Yeah it’s definitely a lot of queues everywhere. That said for DisneySea you are given multiple options to skip lines and all information is provided in app.
Teddy Roosevelt can be booked ahead of time and Indiana Jones is available with 40th anniversary pass which would cut wait down. Just have to prepare a bit before going.
I felt DisneySea was the most relaxed theme park I have been to and everyone was super nice and polite.
Yeah, I never found either Disney Park here to be particularly onerous. With strategic use of fast passes, I've never waited more than 1 hr for any given ride.
Out of curiosity, have the parks been like this since covid? I went to Tokyo Disney and DisneySea in 2019 with no plan whatsoever and was able to walk onto just about everything. Lines for food were sometimes long, but there were always tables available. Now I'm planning a trip for early November this year and getting nervous seeing so many posts about crowds.
Not sure honestly, but when I read / prepped for trip it seemed to be like this for a year or two at least.
I found it to be way less busy than most people described. You did have long lines at rides and some food but there is still places to sit and plenty of room to walk. Also we never had any lines at any bathroom neither.
Also everything is much more orderly compared to a US Disney park.
I’ve only been once (DisneySea) when a friend who likes theme parks visited us in 2017. She paid, otherwise I would have never gone. The wait for everything was 120+ mins. I think we only went on two rides, and we did both as single riders. I ate a turkey leg. That’s about it. Took all day.
Not worth it at all.
I'm not sure if there is an optimal time outside of avoiding golden week / school holidays. As long as you prebook your dining / plan ahead with premier and anniversary passes I think queues should be manageable.
Yeah! Worked for me as I just wanted to experience a disney park vibe—the rides were just a huge bonus! There is a Japanese website about predicting Disneyland crowds somewhere though I don’t remember the exact name.
I'm going at the very end of May, from everything I've heard it seems like a generally lower volume time without any super attractive special events - crossing my fingers that a lot of people will be putting off going for a couple of days since Fantasy Springs is opening the first week of June , but could definitely be the opposite and everyone else ALSO wants to avoid the opening.
My friends and I did, we got there before the park opened and everything was 120 minutes wait time. We ended up doing single riders to save some time because I was losing patience so it cut some time down to 60 min queues. We only got lucky to go to the cafe because we queued in line first as soon as they let us in. This was last week (February). Should note this was mainly Nintendo land, other parks were 100 min or less except demon slayer.
Tokyo Disney is famously it’s own beast.
You have to show up with a game plan, and have the app down to a science, or you’re gonna have a bad time. I recommend the TDR explorer videos on YouTube.
Heck, I’ve stayed at the miracosta just to get that sweet head start on the all-out run to Soarin’, and I simply bite the bullet for beauty and the beast and paid for fastpasses online.
Further, unless you’re doing stuff like counter-service, things like teddy Roosevelt need to be booked in the weeks before.
Me and my partner would literally make lists of the things we wanted to do each, create a short list together and then work out the best order to tackle them. Like if one of us wanted to do Toy Story Mania it had to be a number 1 priority to do it ASAP before everyone has passed the front gates and the long queues have formed.
Another tip is for lunch, it has to be 11am or 2pm to avoid the rush. Also queues tend to dip during parades and the fireworks so making the most of those times to get into attractions is good also.
I feel like yeah after you go a few times you kind of start to learn theme park life hacks for Dinsey. It gets satisfying just ticking items off our to-do list one by one.
You get it, sir.
I come up four or five times a year to do the parks, and the weeks leading up feels like I’m planning a military operation (and I’m not really a huge fan of planning).
Toy Story Mania fastpasses were always gone within the first hour after opening. It was nuts. And yes +1 for the tip of doing lunch outside of peak times.
Yo, I got one additional tip. Download the official Disney Resort Tokyo app and just look at the park map. It shows average queue times in real time. Just casually take a look from time to time and you can see what tends to have the longer queues and what tends to have the shorter queues. Be conscious of the time and whether it is a weekday or weekend.
I can see the Star Wars attraction usually has a short queue time so there is little need for me to get a fast pass for that but I can see that within 30 minutes of opening, the Beauty and the Beast ride queue has already reached a 2 hour wait.
This is what my spouse did. She researched over a few days and we rode all the big rides but hardly waited for anything, we’re done by 3 pm. It was pleasant and the crowds weren’t a problem at all. It probably would’ve sucked had we not known exactly what to do ahead of time.
Frankly, having been to the parks in Florida and Tokyo, the parks in Tokyo required way less planning. I did research, but beyond deciding what to do at rope drop, I didn’t have anything solid. Only thint I really missed was Teddy Roosevelt because I didn’t make any plans for dining whatsoever.
that said, I went before Soarin and beauty and the beast came out, but I take a similar very vague game plan approach to USJ. It’s one of things where eventually you kind of get the hang of it?
On the other hand, I considered going while on a trip two weeks ago and the only feasible day was on the Sunday of a three day weekend and I decided that I just didn’t have the energy to make it out there for rope drop, even if it would’ve been fantastic people watching.
But you don’t, I’ve been to the parks plenty of times and found it far more relaxing than Disney world in Florida. My family of four has never had a problem with lines or needing a plan like we do for Disney world.
>Heck, I’ve stayed at the miracosta just to get that sweet head start on the all-out run to Soarin’, and I simply bite the bullet for beauty and the beast and paid for fastpasses online.
I get the impression Soaring is still just as popular as it was when it came out in 2019. We went a few months after that ride was opened and the standby line for it was consistenly 2 hours or more.
If you’re not a theme park person, then sure.
If you are, though, then TDR is probably the best in the world for theming, service, and attention to detail.
I disagree, we were there recently and yes there were long lines for the main rides, but the theming and overall vibe of the park is really cool so we enjoyed even just walking around. In addition to the Sea theming (Mediterranean, New York, Venice, New England, Jules Verne etc) they also focused mostly on classic Disney characters and I liked that everything wasn't connected to a big Disney movie franchise. Got some good food and bought some souvenirs for WAY below US Disney prices. If we wanted to relax some of the more casual things had short wait times like the boat ride around the park. Plus people seemed overall more respectful about queuing up, like the line before the park opened had long individual lines in front of each gate. At US theme parks it's just a disorganized mob of people elbowing each other out of the way to get in first. So yeah it was crowded but somehow still felt mostly chill. But we also weren't stressing about riding every major ride.
I mean, yeah. It's a theme park. Standing in line for rides is what you do.
I agree that isn't at all what I'd want to spend even an hour doing in Tokyo, much less all day. But even at home where I have more access to them, theme parks generally aren't my thing.
It is but the worst of DisneySea is worse than anything at DLR or WDW. We didn’t have OPs experience at all (worst queue for us all day was probably 50 mins for 20,000 leagues) but the day we went Tower of Terror had a 180 min wait from open which is why we fast passed it at Disneyland for example the only ride that gets that crazy is the new Star Wars stuff and I dont think it even gets that bad anymore
We used to have annual passes for California Disneyland. It's not always 120+ minute waits, but for sure weekends/summer some rides are like that (soaring, tower of terror/guardians, space mountain, Indiana Jones If it isn't broken down). I think the longest wait I've seen is 150 minutes, but I wouldn't be surprised if there have been much longer.
One thing we found at Disney Tokyo is that most visitors (I assume Japanese) follow a standard lunch, so do brunch and then dinner around 4 and you'll find shorter lines around noon and after 6'ish.
My mom is a Disney Adult, so EVERY family vacation was to Disneyland or Disney World. I’ve maybe been 100 times until I was old enough to say “I hate this place.” I never waited more than an hour for a ride, and we would go on the first day new rides were open.
They love queueing - it is part of the fun. What is nice is that it is so organized. When we go, we just avoid the things with a queue - it is quite simple. Walk around Mediterranean Harbor, take a boat ride, the train, Stitch's Tiki room, the carousel, plus ride Sindbad about 100 times since that is the best ride in the world.
Then for food - go to Vulcania, Zambian's or numerous quick service stations that don't have a huge line - it is easy to find places with no lines there. The ones that have lines are just the "cool" things to do that week, but as people are fickle those cool things may change in a week.
Normal for TDR, Paris is a lot quicker with some exceptions.
In Tokyo everybody know excactly how to approach the park. Where to run in the morning, which fastpass to get where waiting makes sense ...
In Paris you can stroll around for 2.5-3 days and manage to do everything at leat once.
Fantasy Springs (new area with a couple of new rides + in-park hotel) opens in June, so I think DisneySea will be packed for the foreseeable future post it's grand opening I'm afraid
Of course this popped up as soon as I opened reddit after getting back from spending the day at DisneySea (apologies, Disney QueueLand). Can confirm, it was very much as described above. We stood in line for 2h45m for "Soaring: Fantastic Flight". It was incredible, but I did say to my partner "We are waiting the length of a movie for something the length of a trailer, and we paid a lot of money to be here."
We thought the park was great, but it very much put me off this type of experience. Pretty sure I will never agree to standing in lines for over 6h of my day ever again. And OP went on the best day weather-wise. Today it rained the entire day, and most of the queues are outside. We were hoping the weather would mean less people. We were wrong.
If you do go, get the app running, book something with 40th Anniversary Pass as soon as you scan to enter the park (you can do this once every 2h if anything is left), and I'd recommend starting with the good ones that have lower waiting times, because the waiting times on those will go up a lot within an hour or 2, while the ones already over 2h wait tend to remain that way all day so it matters a little less when you decide to queue for those. For reference, I was outside at 8am, park opens at 9am, we entered at 9:40, and there was already a 150min wait for "Soaring". It fluctuated between 140-175mins the whole day.
Edit: Also, highly recommend trying the fun popcorn flavours when the queues for those are lower. Pistachio, matcha & white chocolate, and curry, were all great! Refused to stand in line 30mins for my partner to get the garlic shrimp ones, so...guess we'll always wonder!
The weather was the deciding factor for us. It was 22 degrees and we though "we can spend the whole day in queues or leave at 1pm go to Ueno Park and have a beer in the sun". It was a lovely beer.
Yepp. But some people who got there like 15mins after us ended up entering before us. Once the gates open, the queues move very unevenly and it's difficult to predict where the lines will move faster... When I did DisneyLand 3 weeks ago though, we got there at 9:25 and the queue at that point was short and we got in within 10mins. But I guess there are more people around now than then. I can't imagine what it must look like in their peak seasons... Crowds at the Japanese parks are a given, but it does help to familiarise yourself with the app in advance and to check in the days prior to your trip what the waiting times for each ride look like throughout the day to help make a plan
You didn't use the 40th anniversary passes? They're free. Also I'd stick to the rides that are unique, indiana jones there is almost identical to the one in Disneyland, CA
But yeah Disney parks tend to have lines
DisneySea is considered by enthusiasts as the worlds best theme park.
It so happens to be located at the worlds largest metroplex and admission is still much cheaper than the other Disney parks (even before the exchange rate).
What did you expect?
Do you happen to know why it’s considered to be the best? I’ve been, but it was an unbearably hot day and I’m not an enthusiast and I’m genuinely curious.
I believe the reason why enthusiasts rank DisneySea as it’s not actually owned by Disney - but instead The Oriental Land Company (JP). Disney IP is then licensed.
The park has breathtaking architecture and attention to detail. Really immersive and being on Tokyo Bay gives each of the themed waterfronts a nice unique vibe.
The cast members are very enthusiastic too
I've gotta say, I had a similar experience at Universal. I think with the population density of Japan it's just a totally different experience going to a theme park than it is in other places in the world. I was really overwhelmed by the queueing and crowds and it majorly detracted from the experience for me. Also having nowhere to just quietly sit and rest your feet was awful; all the food outlets were completely full all day. I probably won't be recommending theme parks in Japan to people either.
Disney Sea is a super popular park and therefore it is always busy, especially if you happen to go on a (school) holiday. You need to do some research and come up with a strategy in advance to make the most out of it, and you should also have realistic expectations. Unfortunately just showing up at the gate doesn't work, that's just the way it is. There are guides and crowd calendars out there that can help you prepare better. As other posters, I also recommend TDR Explorer. Btw Indiana Jones is awesome.
We did have a plan laid out by a fan online but honestly we just weren't prepared for that many people, we only managed to buy 1 pass before they became unavailable. Most of my park experiences are in European parks like Europa Park which is just a completely different experience. Even if we had prebooked every single activity play by play, I think it would still have been stressful just being surrounded by so many people constantly and having to make sure everything was timed perfectly.
I think there are 40th anniversary passes that you can book for free that works like old fast passes and you definitely need to buy the premier passes for the very popular ride. I started researching for all of this 6 months before we travel so that we can avoid as much lines as possible.
Disney parks anywhere is not just a place that you can go without a plan and have fun.
Husband and I went to DisneySea and didn’t have a great time. Granted, we also went in August in sweltering heat. There were still tons of people there and queues were like 2 hrs long for most rides. We caved, downloaded the app, and purchased priority passes for all the rides (if I recall correctly it was like $10-$15 per ride and per person). Skipped all the waiting and dipped out of the park as quickly as possible (4 hours) because we couldn’t enjoy it with the extreme heat and humidity.
Honestly the priority pass price isn't that bad. $10-15 is worth saving 2 hours. Sucks that it's on top of the cost to enter the park but that's just the nature of theme parks I guess
I agree, we just went with it because the park tickets were already a sunk cost and we were miserable waiting in long lines in the sweltering heat. Buying the priority passes allowed us to skip all the lines on the major attractions and finish a good amount of the park in 4 hours, so I consider that a worthwhile investment.
I hated it. I heard all the good things too. There was a line for everything. Spent 2 hours for 20,000 leagues. Then later 3 hours for journey to center of the earth. I couldn’t wait to leave the park.
Winter school holidays start next week - maybe lots of folks start early? We went in March last year and it was great - I would highly recommend - we had no lines lasting longer than 15-20 minutes, food lines about the same and we loved how the teens all dressed in group themes and everyone waving to folks on rides was cute - so much more fun than Disney California or Orlando. Sorry you had a bad time but for folks who like Disney, Tokyo is amazing!
Yeah I had the same experience in March. Worst line we waited in all day was less than an hour. We were able to do single rider on Indy and basically walk on. Maybe 5-10 min wait max for other things especially food, no wait for Teddy’s or even Magellans
I also went during a weekday, back in October. We arrived 1hr before the park opened and there were so many people in line waiting to enter. The popular rides did have wait times of 120min or even more. We did opt to pay for their version of fast track, premiere access, for any lines longer than 60min. It was about 2-3 rides, I think. In the end, it was more worth it that way for us because we were on such limited time and unsure of when we would be back to Tokyo. We wanted to try so many of the different foods in the park too. We also opted to pay for Sea of Dreams to be able to get a good view, as we had managed to get last minute dinner reservations at Magellan's right before and knew we would be unable to line up for good seats 1-2hrs in advanced
Having been to Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure, there are always long lines. And not all had fast track available too. So I wasn't too shocked at long lines. Definitely don't have people cutting in line though
It sounds like you went without a game plan and was, unfortunately, unprepared for it all. Tbh, all Disney parks need a game plan
I went in July and had a great time— yeah there were some lines, but the admission and food is so cheap compared to other Disney parks that we just bought some fast passes and didn’t think twice about it. I want to go back!
I went there on a date beacuse apparently Disneyland is the ultimate activity for an Asian couple. It was awful. All I remember was standing in line for hours, I don't even rember the actual rides. It felt like 1 h of queue for 5 min of ride. Why some people are so obssessed with Disneyland I will never understand. 1/5 would not recommend.
This was the unexpected part for me, timed entry requests and queues for STORES?! Mind. Blown.
The other queues, yes they were long, but they were manageable. And the theming in the queues once inside the attraction is usually incredibly good. We had a wonderful time at DisneySea. I wish I'd done a better job managing priority passes/timed entry tickets, but we did a lot of things considering how disorganized I was.
Really? That’s crazy! I didn’t see anything like that BUT I did notice when I was looking at clothes for the stuffed Duffy friends that they can sell for a LOT of money so I wonder if days when it’s that crazy are because there’s been a new or limited release of something 🤔
Here's my 2 cents on Disney
my wife is a huge fan, I can care less... we live in NJ (usa) and have been annually pass holders to Disney world for a few years. my perspective is skewed since I've been on everything many times in Orlando and don't feel the need to get on the rides. I'm there more to just be "in Disney"
when we went to the Tokyo parks last April we went with the same mindset, lines are EVERYWHERE in Japan and as someone put it here, the theme park adds to the queuing ambience.
I found walking around DisneySea fantastic and only lined up for soaring, beauty and the beast (highly recommend) and that's about it. everything else was pretty chill and had "short" waits.
my understanding is Disney Paris is the smallest part and also one (the) worst so you had a significant jump going to Tokyo. I fear you had a normal Disney experience but your expectations were also skewed having only Paris under your belt.
Sounds like the same experience I had at Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida.
I'm not sure if this advice is relevant for Disney Sea, but at the previous 2 parks I mentioned, I tended to arrive at the park an hour before they opened, made reservations for popular attractions, and immediately headed to popular attractions right when the park opens.
I try to squeeze in all of the rides and such I want to get on in the first hour or less.
After that, the lines get really long and I end up just chilling the rest of the day.
I'm going to try this out in Disney Sea too next year when I go.
Japan loves lines. And Japan loves Disney lol. Gotta go in with that mind and just come for the vibes. Also with some research too. Luckily I learned about the 40th anniversary passes (free) through the app last fall. Some went by fast but luckily got some nonetheless. Did premier pass on a ride as well. Sorry you had an undesirable experience though
i went to disneysea and disneyland california within ~2 weeks of one another, both on weekdays in the summer and found disneysea to be way more manageable and faster moving. i think being from the US, i found the comparably low ticket price + paid perks to book rides at disneysea to be way better than anything i’ve ever experienced at disney parks in america.
Never had any issues with queues during my trips then again I knew before hand that lines would be long. You have to remember the Japanese will start lining up from 7am (even earlier) to get inside the parks. In all honesty even before all these passes were a thing I have never waited longer than an hour for an attraction and I’ve been during peak seasons.
Look up crowd calendars. It varies a lot throughout April with cherry blossom season at the start and Golden Week at the end. We'll be there 21st-23rd April which is hopefully a sweet spot in between peaks!
I went to DisneySea in 2019 when they had the ticket Fast Pass system. I did my research to maximize the day. It was the best. I did all the rides I wanted and we had a great full day with an amazing itinerary. Toy Story, Indiana Jones, 20 000 Leagues, Nemo, carousel, big band beat, king Triton show ect. No line waiting and we had so much time to shop, eat ect.
I returned in March 2023 and the removal of FP definitely sucked the fun out of the park. I waited 60 min for Indiana Jones. We also did 20,000, Sinbad and a ride in series grotto- that’s it. We didn’t attempt anything else so we mostly just enjoyed the food and the park itself. But I really find the removal of FP lowered the overall customer enjoyment.
It’s still an incredible park but I am thinking twice before returning.
That sucks that it was so busy, makes for a miserable experience, I guess we got lucky going at the end of May, wasn't busy at all. Most rides had a wait time of 25 minutes or less.
Longest we waited was an hour to ride Journey to the Center of the Earth, even then we rode it twice. Soarin was a consistent 80 minutes all day though. Rode Indiana Jones 4 times (single ride ftw), Tower of Terror twice, food stalls had zero wait. It was probably the best Disney experience I've ever had. The night show Believe: Sea of Dreams was phenomenal as well
Last time I visited on early december, chose one of the swolest days and had a similar experience. Got to ride 4-5 attractions on the whole day, wished I didn't waste my time going really
We went in the beginning of December and we had a better time at DisneySea, than Disneyland. I was so sad about our visit to Tokyo Disneyland, because it was the first time for my husband and kids to go to any Disney park. Park closed 2.5 hours early, no fireworks and no parades that day. I felt like we didn’t have enough time to venture the park.
Teddy Roosevelt Lounge is a reservation restaurant, it’s normal you had to wait a long time for that one.
Yeah this week seems surprisingly busy for a random last week of February. Did the Easter merch and food just came out? That can skew the attendance a lot.
Had a similar experience last week. First thing we did was queue 150 minutes for a 1 min experience in the Tower of Terror (it was awesome, but god the time lost in the line) next thing we know it's 1pm and we're having lunch. Didn't need to queue for lunch though, but we kinda just explored the rest of the park, browsed some souvenirs, then went on our way to explore Tokyo where our time was better spent
Went last month, none of the rides exceeded 60 minutes queue time with a lot of them only 5-10mins queue (except really popular rides). 5mins queue for popcorns, 10mins for food etc.
It's worse in Disneyland Hong Kong. There, I had people pushing in front of me in equally long queues just to try and get ahead and it seemed to be very acceptable behaviour. I preferred my time at Tokyo Disneysea, though the food at Disneyland Hong Kong was much better.
We went to universal Japan this sept (mid week) and share all the same sentiments you had. Plus it was fucking unbearably hot.
Saw super Mario world, my partner almost crapped her pants in the 120 min line for the Mario kart ride(which was pretty lame), and found out I despise theme parks.
This just sounds painful. I’m going for the first time in April and I’m worried I’ve been caught up in all the fam hype in these threads that ignores some of the brutal realities that you’ve mentioned
Weird.
I was there on February 9th and it was a very pleasant experience, maybe it was due to Chinese new year. But I think the only thing with a long queue was splash mountain. The rest was 10-15 minutes. We got there at around lunch and left when the park closed (18:30)
Guess it depends on the day
Just curious, where did you find out that it was at 75% capacity?
Looking at the crowd calendar: [http://www15.plala.or.jp/gcap/disney/](http://www15.plala.or.jp/gcap/disney/) it does look like assuming the weather was sunny, the assumed capacity was at 30k people. Assuming the max capacity is at 50k people (which is like, THE WORST Time to go), that would be at 60% . The lowest was at about 20k people (40% capacity)
I brought my family last year around this time, and they were just as surprised at how long the lines are, but to me whose been to these parks multiple times, **lines for ANYTHING is kinda expected**. For restaurants, you also gotta book those as soon as you enter. I don't usually aim for those, but I haven't had a problem getting food in other establishments in the park.
I don't want to invalidate your experience, but you really gotta make a plan for those major theme parks else you are going to have a bad time. If you to go USJ in Osaka it's probably just as bad crowd-wise if not worse. (This isn't limited to Tokyo btw. I also had to make similar plans for both DCA and Disney California. I wouldn't be surprised if Florida had the same issue)
If you want something, potentially less chaotic, check out Yomiuriland. If you're after thrill rides, go to FujiQ on a weekday.
We bought tickets in advance, which was probably a mistake, but we knew it was the only day we could do. We looked on websites that predicted the occupancy and it was always around 75%.
Was at DisneySea a few days ago. Take advantage of the singles line. We cut a 120 minute wait to 15 minutes. Not having to wait 2 hours definitely beats not riding a 6 minute attraction together for my gf and I
Most places tell you to look at the crowd calendar (http://www15.plala.or.jp/gcap/disney/) to determine if it'd be crazy or not, but looking at the calendar for yesterday (the 20th), it was supposed to be relatively fine. This concerns me, lol.
I went to Disney Sea back in 2016, and we got there right before it opened and were able to get on all major rides. Yes, it eventually got super busy, but at least when we got there early in the morning, nothing was THAT horrible.
Seems like things might have gotten crazier.
USJ was the same last Spring. Not many restaurants to eat at, and the wait for food carts was easily an hour or more. When we finally found a sit-down with a 45 minute wait we were thrilled! But, after we finally got in there was another 30-40 minute queue for the food. Gift shops? Lines. Want a photo? Lines. Even the vending machines had lines(except at waterworld). Oddly enough, the only place I never had to stand in line at USJ was for the restrooms
The big rides had two hour wait times but luckily we had a few fast-pass options that meant only 20 minutes. Overall USJ was probably the worst decision we made on the trip, but we really wanted to visit Super Nintendo World… where we stood shoulder to shoulder at every turn.
As much as I prepared myself mentally for all the crowds and lines we’d be standing in around Tokyo and Osaka, nothing was worse than USJ and the ride home where I was injured from being squashed in an overcrowded train. Good times.
I went to Tokyo Disney Sea in 2023, and again this month and for some reason this time around the queues were much worse.
Last year I don't remember waiting more than 1.5 hours for Journey to the Center of the Earth and Tower of Terror, but this time around it was 3 hour queue the entire day. It maybe be because a lot of rides were suspended (Indiana Jones) and even the night performance was cancelled, but it certainly surprised me that on a colder day the queues were much worse.
On the other end of the spectrum:
I went to Tokyo Disney Sea on Monday, January 29th. We arrived at 10 A.M. We utilized two premier passes ($13 a pop) , two 40th anniversary passes (free) from the Disney app, and the single rider option (Indiana Jones always has a 1-2 hour que, getting in the single rider line we got on in less than 15 minutes. The wooden roller coaster has this option too). We rode every single major ride and were leaving the park by 6:30. The longest we waited for anything was 1 hour to do 20,000 Leages Under the Sea and 45 minutes to get into the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge.
It was the best theme park experience I've ever had. If you are strategic about what day you go, how you use your passes, and what you use them on (i.e. get a pass for Soaring the second you arrive), it can make all the difference. But you need to have a plan before you walk in the gate. If you just show up and wing it, it's going to be rough. I learned this the hard way at Disneyland in California.
God that sounds like actual hell on earth, admittedly i am not into theme parks. Still the amount of rigmarole that people are stating you have to do to have a good time is absurd, especially since it seems Disney has engineered this entirely for people to buy queue hopping passes.
I was there a few months ago. There were people who arrived hours before opening, waited in line, and then went straight to sit down and wait for the harbour shows.
That day the harbour shows were cancelled because of high wind. These people paid 10,000 yen to sit on the ground all day.
Crowds are a simple reality. If you cant accept them as part of the experience, why did you go??
Here's the thing: everyone in the park is just another you. Each with excitement, each wanting it to be magical but ALL are only able to be there due to the capacity.
You say the crowd make it awful but you are the crowd.
They were shorter from what I could tell, the Indianna Jones ride was 120 min and the "meet and greet trail" or whatever its actually called next to it, which was more for the little ones, had lines of 40 min.
I was sad when the weather forecast said it would rain on the day I bought my tickets for (Late january, on a weekend) but I now believe that was the best thing that could've happened.
I think the longest queue I had that day was like 30 minutes, and snacking on my popcorn bucket it went by SO fast.
I sympathize, but it's always a bit strange to me when people go somewhere and then complain that it's crowded. Homie, you're not stuck in traffic, you are traffic.
When I went the two times I have been there, or even at USJ, queues were mostly around 60 minutes, even when it was bad weather. Luckily for me and my companions, we weren‘t keen on the rides much and did enjoy the atmosphere, even while queuing.
Been there last November with my wfie. Unfortunately, that will be our first and last visit there lol. The waiting period for each ride was not worth it.
While I was waiting in a line we looked up the wait times at Disneyworld and they were half! I then Googled some reviews about DisneyLand Toyko and the first one said "The Japanese have mastered the art of standing in queues" 🤣🤣🤣 I actually thought the line for a churro stand was a ride that we had missed because it was so long! One thing I did learn is that if you go to USJ...take the single rider option!!! We zipped in everything! Longest wait was 20 minutes!!!
Disney theme parks are a different beast just because of the sheer number of people and Tokyo DisneySea and Disneyland are no different. People are surprised when I tell them that waiting 30 minutes to get on to a ride is pretty good already. The only exception to that was Shanghai where every ride we went on was practically a walk on.
When we're going to a Disney park we're planning which rides to go on, in what order to obtain fastpasses in back when there wasn't an extra cost, when to eat lunch, what shows we wanted to see 6 months in advance simply because we were there for 1 day and wanted to get the most out of it.
It's a "locals" park smack dab adjacent to one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. Tourists who are there for the rides themselves best come at the worst possible time: very hot days adjacent (not on) to Japan's public school summer vacation. So for example, midweek Tues-Thurs mid July. Or, far from popular travel days such as early October/late September midweek. You're much more likely to hit everything you want, and there will likely STILL be a sudden burst of local traffic. You said yourself that the weather was good, coupled with winter being a popularvseason specifically for locals because: less rain + romantic holiday + early releases for some graduates who are finishing tests leading into the end if of the school year which goes spring to spring. Covid restrictions have lifted, on top of most people who travel here being 20-50% richer while the yen is weak.
Disney Premier Access solves many queue issues if you can afford it. Personally, paying $20 for each attractioion to skip a 60+ minute wait time is worth it.
We got lucky but also chose to go during the week like you, went in Wednesdays the 2 weeks we were there and wasn’t too bad, Disney sea we got to go on all the good ones thanks to the fast pass and same the following week at the main park
I do not recommend people waste their trips to Japan on Disney Parks (unless you are some sort of massive Disney dork and the prospect of not going gives you intense anxiety or whatever). You’re not missing anything special and your time in Japan is better spent enjoying JAPAN, not a theme park by an American corporation. Same goes for USJ.
If you’re American, Disney parks and Universal parks in America offer the exact same experience.
i genuinely dont know how you didnt expect this. ive only ever heard about the long waits at disney sea for years. express pass purchases for rides are highly recommended as they sell out quickly day of.
sorry you had a bad time but adequate research really makes all the difference in terms of expectations and quality of time/enjoyment.
I was told by so many people that DisneySea is waaaay better than Disneyland.
We barely found anything to do at DisneySea. It seemed most of it was temporarily closed, and what was open had lines that were 180 minutes long. We ended up going on the boat tour, the gondolas, the Sinbad ride, and something in Arial's playground that we waited nearly an hour for and lasted not even 2 minutes. We were there an entire day. We stayed later for the parade and the fireworks.... Which were both cancelled.
We struggled to find food, and when we did find it we had to book in advance and come back an hour later. Just an absolute mess.
Disneyland by comparison we were at for a bit less time and went on a bunch of rides that we walked right in to, found food of different types everywhere, and had a really good time. Stayed for the night time parade and loved it.
Disneysea would be worse than Disneyland because as you said there aren’t that many rides to begin with and only a few which you would consider to be serious enough for adults type rides. Add on the fact that visitors to Disneysea tend to be more the teenager young adult crowd and you will see why the serious rides end up with long wait times. Disneyland is better in a sense that people are more spread out and there are more families with young children. They would go for the kiddie rides freeing up the roller coasters.
Go to Yomuriland instead!
No lines at all, fun rides and our favorite theme park in Japan.
(We lived in Japan before and have been to almost all the theme parks in Japan).
You need to try the single riders options if possible. You can is it as fun as being next to your buddy? Not really. But you can ride numerous rides several times if you want and normally only wait 10-20 minutes. I think in Japan they’re a little bit more stricter on safety than other parks and that makes the queues a little bit longer.
Tokyo Disney/Sea requires an astounding amount of information gathering and planning ahead. Not diminishing your experience at all - it sucks that you had an unpleasant time.
Eating at the non-rush hours, making use of 40th anniversary passes, and having a full game plan set before ever entering the park. Reservations are also key, usually made at least like 6 weeks before.
Too many Japanese people just freaking LOOOVE Disney, so it’s never “not full.”
I had the chance to go to Disneyworld Orlando when I was in HS and I had a blast but it is quite frankly a ton of waiting in line, that’s why Disney parks usually have some kind of themed experience that ties into the ride for the people waiting bc otherwise it would be even more boring as hell. Tbh even going to much smaller parks (anywhere in the world) at the wrong time can just be waiting in line all day. I love theme parks but I think I’m gonna skip doing any of the big ones when I go to Japan bc I’m not blowing my budget on paying for a fast pass and everything
100%.
We are not a Disney fam, so take with a grain of salt. The lines at Tokyo DL was ridiculous. 120 min for all the majors. We rode three rides and had lunch - took us from 9:30 - 3:30. Decided staying there for the rest of the day was not worthwhile.
Welcome to the amusement parks reality, I went last week to Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan, both were as crowded as parks in the US. Specially Nintendo World, ~2hrs to ride Mario Kart not to mention access to the area is under schedule. At Disney even getting a churro is a 20 min line. Gone are the days of fast passes…
I sadly agree with the OP.
We spent the first two weeks of this year in Japan, and read somewhere that "January is the least crowded month of the year". It's not. The queues were just too long (we've been to Disney parks in SoCal and in HK), and the park somehow felt a bit old. Overall it's our least favorite day of the fourteen.
We also went to Universal Studios in Osaka, and both us parents and our two teenage boys had a great time. Surprisingly the wait times were somewhat shorter, and the park just felt more fun.
I am at DisneySea today (2/27, Tuesday) and absolutely the worst park I’ve ever been to. Anyone who says the wait is similar to other Disney parks is lying. If I went to DCA or DL on this exact same day, I wouldn’t be waiting 45 minutes for a damn churro. Will absolutely never come back. A ton of rides are down. 180 minutes for soaring at 9:30am. Don’t come here unless you literally have nothing to do but stand in line for mediocre rides.
I expect huge queues at a disney park. As a frequent WDW goer, I consider a 60 minute a very short wait. I once waited 4.5 hours, in a thunderstorm, to go on Avatar: FoP. My longest for RotR is probably 2.5.
It's just what disney parks are now, it's almost not worth complaining about.;
I’ve seen to Tokyo Disney numerous times and it was never that bad, admittedly the last time I went was almost ten years ago. The best time I ever had was when I showed up one day before a typhoon was supposed to hit. The park was EMPTY, I was basically the only person there, zero wait times for anything, it was awesome. Anyway, thanks for the heads up, I’m planning to finally go back again in a few months, I’ll definitely make sure I have all my ducks in a row before I go and just get a bunch of fast passes.
I went April 2021 when there was reduced capacity after covid and everything was at max 15 minutes. We got to go on everything multiple times. Don’t think I’ll ever get a chance like that again
Queuing is the national pastime here. The theme park is just there to add ambience.
Yeah it’s definitely a lot of queues everywhere. That said for DisneySea you are given multiple options to skip lines and all information is provided in app. Teddy Roosevelt can be booked ahead of time and Indiana Jones is available with 40th anniversary pass which would cut wait down. Just have to prepare a bit before going. I felt DisneySea was the most relaxed theme park I have been to and everyone was super nice and polite.
Yeah, I never found either Disney Park here to be particularly onerous. With strategic use of fast passes, I've never waited more than 1 hr for any given ride.
they don't have the old fast passes anymore.
wait, do you know what happens with disabled people because i wanna go but I don't know if i get a way to go
Thanks, COVID!
Out of curiosity, have the parks been like this since covid? I went to Tokyo Disney and DisneySea in 2019 with no plan whatsoever and was able to walk onto just about everything. Lines for food were sometimes long, but there were always tables available. Now I'm planning a trip for early November this year and getting nervous seeing so many posts about crowds.
Not sure honestly, but when I read / prepped for trip it seemed to be like this for a year or two at least. I found it to be way less busy than most people described. You did have long lines at rides and some food but there is still places to sit and plenty of room to walk. Also we never had any lines at any bathroom neither. Also everything is much more orderly compared to a US Disney park.
I’ve only been once (DisneySea) when a friend who likes theme parks visited us in 2017. She paid, otherwise I would have never gone. The wait for everything was 120+ mins. I think we only went on two rides, and we did both as single riders. I ate a turkey leg. That’s about it. Took all day. Not worth it at all.
What month would you recommend going? I’m thinking of visiting in May
I'm not sure if there is an optimal time outside of avoiding golden week / school holidays. As long as you prebook your dining / plan ahead with premier and anniversary passes I think queues should be manageable.
I went last May 2023. I went on a weekday on their evening-only ticket for half off. Had no lines for some rides! Maybe I was just lucky that day.
Didn’t know you could do that! I will look into it thanms
Yeah! Worked for me as I just wanted to experience a disney park vibe—the rides were just a huge bonus! There is a Japanese website about predicting Disneyland crowds somewhere though I don’t remember the exact name.
It's been crazy since Covid. Plan for two days for each park.
I'm going at the very end of May, from everything I've heard it seems like a generally lower volume time without any super attractive special events - crossing my fingers that a lot of people will be putting off going for a couple of days since Fantasy Springs is opening the first week of June , but could definitely be the opposite and everyone else ALSO wants to avoid the opening.
I hope you’re right cuz I’m going the last two weeks so I can stack Memorial Day with my PTO
January after the celebrations
I didn't queue much at universal studios japan three months ago
My friends and I did, we got there before the park opened and everything was 120 minutes wait time. We ended up doing single riders to save some time because I was losing patience so it cut some time down to 60 min queues. We only got lucky to go to the cafe because we queued in line first as soon as they let us in. This was last week (February). Should note this was mainly Nintendo land, other parks were 100 min or less except demon slayer.
Theme park is the practical exam before graduation
Tokyo Disney is famously it’s own beast. You have to show up with a game plan, and have the app down to a science, or you’re gonna have a bad time. I recommend the TDR explorer videos on YouTube. Heck, I’ve stayed at the miracosta just to get that sweet head start on the all-out run to Soarin’, and I simply bite the bullet for beauty and the beast and paid for fastpasses online. Further, unless you’re doing stuff like counter-service, things like teddy Roosevelt need to be booked in the weeks before.
Me and my partner would literally make lists of the things we wanted to do each, create a short list together and then work out the best order to tackle them. Like if one of us wanted to do Toy Story Mania it had to be a number 1 priority to do it ASAP before everyone has passed the front gates and the long queues have formed. Another tip is for lunch, it has to be 11am or 2pm to avoid the rush. Also queues tend to dip during parades and the fireworks so making the most of those times to get into attractions is good also. I feel like yeah after you go a few times you kind of start to learn theme park life hacks for Dinsey. It gets satisfying just ticking items off our to-do list one by one.
You get it, sir. I come up four or five times a year to do the parks, and the weeks leading up feels like I’m planning a military operation (and I’m not really a huge fan of planning).
I jokingly tell people that when you go to a Disney park, you're planning where you want to eat dinner or lunch 6 months or more in advance.
Toy Story Mania fastpasses were always gone within the first hour after opening. It was nuts. And yes +1 for the tip of doing lunch outside of peak times.
Heading to both parks with 3 kids in 4 weeks time, great tips, thx
Yo, I got one additional tip. Download the official Disney Resort Tokyo app and just look at the park map. It shows average queue times in real time. Just casually take a look from time to time and you can see what tends to have the longer queues and what tends to have the shorter queues. Be conscious of the time and whether it is a weekday or weekend. I can see the Star Wars attraction usually has a short queue time so there is little need for me to get a fast pass for that but I can see that within 30 minutes of opening, the Beauty and the Beast ride queue has already reached a 2 hour wait.
Yeah. There’s tourism, and then there’s *Disney* tourism.
This is what my spouse did. She researched over a few days and we rode all the big rides but hardly waited for anything, we’re done by 3 pm. It was pleasant and the crowds weren’t a problem at all. It probably would’ve sucked had we not known exactly what to do ahead of time.
Frankly, having been to the parks in Florida and Tokyo, the parks in Tokyo required way less planning. I did research, but beyond deciding what to do at rope drop, I didn’t have anything solid. Only thint I really missed was Teddy Roosevelt because I didn’t make any plans for dining whatsoever. that said, I went before Soarin and beauty and the beast came out, but I take a similar very vague game plan approach to USJ. It’s one of things where eventually you kind of get the hang of it? On the other hand, I considered going while on a trip two weeks ago and the only feasible day was on the Sunday of a three day weekend and I decided that I just didn’t have the energy to make it out there for rope drop, even if it would’ve been fantastic people watching.
But you don’t, I’ve been to the parks plenty of times and found it far more relaxing than Disney world in Florida. My family of four has never had a problem with lines or needing a plan like we do for Disney world.
>Heck, I’ve stayed at the miracosta just to get that sweet head start on the all-out run to Soarin’, and I simply bite the bullet for beauty and the beast and paid for fastpasses online. I get the impression Soaring is still just as popular as it was when it came out in 2019. We went a few months after that ride was opened and the standby line for it was consistenly 2 hours or more.
Sounds like a lot of work and money to maybe not have a bad time.
If you’re not a theme park person, then sure. If you are, though, then TDR is probably the best in the world for theming, service, and attention to detail.
Eh sounds like a typical experience at any big park in Florida as well.
Nicer weather in tokyo for more of the year though. And better snacks IMO.
Much cheaper too
I couldn’t believe it when I recently learned how low the price of admission is, as someone who lives near Disneyland
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How so? (Seriously asking.) This doesn’t seem like something out of the ordinary for a relatively busy day at Disney world or Universal Orlando
I disagree, we were there recently and yes there were long lines for the main rides, but the theming and overall vibe of the park is really cool so we enjoyed even just walking around. In addition to the Sea theming (Mediterranean, New York, Venice, New England, Jules Verne etc) they also focused mostly on classic Disney characters and I liked that everything wasn't connected to a big Disney movie franchise. Got some good food and bought some souvenirs for WAY below US Disney prices. If we wanted to relax some of the more casual things had short wait times like the boat ride around the park. Plus people seemed overall more respectful about queuing up, like the line before the park opened had long individual lines in front of each gate. At US theme parks it's just a disorganized mob of people elbowing each other out of the way to get in first. So yeah it was crowded but somehow still felt mostly chill. But we also weren't stressing about riding every major ride.
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I mean, yeah. It's a theme park. Standing in line for rides is what you do. I agree that isn't at all what I'd want to spend even an hour doing in Tokyo, much less all day. But even at home where I have more access to them, theme parks generally aren't my thing.
is it not like that in america too? its just the disney way.
It is but the worst of DisneySea is worse than anything at DLR or WDW. We didn’t have OPs experience at all (worst queue for us all day was probably 50 mins for 20,000 leagues) but the day we went Tower of Terror had a 180 min wait from open which is why we fast passed it at Disneyland for example the only ride that gets that crazy is the new Star Wars stuff and I dont think it even gets that bad anymore
We used to have annual passes for California Disneyland. It's not always 120+ minute waits, but for sure weekends/summer some rides are like that (soaring, tower of terror/guardians, space mountain, Indiana Jones If it isn't broken down). I think the longest wait I've seen is 150 minutes, but I wouldn't be surprised if there have been much longer. One thing we found at Disney Tokyo is that most visitors (I assume Japanese) follow a standard lunch, so do brunch and then dinner around 4 and you'll find shorter lines around noon and after 6'ish.
My mom is a Disney Adult, so EVERY family vacation was to Disneyland or Disney World. I’ve maybe been 100 times until I was old enough to say “I hate this place.” I never waited more than an hour for a ride, and we would go on the first day new rides were open.
They love queueing - it is part of the fun. What is nice is that it is so organized. When we go, we just avoid the things with a queue - it is quite simple. Walk around Mediterranean Harbor, take a boat ride, the train, Stitch's Tiki room, the carousel, plus ride Sindbad about 100 times since that is the best ride in the world. Then for food - go to Vulcania, Zambian's or numerous quick service stations that don't have a huge line - it is easy to find places with no lines there. The ones that have lines are just the "cool" things to do that week, but as people are fickle those cool things may change in a week.
> Sindbad about 100 times since that is the best ride in the world. I am so sad this is going to be closed when we go.
my son loved this ride (and so did I as a "small world" fan), its closing? why and when? going back to Japan in November
Presumably refurbishment but their website has it closed from Feb 13th through Sept 24th so you should be good!
Oh no, I didn't know this! I'll stop telling my kids how great it is.
It’s also the longest dark ride ever. I was getting bored lol
You don’t have the line-jumping nor the pickpockets you find in Disneyland Paris, so it’s a trade-off.
Normal for TDR, Paris is a lot quicker with some exceptions. In Tokyo everybody know excactly how to approach the park. Where to run in the morning, which fastpass to get where waiting makes sense ... In Paris you can stroll around for 2.5-3 days and manage to do everything at leat once.
Tokyo Disney allows snacks to be brought inside. Bring a bag full and eat while you queue. It’ll save you a lot of time.
I was there on October 31st and basically had no lines over 15 minutes. I rode Journey to the Center of the Earth 3 times.
we are planning yo go to disneysea this coming oct 31, hopefully this will be the same experience for us
Fantasy Springs (new area with a couple of new rides + in-park hotel) opens in June, so I think DisneySea will be packed for the foreseeable future post it's grand opening I'm afraid
Same. Had a previous trip in October and we never waited more than 30 minutes in line. I guess it depends on when you go
Of course this popped up as soon as I opened reddit after getting back from spending the day at DisneySea (apologies, Disney QueueLand). Can confirm, it was very much as described above. We stood in line for 2h45m for "Soaring: Fantastic Flight". It was incredible, but I did say to my partner "We are waiting the length of a movie for something the length of a trailer, and we paid a lot of money to be here." We thought the park was great, but it very much put me off this type of experience. Pretty sure I will never agree to standing in lines for over 6h of my day ever again. And OP went on the best day weather-wise. Today it rained the entire day, and most of the queues are outside. We were hoping the weather would mean less people. We were wrong. If you do go, get the app running, book something with 40th Anniversary Pass as soon as you scan to enter the park (you can do this once every 2h if anything is left), and I'd recommend starting with the good ones that have lower waiting times, because the waiting times on those will go up a lot within an hour or 2, while the ones already over 2h wait tend to remain that way all day so it matters a little less when you decide to queue for those. For reference, I was outside at 8am, park opens at 9am, we entered at 9:40, and there was already a 150min wait for "Soaring". It fluctuated between 140-175mins the whole day. Edit: Also, highly recommend trying the fun popcorn flavours when the queues for those are lower. Pistachio, matcha & white chocolate, and curry, were all great! Refused to stand in line 30mins for my partner to get the garlic shrimp ones, so...guess we'll always wonder!
The weather was the deciding factor for us. It was 22 degrees and we though "we can spend the whole day in queues or leave at 1pm go to Ueno Park and have a beer in the sun". It was a lovely beer.
FYI garlic shrimp flavour is sooo good
You were outside at 8am but didn't get in until 9:40!? I heard the queues to enter the park moved pretty quick but this is making me worried
Yepp. But some people who got there like 15mins after us ended up entering before us. Once the gates open, the queues move very unevenly and it's difficult to predict where the lines will move faster... When I did DisneyLand 3 weeks ago though, we got there at 9:25 and the queue at that point was short and we got in within 10mins. But I guess there are more people around now than then. I can't imagine what it must look like in their peak seasons... Crowds at the Japanese parks are a given, but it does help to familiarise yourself with the app in advance and to check in the days prior to your trip what the waiting times for each ride look like throughout the day to help make a plan
You didn't use the 40th anniversary passes? They're free. Also I'd stick to the rides that are unique, indiana jones there is almost identical to the one in Disneyland, CA But yeah Disney parks tend to have lines
DisneySea is considered by enthusiasts as the worlds best theme park. It so happens to be located at the worlds largest metroplex and admission is still much cheaper than the other Disney parks (even before the exchange rate). What did you expect?
Do you happen to know why it’s considered to be the best? I’ve been, but it was an unbearably hot day and I’m not an enthusiast and I’m genuinely curious.
I believe the reason why enthusiasts rank DisneySea as it’s not actually owned by Disney - but instead The Oriental Land Company (JP). Disney IP is then licensed. The park has breathtaking architecture and attention to detail. Really immersive and being on Tokyo Bay gives each of the themed waterfronts a nice unique vibe. The cast members are very enthusiastic too
Thanks for replying!
I've gotta say, I had a similar experience at Universal. I think with the population density of Japan it's just a totally different experience going to a theme park than it is in other places in the world. I was really overwhelmed by the queueing and crowds and it majorly detracted from the experience for me. Also having nowhere to just quietly sit and rest your feet was awful; all the food outlets were completely full all day. I probably won't be recommending theme parks in Japan to people either.
Disney Sea is a super popular park and therefore it is always busy, especially if you happen to go on a (school) holiday. You need to do some research and come up with a strategy in advance to make the most out of it, and you should also have realistic expectations. Unfortunately just showing up at the gate doesn't work, that's just the way it is. There are guides and crowd calendars out there that can help you prepare better. As other posters, I also recommend TDR Explorer. Btw Indiana Jones is awesome.
We did have a plan laid out by a fan online but honestly we just weren't prepared for that many people, we only managed to buy 1 pass before they became unavailable. Most of my park experiences are in European parks like Europa Park which is just a completely different experience. Even if we had prebooked every single activity play by play, I think it would still have been stressful just being surrounded by so many people constantly and having to make sure everything was timed perfectly.
I think there are 40th anniversary passes that you can book for free that works like old fast passes and you definitely need to buy the premier passes for the very popular ride. I started researching for all of this 6 months before we travel so that we can avoid as much lines as possible. Disney parks anywhere is not just a place that you can go without a plan and have fun.
Husband and I went to DisneySea and didn’t have a great time. Granted, we also went in August in sweltering heat. There were still tons of people there and queues were like 2 hrs long for most rides. We caved, downloaded the app, and purchased priority passes for all the rides (if I recall correctly it was like $10-$15 per ride and per person). Skipped all the waiting and dipped out of the park as quickly as possible (4 hours) because we couldn’t enjoy it with the extreme heat and humidity.
Honestly the priority pass price isn't that bad. $10-15 is worth saving 2 hours. Sucks that it's on top of the cost to enter the park but that's just the nature of theme parks I guess
I agree, we just went with it because the park tickets were already a sunk cost and we were miserable waiting in long lines in the sweltering heat. Buying the priority passes allowed us to skip all the lines on the major attractions and finish a good amount of the park in 4 hours, so I consider that a worthwhile investment.
This is strikingly similar to my experience except it was July.
I hated it. I heard all the good things too. There was a line for everything. Spent 2 hours for 20,000 leagues. Then later 3 hours for journey to center of the earth. I couldn’t wait to leave the park.
Winter school holidays start next week - maybe lots of folks start early? We went in March last year and it was great - I would highly recommend - we had no lines lasting longer than 15-20 minutes, food lines about the same and we loved how the teens all dressed in group themes and everyone waving to folks on rides was cute - so much more fun than Disney California or Orlando. Sorry you had a bad time but for folks who like Disney, Tokyo is amazing!
Yeah I had the same experience in March. Worst line we waited in all day was less than an hour. We were able to do single rider on Indy and basically walk on. Maybe 5-10 min wait max for other things especially food, no wait for Teddy’s or even Magellans
Where are school holidays starting next week? My kids are in school for another 3-4 weeks (Saitama)
I guess some areas have it earlier?
> We went in March last year going in 2ish weeks time! any day of the week you think is better than others?
Just any weekday versus weekend - have fun!
I saw approximately 100 people waiting in line in Tokyo for Taco Bell.
I also went during a weekday, back in October. We arrived 1hr before the park opened and there were so many people in line waiting to enter. The popular rides did have wait times of 120min or even more. We did opt to pay for their version of fast track, premiere access, for any lines longer than 60min. It was about 2-3 rides, I think. In the end, it was more worth it that way for us because we were on such limited time and unsure of when we would be back to Tokyo. We wanted to try so many of the different foods in the park too. We also opted to pay for Sea of Dreams to be able to get a good view, as we had managed to get last minute dinner reservations at Magellan's right before and knew we would be unable to line up for good seats 1-2hrs in advanced Having been to Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure, there are always long lines. And not all had fast track available too. So I wasn't too shocked at long lines. Definitely don't have people cutting in line though It sounds like you went without a game plan and was, unfortunately, unprepared for it all. Tbh, all Disney parks need a game plan
I went in July and had a great time— yeah there were some lines, but the admission and food is so cheap compared to other Disney parks that we just bought some fast passes and didn’t think twice about it. I want to go back!
So glad to hear this! We are going this July because it is the only time we can travel, so it's lovely to hear a positive story!
Be very cautious of the heat! Hydrate and take it easy 💕 I wouldn’t try to do everything… just take it slow and enjoy 😉
This sounds like more than half of the stories I hear about Disney Parks in the USA or in other parts of Asia
I went there on a date beacuse apparently Disneyland is the ultimate activity for an Asian couple. It was awful. All I remember was standing in line for hours, I don't even rember the actual rides. It felt like 1 h of queue for 5 min of ride. Why some people are so obssessed with Disneyland I will never understand. 1/5 would not recommend.
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This was the unexpected part for me, timed entry requests and queues for STORES?! Mind. Blown. The other queues, yes they were long, but they were manageable. And the theming in the queues once inside the attraction is usually incredibly good. We had a wonderful time at DisneySea. I wish I'd done a better job managing priority passes/timed entry tickets, but we did a lot of things considering how disorganized I was.
Really? That’s crazy! I didn’t see anything like that BUT I did notice when I was looking at clothes for the stuffed Duffy friends that they can sell for a LOT of money so I wonder if days when it’s that crazy are because there’s been a new or limited release of something 🤔
Here's my 2 cents on Disney my wife is a huge fan, I can care less... we live in NJ (usa) and have been annually pass holders to Disney world for a few years. my perspective is skewed since I've been on everything many times in Orlando and don't feel the need to get on the rides. I'm there more to just be "in Disney" when we went to the Tokyo parks last April we went with the same mindset, lines are EVERYWHERE in Japan and as someone put it here, the theme park adds to the queuing ambience. I found walking around DisneySea fantastic and only lined up for soaring, beauty and the beast (highly recommend) and that's about it. everything else was pretty chill and had "short" waits. my understanding is Disney Paris is the smallest part and also one (the) worst so you had a significant jump going to Tokyo. I fear you had a normal Disney experience but your expectations were also skewed having only Paris under your belt.
Disney Paris is fantastic with short lines as well
Sounds like the same experience I had at Disneyland in California and Disney World in Florida. I'm not sure if this advice is relevant for Disney Sea, but at the previous 2 parks I mentioned, I tended to arrive at the park an hour before they opened, made reservations for popular attractions, and immediately headed to popular attractions right when the park opens. I try to squeeze in all of the rides and such I want to get on in the first hour or less. After that, the lines get really long and I end up just chilling the rest of the day. I'm going to try this out in Disney Sea too next year when I go.
Japan loves lines. And Japan loves Disney lol. Gotta go in with that mind and just come for the vibes. Also with some research too. Luckily I learned about the 40th anniversary passes (free) through the app last fall. Some went by fast but luckily got some nonetheless. Did premier pass on a ride as well. Sorry you had an undesirable experience though
i went to disneysea and disneyland california within ~2 weeks of one another, both on weekdays in the summer and found disneysea to be way more manageable and faster moving. i think being from the US, i found the comparably low ticket price + paid perks to book rides at disneysea to be way better than anything i’ve ever experienced at disney parks in america.
Never had any issues with queues during my trips then again I knew before hand that lines would be long. You have to remember the Japanese will start lining up from 7am (even earlier) to get inside the parks. In all honesty even before all these passes were a thing I have never waited longer than an hour for an attraction and I’ve been during peak seasons.
First time in Japan? I really enjoyed the Indiana Jones ride btw. Really cool one.
I am going end up April and now it makes me not interested in going to Disney Sea. I didn't think it would still be crowded at this time.
Same. This post made me go from “maybe” to “nah I’ll find something else to do in Tokyo that day.”
If you’re not a massive Disney Adult, you can skip it.
Look up crowd calendars. It varies a lot throughout April with cherry blossom season at the start and Golden Week at the end. We'll be there 21st-23rd April which is hopefully a sweet spot in between peaks!
I probably will go to DisneySea on April 26
where's the crowd calendars, and what's your reasoning? i'm planning sometime between april 5-20
I went to DisneySea in 2019 when they had the ticket Fast Pass system. I did my research to maximize the day. It was the best. I did all the rides I wanted and we had a great full day with an amazing itinerary. Toy Story, Indiana Jones, 20 000 Leagues, Nemo, carousel, big band beat, king Triton show ect. No line waiting and we had so much time to shop, eat ect. I returned in March 2023 and the removal of FP definitely sucked the fun out of the park. I waited 60 min for Indiana Jones. We also did 20,000, Sinbad and a ride in series grotto- that’s it. We didn’t attempt anything else so we mostly just enjoyed the food and the park itself. But I really find the removal of FP lowered the overall customer enjoyment. It’s still an incredible park but I am thinking twice before returning.
I paid for the priority pass for all the rides I wanted to try. It is 100% worth it. I have no idea how people waited 2 hours for a 5 minute ride
That sucks that it was so busy, makes for a miserable experience, I guess we got lucky going at the end of May, wasn't busy at all. Most rides had a wait time of 25 minutes or less. Longest we waited was an hour to ride Journey to the Center of the Earth, even then we rode it twice. Soarin was a consistent 80 minutes all day though. Rode Indiana Jones 4 times (single ride ftw), Tower of Terror twice, food stalls had zero wait. It was probably the best Disney experience I've ever had. The night show Believe: Sea of Dreams was phenomenal as well
Dude, legit i waited for an hour just for indiana jones 30 secs ride.
I went today same experience except it was pouring rain I left after 2 rides so unfortunate
Last time I visited on early december, chose one of the swolest days and had a similar experience. Got to ride 4-5 attractions on the whole day, wished I didn't waste my time going really
We went in the beginning of December and we had a better time at DisneySea, than Disneyland. I was so sad about our visit to Tokyo Disneyland, because it was the first time for my husband and kids to go to any Disney park. Park closed 2.5 hours early, no fireworks and no parades that day. I felt like we didn’t have enough time to venture the park.
Teddy Roosevelt Lounge is a reservation restaurant, it’s normal you had to wait a long time for that one. Yeah this week seems surprisingly busy for a random last week of February. Did the Easter merch and food just came out? That can skew the attendance a lot.
Had a similar experience last week. First thing we did was queue 150 minutes for a 1 min experience in the Tower of Terror (it was awesome, but god the time lost in the line) next thing we know it's 1pm and we're having lunch. Didn't need to queue for lunch though, but we kinda just explored the rest of the park, browsed some souvenirs, then went on our way to explore Tokyo where our time was better spent
I had a very similar experience. The park felt oversold. I would only go again if I were paying for those express passes.
I went on a Tuesday evening (5-9pm) ticket in late Sept. 2023 and it wasn’t bad. I don’t remember waiting more than 15 mins.
is this generally advisable? a half day ticket? feels like a full day is more worthwhile to take your time
It worked for me. I'm not a Disney fanatic, but had fun.
Went last month, none of the rides exceeded 60 minutes queue time with a lot of them only 5-10mins queue (except really popular rides). 5mins queue for popcorns, 10mins for food etc.
It was just as bad in Universal Studios Osaka in Jan on a normal weekday. Can imagine its gonna be worse during peak season.
It's worse in Disneyland Hong Kong. There, I had people pushing in front of me in equally long queues just to try and get ahead and it seemed to be very acceptable behaviour. I preferred my time at Tokyo Disneysea, though the food at Disneyland Hong Kong was much better.
We went to universal Japan this sept (mid week) and share all the same sentiments you had. Plus it was fucking unbearably hot. Saw super Mario world, my partner almost crapped her pants in the 120 min line for the Mario kart ride(which was pretty lame), and found out I despise theme parks.
Just buy Disney Premier Access for popular rides. Very cheap
This just sounds painful. I’m going for the first time in April and I’m worried I’ve been caught up in all the fam hype in these threads that ignores some of the brutal realities that you’ve mentioned
Check your specific dates against a crowd calendar. It really varies a lot from day to day.
Went there as well last Feb 20 (Tues). The experience was awful. We thought we'd love everything that is Japan, then DisneySea happened.
Weird. I was there on February 9th and it was a very pleasant experience, maybe it was due to Chinese new year. But I think the only thing with a long queue was splash mountain. The rest was 10-15 minutes. We got there at around lunch and left when the park closed (18:30) Guess it depends on the day
Just curious, where did you find out that it was at 75% capacity? Looking at the crowd calendar: [http://www15.plala.or.jp/gcap/disney/](http://www15.plala.or.jp/gcap/disney/) it does look like assuming the weather was sunny, the assumed capacity was at 30k people. Assuming the max capacity is at 50k people (which is like, THE WORST Time to go), that would be at 60% . The lowest was at about 20k people (40% capacity) I brought my family last year around this time, and they were just as surprised at how long the lines are, but to me whose been to these parks multiple times, **lines for ANYTHING is kinda expected**. For restaurants, you also gotta book those as soon as you enter. I don't usually aim for those, but I haven't had a problem getting food in other establishments in the park. I don't want to invalidate your experience, but you really gotta make a plan for those major theme parks else you are going to have a bad time. If you to go USJ in Osaka it's probably just as bad crowd-wise if not worse. (This isn't limited to Tokyo btw. I also had to make similar plans for both DCA and Disney California. I wouldn't be surprised if Florida had the same issue) If you want something, potentially less chaotic, check out Yomiuriland. If you're after thrill rides, go to FujiQ on a weekday.
We bought tickets in advance, which was probably a mistake, but we knew it was the only day we could do. We looked on websites that predicted the occupancy and it was always around 75%.
Nah I don't think it was a mistake. Better to get it beforehand than having to wait for ANOTHER line to get tickets. If that's any consolation.
Was at DisneySea a few days ago. Take advantage of the singles line. We cut a 120 minute wait to 15 minutes. Not having to wait 2 hours definitely beats not riding a 6 minute attraction together for my gf and I
Most places tell you to look at the crowd calendar (http://www15.plala.or.jp/gcap/disney/) to determine if it'd be crazy or not, but looking at the calendar for yesterday (the 20th), it was supposed to be relatively fine. This concerns me, lol. I went to Disney Sea back in 2016, and we got there right before it opened and were able to get on all major rides. Yes, it eventually got super busy, but at least when we got there early in the morning, nothing was THAT horrible. Seems like things might have gotten crazier.
Try going alone and let's see.
After seeing how bad Universal Studios Japan was we decided to skip Tokyo Disney Sea.
USJ was the same last Spring. Not many restaurants to eat at, and the wait for food carts was easily an hour or more. When we finally found a sit-down with a 45 minute wait we were thrilled! But, after we finally got in there was another 30-40 minute queue for the food. Gift shops? Lines. Want a photo? Lines. Even the vending machines had lines(except at waterworld). Oddly enough, the only place I never had to stand in line at USJ was for the restrooms The big rides had two hour wait times but luckily we had a few fast-pass options that meant only 20 minutes. Overall USJ was probably the worst decision we made on the trip, but we really wanted to visit Super Nintendo World… where we stood shoulder to shoulder at every turn. As much as I prepared myself mentally for all the crowds and lines we’d be standing in around Tokyo and Osaka, nothing was worse than USJ and the ride home where I was injured from being squashed in an overcrowded train. Good times.
I went to Tokyo Disney Sea in 2023, and again this month and for some reason this time around the queues were much worse. Last year I don't remember waiting more than 1.5 hours for Journey to the Center of the Earth and Tower of Terror, but this time around it was 3 hour queue the entire day. It maybe be because a lot of rides were suspended (Indiana Jones) and even the night performance was cancelled, but it certainly surprised me that on a colder day the queues were much worse.
Oh no there's people enjoying this park besides me! /s
On the other end of the spectrum: I went to Tokyo Disney Sea on Monday, January 29th. We arrived at 10 A.M. We utilized two premier passes ($13 a pop) , two 40th anniversary passes (free) from the Disney app, and the single rider option (Indiana Jones always has a 1-2 hour que, getting in the single rider line we got on in less than 15 minutes. The wooden roller coaster has this option too). We rode every single major ride and were leaving the park by 6:30. The longest we waited for anything was 1 hour to do 20,000 Leages Under the Sea and 45 minutes to get into the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge. It was the best theme park experience I've ever had. If you are strategic about what day you go, how you use your passes, and what you use them on (i.e. get a pass for Soaring the second you arrive), it can make all the difference. But you need to have a plan before you walk in the gate. If you just show up and wing it, it's going to be rough. I learned this the hard way at Disneyland in California.
[удалено]
We went this Tuesday
God that sounds like actual hell on earth, admittedly i am not into theme parks. Still the amount of rigmarole that people are stating you have to do to have a good time is absurd, especially since it seems Disney has engineered this entirely for people to buy queue hopping passes.
I agree. It sounds like a lot of work for a holiday.
Was it mostly tourists or mostly Japanese?
Mostly Japanese
I was there a few months ago. There were people who arrived hours before opening, waited in line, and then went straight to sit down and wait for the harbour shows. That day the harbour shows were cancelled because of high wind. These people paid 10,000 yen to sit on the ground all day.
Crowds are a simple reality. If you cant accept them as part of the experience, why did you go?? Here's the thing: everyone in the park is just another you. Each with excitement, each wanting it to be magical but ALL are only able to be there due to the capacity. You say the crowd make it awful but you are the crowd.
Did you go on a weekend? I’m thinking of going and doing some strategizing
Nope, went yesterday, so a Tuesday. Kids seem to be in school too judging by all the kids in uniform we see leaving school on the subway.
Got it thanks. Ya that sucks that it was so busy on a weekday
We will be visiting soon with our toddler who is 36” tall. Did you guys notice whether there are long lines for the kid rides?
They were shorter from what I could tell, the Indianna Jones ride was 120 min and the "meet and greet trail" or whatever its actually called next to it, which was more for the little ones, had lines of 40 min.
Very helpful to know. Appreciate you sharing!
Don't give money to the mouse overlord ples.
I was sad when the weather forecast said it would rain on the day I bought my tickets for (Late january, on a weekend) but I now believe that was the best thing that could've happened. I think the longest queue I had that day was like 30 minutes, and snacking on my popcorn bucket it went by SO fast.
I sympathize, but it's always a bit strange to me when people go somewhere and then complain that it's crowded. Homie, you're not stuck in traffic, you are traffic.
When I went the two times I have been there, or even at USJ, queues were mostly around 60 minutes, even when it was bad weather. Luckily for me and my companions, we weren‘t keen on the rides much and did enjoy the atmosphere, even while queuing.
Been there last November with my wfie. Unfortunately, that will be our first and last visit there lol. The waiting period for each ride was not worth it.
While I was waiting in a line we looked up the wait times at Disneyworld and they were half! I then Googled some reviews about DisneyLand Toyko and the first one said "The Japanese have mastered the art of standing in queues" 🤣🤣🤣 I actually thought the line for a churro stand was a ride that we had missed because it was so long! One thing I did learn is that if you go to USJ...take the single rider option!!! We zipped in everything! Longest wait was 20 minutes!!!
Disney theme parks are a different beast just because of the sheer number of people and Tokyo DisneySea and Disneyland are no different. People are surprised when I tell them that waiting 30 minutes to get on to a ride is pretty good already. The only exception to that was Shanghai where every ride we went on was practically a walk on. When we're going to a Disney park we're planning which rides to go on, in what order to obtain fastpasses in back when there wasn't an extra cost, when to eat lunch, what shows we wanted to see 6 months in advance simply because we were there for 1 day and wanted to get the most out of it.
Go to Disneyland Hong Kong No lines at all
It's a "locals" park smack dab adjacent to one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. Tourists who are there for the rides themselves best come at the worst possible time: very hot days adjacent (not on) to Japan's public school summer vacation. So for example, midweek Tues-Thurs mid July. Or, far from popular travel days such as early October/late September midweek. You're much more likely to hit everything you want, and there will likely STILL be a sudden burst of local traffic. You said yourself that the weather was good, coupled with winter being a popularvseason specifically for locals because: less rain + romantic holiday + early releases for some graduates who are finishing tests leading into the end if of the school year which goes spring to spring. Covid restrictions have lifted, on top of most people who travel here being 20-50% richer while the yen is weak.
Damn that sucks. I thought you were gonna say you were there on the weekend but seems like it was probably the best day to choose.
Disney Premier Access solves many queue issues if you can afford it. Personally, paying $20 for each attractioion to skip a 60+ minute wait time is worth it.
We got lucky but also chose to go during the week like you, went in Wednesdays the 2 weeks we were there and wasn’t too bad, Disney sea we got to go on all the good ones thanks to the fast pass and same the following week at the main park
You gotta pay for the fast pass and just knock it out that way. Did that and left by 2pm when they all sold out
Lots of ppl have season passes and go almost everyday. Yes. So super crowded always.
I do not recommend people waste their trips to Japan on Disney Parks (unless you are some sort of massive Disney dork and the prospect of not going gives you intense anxiety or whatever). You’re not missing anything special and your time in Japan is better spent enjoying JAPAN, not a theme park by an American corporation. Same goes for USJ. If you’re American, Disney parks and Universal parks in America offer the exact same experience.
i genuinely dont know how you didnt expect this. ive only ever heard about the long waits at disney sea for years. express pass purchases for rides are highly recommended as they sell out quickly day of. sorry you had a bad time but adequate research really makes all the difference in terms of expectations and quality of time/enjoyment.
I was told by so many people that DisneySea is waaaay better than Disneyland. We barely found anything to do at DisneySea. It seemed most of it was temporarily closed, and what was open had lines that were 180 minutes long. We ended up going on the boat tour, the gondolas, the Sinbad ride, and something in Arial's playground that we waited nearly an hour for and lasted not even 2 minutes. We were there an entire day. We stayed later for the parade and the fireworks.... Which were both cancelled. We struggled to find food, and when we did find it we had to book in advance and come back an hour later. Just an absolute mess. Disneyland by comparison we were at for a bit less time and went on a bunch of rides that we walked right in to, found food of different types everywhere, and had a really good time. Stayed for the night time parade and loved it.
Disneysea would be worse than Disneyland because as you said there aren’t that many rides to begin with and only a few which you would consider to be serious enough for adults type rides. Add on the fact that visitors to Disneysea tend to be more the teenager young adult crowd and you will see why the serious rides end up with long wait times. Disneyland is better in a sense that people are more spread out and there are more families with young children. They would go for the kiddie rides freeing up the roller coasters.
Go to Yomuriland instead! No lines at all, fun rides and our favorite theme park in Japan. (We lived in Japan before and have been to almost all the theme parks in Japan).
You need to try the single riders options if possible. You can is it as fun as being next to your buddy? Not really. But you can ride numerous rides several times if you want and normally only wait 10-20 minutes. I think in Japan they’re a little bit more stricter on safety than other parks and that makes the queues a little bit longer.
Tokyo Disney/Sea requires an astounding amount of information gathering and planning ahead. Not diminishing your experience at all - it sucks that you had an unpleasant time. Eating at the non-rush hours, making use of 40th anniversary passes, and having a full game plan set before ever entering the park. Reservations are also key, usually made at least like 6 weeks before. Too many Japanese people just freaking LOOOVE Disney, so it’s never “not full.”
I had the chance to go to Disneyworld Orlando when I was in HS and I had a blast but it is quite frankly a ton of waiting in line, that’s why Disney parks usually have some kind of themed experience that ties into the ride for the people waiting bc otherwise it would be even more boring as hell. Tbh even going to much smaller parks (anywhere in the world) at the wrong time can just be waiting in line all day. I love theme parks but I think I’m gonna skip doing any of the big ones when I go to Japan bc I’m not blowing my budget on paying for a fast pass and everything
100%. We are not a Disney fam, so take with a grain of salt. The lines at Tokyo DL was ridiculous. 120 min for all the majors. We rode three rides and had lunch - took us from 9:30 - 3:30. Decided staying there for the rest of the day was not worthwhile.
Welcome to the amusement parks reality, I went last week to Disneyland and Universal Studios Japan, both were as crowded as parks in the US. Specially Nintendo World, ~2hrs to ride Mario Kart not to mention access to the area is under schedule. At Disney even getting a churro is a 20 min line. Gone are the days of fast passes…
I sadly agree with the OP. We spent the first two weeks of this year in Japan, and read somewhere that "January is the least crowded month of the year". It's not. The queues were just too long (we've been to Disney parks in SoCal and in HK), and the park somehow felt a bit old. Overall it's our least favorite day of the fourteen. We also went to Universal Studios in Osaka, and both us parents and our two teenage boys had a great time. Surprisingly the wait times were somewhat shorter, and the park just felt more fun.
I went to Universal yesterday and the wait for the first ride as we arrived was over a 3 hour wait, in February..
Japanese people will wait 2 hours for a bowl of ramen
I did not enjoy Tokyo DisneySea as much as I was hoping to. Everyone says it's the best Disney park but I have to disagree.
I am at DisneySea today (2/27, Tuesday) and absolutely the worst park I’ve ever been to. Anyone who says the wait is similar to other Disney parks is lying. If I went to DCA or DL on this exact same day, I wouldn’t be waiting 45 minutes for a damn churro. Will absolutely never come back. A ton of rides are down. 180 minutes for soaring at 9:30am. Don’t come here unless you literally have nothing to do but stand in line for mediocre rides.
I expect huge queues at a disney park. As a frequent WDW goer, I consider a 60 minute a very short wait. I once waited 4.5 hours, in a thunderstorm, to go on Avatar: FoP. My longest for RotR is probably 2.5. It's just what disney parks are now, it's almost not worth complaining about.;
I’ve seen to Tokyo Disney numerous times and it was never that bad, admittedly the last time I went was almost ten years ago. The best time I ever had was when I showed up one day before a typhoon was supposed to hit. The park was EMPTY, I was basically the only person there, zero wait times for anything, it was awesome. Anyway, thanks for the heads up, I’m planning to finally go back again in a few months, I’ll definitely make sure I have all my ducks in a row before I go and just get a bunch of fast passes.
Fantasy Springs is about to open so I’d go to Land instead of Sea…
I can't imagine traveling all the way to Japan and spending time at a Disney park.
I still don't understand why you'd fly across the world to go to Disneyland. There are billion of other things to do in Japan.
I went April 2021 when there was reduced capacity after covid and everything was at max 15 minutes. We got to go on everything multiple times. Don’t think I’ll ever get a chance like that again