A Type-A Person's Guide to a Fun and Full Day at Tokyo Disneyland

(SPOT.ph) As a certified Disney Adult, a trip to Disneyland is always non-negotiable whenever I travel somewhere with a park. In Japan, you’re especially spoiled for choice: there’s Tokyo DisneySea, the only one of its kind in the world, and Tokyo Disneyland, which blends classic Disney magic with a distinctly Japanese touch. If the budget allows, the best way to experience either resort is through a two-day Vacation Package—complete with unlimited rides and a stay at a Disney hotel. (Fair warning: booking one is an adventure in itself, with limited slots and reservations that need to be secured months in advance.)

For those of us working with tighter numbers, the key to a successful trip is to plan—and meticulously. While there's a time and place for going with the flow and just winging it, the Disney park crowds can easily derail your experience. Many don't realize that wait times for major attractions can stretch up to three hours, and even something as simple as getting lunch can turn into a challenge. If you want a no-fail trip, it’s better to do your research. From choosing which Disney resort to visit to timing your arrival at the park, every decision matters in making the most of your day at “the happiest place on earth.”

A recent trip to Japan brought me, a self-proclaimed type-A planner, to Tokyo Disneyland. It was one of my most successful trips yet, if I say so myself. Read on for some tips that helped me make my day at Tokyo Disneyland as smooth as possible.

Also read:
The SPOT.ph Guide to Tokyo Disney Sea
The SPOT.ph Guide to Tokyo Disneyland

Your trip starts and ends with the Tokyo Disney Resort app, so make sure you download it in advance.

The app can help you kickstart your trip as you can buy your park tickets here too (apart from the website, which can get quite confusing). But more importantly, this is also your gateway for booking other essentials like paid Disney Premier Access (DPA) for rides, parades, and shows; free 40th Anniversary Priority Passes for timed admission to rides; Standby Passes for entering high-traffic merch shops; and reservations and mobile orders for restaurants.

Its main feature is an interactive map which you can use to navigate the park like a pro and check on the wait times for your favorite rides. I found that while many websites calculate average wait times, using the app—and checking it consistently closer to my trip date—made it easier for me to anticipate the wait times for my visit, and plan my park route and strategy accordingly.

Once you have your tickets booked, scan the QR code on your Tokyo Disney Resort app for easy access when you’re entering the park. If you’re going with friends, family, or your SO, you can start a group and scan everyone’s tickets. This way, anyone (and not just you) can book rides, meals, and whatnot for the entire group.

Now’s also the time to create a schedule. Decide early on: are you there for the vibes, rides, food, merch, or parades? Some people in your group might want to do rides all day, while others are content just taking in the sights. I, for one, was there for the rides. Meanwhile, my sister wanted the parades, fireworks, and Disney popcorn buckets. My sample itinerary accommodated both our must-dos. I studied the map for the most ideal route for the items on our list, and I was familiar with the park layout by the time our trip date rolled around. Whether we could actually follow the plan was another thing, but having the options noted down made me more confident that I could make decisions on the fly.

Pro tip: It might seem like a no-brainer, but avoid weekends, Mondays (for long weekends), and holidays for your trip. If your only choices fall on these days, be prepared to brave bigger crowds. Consider the season when you book as well as each has its own pros and cons. For example, spring can be packed with tourists visiting Japan’s cherry blossoms, but the weather is great. While summer has more locals due to vacation time for the students, since it’s hot (Japan summers are a different type of warm), there still tend to be fewer people at the park. There's no one perfect time to visit. It all depends on your priorities.

The early bird really does get the worm.

Being at the park at “rope drop” a.k.a. lining up before the park opens to get first dibs is a surefire strategy to ride at least one popular attraction with the least wait time. Although the official park opening is at 9 a.m., when the lines are long, the park can let regular guests in as early as 8:30 a.m. So you'd ideally want to join the lines by 7:30 a.m. or earlier to get ahead.

If you're staying at a Disney hotel, guests get to enter 15 or 30 minutes earlier (“happy entry”) than the rest, so do note that park advantage when you plan.

To maximize the rope-drop advantage, pick your first ride wisely unless you're planning to get paid access to it. Pro tip: Consider going to the Disney Premier Access (DPA) ride closest to the entrance. Doing this ride means you have one less DPA you’ll need to buy, and you don’t waste your time because you don’t need to walk too far to get in line.

Note that even if you’re not after a particular ride, entering the park early is important because you need to be inside to start booking everything else you need for the day.

Both Disney Premier Access (DPA) and Priority Pass help cut down waiting times by letting you skip the longest lines for select rides, shows, and attractions. They’re especially useful for planning your day, since each pass comes with designated entry times that help you map out your park schedule more efficiently. The key difference: DPA is a paid add-on, typically reserved for the most in-demand attractions like The Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast, while Priority Pass is available at no extra cost for eligible rides.

Personally, any ride you have to wait longer than 30 to 45 minutes for isn’t worth it, and since I wanted to hit some popular rides, I was game to splurge on Disney Premier Access.

You can get both using the Tokyo Disneyland app, but the catch is that both the Free Priority Pass and the DPA can run out in just a few hours, depending on crowd volume. This ties back to the previous tips again. You need to be early and have a game plan. Our pro tip: split the bookings between different people in your group for faster turnaround time.

Oh, and remember: You can only book one attraction DPA per hour, and one Priority Pass every two hours for your group, so get your most important rides done first.

If you manage to get early schedules for your Priority Passes, you can also book as soon as you consume them. Chances are, there won’t be any Priority Passes left by the time you book again after two hours, so your first choice should be your favorite.

Sometimes, though, they release more passes in the middle of the day, so keep checking your app at random times. You might get lucky, like we did. We managed to snag Priority Passes for Thunder Mountain, but for an 8 p.m. timeslot.

There are only three rides with DPA: Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast, The Happy Ride with Baymax, and Splash Mountain. Prices range from JPY 1,500 to 2,500. Your DPA QR code allows you to skip the standby line at your designated hour. Take note that there will still be a line, but it will be much shorter, and you get inside faster. If you can only do one DPA for your group, I highly recommend Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast. There’s a reason why the lines for this ride are always so long, and trust me, you'll want to experience this for yourself.

But the real game-changer for me is getting DPA for the parades. You get your own spot (with a seat number) on the floor in a prime viewing area, and you’re allowed to enter closer to the parade start time. For us, that meant we could enjoy our dinner at a more leisurely pace before heading to our spots for the Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights. To get the best seats, book as soon as you enter the park. You can book one DPA for attractions and one for parades at the same time.

The restaurants in Disneyland are almost always full on busy days so buying your food via mobile orders on the app is a must. We would have waited for an hour at the Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall had we not decided to do a mobile order at Tomorrowland Terrace. The app lets you select a pickup time slot. Once you’re at the restaurant at the designated time, they start preparing your meal. After you pick up your order, you can just dine in.

Mobile orders are also useful for buying popcorn buckets, which are a top souvenir choice at the park. You can place a mobile order and pick up your popcorn bucket at The Big Pop store, instead of lining up at a kiosk. 

For any paid add-ons, you’ll need to link your credit card to the Tokyo Disneyland app. Take note: you can only add a card at the point of booking, and whether a card goes through can be a bit hit or miss. Meaning, it pays—pun intended—to have more than one credit card ready, just in case.

See, even the best plans can go awry; I didn’t realize the credit card I used for my last DisneySea trip had expired, so I lost precious time entering new credit card details when I was booking our first DPA for the day. I ended up getting an Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast DPA for noon instead of the morning timeslot I wanted. Our Priority Pass for Pooh’s Hunny Hunt was also a bit late at 2 p.m.

So we pivoted and took our chances on the show lottery for Mickey’s Magical Music World. Luck was on our side—we scored first-row, center balcony seats for the first show of the day, a surprise win that wasn’t part of the original plan at all.

Your app comes in handy at times like these. I was able to rework our schedule based on rides with wait times of 5 to 15 minutes. We even squeezed in some shopping time at merch shops.

Pro tip: attractions that involve some sort of show, like Mickey’s PhilharMagic and Country Bear Theater: Jingle Bell Jamboree, have brief wait times because they can accommodate a lot of people at a time. So use these experiences to kill time in between your booked Priority Access.

Your phone will definitely be getting a workout with all the bookings, picture taking, and GPS tracking going on. My battery was already low by lunch, and the power bank I brought didn’t make much of a dent. If you find yourself in the same situation, you can rent a powerbank at one of the ChargeSpot areas within the park.

Rates start at JPY350 (roughly P130) for under an hour. After downloading the ChargeSpot app and connecting your credit card, you just scan a QR code to grab a powerbank. I rented mine for two hours and returned it at another kiosk in the park.

Also read: The SPOT.ph Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Best Power Bank

If you’re traveling with friends and you’ve got the energy, stay at the park until closing time, at least for the chance to do one or two more rides. People normally start leaving after the Electrical Parade, which typically ends at 8 p.m., so you're also avoiding the high foot traffic at the exits. We caught the Starbright Christmas fireworks display at 8:30 p.m. and still managed to ride Star Tours: The Adventure Continues before heading home.

And if the parades aren't high on your list, they happen to be a good time to get a ride in. While most guests are parked along the parade route for the Electrical Parade, even the most popular attractions see shorter wait times. It’s the perfect window to hit DPA rides like Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast, or Priority Pass favorites like Big Thunder Mountain and Haunted Mansion.

At the end of the day, there’s really no such thing as a perfect trip, but you’ll stress less if you’re prepared. We ended our adventure at Tokyo Disneyland feeling tired but satisfied because, despite the hiccups, we still managed to complete our must-dos and experience the park’s magic at its fullest.

For more information, visit Tokyo Disneyland's website