Hello Lovely,
I recently got back home from a two-week trip to Tokyo, Japan. I went for my birthday with a few of my friends. We began our trip at Tokyo Disney Resort, where we stayed for about six days there and spent 2 days at each park. We alternated the days, so our first day was spent at Tokyo Disneyland, the next at DisneySea, then Disneyland again, and finally ending with our second day at DisneySea.
I’m a huge Disney park fan and I knew for a while now that I wanted to spend one of my birthdays at Tokyo Disney. Their Disneyland and I share a birthday, so I thought it would be cool to celebrate together. Plus, the Tokyo parks are probably my favorite. DisneySea is definitely my #1 and I’m so glad I got to finally visit! I went all out on merch—especially Duffy & Friends—and overall we had an amazing time. I definitely want to go back and spend more time at DisneySea.
(Tokyo Disneyland is okay, I’ve done it three times already and it’s literally a carbon copy of Disneyland in Anaheim. The only unique aspect of it is its Beauty and the Beast and Baymax rides, which are new and exclusive to the park. Everything else is exactly the same and if you’ve done it a million times, the park can get a bit boring,)
Tokyo DisneySea is 100% original to Tokyo and it’s just so amazing. It’s very much like Epcot (my favorite US park) in that it’s different “countries” but by port of call. And it’s HUGE. You definitely need two or more days to really explore everything. The theming is also amazing. And we were just two months shy of Fantasy Springs opening, so that’s just the best excuse to go back!
The second half of the trip was spent in Tokyo city, where two of my other friends met up with us.
The first thing on our agenda was the Studio Ghibli Museum! Oh, it was such a process to get tickets to visit this museum, as you have to get them way in advance and they often sell out to foreigners so quickly. My friends and I were all on the website at 10 am Japan time on the day they went on sale for April just to get six tickets for the one day we’d all be in Japan together! But we did it and we made it, and it was all worth it!
I highly recommend visiting the Ghibli Museum. A quick ride on the train from the city, the museum is in Mitaka nestled next to a really pretty park that had a late bloom of cherry blossom trees! We got so lucky because everywhere else in the city, the blossoms were already gone. So of course we had to take some photos with the sakura before heading into the museum. Luckily, we arrived a little too early for our entry, so we had some time to kill.
It’s a small museum in terms of your standard museum size, but we spent a good half a day there—I would say about 4.5 hours. There are three floors, plus a roof garden and the cafe garden area. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to film or take any photos while inside of the building, so all I have to share are some views from the outside. But it’s as Ghibli-esque as you can imagine! It was a very whimsical space with lots of things for both adult and children to enjoy. Honestly, I found myself going through all of the little child-sized nooks and crannies scattered about the place just to experience it all! The little gift shop and book store were also some fun spaces to browse. I picked up an assortment of postcards at each place, simply because the artwork was too gorgeous. Overall, I enjoyed all of the galleries—especially the special exhibition showcasing the making of The Boy and the Heron—as well as the special short film in the theater. I would 100% go back and visit again.
While in Tokyo, we spent A LOT of time shopping. It’s very hard to avoid all of the shops when you’re in the city. I spent most of my first visit shopping as well. But we did make it a priority this time to at least see some of the more cultural sites in the city, especially the Meiji Shrine. Honestly, visiting the shrine, as well as the Meguro River walkway, was a very welcome pause in all of our running around Ginza, Shibuya, and Shinjuku. We at least got to experience some quiet time in nature. We even got to experience Tokyo Pride, which we found out was being held at Yoyogi Park the same day we went to visit the Meiji Shrine, which was right next door.
Gosh, I love Tokyo. I definitely want to return to visit DisneySea and the Ghibli Museum again, and of course, shop. But the next time I’m in Japan, I’m definitely taking the train out to see other parts of the country.
xx Tiffany