ARE VACATION PACKAGES WORTH IT?

This has been asked so many times so it's best to address it.  This is just a guide and  you have to make the decision if it's the best way to experience Tokyo Disneyland Resort  for your family.

Accommodation Toy Story vs Sheraton

Sheraton has a bigger room and better amenities; the breakfast is also better. On the other hand, the attention to detail they put in for Toy Story is top notch, and who's going to love walking around and admiring the decorations? Everyone is staying in the room, right?

Monorail

The monorail for trips to and from the parks is awesome; I highly recommend getting the multi-day pass. The monorail isn’t free and is cash only. 

Park Experience

There are age and height restrictions so be very selective of our DPA choices but with a happy entry, you can smile all day plus the perks included.

Here’s why getting VP is worth it!

1) You’ll be guaranteed to enter FS.

2) Unlimited DPA inside FS.

3) Drinks are included, and that includes specialty drinks. Try all the specialty drinks at FS and a handful at DL and DS.

40th Anniversary Priority Pass

This will probably not be a benefit forever, or maybe it will switch to a different name. However, this is essentially the same system as Disney World’s Genie+, but it’s free! You can reserve one skip-the-line at a time, and then reserve a second one in 2 hours or when it’s time for your first one, whichever comes first. You can average 2-3 of these a day, as they do run out fast.

Immediately when you enter the park, use the app to select your first priority pass. Do this before any Disney premiere access (DPA available for a fee) or entry requests.

Please note, Indiana Jones Adventure and Raging Spirits both have extremely quick single rider lines. In general, the priority pass is a lot more helpful at Disneyland compared to DisneySea.

The Tokyo Disney app will give you QR codes for both the 40th anniversary priority pass and DPA (next). These QR codes are scanned at the attraction in order to access. This is different from the physical attraction tickets discussed previously.

Disney Premiere Access (DPA is available for a fee)

For the most popular rides, you can pay to reserve your spot. This is similar to the Genie+ paid rides at Disney World. However, with the Vacation Package, you might not use this service since you got attraction tickets withthe Vacation Package for all of these rides. I would recommend doing this immediately after your first 40th anniversary priority pass in the app. You can select a DPA for each available ride. This includes Beauty and the Beast, the Happy Ride with Baymax, Splash Mountain, Soarin’, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Tower of Terror.

Entry Requests

Some of the entertainment offerings require a lottery system to get to see the show. You can request to watch a show. If it gives you a barcode that means you are in! Use that barcode later to enter the show. I would recommend doing any entry requests after you reserve your first priority pass and any DPA. If it tells you “ We are sorry we could not arrange the experience you requested” then that means you were not selected to see the show. This whole process is a lottery and just based on luck. You can only request once, so that is why you cannot submit an entry request anymore for the same show even if it is on a different time.

Character Meets (Get lucky)

Tuesday: Mickey and crew were out the front of Disneyland near the entrance at 2pm. Pinocchio and crew was 4.30pm and the mad hatter was 5.30pm.

Friday: Cinderella at Disneyland, Mary Poppins and all the princess type characters were out between 2-4pm.

There is no announcement. There is no line, you just crowd around them and they seem to work their way around people in a circular way and do as many interactions as they can in the allotted time they are out. 

Vacation Package VS Just Staying Onsite:

CROWDS: Both the entrance lines and the 3+ hour queues for certain rides are just nuts - at one point there were 200 for Space Mountain, 205 for Tower of Terror and 210 for Soaring nothing compared to California and WDW. BUT, don’t let this discourage you - it’s manageable with Happy Entry and DPA. You just need to make a plan for the big rides in each park, the 4-5 that have the huge lines and get there before they open. Lined up all those DPA and 40th passes for all the other big rides and the parade. In between, explore, shop, eat, and go on a bunch of other rides with short wait times (most of Fantasyland, Adventureland and Westerland never had long waits. Virtually everything else was 20 min or less.

Because VP are bookable before regular hotel rooms. They also come with breakfast and pre-booked fast passes. It's convenient. Yes, Disney hotel stays will get access to a separately purchased Fantasy Springs Passport, but it is included in the price of a VP. Also, if you really want to stay at Miracosta and Fantasy Springs hotels, they will be booked up most likely by the time single night hotel reservations open up. Truthfully the packages are overpriced , but they provide a lot of convenience. Also the only way to get the unlimited 1 day passport to Fantasy Springs if you are not staying at the FS hotel is through a VP. So that is guaranteed access to FP with premier access to all but 1 ride.

If you're looking for a once in a lifetime trip though VP is definitely more expensive, the guaranteed access to Fantasy Springs and ability to include a few premium access reservations in the package are totally worth it.

Drink Tickets

Multiple drink tickets also means you can get specialty drinks for yourself and something less adventurous for hubby and the kids. Another perk of drink tickets is you don’t have to wait in line at restaurants that only take mobile orders or are at capacity - just show them the drink tickets and you can walk in, get your free drink, get a table and wait for your food order.

Are there any shows you can see without an entry request or reservations? They do accept people just lining up, not all shows but some.

Do you request entry for every show available on the day hoping you get selected for one or do you choose one show you think is most appropriate and just try for that one? You can only try for an entry request once for each show that requires an entry request. So if you try for one and don’t get one you can definitely try for another show. When you pick the show you want, it will show you the available time slots for that show. You pick your time preference and it will let you know if you are denied or accepted.

Tokyo Disney Resort App

In 3 days time we will be at Disney, should I register now in the DS app? You can scan the QR code from your tickets into the app at any time. Set up your tickets by scanning them in but note you won’t be able to access any of the DPA or 40 anniversary until you have literally scanned through the gate and entered the park.

Vacation Package Kit

You will receive a package kit in a folder that contains a TON of tickets. This includes tickets for the parks, attraction tickets, and tickets for other perks, such as popcorn buckets and drink vouchers. It can be  a bit overwhelming to be handed so many individual tickets. Make sure you have a way to keep track of these. Go through all of them, and only take the ones that you would need for the first day. Leave the rest in your luggage and sort them in the evening.

Once you get the park tickets, you can scan them into the Tokyo Disneyland app. Do this before entering the park, so you can immediately begin reserving Disney Premiere Access, 40th anniversary priority pass, and entry requests upon entering the park.

There may be other tickets in your vacation package or perks you might be surprised about so make sure to check everything. The kit will include a voucher for a popcorn bucket and one refill of popcorn. Simply take the ticket up to any popcorn stand in the parks.

You will have drink vouchers. These could be used for a variety of cupped beverages at different drink stands around the parks, and they are unlimited!

There might also be vouchers for shoulder bags. These could be redeemed at the store inside the Toy Story Hotel.

And vouchers for original goods that can be redeemed at the store inside the hotel. There is a preselected list of souvenirs that you can choose from like a giant bag charm,  a towel handkerchief and others.

It will also include vouchers for breakfast on the mornings of days 2 and 3, at the hotel.

Park Access with Vacation Package and Happy Entry (for those staying at Disney hotels)

Example of Vacation Package

The Vacation Package will have parks you can visit each day.

Example:

• Day 1 was DisneySea
• Day 2 was Disneyland
• Day 3 was DisneySea.

There is no park hopping, unless a separate ticket is purchased for the other park on the day you want to hop. DisneySea is absolutely the park you should spend 2 days at, even if you are a frequent visitor to Walt Disney World or Disneyland.

Anyone staying at certain Disney hotels get access to Happy Entry, which is a 15-minute head start into the park. The main advantage to this is that it allows you to bypass the massive queue of people waiting to enter. Happy Entry is a separate entrance entirely. At the Toy Story Hotel, you only get this benefit at the Disneyland park.

However, the more expensive hotels give you this benefit at both parks. Please note, you can’t use the Happy Entry on your first day no matter what! Happy Entry is available on day 2, and will definitely help you get a head start from the crowds.

Tokyo Disney Parade

If it's raining very lightly the parade may continue and you'll see some characters in raincoats. At Tokyo Disneyland there's a parade that happens at night if it's lightly raining called Nightfall Glow, it's rare.

If you want a designated reserved seat, you pay. If not, just find a spot along the parade route and enjoy.

How long are the parades? Parades last about 45 minutes. From November 15 through December 25, 2024, Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights will be presented in a special version exclusively for the Christmas event period. (DPA available for a fee)

Vacation Package Options (May change from time to time)

A summary of the various vacation packages available. It may change from time to time but I think they broadly come down to two decisions to make:  how many nights on property you want to stay, and which hotel (theming; happy entry benefit) you’re interested in.

All packages include a magic passport ticket for Fantasy Springs (a port/area within DisneySea) for one day, so regardless of the package chosen you’re guaranteed access to Fantasy Springs and priority access to its rides, as much as you want as of this writing.

All packages include hotel breakfast and a few other incidentals (special popcorn bucket, drinks voucher, etc.).

One-Night Stay +

“Enjoy Attractions” —

One day at Disneyland (TDL), with 3 rides pre booked. One day at DisneySea/Fantasy Springs (TDS/FS), with 2 TDS rides pre booked.

“Enjoy Attractions & More” — One day at TDL, with 2 rides pre booked plus a meet-and-greet with Mickey or Minnie. One day at TDS/FS, with 1 TDS ride pre booked. Option to pre book lunch and/or dinner at the park or at Disney hotel restaurants, for each park day.

Two-Night Stay +

“Enjoy Attractions” — One day at TDL, with 3 rides pre booked. One day at TDS/FS, with 2 TDS rides pre booked. One day at TDS (no guaranteed FS access on this day), with 3 TDS rides pre booked.

“Enjoy Attractions & More” — One day at TDL, with 2 rides pre booked plus a meet-and-greet with Mickey or Minnie. One day at TDS/FS, with 2 TDS rides pre booked. One day at TDS (no guaranteed FS access on this day), with 2 TDS rides pre booked. Option to pre book lunch and/or dinner at the park or at Disney hotel restaurants, for each park day.

“Enjoy Attractions Even More” — One day at TDL.  One day at TDS/FS. Unlimited access to rides (see comment with picture for which ones). Option to pre book lunch and/or dinner at the park or at Disney hotel restaurants, for each park day.

If you book the “Even More” package, yet no meet-and-greet, then that’s what you get as it changes from time to time. There’s no need to pre book rides because they’re ALL unlimited!

Tokyo Disney Tips

• Identify the main rides you want to experience, in order of preference, but don’t be too disappointed if you don’t get them.
• Jump on those DPAs and PP as soon as you can.
• Plan your meals, and book early (and also check out the menus).
• Just go in and feel the joy

How to Book Tokyo Disney Resort Vacation Package

This will include everything I learned during the process, but you decide if the vacation package is worth the price tag.

You can book vacation packages 4 months before your first day at the park, on the first day of that month. So, if the first day in the park is March 10, you can book on November 1. During the booking process, there are a few things to do. It allows select attractions when booking “Enjoy Lots of Attractions- 3 Days.” This package allows 3-day access to the parks and 3 attraction tickets per day.

Tokyo Disney Update: Vacation Package reservations from December 28, 2024 to January 3, 2025 will be accepted from 3:00 p.m. on July 9, 2024.

Tokyo Disney Room Only reservations for stays on December 31, 2024 and January 1, 2025 will be accepted from 11:00 a.m. of the same day four months prior to your stay.

***Dates are subject to change.

Check-in at your Hotel (for those with vacation packages)

The first day of your stay, I would recommend using early check-in, which is allowed for vacation package users. This allows you to check-in at your hotel early (7 am example at the Toy Story hotel) and still make it to the park before it opens. This is extremely important in Tokyo, as people gather early at the front gate of the park. On the day of your check-in, you will not qualify for Happy Entry . You won’t be able to access your room until 4:30, but you will receive your package kit and will be able to drop off your luggage.

Please note, the staff at the hotel might seem slightly confused if you show up at 7 am on the day of check-in, but just tell them you have a vacation package, and you want to check-in early.

Vacation Package kit /  Vouchers

Vouchers are basically credit card or ID size. Buy a lanyard and attach 3 plastic card sleeves to it. Beverage coupons in one, and ride passes and park tickets. 3 plastic sleeves would have been ideal. Separate each little coupon and take the ones needed for the day.

For Vacation Package - you can try to pick up your package folder the night before the VP starts or the earliest morning of the day of stay if planning to enter the park early. Earliest in the morning might be ideal and recommended. Go to the ‘ticketing line’ that is to the left of the check in counters.

When you get your package, scan the park tickets into your app, then send a request to the other parties in your group so they have access to all tickets. This way they can also book rides for the whole group.

Happy Entry - 100% makes a difference. The Happy Entry line starts at 8:30. If you join the queue at 8:20am it will be fine getting into the park but does put you behind in accessing the 40th anniversary passes, and probably DPA (fast passes).

If your breakfast starts at 6:30am / 6:40am, and be in line about an hour before Happy Entry starts you won't wait in line too long before moving to security. There, you are spread out across all the entry turnstiles. Time goes quickly and at 8am, the cast members come out and the characters come and wave to the crowd.

Rope drop and ride strategy - for DL, go to Baymax. For DS,  go for Toy Story Mania first on both days, then go to Tower of Terror which is nearby. Toy Story opens at 8:30am and Tower Of Terror opens at 9am. During this time, characters will be at the end of the shops and people may stop to interact with them.

40th anniversary passes -  you can book another one as soon as the time for your ride has commenced. E.g, if you booked Indiana at 8:15am for 9am even though there is a 1 hour window to return to Indiana, you can book another at 9am. This meant we were about to get another pass for around 10:30-11am, then another in the afternoon. For all days, we managed 3 passes before the passes ran out.

Fantasy Springs - if you get one day included as free access, make the most of it. If you intend to take a break and come back in the late afternoon/evening, it may be  busy but it really depends on the day and season. More especially, the Frozen line may ridiculously be busy as day goes by so plan your day.

Regardless of how many people try for DPA or Standby passes, the system will only allow one type of pass per ticket. So you can have 1 DPA, 1 SB, 1 40th at the same time for each ticket.

If you arrive at the hotel around 9:00 AM - no line to pick up the package.  There is an interesting rule - if you check in when you pick up the package, your room won’t be ready until 4:30.  You can purchase small zippered, waterproof bags from Amazon to put each day's tickets in - that worked really great -  takes only a few minutes to organize them.

To save time, you can buy a two to four day monorail ticket before heading to Disneyland.  Sometimes, if you get there around 10 AM - there's no line for entry and tons of characters inside the entrance. Good luck!

You can definitely pick up your vacation package the night before however you are only able to check in the day of your reservation. It seems as though each hotel has their own start time of when you can check in. For Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, check in as early as 6 am. For Disney Ambassador Hotel, you can check in as early as 7:30am and check out was not until 12pm.

Check in 3:00 PM / Check out 12 noon

Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Hotel

Tokyo Disneyland Hotel

Disney Ambassador Hotel

Tokyo Disney Hotel Miracosta

Tokyo Disney Resort Toy Story Hotel

Check in 3:00 PM / Check out 11 AM

Tokyo Disney Celebration Hotel

If you dress up Pooh themed, you might get lucky with a hug from Wennie the Pooh!

Vacation Package Vouchers / Apps / Steps

Install Disney Tokyo Resort Apps

Reminder - In User Registration, Don't leave any space in your "FIRST NAME"

***Example. For Mr. Chan Tai Man, his FIRST NAME requires filling in “Taiman”. If you fill in “Tai Man”, the process of purchasing DPA will be "stuck" during credit card verification. Then you have to change your name immediately. It is necessary to avoid sending time to do so when you are rushing for the attractions.

Still lots to see and do at Disney Sea for younger kids. For rides like Indiana Jones, the roller coaster and journey to the Center of the Earth, they give you a wrist band and you need to meet certain markers to ride “thrill rides”, most are at 117cm ??

Upload all the purchased tickets into your Disney Mobile Apps via scanning ticket barcodes.

(If there are two adults and two children in a family of four, you can first ask Adult A to install Apps and upload four tickets. Another Adult B only needs to register another Disney Apps User. Then Adult A adds Adult B into the "friend group". After entering the park, adult A can get SP (Standby Pass)  and adult B can buy DPA at the same time. It can save 1 minute which is critical for those popular attractions.

Fantasy Springs - The super popular new area in Disney Sea, just opened in 2023. It is also the only area that requires crowd control. The four attractions in it are called Frozen (Anna and Elsa's Frozen Journey), Rapunzel (Rapunzel's Lantern Festival), Peter Pan (Peter Pan's NeverLand Adventure) and Tinker Bell (Fairy Tinker Bell's Busy Buggies). The meaning of crowd control is: visitors who do not have a DPA or SP are not allowed to enter this area.

Standby Pass - This is actually a "queuing permit" and only for the attractions in "Fantasy Springs". If you don’t want to spend money to experience attractions in the new park, you must obtain SP so you can queue. However, SP is only “allowed to queue” and there will be no shortcut in the waiting queue. Stand-by Pass (SP) is distributed according to time period. The earlier the SP you obtain, the earlier the time period you can get. You cannot choose the time period.

***Review: However, there is something special about SP. In the morning, the time to wait for four new attractions with SP is only 20 minutes or less. However, if the SP period is in the afternoon, the waiting time will be more than 60 minutes. Therefore, if you use SP to experience FANTASY attractions during morning, the waiting time will not be much longer than that of DPA.

Attraction Tickets (only for those with vacation packages)

With the vacation package selected, it also has the option to select 3 attraction tickets for each day. These are essentially FastPass reservations, like Disney World used to do. The difference is that not all attractions have a designated time, and some of the tickets don’t even have a designated attraction. When you select, you will have 3 options for each ticket.

1. The most popular attractions (Beauty and the Beast, Soarin’), you will have to select a time to experience the attraction.

2. The slightly less popular attractions (Journey to the Center of the Earth, Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain, etc.) you will be able to experience at any time. Options 1 and 2 on this list are the same attractions that qualify for Disney Premiere Access

3. Eligible attractions. These tickets can be used for any attractions from a list. Some of these include haunted mansion, monsters Inc: ride and go seek, 20,000 leagues under the sea, and Indiana jones adventure. These tickets can be used for any eligible attraction at any time. This is the same list of attractions that is available for the 40th anniversary priority pass.

You can select any combination of these 3 options for each of your days in the parks.

Note: If I could go back, I would have done Tower of Terror again on day 3, instead of one of my eligible attractions. Because the eligible attractions were available on the 40th anniversary priority pass, I was able to book these pretty easily, separate from my attraction tickets that were part of my vacation package.

AND attraction tickets are physical tickets that come in the package kit that must be presented at each ride in order to access it.

Basically, if all the Rapunzel SP have been distributed around 10:00 am. In the FANTASY area, only Peter Pan’s SPs will be available but the time period is late afternoon.

You have to work on a strategy when booking Tokyo Disney Resort.

Tokyo Disney Resort Hotels Inside The Theme Park

Tokyo DisneySea Fantasy Springs Hotel

A park integrated Disney hotel situated near the magical springs in Fantasy Springs, the eight themed port at Tokyo DisneySea. This hotel comprises 2 buildings: Grand Chateau, “ luxury type” and Fantasy Chateau, “deluxe type.”

Fantasy Springs

Fantasy Springs is beautiful, bigger rooms and luxurious, and on-site at DisneySea and that means it's easier to head back to room during the day for a small break. Convenience if you get tired at the parks. Fantasy Springs Hotel has a great little shop for snacks and drinks.

Fantasy Springs is located way in the back of the park so if you have family members who may have difficulties walking far I would recommend renting a wheelchair. You can rent one from the front of the park and it’s located near the south entrance of Disney sea. It has a red & white striped canopy & it only costs 500 yen for the whole day. For families with young kids who are not planning on traveling with a stroller, you can also rent a stroller there as well.

***Just a tip, for fantasy springs even though you get the fantasy springs wristband passport, make sure you have easy access to your Disney seat/Fantasy Springs park ticket as they make you scan it to enter the park and when you enter the priority line for each ride. There is only one entry point. Entry on the left side and the exit on the right side.

Tokyo Disneyland Hotel

A few steps from the dreams and magic of Tokyo Disneyland.  This Disney hotel faces Tokyo Disneyland Park with the Disney resort line station building located in between the hotel is filled with fantasy features and a gorgeous Victorian style atmosphere and an interior sprinkled with Disney motifs. Tokyo Disneyland Hotel has character themed rooms.

Disney Ambassador Hotel

Stay near both Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea in an ambience filled with Disney friends. This is a Disney hotel themed to America in the 1930s during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Disney character motifs will bring a smile to your face. Ambassador Hotel has character themed rooms.

Tokyo DisneySea Hotel Miracosta

Tokyo DisneySea Hotel Miracosta is situated right inside Tokyo DisneySea. Guests can spend the night still immersed in the fun and fantasy they experience that day at the park. Guests have direct access to the park through the Hotel/Park Gateway, a special entrance for hotel guests only.

If you stay in Miracosta Harbour View, you can open the window with a very small gap to let the sound in when watching the parade in your room. It is just perfect!

Parade was at 8:15PM and lasted just under 30 mins

Tokyo Disney Resort Toy Story Hotel

A Disney and Pixar Toy Story film series theme. Toy Story feels more 'budget' (smaller rooms, basic amenities) but the theming is very cute.

Toy story is fully themed out, fun for kids to take pics, but small rooms, and you walk to monorail, short ride, then walk to DisneySea.  Takes a while to go back and take a break.

Toy Story has one theme for all its rooms.

Tokyo Disney Celebration Hotel

Enjoy a simple stay with all the dreams and adventures of the park. This hotel offers a casual resort stay with a simple service style.

Happy Entry (HE)

OPENING / HAPPY ENTRY TIMES:

Park opens at 9:00, and Happy Entry was listed as 8:30. If you get in line at about 7:55 there might be just a dozen people ahead of you. But, of course,  time will tell. If you are concerned, arrive early then and be the first in line. With a happy entry, you get into the parks 15 min early. But there are 2 other enormous advantages:

There are separate queues for happy entry people. So when you see the massive lines of people lining up 2-3 hours before open, you get to just walk around them. This is massively different from California for example, where everyone uses the same entrance. There’s also a huge advantage for booking DPA and 40th passes. Obviously you can’t book these until you scan in, but take into consideration booking the 2nd, 3rd or even 4th pass. If you show up to the park even just 35 min after opening, the Happy Entry folks have already made 2 DPA and maybe two 40th bookings before you even get into the park. Make sense?

You have to show your HE pass to a cast member and they will direct you where you go. Happy entry probably gives you 4-5 of the top rides without long lines or paying for them. The app gives you great info on ride wait times so you can pick your poison.

How and where to buy the premiere pass? It can only be bought when you get inside the park, through the Disneyland app.

Happy entry is not part of the vacation package. Happy Entry is a hotel benefit. Toy Story has never had a Happy Entry to Disney Sea. At Toy Story, you are paying less than the other hotels because it doesn’t have the same level of inclusions.

Disneyland used to have Happy Entry but they stopped it when fantasy springs opened. Disneyland Hotel is the biggest hotel so it could be they are trying to limit the amount of people trying to get a happy entry for Disney Sea. Happy Entry is available for all Disney hotels. However, Happy Entry to Disney Sea is ONLY available for Fantasy Springs hotel, MiraCosta and Ambassador hotel.

***You do NOT get a Happy Entry at any Disney hotel on check in day.

Happy Entry does NOT guarantee entry to fantasy springs. You still need to get passes (standby or DPA) for a ride or as many rides as you can to enter the area. You can NOT just line up. You need a pass for every ride unless you have a vacation package. Vacation Packages have the magic passport ticket that gives unlimited and guaranteed access to Fantasy Springs.

DPA - Disney Premier Access (available for a fee)

DPA - Disney Premier Access - simply say it is a "paid fast pass", which is an extraordinary means that can greatly reduce queue time and is shorter wait than stand-by. Each DPA per person ranges from 1,500 to 2,000 yen more or less.

According to experience, FROZEN’s DPA will be ALL SOLD OUT within 30 minutes after the park opens. Rapunzel DPA will also be SOLD OUT about two hours after the park opens. Peter Pan’s DPA can still be purchased at 1:17 p.m. but it is already dusk. If visitors just come late and cannot get any SP, they can still go into FANTASY Springs by buying Peter Pan’s DPA.

The attraction Tinker Bell is special in arrangement. It is a ride that does not have DPA but requires SP to queue up, so first-time tourists often choose to skip this attraction.

To buy DPA, you have to pay online. It is probably more convenient to use the credit card confirmed by Face ID than the SMS verification code, because when changing roaming cards , it will affect the receipt of the verification code SMS. On the other hand, please also note that Face ID is relatively easy to malfunction in dark places. If you are queuing for attractions such as "Journey to the Center of the Earth", you may get stuck. Check text messages before buying with text code confirmation. Teach each other to see if texting works. Test send text and receive text, both ways to make sure. If you receive text successfully, there will be no problem in credit card online payment.

40th Anniversary Priority Pass

This is a free fast pass. The attractions options for the 40th anniversary are definitely not those that are popular. However, attractions such as Raging Spirits and Indiana Jones Adventure are also worth riding. The waiting time for these two attractions is nearly an hour during peak time. Making good use of the 40th Anniversary Express Pass to plan your itinerary will be a great help.

For the 40th Anniversary Express Pass of the Raging Spirits, Pass Barcode will appear 5 minutes before the event time. That means the 19:40 Express Pass can be entered as early as 19:35. This rule is applicable for all attractions.

Please note that you CANNOT buy another pass immediately after taking the first. But don't worry, simply check the apps as it will show the time you can buy the pass again,

Example: "YOUR NEXT 40th Anniversary Priority can be issued after 11:22" Disney APPS will calculate by itself the time when SP, DPA, and 40th anniversary can be issued again.

First of all, the official opening time is 9:00 AM but mostly TDR will open earlier. For example, the entry time on the day I went was about 8:40. If you are not an "aggressive" visitor, It is recommended to arrive at the gate before 7:30. Then your entry time will be about 20-30 minutes later than the first batch of people who come extremely early.

***With your vacation package,  you will be in a separate line.

Frozen is the most popular attraction in the park. If you don’t want to miss this attraction, it should be a top priority for both SPs and DPAs. You will have much more time to consider other attractions but Frozen really doesn't if you click your select button slowly.

If you are the earliest batch of people to enter the park, after entering, you first draw SP or buy DPA to experience Frozen, Rapunzel and Peter Pan. There is a high chance that the time period you will get is the time period after 10:00 am. Therefore, when one person in the family is concentrating on their mobile phone. Other family members can drag this phubber to "Toy Story Mania!" and experience this popular item that will have long queues later.

If your primary goal is to complete the three major FANTASY rides and you don’t want to arrive too early, the following is the recommended steps after scanning the entry tickets

Arrive at DISNEYSEA around 7:30 am, and you should be able to enter the park about 20-30 minutes after it opens.

Other members of the family "drag" the "administrator" who was handling the mobile apps, to queue up for Toy Story.

The Administrator should not be responsible for leading the way. He or she should use a mobile phone to obtain Frozen SP first. If the Standby Pass is not available, buy Frozen DPA without hesitation.

If you successfully draw Frozen SP, buy Rapunzel DPA. If Frozen SP is all distributed and you can only buy Frozen DPA, buy Frozen DPA to draw Rapunzel SP. (If you try this according to my recommendations and have the expected result. Please let me know and I will be happy.)

The advantage of the above recommended plan is that in addition to experiencing all the main attractions of FANTASY Springs, you have already experienced the two most important rides in the zone AMERICAN WATERFRONT before going to FANTASY Springs.

DPA and PRIORITY PASSES are first come first served passes.

With priority passes you have to wait to get into the main gate and you can’t get priority or premier access until your QR code is scanned at the gate. They are under Premier Access and Standby pass

I’ve heard there's some people who were able to get DPA while still on the disney rail and got standby for Peter Pan while on queue going inside the park. It's a hit and miss. Find it out yourself and let me know if you're able to. 

Stand-by Passes (SP)

You only need a standby pass if that store is releasing new merchandise. For example, this shop just releases new keychains so, yes, a standby pass is required. In comparison, if the store is marked as required and if you click on the store, it does not say standby required because no new merchandise is currently being released.

It definitely had the most Duffy merchandise but a lot of the cute stuff is available in the main gift shops and around. FYI to check the restaurants too! They have some exclusive merchandise you might discover by clicking on every restaurant. Miguel’s El Dorado Cantina has an adorable Linabell snack box and a lunch bag (only seen at a few restaurants), for example. If you check the app, you can see what the most current status is for each shop.

Print the map at home before you leave for your holiday. It's much easier than the app.

Or you can pick up a paper copy from guest services but you have to ask at guest services for them.

Create Individual and Group Account

You can create a group and invite family members so they can see all the DPAs already pre booked. When you get the tickets, scan them into the app, and family members immediately see them on their account. It comes in extremely handy so when you are trying to get into the DPA line or get into FS, family members can more readily pull out the phone to speed up the process. Also, you can both do a 40th anniversary pass and restaurant mobile order separately.

There’s more than one way to do it. One is by having one account have all the tickets and the other is creating a group. Either way works. It all comes down to who wants to be in charge of booking passes. Remember to create each person traveling together their own Individual Disney Account. It is convenient when creating a group.

To create a group you have to invite individual accounts and that they have to have their own disney account. Once they’re part of the group, then they can see the booked rides, booked disney hotel, etc. If you see them on your account but they only see theirs on their account that means you have not invited them to your group and they only have themselves in their account.

This happens when you scan their tickets in your account.  They are logged into their account on their phone while you are logged into yours but have their tickets in YOUR account. They would need to log off their account and login to your account from their phones and they should see the same thing as you.

Highly recommend delegating tasks to your group. I did DPA, my brother got Standby, while my sister handled restaurant booking. It was super efficient. Tangled has the shortest wait time so choose that for standby if you can and prioritize DPA for Frozen and Tangled.

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo

Girls costumes: Rapunzel, Cinderella, Aurora, Belle, Jasmine, Ariel

Boys costumes: Prince

Mask covered faces are not allowed. You might want to bring your own costumes just in case. If you can get an early appointment it is better. Your 'Princess' will get to walk around the hotel / Disney park for the rest of the day in full costume and all the staff will wave and bow to them like they are a real princess. I recommend buying the socks as after walking for a bit the shoes hurt without socks.

The boutique is located at the DisneyLand Hotel. Bookings open a month from your date of attending Disney. You need to book 1 month ahead. You can book the crown course and bring their own dress.

If BBB in Disneyland Park is closed, there is a Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo at the Disneyland Hotel (outside the park and in front of Disneyland)! The BBB is at The back of the Tokyo Disneyland hotel opposite the monorail station. You can try a walk up appointment as some people may not show up on the day.

Just a heads up: If you are planning to do the package with photoshoot, they ask you to come back after 30 minutes to collect the DVD with photos  on it or they may allow the following day but the collection has to be done by 3pm.

BBB crown course includes make-up, nails and hairdo.

Carriage course doesn’t include a photo shoot. Only the castle does, with the options for additional photos etc.

For walk in/same day appointments, you will need to be flexible with your time options as they will usually give you one or two options to return. Most walk-ins will only allow for the lower package so you may need to already be in the dress of choice. You can buy the dresses right next to BBB in the Disneyland hotel gift shop. They sell all the same dresses with the exception of the deluxe Cinderella one.

The dresses are about $120 (USD) give or take. But one client paid about $340 (USD) total for two dresses and two crown courses. If you are a price shopper, it will be cheaper to buy/bring our own dress (the same ones they sell at BBB) and do the crown course.  Your princess may not wear the shoes for long that come with the other courses and just take your own pictures.

October might be harder but some have done walk in/same day appointments. From what I’ve heard you can be lucky to get bookings on the day if there are cancellations but it’s a gamble for sure. When booking an appointment, use the app on the phone or laptop and to make sure credit card settings allow international online transactions as usually it can be blocked by choice.  Logged in early or at least 5 minutes before it goes live and wait a few minutes to get onto the site, so get on right after it opens. As a backup, also have a laptop if the phone app doesn't work.

Disney Souvenirs

I love the portable scissors that can be easily carried in a purse. They are sharp and come in handy!

Christmas tree decoration and then relive the memories of all trips every year when it's time to dress the Christmas tree.

• Cable elastics
• Mugs
• Sweatshirt
• Pens and notepads,
• notebooks,
• folders,
• pencil case,
• sticky notes
• Rice scooper
• Ramen bowls
• Insulated wine glass
• Tote bags
• Chopsticks
• Mickey Mouse soap dispenser Hand stamp for washing your hands  correctly
• Tokyo Disney Resort pandora’s charm
• Ears holder
• Sunglasses
• Wash cloth
• Umbrella
• The copper penny-type things are a time sensitive cool memento too
• Popcorn bucket- the bucket itself can light up. There is a switch button at the bottom. If you have used your bucket and needed a wash, you need to twist the light out. It looks like a dome and when you wash the bucket, once it's dried you can place the light back and use however you want. This isn't the only bucket that lights up, the Frozen bucket and the new Peter Pan bucket that will be selling at FS will light up as well.

Where is the big popcorn shop? The Big Pop. Number 13 on the map in Disneyland. There is not an aggregate popcorn bucket shop at Disney Sea. One would need to walk around for those. At DS, they have the Duffy and Friends exclusive buckets. Almost everything else can be found at the Big Pop in DL, but not the DS ones.

Disney Restaurants Reservations / Dining Experience

Dining Reservations (for those with vacation packages)

Dining can be booked one month in advance. However, the advantage with vacation package users is that dining for your whole trip can be booked at the same time. This is a big perk because dining reservations can fill up fast. Other visitors will have to login each day to reserve dining.

When you go to reserve, you will login to the Tokyo Disney website, and go to your travel case. This is where you will be shown an itinerary of your stay, and you can select different time periods to reserve dining. This is what I reserved:

For restaurants, (the assumption is no special requirement in foods but you still have to eat, right?) the most popular Royal Banquet of Arendelle in Fantasy Springs and The Snuggly Duckling require you to place an order online first and then set a time slot before you can go in and pick up your meal. It should not be difficult to wait in line at other restaurants, so you can make your own choice.

• Alice in Wonderland Cafe: A whimsical cafe inspired by the famous story of Alice in Wonderland, complete with themed decor and dishes based on characters from the book.
• Kawaii Monster Cafe: A psychedelic and colorful cafe that celebrates Japanese kawaii (cute) culture, with dishes and drinks designed to be both cute and delicious.
• Gundam Cafe: A cafe dedicated to the popular anime series Gundam, featuring Gundam-themed dishes and drinks, as well as merchandise and interactive experiences.
• Robot Restaurant: While technically not a cafe, the Robot Restaurant in Tokyo is a unique dining and entertainment experience that features giant robots, flashy costumes, and high-energy performances.
• Moomin House Cafe: A charming cafe inspired by the beloved Finnish characters, the Moomins, with a cozy and whimsical atmosphere that transports guests into the world of the Moominvalley.
• Pokemon Cafe: A must-visit for Pokemon fans, this cafe offers themed dishes and drinks featuring popular Pokemon characters, as well as exclusive merchandise and a fun, Pokemon-filled atmosphere.
• Alice's Fantasy Restaurant: Another Alice in Wonderland-themed cafe, but with a different interpretation and menu. Guests can dine in a magical and fantastical setting inspired by Lewis Carroll's timeless tale.
• The Lockup: A uniquely themed Cafe where guests are handcuffed and "imprisoned" in a dungeon-like setting, complete with spooky decor, eerie music, and themed cocktails.

Mobile order at snuggly duckling

Snacks in Disneyland:

• Queen of Hearts banquet hall.
• The Korean Bowl
• Sparkling Cocktails at Plazma Rays.
• The Mickey chicken nuggets at Tomorrowland Terrace
• Sweetheart cafe was great - melon bread and more.
• Pan galactic pizza port
• Hewey Dewey and Lewey cafe (Chinese bun)

DisneySea:

• New York Deli sparkling apple cocktail and sandwiches.
• Miguel 's El Dorado Cantina - pork rice roll.
• The Sultan's Oasis - Long Naan.
• Indian diner (Aladin area)
• Vulcania, quick service Chinese
• Casbah food court, curry so good
• Gaston’s tavern

Lots of amazing snack foods through the parks for your Disney food adventure.

Drinks:

• Pixie dust soda (Fantasy Springs),
• Olu'mel (DisneySea)
• Special Berry Cheers (La Taverne the Gaston, Disneyland).
• Hot chocolate
• Tea,
• Coffee,
• Iced tea
• Sprite,
• Orange,
• Grape.
• Apple Tea Soda

Depending on when you go, the drinks will change. You will get a guide via email with all including venues/restaurants. From there you can find all the drinks on their menu. There’s no special line for drinks. But restaurants with Mobile Order you can show your drink ticket at the entrance and proceed to the pickup counter to order drinks there. often this is allowed.

Side note:  every restaurant booked via the early restaurant booking window that came with VP comes with a coupon that covers the meal.  The exact items that came with it varied (many of the drink options including Coke Zero were often an extra charge

• Blue Bayou -  atmosphere very similar to the one in CA
• Hokusai for lunch,  very nice tempura set at this restaurant.
• Royal Banquet,
• Snuggly Duckling,
• Magellans,
• Bella VIsta Lounge,

You could do one per day so total of six with two VPs.

VP specialty drink coupon has many varieties - they are really cute and fun pictures but might be very sweet.  However, the coupon was quite useful in gaining access to some of the venues just to sit down and cool off.

RESTAURANT BOOKINGS:

Food - lines were almost always busy so better stick to mobile orders. Vacation Packages will have unlimited drinks, but if you don't like to drink sugary drinks,  you won't enjoy the unlimited perk. It can count as a deal breaker of whether to purchase the VP or not.

The 30 days out reservation window means your *entire stay* is available for booking 30 days before your arrival. If you have M/T/W nights reserved at the Disneyland Hotel, evening at DS M and full park days T/W. You can make park dining reservations for T/W 31-32 days before.

Oceano

Offers Disney Christmas specials dinner from November 8 to December 19, 2024

At certain times, guests dining on the Terrace at Oceano can view shows presented on the Mediterranean Harbour in Tokyo DisneySea. Dinner at Oceano buffet timed to see Sea of Dreams is a good plan.  It can be a great venue to watch the show from (outdoor balcony) - the show is absolutely wonderful.

So, if you eat at the Oceano buffet at 6:30 pm you will view the parade from the balcony.

The Bao Buns at DL are delicious if you like bao like me.

Sherwood Garden - Buffet with International flavors and Disney inspired desserts.

Popcorn buckets flavors: chocolate, caramel or roast beef? Would you try it?

Lots of snacks to choose from but with Halloween, there's Halloween bao buns and alien mochi with a super cute little container you could get with them!

Dinner at Silk Road is very good food but Bella Vista Lounge is definitely better, food and service is superb. It’s a set course with multiple small portions and a VP coupon covers everything except drinks.

If staying at Miracosta,  you might want to have lunch at Magellan's. They served a special theme set course to make your meal beyond amazing. Theme is so spectacular in this restaurant.

There's 3 Restaurants available in Fantasy Springs… Need to use an app to book slots & order food.

Snuggly Duckling served beef burger with Spam. Pricing is far cheaper than Mario Land, USJ.

Have a magical meal everyone.

A Disney Day Itinerary Guide Sample

Know which rides are actually open with the 15 minute early window!

Layer passes, this way as you finish the first ride within the hour, you can jump into the next one. This allows us to grab PP passes pretty quickly one after the other.

• 8.20 arrived at the Happy Entry line, no issues with being at the back of the line because the line moved 8.30 on the dot and was inside within 5 mins
• 8.35 Uninterrupted photos Cinderella castle & entrance. Walk up to Fantasyland and booked DPA & 40th passes & Entry Request in the meantime
• 8.55 Carousel
• 9.00 It’s a small world
• 9.15 Pooh Hunt (40th pass)
• Snack break
• 10.10 Beauty and the beast (DPA)
• Popcorn & shop break
• 11 Buzz Astro (40th pass)
• Alien mochi snack break
• 11.30 Star tour walk in (20 min wait)
• 12.20 Baymax DPA
• Tomorrowland snack break
• 1.45 Mickey Magical Music World (entry request)
• 2.20 MONSTERS Inc (40th pass)
• 2.40 Crystal Palace for late lunch (booked on the day) - watched the Baymax parade from the window
• 4.10 Star Tour (40th pass)
• 4.40 Disney harmony in color (DPA)
• 5.10 Character photos by the exit

Luggage Transfer Non-Disney & / Disney Hotels

You can transfer luggage between Disney Resort Hotels. You can transfer luggage to other hotels using a luggage forwarder like Yamato or Blackcat. It’s a 24 hour service (but may get there earlier or later). All details are on their website - just google. You should keep an overnight bag with you if you use this service. There’s lockers at the parks for your luggage and in Train Stations to store your belongings. Just make sure to remember the exact location as train stations can be confusing with so many exits and connecting other train rides.

Disney Luggage Transfer:

Upon your arrival on Day 1, you can leave your luggage by the Main Lobby / Guest Service Desk and your luggage will be in your room upon check in time around 3PM / 4PM). Make sure to provide reservation info. Use the TV to request luggage be moved from room to room, super easy and worked flawlessly. They  will give you a paper note to leave luggage in your room and just pick up new keys if changing rooms. It's very easy and they will ask when you will be back in the room so they can have the new room ready and it will be.

WIFI - eSim VS Pocket Wifi

ESim options:

• Asia Regional eSIM (covers about 13 Asian Countries)
• Ubigi eSim - download ubigi app
• Airalo eSim
• Holafy eSim
• Jetpac eSim
• Mobal eSim - 10GB for US$18

Ubigi and Airalo are popular among travelers to Japan with no issues but first check your phone first if it is compatible or not.

Ubigi Tip:

Make sure to prep your phone a few days before departure by Turning Off as in OFF your SIM. (ATT/Mobile etc..) This helps you to avoid charges.

You download the app and install e-sim before you arrive in Japan . Upon arrival, simply turn on your phone, switch  Ubigi eSim in settings as the main sim in your phone, turn on data roaming and it will automatically activate or I recommend getting in and walking away from the crowds and towards the center of the Disneysea for better WiFi.  Hope this works LOL

***When it comes to eSim, make sure your phone is compatible and unlocked to use any "third party" eSim/physical sim before buying an eSim card. Phone must also have an eSim feature in it.

POCKET WIFI OPTIONS:

• Sakura Mobile
• Japan Wireless
• Ninja Wifi
• MobiMatter app (pilot/flight attendants use this)

With a pocket wifi, you can have several devices and use it together but if you get separated, the person without wifi will need to find a cafe to connect. You can order in advance and pick it up at the airport or hotel. You can also order one at the airport. The disadvantage is you have to carry a 2nd device and probably another battery pack.

Latest Update On Passes

There's at least three guests stating that people have managed to get passes before they have scanned into the park. It’s obviously a glitch, but one you should know about if you are going soon because why not try for frozen before you get through the gate!

When the gate opens @ 8.30am. At this moment please ensure all your DisneySea passes are added to the Tokyo Disneyland app. And if you can / need, add your credit card details.Once cleared security check you’ll enter the gate at 8.45am. They are 15 minute efficient.

Once entered, fast hand go to the app and select “Standby pass”. Look for Fantasy Spring passes. And select one of the following:

1. Anna & Elsa Frozen Journey
2. Peter Pan Never Land Adventure (3D)
3. Rapunzel Lantern Festival
4. Fairy Tinker Bell’s Buggies

Please take note:

• You are not allowed to make another booking till the current booking is used or expired.
• Please choose wisely
• For “Fairy Tinker Bell’s Buggies” only available through “Standby Pass”.
• Rest of the 3 rides are available for paid “Disney Premier Access” (DPA) but they are selling fast too.
• Standby Pass and DPA are separate queue system
• Keep refreshing your app for new Standby Pass or DPA

Cost of DPA is between ¥1500 - ¥2000 per person. If you fail to secure any Fantasy Spring Standby pass or DPA, you will be denied entry. And entry is strictly following the time stated. QR code will only receive 5 min before your stated time.

The 40th Anniversary Priority Pass is a different queue system for the remaining rides. So in short you could chop 3 different ride passes.

Kiddy ride after 5pm…. Less crowded with kiddos. All are 15 min or less waiting time.

Can you buy tickets at the gate at DS for 5pm entry?
No. You can buy tickets only online on the website or Klook

You can book dining through the app 30 days before your visit. Dining opens up day by day.

We are arriving into Narita Airport & need to get train to Shibuya. Can we buy tickets for the Narita Express when we get off the plane? There are limousine express buses that leaves every half hour until about 11pm. There is a counter in each terminal to buy your tickets for whichever destination you need. If you time it right there are NEX that stops at Shibuya.

Tokyo May Maihama hotel: has free bus to and from the metro. Public transport starts around 6:30 AM. Take a taxi if leaving early like 6:05 AM to get in line (otherwise a 40 minute walk). Go Taxi app as well as Uber works but may take time.

Oriental Hotel Tokyo Ba: provide shuttle that goes all the way to Disneyland car park, and not to the nearest train station. Which eliminates about 8min of walk. Their buffet breakfast starts at 6:30, and first shuttle leaves at 7:00 am.

Can we create a group of groups in the app?
Example: There are 3 families with each family scanning their tickets into their account. We all want to ride together. Can we still link all tickets together in a group?
If you make a group then the person who has the group does the passes.
You have 2 options. Try to book the same attractions at the same or very close to the same time. You have 1 hour to return when called or link everybody and you have the option to select who wants to ride or not. If it is to buy DPA, it will all be charged to 1 credit card.
for 9 people, it will be hard to reserve in restaurants. If you split into two groups, you all may not get the same time for rides. If you want to all go at the same time then you need to book together. If not then two groups is fine.

Your park ticket has a QR code. You can scan the QR code into the Tokyo Disney Resort App.

Disability (DAS)

You need paperwork with the person's name and their disability (doctors note with letterhead or some other formal paperwork seems to be generally accepted). This paperwork was checked at the front desk of the hotel when we bought the disability tickets (reduced rate for disabled person and one caretaker) and by the CMs at the park entrance.

Once you have entered the park you must go for a ride to actually enroll for the service. Go to the shortest wait time ride near you to enroll and go to the priority lane.  There will be CMs at the priority lane for DAS, they are not with the regular line in our experience.

Initial ride enrollment must be done each day you go to the park. The CM will ask you questions in general about the disability and take a picture of the guest they are registering. The questions asked things like if it was a mental disability and or a physical disability and will record these answers.

When you go to each new ride, CMs will verify the person using the disability pass (this is where lanyards helped. If there was a communication barrier point to disability on the ticket and that helps. Having the name there sped up the process as they have to have the names for their system they use). They will also either use a translator or show you a booklet where you have to verbally confirm that the person using the pass could do certain things such as if the ride had to be evacuated could they walk out unassisted by CM, or could they physically get into a ride that’s loaded by a moving floor (rides like haunted mansion etc).

The way the pass works is that once you check in, you begin your wait time (ex. If the wait is 60 min, you will be given a return time in 60 min and then you can ride via the priority queue). Depending on wait time, they sometimes let you join the priority queue right away (appeared to be if the ride was 20 min or less wait time). The return times show in your app and when you are able to return to the ride, QR codes appear. You can either scan the code in the app or your original park ticket at the priority line entrance.

Client Experience

Magical Map has Standby in Disneyland, and Big Band Beat has Standby at Disneysea, only for the first showing. MUST line up 30 minutes in advance.

For Disneyland Rides:

Book DPA  (DPA is available for a fee)

Request entry for shows.

Check 40th anniversary passes

OR

Book DPA (DPA is available for a fee)

Check 40th anniversary passes

Request entry for shows.

The day goes by as::

Snow White's adventures

Dumbo

It’s a small world

BATB (DPA)

Pooh’s hunny hunt (40th AP)

Club mouse beat show (entry request)

Lunch - Tomorrowland terrace (mobile order)

Buzz Lightyear Astro blasters

Character meets - Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy. Pluto, the Mad Hatter, the mice from Cinderella, Pinocchio and friends, Winnie the Pooh and rabbit.

Monsters inc (40th AP)

Mickey’s Magical Music World (entry request)

Harmony in color parade

Cinderella’s castle walkthrough

Main Street shopping

Western railroad

It’s a small world

Disneyland carousel

Snow White wishing well

Baymax (DPA)

Club mouse beat show (entry request)

Lunch - Tomorrowland terrace (mobile order)

Pooh’s Hunny Hunt (40th AP)

Character meets - Cinderella, Mary Poppins, Snow White, Alice in wonderland, Wendy, Fairy Godmother

Splash Mountain (DPA)

Toontown

Harmony in color parade

Dinner - Captain Hook's Galley (mobile order)

Monsters inc (40th AP)

Disney electrical parade

The character interactions with the kids were fantastic and will be an experience for them. The food was easy to do through mobile order; you can fit it around ride times. The shopping on Main Street and the atmosphere is amazing and the parades along the route without needing DPA.

Star Wars

Splash Mountain (Close until 2027)

Teacups

Monsters Inc

Gadgets Go-Coaster

Mark Twain River Cruise

Peter Pan’s Flying Adventure. Pirates of the Caribbean

Big Thunder Mountain.

Mickey’s Magical Musical World

Tokyo Disney Miscellaneous:

Disneysea show options: Big Band Beat English, Jamboree Mickey Let's Dance, Mickey's magical music.

Disneyland show options: Clubhouse beat, Mickey's magical world, Jamboree Mickey Let's dance.

There are a few spots to view jamboree Mickey from DisneySea even if you don’t get an entry request. If you get there 15 mins before the show time, you can stand on the sides or at the back and easily see it all as it’s outside on a big deck area.

Jamboree Mickey Let’s Dance at DisneySea is out in the open.

Foreign Ticketing Issues::

Like many, buying tickets with a foreign cc can be an issue. Credit card would approve the charge, but error out. It turns out that many Disney accounts, especially older ones, are restricted from foreign purchases. Call Tokyo Disney customer service at +81 5030902743 and they will be unlocked in under 15 min.

Spots for Sea of dreams:

Walk up 5 min before start and see Believe Sea of Dreams. If you have a pass, watched from the bridge on the far west side of the harbor or from just outside Zambini Bros.

Being tall on Rides:

Height can be a bit of an issue on Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and Raging Spirits because of the individual lap bars or shoulder restraints.

Gelatoni Plush Toys:

If your kiddos love Gelatoni plush toys…. It’s only available at DisneySea. Not available at Disney stores.

Silhouettes Studio

A magical portrait of you and a wonderful souvenir to take home. It's cut from paper, with you and maybe Mickey and the rest of the Disney gang portrait. It depends on how many people you have. I think it was 6000 for the 4 people. I think as low as 3500 for 2 people.

Matchbox Car

Was there a shop in Disneyland where you could make your own little matchbox car?

It's at Toy Station, opposite the Monsters Inc ride or Tomorrowland. You can also build a Baymax Super Hero.

Nanny Services

Rainbow Kids Care Japan for family with young kids

Side note:  Monsters Inc gift shop takes the VP vouchers for shoulder bags and gifts.

FS Hotel bag (you need to be a guest to purchase) Kit Kat  with many flavors

1. You need a pass to enter FS. You also need a pass for EVERY ride in FS that you want to experience.
2. For all other rides at Sea, you can get a free 40th pass, pay for DPA or just line up.

TDR cast members are very helpful and you can use google translate if you need to.

GUEST EXPERIENCE AND TIPS:

With a 1-day FS passport, you can use DPA for all FS rides. I thought I couldn’t go to Tinker Bell, but when I was there earlier this month, they waved me towards the DPA line.

PSA- for anyone else that is unaware-

This can be used for priority entrance for the rides at fantasy springs.

I know it apparently says it on the back but for anyone else that didn’t see that, skip those queues!!

Add your companions to a group with you! You can be on each of your accounts but make bookings for everyone.

There's a one hour break between DPAs and then two hours for standby

Japanese law requires foreigners to carry passports.

Tokyo Disney resort is near the sea so in December it will be cold, especially at night.

Some of the lines close well ahead of park close - if there is a 90 minute wait time, the line can close 90 minutes before closing. The idea is to have rides stop operating as the park closes.

The free shuttle buses at Maihama Station are on the lower level. There is a roundabout loop and buses just constantly come and go from there. I'm not sure there is a timetable. You wait for your hotel's shuttle. When you get off Maihama station staff can direct you if you get lost.

Scan your passes or code just in case WIFI don't work

Mobile Order - You order through the app and then at that time go to the restaurant and get your order. You may have to touch the order when it is time to get the app to tell you what counter and your order number. You pay through the mobile order.  The times are decided when you order.

Download the TDR app before you go and have a good look around the app to familiarize yourself with how to book DPAs, 40th anniversary passes, Entry Requests, mobile ordering, maps and general plan of where you want to go (it's a big park and you want to go through it in a logical fashion to avoid having to go from one end to the other and back again for specific ride times, etc)

Line up early (like 6.30am) if you have 'must rides' (especially if any of these are in Fantasy Springs) (Beauty & the Beast and Soaring are must rides for me)

Submit Entry Requests for all of the shows (you only get one chance per day per show to apply, we were really lucky and got to see 3 of them)

Have realistic expectations about how much you will see & do (you won't be able to see/do everything) and just enjoy your day

Watch the parades (the night ones are particularly spectacular)

Take a UV umbrella if you're going on a sunny day

For shorter lines have an early lunch (11am) and early dinner (4pm)

Book an appointment for Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo 30 Days before you arrive at Tokyo Disney resort!

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