Steve (DOS) and I have been staying in the Hyatt Regency Tokyo for a few days, which is located in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo. We are going on a cruise in a few days, and have limited time to visit Tokyo Disneyland, much less stay at the Disney Resorts, but wanted to at least see Tokyo Disney Seas for a day. The question we wondered, can it really be done?
First of all, for Disney Tokyo novices such as us, there are actually two Disney Parks in Tokyo: the original Magic Kingdom park very similar to Disneyland and Disney World in the US, and the newer and quite different Tokyo Disney Seas, which is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary. We opted for Disney Seas as we only had one day, and it has been described on some bloggers and V-bloggers, as one of the most unique theme parks in the World.
Well short answer Yes and No. Obviously NO if you’re a family with kids, or a single or couple who is intent on riding as many rides as possible in a day. If that’s the case and you like things planned from every Fast Pass, Lightning Lane or whatever they call it when you read this, Disney Seas (or the adjacent Magic Kingdom Tokyo) is just not feasible in a day, unless perhaps you get there well before the opening time, and stand in line for an hour or two to get thru the park as soon as it opens. Otherwise I would plan for a few days, and stay at a resort there.
But if you’re like us; a couple in our early to mid 60’s, and are huge Disney fans (we do live in Orlando so go to the Florida parks often!), but you just want to stroll thru the park, take some photos of the characters and the park itself, and experience the sights, sounds, culture and atmosphere of the park, the answer is YES!
We not only had no plans other than for a dinner reservation we had made in advance for the upscale Magellan Restaurant, and in fact did not want to arrive at Disney Seas at the crack of dawn either, braving Tokyo’s traffic via taxi, or worse by the subway during rush hour. We instead waited until 10:30am to leave our hotel, and we were there in 40 minutes or so via a Taxi, with absolutely no wait going thru Disney security or the turnstile gates. (We did purchase our tickets online the evening prior, and had or QR codes hand on the app before going to the park).
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You definitely want your phone fully charged as well as (highly recommended) bringing an extra battery pack along. As you use the App for literally everything from finding your way around the park (Disney Tokyo no longer provides paper maps 😳, which to us makes it a bit more inconvenient zooming in and out of the map, but you’ll be taking lots of photos and videos, and need the app to order food at man restaurants and snack shops, not to mention if you need to text or make calls using WhatsApp or similar.
I took so many photos, I have these arranged in a gallery a bit further below. Again, this post is mainly for people like us who were fine “taking a walk in the park”, with no set agenda (other than dinner), and just enjoying the day and night as it comes. The late morning hours prior to noon didn’t seem overly busy, but the park got progressively busy as the day progressed, into the evening, perhaps as many people got there early to get their fast passes, and where on rides earlier in the day. In fact there were several characters greeting us in the nearly entrance-way, and we took our time mingling with them for photos!
We were so enamored with our welcome characters entrance to the park, that we already felt like we got our money’s worth for the park admission, which was only about $65 US, compared to double that in the US. We strolled along, not in a hurry, admiring and fascinated by all of the simultaneous things we were seeing; from the Tokyo version of the Tower of Terror, to the Railway Train, to the Queen Mary looking ship facade in the distance. Definitely the WOW factor!
We had lunch at the Snuggly Duckling, which was a huge fast-food place with only a couple cheeseburger options as choices. This was fine with us, although you must place your order via the mobile app, and then pick up your food inside the restaurant. Fortunately there is plenty of seating in this huge venue, both inside and outside, so it was a nice break from walking.
By mid-afternoon, the lines for many rides were mostly one to two hours waiting times, with the lines stretched mostly outside and down the park walkway, rather than inside queueing, although the last portion of the waiting areas were indoor queuing.
The only ride we actually took was the Railroad car, which was fun, and offered a nice view of the waterfront area. It only goes one way, so we got off and re-queued (only a 5 minute wait) and went back again.
We would have like to have taken this one water ride that looks like the boats are going haphazard, but are guided along what looks like a magnetic or sensory track underneath the water. As the boats spun around a bit, everyone was all smiles and waves; both the boat passengers, and folks like us waving back from the land!
While we didn’t ride any of the rides other than the train, it was still fun watch other, even though some were indoors or hidden by trees and you couldn’t see the actual ride.
As we wandered thru the newer section of Disney Seas, Fantasy Springs, we passed thru the Frozen section, and encountered a few Princesses near the Fantasy Springs Hotel, which looked like a prime (and expensive) place to stay on a future trip.
It was interesting seeing the Japanese locals dressing up a bit for their day in Disney Seas. We saw what looked senior high school or college kids dressed in uniforms, or even the guys in dress jackets, while it seemed like everyone wore some kind of hat, even furry hates, and or carried their favorite Disney character, even the adults! It was really quite charming to watch everyone’s dress of choice selection as we walked thru the park throughout the day. Disney Seas seemed to appeal more to younger adults, rather than families with kids, although we saw quite a few well-behaved kids with their parents.
Our reservation for dinner was at 6:20pm, so we had a bit of time before dinner, and walked around the Italian section (which I nicknamed the Portifino section as it reminds me of Universal Studios Italian section), which had become quite busy as people were waiting for the light show, later fireworks, and in general shopping and socializing in the Piazza there. I took a few photos here, including Steve (DOS) with his shopping bags full of Disney souvenirs, and a cute photo I took in one of the stores with Mickey and Minnie on a Gondola, with Goofy steering.
DINNER AT MAGELLAN’S:
We had a wonderful dinner at Magellan’s Restaurant, which is supposedly the nicest restaurant in the park. This restaurant requires reservations, and fortunately we were able to secure at 6:20pm reservation the night before we went to Disney Seas.
Magellan’s is a French-Style more formal restaurant (i.e. not Kid Friendly), and offers a more subdued atmosphere, with tables spaces further apart from each other than you would expect in just any Disney restaurant (or in Tokyo for that matter!). When you first enter, you are escorted to your table by your host or hostess, who explains the menu options for the meal. Along the way you pass by a huge globe of the world, with a beautifully decorate ceiling above it.
Magellan’s offers two or three different Price-Fix options for dinner (no Ala-carte available) which we knew when we booked the reservation, and we booked the 8,000 Yen meal, although we did upgrade for the beef option for 2,000 Yen more, which was well worth the price. We had a 4 course leisurely meal, and I had a brewski (well a couple, which were extra an extra 800 Yen a piece I believe), and the service was outstanding, with multiple wait staff coming by our table for filling our water, clearing our plates, etc.
We really enjoyed our dinner, and I highly recommend Magellan’s Restaurant for a special treat, end of the day bit of relaxation, and quality service and sit down meal. There are other restaurants too, but I would at least do a sit down wait-service restaurant, as you’ll be tired by the end of the day. It’s a nice reward to yourself for all of the walking!😀
LIGHT And BOAT SHOW:
After dinner, we walked from the Magellan Restaurant towards the park’s exit, however we stopped along the way and caught the very end of the nighttime Boat and Light show. There were lots of people crowding by the rails to see the water show, but we could still see it standing a bit in the back.
We did not stay for the Firework show, shortly before the park closed at 9pm, as we wanted to beat the rush of people exiting the park. We had no trouble getting a Taxi, and there were only 2 or 3 couples ahead of us at the Taxi stand, although we left a bit before the park closed and the Fireworks show.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Did we accomplish our object of “seeing” Tokyo Disney Seas in a Day? Absolutely! For what we wanted to see at Disney Seas, our visit really surpassed our expectations! Basically it was a whirlwind, unplanned day at the park, enjoying the similarities but with many more differences to the Florida parks, the Japanese polite culture, and certainly our wonderful dinner at the end of the day.
Would we do it again? Of course! On our next visit to Japan, we would probably add time in for our Disney visit, and stay for 3 or more days at one of the Disney Hotels and go to both parks (one a day) next time, and even pre-plan for a couple attractions. Yet as a finish up this post and loading over 100 photos into the gallery below, why YES, a senior couple (and perhaps even a family with small kids not doing rides) with only a day available to visit would have a wonderful and fun-filled day! And we didn’t even stay for the 9pm fireworks!
Below is the full gallery of our day at Disney Seas, including some of the photos show above. Enjoy!
