Tokyo Disney

A few weeks ago we decided to go to Tokyo Disneyland on a whim (this is not something I would really recommend). Disney Tokyo is made up of 2 parks: Disneyland and Disneysea. We have been told that Disneyland is more for the the younger kids so we only when there this time but I am sure we will go to Disneysea at some point. So this is how it went.

   

First of all save yourself a lot of hassle and do not buy tickets online. It took us 2 hours to come to the conclusion online purchase was not going to work for us. We apparently have to many safety features on our credit cards and debit card that it was making the purchase much more difficult. So to save yourself the trouble we had go to the ATM at the Main Exchange (or near the Depot) and pull out some Yen (this is where the online purchase helps you to know how much you will need to withdraw). Then go to the 711 or any 711 and you can purchase the tickets there. The 711 on base was very helpful with this process so do not be afraid to ask. Once you purchase the tickets it will allow you to pretty much walk right in. 

Now as for how many days and if you should get a room; I would recommend at least 2 days at Disneyland, we only did one day and we did not get to even half the park. We chose to leave early in the morning (before 6am) and attempted to get to the park when it opened with a plan of going to our hotel checking in around 3 and letting the kids rest; this did not happen. Now if you have been here for a while an have taken the trains to Tokyo and back a few times then this may work for you. However if you have not been to Tokyo and do not know the train systems to well (that was us) I would recommend taking the train in and staying the night before, this way you can wake up as you please and still get to the park at opening. 

The way that we took was to park in the SOFA parking lot and took the train from Sagami Otsuka Station  to Yokohama Station to Tokyo Station to Maihama Station (the station right outside Disney). Now we would have arrived at Disney shortly after they opened but my husband left his backpack on the train so we had to deal with that.

Here is a note, if you forget something on the train there and your realize it right away like we did it can be easy to retrieve just time consuming.  As soon as we got off the train herelized it so we just talked to one of the attendants who directed us to lost and found. Lost and found will contact the station at the end of the line for that train (when you are on a train try and pay attention to a car you are in it could come in handy). Once the train gets to the end of the line they will check for you bag (or lost item) and remove it contacting the station you are at and letting them know they found it. If or when they find it you will have to go to the end of the line to retrieve it they will not send it back to the station you are at. 

So while my husband handled that I took the kids into the park, I figured it was better to do this than make them wait outside the park while my husband waited to hear if they found his bag and went to get it. My thought was I could at least get the kids in the park get them a snake and get in line for a ride. This ended up working out in our favor as we got into the park around 10:15 am they were getting ready for the first parade of many throughout the day. I got the kids some mini waffles at the Great American Waffle Company (located to the left as soon as you get out of the Bazaar)

These mini waffles were amazing, if I had time I would have sat down and got some of the larger ones but we wanted to see the parade so we settled for these.

So the parades we saw 3 that day the fist one was cut short because of wind so we saw it again later in the day (once my husband had joined us) and we saw the electrical parade. I would highly recommend if you see one see the electrical parade which is after dark it was amazing. (these are some of the photos we took but does not do it justice). 

      Something that I love about the Japanese is that they are so courteous to others to where they even sit during a parade. Disney also has people walking around to make sure people remove anything tall off your head and do not hold your camera above your head allowing others to see. If you have even been to Disney World in Orlando or pretty much any group function back in that states you know that it is a fight to see and people are not courteous about it.

A lot of the stuff we saw was geared toward Frozen but if you go after March they will be redoing there parades so we were glad that we went when we did. We went in February so it was a bit chilly during the day but bearable once the sun went down to was to cold to bare so if you plan on going in the winter bundle up and wear layers. I would also recommend those hand warmers because it seems that is what got cold the fastest.  

Now as far as food aside from the waffles we really did not eat much we kind of brought our own food. One thing we did get and the kids loved the popcorn. There are several flavors of popcorn located throughout the park as well as several different souvenir containers. We tried the caramel and chocolate and it was yummy. The kids pretty much munched on this throughout the day and kids being kids they did not want much else to eat aside from the forced peanut butter sandwiches. The turkey legs looked and smelled delicious by the way so next time we will try those. 

Where we stayed: Since we have a family of 5 hotels in Japan are not really set up for us on a last minute basis but we ended up making it work (some hotels have rooms that are "family rooms" but these are only a few). In order not to spend an astronomical amount for a room we opted for something a bit further from Disney at MYSTAYS Shin Urayasu Conference Center

This hotel was nice good for an overnight stay we got two rooms and then split the 3 kids up between the two of us. This hotel offers a shuttle to and from Disney as well as the nearest train  station (none of which we utilized) and it is a little ways away from the station as well as anything else so if you plan on staying here (due to price) be prepared to get something to eat before you go to the hotel or plan on leaving to eat. 

Over all our trip was fun again I would not recommend going in the winter, plan on 2 days at the park and I would stay the night before, and any night you go to the park especially if you have kids because it is a lot with the hour plus train ride (from base) and transferring trains (if your not used to it) and then the park all day. I would also not suggest coming home from Disney or Tokyo on a weekday (we came back on a Monday) before 10 am because those pushers you hear about in your ICR they are real and that is not fun with kids.