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Tokyo Disney Bound
Over the last few weeks, we’ve shared about three different areas of Japan that we visited in March and April 2024. The grand finale of this life-changing trip is finally here! We woke up bright and early, tossed on our comfiest and most favorite Disney Tees, and left Kyoto – we’re Tokyo Disney Bound!
Once again, we used the Yamato Luggage Service between each hotel—I was very grateful we sent luggage ahead because we were about to embark on a journey to Tokyo Disney during the Japan morning rush hour… on a Monday!
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Kyoto to Tokyo Disney
Our journey required us to walk 3 minutes from our hotel to the local Tozai Line, transfer to the Karasuma Line, and make our way to Kyoto Station. There, we bought tickets at the ticket machines for the Tokaido-Sanyo Shinkansen. Our train was at 8:30 am for a 3.5-hour trip to Tokyo, so we grabbed some bento boxes, snacks, and drinks for the ride.
This Shinkansen was just as wonderful as our first experience. We arrived in Tokyo around 11 AM, then took a bus from Tokyo station to the Keiyo line. We rode on the Keiyo line for 30 minutes and arrived at Maihama Station just before Noon. As we approached Tokyo Disney Resort, seeing the Disneyland Hotel and the top of Cinderella’s castle from the train was truly magical.
If you lost track of that, it was four stations, one bus, and five trains in 3.5 hours! It honestly went smoothly, and it felt like we’d been training our entire vacation to navigate all this transportation for this exact moment, lol. Once we exited the train, we walked less than a 10-minute distance on a beautiful Disney-themed walkway to the hotel. We arrived at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel right at noon.
Arriving at Tokyo Disney
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.
We checked in, stored our luggage, received our vacation package, but 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 grand and elaborate (and was much cheaper than Deluxe Hotels in FL). I was absolutely in love with this hotel before we ever 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 gorgeous and we felt super underdressed, lol.
Tokyo Disneyland Hotel faces Tokyo Disneyland Park, with the Disney Resort Line Station Building located between them. We wandered outside and watched the adorable Mickey Window Monorail come and go. Next, we strolled through the Alice in Wonderland Garden and took pictures of the Fantasia Fountain in front of the hotel. We browsed the 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.
Dreamers Lounge
Dreamers Lounge is great for afternoon teas, light meals, or cocktails in the bright, spacious lounge in the Atrium Lobby of the hotel. We were seated at the bar, 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.
Check-in Time
Around 2:40 PM, a line started forming at reception for everyone looking to enter their rooms at 3, 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!
Alice in Wonderland Room
Don’t worry – my next post will have tons of photos and answers to all your questions. I will share a VERY detailed post about the process for booking our Hotel, Vacation Package, Visiting the Parks, Room Details, and more, but for now, I will stay focused on our first day at Disney as much as possible and give you the cliff notes.
We booked a two-night Vacation Package for the Alice in Wonderland Character Room. We needed three nights, so we tacked 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.
Our room completely immersed us in the world of the Disney film Alice in Wonderland. The interior, including the furniture, was designed with motifs of the Queen of Hearts, the Card Soldiers, the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, and so many more. It truly made me feel like I had wandered into Alice’s Wonderland.
Our room had two regular beds and a trundle bed that could be pulled out. AND we had an incredible view of Tokyo and Tokyo Bay from the room. I can’t wait to share every little detail about this room with you soon!
Vacation Package
At check-in, 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 perks, such as shoulder bags and drink vouchers (more later). It’s been a long time since we were at Disney with individual paper tickets, but it was so well organized. I went through all of them and only took the ones we would need for the first day, and left the rest safely in my luggage.
Vacation Packages are official accommodation plans that include Park tickets that can be used every day during your stay at a Disney hotel, Attraction Tickets, Original Items, and all sorts of other goodies exclusive to the plan.
We booked “Enjoy Lots of Attractions—3 Days.” This package includes three days of access to the parks and three attraction tickets per day.
Our package for Two Adults included:
2-night hotel stay
3 Days of park tickets
Nine attraction tickets
Two original goods vouchers
Two beverage tickets
Two shoulder bag vouchers
Two Hotel Restaurant vouchers – Sherwood Garden Breakfast
One popcorn case voucher
Day One Tokyo Disney Vacation Package Itinerary
Park – DisneySea
Attraction Tickets
1. Journey to the Center of the Earth
2. Tower of Terror
3. Eligible Attraction – Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull
After we freshened up and admired the room, we headed to the parks. Since the Disney Resort Line Station Building is right outside the hotel, we hopped on the Monorail to Disney Sea.
Tokyo Disney Resort Station
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.
Arriving at TokyoSea
When we arrived at 4:30 PM, it was raining intermittently with gloomy skies, but we were too excited to care. DisneySea is unique to Tokyo Disney Resort. It is the only Disney park themed to the myths and legends of the sea, and there is no other park like it in the world. The closest I could compare it to in the US parks would be if Epcot and Hollywood Studios had a baby obsessed with the Sea.
The park overlooks Tokyo Bay and incorporates a mostly nautical theme. There are currently eight themed lands, or “ports of call.” The park’s entrance is Mediterranean Harbor, which opens up to seven more nautically themed ports: American Waterfront, Lost River Delta, Port Discovery, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast, Mysterious Island, and the brand NEW Fantasy Springs (opened in June 2024 – we missed it, guess we have to go back?!). You can read about each theme in detail on this Tokyo DisneySea Overview on the Disney website.
Entering DisneySea
The Tokyo Disney Resort Monorail has four stops, and we exited at the Tokyo DisneySea Station. Entering the park was standard, with security screenings similar to those at WDW. They scan one person at a time and use an extra wand, but nothing we carried with us was an issue for entry. We scanned our park tickets on the machine, and at last, we were finally at our first International Disney Park! Since I have a personal goal to visit every park in the world, this was a huge moment for me. (happy tears)
Of course, we had to stop for photos of the Tokyo Disney Aquasphere before walking through the grand entrance under the Mira Costa Hotel and into the Mediterranean Harbor. The Mediterranean theme was gorgeous and incredibly detailed. I originally wanted to stay at the Mira Costa Hotel because, hello, it’s our last name, but then I checked the cost, and it Costa lot!
Journey to the Center of the Earth
We headed straight to our first attraction – Journey to the Center of the Earth.
The Story –
“The volcano of Mysterious Island, Mount Prometheus, has become Captain Nemo‘s base. After traveling through its caverns and past several of Nemo’s labs (which includes a diary entry of the discovery of the fossilized egg of a monstrous, unknown arthropod), guests board “Terravators” (elevators) to the facility’s base station one-half mile below. In this base station is a huge steam-powered bellows that pumps fresh air down from the surface, massive spring pillars that hold the ceiling up to prevent cave-ins in case of earthquakes, and a communication center that is currently giving warnings of increased seismic activity, but the scientist who mans it is currently away on a tea break.
Ride Spoilers
Riders board steam-powered mine vehicles that travel through pre-drilled tunnels into the heart of the Earth. The ride begins through a cavern of colorful glowing crystals before entering a giant Mushroom Forest, inhabited by strange insects and amphibian-like life forms. Before the car can proceed further, an earthquake causes a cave-in of the tunnel ahead, forcing the vehicle off its planned route and down a side branch filled with giant egg-like sacks that appear to have been dug by a gigantic creature.
The car emerges on the shore of the Subterranean Sea and is nearly struck by lightning from the electrified gas clouds. The finale comes when riders are forced into the fiery heart of an active volcano, where the riders come face-to-face with the giant, tyrannical centipede-like lava monster that has built a nest there”.
– Disney Wikipedia
This ride was really unique and cool! The ride reminded me a bit like Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom. We were careful not to break the rules about photos and videos on the rides and wanted to be mindful of children and other guests, so we didn’t have many photos of rides on the first day. BUT WE LOVED IT! It was a great first ride to experience – an exclusive Japan ride in an exclusive Japan park. It set the tone for an incredible core memory for us.
Nautilus Area
We discovered that the Nautilus Gifts store near 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea had a huge selection of BayMax merchandise—score! BayMax is BIG in Japan, and we love him, so naturally, we had to stock up. Mark even found a BayMax coffee mug he had always regretted not buying in WDW. We looked for it at Disney World for a year, and it had disappeared. But they had a whole shelf of them here, so it was meant to be!
Next, we grabbed a snack and drinks at Nautilus Galley. We tried the Gyoza hot dog and gin and orange drink, both of which were delicious, and the view was great. Seeing 20,000 Leagues was super nostalgic since I remember that ride as a kid in Walt Disney World, but it’s been gone from there for years.
Exploring and Shopping
We took a stroll around the park to see the different themed areas, and I absolutely loved the detail of the Arabian Coast and Mermaid Lagoon. The Lost River Delta area was also really well done. We did a little more shopping, and I bought my first pair of Tokyo Disney Minnie ears to add to my growing collection. I’ll have to share those at some point, too!
As we made our way around the park, like any theme park, there were crowds and long lines, but it wasn’t anything we hadn’t seen before. It just made me get a little creative when I wanted photos without any people in it.
Indiana Jones Adventure in Tokyo
The next ride on our list is one that we were greatly anticipating – Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull. Not only is Indiana Jones one of Mark’s favorite movies/characters, but we’ve also never ridden the ride in the US, so this was our very first time on the famous Indiana Jones ride, and we did it in Tokyo!
Once again, we used our VP Attraction Tickets and were escorted immediately to the front of the line. Because of this, we didn’t see much of the ride queue, but it made us feel like celebrities. This experience absolutely cracked us up. Not only was the ride done well and as epic as we expected, but hearing Indy speak in Japanese made us cry laughing. It was hilarious- another core memory.
Tower of Terror in Tokyo
The last of our three attraction tickets for the day was reserved for a classic ride completely reimagined for another culture. I can’t tell you how excited we were to ride one of our favorite Hollywood Studios rides in another country—Tower of Terror.
Like the United States, the Tower of Terror is a simulated freefall drop tower thrill ride. At Tokyo DisneySea, it’s located in the American Waterfront area. However, unlike its American counterparts, this version of the Tower of Terror isn’t themed around The Twilight Zone (or Guardians in California) because Japanese audiences were unfamiliar with the show.
The attraction takes place within the long-abandoned Hotel Hightower, built by Harrison Hightower III to store his collection of antiquities from various expeditions worldwide. After a catastrophic event on New Year’s Eve 1899 caused Hightower to disappear, the hotel was closed for 13 years until the New York City Preservation Society began to offer tours of the hotel to highlight the value of Hightower’s collection and potentially solve the mystery of Hightower’s disappearance.
Tower of Terror was a little busier than the other rides, so we waited a few minutes in the queue, even with our VP Attraction tickets. The Hotel itself was super detailed, and the lighting was beautiful. All of the rides were narrated/written in Japanese, but some of the signage and cast members communicated in English. We felt really welcomed and they made sure we understood what was going on around us.
More Ride Spoilers
The background story for the Tokyo DisneySea Tower of Terror is fascinating. We first learned about it on Behind the Attraction on Disney+ and thought it was so interesting and different from what the US parks have, so I wanted to share the details that I found on The Disney Wiki.
Tower of Terror Queue
“The queue area winds through Hotel Hightower’s gardens, filled with statues from different countries, before you enter the lobby. The ceiling arches are painted with murals of Hightower on his adventures, portraying his escape from native people with a valuable artifact in his possession. At the end of the lobby is the hotel’s main elevator, which is in its destroyed state, its doors smashed open from the impact of the crashing elevator car. The queue is filled with many photographs of Hightower, his expeditions, and his hotel, setting the stage for the story.
Next, you enter Hightower’s office, which features a large stained glass window depicting Hightower in front of the hotel. Shiriki Utundu (the cursed idol) sits on a pedestal near the stained glass. A cast member talks about Hightower’s exploits, eventually playing a gramophone recording of Hightower’s 1899 press conference, where he dismisses the idea of a curse as ridiculous.
Suddenly, the lights dimmed, and the stained glass window changed to show a frightened Hightower holding the idol. Hightower’s voice echoed throughout the office, warning us that the curse was real and urging us to leave. The stained window depicted the events that led to the hotel’s condemnation, showing Hightower boarding the elevator before it suddenly crashed, breaking the glass. Shiriki Utundu came to life then, laughing mischievously before it vanished from its pedestal into a starry field”.
Such fun effects for such a vibrant story! A few minutes later, we were ushered onto an elevator and seated in the front row! We had such a blast listening to everyone laugh and scream. This ride also lasted a little longer than the one at Studios in Florida.
The Full Story
For those of you interested in this elaborate story, here’s how it ends-
“As the ride begins, a flash of electricity suddenly causes the elevator to move backward, and Shiriki’s eyes stare at them from the darkness. Hightower is heard again, explaining what happened to him before the elevator ascends to the private apartments of Harrison Hightower. Hightower’s ghost appears beside Shiriki, resting on a table and reaching to touch it before it suddenly comes alive. The idol blasts Hightower back towards a set of open elevator doors as the room dissipates into a field of stars. Hightower screams as he plummets out of sight, and the idol turns toward the guests and laughs.
The elevator ascends again, and the doors open, revealing a large, ornate mirror. Hightower tells the guests to wave and say “goodbye” to themselves. As they do, the hotel’s lighting is replaced with an eerie green glow, and the guests’ reflections suddenly turn ghost-like. The riders’ reflections disappear as Shiriki suddenly appears and laughs menacingly before suddenly shooting forward towards the guests.
The elevator vibrates and then begins the drop sequence. This sequence is identical to the drop profile used on the original versions of the California and Paris Towers. However, it is missing the starting two drops and has the final plunge from the lower set of exterior doors rather than the top of the shaft. At the end of the drop sequence, the elevator returns to its loading level, where the idol’s green eyes glare one last time as Hightower warns you never to return.” – Disney Wiki.
Dinner at DisneySea
Tower of Terror in Tokyo was SO fun, and I loved our photo. We immediately wanted to do it again but didn’t want to wait in line as it was close to park closing time. We decided to try fruit wine from the Red Food Truck in the American Waterfront area and wandered into a few shops on our way to eat dinner at Vulcania Restaurant.
This is a quick-service restaurant where we ate fried rice with pork and egg, shrimp in chili sauce, spring rolls, a Mickey glove-shaped pork boa bun, and desserts. It hit the spot, and we really enjoyed the experience of having good food on a budget.
It had been a very long day of travel and magical new experiences. We decided to return to the room and rest because the next day would be huge—a full day at Disneyland! There are only two more full days left in Japan—stay tuned!
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The resort looks similar to the Grand Floridian – a bucket list item for me. As a Disney fan, I LOVE that 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea still exists somewhere.