One of the best options if we travel with children to Japan or want to spend a fun day riding in various attractions is to visit Tokyo Disney Resort. A huge entertainment complex located east of Tokyo, which has two parks: the Tokyo Disneyland theme park – for many years the most visited theme park in the world – and its neighboring Tokyo DisneySea park.
Tokyo Disneyland opened its doors in the city of Urayasu (already in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo) on April 15, 1983. Its opening was historic because it was the first Disneyland to be inaugurated outside the States United. It was designed in the style of the Disneyland Park in California and the Magic Kingdom park of Walt Disney World in Florida, so if you have visited other Disneyland, many parts will be familiar.
For its part, Tokyo DisneySea opened on September 4, 2001 and was the fastest park to reach 10 million visitors (307 days after opening, according to Wikipedia). It is currently the fourth most visited theme park in the world and for many it is the “crown jewel” of Disney parks, for its fantastic design and creativity.
Tokyo Disneyland Park
Tokyo Disneyland Park has seven differentiated areas, one at the entrance, two mini-areas and four basic areas of Disneyland:
- Bazaar World, area located at the entrance of the park and with lots of shops and restaurants. It is designed in the style of an American city of the early twentieth century.
- Critter Country, dedicated to the characters of the movie Song of the South. It has attractions like the Splash Mountain aquatic or the canoes of Rivers of America.
- Toontown, a small city taken from the world of cartoons and dedicated to Disney characters. Here the children will enjoy the beauty of Mickey Mouse’s house, the Donald Duck boat or the Chip’n Dale tree house.
Tokyo DisneySea’s best attractions
Here is a list of what are considered the best attractions of Tokyo DisneySea. As we have said in the case of Tokyo Disneyland, take a look at the official website, investigate which ones you would like to upload yes or yes and organize how to get Fastpass for some of them (as we tell you in the section of «how to use the Fastpass « ), so surely you will not miss them.
For example, the most popular attraction (no doubt!) Of Tokyo DisneySea is Toy Story Mania! It is usual that here the waiting times exceed three hours (as we checked live) and that the Fastpass runs out a few minutes after the opening of the park. That is why it is advisable to run to get in line or get our Fastpass (if there are still…) just access the park. Another of the most popular attractions is Journey to the Center of the Earth.
When to visit Tokyo Disneyland or Tokyo DisneySea?
As a general rule, in the same way that happens in any other theme park in the world, the best time to visit Tokyo Disney Resort is from Tuesday to Thursday in school time and in non-holiday periods. More than anything because if the children are in class and the premises are working, we will avoid many people. That is why it is important to consider when there are holidays or holiday periods in Japan, because these will greatly affect our visit. You can check them in our calendar (of photographs) of Japan, where we not only mark the holidays but also explain other holidays of interest.
As a general rule, the worst time to visit the Tokyo Disney Resort parks is during the Golden Week (from the end of April to the beginning of May), during the New Year and New Year holidays and during the end of the school year holidays in March. After the Golden Week it is a good time because the weather is good, although it is still not as hot as in July and August and it does not usually rain as much as in June.
During weekends, school vacations, holiday periods and holidays, both parks are full of people. We have been on December 31 and January 3 (both days in full New Year holidays) and the truth is that there were many people. But with a good use of the Fastpass (which we will talk about next) and a lot of patience and desire to have fun, obviously you have a great time. Another thing is that you can not climb all the attractions you want to go to, but just walking in the parks is an attraction in itself, so it is very enjoyable. But to be, remember, better to avoid weekends, school vacations, holiday periods and holidays.
A good tool that we recommend you to use is this calendar of predictions of public influx. In red on the left you can filter by Tokyo Disneyland and in blue on the right by Tokyo DisneySea (and in green, below, to see if there are rooms in the hotels). For each day of the month (they are ordered from Sunday to Saturday), you will see the weather forecast with the maximum and minimum temperatures on the top left and the park’s opening hours that day below. But the data that interests us most appears in the upper right corner. There we will see a square of color with a number that indicates the prediction of the public for that particular day. The number refers to the thousands of people expected for that day, information that is also color-coded:
Which is better, Tokyo Disneyland or Tokyo DisneySea?
This is a complicated question, because both parks are amazing. But it is a question that often arises, especially since there is no joint entrance to both parks. In addition, they are so great that, even dedicating a whole day to each one, we will miss things. Much less try to do both in one day. So if we had to opt for one and make a recommendation, we would clearly choose Tokyo DisneySea.
The first thing that differentiates Tokyo Disneyland from Tokyo DisneySea is that the latter is designed to please a more adult audience. In fact, it has more dining options and even alcoholic beverages (something we didn’t find in Tokyo Disneyland). Tokyo DisneySea is unique, too: there is no other park like it in the world and it is simply beautiful, it is wonderful to stroll through its seven themed areas!
If you are a fan of classic Disney characters and Disney princesses, for example, Tokyo Disneyland is the most classic park and the one that best suits what you are looking for. Here you can see all your favorite characters and you can also see the classic Disney castle, an indelible and iconic image! However, if you’re not such a fan of Disney classics and prefer a more adult environment, Tokyo DisneySea will probably fit more with what you’re looking for.
