I know I’m hardly a child, and I know that every visit to Tokyo for me has to seemingly include a visit to Tokyo Disneyland. This time however I had the excuse that I wanted my husband to come along. When he was 2 years old, his parents took him to Florida Disneyland. When he met Mickey Mouse he promptly burst into tears. The poor thing had not only the humiliation of crying at the cartoon character at such a tender age but also a second round of humiliation when his brother, his best man at our wedding, recalled the story to all of our guests.
So in an effort to purge him of his Mickey Mouse demons, I took him to Tokyo Disneyland. I shan’t bother you with the details of the rides (although I loved them and as always my favourite was The Haunted Mansion) but here is a look at some of the food we ate:
Smoked turkey drumstick Y472 (about $4.90AUD)
The Smoked turkey drumstick was a gigantic sized drumstick where the delicious smoked aroma beckoned to us. I know that I am in Western World when I can smell these. There’s some gristly bits but it’s soft and the flesh eases away easily which is a must when you’re eating takeaway style without utensils.
Caramel popcorn stand
Caramel popcorn Y300 (about $3.20AUD)
I wasn’t too impressed when I saw the streaks of caramel on this freshly popped popcorn. I prefer a more even distribution and simply bugs me when I see that it isn’t evenly coated. However my grumbling ceases when I pop these little morsels into my mouth. They’re so fresh and the caramel so perfect but they are different from Lolly Gobble Bliss Bombs or thicker toffee coated popcorn. I prefer these as there’s nothing like absolutely fresh popped popcorn.
Boiler room bites
Mickey Mouse steamed Pork bun Y400 (about $4.30AUD)
We try a Mickey Mouse Pork bun and it’s a cute silhouette of his face. Both ears pleasingly have pork filling in them. It’s not quite like Char Siu buns but close. Great for cute value.
Minnie Mouse Apple ice block Y260 (about $2.80AUD)
It’s very, very hot today so when we spy people sucking on Minnie Mouse Apple ice blocks we make our way towards the stand and are rewarded with perfectly wrapped Apple ice blocks in a Minnie Mouse face mould. There are also orange flavoured Mickey Mouse ice blocks for sale.
Above are pictures from one of the shops, I was rather excited to see these cakes but once I entered the store, was disappointed to find out that they don’t sell these cakes, they’re just for display. They sell biscuits and lollies and other items that are less perishable. So this was a fake fake cake!
Have you ever wondered what is in Minnie’s Mouse’s fridge? Apparently, a lot of cheese!
Her oven can bake a cake within seconds too
The outside of Minnie’s house
A cute ride, Alice in Wonderland’s teacups (although not the most exciting)
Alice’s outfit, reminiscent of traditional Finnish costumes.
Lastly a picture from It’s A Small World ride. Cute stuff and Australia even has a small section to itself!
One thing that has me stunned when we leave at the end of the day is the number of girls wearing sky high spike stilettoes. One is even wearing stripper platform shoes. I have no idea how they managed to get around Disneyland in them and stand in queues. My husband can’t believe that they aren’t crippled given that he has been running around in sneakers and his feet are killing him!
And whilst I’d hate to say that I’m an expert on anything, I have some tips borne from my many visits to Tokyo Disneyland (I have no idea about the other Disneylands although I suspect Minnie Mouse may smoke at EuroDisneyland 
).
NQN’s tips for conquering Tokyo Disneyland
- Go on a weekday-queues and crowds are the enemy
- Wear comfortable shoes and use sunscreen-we got sunburnt!
- As soon as you enter, get a fastpass for a really popular ride that you want to go on, these are generally Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Pooh’s Hunny Hunt (Haunted Mansion although popular can seat many people so the line moves quickly whereas Pooh’s Hunny Hunt only seats a few people at a time so the line moves very slowly). A Fastpass means that you can skip the long queues but you can’t get into the queue straight away, you are asked to come back in 2 hours to go on the ride and you can only have 1 fastpass at a time.
- If you don’t have a fastpass try one of the more popular rides during the parades or lunchtime (unless you want to see one of the parades). Most people will watch the parade.
- All rides have an estimated wait time which is pretty accurate.
- Don’t bother with the twilight pass where you can enter after 3pm for a somewhat reduced rate. A lot of fastpasses will finish soon after whereas the crowds do not abate.
- Food at Tokyo Disneyland isn’t that expensive so you can eat there without selling one of your children.
- Go in a clockwise motion to each “land” to avoid backtracking to save your feet. I always start at Western Land and end at Tomorrow Land but that’s only because I don’t really like many rides in Tomorrow Land.
- If you go on Splash Mountain, you definitely will get wet so if it’s cold, go while the sun is shining so you can dry off.
- Check out the fake Jack Sparrow on the Pirates of the Carribean ride, he looks spookily human!
- Some rides are not so exciting, usually the ones without huge queues
- Have fun and know that I am dreaming about going back!
Tokyo Disneyland
One day entry Y5800 (about $60AUD) per person
Open 8am-10pm 7 days a week
Right near Maihama train station
http://www.tokyodisneyresort.co.jp/index_e.html
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16 Comments | Add your own
I love Minnie Mouse’s house! I went to Tokyo Disneyland when I was about 15 or 16. Mostly remember the long long queues, the fabulous teacup ride and all the shows that were conducted in Japanese (completely incomprehensible to me, unfortunately!).
I am so enjoying your posts on Japan. From the prawn rice burgers to Minnie iceblocks, I want to go there! And I’ll print out your Disneyland tips to take with!
ohhhhhh that looks like so much fun!!
I want Minnie’s oven! lol
x
Sadly I didn’t have as much fun at Tokyo Disneyland as it looks like you did! The day I went (late March, 2005), it was bucketing down with rain and the crowds were quite huge due to it being school holidays. I’m heading back to Japan in September and I’m going to visit DisneySea instead. I’m planning to make a stop by at least some of the restaurants that you’ve mentioned while i’m there!
we went to Tokyo Disneyland AND Disneysea. loved them both!
i agree with you on so many of your points. especially the high heels thing… Japanese girls are funny like that. i even saw girls HIKING in high heels. amazing!
were you disappointed with the candy offerings at Disneyland? my husband almost cried when he realised there was no fudge or chocolates, just lots and lots of mochi and sweet biscuits. we did manage to find some caramels which were quite nice though!
the most fun post ever
Loving your posts on Japan. Went there not long ago and am planning to go again – great tips! Also, we went to Disneysea Tokyo in Winter and there were girls in high stilleto boots and miniskirts! and boys that looked like they were heading for a photoshoot of some kind! Very amusing!
1–an apple ice block sounds wonderfully refreshing!
2–giant turkey legs are so barbaric. i love it.
3–so is the “it’s a small world” song STILL stuck in your head? i wouldn’t be surprised if it was.
I wonder if that smoked turkey drumstick is common among many other Disneylands because I remember having it at the Florida and Anaheim ones too. Although, I don’t remember it being so red.
Great pics, keep ‘em coming!
Hi Y-Oh yes that is true, I couldn’t understand a word they were saying which I guess would have been nice. When I went when I was 11, the lines were so, so long! I think this was before the Fastpass was introduced (or else my parents didn’t know about it).
Hi belle-Thankyou!
I love the oddness and extremeness of Japan so it’s always a pleasure for me to visit.
Hi Iron Chef Shellie-The cake actually turned colours too (it was just hard to capture on camera as it happened so quickly). Twas rather brilliant!
Hi Shannon-Oh yes rain would definitely lessen the enjoyment of it as would the crowds. I don’t think I’d go on a weekend if I had the choice, I just hate queuing for anything! I’d love to hear about DisneySea
Hi tian-Hehe thanks!
Hi KCL-Thanks so much! Haha the fashion in tokyo is so mad and so unbelievable how they can wear those shoes! The boys also love shopping and I guess it really shows
Hi grace-Very good observations. I felt like a Flintstone’s character eating a Pterodactyl leg drumstick! And I sure do, it’s very, very addictive that song!
Hi Jen-I think they’ve tried to replicate the origianl one as much as possible although I don’t think Turkey is big in Japan so perhaps they import truckloads-they’d go through so many in a day!
Those popcorns look so good. Your photos always make me hungry!
Hi Far out!-They were really good, the best bought popcorn I’ve ever had
Excellent-hopefully they don’t make you too hungry? 
How disappointing about the fake cake false advertising! I like the idea of an apple flavoured iceblock on a hot day. Interesting reading Lorraine & thank you for the tips!
p.s. what was appealing about the honey pot ride? Im curious cos it sounds like a little kids ride 
Hi Maria-I know, I was so excited! Good question about the Pooh ride, I think it was more the fact that fewer people could go on the ride at any one time meant that the queue was longer. Tt was cute but not that exciting. We saw in “honey pots” and there were some psychedelic lights and it was good but I probably wouldn’t queue an hour for it again. You’re welcome!
Very informative
We are going to Japan for the first time this Sept 2010
My daughters (10 & 14)are sooooo looking forward to Tokyo Disney…yours tips are great
Hi Cath-Have a fantastic time there!
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