Tokyo Disneyland – Chiba – a magical day worth treasuring

Before attending

Before visiting Tokyo Disneyland, it is best to purchase your ticket in advance so that you can head straight to the entrance gates. I purchased mine from Klook. Otherwise, you have to queue up for the ticket and then for the entrance. The price of the ticket depends on the day you are visiting the theme park, non-holiday period weekdays are 7,900 yen while holiday period weekends are 9,400 yen per adult. Kids age 3 or under are free.

Tokyo Disneyland is best done on a day where the weather is good, e.g. no rain and not too hot. Otherwise, make sure you pack what you need for weather but don’t overpack. While you can usually take your backpack and things with you on rides, it can make for a poor experience if you overdo the packing. Also, the resort doesn’t allow for outside food or drinks to be brought into the park. But, you can bring stuff for your infant or toddler such as their food and stroller. (There are various places to park your stroller before getting on rides and the stroller itself has to meet the theme park’s rules – generally the stroller just has to be normal size. A lightweight, fold-as-one stroller would be fine, but a top-of-the-line stroller with every bell-and-whistle accessory or attachment would not be fine. You can also rent one of the their strollers.)

On hotter days, you should also consider bringing sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses. And if you want to watch the parade from the sidelines, you should consider bringing in an umbrella for shade and a picnic mat or rug.

Before heading to Tokyo Disneyland, I downloaded the Tokyo Disneyland app. Once you enter the park, you can reserve seats for stage events and restaurants via the app. I was able to reserve Mickey’s Magical Music World and a lunch buffet at the Crystal Palace. The app also tells you the wait times on rides, allows you to purchase “fast passes” for around 2,000 yen per person, and tells you about rides that are out of operation, etc.

On the day

In the morning, we arrived at Tokyo Station and took the train on the Keiyo Line to Maihama Station. We got to Tokyo Disneyland just after 9:00 am. By then, the crowd at the entrance had already entered the theme park and we had to go through bag check (where they check for outside food and drinks) and then brought up the QR code for my Klook tickets and scanned them into the reader at the entrance gate. Afterwards, I updated the app by scanning paper copies of my QR code so that I could get access to reservations, etc on the app.

Despite it being a quieter day at the park, most of the reservation slots were quickly being exhausted. So I booked Mickey’s Magical Music World for 5:10 pm and a lunch buffet at the Crystal Palace at 1:40 pm.

With a 2 year old toddler in tow, we went to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which was a boat journey where we followed the set path and saw various vistas. It only had a 5 minute wait time, but wasn’t thrilling. (My 2 year old covered their eyes for most of the ride…)

We then traveled to the Western River Railroad which had a 20 minute wait. The ride was a slow train ride that showed some of the behind the scenes for attractions like Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. Otherwise, it was a tame ride. Splash Mountain had a wait time of around 40 minutes, while Big Thunder Mountain was 30 minutes on average. Space Mountain was out of operation on the day.

Peter Pan’s Flight was the first ride we were enthuiastic about. There was a 25 minute wait time with only 2 people allowed per “ship”. The ride was fun because it offered a few loops, turns and bends. I enjoyed the vistas in this attraction because they were set against a dark backdrop with beautiful lighting for the props.

We then mistakenly attended Mickey’s Magical Music World at 12:15 pm. You can line up for this show even without the reservation, but reserving allows you to bypass the wait. The show was pretty spectacular with many Disney character appearances from Toy Story, Frozen and Alice in Wonderland. The show goes for about 25 minutes.

A photo with Mickey Mouse followed. Even though it was advertised as being a 40 minute wait, we were with Mickey in 25 minutes or so. The attendant took photos of us with Mickey using our phone. It was a straight forward process and the Mickey on the day was quite energetic and fun.

We then had the lunch buffet at 1:40 pm at the Crystal Palace. We had the option of having the buffet inside or outside. Given the heat on the day, we opted for inside. (But on reflection, we should have done outside because the parade started at 2:00 pm and, although you can see it, it’s hard to see it fully from inside the restaurant.) The buffet was 4,500 yen per adult with children age 3 or under being free. We were only given 75 minutes for our seating. I am told that it used to be cheaper and allowed for 90 minutes, but oh well… The food was actually pretty good, with a nice selection of meats, carbs and salads, along with Mickey and Minnie themed desserts and a decent variety of drinks including iced coffee and ginger ale soda.

After lunch, we walked into Cinderella’s Fairy Tale Hall which was more an exploration area then a ride. It offered some nice dioramas and a throne room where people could take photos of themselves or family/friends sitting on the throne chair.

“It’s a small world” is a family boat ride which feels like a pretty long ride. It didn’t interest me much, other than noticing some cuter versions of Disney characters throughout.

We then went to Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast, which is arguable the best attraction in Tokyo Disneyland. The wait was 70 minutes long and stretched outside the castle grounds. It was a long wait, but as soon as I was on the ride I could see why it was the best ride. You sit in a teacup on this ride and you experience some pretty hi-tech, advanced magic in this attraction. It is worth waiting in line for.

I did the Star Tours: The Adventures Continue ride which was a sit down ride in a simulator. It was alright. We were pushed out at the start by Darth Vadar and had to escape to safety. I was slightly disappointed after the ride not to see any Star Wars merchandise on sale. (Though it was probably because they were celebrating their 40th anniversary.)

Our last ride was the Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek! was a fun ride with pretty of twists and turns.

At 7:30 pm, the 45 minute Tokyo Disneyland Electronical Parade Dreamlights did its thing. It was pretty stunning setting all the LEDs on the floats as they chugged along before Cinderella’s castle, all lit up at night.

We didn’t go out with a bang, because no fireworks

8:30 pm was meant to be when the fireworks started, but 10 minutes before it was meant to start we were told that the fireworks were cancelled despite what looked to be clear, fine weather.

There was a rush of people leaving after the parade and the called-off fireworks. We stayed back a little while and left closer to 9:00 pm, when the park closes. Closer to 9:00 pm it wasn’t too crowded and we were able to catch our train back to Tokyo and our accommodation. Overall, it was magical, joyous experience.

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