The Tokyo Disneyland Hotel

Happy Boxing Day! I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas holiday. I’m jumping back into the Tokyo Disneyland recap, cause I still have so much to share. (Let’s be real, I could rave about TDL forever.)

I talked briefly about where we stayed — the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel — but figured I might as well do a full review. I feel relatively versed in the various Disney Hotels of the world: this is the seventh Disney property I’ve had the privilege of experiencing and I can honestly say that this one is at the tippity-top of them all. The Grand Californian Hotel has been my “staycation” go-to for years now, while The Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim has been a nice back up. At Walt Disney World, we’ve stayed at The Grand Floridian in Orlando a handful of times, and Disney’s Polynesian Resort once. We’ve also stayed at the Disneyland Hotel in Paris once, two summers ago. (Not to mention, we got married at Disney’s Aulani Resort & Spa in Hawaii!!)

While each of the Disney hotels has their own special something, the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel has it all: fabulous Victorian styling with unique Disney touches, world class Cast Members who redefine “premium service,” rooms with unbeatable views, restaurants, shops, and an amazing location smack dab in the center of it all.

Our room with a view

We booked a “Concierge Turret Room” through the Tokyo Disneyland website in July, just about 4 months prior to the trip. The website is a little clunky and difficult to navigate, but apart from some general confusion on our part we never had any real issues with it.

Everything was done through the TDL online portal: room booking, credit card payment of a 10% deposit, and even restaurant reservations. The latter bit was a definite perk of staying at a Disney property, especially for non-Japanese visitors. Basically the only way to make restaurant reservations if you’re not a Japanese local is by booking a room at a Disney Hotel. It gives you access to a special online booking page (in English!) that lets you secure up to three restaurants a day under your room reservation.

We knew from the website that our room would be on the 7th floor, but we didn’t know just how FANTASTIC our view would be. We walked into this beauty just after 4:30PM on our first day, after already spending around 8 hours in the Disneyland Park. We’d dropped off our luggage in the morning when we checked in, and found our bags already waiting in the room for us, without having to call down to the bell hop. Such a nice touch.

The room itself had all the bells and whistles: a sitting area to watch TV, lots of closet space, a built in vanity across from the bathroom, a huge (and extremely comfortable) bed, a big bathroom with separate toilet and shower/bath areas, and – of course – views.

Something else that wowed us? The toiletries! In addition to the standard shampoo-conditioner-soap-lotion set were toothbrushes, a razor, hair brush, hair ties, Q-tips, cotton swabs, and even little bath balls that released a crazy delicious cherry blossom fragrance into the water. Think bath bombs, Japanese style.

And the best part was that they refilled your toiletries every single day, even if you hadn’t used up what was offered the previous day. So we never ran out of anything, and by the end of our stay had stockpiled an entire set of bath balls to take home with us.

I also loved the fact that the shower and bath were in a separate room. Instead of a shower curtain, you just…closed a door. It trapped in all the steam and made the shower area feel like a cozy little sauna.

(* BB-8s not included! We picked up these popcorn buckets inside the park.)

The Japanese are known for having firm mattresses, so I wasn’t sure how I’d like the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel bed… but now, having spent 5 glorious night sleeping here? Verdict: pure luxury. I seriously wish I knew where they got their mattresses so we could buy one for home.

(* Pooh bear also not included! I got this blanket-you-wear-as-a-jacket at the Pooh’s Corner shop in Disneyland, but they sold it in DisneySea, too.)

We ordered room service a couple times and were really impressed by the size of the menu. It was at least 8 pages long, with both Japanese eats and Western-style meals. This night we had curry (beef for him and veggie for me), and on another night we ordered onigiri and a curry chicken sandwich.

Oh! And these super fabulous yellow PJs we’re wearing? Provided by the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel! They were soft and comfortable, and we ended up wearing them every single night.

Planes are a pretty common sight right above Cinderella’s Castle. The Tokyo Disneyland Resort is about 45 minutes outside of Tokyo proper, and not far at all from the Narita International Airport. But don’t worry, they’re not very loud and you can’t hear them at all from the hotel rooms.

It took just a couple minutes to get from our room down to the Tokyo Disneyland Station, where you could grab a monorail to the Tokyo Disney Sea. Transport was always quick and efficient, and thankfully we didn’t need to factor in long wait times for monorail cars (I’m looking at you, WDW).

That buffet area just behind the lobby is the Dreamer’s Lounge where we had our breakfast every morning, which came free of charge with our Concierge level room.

Marceline Salon

The Marceline Salon, which I’ve already mentioned, was yet another Concierge level perk. If you’ve stayed Concierge (or “Club”) level at any other Disney Hotels, you’d be familiar with the concept.

It’s essentially a lounge area available only to guests staying in Concierge rooms, that offers food and drink — similar to the E-Ticket Lounge at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, or the Craftsman Club at the Grand Californian. We popped in here for free coffee & snacks during the day, and cocktails & wine at night. It’s also where we checked into the hotel on our first day, and checked out of the hotel on our last day (tear).

Overall, our experience at the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel was top notch. Every night we came back from the parks exhausted beyond belief, but every morning we woke up refreshed and ready to go. We never had any issues with loud screaming children running the halls, with cast members who were anything but amazing, or with hotel amenities that were anything but perfect. Our room was always clean, toiletries full, and views fantastical.

I’m sure I’m leaving stuff out, but honestly it’s all starting to blur together into one big fuzzy happy memory. But you don’t need to take my word for it — go for yourself and experience the Happiest Disney Hotel on Earth!

xx,

K