Emily Morgan

Review of Tokyo Disney Resort(Orientalla...

I've been to EuroDisney, Disneyland in California ...

I've been to EuroDisney, Disneyland in California and Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea. The Tokyo resort is by far the friendliest with the best atmosphere. Everyone bends over backwards to make your day special and fun - they interact with kids really well and there isn't an unfriendly face in the place.

I highly recommend staying in Tokyo Bay at a hotel that has a shuttle bus to the park. There are plenty of reasonably priced options. We stayed at the Ibis Styles Tokyo Bay - perfect. And WAY cheaper than a Disney Resort hotel, they cost a fortune.

This last time I travelled with my 4 and 7 year old kids. We went to the park around 9:30-10am each day and stayed til around 1pm. Then we'd head back on the shuttle for a sleep and a rest for a couple of hours (the four year old was recovering from a cold, but we all benefited from the break). Then we headed back to the park around 4-5pm for another 3 or 4 hours in the evening. The evenings were the best, as they were cooler (it gets quite hot in early summer) and the atmosphere was great.

We spent most of our time in Fantasyland (Disneyland). We mostly avoided queues of more than 20 minutes. For the exceptions (my 7 year old was desperate for the Haunted Mansion) we broke out the iPad to watch in line, which worked well. We got multiple goes on the carousel, tea cup ride, It's a Small World (a huge hit), Pirates of the Caribbean and others. We went to Tomorrowland to get a Fastpass for the Monsters Inc ride, and then beat a hasty retreat as it was super busy. In hindsight, a Fastpass for Buzz Lightyear is a great idea as well. Both of these rides are interactive, with guns and torches to use during the ride, and totally worth going on with kids.

Critter Country including Splash Mountain was closed while we were there, but Adventureland provided the Jungle Cruise which was fun and the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse. We didn't go on any rollercoasters, so avoided the bigger rides.

As for DisneySea, it was fun but the kids were exhausted (we missed our midday break for that one, big mistake). The food options are better here, I think, with nice sit-down pasta and pizza and bakeries. The underwater play area at the Mermaid Lagoon was the big winner, and the play area with sunken pirate ships to run around in was the highlight there, though the seashell rides and bouncing jellyfish were also fun. The Aquatopia ride near the Nemo ride was really fun (we didn't even try the Nemo ride, queue was way too long). Walking round to the Indiana Jones area from the Arabian Coast isn't worth it with small kids - there is nothing for younger kids there. Better to go through the volcano and play on the fortress and pirate ship. The big ship Columbia was fun to explore as well. The Arabian Coast had three great rides: Jasmine's flying Carpet, the Voyage of Sindbad and the carousel.

Foodwise: snack options are limited and unusual for European tastes. You can get chocolate and honey popcorn, but you can also get chilli and curry popcorn. I brought sandwiches, cakes, fruit and muesli bars in a lunch box with me to feed the kids on the run - it definitely perks you up when waiting in a line.

I was a single adult with two young kids and so there was no way I was going to be running all over the park with them trying to get Fastpasses. Choose one or two rides to aim for and be prepared for an evening ride time if you don't hurry straight to the Fastpass stations on opening. Stroll, don't hurry, or you'll run the kids' energy out way too soon! Also: try to avoid Saturdays and go mid-week - it's much less busy. Bring a fan or buy one there in the summer months and definitely don't forget hats and sunscreen.