After six days of skiing in Hakuba (read about the ski trip here →), we packed up, left our ski gear at the lodge for pickup, and took the 3.5-hour train to Tokyo's Shinjuku Station. It was a fun change of pace — from mountain village to the lights and density of Shinjuku at night, in one afternoon.
We had three days left before flying home, and Disneyland would of course be a highlight for the kids — which is why we had kept it a surprise until the night before. As we were all quite tired from the skiing, we kept the city part simple: one big day at the park, and a bit of lower-key sightseeing without trying to do everything Tokyo has to offer in 72 hours.
Shinjuku by Night
We checked into the JR Kyushu Blossom Hotel and went straight out to explore — Shinjuku at night is its own kind of attraction, all lights and high-rises, a giant Godzilla head, and a famous 3D cat that appears on a building-sized screen. For dinner, we picked Teppan Baby, a teppanyaki restaurant down a basement stairwell right on the street with the lights. Good reviews, family-friendly reputation, and it was indeed something different: every time someone new walked in, the staff shouted a welcome, and the kids got little plastic toy babies with their meal — an easy win with a five-year-old. The main event is okonomiyaki, cooked in front of you on a hot plate with a fair amount of showmanship and chopping, plus a few other dishes like wagyu beef.
On the way there we walked through Omoide Yokocho, a narrow, lantern-lit alley of tiny restaurants — we didn't eat there (we weren't sure what we'd find for the kids on the menus), but it's a famous atmospheric street to walk through, especially after dark.
Tokyo Disneyland
Early start: taxi before 8am for an 8:30am arrival, ahead of the 9am opening. The queue was already substantial — plenty of adults without kids in the mix, many in full costume or Minnie ears, all in for the day.
We started with Haunted Mansion (the holographic ghosts are impressive), then Stitch, the Enchanted Tiki Room, and the Western River Railroad. Our daughter got her turn at Cinderella's Fairytale Hall, we used an express pass to skip the worst of the Splash Mountain queue (Brer Rabbit theme, a couple of good drops) and she convinced us to get a pair of rainbow coloured fluffy Minnie ears. Jungle Cruise was a highlight — she was keen to go and the skipper made it a funny ride with her commentary — and we worked in 'It's a Small World,' Gadget's Go-Coaster, and a much-needed churros stop before squeezing in Pinocchio's Daring Journey ahead of the 3:40pm parade, where we had reserved seats through the app with the castle in the background.
After the parade: the teacups at Alice's Tea Party and the carousel, then Peter Pan's Flight, and Thunder Mountain — a 100-minute queue cut down to 15 with a 40th-anniversary free pass. We walked back toward the entrance for the evening light show, left a little before it finished to beat the crowd, caught a bus within five minutes, and ended the day with McDonald's near the hotel. By the day's count, around 14,000 steps — mostly in service of avoiding queues.
Download the app before you go and use it throughout the day to check wait times. Eat lunch early — actual lunchtime is when a lot of rides quiet down. Be willing to skip the most popular attractions if the queue is long; there's usually something just as fun with a much shorter wait. We never queued more than 30 minutes all day, except once at 40.
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Walking out, our son kept glancing back over his shoulder at the final castle light show. We wanted to avoid the exiting crowds to catch the bus, which he understood and was a good sport about. A McDonald's dinner close to the hotel helped compensate.
Tokyo Tower and Meiji Jingu
We slept in the next morning to recover from an exhausting day at the park, then took the metro to Tokyo Tower — at 333 metres, just a touch taller than the Eiffel Tower it was modelled on. We went up to the Main Deck; my husband and our son took the 600-step staircase down for the views on the way, while our daughter and I took the lift. Lunch was in the foot of the tower, where there's also a small bouncy castle outside in front — which, by the kids' own ranking, mattered more than the view from the top.
The view from Tokyo Tower's Main Deck is worth the trip up. But the bouncy castle on the ground floor turned out to be the bigger hit with the kids.
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From there, metro and a walk to Meiji Jingu — a temple complex with interesting history and a nice change of environment, as you get there through a forest walk that felt like stepping out of the noise of Shinjuku and central Tokyo entirely. One stop worth calling out: a long wall of sake and wine barrels, wrapped in straw and painted with different designs, donated by breweries from across Japan (and a few from overseas) in honour of Emperor Meiji. The kids spent a good while picking out their favourite designs.
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We had coffee for the adults and ice cream for the kids on the way back, some downtime at the hotel since everyone was still tired, and a Japanese dinner in Shinjuku that evening.
What We Skipped and Why
- Beauty and the Beast (Enchanted Tale): one of Disneyland's headline attractions, but the queue never dropped below 90 minutes to two hours the whole day. With limited time and two tired kids, it wasn't worth the wait — there was always something else with a shorter line.
- More temples and cultural sites: we'd planned to see more of Tokyo's culture-and-history side, but after a full week of skiing followed by a full Disneyland day, we simply didn't have the stamina for it. Tokyo Tower and Meiji Jingu were enough for this trip — more next time.
Planning a Trip Like This
- How do you avoid long queues at Tokyo Disneyland with kids?
- Download the official app before you arrive and use it throughout the day to check current wait times. Pick one or two must-do rides and go straight there at opening. Eat lunch earlier than usual — actual lunchtime is often when rides quiet down. Be willing to skip the most popular attraction if the queue is long; there's usually something just as fun with a much shorter wait.
- Is Tokyo Disneyland worth it with a 5-year-old?
- Yes — there's plenty pitched at younger kids (Cinderella's Fairytale Hall, the carousel, It's a Small World, Jungle Cruise), and the things that aren't, like the bouncy castle at Tokyo Tower, can end up being just as memorable for them. Check the minimum height requirements on the app — our daughter was just tall enough to join in most of the rides, which was a relief.
- How many days do you need in Tokyo with kids after a ski trip?
- We did three days — one full day at Disneyland and two lighter sightseeing days — and it felt right for kids who were already tired from a week of skiing. If your kids have more stamina, you could fit in more temples and cultural sites; for us, less was more this time.
Trip taken February 2026.