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Let’s go to Tokyo Disney
As massive Disney fans, we had to add Tokyo Disney to our two-week Japan itinerary. We absolutely had to!!! It was a moment of personal triumph as we have a goal to visit every Disney park in the world, and this one was so exciting to check off our list. We booked a Tokyo Disneyland Hotel Vacation Package and loved it, and we also learned a lot! So, settle in—I’ve got a lot of information about staying at Tokyo Disney Resort coming your way!
Where Are All of the Disney Parks in the World?
In case you were wondering, there are a total of twelve parks worldwide, and they are located:
Walt Disney World Resort – Florida
Magic Kingdom – check!
Hollywood Studios – check!
Epcot – check!
Animal Kingdom – check!
Disneyland Resort – California
Disneyland
California Adventure
Tokyo Disney Resort – Japan
Tokyo Disneyland – check!
Tokyo DisneySea – check!
Disneyland Paris – France
Disneyland Paris
Walt Disney Studios Park
Hong Kong Disneyland Resort – China
Hong Kong Disneyland
Shanghai Disney Resort – China
Shanghai Disneyland
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When & How to Book Tokyo Disney
Currently, you can book five months in advance for Vacation Packages (VP), four months out for hotels, two months for park tickets, and one month for dining reservations for Tokyo Disney.
We wanted to make Tokyo Disney the grand finale of our trip, so we set calendar reminders to book once we knew our dates – April 1-4, 2024. Like all things Disney, most things sell out very quickly, so you should always plan ahead as much as possible, especially if your travel dates are during busy seasons or holidays. Our first day at Disney was April 1, 2024, and we booked the vacation package on Nov 22, 2023. We added the extra “one night” only on Jan 6, 2024.
Issues with Booking Tokyo Disney
The day we secured our Vacation Package was a whirlwind, so I hope our process might help others solve problems, too. Tokyo Disney’s website is notorious for not accepting US credit cards, especially Visa cards. I read a lot about this issue in the Tokyo Disney Planning Facebook Group I joined, which helped me troubleshoot a little, but no one ever truly had a clear solution. Naturally, we only have Visa cards, so I knew we’d have to get creative.
We went ahead and tried to book it through the website, and as expected, the Visa cards were not accepted. Then we realized we had a Target Red Card, a Mastercard! I would have never thought to use it since we only use it at Target, but it was our only option at this point. We called them to ensure they knew we were trying to book something in Japan and then tried it on the Tokyo Disney website. Still, it was not accepted.
So, we decided to try to book it through the mobile app. I downloaded the Tokyo Disney Resort mobile app, signed in using my Walt Disney World My Disney Experience login, found the vacation packages option, went through all the steps of choosing dates, attractions, dining, rooms, parks, etc., and hit finalize. I entered our Target Red Card Mastercard and BOOM, it worked!! So we suggest trying the app if you are having issues with booking. It worked well for us and we were able to use the app for all sorts of things during our trip, which simplified the overall experience.
What we booked at Tokyo Disney
We purchased a two-night vacation package for the Alice in Wonderland Character room. We needed three nights, so we added on a third night in the same room type. Luckily, they combined the reservations, and we stayed in the same room for the entire stay.
Also, a side note: the Tokyo Disney Website is often unavailable due to the time difference, so when booking from the United States, you must pay attention to their time zone.
Vacation Packages
Vacation Packages are official accommodation plans that include Park tickets that can be used daily during your stay at a Disney hotel, Attraction Tickets, Original Items, and all sorts of other goodies exclusive to the plan.
There are various options for Tokyo Disney Vacation Packages. We booked “Enjoy Lots of Attractions—3 Days.” This package allows three days of park access and three attraction tickets per day.
Tokyo Disney Vacation Packages
Our package for Two Adults included:
2-night hotel stay
3 Days of park tickets
9 attraction tickets
2 original goods vouchers
2 beverage tickets
2 shoulder bag vouchers
2 hotel restaurant vouchers – Sherwood Garden Breakfast
1 popcorn case voucher
The vacation package we purchased was strict about which park could be visited each day and only gave us one dining option for breakfast each day. We had to pick the times for breakfast reservations and certain attraction times during the booking process. It can be a little tough to plan that far in the future, but luckily, we are no strangers to Disney park days and roughly knew what we would want to do each day.
Our Tokyo Disney Vacation Package Itinerary
Vacation Package Day 1
Park – Tokyo DisneySea
Vacation Package Attraction Tickets for the day:
1. Journey to the Center of the Earth
2. Tower of Terror
3. Eligible Attraction
Vacation Package Day 2
Park – Tokyo Disneyland
Sherwood Gardens 7 AM breakfast buffet
Vacation Package Attraction Tickets for the day:
1. Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast 9:30 AM
2. Eligible Attraction
3. Eligible Attraction
Vacation Package Day 3
Park – Tokyo DisneySea
Sherwood Gardens 7:30 AM breakfast buffet
Vacation Package Attraction Tickets for the day:
1. Soaring: Fantastic Flight 10 AM
2. Eligible Attraction
3. Tower of Terror
Tokyo Disney Passes Explained
When it comes to planning your days in advance, it helps to know how Tokyo Disney uses special passes and tickets and what rides are eligible for each pass. It was initially confusing, but a seasoned US Disney person can figure it out. Here’s the full attraction list at Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea.
Vacation Package Attractions
Tokyo Disney Resort vacation packages that include attraction tickets, allow guests to visit attractions during operating hours without selecting a specific time. These are essentially FastPass reservations like Disney World used to do. Attractions that were eligible for vacation packages when we booked:
Attractions Options
Disneyland
Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast
Space Mountain
Monsters Inc – Ride and Seek
DisneySea
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Tower of Terror
Soaring: Fantastic Flight
The difference is that not all of these attractions have a designated time. Some of the tickets don’t even have a designated attraction. When you purchase your vacation package, you can select any combination of these three options for each day in the parks.
1. The most popular attractions (Beauty and the Beast, Soaring’), 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 can experience at any time. Options 1 and 2 on this list are also the same attractions that qualify for Disney Premiere Access (more below).
3. Eligible attractions. These tickets can be used for any attractions from a specific list (none of the attractions listed above). Some of these include Haunted Mansion, Monsters Inc.: Ride and 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 (more below).
40th Anniversary Passes
The next type of pass is the 40th Anniversary pass which was introduced to celebrate Tokyo’s 40th Anniversary. The Tokyo Disney Resort 40th Anniversary Priority Pass, which was introduced in July 2023, allows guests to enjoy select experiences at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea with a reduced wait time (again like the Fastpass that we all miss so much). AND IT’S FREE! It hasn’t been announced when it will end, but rumors say they may keep it even after the celebration ends. Let’s hope because it made the day so easy!
Attractions that were eligible for 40th Anniversary Pass when we visited:
Disneyland
Space Mountain
Buzz Light Years Astro Blasters
Star Tours
Haunted Mansion
Poohs Hunny Hunt – closed
Big Thunder Mountain – closed
Monsters Inc Ride and Go Seek
DisneySea
The Magic Lamp Theater – closed
Raging Spirits
Indiana Jones Adventure
Nemo and Friends Sea Rider
Aquatopia
20,000 leagues under the sea
Turtle Talk
Disney Premier Access
Last but not least there’s the Disney Premier Access Pass. Disney Premier Access (DPA) at Tokyo Disney Resort allows visitors to skip the regular line and use a fast-track lane for select attractions (Lightening Lane). It’s a paid service on the mobile app and functions in the same way as Genie Plus in the US parks.
DPA is separate from regular park admission and each park ticket. Each Park ticket can be used to purchase one Disney Premier Access. You must be inside the park in order to reserve DPA or 40th Anniversary Passes, and they often run out mid-day, so you should prioritize what’s most important for you as soon as you enter the park.
You can use DPA to experience an attraction or reserve seats to view a parade or show. AND you can purchase Disney Premier Access for an attraction and a parade/show simultaneously. You can buy Disney Premier Access for another attraction 60 minutes after purchasing your first DPA or after the start time of your purchased DPA (riding the ride), whichever is earlier.
As of April 2024, some of the attractions that offered Disney Premier Access included:
Disneyland
The Happy Ride with Baymax
Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast
Splash Mountain
Parades and shows-
Quacky Celebrations – Donald the Legend NEW
Disney Harmony in Color
Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade
DisneySea
Soarin: Fantastic Flight
Tower of Terror
Journey to the center of the Earth
Toy Story Mania!
Parades and shows – Believe! Sea of Dreams
NEW Fantasy Springs –
Pete Pans Never Land Adventure
Rapunzels Lantern Festival
Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey
Passes for Parades
We loved this feature for booking a spot for the parades. Guests can select a designated time for admission in advance and enjoy parades or shows from an designated viewing area. Everyone is required to sit on the ground in an assigned spot, so as not to obscure anyone’s view. It was so orderly and overall made the parades more enjoyable.
Arriving at Tokyo Disney
Whew, that’s a lot of information, right? It is easier than it sounds, and booking our vacation package went smoothly, even though it felt overwhelming at first. You do have to pay in full for vacation packages at the time of booking. The extra night we added was just a deposit at the time of booking, and the total balance was due at check-in time. Speaking of, let’s talk about arriving at Disney and check-in process.
As we approached Tokyo Disney Resort on a train from Tokyo, seeing the Disneyland Hotel and the top of Cinderella’s castle from the train was truly magical. Once we exited the train at Maihama Station, we walked less than a 10-minute distance on a beautiful Disney-themed walkway to the hotel.
Arriving at Tokyo Disneyland Hotel
We arrived at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel right at noon. Check-in time to access your room is strictly 3 pm, but if you’ve purchased a Vacation Package like we did, you can check in as early as 7 AM to receive your goodies. That is because a 2-night vacation package includes three days’ worth of park tickets that begin on your check-in date. If you arrive and want to go straight to your first park, you can. They will store your luggage and deliver it to your room once it’s available.
The check-in process was simple. The cast members were all wonderful and easy to communicate with. We received an adorable folder that contained LOTS of tickets for our Vacation Package. It included tickets for the parks, attraction tickets, and tickets for other goodies, such as shoulder bags and drink vouchers (details below). It’s been a long time since we were at Disney with individual paper tickets, but the folder was so well organized. I went through all of them and only took the ones we would need for the first day, leaving the rest safely in my luggage.
Bell Services
The Bell Desk located in the lobby is where you can have your baggage stored, book seats for the airport limousine bus, and ask any questions you may have during your stay. They were efficient and very helpful in reserving our transportation back to the airport at the end of our trip.
We checked in, stored our luggage, and received our vacation package. Now what? We decided to explore the resort until we could officially enter our room. Technically, we could have gone to the parks, but we wanted to recharge in the room first.
Exploring Tokyo Disneyland Hotel
The next couple of hours were spent taking ALL the photos we could around the resort. We are Walt Disney World Annual Passholders but generally stay in value resorts or good-neighbor hotels. We love to resort hop and marvel at the Deluxe resorts without spending those prices, so this was our first time staying in a resort that felt this grand and elaborate.
I was absolutely in love with this hotel before we even walked inside. Tokyo Disneyland Hotel is visually GRAND! The fantasy-filled hotel features a gorgeous Victorian-style atmosphere and an interior sprinkled with classic Disney motifs. It’s beautiful, and we felt super underdressed, lol.
Things to Do at Tokyo Disneyland Hotel
The hotel has many great amenities available including an on-site Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and the Magic Memories Photo Studio, a studio for one-of-a-kind keepsake photo portraits. They also have Medallion Makers, where you can make their own Souvenir Medallion with an exclusive hotel design (think pressed pennies). They also have a pool that is only open during the Summer months.
We strolled through the Alice in Wonderland Garden and took pictures of the Fantasia Fountain in front of the hotel. We browsed the Disney merchandise and groceries at Looking Glass Gifts and Disney Mercantile until we needed a pick-me-up, so we headed to Dreamers Lounge in the lobby.
Lobby Doll House
Can we just pause for a moment and talk about this doll house in the gorgeous lobby?! There is an incredible full-size dollhouse located in the lobby. It features different Disney movies in each of the rooms: Aladdin, Peter Pan, Snow White, and Alice in Wonderland-themed bedrooms; a Cinderella-themed entertainment room; a Little Mermaid and Nemo bathroom; a 101 Dalmatians and Beauty and the Beast-themed kitchen; plus a Mickey Mouse and friends themed kids playroom – so adorable!
Dreamers Lounge
The hotel has three restaurant choices on the property. You can enjoy breakfast through dinner and evening cocktails at Dreamers Lounge, a spacious Victorian-style lounge in the hotel’s Atrium Lobby. We were seated at the bar just for drinks, and the cast members were outstanding and spoke excellent English. Immediately, we felt like we were home. We enjoyed the Dreamer’s Classic cocktails and patiently waited for our room. I was in disbelief that we were sitting in a Tokyo Disney lounge. It didn’t and still doesn’t feel real. Core Memory!
Other Tokyo Disneyland Restaurants
On the resort’s lower level, you have Canna—the essence of Stylish Cuisine, which is open for lunch and dinner. The food there looked amazing but almost too fancy to eat, and we never ended up eating there due to time and budget.
Sherwood Garden Breakfast Buffet
Also on the lower level you’ll find Sherwood Garden, which offers buffet-style dining for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Our vacation package included two mornings of breakfast reservations for Sherwood, and it was very good. This restaurant is named after the formal Victorian garden visible from its expansive windows. You know we love a good hotel breakfast, and they had a great variety of Eastern and Western foods. We’re still dreaming about starting our days like this.
It’s Time to See the Room
Around 2:40 PM, a line started forming at reception for everyone looking to enter their rooms at 3 PM, so I joined in. I was quickly given our room keys, and off we went to the 8th floor. We were so tickled when we got in the elevator and heard Goofy and Mickey narrating in Japanese!
When we arrived at room 8312, it was about 2:50 PM, and the key wouldn’t open the door. I ran back downstairs to the lobby and tried to communicate that the key wasn’t opening our door. I was then told that the keys would only work at 3 PM. Sure enough, I returned to our room, and like magic, the door opened! As soon as I entered the room, I almost cried. It was so beautiful—a dream room of mine—so whimsical!
It was honestly super difficult to choose a character room type because they all sounded perfect to me. While Cinderella and Belle are two of my favorites, I had to pick my favorite girl for this surreal trip: Alice in Wonderland.
What would you choose?!
Room Options
Standard Rooms have a Victorian-style atmosphere and an interior sprinkled with Disney motifs that are similar throughout the hotel.
Character Room Options
Tinker Bell Room
Alice in Wonderland Room
Beauty and the Beast Room
Cinderella Room
Alice in Wonderland Character Room
Staying in the Alice in Wonderland room at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel was like tumbling down the rabbit hole into a whimsical dreamscape! From the moment I stepped through the door, I felt like Alice herself, surrounded by a magical wonderland.
The room was a feast for the eyes, with vibrant colors and fantastical decorations that brought Lewis Carroll’s classic tale to life. The walls were lined with quirky illustrations of all the characters, and it made me feel like I was living in a storybook. The furniture was a playful mix of oversized and undersized pieces, just like the curious objects Alice encounters in Wonderland. The details of this room were off the charts fun!
Our Room 8312
Our room had two regular beds (the size of a US full) and a trundle bed that could be pulled out. This was the most spacious hotel room I have ever stayed in, and it wasn’t even a suite or family-style room. Plus, we had an incredible view of Tokyo and Tokyo Bay from the room.
You first enter the hotel room into a long hallway with a vanity, tea counter, mini fridge, large closet, and bathroom entry. The room is filled with vibrant colors, a whimsical design, and lots of mirrors and natural light. Everything was comfortable and great quality, making it a wonderful place to come back to each night.
The bathroom was adorable. It had a large vanity, sink, and doors etched with Disney magic on either side of the space. On the left door was Tweedle Dee leading into the tub and shower room with another surprise etched window featuring The Cheshire Cat. On the right door was Tweedle Dum, leading into a separate room for the famous Japanese toilets. I loved having three separate areas in the bathroom that allowed multiple people to get ready at the same time while still having privacy.
Note about toilets: They are incredible; all the hype is true. Japanese toilets are, in fact, amazing, and we miss them very much now that we are home.
The Room Details
The amenities included a toothbrush, room slippers, an amenity kit in a keepsake tin box, Tokyo Disney-themed reusable shopping bags, and Pajamas. They were so cute!
The TV was nice and large but most of the channels were in Japanese and we were unable to connect to our own streaming services. However, they did have the Disney channel in English – I guess when your staying in the magic bubble, that’s all you really need anyway.
Staying in the Alice in Wonderland room was a true escape from reality. It perfectly blended Disney magic and Wonderland whimsy in a way that made me feel like a kid again.
Tokyo Disney Resort Station
After we freshened up and admired the room, we headed to our park of the day. Since the Disney Resort Line Station Building is outside the hotel, we hopped on the Monorail to DisneySea.
The Tokyo Disneyland Station is just steps away from the hotel. This makes it super easy to hop on the monorail and travel around the Disney loop to other hotels and resorts or do some shopping and dining, including Ikspiari, a variation of Downtown Disney and Disney Springs, and the DisneySea Park. Unlike Walt Disney World’s monorail, the one at Tokyo Disney isn’t complimentary. Guests are responsible for their transportation costs around Tokyo Disney Resort. We used the same Pasmo IC card we had used the entire trip. It was super easy and cheap.
The Tokyo Disney Resort Station and Monorail were precious. The station is decorated with classic characters and all the classic movies. The Monorail has Mickey Mouse-shaped windows and hand grips, pixie dust lighting effects, and the cutest interior decor and ambiance. The Monorail ride really brought the magic to life, and the views of the parks and Tokyo Bay along the way were fantastic.
Great Location to Access Disneyland Park
The Tokyo Disneyland Hotel is just steps away from the entrance to the Disneyland Park, and there is no need for additional transportation – we loved that! This made it so much easier to use our Happy Entry (Early Entry) to rope drop rides and grab those FREE ride passes quickly!
Happy Entry
Guests staying at a Disney hotel are also eligible for “Happy Entry.” A great Disney hotel benefit that allows you to enter Tokyo Disneyland or Tokyo DisneySea through a Special Entrance for Disney hotel guests 15 minutes earlier than other guests. However, this benefit is not available to use on the day of check-in.
A Look at Day One
We had a wonderful first day visiting DisneySea, and there is a detailed post about it here.
This is what our first day looked like with our VP passes:
Day 1
Park – Tokyo DisneySea
Vacation Package Attraction Tickets for the day:
1. Journey to the Center of the Earth
2. Tower of Terror
3. Eligible Attraction – Indiana Jones Adventure
We did not use any 40th or DPA passes on our first day.
What did the rest of our Vacation Package get us?
Here’s the breakdown of the rest of our trip so you can see how we used all the various packages and passes to fill our next two days, and I will blog about each day in detail soon!
Day 2
Park – Tokyo Disneyland
Sherwood Gardens 7 AM breakfast buffet
Used Happy Entry and rope dropped Pirates of the Caribbean
Vacation Package Attraction Tickets for the day:
1. Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast 9:30 AM
2. Eligible Attraction – Space Mountain
3. Eligible Attraction – Monsters Inc.
40th Passes:
Splash Mountain
Haunted Mansion
DPA Passes:
Harmony in Color Parade
Disneyland Electrical Parade
Day 3
Park – Tokyo DisneySea
Sherwood Gardens 7:30 AM breakfast buffet
Vacation Package Attraction Tickets for the day:
1. Soaring: Fantastic Flight 10 AM
2. Eligible Attraction – 20,000 Leagues under the Sea
3. Tower of Terror
40th Passes:
Raging Spirits
Other Perks to the Vacation Package
Tokyo Disney Popcorn
There were a couple of other perks. One included a voucher for a popcorn bucket and one free popcorn refill. You simply took the ticket to any popcorn stand in the parks to redeem it.
Two things: one – Japan is famous for its unique and fun popcorn flavors, and two – we love this popcorn bag! The bag is waterproof (hello, rainy Japan/Florida), with a lid that houses hand wipes and an inside divider so that you can fit two different flavors of popcorn side by side without mixing them. So smart and useful, because we love Disney popcorn!
Tokyo Disney Swag
We had two drink vouchers. These were unlimited and could be used for a variety of cupped beverages at different drink stands around the parks. We also had two vouchers for shoulder bags. These tote bags are of such good quality and super cute, too! They’re great souvenirs, for sure!
Lastly, we had two vouchers for original goods. We redeemed our original goods tickets and the shoulder bag voucher at the gift shop inside Disneyland Park (right outside the Monsters Inc. ride). There is a preselected list of souvenirs that you can choose from. We opted for the small cross-body satchel. We are excited to use all of these items in our home parks!
A Magical Place to Stay
Honestly, I can’t say enough nice things about our stay at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel. We truly enjoyed every single bit of it. We also really enjoyed the ease and convenience of the Vacation Package and would definitely do that again in the future. It made our short time in the parks more efficient and helped us to accomplish a lot. We knew there would be too much to see in one day in each park, but we saw a lot thanks to the package planning it out for us. I will always cherish this experience and highly recommend adding Tokyo Disney to your dream list – it’s worth it, and we felt like royalty!
Next up – A full day at Tokyo Disneyland and a full day at Disney Sea – Stay tuned!
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I would have to go for the Beauty & the Beast room. The popcorn bucket is awesome. I love me some Disney popcorn.. and the refills.