Japan ABD - Day 8 - fit in a quick visit to Tokyo Disneyland?

[MKMK]

We originally signed up for the Japan ABD in 2020. At that time, ABD offered a post Tokyo Disneyland package,

Fast forward to 2023, we are on a Japan ABD in August. ABD no longer offers the post Tokyo Disneyland package and we are not able to add pre/post days due to commitments at home,

Looking at the Japan itinerary, Day 8 in Tokyo is pretty much "on your own". We are considering using that day for a "fly by" of Tokyo Disneyland.

We are fully aware we won't enjoy the full experience. However, it feels like it will be a missed opportunity if we don't use the large chunk of time to go to Disneyland. We went on the China ABD pre Covid, and the amount of time we spent in Hong Kong Disneyland was about the same as we would be able to fit in at Tokyo Disneyland (we were happy with that),

Any advice/tips on logistics/planning? I have been researching Tokyo Disneyland on this board and other web sites, but thought this group might provide additional context.

 

[sayhello]

Day 8 is completely different from what we did in 2019, so I can't really comment on that part. But looking at it, I would definitely take the entire day off if you're going to go to TDLR, and not just part of the day. Tokyo Disneyland Resort's parks are each MUCH larger than Hong Kong Disneyland, and the lines were much longer.

It looks like the drive from the Peninsula to TDLR is about 20 minutes, or 1/2 an hour by train.

If you are picking just one park, it really depends on what you're looking for. Tokyo Disneyland is full of Disneyland nostalgia, as many of the rides were identical to the rides in Anaheim when they were built, and have remained unchanged, whereas the ones in Anaheim have been updated and made more "PC" over the years (our notion of Political Correctness does not appear to be a concern in Japan). I really loved it! Tokyo Disney Sea is a feast for the eyes. It's like the World Showcase on steroids, with massive areas representing different countries and time periods in astounding detail. I spent the first couple of hours there just wandering around, taking it all in! Obviously, you won't have that luxury.

I would say you could probably do highlights of both in one day, but you'd want to have a really good plan of the top priorities and alternates, etc. I haven't been since 2019, so I don't really know that I could say which would be better to do in the morning vs the afternoon. The hours for each park might be the decider for that. Make sure you leave yourself time to take the monorail from the first park to the next. You have to pay for the monorail, so buying a pass ahead of time might be worth it as a time saver.

If you are looking at doing just one park, it *is* doable (although we had Fastpasses). I had 2 full days, and part of a 3rd. I did one park each of the first 2 days, and then split the 3rd day. I saw most that I wanted in the first 2 days.

Now that I'm typing that, does TDLR even allow Park Hopping these days? The 3-day pass we had was 2 full days with no hopping, then hopping allowed on the 3rd day. I have no idea what's available for 1-day passes. I guess that would be the deciding factor for that!

I hope at least some of this is useful. Let me know if there's anything I can clarify or expound upon!

I would probably do the same thing you are if I couldn't have stayed afterwards.

Sayhello

 

[MKMK]

Day 8 is completely different from what we did in 2019, so I can't really comment on that part. But looking at it, I would definitely take the entire day off if you're going to go to TDLR, and not just part of the day. Tokyo Disneyland Resort's parks are each MUCH larger than Hong Kong Disneyland, and the lines were much longer.

It looks like the drive from the Peninsula to TDLR is about 20 minutes, or 1/2 an hour by train.

If you are picking just one park, it really depends on what you're looking for. Tokyo Disneyland is full of Disneyland nostalgia, as many of the rides were identical to the rides in Anaheim when they were built, and have remained unchanged, whereas the ones in Anaheim have been updated and made more "PC" over the years (our notion of Political Correctness does not appear to be a concern in Japan). I really loved it! Tokyo Disney Sea is a feast for the eyes. It's like the World Showcase on steroids, with massive areas representing different countries and time periods in astounding detail. I spent the first couple of hours there just wandering around, taking it all in! Obviously, you won't have that luxury.

I would say you could probably do highlights of both in one day, but you'd want to have a really good plan of the top priorities and alternates, etc. I haven't been since 2019, so I don't really know that I could say which would be better to do in the morning vs the afternoon. The hours for each park might be the decider for that. Make sure you leave yourself time to take the monorail from the first park to the next. You have to pay for the monorail, so buying a pass ahead of time might be worth it as a time saver.

If you are looking at doing just one park, it *is* doable (although we had Fastpasses). I had 2 full days, and part of a 3rd. I did one park each of the first 2 days, and then split the 3rd day. I saw most that I wanted in the first 2 days.

Now that I'm typing that, does TDLR even allow Park Hopping these days? The 3-day pass we had was 2 full days with no hopping, then hopping allowed on the 3rd day. I have no idea what's available for 1-day passes. I guess that would be the deciding factor for that!

I hope at least some of this is useful. Let me know if there's anything I can clarify or expound upon!

I would probably do the same thing you are if I couldn't have stayed afterwards.

Sayhello

Super helpful ... thank you very much.

Agree with your point that if we do this, we should use the whole day vs attempt to attend the morning ABD activities.

We would like to visit both parks if we can. We are most interested in checking them out, trying out snacks etc. vs focusing on the rides (which we understand logistically isn't possible).

 

[jimmymc]

After the travel time, your best-case scenario would be getting to the parks around 1 pm, unless you skipped Tokyo Tower (which I've heard you definitely can). Then you could probably get there by 11. But like mentioned earlier, there are two parks and lines are usually pretty long. If the parks are open late enough then you can at least tour each of them and get on a few rides.

 

[DJJimmy9]

Sorry - I cannot offer you any advice on what you are thinking of doing. But I am curious as to which ABD trip you are going on in August. We are going on the one that starts on August 6th. I’d love to start a group thread for those on our trip.

 

[MKMK]

We are on the trip that starts the week before (July 30).

 

[AquaDame]

I can't speak to timing with the ABD as I've never done it, but we have been to Tokyo Disneyland three times now. A one day ticket will not let you park hop, so you'll need to pick one. You COULD get an evening pass to the other park if you wanted after 5pm if you are there on a week day, but I honestly do not think it would be worth it unless you have money to burn and a distinct need to check it off a list. I say this as a person who DID do this on my first trip. We saw very little of Disneyland that evening. For whatever reason we found we were "done" with DisneySea around 4pm and decided on a lark to do it as it was only $30 or maybe even less back in 2005. I wasn't sure I'd ever be back.

If you do one, I'd say go with DisneySea. It's entirely unique, and many folks say it is their favorite park of all.

 

[DJJimmy9]

We are on the trip that starts the week before (July 30).

close. That would have funny if we were on the same trip. I hope you have an amazing trip!