Tokyo Disneyland - Pros and Cons

Ok, so this isn't going to be a glowing review of Tokyo Disneyland, but i'll start by declaring that i'm not really a Disney kind of person. My idea of a holiday in Tokyo does not include Disneyland, however because I was travelling with 2 young children (8 and 4 year old boys) and family that really wanted to go, I went. Am I glad we went?.....not really. I thought I would list the pros and cons of our experience to help you decide whether you want to spend a day of your Tokyo trip at Disneyland.

Some of the factors that did not make the Disneyland experience as enjoyable as it could have been....

CONS:

• Firstly, it was a really cold day. max 10 degrees celcius, but felt like about 5.
• We went on a Saturday, making it even more busy than usual
• The weekend we went had a special Easter parade, again adding to the crowdedness
• Line ups for rides - Lining up for 70 minutes to get on our first ride in the freezing cold with 2 young children... not enjoyable, as you could imagine (and yes we got a Fastpass for Space Mountain first up).
• Line up for food - The lines for food were insane! Not only the food courts and restaurants but the food carts. The whole day seemed to involve lining up for food, rides and toilets

All the points above meant that we all got grumpy, and tired.

PROS:

• The rides we went on were fun (Space Mountain, Go Go Gadget Coaster, Tea Cups, Carousel and some rocket things
• The kids had fun, which really was the most important thing. Although they were dissapointed that we couldn't go on all the rides because of the wait times.

As you can see the cons list for me, definitely outweighs the pros.

Cinderella's castle

A lot of balloons for one person

For me, with only 2 days in Tokyo, I wouldn't choose to spend one of those days in Tokyo Disneyland, however for other people this might be a priority.


Some tips that might help you have a better experience than me:

• I think to make it more enjoyable, definitely try to avoid weekends and national holidays. Unfortunately for us, this wasn't possible. 
• I think it is also very important if you are taking children, to prepare them for the fact that they will be waiting in lines and maybe not able to go on EVERY ride they had hoped. My 4 year old didn't understand the need to line up and thought it wasn't nice of other people to be in front of him! Haha.
• Take some food with you! Stop at a convenience store before you leave to stock up on some sandwiches or onigiri so you don't end up with grumpy, hungry children

Go go gadget coaster

Toon Town

Waiting for the coaster

Chip n Dale's tree house

Tulips!

Tea Cups

Easter parade happening in the distance

Fun on the teacups!

Have you ever been to Disneyland, in Japan or elsewhere? Would you recommend it? What were your pros and cons?