Hi! We will be visiting Tokyo DisneySea and Tokyo Disneyland on Dec. 22 and 23. Huge crowd is expected. I would appreciate your advice as to what attractions are "must-see". We have an almost 3 year old toddler with us as well as 2 senior adults. Thanks!
Ok...I'll include a list, but I do want to point out that I didn't put a lot on the list for Disneyland just because there are many classic attractions that you probably know.
Tokyo Disneyland:
Monsters Inc. Ride and Go Seek (Tomorrowland....(great concept and a lot of fun))
Pooh's Hunny Hunt (Fantasyland....(this is different than others..great track system and really creative))
Most of the park features a lot of familiar favourites like Space Mountain, Big Thuder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters, Haunted Mansion, and more.
This park features a knock out lineup of attractions and a few unique ones. It will remind a lot of people of Disneyland in California with it's layout and attractions.
My advice is to head immediately to Monsters Inc. and either get a fast pass or stick it out and wait in line. If you choose to wait in line, send someone to get Pooh's Hunny Hunt fast passes. Both of these attractions will run out of fast pass quickly. Be prepared, there may even be a decent wait for fast passes for Monsters Inc. Tomorrowland has a ton of big attractions and they will fill up within the first 30 minutes. With the young one I would probably head to fantasyland after Monsters Inc. (either ride or fast pass). It will be pretty cold so you can skip Splash Mountain. The Western Railroad is a great train ride around the park and my 3 year old son loves the Riverboat. We like the Country Bears as well and that will be decked out for Christmas, which is pretty cool. Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Big Thunder, Space Mountain, and Star Tours just play it by the day flow. You may hit some of them and you may not. The Pinocchio ride is horrible and I would recommend skipping it. My son likes Autopia or the Raceway, whatever that is called. You can probably hit this throughout the day with a reasonable wait.
Tokyo DisneySea:
The entire park is pretty unique with many attractions unseen or slightly modified in this park so I have many of them on the list. My advice is to head towards the American Waterfront and get fast pass for Toy Story Mania (if you want to do this ride at all) or Tower of Terror right away. We did this aright away and our fastpass was for 7:00 pm (yikes). After that I would head to Journey to the Center of the Earth ride, then to the back of the park for character greeting trails while others members of the party enjoy Indiana Jones and Raging Spirits. You will pass Little Mermaid Lagoon on the way to the back of the park....no worries, you can go here anytime throughout the day and there are a ton of rides for the kiddos here. You will also pass Arabian Coast if you do head to the back of the park, which has a flying carpet ride and the double decker carousel and Sinbad (basically Small World type ride), which you can hit after you go to the Lost River Delta area. There are decent lunch options in Lost River Delta area and Arabian Coast. There is no breakfast in the park by the way. So after you hit those areas I would take a boat from that end of the park to American Waterfront/Port Discovery area. There's a great Train ride called the Electric Railway on that side of the park. This park is so unique and beautiful that you will probably enjoy just walking around it. Try not to hustle too much and just enjoy it. Based on the above advice you probably won't be able to do this, but the SSS Columbia for lunch is usually available and is the best restaurant we ate at here. The nice restaurants are probably already reserved for dinner, but I would try to book on of them now if you can.
Toy Story Mania (American Waterfront....(not any different, just awesome))
Tower of Terror (American Waterfront....(looks different and a different story))
DisneySea Electric Railway (American Waterfront to Port Discovery...(great transportation railway, which allows you to see so much of the park))
Indian Jones Adventure (Lost River Delta...(rides a bit like Dinosaur from AK))
Raging Spirits (Lost River Delta...(really short roller coaster, but cool))
Caravan Carousel (Arabian Coast...(double decker carousel))
Flounder's Flying Fish Coaster (Mermaid Lagoon....(tons of rides for little one in Mermaid Lagoon))
Journey to the Center of the Earth (Mysterious Island....(the quick ride around outside near the end makes it worth it))
Visually, DisneySea is the most stunning park in the Disney lineup and with a lot of fresh ideas, it stands apart as a really distinct experience.
