A few of chances are you’ll be questioning in regards to the enchantment of visiting a theme park in Japan when you possibly can go to related ones again in North America. I used to be on the fence about it myself throughout a March Break journey to Japan with associates – with so little time and a lot to see, I used to be initially hesitant on spending a full day or two at a theme park.

On the similar time, mixing in theme park time with visiting varied cultural sights gave the children one thing to essentially look ahead to. In the long run, we went and had an pleasurable expertise, and I don’t remorse it in any respect.

Listed here are my ideas on our go to to Tokyo DisneySea, which is one among two theme parks we visited on the journey. It’s not meant to be an exhaustive information to the park, however ought to help you in planning and maximizing your go to, with some data chances are you’ll not simply discover elsewhere. 

Tokyo DisneySea

Tokyo Disney Resort is comprised of two theme parks: Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea. Each Disney parks are distinctive, however Tokyo Disneyland has many similarities to Disneyland in California, with the enduring citadel and related rides like Splash Mountain, It’s A Small World, and Area Mountain, simply to call a number of.

DisneySea, for essentially the most half, is exclusive, with a marine theme. Provided that we solely had a restricted period of time, we settled for DisneySea this time.

Tokyo Disney Resort is situated within the Tokyo Bay space, barely faraway from the downtown core. You may simply attain Tokyo Disney Resort on Tokyo’s intensive subway system, which connects straight with the Disney Resort Line.

From our lodge in Ginza, it took just below half-hour to get to Tokyo Disney Resort, after which one other quarter-hour to hop on the Disney Resort Line to succeed in Disney Sea. 

Common Ideas

In case you’re planning on going to Tokyo Disney Resort, contemplate buying your ticket beforehand. It’s not unusual to see days which might be offered out every week or extra upfront.

In case your plans are up within the air, it’s greatest to trace ticket gross sales on the theme park’s webpage, as it is going to present which days are low in tickets or offered out. Remember the fact that particular passes can promote out weeks upfront.

Be warned that theme parks in Japan are very busy. Count on line-ups for the whole lot, together with when ready for rides, shopping for souvenirs, and buying snacks and meals.

In our case, travelling in a gaggle of with different associates helped quite a bit, as the children usually stored one another entertained whereas ready. It’s also possible to break up as much as have some individuals look forward to meals whereas others keep in line for rides. 

You’ll want to obtain the park app earlier than your go to. The app lets you load your tickets as soon as contained in the park, and likewise reveals reside wait instances for sights and eating places.

Shopping for Tickets for Tokyo DisneySea

Tickets for Tokyo DisneySea may be purchased straight from the official Tokyo Disney web site or app, from a reputable third-party web site like Klook, or at any of the massive comfort shops in Japan, like 7-Eleven.

There have been many reviews of individuals having points shopping for their tickets utilizing their North American bank cards from the official web site, so I’d extremely advocate going the Klook route.

Tickets are launched solely two months upfront at exactly 2pm Japan Customary Time day by day. Costs differ relying on the day of the week, with weekends being costlier.

An everyday ticket will price round ¥8,400 ($84 CAD) per grownup, ¥7,000 ($70 CAD) per youth, and ¥5,000 ($50 CAD) per little one.

Timed entry for a later go to to the park or weeknight visits can be found for a less expensive value. There aren’t any multi-day tickets, so in the event you’re planning to spend two days within the park, you’d simply purchase two one-day tickets.

Your ticket is all you’ll want for entry – not like North American parks, park reservations are usually not mandatory. 

Arrival

We have been frankly shocked on the line-ups we encountered after we arrived at Tokyo DisneySea. It was actually a sea of individuals. however at the very least everybody was well mannered and orderly.

If you wish to plan for a day the place it could be rather less busy, try the gang calendar.

We arrived simply earlier than 9am, which is the printed park opening time. Nevertheless, the park usually opens as much as an hour sooner than the printed time, so you possibly can contemplate arriving earlier than then, too.

It took us near an hour in line to get into the park. To get in earlier, contemplate displaying up an hour or an hour and a half earlier than the printed opening time.

In case you’re spending greater than a day at Tokyo Disney Resort, it could make sense to remain at an onsite resort as effectively. Luckily, you could find the Sheraton Grande Tokyo Bay Lodge and the Hilton Tokyo Bay proper exterior the resort.

By 10:30am, the traces had virtually fully dissipated. Though it could be tempting to go later, going early is the one positive technique to reserve Premier Entry passes for the few rides that you should use them on.

In case you’re primarily doing youngsters rides that gained’t require them, then you would contemplate going after 10am, as soon as the mad rush has accomplished.

Premier Entry 

Tokyo Disney Resort removed the acquainted FastPass system in 2020. In 2022, the Disney Premier Entry system was applied as a replacement.

A Premier Entry cross is a pay-per-attraction system that grants you entry to an expedited line for sure common rides. It’s solely accessible for a number of choose experiences at DisneySea, that are as follows:

• Toy Story Mania!
• Tower of Terror
• Journey to the Centre of the Earth
• Souring: Implausible Flight
• Imagine! Sea of Desires

You may solely make your first Premier Entry reserving upon coming into the park. From there, subsequent bookings may be made an hour after the final Premier Entry buy, or after the beginning time of your bought Disney Premier Entry, whichever comes first.

Premier Entry passes are restricted, so the later your arrive on the park, the upper risk the passes might be offered out. Passes may be bought by the Tokyo Disney Resort app.

The price of every cross ranges from ¥1,500–2,500 ($15–25 CAD), which comes on prime of your common admission to the park.

Every visitor over the age of three wants their very own cross for an attraction. You may add all members of your group by including their entry tickets into the app, after which purchase passes on your entire group at one time. 

Ideas for Planning a Day at Tokyo DisneySea with Your Household

In case you’re capable of get Premier Entry for any rides, then work your schedule round your trip passes. In case you can, divide your group to line up for for rides, popcorn stands, meals stalls, eating places, or memento retailers.

There are many cute and yummy snacks to maintain the children going whereas they wait in traces. Talking of snacks, there are as much as 20 completely different flavours of popcorn to strive!

The traces for teenagers rides have been cheap, and solely took round half-hour. Popcorn and meals stalls had related wait instances; nonetheless, rides for older youngsters and adults may have wait instances of as much as three hours!

Travelling as a gaggle actually has its perks. Typically, we’d divide and conquer. One set of adults would take the children on rides, whereas the opposite adults lined up for meals or took benefit of single-rider traces.

Single-rider traces can vastly lower down on wait instances. For instance, we waited a complete of 5 minutes to get onto a trip that in any other case had over a two-hour wait.

Single-rider traces are solely accessible for 2 rides at Tokyo DisneySea:

• Indiana Jones Journey: Temple of the Crystal Cranium
• Raging Spirits

There’s additionally a Rider Change service, which permits friends to take turns ready with youngsters or friends unable to trip resulting from trip necessities with no need to line up once more.

Not like in North America, the place the visitor ready with the kid can take one or two different friends on the trip with them, Tokyo DisneySea solely permits the visitor ready to go on the trip. 

Conclusion

Throughout a March Break journey to Japan, we had a good time at Tokyo DisneySea alongside a number of different households. 

Whereas we have been a bit stunned on the prolonged traces at first, we determined to divvy up our group to maintain the children entertained, fed, and rested throughout a busy day. 

In case you’re heading to Tokyo DisneySea as a household, you’ll need to purchase your tickets upfront and think about using Premier Entry to chop down on wait instances for the preferred rides.

In the long run, I’m joyful that we determined so as to add a theme-park go to to our journey to Japan.