Tokyo Disneyland: Seven Themed Lands, Getting There by Train and When to Go

Beyond the gates, the first thing that greets you is a glass-roofed arcade of shops, candy counters and popcorn carts, with a castle waiting at the far end of the street. Tokyo Disneyland spreads across the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, and its lands run from a Victorian-style main street to a rocky frontier town and a cartoon neighborhood.

Is visiting Tokyo Disneyland worth it?

Yes, if you love Disney stories or are traveling with children, because this is a park built around walking into them. It opened in 1983 as the first Disney park built outside the United States, and it is owned by the Oriental Land Company, which licenses the characters and stories from the Walt Disney Company. That arrangement shapes the feel of the place: familiar rides and characters, shown through a Japanese operator’s eye for detail.

The park sits next to a second one, Tokyo DisneySea, and the two are different experiences. DisneySea has attractions found nowhere else, such as Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage, the Tower of Terror, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and Raging Spirits, along with a good deal of exclusive merchandise. Tokyo Disneyland is the one for classic fairy-tale territory: Cinderella, Pooh, Mickey, Beauty and the Beast.

Japan has more than 100 theme parks, from Universal Studios Japan in Osaka to Sanrio Puroland, where Hello Kitty, Cinnamoroll and Pompompurin appear, and Fuji-Q Highland, with its record-setting roller coasters. Next to those, Tokyo Disneyland is the choice when characters and stories matter more than thrills or a film set.

What to see at Tokyo Disneyland

The park has seven themed areas: World Bazaar, Adventureland, Westernland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, Critter Country and Toontown. Four of them carry most of what people come to see.

World Bazaar

World Bazaar is the entry corridor of the park, a street of shopfronts that opens onto the rest of the lands. A permanent canopy covers Main Street and Center Street, so you walk under a roof from the gate toward the castle, and the shops stay open to browse whatever the sky is doing.

It is the place to pick up ears, popcorn buckets and sweets, and to get your bearings before heading deeper in. Visitors come back through it at the end of the day, when the street fills with people carrying shopping bags and the last souvenirs.

Fantasyland and the Beauty and the Beast area

Fantasyland is the storybook heart of the park, built around the castle and its fairy-tale rides. In September 2020 a new Beauty and the Beast sub-section opened here as part of the park’s largest expansion, adding a themed corner for fans of the film.

The Fantasyland Forest Theatre is a stage show venue with a capacity of 1,500 people, and it is slated to present a 25-minute show called Mickey’s Magical Music World. Show times shift from day to day, so look at the park’s schedule once you are inside.

Tomorrowland

Tomorrowland looks to the future, with a space-age setting that is more playful than severe. Its newest ride is The Happy Ride with Baymax, a rotating car ride that opened in September 2020 and is based on the 2014 film Big Hero 6.

Another attraction here is Monsters, Inc. Ride and Go Seek!, an interactive ride in which you use a flashlight to spot hiding monsters. It turns the ride into a game, and children tend to enjoy pointing the beam into every corner.

Critter Country

Critter Country is home to Splash Mountain, a log flume ride that opened in 1992 and is based on Disney’s 1946 film Song of the South. It is the area for a ride with a drop and a splash, set among woodland scenery of animal characters.

Hours, tickets and rules

Admission is free for children aged 3 and under at the Tokyo Disney Resort theme parks.

The gate is directly adjacent to the train stations, so you pass from the platform to the entrance without crossing town. Once inside, the covered World Bazaar gives you a sheltered start to the day.

How to get to Tokyo Disneyland

The main gate of Tokyo Disneyland is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. That puts the train at the center of the journey: you ride to one of those two stops and walk to the entrance.

The park lies in Urayasu, in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo. Tokyo itself sits on Tokyo Bay in the Kanto region, on Honshu, and the nearest airports to the city are Haneda Airport, officially Tokyo International Airport, and Narita Airport, Japan’s largest international airport.

For arrivals from overseas, that means choosing one of those two airports as your entry point to the Tokyo area, then heading on to the stations named above. Travel times and fares between them and the park are not given here, so look them up when you plan your route.

When to visit Tokyo Disneyland

The park is a pleasant place to spend a day in several seasons, and the weather in Tokyo shapes what you carry. In April, highs reach the mid-60s and lows the high 40s, with showers on about nine or ten days of the month, so a light layer and a compact umbrella suit it.

Winter gives you long hours of sunshine but needs a proper coat, gloves and a hat for evening shows and parades.

July is hot and humid, with highs in the mid-80s, lows in the low 70s and showers on around ten days. Autumn, October in particular, brings milder air, with highs in the low 70s, but it is also one of the wetter months, with showers on about ten days and little sunshine. In any month, the canopy over World Bazaar gives you cover for a few minutes of the day, though most rides and lines are in the open.

Tips for your visit

Wear shoes made for a day of walking, since the park covers 126 acres across its seven lands. Pack a layer that matches the month, and in a wet season bring rain gear you can carry comfortably in a bag.

If you come with children, the interactive Monsters, Inc. ride and the Happy Ride with Baymax in Tomorrowland suit a younger crowd, and toddlers aged 3 and under enter free. The Fantasyland Forest Theatre offers a place to sit down for a stage show.

Visitors pair the park with its neighbor. Tokyo DisneySea has its own exclusive rides and merchandise, so you can spend a day in each, and both belong to the same Tokyo Disney Resort. Another day in the city could take you to Ginza, an upscale downtown area with high-end restaurants and luxury shops, or to Roppongi and Akasaka, which are served by the Tokyo Metro Hibiya Line and Toei Oedo Line at Roppongi Station.

Good to know before you go

Tokyo Disneyland’s seven lands, its covered main street and its ties to the Tokyo Disney Resort make it easy to picture the day, but the details of tickets and show times are best settled close to your trip. Rain is part of the picture in the wetter months, with showers on about ten days in July and October. Pack for the season, keep a layer in your bag, and leave room for souvenirs from World Bazaar.