Just about 2 years after our last visit to Disney Tokyo, we brought our 4Y1M daughter back for her third time in Disney. Now that she turned 4 years old, the tickets and passes were no longer free. Another big difference this time was that we stayed on Disney property for 3 nights at the Toy Story hotel, and spent one day each at Disney Sea and Disneyland. Staying just a monorail ride away turned out to be a game-changer, and our daughter tried a bunch of big kids’ rides this time.

Note: logistics change quite often in Tokyo Disney like the early entry and passes, please make sure to refer to the latest official website when planning a trip to Disney.

DPA (Disney Premier Access)

DPA (Disney Premier Access) for rides could not be purchased before park entrance, except for vacation packages. Only a small subset of rides had DPA, usually the popular ones. With our 4Y1M daughter, our maximum wait time was 30-40 minutes and we had to prioritize the rides and DPA. For very popular rides like Frozen, DPA sold out by 9:15-30 AM statistically in April 2025. Therefore, lining up and entering the park early was required to get the DPA. We got the first DPA for Frozen right after entering Disney Sea and most time slots were already out.

Day 1: DisneySea

Park entry

Since we stayed at a hotel in Disney this time, we didn’t have to wake up before 6 AM to travel from the hotel anymore. Still, we aimed to arrive around 7 AM while the park opened at 9 AM. As of April 2025, only very few Disney hotels at the luxury level qualified for Happy Entry at DisneySea to go in 15 minutes earlier at 8:45 AM. We woke up at early 6 AM, took the monorail around 6:50 AM, and joined the line by 7 AM. Fortunately, on a Wednesday, we were pretty close to the entrance. Security at Disney Sea was after the lines, which was different from Disneyland. We spent the 2 hours eating breakfast with onigiri and drinks from New Day at Maihama JR station the previous evening, a trip to the bathroom, and passing time with some toys. The gate opened at 8:30 AM with some anticipation. Unlike the previous visits to Disney where they unofficially opened earlier, the door opened at the official time of 9 AM.

Reservations

Before the trip, we made a reservation for the Duffy lunch show at Cape Cod Cook-Off at Disney Sea. At the officially designated reservation starting time, one month before, we got a reservation for seating area A (S is the best, but it was sold out). The meals were all paid for at the time of booking.

Rides

• Toy Story mania: ~20 minute wait. We decided to wait for this ride as our first ride. This time, I teamed up with our daughter for the game where I helped her with the aim. It was a lot of fun with a friendly competition with my husband.
• Nemo & Friends SeaRider: ~15 minute wait. Free passes were also available but not at the time we wanted.
• (After lunch) Twenty thousand miles: we had a free pass, wait time was 50 min.
• Aquatopia: ~20 minute wait.
• (After nap) Repunzel: DPA, wait time was 120 min. Even though the ride was quite short compared to Frozen, our daughter was a big fan of Rapunzel as she watched Tangled twice. We loved the songs, and there were no bad guys on this ride.
• Frozen: DPA, wait time was 200 min. The DPA was worthwhile, the boat ride was eventful, following a storyline.
• Peter Pan: DPA, wait time was 80-90 min. This is also a new ride at the Fantasy Springs, different from the original Peter Pan ride. There was some usage of screen, but mixed with physical elements.
• (After dinner) Carousel: no wait. We always went for the second deck, the line is the same for both decks.
• Flounder roller coaster: ~20 minute wait. Our daughter mustered her courage to go on her first real roller coaster adventure. It was a kiddy one, but she gained confidence for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disneyland the next day.

Lunch show at Cape Cod Cook Off

When booking the show restaurant, the meals were limited to set options with dessert and drink of choice. We just showed our reservation in the app and lined up for the set meals. The meals at the time were smoked salmon with avocado sandwich, and the kids meal was a burger. I noticed some people got curry rice instead, which seemed to be a special dietary option. The show started not long after the reservation time, and everyone had to leave shortly after the show for the staff to clean up for the next show. We enjoyed the show about Duffy and his friends in Japanese, which lasted about 20 minutes. Our seats at seating area A were very good with a clear view just behind the first table.

Jamboree Mickey dance show

After lunch and Aquatopia, we walked over to watch a 15-minute dance show by Mickey and friends at an outdoor venue near the boats. The tickets were from a free lottery in the app. The sun was a bit harsh, but manageable with a hat and sunglasses. Our daughter enjoyed the show and moved a bit with the characters with the catchy rhythm.

Gyozadog at Nautilus gallery

During our daughter’s stroller nap, we made a mobile order from the app for the famous gyozadog. The pickup time was fast in 10 minutes. It tasted like a cabbage meat bun shaped like a hot dog, much to my liking.

Dinner at Casbah (counter service)

After the Peter Pan ride, we thought about the rides after dinner and decided to try the curry restaurant at Casbah and arrived 6:40 PM. It was peak dinner time, and the dining hall was mostly full. We waited about 20 minutes to order (mobile orders were turned off at the hour), but the curry dish was quite tasty. We both got the curry sampler with tandoori chicken, shrimp, beef curry, rice, and naan. There were no kids’ meal options. Our daughter had the tandoori chicken curry rice, but in hindsight, I could have shared mine with her as the portion was quite large. We liked the food and ambience here a lot, it was a memorable meal. Every restaurant we went to had a self-serve iced water fountain with paper cups, it was very refreshing.

Day 2: Disneyland

Reservations

For the Disneyland day, we booked a table at Center Street Coffeehouse for their Baymax curry.

Rides

• Splash Mountain: 5 min wait as first ride from happy entry, then 60-minute wait after the ride. Our daughter rode this for the first time, she enjoyed it a lot.
• Haunted Mansion: 13 min wait (intentional number), anniversary passes are also available. The darkness and unexpected ghosts haunted our daughter a bit, but some stuff along the ride was also amusing.
• Tea cups: no wait for the whole day, we rode this four times throughout the day and could do more if we didn’t stop our daughter.
• Small world: 15 min wait. They added some Marvel elements to the ride, it was interesting seeing familiar characters mixed in the classic ones during the ride.
• (After lunch) Gadget’s Rollercoaster: a kiddy rollercoaster in pineapple carts in Toontown. It was 20 min wait.
• Dumbo: 30 min wait. Our daughter loved going up and down the colorful elephant and breeze was refreshing.
• (After nap) Minnie house: not strictly a ride, but we walked through Minnie’s house with interactive elements especially in her kitchen.
• Beauty and the beast: DPA, or 90-minute wait. This remains my favorite ride at Disneyland and it never gets old. Riding the tea cup and spinning with the classic songs through the transformation of the beast was such a magical experience.
• Monsters Inc.: we got an anniversary pass, wait time was about 30-40 minutes. I helped our daughter aim the flashlight, she generally liked the monsters but still had some fearful moments as they came out of nowhere.
• (After dinner) Snow White: 15-20 min wait. The ride was a bit scary for our daughter now that she understood what the bad witch did, and she was right at the beginning.
• Carousel: 10-minute wait. Not as unique as the Aladdin double-deck version at DisneySea, it remained a classic for young kids.
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad: we wanted to do this ride as our second ride of the day, but it was closed for a technical error until the evening. Our daughter went on it for the first time after being checked for her height to be over 100 cm five times by different staff.

Lunch at Center Street Coffeehouse

We had an early lunch at a sit-down restaurant near the entrance. Baymax Curry was what we came here for, and other dishes like the kids’ meal and burger steak were delicious with a generous portion as well. No takeout for leftovers, we tried for a giant iced drink. There is a bathroom in the restaurant with a diaper changing table, but we went for the baby room close by.

Three green dumplings

Like last time, we took a break at the Pan Galactic Food Court while our daughter was napping after Toontown. We got a drink and shared three little green alien dumplings. The flavors were vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. I could roughly tell the flavor by inspecting the color carefully. While sitting outdoors, we also saw the Incredibles characters around and three droids walking by (discreetly remote-controlled).

Dinner at Plazma Ray’s Diner (counter service)

After the lesson yesterday with a long line during rush dinner hours, we had an earlier dinner around 5 PM at Plasma Ray’s Diner. We got the three little alien mochis again to share with our daughter and for the souvenir case. We got chicken soup curry rice that we liked a lot, and our daughter had the kids’ meal with a burger steak.

Lodging at the Toy Story hotel

It was my first time staying at a Disney hotel, and our daughter’s favorite hotel among the two other apartment hotels of this trip. The Toy Story hotel is the moderate category of Disney hotels. The room was on the smaller side, but the proximity to the parks was hard to beat. Instead of taking JR trains then the monorail that usually took an hour from downtown Tokyo, we just walked 5-10 minutes to the monorail station and then got to the park entrance within 25 minutes door to door in a relaxing pace. Starting June 2025, the entrance to the Fantasy Springs at the hotel across the street will be open to the public from 10 AM (please check the official website for the latest information).

Two parks (exclusive to hotel guests)

There are two main parks at the hotel, Toy Friends Square at the front, and Slinky Dog Park up the stairs. The parks were exclusive to the hotel guests, and the staff consistently checked the lodging status upon entrance (one thing I like about Japan, rules are actually enforced). We walked through the Toy Friends Square every day, and we checked out the Slinky Dog Park on the first and the last day. The decorations were mostly static (I was hoping for some interactive elements and park facilities like swings and slides), but our daughter still had so much fun running around the characters and toys.

The room

We booked the Standard Room Bay View room right when the booking was open, it wasn’t too hard and the booking process was quite smooth. The bay view was a big plus, we all enjoyed looking out at the water in a quiet area. Our daughter slept on a trunk bed extended from the bottom of the bed. Upon check-in, the staff informed me that I could get a bag of kids’ amenities with a bathrobe and tooth cleaning kit at the concierge desk.

Quick access to Ikspiari

We took the monorail to Ikspiari for dinner on the first day, a shopping mall with mostly restaurants. There were a lot of food options, and we settled on an okonomiyaki place. It was fun for our daughter to walk around in the plaza, with colorful lights at night on the ground as well.

Convenience store

On the first floor, near the Lotso restaurant, there is a convenience store that we frequented during our stay. They had mostly what we could find at a chain convenience store in Tokyo. We got drinks and onigiri’s for breakfast one day, and some icy treats one night.

Lotso garden breakfast buffet

We planned the breakfast buffet on our check-out date without any time pressure to enjoy the breakfast with Lotso. Our reservation was 8:45 AM so that we could sleep in after two long days at the park. The restaurant was quite full when we went on a Friday, we were seated on the back side. We all found a variety of dishes to try, from Japanese to Western style. There were a few healthy and lighter options for our daughter, like fish and fresh fruit. Her and my husband’s favorite was the Lotso strawberry bread, and mine was the shrimp congee. At some point, they also had a pop-up stand with freshly fried donut bread.

Wrap

Staying at a Disney hotel truly elevated our experience at Disney parks this time, saving time and effort traveling back and forth, especially with a stroller. We all had so much fun these days at Disney, immersed in the colorful and happy fantasy world. Our daughter watched quite a few Disney movies and missed the parks and rides a lot. In no time, we will be back to the magic again.