Tokyo Disneyland: Proving There's Room for More Than One Happiest Place on Earth

Entrance to Tokyo Disneyland

I absolutely love Disneyland. Ever since I was little. I’ve been one to two times every year for 23 years – that makes between 20 and 40 times! I’ve always loved Disney movies, the Disney store, and anything else Disney related (I have yet to embark on a Disney cruise yet, sadly). So with Tokyo Disneyland (actually in neighboring Chiba, but Tokyo sounds cool right) only two and a half hours south, I was bound to go while living in Japan. Last year I had the chance to visit Tokyo Disneysea, the adjacent park focused around water, while the Christmas decorations were up. (Inside fact, there’s mistletoe in the Cape Cod harbor! Though it’s mostly lost on Japanese people who have no idea what mistletoe is, nor its tradition.) So now I finally made it to Tokyo Disneyland with a few pals! It was a long day – waking up around 5 am and finally hitting the hay past 1 in the morning – but totally worth it for the day packed with food, fun, and more food. So let’s get on to my review plus insider tips!

Golden Week: Taco Bell returns to Tokyo, Yunessan Spa Resort in Hakone, and fun in Odaiba!

Shibuya: Taco Bell, frozen yogurt at Partyland, and the cutest Disney store you haven’t been to

So Taco Bell opened up in Shibuya a few weeks ago to much fanfare and publicity, or rather reopened, having been in Japan before but closed due to Japanese people’s lack of appetite for Mexican food. Apparently they changed their minds, or else the number of foreigners increased. Anyway, it’s back! Mexican food in Japan is scarce, and when you do find it, it can be a hit-or-miss on the authenticity (not to mention the portion sizes), as many Western foods in Japan become Japanized to suit Japanese tastes. The day it opened people waited up to two hours for their greasy tacos; thankfully it was only about twenty or thirty minutes for me. (Some interesting tidbits: on the way you can pass a “whale meat restaurant”, and right across from Taco Bell is a sex toy shop. Interesting…)