Tokyo DisneySea In Just One Day: What To Do?

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Make a plan

Visiting Tokyo DisneySea for just one day? Then you’ll need to make a plan. This park has multiple attractions, shows, Premier Access, and it is composed of many lands. Trying to do everything would be impossible.

Before your visit I would recommend you to follow these steps:

1. See what is closed: Check the Official Tokyo DisneySea website to check for open and closed rides. It is really annoying to plan a trip to these parks and then see your favorite ride closed for refurbishment.
2. Check the calendar and times: Before you head into DisneySea, see if the times work for you. Plan the commute in the morning and at night accordingly, or maybe see if you can take a break in the middle of the day.
3. Download the Disney Resort app: The app can tell you wait times, restaurants, and you can easily access your plans, and solicit Entry Requests (more on that below).
4. Familiarize with the types and number of rides: What I always do is I check recent YouTube videos of the park to see how these rides look. If I like them then I save them as “Travel Plans” in my Google Maps, this way I also familiarize myself with the plot of the park. Check the list of rides in the DisneySea website, and maybe Google “best attractions in Tokyo DisneySea”. Even though this can be very subjective, the information online could guide you to what you need. For example, if you have little kids you might want to prioritize less thrilling attractions. Also, check height requirements, especially for the little ones.
5. Check the weather: As you’ll see in my Tokyo DisneySea evening report, the weather got horrible, and they cancelled Believe! Sea of Dreams, the fireworks show at the end of the night. It can get very windy and rainy here, so be aware of this. If it is going to rain later in the day, maybe do the exterior rides first thing in the morning, and leave the restaurants, shopping and interior rides for the evening.
6. Get to know the 3 types of Special Entry Tickets:
   • Disney Premier Access: This is not like Genie+, but it is more like Individual Lighting Lane Selections. If you do not have much time in this park, and it is going to be busy, I would recommend to buy the Disney Premier Access. It has to be bought one by one, and there is some time in between purchases. But by doing this you can save a lot of time in the park, skipping the lines. As of May 2023, the rides with this service are: Toy Story Mania!, Tower of Terror, Journey to the Center of the Earth and Soaring: Fanstastic Flight. The show Believe! Sea of Dreams also has DPA. Prices go from 1,500 to 2,500 yen (approx. 11 to 19 USD), per ride. It is worth nothing that if you do not have Japanese credit cards, you would have to buy this DPA every time in the Guest Services office located at the entrance of the park.
   • Stand By Pass: Some restaurants and retail stores will require you to get this pass on the app in order to enter, this is to control the crowds inside of these places.
   • Entry Request: Also on the app, you can request for free, entry to shows using this feature. It is better to do it as soon as you get in the park, since they fill out very fast. As of May 2023 the shows that have ER are: Big Band Beat: A Special Treat, and Jamboree Mickey! Let’s Dance!

Getting to the park

Now, I was staying in Grand Nikko Tokyo Bay Maihama, a beautiful hotel, part of the Tokyo Disney Resort and just steps from the Bayside station of the Disney Resort Line monorail. I had spent the last night in Tokyo Disneyland and now I was going to finally step foot in one of the arguibly favorite Disney park for many people. Why? I was about to find out.

The view from the hotel in the morning was amazing, looking towards Tokyo and the Tokyo Gate Bridge. The hotel has a restaurant downstairs with an amazing buffet breakfast, but now it was too late to go there.

Instead, I walked to the Bayside station, and used the monorail to go to the Starbucks located by the Resort Gateway station. The fact that they use so much cash and coins in Japan blew my mind. In America I barely use bills. If you are coming from a credit card/debit card economy country be ready to carry tons of bills and coins.

I got my coffee, coins and some breakfast from right next door in a convenience store. Went back to the monorail and this time went all around once again, passing ny my hotel to go to Tokyo DisneySea. The park was already opening, and after passing security and scanning my ticket, I went directly to the Guest Relations office, located at the entrance in the beautiful Tokyo DisneySea Plaza.

Disney Premier Access

Why I did this first? Well, remember what I said about Disney Premier Access? You can only get it one by one and every 60 min, so you better grab the one that goes out first. I bought Journey to The Center of The Earth which was already set for the afternoon (all the morning and noon tickets were already sold out).

With my ticket now showing in the bad, I proceeded to check for Entry Request. About a few minutes after opening it was already sold out, only some seats were available for Jamboree Mickey! Let’s Dance! I was not interested in that so I just kept going trying to figure out a plan on what to do first. The globe outside reminded me of Universal, in which I was going to be the next day, isn’t it crazy?

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

No wonder why so much people love this park, it is so different and do not scream Disney at your face like others. It has so much attention to detail, and the IPs are not necessarilly the most known ones. It is a 180 from Hong Kong Disneyland, which was about to surprise me in a few days, regarding crowds and attention to detail.

My strategy for the rides, and taking adventage of a kind of rope drop, was to do the shorter lines more on the back of the park, but those attractions were already long, so when I was passing by 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at Tokyo DisneySea, and saw 10 min wait, I just jumped on the line.

The ride was cute and like no other I have been on the Disney parks. You were able to illuminate with a sort of flashlight what you wanted to see. Be ready to share a small space with up to 6 people in each cabin.

I already had my Premier Access pass for the other attraction on this land, so I decided to go deeper into the park, going from Misterious Island to Arabian Coast and then Lost River Delta.

Lost River Delta

The wait time was kind of short for Raging Spirits, and just like in many other parks, a roller coaster would definitely wake me up at this time of the morning.

After waiting a few minutes, I got on the ride, and it wa sactually very fun. It was short because the plot where it stands is very small, but the imagineers really used every square inch of this space.

After some time, I started feeling hungry again, so I went to Yucatan Base Camp Grill at Tokyo DisneySea, right next door, for a quick snack.

The prices were not actually terrible for a Disney park, and was able to get assorted snacks for 650 yen (approx. 5 USD).

Being able to get some protein and carbs for this price was actually exciting. In the US that would have been 14 USD. I was saving space in my stomach though for a bigger meal later in the day, or maybe some other snacks.

I also got from this quick service location, the Avatar Special Drink, for 700 yen (approx. 5 USD). It was delicious, and I was ready to grab another one later already lol.

DisneySea Transit Steamer Line

60 min had passed and now I needed to go back to the front of the park to get another Premier Access ticket. Fortunately, I was right next to the DisneySea Transit Steamer Line (Lost River Delta) at Tokyo DisneySea, and was able to get on in such a short time. By the way, the do not allow any drinks or food on your hands while on it.

The boat ride was very nice, and the weather was perfect (maybe I jinxed myself here), and we passed the Misterious Island while people just waved at us.

The best part of the ride was getting to the front of the park, and passing by the Mediterranean Harbor and seeing all these replicas of the italian buildings, including The Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy. Tower of Terror was also looking at me like, are you going to pick me next???

Back to the front of the park

But no, I wanted to get the next busiest ride of the day. But first, I grabbed the Sea Salt Ice Cream Monaka at Tokyo DisneySea, a staple of this park. You should definitely try it.

After getting a Premier Access for Soaring: Fantastic Flight, for 2,000 yen (approx. 15 USD), I walked around this area and saw some meet and greets with Mickey…

…and Chip and Dale. They were sporting fantastic outfits.

The Magic Land Theather and Soaring: Fantastic Flight

Now, while I waited for the Premier Access, I checked the app for wait times I decided to go to the Arabian Coast and do The Magic Land Theather. A sort of 4D experience but special effects and live performers.

It is kind of annoying not being able to link a payment to the Tokyo Disney App if you do not have a Japanese credit card, and then have to go buy the Premier Access only available in the front of the park in Guest Relations. So, that is something to have in mind if you want to skip the lines, because you could also waste time going back to the gates every 60 min.

The show itself was cute, and definitely a needed break from all the walking and rolling around. It was also a way to way for my calling time for Soaring: Fantastic Flight, and now it was time to get back there.

The line was absurdly long, since this was the newest ride in the park, but it is literally the same system and video of the ones in Epcot in Orlando and California Adventure.

The twist and great difference was the queue. OMG. Just so so good, so brilliant, so perfect, so thrilling, so electric. The special effects, wow! But then the ride started and it was the same. I was hoping for new videos, but same same. Although do not get me wrong, I always get on Soarin in any incarnation and people applauded at the end. It was very cute.

How tables have turn

So far I had done 4 rides and 1 show, just a portion of what I would have done by noon in for example Disneyland California, but hey, it was something. Only 3 hours since the park opened and now I needed another treat. I had not been in the Southern part of the park yet, so I decided to explore around. I saw on Google Maps the Cape Cod Cook-Off at Tokyo DisneySea quick service.

I got the pulled pork cheeseburger for 1,280 yen (approx. 9 USD), and it sounded better than what it was. At least the restaurant itself was kind of cute, and it seemed like they had shows while people would eat.

Unfortunately, the weather changed abruptly. Now, this day went from perfect to oh, oh what should I do? Continue reading more tips, now under the rain HERE.