Tokyo Disney

I had a 10-day trip to Japan and I'm breaking my posts to each area of Japan I visited in the next few posts. Took off on United Airlines to Narita International Airport. I originally had friends who were going to join this trip and was approaching the trip differently. They were unable to join so I pivoted to visit Tokyo Disney rather than go to Tokyo. I have been to Tokyo often enough that I am not concerned with visiting the city. As an alternative to Tokyo and to give me an opportunity to right my time zone differences, I thought it would be nice to see the only Disney franchise park. I had heard that Tokyo Disney was the best foreign theme park. From my understanding, Disney trusted the operator enough to spin off Tokyo Disney and Tokyo DisneySea as franchises in Japan.

When I booked the theme park tickets, the website is not super friendly to non-Japanese visitors. I even asked my Japanese friend to translate some sites that wouldn't publish in English. In that sense, it was not as "easy" as the US Disney websites particularly when it comes to the payment portal.

True to my friends experience, the admission tickets are cheaper than the US version. Between the currency devaluation that is going on in Japan and the general affordability for locals, the tickets are on par with Knotts (pre-Six Flags merger).

Hilton Tokyo Bay - Checked into the Hilton by taking a local shuttle bus from the airport to the hotel. My intention was to spend a full day at Disney so I needed the day before and day after to deal with travel logistics to and from the airport. I spent two nights on property and two days in the theme park area. As a theme park hotel, the hotel was very busy. They did a good job of being efficient and courteous.

The one thing I usually enjoy about staying in Hilton branded hotels in Japan, the staff takes their Diamonds seriously. It was a nice reminder that the loyalty status is much more emphasized in foreign markets.

Welcome bites at Hilton Tokyo Bay
In the Hilton lounge, it was a bit crowded at the evening hour. Between the muggy weather and the crowds, I did not stay long in the lounge. Overall, it was nice enough but I would suggest venturing out to eat a meal if you were hungry.

Most of my activities and dining was primarily within the theme parks. I was able to follow along most of the rides in Tokyo Disney even without understanding what was being said. I did find the Small World rides comparison interesting, it did feel like the rides were newer/recently refreshed compared to Disneyland.
Tokyo Disney Its A Small World Ride

Of course, I wanted to see all the themed foods at Disney and here was an example:

Baymax Curry and Rice

At Tokyo DisneySea, I did find the theme park much more Japanese centric. If you are not able to understand Japanese, I did find the rides simple and is a much more visual theme park. Since it was end of the day and I had 'hopped' over to DisneySea I was fairly full from all the themed/flavored popcorn and random snacks. There was one ride, 50,000 Leagues Under the Sea that is obnoxiously popular. It was not worth the 2 hour wait.

Overall, the food was generally priced reasonably but not "cheap" even for theme park standards. I do find that the quality is much higher and, of course, the type of food is more appealing to me.


Transportation 

I did find it easy to navigate from the airport to the hotel. Iif you are worried about taking the bus to Tokyo Bay, it isn't hard. The monorail system they have connecting hotels to the theme park is also convenient and easy to use. Due to the jet lag and all day theme park walking, I was too pooped to get to the local mall/retail area to check out that scene.

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