Crowd calendar at highest level - what can I expect, exactly?

[dashofsunshine]

Hi guys!

My husband and I are spending two weeks in Japan (March 24-April 6 of this year) and we are hopping over to Tokyo DisneySea for a day. I watched the crowd calendars closely and chose the best day possible; however, every single day that we are in Tokyo (March 25th - 31st) it shows the crowd levels at max capacity

EDIT: just noticed the one I uploaded is Tokyo Disneyland, but the Tokyo DisneySea one looks identical, sadly. Lol

We bought our tickets for the 29th. On the other crowd calendar (the one that is strictly Japanese), it shows the crowd prediction as slightly lower for that day, but not much.

I've read a lot of stuff online about heavy crowd levels in WDW vs Tokyo Disney, and how the max crowd levels at TD make our Orlando max levels look like a cake walk I guess my question is, from someone who has been there personally on a heavy crowd day, what can I expect? No elbow room when walking? 3+ hour waits for one ride? Fast passes completely depleted by noon?

Just trying to get a game plan together so we can maximize our one day. Or, forfeit and spend the day drinking in DisneySea thanks for any input, y'all!!!

 

[wanderlust7]

I'm currently planning a trip, so can't share any personal experience yet. But on the Japanese crowd calendar, this one (not sure if there are others):
http://www15.plala.or.jp/gcap/disney/

If you Google translate (might need to guess a little) and look to the right, there are predicted standby times and Fastpass return times. For example, for 3/29, Journey to the Center of the Earth, at 8 am FP return time is 9 am, at 11 am it is 7 pm. Anytime after that is greyed out since FP are predicted to be gone.

At least be glad it's not color coded black and "violently congested"?

 

[dashofsunshine]

I'm currently planning a trip, so can't share any personal experience yet. But on the Japanese crowd calendar, this one (not sure if there are others):
http://www15.plala.or.jp/gcap/disney/

If you Google translate (might need to guess a little) and look to the right, there are predicted standby times and Fastpass return times. For example, for 3/29, Journey to the Center of the Earth, at 8 am FP return time is 9 am, at 11 am it is 7 pm. Anytime after that is greyed out since FP are predicted to be gone.

At least be glad it's not color coded black and "violently congested"?

That's the Japanese calendar I've been looking at as well! Only, I didn't use google translate on the right, so I didn't know that's what those numbers were for Lol. I'll definitely go look at those and try to make a plan.

Yes, it could ALWAYS be worse, haha! Black would be terrifying and probably not even worth going, honestly. Thank you for your help!!!

 

[Corbisblue]

The most popular attractions will have 2+ hour wait times for most of the day and their FPs will be gone in the morning. Japanese people are fantastic at handling themselves in large crowds, so while it may be tight in some spots it won't be too bad. Just go there with the expectation that you are going to be waiting for pretty much everything. Restaurants (even counter service), attractions, and shows.

The key is to arrive early to the gates. I would highly recommend at LEAST 1 hour before the park opening. Or if you are really wanting to, even 1.5 hours before. Then once the park opens you can go get at least 1-2 rides out of the way. Then if you are wanting to have a sit down meal, go and make a reservation. The first few hours are crucial.

We wrote a few articles that go into this a bit deeper.

http://tdrexplorer.com/what-i-learned-visiting-tokyo-disneyland-on-the-weekend/
http://tdrexplorer.com/weekend-survival-guide-at-tokyo-disney-resort/
http://tdrexplorer.com/tips-for-dealing-with-massive-crowds-at-tokyo-disney-resort/

If you have done Toy Story Mania! at the other parks, then you can easily skip this and save yourself that precious time in the morning. Instead grab FastPasses for Tower of Terror or Journey to the Center of the Earth (get FP for one then standby for the other). Then utilise the Single Rider line for both Indiana Jones and Raging Spirits. Then use FP for other attractions you wanna see.

Hope this helps! And good luck.

 

[dashofsunshine]

The most popular attractions will have 2+ hour wait times for most of the day and their FPs will be gone in the morning. Japanese people are fantastic at handling themselves in large crowds, so while it may be tight in some spots it won't be too bad. Just go there with the expectation that you are going to be waiting for pretty much everything. Restaurants (even counter service), attractions, and shows.

The key is to arrive early to the gates. I would highly recommend at LEAST 1 hour before the park opening. Or if you are really wanting to, even 1.5 hours before. Then once the park opens you can go get at least 1-2 rides out of the way. Then if you are wanting to have a sit down meal, go and make a reservation. The first few hours are crucial.

We wrote a few articles that go into this a bit deeper.

http://tdrexplorer.com/what-i-learned-visiting-tokyo-disneyland-on-the-weekend/
http://tdrexplorer.com/weekend-survival-guide-at-tokyo-disney-resort/
http://tdrexplorer.com/tips-for-dealing-with-massive-crowds-at-tokyo-disney-resort/

If you have done Toy Story Mania! at the other parks, then you can easily skip this and save yourself that precious time in the morning. Instead grab FastPasses for Tower of Terror or Journey to the Center of the Earth (get FP for one then standby for the other). Then utilise the Single Rider line for both Indiana Jones and Raging Spirits. Then use FP for other attractions you wanna see.

Hope this helps! And good luck.

Thank you SO much!!! This is exactly what I was looking for I really appreciate it!

 

[Agent 86]

I agree with Corbisblue.

And keep your fingers crossed for heavy rain or other inclement weather which may deter locals from visiting.

The crowds are huge, but people in Japan are exceedingly polite, so there is no pushing or shoving. In order to escape the crowds, I highly recommend visiting some of the nicer restaurants. We absolutely loved Magellan's. We also really enjoyed Ristorante di Canaletto and the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge (although we only had drinks at Teddy's).

I booked Magellan's immediately when we arrived (while my partner lined up for Fast Passes for Toy Story Mania) and got the first sitting at 11:30am. We did Ristorante on our third day, after visiting Disneyland first, so they weren't taking bookings by the time we arrived at DisneySea around 12:00pm. But, we just turned up at around 4:30pm to wait for a table and were seated within a few minutes.

For Teddy's, we visited in the evening and had to wait in line for around 20 minutes or so.

I would select 3 to 4 of the bigger / thrill rides which are mandatory and aim to get Fast Passes for those. I would treat any other rides as a special surprise. There are still some excellent rides which should be walk on (or just a short wait) even at the busiest of times, like Sindbad's Voyage. I'd skip any of the "formal" character meets as the wait times could be very long. We personally skipped the harbour show because after watching for five minutes it was clearly nowhere near as good as the prior shows, especially Mythica.

Otherwise, arrive early and stay inside the park until the very last moment. If you head to the "back" of the park 15 to 30 minutes before closing, then once it has closed you can enjoy a leisurely stroll out of the park with lots of photo opportunities (although your shopping may be limited as they start to close the shops within about 30 minutes of closing).

 

[dashofsunshine]

I agree with Corbisblue.

And keep your fingers crossed for heavy rain or other inclement weather which may deter locals from visiting.

The crowds are huge, but people in Japan are exceedingly polite, so there is no pushing or shoving. In order to escape the crowds, I highly recommend visiting some of the nicer restaurants. We absolutely loved Magellan's. We also really enjoyed Ristorante di Canaletto and the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge (although we only had drinks at Teddy's).

I booked Magellan's immediately when we arrived (while my partner lined up for Fast Passes for Toy Story Mania) and got the first sitting at 11:30am. We did Ristorante on our third day, after visiting Disneyland first, so they weren't taking bookings by the time we arrived at DisneySea around 12:00pm. But, we just turned up at around 4:30pm to wait for a table and were seated within a few minutes.

For Teddy's, we visited in the evening and had to wait in line for around 20 minutes or so.

I would select 3 to 4 of the bigger / thrill rides which are mandatory and aim to get Fast Passes for those. I would treat any other rides as a special surprise. There are still some excellent rides which should be walk on (or just a short wait) even at the busiest of times, like Sindbad's Voyage. I'd skip any of the "formal" character meets as the wait times could be very long. We personally skipped the harbour show because after watching for five minutes it was clearly nowhere near as good as the prior shows, especially Mythica.

Otherwise, arrive early and stay inside the park until the very last moment. If you head to the "back" of the park 15 to 30 minutes before closing, then once it has closed you can enjoy a leisurely stroll out of the park with lots of photo opportunities (although your shopping may be limited as they start to close the shops within about 30 minutes of closing).

This is excellent We definitely want to do Magellan's, so thanks for that tip about reservations!! We'll hit up Teddy's, too - we're always up for a beverage!