who are willing to go above and beyond to help even if they speak minimal English. There were maybe five other Westerners at the parks when we visited. The local people were more than interested in interacting with us and practicing their English. They were also very kind, patient and respectful when we tried to use our broken Japanese with a bad American accent. I don’t want to bash the American parks. Disneyland will always have a special place in my heart and the number of things to do at WDW is staggering, making it a great vacation destination. We feel so fortunate we were able to travel to Japan and living on the West coast helps with the cost of the flights. Japan is now our favorite country in the world! Thank you for convincing us to venture outside of our comfort zone and visit the best theme parks in the world!
While I was amazed at the rides, immersion, food, and flawless ride maintenance, the biggest shock from my first visit to the Tokyo Disney Resort was the Cast Members. It’s a completely different level than what you find at any of the other parks. I work with a guy who spent 30+ years in senior leadership for Disney Parks and helped open Tokyo DisneySea. He mentioned that they had to train the cast members that work the Caravan Carousel NOT to stop and chat with every single rider, as it was slowing down throughputs. Just one example, but it’s this type of over-the-top customer service that sets Tokyo apart.
We visited Japan for my brother’s wedding, and were only able to get to DisneySea. However, I can confirm that it is an absolutely amazing park! The cast members are so friendly, the rides are unique and awesome, and the design of the park itself is really one-of-a-kind. We would go back again in an instant, to visit Tokyo Disneyland too.
Although we love Disney World, and normally go every year, I really can’t argue with Tom’s claim that DisneySea is the best Disney park in the world.
Make a trip if you can!
I first visited Tokyo Disney Resort in 2016 and was a LITTLE concerned about the hype, which I understood decently from a long time in Disney fan communities. Well, having visited 3 years in a row now, suffice it to say that it met or exceeded my HIGH expectations in most ways that matter. We first visited during the 2nd half of a week-long Tokyo trip. The city was so wonderful that we could have skipped Disney and still had an amazing time. TDR was astounding. I don’t want to heap too much hyperbole and take the hype to a new level, but in short, Sindbad, Fortress Explorations, Dreamlights, and Hunny Hunt all particularly blew me away. Journey to the Center of the Earth and Monsters, Inc. did not live up to their hype for me, but still offered many good qualities. Basically, having dreamed of going to Japan since I was 4, before I knew they had a Disneyland, finally getting there was incredible, Disney was icing on that cake, and my Japan bucket list continues to grow. We’ve also since visited Sendai and traveled to Hokkaido for the Sapporo Snow Festival and look forward to returning for more adventures in Japan at large and Tokyo Disney Resort.
Trying to put into a comment what Tokyo DL meant for me is not as easy as I thought it would be… I’ve done a lot of traveling and always brushed off Japan until I fell in love with the Disney parks and visiting the Tokyo parks became a top priority. After visiting in November of 2017, if I had to go back in time, I would have visited Japan before I visited Europe, SE Asia, South America or Africa. It’s only 1 of 2 countries I feel a STRONG urge to revisit (the other being Vietnam) (I say strong as I would go back to places like France or South Africa but no rush)
So for me, Tokyo DL served as the gateway drug for the rest of Japan and I’m sure glad something got me there sooner than later! Japan is a hard place to describe and even pictures do not do it justice. Its something that really must be seen with your own eyes and felt with your own energies.
For me, I’m a new Disney fanatic (within the past 2 years) so I have not lost any “magic” within the parks. I’m already experienced with traveling all over so the same barriers that others might be facing- people like you and I do not face
I would kind of like it if you did a poll and ask people what they feel is the #1 barrier to not traveling abroad for a Disney park?
A lot of times what people think are barriers can easily be helped with guidance from others that have been there/done that and it might help ease your “guilt” at feeling like you are not helping others visit the international parks… Also, their answer might really just be “Do Not Have the Desire to Visit International Theme parks” vs Time/Money/Fear
I’m not sure how to help anyone with the time one if they really are not able to take a week off of work, but the money one can easily be addressed using airline and hotel miles gained from playing the credit card game and the fear part could easily be addressed with a complete step by step, more in depth planning system for international travel?
Lol, if for some chance you do a poll… also make one of the answers “I’ve been to one of the international parks”
I know there is an Explorers Club for people that have visited over 100 countries…there should be an Explorers Club for International Disney park goers 😉
YES!!! What an awesome idea! That would be so much fun 🙂
I’ve just completed last March my mission of going to every Disney park, but I’m going back to TDR in October with a friend who was a bit hesitant and needed a buddy (twist my rubber arm, right?!?).
I’m not sure if something is wrong with how the site is displaying comment but I read comments on this post earlier and there seemed to have been more? All of them were helpful, including one that was a bit of a healthy debate about WDW’s current MO. I was going to read them to my wife to fuel my argument that we should plan a trip to TDR. The ticker at the top says 35 comments but I can only see 7? When I click “older comments” I can see only one other. I tried it on mobile also = same results. Hope this is helpful.
I really appreciate your posts about TDR and absolutely view them as useful information; as far as I know you are the only site that covers all the international parks for an American audience. There are plenty of other blogs out there that cover WDW (which is not to say that you don’t bring your own unique take to WDW news/analysis) and I really feel that the international coverage sets your blog apart.
I actually visited Tokyo DisneySea a few years ago (for a single day) and was not adequatedly prepared for the park at all; as a result I had a good day, but not a great visit. After reading your blogs I am eager to re-do my trip to TDR – my wife and I decided to forgo a Disney trip this year in order to do a four-day stay at TDR in 2019. I hope you continue to post about TDR in the next year as we plan our trip and inspire others to also make the trip!
Same thing happened to me, Andrew. I followed my husband to Tokyo in October 2012 (he was on business) and realized while I was there that our hotel offered a free shuttle to TDR so I figured I’d check it out and went to DisneySea. Boy, was I unprepared, but I was flabbergasted by the park and still had a great day. When I got home and started reading up on it, I realized everything I did wrong, LOL! Going back this coming October and I’m so prepared now! Can’t wait 🙂
We went 6 years ago with our then 6 and 2 year old. The only bad thing was the jet lag. We are from the southeast though. It took us about a week to feel normal. The parks were beautiful! Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Kyoto were very kid friendly. I would just not plan a lot of activity the first few days so you can adjust to the time. Yes, if at all possible, go visit Japan!
I could write a whole diatribe about WDW in its current state, (a good chunk of which would be devoted to guest behavior) but the tl;dr version would be “Want to recapture the Disney Magic? Visit Efteling.”
In all seriousness, that park is awesome, and I think if you visited you would fall in love as well.
I’d love to visit DIsneySea, but so far it’s being trapped in a narrow tube for 20+ hours with 300 germy strangers that has stood in my way (8 hours from the east coast is about my max at the moment).
I have only been to Tokyo DisneySea but I was blown away by the level of detail in everything they do. The attractions really are good but the immersion is what makes the difference.
Sinbad was quite the surprise, there was nobody in line and I had my own boat so I thought it was going to be a dud. However, it was really quite spectacular and stuck in my head even though I don’t know anything about the Japanese language.
I wish the Tower of Terror would have included the fifth dimension scene but the new narrative is arguably better than the standard one. For Indy, it was really quite weird seeing Harrison Ford talk Japanese.
I love hearing about your trips to Japan. It’s not feasible for my family right now (flying to Asia from the east coast of the US with a pre-schooler and a toddler is not really setting anyone up for success), but if we are still interested say, ten years from now, it’s something I would definitely consider. For people stuck on a teacher/school schedule, I’m assuming a trip to Japan and TDR would be less expensive than a week aboard the DCL, and I’d much rather spend the money to do Japan. My goal is to do spring break in Tokyo when my kids are old enough to handle the travel!
I think the daunting/unrelatable thing about a trip to Japan for a lot of people is the travel and time commitment. Most people aren’t travel bloggers (which I’m assuming you guys are full time by now??) and don’t have unlimited vacation time off from work. A trip to Asia is just not possible for a lot of people from a time off perspective. A trip to Orlando, on the other hand, at least for us East Coasters, is easily done in a long weekend if that’s all the time we can spare. Perhaps that’s ultimately why people are so “outraged” at your Japan posts – they’re just jealous they can’t do Orlando, Asia, Europe, and a cruise all in one year 🙂 And I’m sure it’s difficult for those people to understand that travel blogging, like any job, also has it’s challenges and drawbacks.
Keep doing what you’re doing – I’ve been enjoying it since some of your first posts…even if it’s now a lot harder to relate to you guys and your lifestyle. Thanks for all that you do!
I went to Tokyo Disney Resort September 2017 and it was an amazing experience. Here are just some of my top reasons to go:
1. Sindbad! It is worth the trip just to ride this over and over. Plus it never has any wait!
2. People have to sit down for parades. You are not allowed to hold cameras above your head or wear large hats during shows. And it is actually enforced! It was so refreshing to actually be able to see performances without having to defend a good spot.
3. The parks are SO clean. It rained one morning, and while waiting for the parks to open the cast members were inside the gates sweeping the rain off the ground and hand-drying the benches in the park.
4. The cast members (and people in Japan in general) are amazing. We saw one guest open up a park map, and within seconds a cast member was running over to them to see if they needed help. I had never seen anything like it before.
5. The parks go all out of holidays. We were there the first week of the Halloween season and the decorations, shows, food, everything was amazing. And no up charge parties either!
Japan and Tokyo Disney Resort, are amazing places to visit. If you can afford the trip, absolutely go!
Oh my gosh! You’re top 5 are my top 5…and you spelled Sindbad correctly! The resort is pure Disney magic…just the perfect place to experience Disney.
I am also wondering about the availability of gluten free food at TDR, and just in general in Japan. We have 2 family members with Celiac so knowing we have safe food is a must before we travel anywhere. Does anyone have any experience eating gluten free at TDR?