Christmas Day in the parks or something else?

[lilmc]

I am planning our first trip to the parks in Japan in 2025 and I’m trying to figure out our exact dates. I know I want at least 4 days (should we do more?) in the parks with Christmas decorations and I’ve heard they take them down immediately after Christmas so I have to get our days in before Christmas. Should I include our last day in the parks on Christmas Day? Or should we already be moving on by then? Will it be extra crazy in the parks that day? If we leave the parks, is everything usually still open?

 

[MinnesotaDisneyFan]

I'm going to the Tokyo Disney Resort for 4 days this year for Christmas. My park days are Dec 23-26. I'll report back on my experience regarding the decorations and crowds. On their website they list the Christmas seasonal additions as ending Dec 25 (although the two attraction overlays are listed going through January 13). Let me know any other seasonal questions you're curious about.

 

[lilmc]

I'm going to the Tokyo Disney Resort for 4 days this year for Christmas. My park days are Dec 23-26. I'll report back on my experience regarding the decorations and crowds. On their website they list the Christmas seasonal additions as ending Dec 25 (although the two attraction overlays are listed going through January 13). Let me know any other seasonal questions you're curious about.

Yes, please do!! TDR Explorer mentions the decorations being gone Dec 26 and I’ve heard the same, but no one seems to mention the actual vibe of Christmas Day itself. My kids are older (17 and 20), but still trying to figure out what the best “day” would look like for Christmas. India was awesome: henna in the morning and market shopping in the afternoon, but not sure what Japan is like.

Have great time! Where are you staying? Have you been before?

 

[nono]

I was there on Christmas Day in 2019. That year, lots of folks queueing up for the evening entry as Christmas is a date night in Japan. I don't remember the crowd level being any worse than Dec. 24. And can confirm that all Christmas decor basically vanished overnight, and then was being replaced with New Year's decor.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Unlike in Western countries, in Japan, Christmas is not a day where businesses will close.

I can't comment specifically on crowd levels for Christmas Day but the weekends would have the worst crowds and you should try to go as early as possible in December.

Another thing to think about: If you plan to visit other parts of Japan during this trip, the Shinkansen may get packed starting the Friday after Christmas and some trains will need to be reserved in advance. In this case, it may be wise to get yourself out of Tokyo by Christmas which also can help you avoid the crazy hotel prices in Tokyo that start the weekend after Christmas.

 

[MinnesotaDisneyFan]

Yes, please do!! TDR Explorer mentions the decorations being gone Dec 26 and I’ve heard the same, but no one seems to mention the actual vibe of Christmas Day itself. My kids are older (17 and 20), but still trying to figure out what the best “day” would look like for Christmas. India was awesome: henna in the morning and market shopping in the afternoon, but not sure what Japan is like.

Have great time! Where are you staying? Have you been before?

This will be my fourth time visiting Tokyo Disneyland. The first time was a few days after Christmas in 2011 and I do remember there being New Years decorations. That was the last time I have visited in the winter and subsequent visits were all in the summer.

I'm staying at the Disney Ambassador solely because it's one of the few Disney hotels currently offering Happy Entry to both parks. My last visit in 2017 I stayed at the Disneyland Hotel which was truly incredible and I considered it again if not for the Happy Entry only being for Disneyland.

At the four month mark before my trip I was unable to book any Disney hotel for my length of stay that worked for me. So I had planned to instead stay at the Tokyo Bay Hilton. Around 10 days before my trip I noticed a lot of movement in availability for Disney hotels and was able to have my pick of fairly base level priced rooms at the Disneyland and Ambassador hotels (neither of which I could get at the 4 month mark). Also some availability at other hotels if I did a split stay. So if you have the patience and persistence continue to check the Disney reservations site 2 weeks or so before your trip if you're not satisfied with your accommodations.

 

[lilmc]

So I had planned to instead stay at the Tokyo Bay Hilton.

Due to points, we’ll be staying at the Hilton. Were they easier to book than the chaos of the Disney hotel bookings?

 

[MinnesotaDisneyFan]

Due to points, we’ll be staying at the Hilton. Were they easier to book than the chaos of the Disney hotel bookings?

Yes. The Hilton seems to be pretty easy to book.

 

[MinnesotaDisneyFan]

Our visit included 4 park days (DisneySea Dec 23, 25 and Disneyland Dec 24, 26). To answer your first question, yes all Christmas decorations were taken down overnight after Christmas Day. So if you want to see the decorations and holiday entertainment you have to visit before Dec 26.



We got to the turnstiles about 2 hours before our hotel happy entry every day and were glad we did. The morning crowds for rope drop were very busy. People arrive for the non-Disney hotel guest lines extremely early. On Christmas Day I went for a jog and saw people who had arrived earlier than 5:00 AM camped dozens of people deep in sleeping bags (for a 9:00 AM park open). Upon entering with our early entry we were able to get a mix of standby pass (for Fantasy Springs), free 40th anniversary pass, show lottery, and premium paid pass. Having the early entry did seem to help a lot for this, so if you’re staying at the Hilton plan on coming early.



Dec 26 seemed slightly less busy at rope drop than previous days although the wait times during the day seemed about the same as the holiday days.



We never had an issue getting food and snacks without a long line. Mobile order is really efficient and we skipped snacks that had long lines. We always found other snacks and food (including an array of popcorn flavors) with minimal wait times at off-peak hours.



It didn’t seem markedly busier than any other time I’ve visited Tokyo Disney. We left feeling we saw and ate everything we wanted to. If they had park hoppers I could have been satisfied with 3 days but I’m glad we did 4. Ask away with any specific questions you have.

 

[lilmc]

Thanks for the info!! Hope you had amazing trip!

We are definitely snack people, so I’m afraid we won’t be able to dodge lines other than mobile order or try to avoid peak times. Do you think 4 days would still be enough time to “do it all” without being too rushed if you hadn’t dropped the longer food waits?

Knowing that time could be an issue, how much do the premium paid passes run (in a general range) for the rides?

Totally random: I’ve eyed the now discontinued hamburger passholder for years, but I’d have to hit up eBay now to get one. Now that everything is on the app, are pass holders a thing at all anymore? Would there be any use to them?

 

[MinnesotaDisneyFan]

The premium line skipping was cheaper than it is in the US. So with the cheaper park entry ticket, I felt paying for a few here and there still resulted in a net cost that was far cheaper than even a base one-day ticket in the US. I paid $12.75 a person for the premium passes for the Neverland ride (which ended up being our favorite in Fantasy Springs so were happy to splurge to ride it more than once) which was pretty on-par with most of the rides. I’d say $12-15 on average. We used it for Fantasy Springs and the Beauty and the Beast ride.

I think you could be satisfied with 4 days. A lot of snacks were available on mobile order (the alien mochi for example). The longest snack lines seem to be for things that have a strong appeal for Japanese locals but might not be a top priority for international visitors. The two longest lines I saw were for a noodle soup bowl at China Voyager in Adventureland (that didn’t have mobile order) and jumbo chicken legs in Lost River Delta. Both had lines that were slowly moving and probably hundreds of people long snaking through an entire land. Things that were of interest to us were the more uniquely Disney things. We got 4 different fun churros flavors, lots of different unique drinks, many popcorn flavors, chicken pizza roll, pork rice roll, and more. All with minimal waits by opting to grab something when we came across a short line.

One benefit to going on the dates we picked is while the Christmas decorations were immediate removed on the 26th, that day also brought new themed snacks and churros that were available for the upcoming Vanellope promotion in January. So you can shoulder two different themed snack offering seasons.

I wish we had been able to split our Disney time and have some at the start and end of our trip as 4 days was tiring in a row. You could have a similar idea and have a 5th buffer day built in if you’re planning on being in Tokyo longer. I think 4 days should be enough for most people but adding a 5th day is not out of the question.

The coin purse/passholder bags are alive and well in Tokyo and very popular. Many are now a slightly different style where it’s the entire body of a character on a strap instead of just a flat face/head. I like these as they can hold a few more things than the original ones. We bought some of the other two Aristocats as you rarely see merchandise other than of Marie

 

[MinnesotaDisneyFan]

In case it’s of interest to you or others, we also visited Universal Japan on a 1.5 day pass Dec 28 and 29 as part of the Kyoto/Osaka leg of our trip.

Universal’s Christmas decor and entertainment ran through Jan 5 so it worked out doing this after Disney. Although the decorations were not as robust as Disney they were still good including an elaborate LED lit tree. And the Frosty’s Electric Dance Party show was wild but good. Frosty as an EDM DJ with Minions, Elmo, Hello Kitty, Snoopy, etc!

Universal was VERY busy these days. They typically open the parks up to an hour before the posted opening so you have to arrive early. The lines were 70-160 minutes (and sometimes longer) for almost every ride all day long. They have single rider on a lot of rides but the posted times seem to only shave 10% off the normal line, except Jaws which single rider had a 5-10 min wait when the normal line was 80.

1.5 days with no Express Pass was enough time to see as much as we wanted and ride our favorites multiple times. The Flying Dinosaur was amazing. IMHO better than VelociCoaster. There were lots of good themed snacks especially ones around Jaws and the quidditch match churros themed to different house colors.

 

[jujubiee4]

Any opinion on going for New Years eve? Crowd wise?

 

[MinnesotaDisneyFan]

Any opinion on going for New Years eve? Crowd wise?

Universal Japan had a separate ticketed event on Jan 31 that was sold out. Disney has regular operations. From my understanding New Year’s Eve is popular and would be a day to avoid. The warnings everywhere about how busy the trains are and to book in advance between Christmas and New Year’s plus the Universal ticketed event being sold out lead me to believe it would be a time to avoid the parks. Unless you want to celebrate in the park.