Planning on going to Tokyo for about a week in April and was wondering if going to Disneyland and/or Disney Sea is worth the trip. I’ll be about 21 weeks pregnant but i’m not worried about the walking part just want to know if there will be pregnancy-friendly rides and which park would be best if I could only go to one. Sidenote: I live in Okinawa so I am able to travel within Japan!
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I love Disneyland more than Disney Sea. For me it was more adventurous, so if I were to choose, I’d go with Disneyland. Also, characters in disneyland are more familiar to older generations, like Snow White, Cinderella and etc… I’m not sure about pregnant friendly rides, but for sure almost all of the rides are kid-friendly… You need to start early, when we went there we left tokyo around 5am, and since that wad pre pandemic, when we got there the queue were already ver long… And best if you can stay till closing, so you can catch the night parade as well as the castle being lit by sort of 3d movie projector.
Have you been to any other Disney parks? Do you like Disney stuff in general?
Disneyland and Disney Sea are great Disney parks. They’re very well-run and tons of fun, if you think a Disney park is of interest to you generally.
If you have been to another Disney park, then the question becomes– are you interested in recapturing familiar magic, or in something new? Tokyo Disneyland’s attractions tend to be more similar to Disneyland and Magic Kingdom and Disney World, so if you want to enjoy classics like Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s a Small World, etc, Disneyland is great. Some things are unique though, including the parades and light shows, the Enchanted Tiki Room has big Stitch storyline, etc.
Tokyo Disney Sea is a much more unique park, with many attractions that aren’t available at any other Disney park. Instead of a princess castle, it has Magellan’s Fortress and a volcano; instead of It’s a Small World, it has The Voyages of Sinbad; it has a massive water feature where all the “parades” and light shows take place. It’s a really cool and different park but it still hits a lot of the big Disney notes, and of course the quality level. It’s designed to be a little bit more “grown-up” than Disneyland.
Personally, as a Disney fan (and Disney parks fan), I love going and think it’s super worth it! When I last went, you could get a discounted “Starlight” or “After 6” ticket to enjoy the park just for the evening, which for me was a great way to spend most of the day at Disney Sea but still get to head into Disneyland for a bit. Those tickets appear to be unavailable right now though.
Sorry that none of my notes are pregnancy-focused, hopefully someone else can provide more specific information on that!
DisneySea is the more unique of the two parks. Disneyland is almost a carbon copy (albeit smaller) of Orlando’s Magic Kingdom & California’s Disneyland.I personally liked DisneySea more, Ariel’s show was fantastic.
Edit: Fun bit of info about Tokyo Disney is that their merchandise is unique to their location as they aren’t wholly owned by Disney. I’ve found their clothing quality to be higher than the US counterparts.
Disney Sea is unusual. We were in Tokyo in 2019 and only had time to do one park. We chose Disney Sea because it was the different choice. We are glad we made time for Tokyo Disney. Most rides are very rider friendly and not terribly aggressive.
You could also try asking this question in the [Tokyo Disney Resort: English ](https://www.facebook.com/groups/583144975192444/?ref=share) FB group. A lot of expats/SOFA members currently living in Japan are members and you’ll likely get responses to your question about rides while pregnant based on more recent first-hand experiences.
I went to both in 2019. Disneyland is a 1 day trip for sure; we were satisfied with what we were able to experience in just a day.
Disneysea though, I wish we had gone to for at least 2 days. The park is huge and so detailed! I feel like we missed huge areas of it.
Both parks are a lot of walking though.
I also recommend trying all the popcorn flavours!
Right now tickets to both parks are hard to get as they’re limiting sales thanks to covid. However hotel guests are guaranteed the ability to buy tickets on checkin and check-out day (and any days in between). So if you’re looking to visit the parks booking a night in one of the hotels is your safest bet.
Disney Sea is also allowing hotel guests to buy the early access pass which lets you into the park from 8am (park officially opens at 9am).
We took my son to Disneyland for his birthday a few weekends ago and it was pretty good. The lines were physically long but they never really stopped moving. The longest line of the day was the new Beauty and the Beast ride, mainly because it shut down for a few hours in the afternoon so there was a glut of standby tickets to be used on it. Even at that it was less than an hour in line.
Whichever park you choose, make sure you’ve got the official Disneyland app installed and that you have a battery pack for your smartphone. There are no more fast passes and standby passes can only be ordered via the app. If a line gets too long they close the line to walkups and only allow fast pass holders in, and they scan the qr code off your phone for it.
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Just to add; there is a filter for “Not for expectant mothers” on the attractions pages. [https://www.tokyodisneyresort.jp/en/tdl/attraction.html](https://www.tokyodisneyresort.jp/en/tdl/attraction.html) It’s a bit of a kludge to specifically filter by the rides you shouldn’t go on, but it’ll give you the info you need.
I would probably contact Disney directly to ask which rides are safe for pregnant women. Maybe It’s A Small World?
Check the attraction page on the official website. It lists every ride that is not recommended for pregnant riders right next to the height minimums.
It’s Disney, most of the rides are just riding in a car on a track with no up and down. Just avoid the roller coaster type rides like Big Thunder Mountain, Space/Splash Mountain, Indy Jones.
Straight from the Tokyo Disney website:
[https://faq.tokyodisneyresort.jp/tdr/en/faq_detail.html?id=18397&category=12&page=1](https://faq.tokyodisneyresort.jp/tdr/en/faq_detail.html?id=18397&category=12&page=1)
●The following attractions should not be experienced by expectant mothers or persons with health conditions that could be aggravated the ride:
Tokyo DisneySea
・Nemo & Friends SeaRider
●The following attractions should not be experienced by expectant mothers and persons of advanced age, as well as persons with high blood pressure, heart, back, or neck problems, motion sickness, or other conditions that could be aggravated by the ride:
Tokyo Disneyland
・Big Thunder Mountain
・Splash Mountain
・Gadget’s Go Coaster
・Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
・Space Mountain
Tokyo DisneySea
・Soaring: Fantastic Flight
・Tower of Terror (*1)
・Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Crystal Skull
・Raging Spirits (*1)
・Flounder’s Flying Fish Coaster
・Center of the Earth
*1 Persons with disabilities to their back should also refrain from riding this attraction.
​
If you’ve been to any other Disneyland, go to Disney Sea. It’s 100% unique where Disneyland is 70% the same as other Disneylands and Magic Kingdom in Florida..
Yes it’s worth it. Japanese Disney is def worth going. Just make sure you purchase tickets in advance.
Nitpick. For the record everyone, no space after “Disney”. Just like you call the main park “Disneyland”, the second is called, “DisneySea.” no spaces.
If you make a reservation through the Disney website, and stay at one f their hotels or official hotels around the park, you can get all the cool perks like fast passes for rides and reservations for restaurants and shows in advance. If you plan your days properly, you can pretty much skip all lines and waiting.
Oh, and DisneySea is amazing.
We’ve visited both in 2017 and I am in love with Disney Sea. That park is so uniquely beautiful, well themed and it has the best attractions in my opinion.
I visited both parks when pregnant – still plenty to do!
Disney Sea is def worth it, the other park is just ok, 21 weeks pregnant might be a bit difficult.
I went to both parks while pregnant! It’s definitely a bummer to miss out on the thrill rides, but there was plenty to do at both parks. If you have been to any other Disneyland or magic kingdom, Tokyo Disneyland is pretty similar, with a few unique rides (Monsters Inc, Pooh’s Honey Hunt, a few others). Just for ambiance of walking around, Disney Sea was much more unique compared to all other Disney resorts. There were a decent amount of spots to sit down and take a break or get a snack, which I greatly appreciated! If you are a Disney fan, it’s worth going while pregnant, even if you miss out on half the rides. If you are not a major Disney fan, it may not be the best use of your time/money.
I’d say, go to Disney Sea if you’ve already been to DisneyLand or Disney World.
As someone who went to Disneyland (Paris) pregnant, I wouldn’t do it if I were you. There are hardly any rides I was allowed to ride. It’s a small world and the merry go round got boring real quick 😂. I also got to experience dumbo and the boat ride with different fairy tales (can’t remember what it is called) but that was literally it. If you don’t mind just walking around and not going on any rides, you should go, if not, wait it out is my advice