Need help for trip approaching: Premier Access / Priority Passes and buying tix?

[vinotinto]

Hello all! Back at the end of March, we jumped on flights to visit Japan at the end of May - beginning of June (our first visit to Japan).

We are staying 2 nights at Disneyland Hotel pre-Fantasy Springs opening, and would like to focus on the attractions that are unique to Japan.

• Monday, June 3rd - Drop off bags at Disneyland Hotel (we're coming in from Kyoto). Go to Disneyland; probably arriving early afternoon. Priorities are Beauty and the Beast (VERY high priority), Evening parade, Pooh, Monster's, and Splash Mtn.
• Tuesday, June 4th - Full day at DisneySea
• Wednesday, June 5th- Unsure. If we are able to do our priorities on Monday, we will leave in the morning, otherwise, planning to spend the morning at Disneyland.

Questions:

1. I need to figure out what Premier / Priority Passes we will realistically be able to get (if any) when we get to Disneyland in the early afternoon on that Monday. Is there a website that summarizes typical times for passes to run out by rides, based on predicted crowd levels? In other words, how can I figure out how much we could get done if we arrive in the early afternoon?
2. I am unsure if we will go to the parks on the last morning. If I buy tickets pre-arrival, or on-arrival at Disneyland Hotel, for the first 2 days, can I go back later to the concierge at Disneyland Hotel and buy tickets for the 3rd day? -> I would assume yes, but some of the things I've read sound like the parks are run very differently than WDW, so I don't want to make assumptions.

 

[gelatoni fan]

I would expect all priority passes to be gone. Pooh often runs out first followed by Monsters Inc and Space Mountain. If anything is left, it'll likely be Star Tours.

Splash Mountain Premier Access will likely still be available depending on the temperature while Beauty and the Beast is rather borderline.

What you want to do is very doable even without DPA and priority passes. Start off with Beauty and the Beast or Monsters Inc depending on the wait times (Beauty and the Beast under 90 minutes and Monsters Inc under 60 minutes would be reasonably short). If it looks like you'll be tight on time, you can watch the start of the electrical parade from near near Dumbo and then rush into Pooh's Hunny Hunt right after it finishes.

I'm not entirely sure about tickets since I've never bought tickets from a Disney hotel.

 

[vinotinto]

Thank you @gelatoni fan! This is super helpful! I've heard the queue of Beauty & the Beast is a worth waiting on for the theming. How are the queues for Monsters Inc and Pooh?

And if we decide to add the morning at Disneyland on our last day - can we expect Premier and Priority passes to be available for the morning (if we get the first one during Happy Entry)?

Trying to balance our desire not to wait too much in lines with our desire to see as much of Japan as possible. We're traveling from the east coast USA and it's a long trip and we're short on vacation time, so we're only spending 10 nights in Japan.

 

[gelatoni fan]

Thank you @gelatoni fan! This is super helpful! I've heard the queue of Beauty & the Beast is a worth waiting on for the theming. How are the queues for Monsters Inc and Pooh?

And if we decide to add the morning at Disneyland on our last day - can we expect Premier and Priority passes to be available for the morning (if we get the first one during Happy Entry)?

Trying to balance our desire not to wait too much in lines with our desire to see as much of Japan as possible. We're traveling from the east coast USA and it's a long trip and we're short on vacation time, so we're only spending 10 nights in Japan.

You can expect both passes to be available in the morning without too much issue. You may not be able to get a second Priority Pass after your first one though.

Beauty and the Beast has several well decorated rooms that you'd skip if you use Premier Access. There isn't as much for Mosnters Inc and Pooh so I wouldn't recommend specifically waiting in those lines just to see the queues.

 

[Agent 86]

I would plan to go to Disneyland on Wednesday morning and utilise paid Premier Access tickets and free Priority Pass tickets as opposed to spending most of Monday afternoon and evening standing in very long lines.

I think you'll have a much more enjoyable experience that way.

For the Monday, you could look at purchasing the cheaper after 5pm / evening ticket for Disneyland. It probably depends on how early in the afternoon you will arrive.

 

[soniam]

Entry is supposed to be guaranteed for hotel guests, so I think you can buy tickets for days from check-in to checkout. Not sure if you would need to buy them before your final day though,

 

[travelgirl06]

We just returned from Tokyo and decided to purchase evening tickets for TDL day-of. We got there a little before 5 so we could go in as soon as allowed.

We mostly just wanted to check it out and compare to other castle parks, so we didn’t have a strict list of goals (I live 30 min from CA DL so have spent lots of time there and have also been to WDW and DLP).

We are able to do Pirates (very similar to CA), Tiki Room (has Stitch and is quite cute), Small World, Beauty and the Beast (paid for premier access), Dreamlights parade (wonderful!!!), Haunted mansion, the Cinderella Castle walk through (very neat!) and some shopping time.

I dont think there were priority passes left when we got in, but I am not 100% sure and I was determined NOT to be glued to my phone


I LOVED Tokyo DisneySea, and I was more neutral on Tokyo Disneyland - glad we went but not amazed - in our brief visit it kind of felt like a bigger MK. I would definitely prioritize the unique rides (and parade), but an evening felt like enough, mostly because there were so many other things we wanted to see and do in Japan.

From my research it sounds like it depends a LOT on crowd levels. Our TDL evening was the Friday before Golden Week and it felt relatively calm - still busy, but not crazy busy. I think standby waits for Space and Beauty and the Beast were both slightly over an hour and pirates/small world were like 15 min. It sounds like weekends/holidays may be a different story.

 

[gelatoni fan]

We just returned from Tokyo and decided to purchase evening tickets for TDL day-of. We got there a little before 5 so we could go in as soon as allowed.

We mostly just wanted to check it out and compare to other castle parks, so we didn’t have a strict list of goals (I live 30 min from CA DL so have spent lots of time there and have also been to WDW and DLP).

We are able to do Pirates (very similar to CA), Tiki Room (has Stitch and is quite cute), Small World, Beauty and the Beast (paid for premier access), Dreamlights parade (wonderful!!!), Haunted mansion, the Cinderella Castle walk through (very neat!) and some shopping time.

I dont think there were priority passes left when we got in, but I am not 100% sure and I was determined NOT to be glued to my phone

Note that Splash has a single-rider line if that is an option for your group (we took advantage of this for Indy at TDS and it was a great time-saver).

I LOVED Tokyo DisneySea, and I was more neutral on Tokyo Disneyland - glad we went but not amazed - in our brief visit it kind of felt like a bigger MK. I would definitely prioritize the unique rides (and parade), but an evening felt like enough, mostly because there were so many other things we wanted to see and do in Japan.

From my research it sounds like it depends a LOT on crowd levels. Our TDL evening was the Friday before Golden Week and it felt relatively calm - still busy, but not crazy busy. I think standby waits for Space and Beauty and the Beast were both slightly over an hour and pirates/small world were like 15 min. It sounds like weekends/holidays may be a different story.

Splash Mountain Single Rider was open?!
I haven't seen single rider available on it since before the pandemic.

 

[travelgirl06]

Splash Mountain Single Rider was open?!
I haven't seen single rider available on it since before the pandemic.

ooops! I think I must have seen it on a blog site or something, it’s not on the official site and we didn’t attempt it…I will go back and edit

 

[vinotinto]

Thank you @travelgirl06! So you were able to purchase premier access to Beauty and the Beast after entering at 5pm? That gives me hope! Did you use the translator for the Tiki Room?

 

[travelgirl06]

Thank you @travelgirl06! So you were able to purchase premier access to Beauty and the Beast after entering at 5pm? That gives me hope! Did you use the translator for the Tiki Room?

Yes, we bought it probably around 5:30-6. It didn’t seem very crowded that evening though, so not sure if that is typical.

I didn’t know about the translator for Tiki room, we got the gist of it (I think) without it.