As a Disney College Program Alum, I like to take in the Disney magic anytime I can. When we were planning our visit to Japan, I told Scott that he had to add at least one day at the Tokyo Disney Resort.
Similar to other international locations, Tokyo Disney Resort is not owned by Disney. A Japanese company has acquired licensing rights from Disney and operates the park. We decided to visit DisneySea instead of Tokyo Disneyland, mainly because it has lands and attractions that are not found in other parks.
Tickets
You will not find information about the Tokyo Disney Resort on the main disney.com site. Instead, tickets can be purchased via the official site, or through Klook, a 3rd-party reseller. Tickets become available two months in advance. The theme parks are very popular so booking in advance is recommended if you want to ensure you are able to visit. Don’t forget to set a calendar reminder! The good thing is that tickets are much more affordable than the US parks. In 2025, we paid around $55 USD/person (~8,400 yen) for a one-day pass. Ticket prices do increase for special events like the 25th Sparkling Jubilee and Food & Wine Festival.
Is it really as crazy as they say?
If you’ve done any type of research on these parks, you’ll have seen posts about arriving early, using Disney Premier Access, etc. to avoid lines and get the most out of your day. Sadly, we can attest that it’s pretty much all true.
Park Opening – The park opens at 9:00am. We planned to arrive about 1.5 hours early. We had approximately an hour train commute to the park, including riding the resort line train from the JR station to the park entrance. You can purchase a day-pass for the resort line at the station for less than $5 USD. Looking back, we probably could have walked to the entrance faster, but it was raining so we took the train.
The crowd at 8:08am from our spot in line.
Magic details on the Resort Line train
Resort Line Train
Tickets for Resort Line Train
As soon as we got into the park, Scott hopped on the app and started trying to reserve spots using Disney Premier Access. As much as it pains us to say, if you want to avoid 1-2 hour wait times at every attraction, you will want to pay for this service. You’ll also want to ensure you have access to wi-fi (either a e-sim with a data plan or a portable hotspot) as well as a way to charge your phone (battery pack or charging case). You can actually rent a mobile battery in the park.
We went in with a list of things we’d like to do but also understood that we likely wouldn’t get to do everything which was fine. If you are traveling with kids or are a fanatic Disney Adult and want to experience everything the park has to offer, I recommend planning 2 days in each park to be safe.
We beelined to Fantasy Springs area and got in line for Peter Pan’s Neverland Adventure, the version of my favorite attraction in the US parks. Most of the signage is in English so you can imagine our surprise when we boarded the ride and heard Japanese. We realized that for the rest of the day, we wouldn’t understand a word that was said LOL. Rapunzel’s Lantern Festival was the only other attraction in Fantasy Springs we were able to snag a DPA ticket for but the land itself was one of my favorites.
Peter Pan in Fantasy Springs
Fantasy Springs
Tangled Tower
Inside the Tangled ride. Amazing!
Throughout the rest of the day, we walked between lands heading to whichever attraction we could reserve on DPA. In all, we only managed to get on 7 rides. One of our favorites outside of Fantasy Springs was Toy Story Mania! as it allows for a little friendly competition. Other stops included: Soaring, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Journey to the Center of the Earth. We capped the night off watching ‘Believe! Sea of Dreams’ nighttime light/firework show.
Pirate Ship
Skull Rock
Mysterious Island & 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
Huge underground area in Mermaid Lagoon
As with any Disney park, you’ll find a variety of food & beverage, shopping and entertainment options. Some classic favorites like a turkey leg and churros as well as unique local flavors like Little Green Dumplings and Gyoza Sausage Buns are available via mobile order or sit-down service.
There is a lot of unique souvenirs so if you’re looking for something to bring home to remind you of the park you’ll have plenty of options.
Toy Story Mania!
Andy's Bedroom was so cool!
View from the Steam Liner
Believe! Sea of Dreams
Overall, we would highly recommend visiting either or both of the Tokyo Disney Resorts. Just come with patience and appreciate the unique flair to your favorite Disney movies and characters.
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