Using a digital FastPass (i.e. get FastPass on your phone) is essential at Tokyo Disney Resort to reduce waiting time for the rides. Unfortunately, there is a lot of difficulty involved in achieving this for foreigners. I managed to do it with the help of these two guides, and i have more details to share on how to do it.
I use an Android phone, and here’s what i needed to do to get a Japanese Google account. This guide is more or less correct, except i didn’t have to try to purchase any item from the Japanese Play store. What you need to do is to create a Google account with a Japanese address and add a credit card under the payment method with a Japanese billing address (https://pay.google.com/gp/w/u/1/home/settings). That’s all there is to it.
Next, add this new Google account to your Android phone and switch over to this account in Google Play. You should see Japanese content displayed in the store. Install the Tokyo Disney Resort App.
Next, you need to register for a Japanese Disney account. The key to doing this is to use a Japanese name when registering the account. Although the guide (this guide is awesome BTW) suggests you could register via website, i tried twice and both times it failed, because i did not use a Japanese name. The Disney account became a regular global Disney account which cannot be used with the Tokyo Disney Resort App. On my final try, i decided to do it in the TDR App itself, and it went well. I would suggest doing it through the App. Before you register, be ready with a Japanese name and address (use your hotel address in English) on hand first. You will need the name in both Kanji and Hiragana. You might need to use an online Kanji to Hiragana convertor, just Google for it.
Using the app to get the digital FastPass is pretty easy, you can perform the steps just by guessing what the icons mean. The above mentioned guide describes it in great detail.
The FastPass you should grab right after you enter Disneyland is Pooh’s Hunny Hunt. This is the best ride in the park, and the FastPass always runs out first. Due to the two hours rule, you probably won’t be able to get the FastPass for the next most popular ride, Monsters Inc. Ride and Go Seek, but you’ll likely be able to get the one for Haunted Mansion, which, in my opinion, is more interesting than the Monsters Inc ride.
Here are some other tips i have to share..
Accomodation
This being the first time we went to Tokyo Disneyland, i decided it would be easier staying somewhere nearby, so it would be less tiring getting back to the hotel after catching the night time parade. Or so i thought. The fact is, Tokyo Disney is very well connected by train to anywhere in Tokyo, and a 45 minutes journey isn’t a big deal really. Hotels around the Disney Resort are very expensive for obvious reasons, and it is totally not worth spending so much staying in the Urayasu area, which is much too quiet than the areas nearer central Tokyo. Save the money and spend it on a good meal instead.
Tickets
Save on tickets by buying from an Easygo agent. Easygo is a China based company that sells hugely discounted tickets on a variety of Japan travel products, including Tokyo Disney. Easygo doesn’t sell direct though, so you’ll have to find a agent. I got my tickets from Changi Recommends on Shopee. Note that this is not an endorsement for Changi Recommends. In fact, they gave me erroneous QR codes for both the Kansai Through Pass and Tokyo Disneyland tickets i bought from them, but the kind Easygo staff let me get the tickets anyway. Your name is registered with the purchase, but you must show them some form of QR code.
Collection of the tickets is easy – you’ll see someone holding the Easygo sign at the North exit of Maihama station, but they supposedly only come at 830, while Disneyland is already open by 8am, so you would have lost more than half an hour’s worth of FastPass to those people who entered the park before 830. The situation for Disneysea is worse since the park entrance is further away from Maihama station. Anyway, in my opinion, saving money on tickets is more important.
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