Tokyo Disneyland Vs Tokyo DisneySea – Which Should You Visit?

This post may contain affiliate links. Read the full disclosure

If you’re heading to Japan soon and you’ve only got one day to spare for a visit to Tokyo Disney Resort, you’re likely wondering which park to visit. While both would be awesome, it’s not always practical so we’ve put together this guide to help you decide which park to choose – Tokyo Disneyland or Tokyo DisneySea.

We were lucky enough to visit both and love them both for very different reasons, so we’re going to share those reasons with you plus comparisons to help you make your own decision.

Tokyo Disneyland Vs Tokyo DisneySea: Which To Choose When You Only Have 1 Day

If you’ve ever wondered which Disney Park is the best in the world, you might be surprised to discover that both the Tokyo Disney Resort parks are very high on that list. Many people put them towards the very top.

Yes, ranking them even higher than the original Disneyland Resort in California.

If you’re a bit of a Disney Park newbie, you might also be surprised to discover that in most cases, each Disney site around the world actually has 2 or more parks. Here’s a little Disney history lesson for you, just in case:

As far as size goes, the Tokyo Disneyland Resort parks are somewhere in the middle – which still makes them huge. This also means that while you could visit both parks in a single day, it wouldn’t be the best experience at either.

Know Before You Go

When it comes time to plan your visit to Tokyo Disney Resort, there are a few things to keep in mind.

Firstly, they don’t offer a 2-park pass option to visit both parks in one day. If you did want to try and cram both into a single day, you would need to purchase two separate entry passes. This is very expensive!

There’s also the fact that these parks draw enormous crowds every day of the year so there are long lines and wait times for the best rides unless you manage to score a free standby pass (fast passes) when they’re available or pay for a Disney Premier Access pass to skip the queue.

The other thing that is a must-know is that you cannot turn up at the gate on the day and purchase a ticket. You must pre-purchase your tickets online.

I recommend doing this early because it does sell out quite often, particularly during public holidays and peak travel times.

You can purchase your Disney passes online here

So if you can only visit Disneyland or DisneySea, which should you visit? Let’s break it down by comparing the best parts of each park!

Tokyo Disneyland

Tokyo Disneyland opened in 1983 and it has many of the classic rides and attractions you expect at the original Disneyland park. There is a Cinderella castle and many of the themed worlds are similar to those you will find elsewhere at the castle parks:

• Adventureland
• Critter Country
• Fantasyland
• Tomorrowland
• Toontown
• Westernland
• World Bazaar

While Japan has added their own unique twist to many of the rides and attractions, you still get that classic Disney experience. And in some cases, they do it even better than the original!

They have an Electrical Parade Dreamlights at night with light-up floats, very similar to the one we watched the first time we visited Disneyland in California. There is also a daily Disney Harmony In Color parade.

And depending on the weather, there’s a fireworks display at night.

Tokyo DisneySea

Tokyo DisneySea opened in 2001 and is one of the most unique Disney theme parks in the world.

As the name suggests, it has more of a water theme to it and instead of stepping through the gates and making your way to view the iconic Cinderella castle, you step back in time to quaint Italy or ancient Rome.

While the theming is incredible at both parks, it goes to a whole new level at DisneySea.

The themed lands here are also quite different from elsewhere in the world:

• American Waterfront
• Arabian Coast
• Lost River Delta
• Mediterranean Harbor
• Mermaid Lagoon
• Mysterious Island
• Port Discovery
• Fantasy Springs

Instead of a traditional street parade, they have a water parade that takes place onboard boats – Believe! Sea of Dreams. They also use lights and projectors on the surrounding hotel buildings and it’s all very cool to see.

Fantasy Springs

The Fantasy Springs land at DisneySea deserves a little more of a mention. This is the newest land to open at Tokyo Disney Resort as of 2024 and as such, it is crazy busy.

To manage the crowds, this area requires a 1-day Passport Fantasy Springs Magic pass for the entire area (currently around 23,000 yen per adult).

Alternatively, you can gain entry by obtaining a Standby Pass (free) or purchasing a Disney Premier Access pass for one of the Fantasy Springs rides – if you can get one!

The hype will eventually calm down and access to this area will be less restricted, but for now, it’s in high demand and there’s no guaranteed entry without the Fantasy Springs

We have been there as part of our Disney Vacation Package and it was beautiful, although I would never pay the 1-day passport price to visit the area.

Which Tokyo Disney Park Has Better Rides?

This is a hard question to answer because the rides you love might not be the rides I love or that someone else loves. However, I will share our experience with you.

For context, we live near Australia’s best theme parks and while they’ve got absolutely nothing on Disney or Universal Studios, there’s a lot of thrill rides.

Thrill rides aren’t a big focus for Disneyland parks. The experience is aimed at being more family-friendly with rides that cater to more age groups.

Tokyo Disneyland has a lot of similar rides to those you would find at other Disneyland Parks – “It’s A Small World”, “Pirates Of The Caribbean”, “Jungle Cruise”, and “Haunted Mansion”.

There are also a lot of dark rides that aren’t necessarily big on thrill but they can spook young kids (we had this issue when we visited the US Disneyland with a toddler).

The “Enchanted Tale of Beauty and The Beast” ride is one of the newer rides and the only one in the world so far, therefore it is crazy popular but a magical experience. Our fave!

The two biggest thrill rides at Tokyo Disneyland are “Splash Mountain” and “Big Thunder Mountain” roller coaster (our 2nd favourite of the day). We loved both of them! So did our moderate thrill-seeking kids, aged 9 and 11 at the time.

As for Tokyo DisneySea, there are quite a few boat and water rides, some of which are more like transport than actual rides. They even have gondola rides, so you can visit Italy without having to visit Italy!

There are fewer dark rides, opting for more bright or outdoor ride experiences or the huge Little Mermaid area with indoor rides for younger children. Plus they’ve got a whole Aladdin-based land.

In Fantasy Springs, they are all fairly calm rides, although if you’re prone to motion sickness, the “Peter Pan” ride can trigger a queasy tummy due to the 3D glasses and movement. They are otherwise just beautifully themed, with “Anna and Elsa’s Frozen Journey” being our favourite at DisneySea, aside from “Toy Story Mania“.

For thrill rides at DisneySea, there are “Tower Of Terror”, “Indiana Jones Adventure”, “Journey To The Centre Of The Earth” and “Raging Spirits”.

There’s a good mix of rides at both parks to suit the youngest riders, older kids and a few thrills for teens and adults too.

Which Tokyo Disney Park Has Better Food?

Again, this is a tricky one to answer because we didn’t eat everything in both parks and there would be very few people who could give a really thorough answer.

What we can say is that all the food we had at either park was enjoyable. It wasn’t as expensive as we expected it to be (even compared to theme parks here in Australia) and there were a lot of fun ‘trending’ snacks we tried that met the hype.

At meal times, both parks are extremely busy and you might have difficulty finding a seat if it’s a busy day in the parks. For this reason, make restaurant reservations before you visit. You can do this either on the Tokyo Disney Resort app or the website.

For show restaurants, you absolutely need to book in advance!

We did not book ahead for Disneyland and waited around 30 minutes for a standby table. Worth it though to try the Baymax curry. So yum!

For DisneySea, we made a bit of a last-minute reservation while already in the park that day so our options were limited but we were happy just to have a reservation.

Disney Mobile Order is another option to book your food ahead of time. We didn’t try this but it’s a great option to have.

Shows, Parades & Character Greetings

As far as non-ride entertainment, both Disneyland and DisneySea are quite equal in this category. They both have regular shows and performances throughout the day as well as character greetings or appearances.

Both have nightly parades (weather permitting) and Disneyland also has a daytime parade.

Special Events & Holidays

Visiting a Disney park during the holidays is something special and adds a whole lot of extra fun to the visit. They go all out for Christmas and Halloween, plus there are other special events throughout the year such as Summer parades or Easter festivities.

Both parks celebrate similarly. They both put up themed decorations and run special themed parades or performances.

Whichever park you happen to visit during one of these special events, it’s going to be extra magical!

Accommodation & Transport

If you’ve only got time during your Japan trip for one day at Tokyo Disney Resort, you likely aren’t planning to stay in the area, but just in case, I will cover both transport and accommodation options for both parks.

There are currently 6 hotels within the Tokyo Disney Resort.

These vary from value type with Tokyo Disney Celebration Hotel, to moderate, with Toy Story Hotel (where we stayed), to the more deluxe, with Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, Disney Ambassador Hotel, Tokyo DisneySea MiraCosta and the luxury Fantasy Springs Hotel.

There are perks to staying at the resorts, with guests eligible for “Happy Entry” to enter the parks 15 minutes earlier than everyone else, depending on the park and the hotel. Some of the hotels also have their own park entrance to skip the queue.

But you’re paying for that privilege since they are more expensive than your typical hotel stay.

As for transport, if coming from elsewhere in Tokyo, make your way to Maihama Station to catch the Disney Resort Line monorail, or make your way to the nearest monorail station from your Disney hotel.

The Disney Resort Line has 4 stops – Maihama Station, Resort Gateway Station, Tokyo DisneySea Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station and they run every few minutes throughout the day.