Heigh-Ho fellow ear scouts! Greetings from Singapore, where we've just got back after a short trip to Tokyo. For those whose geography is a little rusty, Tokyo is in Japan and is a 7-hour flight from Singapore. It has two Disney Parks - Disneyland Tokyo and DisneySea Tokyo. The former is quite similar to the Magic Kingdom, whereas the DisneySea park is a cross between Epcot and Hollywood Studios - sort of!
The Japanese people are warm, friendly - and obsessed with all things Disney! Pretty much everyone is wearing some sort of Mouse headgear and some are in almost full costume (which is more tolerated there than in any other Disney I've been to). The queues (lines) for rope-drop are on another level. Arriving 2 hours before the park opens won't guarantee you're near the front of the queue, but people are friendly, non-pushy and just - well, queue up politely!
We only had one day this time and you can't park hop. But tickets are reasonable (around £50 or around USD60) per park although I'd recommend only trying to do one park in a day. There is easily enough to keep you entertained.
There are several on-site hotels some with doors straight into the parks, but they only get you a 15-minute head start into the park - however they are beautiful and if you don't want to navigate Tokyo, it could be worth it for your family.
The one biggest difference we found is, gosh, the parks are stunning. I've visited Disney all over the world, but this park feels like it's on another level with detail. The Disney Imagineers have gone all out. You could spend a month in one park and not take in all the details. Absolutely beautiful.
The park when we visited (June 21st) was open from 9am to 9pm. We got in at 8.40am and we headed straight to their version of the Tower of Terror. It's a different ride to the USA version in Orlando - it features the explorer Harrison Hightower who may look familiar as he is modelled off retired Imagineer Joe Rohde who was the mastermind behind Pandora – World of Avatar, and Aulani, among many other Disney parks credits.
I won't bore you with my whole day, but there are many familiar rides and many you will never have done before like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Centre of the Earth - and the nicest part for us, was we arrived just a few days after they had opened a whole new land expansion called Fantasy Springs which combines the worlds of three popular Disney movie franchises – “Peter Pan,” “Frozen” and “Tangled.” I took video on the Frozen ride for Rob!
The day concludes with a 20 min spectacular similar to what goes on, on the water at Epcot plus 30 mins later, some decent (though not USA level) fireworks.
To access rides you can get 'standard' (ie free) fastpasses - like the old US system of one at a time. Or you can pay a premium and get a premium access pass. We only bought one of those when the ride we wanted was at 90 mins and the queue was outside (it was tipping down with rain whilst we were there).
In conclusion, if you can ever go to Tokyo, do it. All the international parks have something different to offer - but I think Tokyo Disney does offer a totally new Disney experience - and if like me, you just love the little bits of detail - then you will lose your heart to this park.
A few pics attached and I'll try to answer any questions you might have. Bye for now Ear Scouts buddies!
Sally
We are going soon. Thank you for the report!