Everything I'm learning about Tokyo Disneyland

[Briana Foster]

We are trying to plan a trip to Tokyo Disneyland and here are some random things I've learned from my research:

1. The Tokyo Disney website is confusing and everything when you are booking it has different time of releasing to book.

- Vacation Packages are confusing but good to know that the drink passes are good for unlimited drinks, special drinks (not alcohol) & soups!
- To get the packages they release them random days and usually 3pm their time (which is 12am our time in Colorado!) and where they announce the time and day is here. (this took forever to find).
- To find out the prices of the packages you have to go through booking everything on the website and selecting events. If you book the dining reservation through the packages its not included and it is $30 extra then if you get the reservation separately (but apparently certain restaurants are hard to get and the vacation package gives you the first opportunity to get it)

2. The Premier Pass and 40th pass are separate and you can use both at once
- Premier pass is the paid one and once you book one (buy it) you either have an hour until you can buy another OR if your time comes you can book another. So the tip is if you enter the park (at 9am) and get a 9:05am time for Beauty and the Beast (You have from 9:05-10:05am to go) once it hits 9:05am you can buy another priority pass for Splash mountain if you'd like to. I thought that was such a good tip!
- 40th passes are the free ones and you can get them every 2 hours once you get it or again if you use it. But these apparently sell out early afternoon (Apparently Indiana Jones goes really quickly)
- Also I heard you can buy the Night time entertainment priority pass and it doesn't effect you buying the other priority pass

3. We learned halfway through our research that there are certain Tokyo Disneyland hotels have early entry for Tokyo Sea. Hotel MiraCosta and Fantasy Springs Hotel for Disney Sea. All Disney hotels have early entry for Disneyland.

4. Also we learned are not able to bring food into the park. I'm not sure about drinks because I thought I heard someone bringing in drinks.

I'll update anymore knowledge I get. Still learning...

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Word of advice if you are trying to book a vac package - absolutely make sure you are logged onto their website prior to beginning the booking process. The site will allow you to start booking the vacation package without being logged in, but then you'll get to the end - and it won't actually let you book. You can waste a lot of time if that happens. We learned that one the hard way!

Good luck - it's a lot of work. The planning is so different from the US parks. But it is soooooo worth it. Both parks and their resorts are amazing.

 

[SPINster]

You can bring some food into the parks, we had no problems bringing in snacks/pastries for breakfast/etc. We also brought our metal water bottles without issue, I saw plenty of people with packaged drinks as well. Honestly the only thing security seem to prevent people from bringing in were over sized strollers and selfie sticks.

Other notes
-Vacation packages are MUCH more expensive than the items a la carte-you are paying for convenience, not saving money. Packages are also only available for one or two nights.
-If you make changing to your vacation package that change the cost at all (ie canceling restaurants, or changing hotel rooms) you will be charged the FULL amount again, and get a refund for the first amount.
-Yes, the entertainment DPA are separate from ride DPA-you can book one of those, a DPA, and a 40th Anniversary pass all at the same time.
-They only sell individual day tickets, no multi day tickets. If you stay at a Disney hotel you are guaranteed tickets, you can buy them on site. They don't do dynamic pricing, so a ticket for 9/30 will cost the same whether you buy it two months in advance or the night before.

 

[gmi3804]

Do practice making reservations on their site before your reservation window opens. When it’s your turn, fastest fingers wins the race. Also take into account you might have to wait to even access the site, so log in early.

 

[Kwami]

And be prepared for your credit card to be declined. Have backups. If a card fails, it might work on the second try, but it also might never work. You might consider making a dummy hotel reservation for some random night just to see which cards work. You can cancel it without penalty.

 

[Keladry84]

A couple of things to add:

VP packages:
- the unlimited drinks is priceless in the summer when it is very hot. It allows you to go straight to the mobile order counter and get a drink quickly even with long lines, both specialty (non-alcoholic) and bottled water/tea. You can get them as often as you want, so it really helps to stay hydrated as well as to get to try lots of different things without worrying about 'price' as it's already paid for.
- If you go for the unlimited VP, you might not need early entry at all. The only advantage of early entry is first shot at booking Premier and 40th anniversary passes, which you already get with the unlimited VP. This can give you a lot more flexibility on hotel, as well as overall cost. The exception might be if you are wanting specific shows, which you might or might not be able to get either way as they are lottery based.
- Restaurants: Unless you are wanting a specific restaurant that is otherwise difficult to get a reservation at, it is better to NOT book lunch/dinner with the VP. It drives up the cost of the package, and from what I've read you don't get to choose your food when you get there (it's a "set").
- You only need to online at the 'release' of a specific date if you are wanting to get one of the most sought-after rooms/views, and/or dates. Otherwise there is generally plenty of availability at most of the hotels until about a month ahead, and some even closer to the date.
- room-only bookings release later than packages - it might be difficult to get the same room type for a night before/after the package, so have a back-up plan.

Non-package/other:
- many people end up needing to change rooms multiple times during the trip due to how they set up VP options and/or availability of rooms. It seems daunting but actually goes pretty smoothly. Disney-to-disney hotel changes will transfer your luggage from room to room. For Disney to partner/other hotels, you have to do it yourself but that can actually work well too.
- partner hotels around the monorail loop can be really good options as well, and can even work with full park days, and/or with a break. It can also go really smoothly with managing luggage as well if switching hotels - there are options with leaving luggage with Bell hops, lockers at all of the monorail stations and parks, etc. that make it seemless. Transport was also impressive - I never waited more than 5 minutes for a shuttle from the Maihama First Resort, which was the cheapest and furthest away of the partner hotels in the area.
- Evening tickets are a great way to see more of the parks if you need another day but don't want a full day price or don't have a full day of time.

 

[Amunet]

I live about an hour away from Tokyo Disney, I'm happy to answer any questions you can't find regarding the park.
Lol I can't help with VP or hotel bookings though, as I don't need them.