$50 Park Tickets! But is Tokyo Disneyland Worth the Flight?

Have you heard that flying to Japan to experience Tokyo Disneyland can be more affordable than visiting the parks in the US? My family and I decided to make the journey across the Pacific Ocean to see if Tokyo Disney truly lives up to the excitement and is, in fact, a budget-friendly option. Here’s what we discovered!

Tokyo Disney

Tokyo Disney Resort features two incredible parks: Japan Disneyland and Disney Sea Japan. While Disneyland resembles Disneyland in California or Magic Kingdom in Florida—with some unique attractions—the experience at DisneySea is truly one of a kind, unlike any other park in the world. It’s important to note that park hopping isn’t available here, and the official Disney website has a distinct look and feel compared to its U.S. counterpart. That’s because the Tokyo Disney parks are owned and operated by the Oriental Land Company, a Japanese leisure and tourism company. If you’re planning a visit, you’re in for a magical experience that blends Japanese culture with Disney charm!

Japan Disney Cost Comparisson

So does it really save money to visit Disney in Japan versus the US? I’m not convinced.

The park tickets are deffinetly cheaper at $49.50 for an adult in Japan versus $159 for an adult at Magic Kingdom in July. Unfortunately you cannot purchase the tickets more than 60 days out so if you are planning an international trip, it can be unnerving to not have tickets up until that close to travel.
If you are planning on staying at an official Disney hotel, I find them to be comprable to the US costs. Japan premier Disney property costs $1,869.53 per night whereas the value hotel runs $152.68, plus their are options in between. The Disney hotels do let guests in early, but only by 15 minutes! It is hardly a dramatic value add, and you need to pay attention to which hotels offer the perk to which park.
Save money by staying offsite! We stayed at the The Royal Park Hotel Maihama Resort Tokyo Bay which was a quick, free shuttle away and paid an incredible value of $69 a night. The hotel was very nice, with a Lowes convenience store in the lobby.
Disney Monorail is not free and not all Disney hotels offer free shuttles.
Flying to Japan can vary dramatically depending on dates, class of seats, and your home airport. We found a great deal, but typical prices range from $1200-$1700 roundtrip per person in economy. Flying from most major US hubs to Orlando is about $350 roun trip.
Narita airport in Japan is about 1 hour away from Disneyland. You can take public transportation, or book a taxi for about $160 each way. So there is a cost in time and transportation.
Many sites claim you can get lots of souvenirs in Japan for a steal of a deal. We found that with the US dollar being stronger than the yen did allow us to find a value in getting t-shirts and general merchandise, it wasn’t stock up and resell value. Plus there was much less selection than in the US parks. And to my daughters dismay, there were no loungeflys to be found anywhere. Lots of Duffy if you are a fan.
Food also ran the gamut of costs within the park. Popcorn is a big deal in Tokyo Disney and a good value. You can find garlic shrimp flavored, curry, chocolate, caramel, cheese, and many more unique flavors. The churros felt like a good value until we tasted them, and they were nothing like the US versions. There is less variety of food, and it deffinetly caters to Japanese food preferences. While we enjoyed some of it, we were tired of burgers and rice quickly, and their sweats aren’t really sweet.

Plus you need to add the cost of the travel and jetlag. The fligth from Chicago to Tokyo is just over 13 hours, plus getting their early, and my guess is you won’t fly direct. Now add taxi transfers ad you have pretty much lost an entire day to travel, sometimes 2 with the time change! Now add that for both direction. Plus the time change is dramatic, it is about 12 hours time difference so it will take most people several days in both directions to feel adjusted. That is a lot of extra days on both ends to add to your PTO request.

Disney Tokyo Crowds

Tokyo Disney is crowded, like insanely crowded. We went in the lowest crowd season (mid-end of May), the the lowest crowd days (Tuesday and Wednesday) and the crowds were still intense. I mean, all of Japan feels crowded.

There will be lines to get in. You either get their a couple hours early to wait in line, or you can get there closer to opening and wait to get in. It can take you an hour or more to just get into the park! And you cannot purchase any lightening lanes (US words) until you tap into the park.

Within an hour of the park opening the lines will be at 1-2 hours for main rides
Within 2 hours of the park opening the headliner attranctions will be at 3 hours and will stay that long, or longer, the entire day. The free fastpass will be almost gone and the lightening lane will be almost gone and those that are left will be scheduling to the end of the day.
Within 3 hours of the park opening all lightening lane and free fastpasses for the day are GONE!

Disney Japan Rides

Before you decide Tokyo Disney isn’t for you, the reason you should consider going are the unique rides and parades! I wrote a post on Toyko Disneyland and Disneysea Japan to cover it in depth, but here is a glimpse of things found only in Japan that the Disney fan will want to ride!

Enchanted Tale of the Beauty and the Beast
Monsters Inc! Ride and Go Seek
Pooh’s Honey Hunt
It’s a Small World with Groot
Splash Mountain (the only place left in the world to ride this classic attraction)
Queen of Hearts Banquet Hall
3 Unique Parades every day! (It’s a Sweetsful Time, Disney Harmony in Color, Baymax’s Mission: Cool Down, and Dreamlights Electical Parade)
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Sinbad Voyage (the soudntrack is amazing)
20,000 leagues Under the Sea (not the same as old US version)
Tower of Terror (so different)
Rapunzel Lantern Ride
Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey
Peter Pan’s Neverland Adventure

Plus the theming of the lands at Disneysea will leave you mesmorized at the sheer scope! Besides the rides I mentioned above, there are many more – I just wanted to give you a taste of all the Toyko Disney has to offer!

Key Differences in Disney Japan

If you decide to visit Japan Disney there are several key differences:

It is crowded and really long lines are the norm
Everything is in Japanese – you will need a google translator app to speak to some employees or just enjoy rides without knowing what they are saying
You MUST use the fastpass and lightening lanes to survive
Everyone uses umbrellas to stay out of the sun
There is no free ice water like US parks
Things are relatively inexpensive at the moment so if you are going to go, it is a good time
I remember when we use to get an hour of early morning magic, then it went down to 30 minutes in America, but in Japan it is 15 minutes!
You will need to use their app for fastpass and even to get in line for certain stores
They do not allow early or late entries for reservations – not even the 5 minutes like they do in the US.
We never had to wait for a bathroom stall, NEVER! It was a welcome change. Speaking of bathrooms, toilets in Japan are something else with privacy noise, heated seats, built in bidet, and more! The buttons alone are staggering!
Their are cultural differences, guests should use quieter voices and refrain from low cut attire
Make sure you spend at least a day to see Tokyo or Mt Fuji if you fly over to Japan!