If you’re visiting the Tokyo Disney Resort, it’s worth it to check out the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel. The hotel does have high room rates but they don’t feel unjustified.

This stay occurred in April 2024.

View other posts in this series:

• Trip Introduction: Springing for Sakura
• Review: oneworld Qantas Business Lounge LAX
• Review: Starlux A350-900 Business Class LAX-TPE
• Review: Starlux Galactic Lounge TPE Terminal 1
• Review: Starlux A330neo Business Class TPE-NRT
• The Airport Limousine Bus is Indeed Friendly
• Quite a Grand Stay: The Tokyo Disneyland Hotel (this post)
• Thoughts on Tokyo Disneyland
• Thoughts on Tokyo DisneySea
• Japan Pro Tip: Luggage Delivery Services
• Review: Park Hyatt Tokyo
• teamLab Planets: I Don’t Understand The Hype
• Cuteness Overload: A Review of the Pokémon Cafe Tokyo

Booking

The Tokyo Disneyland Hotel isn’t the cheapest option out there. But the hotel does offer many rooms that fit larger families, which was something I was hoping for since we had a party of five. For our two night stay, we paid a rate of ¥84,500 (about $550 USD) for a standard deluxe room on floors 4-8. Again, that’s not cheap, but there were a few reasons we ended up booking it:

• Being right at the Disney parks is a benefit. Coming in from hotels in the city could add 30-60 minutes both before and after the visit.
• Since the room I could get at the Tokyo Disneyland hotel fit everyone, I mentally viewed the room rate as being the equivalent of two rooms at other hotels. While you might get away with having extra people staying in your room in other countries, note that passports are scanned for all occupants in Japan, making it a non-zero risk of issues with visiting the country.
• Hotels in the city were elevated because of the full-bloom of the Sakura. I was seeing room rates at other hotels that rivaled what I was paying at this one, and those hotels would have also required two rooms.
• We could have stayed at “partner” hotels or other budget hotels in the area at a discount, but those hotels would not have given benefits for visiting the theme parks. Those not on the monorail line would have required taking a shuttle, far less convenient, especially if the shuttle doesn’t operate when you want it to (early enough to line up before the park opens).

We had the option of paying an upcharge for a themed room or for lounge access, but unless your kids are a die-hard fan of certain characters, I don’t think it’s worth it. I’ll explain why later. Splurging on occasion is fine, but I still want to be judicious with where my money goes.

Arrival and First Impressions

We showed up at the hotel in the evening via the Airport Limousine Bus. Immediately, we found the hotel premises to be a bit opulent, with plenty of scenes from classic Disney movies. The amount of detail here is quite impressive, making it an absolute-must for hardcore Disney fans. Outside the hotel is a beautiful fountain depicting scenes from Fantasia.

Just inside are statues of Mickey and Minnie welcoming you to the hotel. The foyer has impressive design and pictures quite frankly don’t do it justice. I could post quite a few more pictures but I’m not sure I have the bandwidth to support them all.

Just next to the front desk is a small TV showing movies. The sound was off, but it should be more than enough to entertain the children while check in formalities are performed.

The front desk is just to the left of the main entrance. There was a short line I had to wait in to be helped. I found English ability to be a little lacking here. It felt more like they memorized a script and unable to answer any questions. That was generally fine with me as I attempted to practice my basic Japanese skills during our visit to Tokyo, but it’s something to keep in mind for those who can’t speak the local language.

We were given a map of the property, customized for our room, as well as some Happy Entry tickets for the parks and sent on our way. We were offered an escort to help us find our room, but I declined it.

The Room

We found the main elevators to go up to the fourth floor along the right side of the hotel. The amount of detail even in the hallways was indeed impressive.

It was a little bit of a walk, but we found our room for this stay (4619).

Once inside, you’ll find the level of detail doesn’t stop here. The room itself is a little elongated but that helps with finding room for everyone.

Just to the left when entering is a nice side table with mirror. We used this table as the main place we charged our devices.

The beds are quite comfortable—not too firm and not too soft. The beds are listed as twin size, but they seemed slightly wider than twin beds back home. Behind each bed are depictions of Mickey and Minnie having a picnic.

Don’t forget the silhouettes between the beds. Yes, there are lots of Mickey and Minnie pictures here but it didn’t feel overwhelming.

Built in the bed frames is the Tokyo Disneyland castle.

Hiding underneath one of the beds was a trundle. Alex and I slept on this and I can happily say I didn’t have any pains in my back. It’s not as comfortable as a regular bed but far better than your typical rollaway.

Extra bedding can be found in the closet.

Right next to the bed is a small table. You’ll want to move this table away a bit if you need to use the trundle.

The kids decided they wanted to model the couch. Hit by jet lag the first night we arrived, they were well-adjusted by the second.

In front of the beds is a small TV. We didn’t watch much TV during our time here, but there are limited English options. But honestly, I like it when the hotel has programming, especially cartoons, in the native language of whichever country we are visiting to help immerse the kids. They do pick up words every now and then.

Inside the drawers under the TV are some pajamas. There were adult pajamas of every size. You can order kids pajamas to use during your stay if you’d like.

Finally, there is a small desk between the TV and the couch. There’s actually a problem with the desk (and that’s beside the usual complaint about the glass topping that makes using optical mice a problem). The real issue is the lack of any usable outlet. In fact, that was the biggest problem with the design of the room in total. I’m happy I brought my own travel power strip as it was definitely needed at this hotel.

There is a mini fridge found in the room. It stored four complimentary water bottles inside (restocked daily).

The bathroom felt very Japanese, with a shower the size of a room and a tub to soak in after you’ve rinsed off in the shower. A small stool is provided if you need your children to have a seat while you wash them.

The toilet is in a separate room from the shower and has a bidet, which is pretty standard for Japanese toilets.

There isn’t much of a view from our room. Just a view of a parking lot and a small courtyard.

Amenities

For those who might be timid in calling up the front desk (I’ve been there before when in a foreign country), there are some things you can order from the TV screen. We tried it out by ordering a bath towel and child-sized pajamas.

Shortly after ordering, a friendly worker dropped it off at our room. For those wanting a free Disney bag, I guess this is how you do it.

The child pajamas fit our kids well, but if you choose the wrong size, it’s simple enough just to order the another size if you need it. The pajamas also came with child-sized toothbrushes.

There were plenty of little goodies in the bathroom: toothbrushes, drinking cups, and a souvenir tin containing cotton swabs, a hair tie, and cotton pads.

Also found in the room are a couple of reusable bags, helpful if visiting the theme parks.

Lastly, the hotel offers a number of postcards for you to take home. We caught the tail end of the 40th anniversary festivities at the resort.

Perks of Being a Disney Hotel Guest

First, a paper is provided upon check in that helps describe in English the features of the hotel and the key terms to be aware of. There is a pool on property but it is not open until the summer months.

The real benefit of staying at the Tokyo Disneyland hotel are the Happy Entry passes. These allow for 15 minute early entry into the theme parks. You’ll get one set of these for each night you’re staying at the hotel (valid for the following day). Just note the times written on the tickets as the park may open earlier than listed on the website. You might think 15 minutes isn’t worth all that much, but it turns a ride that has a 90-120 minute wait into a ride that has a 10-20 minute wait. I’ll describe this in a bit more detail when I talk about the theme parks themselves.

The hotel doesn’t have a luggage service that sends your bags to a non-Disney hotel (you’ll need to book your own third-party service). But it does have a luggage service that sends your bags to other Disney properties. In retrospect, I should have spent one night at the Mira Costa hotel just outside Tokyo DisneySea the night before we visited that property as it would have been more convenient, especially since you don’t need to worry about your bags when doing it. But it’s not necessary.

Also, for being a hotel guest, you get an extra day head start at booking your restaurant reservations for inside the theme parks. One day doesn’t sound like much of a head start, but it’s definitely helpful when booking your preferred time slots at popular restaurants (such as Magellan’s inside Tokyo DisneySea). Any edge up over other guests when doing Disney planning ends up being almost a must if you want to do it.

Breakfast

The room rate we paid did not include breakfast. Some rooms include breakfast in the lounge. Ultimately, that wasn’t necessary for us as the kids enjoyed going to the 7-11-esque convenience store located on the first floor of the hotel. The convenience store has pretty much everything you need, including soba, beer, and ice cream. It also has essentials like umbrellas, which were sadly needed for one of the days we were there. The cost of the items were fairly comparable to what you might find at a 7-11 store in Tokyo, much more affordable than what we have come to expect at a Disney resort.

It might not be as filling as breakfast in a restaurant, but we were quite satisfied spending about 30 USD for our family of five to eat breakfast plus have snacks for the day. It was so good the first day that we did it again the second day.

Fireworks?

Perhaps one question you might have is whether or not you can view the fireworks from the hotel. Why, yes, you can! As long as you don’t need the accompanying music you can easily catch the fireworks from the rear courtyard facing the monorail. If your room faces the park, you can watch the fireworks nightly from the comfort of your room. The fireworks are all visible just above the monorail station. You could also hang out in the monorail station at the top of the stairs to see the fireworks if you wanted.

Recommendation: Yes

Yes, the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel charges a high base room rate. But I do feel the room rate is justified. If you’re going to the theme parks, especially to Tokyo Disneyland itself, you’re not going to find a more convenient hotel. Jenn and I have done it before where we visit the parks from central Tokyo but that can be a headache with the commute. Having access to Happy Entry for a 15 minute head start is a bigger perk than you might initially realize. Then layer on top of that the size of the rooms, eliminating a need to book multiple rooms for the family, and the room rate doesn’t feel egregious.

We would definitely consider returning.

Have you been to the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel before?