DLP is my Home park, and I've visited Tokyo 2 times. And I stayed at the Sheraton too. So looks like I'm the right person to dispense the advice!
From your signature, it looks like you haven't visited the US parks recently. Of the 'Disneylands', Paris is arguably the most different of all of them. So what that means is - pretty much everything in Tokyo
Disneyland will be unique to you. That doesn't help you much in paring down the options, so let me see if I can be a bit more useful!
- If you're really looking for something to skip, give Big Thunder Mountain a miss. It's poor in comparison with DLP's edition.
- You should definitely skip Buzz Lightyear, which is extremely similar to the Paris version.
- Star Tours is very similar to the US version, which you won't have seen based on the visit dates in your signature. But I'm not sure Japan is the best place to see it anyway.
- I did Pirates of the Caribbean in Tokyo, which was extremely good, but if you start getting pressed for time this should drop off the list pretty early too. Same goes for It's A Small World - there are subtle differences, but not enough to justify time taken away from other attractions.
- One thing you shouldn't skip despite the name is Haunted Mansion. It has a few surprises... I won't spoil the details! It is usually the last attraction to run out of FastPass.
- Splash Mountain has a Single Rider line that is usually faster than the FastPass line.
With regard to DisneySea, it's all unique, with one exception: "Raging Spirits" is actually identical to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril. You can safely skip that. Tower of Terror is substantially different. The standard advice is to skip Toy Story Mania, but you haven't done the US parks, so maybe you should be the exception and do that - but be prepared for extremely long queues, or your FastPass being tied up for 2 hours.
I'm guessing you've read this advice already, but your priorities should be Pooh's Hunny Hunt and Monster's Inc Hide & Go Seek in Disneyland. DisneySea's priority should be Journey To The Centre Of The Earth, and also Sindbad's Storybook Voyage (but you don't need to rush so much for Sindbad).
Yes, the parks are MUCH busier than Disneyland Paris, but they are also much larger, so ultimately it generally feels like DLP on a busy weekend. You can help yourself by investing in
two entrance tickets per person. This gives you a much better shot at the FastPasses, and if you only have one day per park, you're going to need it! Plus, tickets are a fraction of the price of other resorts. It's really not that big an expenditure. Skip a dinner somewhere if it helps you justify it. Remember that you need to exit the park and re-enter on the second ticket(s) to be able to use them to collect FastPasses.
With regards the Sheraton, there is a stupid shuttle bus that drives you all of 150 metres from the 'Bay' monorail stop to the Sheraton entrance. You can easily walk this by ... well, walking in the obvious direction. I'm just mentioning it in case you see the bus waiting and assume it's a long way! The monorail is paid, unlike WDW, but a worthwhile investment (you can buy a multi-day pass).
Check your dates don't overlap with exclamation marks on this calendar:
http://tdrnavi.jp/forecast/disneyland?lang=en - if they do, try and plan differently as these represent capacity limits (i.e. you might not even be let in!). As a rule, Disneyland is much more crowded. Apart from that, don't worry too much about the wait times - you'll have two tickets each, remember, so once the first rush of guests is "locked out" of fastpass for 2 hours due to having collected Hunny Hunt tickets, you can go around picking up tickets on a half hourly basis for all the other attractions with your second ticket.
Another thing... in Paris you may be used to walking into attractions with FastPass tickets 30 minutes late... that doesn't fly in Tokyo. If you are even as little as 5 minutes late, you will very politely told to sling your hook - end of story. So make sure you're on time!
All my (UK) credit cards were accepted at all stalls and locations throughout both parks, so you shouldn't need to worry too much about carrying cash. The popcorn is unique.
You'll have a fantastic time
C
i'll be doing a trip report when I get back complete with Paris comparisons!
I've already ordered my tickets online and am definitely doing day 1 Disneyland day 2 DisneySea. With so much to see in Japan and only 2 weeks in total to visit, we really can't spend more than 2 days at TDR.
