Plan on visiting Tokyo DisneySea? Here are a few tips to enjoy your day at this magical theme park based on my family’s experience.
We had the amazing opportunities to visit Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea with our children during our visits to Japan. The most special moment is when our son was watching the mesmerizing electric parade going by. He turned to us with a glisten in his eyes and said, “It’s so beautiful I want to cry.”
These memories are forever in our hearts. If you are visiting Tokyo and have some time to spare, we highly recommend making a stop at either park. Here are a few tips to enjoy your day at this magical theme park based on our family’s experience.
What is Tokyo DisneySea
Tokyo DisneySea is a Disney theme park right next door to Tokyo Disney. Both the Disney Parks are owned by The Oriental Land Company, which licenses the Disney characters and themes from The Walt Disney Company. DisneySea as its name suggests is ocean and aquatic-themed.
Why Visit DisneySea
You might be wondering why our family chose to visit the theme parks in Japan despite living in California, where we have Disneyland Park and California Adventure. One of the main reasons is that the Disney resort in Japan is only 1 hour from Nami’s house in Yokohama. In contrast, Los Angeles is a 7-hour drive for us.
The second reason is that Tokyo Disney is also significantly lower priced than the ones in the US. The ticket prices per day start at USD $ 65 for adults and USD $ 52 for children in Japan (as of 2023). Compared to over $100 for weekdays and $160+ on weekends for U.S. parks, it’s quite a saving for a family. I know… crazy right?? You can check out current prices for Tokyo DisneySea here!
DisneySea is one of the most popular theme parks in the world with over 14 million visitors in 2019. It’s not hard to see why, with its captivating attractions and unique experiences!
How to Get to Tokyo DisneySea
From Tokyo Station, board the Keiyo Line to Maihama Station, which will take approximately 15 minutes. Walk to Resort Gateway Station and board the Disney Resort Line (Disney resort monorail) to Tokyo DisneySea. The whole journey will take around 30 minutes. When planning your journey, I recommend downloading the Tokyo Disney Resort App, where you can purchase tickets and research everything about Tokyo Disney Sea!
How to Get Around Tokyo DisneySea
Tokyo DisneySea is a uniquely designed theme park that features a loop layout showcasing 7 different aquatic-themed areas, from the classic American Waterfront scenery to the futuristic Port Discovery, and the jungles of the Lost River Delta to the Mysterious Island and Arabian Coast. As you go through the theme park, you’ll be greeted with an exciting and characteristic experience in each area.
Tips For Navigating Tokyo DisneySea
For non-Japanese speakers planning a visit, here’s a quick guide and some tips based on our own experience:
Height Restrictions
We visited Tokyo Disneyland when our daughter was only 5 and she was tall enough to go on every ride. We knew DisneySea was designed for an older crowd but were hoping she could get on all the rides. However, we were not so lucky as 11 of the rides had height restrictions and unfortunately, she was too short for 3 of the featured rides: Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull, Raging Spirits, and Journey to the Center of the Earth. All three rides required a minimum of 117 cm or 3 ft 10 inches. If you are visiting with little ones, remember that they might not reach the height requirements for some of the featured rides.
Avoid Weekends and Japanese Holidays
Try to avoid weekends and visit before Japan’s school goes on summer break in mid-July. We visited on a Friday and spent the night there. As we were leaving the resort area on Saturday morning around 10 AM, the parks were already at max capacity and weren’t letting more people in until 6 pm.
Don’t Waste Time Reserving Best Viewing Spot
The grand show at night is the climax of the DisneySea experience. All theme park goers try to grab a spot long before the show to get a good view. However, the show can be viewed from numerous locations around the Mediterranean Harbor. We recommend not wasting your time waiting for hours to save a good spot, and instead, use that time to enjoy more rides.
Language Assistance
For the most part, DisneySea is equipped with multilingual signs and maps for international visitors, so it shouldn’t be a problem getting. However, if you don’t speak Japanese, I recommend skipping the Turtle Talk. We waited almost 1 hour for the attraction, not knowing what it was. It’s a turtle on screen that interacts with the audience in Japanese, so if you don’t speak Japanese, it is not worth your time.
Priority Pass
Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea used to offer FastPass but it’s been replaced by Priority Pass. To maximize your time and get in the most rides, make sure to utilize Priority Pass for the most popular rides.
Where We Stayed Near Tokyo Disney Resort
There are 3 Disney hotels connected to the theme parks (Ambassador Hotel, Hotel Miracosta, and Tokyo Disneyland Hotel), and another 6 official hotels surrounding the theme parks that can be accessed via the monorail line.
We’ve always stayed at Hilton Tokyo Bay, which is one of the 6 hotels surrounding DisneySea. Hilton Tokyo Bay has kids-friendly rooms, which our children love and they also let you use the Hilton Honors Points + Cash combination, which brings the cost of a room down. It’s an excellent value for what you get and if you are lucky enough to get the rooms facing the bay, you have an amazing view of the Tokyo skyline!
What to Eat at Tokyo DisneySea
During our visits, we had the pleasure of eating at Magellan’s, a very nice sit-down restaurant located in the heart of the theme park.
I remember that particular day, we were quite hungry and couldn’t wait to eat. Magellan’s food exceeded all expectations and was by far the most delicious we’ve ever had at a theme park! The menu had a wide range of dishes suitable for adults and kids but we indulged in some prosciutto, smoked salmon, roast chicken, ebi fry, and shrimp salad. Not your average theme park food! If you want to relax and enjoy some delicious food while visiting the park, I highly recommend Magellan’s restaurant.
Around the theme park, you can also find various snacks, pizza, popcorn wagons, and more restaurants and cafes serving with Mickey Mouse-shaped plates!
What to do at Night in Tokyo DisneySea
The night-time scenery in DisneySea is just as magical as you might think, making it fantastic for leisurely walks and enjoying all the attractions.
For the grand show at night, the one we watched but is no longer playing was called Fantasmic. The show takes place over the water of the Mediterranean Harbor and lasts about 20 minutes. It combines dazzling visuals and a captivating story, great for people of all ages. A newer version of Fantasmic now plays at Disneyland in LA. At DisneySea, Fantasmic has been replaced by a new show called Believe! Sea of Dreams.
We recorded the last 5 min of the Fantasmic show (the best part). You can watch it on our YouTube Channel!
Our family had a really wonderful time at DisneySea. We hope our children will cherish these sweet memories as they grow older.
Visiting Tokyo? Check out our Tokyo Guides here.
I LOVE Disney World in Orlando, and I LOVE your photos of Disney Sea. I always wondered w hat it looked like there., Simply beautiful. And the food and hotels look amazing as well. The kids look so happy. Great post
Oh Nami, these pictures are absolutely stunning!!! It is making me wish that I could go to Tokyo DisneySea right now! Your son and daughter look so adorable too – so glad you all had a great time 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing with us 🙂
Love love love your photos!! Tokyo, and everything else! Your little ones are beyond adorable!! I would wanna cry, too, if I saw all this in real life. I PRAY that one day I will make it out to Japan. Such a gorgeous country.
I did not even know there was a DisneySea, looks like a blast! Great food pics too!
I guess my lil princess niece gonna do what ever i ask her to do once i bring her into this disneysea…..
Arigato for the Disney Sea tips. Your husband did a great job video taping the water show! When I try, I always get a bunch of heads blocking the view. Ugh!
My family and I were able to go to Tokyo Disney and Disney Sea last summer for the first time. Even though I grew up an hour from Disneyland, I loved the Japanese version, especially Disney Sea because the Japanese people are extremely kind and polite. Not knowing the Japanese language and not realizing that some attractions are not to be video taped, we had a few Disney employees bow and smile at us as they asked us to stop video taping. Really, who smiles and bows while they scold you?!?!? The Disney employees are so nice, you want to follow the rules. 🙂
Journey to the Bottom of the Sea ride is a must! Hopefully your whole family can enjoy this ride next year.
I have a couple of tips myself:
1. You have to try the various popcorn flavors. They are different from the regular flavor we have in the U.S. like a soy sauce and honey versions, It’s different but oishi! The containers are great souvenirs as well.
2. Don’t bother bringing trading pins. They sell some pins but people in Japan don’t trade them like in America. I looked but couldn’t find any trading stations or people.
3. If you like Duffy, you got to buy Shellie May, his friend. You can only buy her in Japan. They are so cute together! Young Japanese carry these stuff animals all around with them at the parks.
4. If adults want to see a cool Costco, you have to go to a Japanese Costco. There is one near Tokyo Disney. My cousins and I left the teenagers at Disney and 3 of us went to Costco! Wow! They have the best Hokkaido ice cream at the snack bar, amazing seafood pizza, and a bunch of Japanese products. I don’t remember where Costco is exactly but we took a cab to the train station, passed a few stops, got off and took another cab to Costco. It was awesome!
I returned home with a new appreciation of Japan as a whole. What a clean, polite and high tech country!
Thank you so much for your comment (and so sorry for my late response!). My husband was recording with our DSLR too – so heavy! He was actually telling me how tired he was after shooting that video, so he was very happy to read your comment. 🙂 I’m short, so I can’t see this kind of show when I go closer to the front. 😀
You told me an interesting point – yeah Japanese people always ask politely WITH SMILE! That’s a good observation. 🙂
I enjoyed reading your tips! Thank you SO MUCH for sharing with us. Hope other readers find them useful too. I actually haven’t been to Costco in Japan yet. I need to check it out next time. My friends share some things on Facebook sometimes and I find them very interesting!
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed your stay in Japan. Thank you again!
Wow Nami, you wrote back to me! I feel honored. You are an internet celebrity, at least to me. Glad you enjoyed my reply. If I discover something new, I like to share it with others.
I’ve known Japanese people all my life but realize that I am not familiar with a lot of Japanese food. It was evident as I traveled around Japan asking, “What is this? What is that?”. So, thank you for your website and videos. The instructions in your videos are clear and easy to follow. They make Japanese cooking look fun! I’ve made some of your recipes, my favorite is the Japanese cheesecake. It is always a hit! Thank you again for taking the time to write to me. Again, I am flattered!
Aloha from Hawaii,
Marjorie Gorai
Hi Marjorie! Haha, I usually respond, or at least I try…. 🙂 I’m glad to hear my website and videos are helpful. I’m happy to hear your enjoyed the cheesecake recipe! Aloha~~~ 🙂
oh how much fun and what a wonderful guide too. I feel like I would know exactly where to go and what to do if I went. Your awesome girl
楽しそう！ レストランもいい感じ。 もうすぐ誕生日だね。 何する？どこに行く？ 素敵な誕生日になりますように。
Thanks for sharing your pics–your children are sooooo cute!!–and great travel tips, too! I know firsthand how good the food is. Japan never fails to impress me with their cuisine, from a simple bowl of udon to super fresh sushi!
Thank you for your kind words, Donna! I feel like the kids grew up after the summer too after looking at these photos. I think Japanese people (including myself) are pretty picky in general because we have so many good options to choose from, and like to criticize (more like as a topic of conversation) and we always find ways to improve things (sometimes they are not that necessary). At the end, we have pretty good quality things everywhere… Well, most of the time. 😀
Disney sea – this will be on my itinerary the next time I visit Japan. We went to Tokyo Disneyland when I was little..that was totally ages ago. And I love any Disney theme parks, after all it’s the best place on earth. 🙂
OMG maybe it’s just your photos, but this Disney looks SOOOOOOO much better than the LA one! ha ha!
What a great write up! My sister is going to Japan over Christmas, so I’ll definitely be forwarding this to her. Really fun read — thanks.
The magic of Disney!!! I can’t believe Japan park es less expensive than the US park, incredible.
I love the pictures, and the park is like to be in different cities of each continent…amazing!!!
Tokyo Disney Sea is a beautiful place . The food presentation at Magallen’s is so lovely . I definitely want to go there .
Thank you so much for your comment, Denise! I hope you can visit the DineySea one day. It was a fun place for adults! 🙂
oh wow I would love to visit Tokyo so much, it is on our bucket list, I hope to go in the next few years and take my son to this amazing Disney sea!