My winter holiday season was a relatively busy time for me. From having gone to Kyoto for three days, to visiting Gunma on a whim, I had a handful of experiences that I can and cannot write about. One of the things I can write about though, is Tokyo Disneyland. My girlfriend and I went through a packed day trying to milk as much as we could in twelve hours, so it's a bit of a task to write about the whole thing. As such, the best I can do is give you, dear reader, my observations and tips on your visit, if you ever go.
One thing to note before getting into the meat: out of all the Disney Lands in the world, Tokyo is probably the cheapest. With an entry fee of roughly $70 Canadian ($90 after April 2020,) there was really no reason for me to not go to Tokyo Disneyland. As you can imagine, with a reasonable price and a location in one of Asia's most populated metropolises, this iteration of the theme park was absolutely packed.
It was easy to see that fact while we were waiting for the opening. Droves of people clumped together for the gates to open. Lines were nonexistent, and the park staff actually insisted that we take whatever space we could get. As a recommendation, don't save a spot for the people you're going with when you go to Disneyland. I remember a Filipina lady that stood in the throngs of people doing that very thing, and as the gates opened she phoned her friends or family. From what I could gather, the people she was saving a spot for weren't even ready to head over. Even if they were on the way, it would have been incredibly difficult for them to rendezvous in the huge number of people present.
My girlfriend is a seasoned veteran with Disneyland. Once we got in, she already put a plan of attack in action. We snagged a FastPass for Pooh's Hunny Hunt and went straight for the Star Wars Star Tours attraction, which was as empty as she said it would be. She knew that the Star Tours ride wasn't so popular and that the waiting times were manageable.
For people that have never gone to Disneyland: FastPass everything you can. Strategize your FastPass too; plan which rides you want to go on, how long those rides take, and how popular particular rides are. Certain rides don't need the FastPass at certain times of the day as they aren't popular at those periods. But despite my girlfriend's best plans, we still couldn't avoid a lineup, especially as the day we went was particularly busy. There are two lines for most attractions, the FastPass line and the regular line. There were times when the FastPass line was only slightly better.
Pooh's Hunny Hunt was a marvel of programming. It's a trackless ride, so the pods you were in were actually individualized in terms of routing. We went through a bunch of other rides and attractions, and I compared what I could remember of my time at the California location to Tokyo's Disneyland. I could only draw two comparisons: The Haunted Mansion and the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. Astro Blasters was almost exactly the same as what I remember of California's Disneyland, while the Haunted Mansion had a few subtle differences.
There is a room inside the Haunted Mansion that has a crystal ball with a talking head inside it. From what I remember of California, this room was actually a pit. Tokyo had settled on a carpeted floor. This, along with other design decisions along the ride, made the Haunted Mansion feel smaller than what I remembered. That being said, I was smaller the last time I went, and in this visit they were using the Night Before Christmas theme.
As you would expect, Disneyland has many places to eat. For us, we had pizza-flavoured and egg-flavoured spring rolls on our first breather, located in the ToonTown area. For lunch we had curry at Hungry Bear, and it was some of the best Japanese-style curry I've tasted. Other snacks included honey-flavoured popcorn (other flavours like curry and butter were available, but all had massive lineups,) Mickey Mouse shaped waffles, and ice cream. I also tried a chicken sandwiched in between two waffles at the Camp Woodchuck Kitchen in Westernland. It was good, but not what you would expect. For dinner we had Mickey Mouse shaped burgers at the Tomorrowland Terrace.
The restaurants wouldn't be the only technique to get some rest during a full day at Disneyland. It was a cold, windy day when we went, so ideally we would have been indoors most of the time, but the main point was to rest the legs without putting something inside our stomachs. That meant going to the "show" attractions. The ones we went on were Mickey's Philharmagic, The Country Bear Jamboree, The Enchanted Tiki Room, The Western River Railroad, The Pirates of the Caribbean, and of course, It's a Small World.
For a chance to give our feet some rest, we chose Mickey's Philharmagic and the Western River Railroad. Mickey's Philharmagic is pretty entertaining on its own, even if I couldn't understand any of the Japanese. The attraction is very kid friendly, and a lot of the children that we were in the theatre with really enjoyed the 3D effects. We were on the Western River Railroad later on in the evening, so while it did give our feet a bit of a break without much of a lineup, the ride was actually quite cold on our visit.
For warmth and rest, I'd highlight The Enchanted Tiki Room and It's a Small World. The Enchanted Tiki Room is fairly dated for the most part, but the big kahuna's animatronics are still fresh and well made. There were a good number of children at this show as well, and it draws some interaction out of them as well. It's a Small World had a bit of a lineup, being an iconic ride for Disneylands, but it was very warm and toasty inside. Because of the international theme of the attraction, it doesn't seem to have much in difference to the others in the world. I have heard that it had been overhauled since I went to the California Disneyland in the early 2000's, so there are Disney characters sprinkled all throughout the ride now.
The Country Bear Jamboree and The Pirates of the Caribbean are special though. They provide rest in the form of sleep. The Country Bear Jamboree is set in a dark theatre, and while the music is loud and dynamic, it is at the same time relatively predictable with only animatronics limited to the stage area and walls. We weren't the only people in that theatre napping when we went in. The Pirates of the Caribbean, while there is a bit of a drop in the beginning and there is a loud cannon sequence in the middle, is very slow-moving for the most part and dark. My girlfriend has seen the ride multiple times and knew exactly which part of the ride we were at as she napped on the ride. The lineup for this is also short compared to the other rides, so the rest was sort of worth the wait.
So there you have it. Now you have some potentially useful information for Disneyland Tokyo. Do keep in mind that the popularity of the rides changes throughout the year, so do pick your rest attractions wisely when you visit Disneyland Tokyo. Thanks for reading!
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