Tokyo Disney Resort Toy Story Hotel: Review and Tips

The Toy Story Hotel is the newest hotel at the Tokyo Disney Resort. I had the pleasure of staying here on my recent trip to Tokyo Disney and am excited to share the experience with you!

It's become a goal of mine to stay on-property at every Disney resort in the world, and I'm so glad I got to mark the Tokyo Disney Resort down on my list!

About Toy Story Hotel

Toy Story Hotel is a moderate tier hotel, the first in this tier that Tokyo Disney Resort offers. As a moderate tier hotel, the pricing was fairly affordable at around 38,500 yen for one night for three people.

It’s located right in front of the Bay Station on the Tokyo Disney Resort Line, the resort’s dedicated Mickey-themed subway line. This makes it very convenient to get to the parks using the Resort Line, only taking a few minutes for either park. If you choose to walk, which we did once (I’ll get to why in my Tokyo Disneyland blog post!), it takes around 30 minutes.

The hotel has two wings, one themed after Buzz and one themed after Woody. The elevators and corridors are just how you might imagine they would look. Woody’s is western themed with his familiar western buddies and music playing in the background. Buzz’s (which I didn’t get to see in person) is futuristic and space themed. The rooms in either wing are decorated in the same way, however, themed after Andy’s room with the iconic Toy Story clouds on the wallpaper and a bunch of Toy Story touches.

There are two mini parks that you can visit during your stay. The first, Slinky Dog Park, welcomes you as you make your way to the main hotel entrance. This one is set up a bit like a board game with toys like Jessie, Buzz, and Trixie acting like little game pieces. The ground is rubber-y which makes it easy for kids to run around and play safely. And if you look closely you’ll see Jessie plays a big part in keeping Slinky Dog Park well lit.

The second mini park, Friends Square, is accessed from inside the hotel. The lobby has an entrance leading to a staircase that brings you up to Friends Square, or you can access it from either wing’s 2nd floor. Friends Square is more of an open space with more of the Toy Story characters as oversized statues. Here you’ll find Woody, Bo Peep, Billy, Goat, and Gruff, and Wheezy. At the staircase, you’ll also see the Green Aliens and Hamm!

If you’re looking for food options, you can head over to Lotso’s Garden Cafe, located at the back of the main entrance lobby. Lotso’s Garden Cafe offers a breakfast and dinner buffet. Reservations are required. While I was definitely intrigued by the theming, and the cafe did indeed look very cute, I took heed of some other reviews online during my research and chose to skip out of the buffet this time around.

And if you’re not so much in a buffet mood, the hotel also has a convenience store right next to Lotso’s. Here you’ll find typical convenience store foods like onigiri, rice bowls, ice cream, snacks, etc. Pretty much anything you might want to try. And even better, they have Toy Story and Disney themed snacks as well. This is a great option if you’re looking for something quick, easy, and cheap, especially outside of typical restaurant hours.

The hotel also has a laundry room on the 2nd floor, right near the 2nd floor entrance to Friends Square. It’s a large, spacious, and clean room with lots of machines that are pretty affordable (about 300 yen per load).

Review

Decor & Theming

Exterior view of Toy Story Hotel building

Cartoon chalk-like drawings of Woody, Jessie, and Buzz on a wall that looks like a cardboard box

Exterior view of Toy Story Hotel and Jessie’s Critter Cottage

Let’s start with what might be the best thing about this hotel: the decor. From the outside, the building looks like the cute little building block toys that might be familiar to some of us from our childhoods. To the left there’s a “cardboard” hotel for Jessie’s critters (it actually hosts the power generators that powers the hotel). It’s all set up in such a cute and welcoming way!

Toy race cars along the ceiling on tracks

Light up peg board at the hotel check in guest in the shape of a dinosaur and the words You’ve Got a Friend in Me

The lobby is also adorable! To the left is the gift shop, check-in counter, and entrance to the Buzz Lightyear wing. To the right is the guest services counter, the entrance to the Woody wing, and access to the convenience store and Lotso’s. The ceiling is covered in what looks like a board game board and there are racecars decorated like the main Toy Story characters racing at the top. The welcome sign at the check-in counter is set up using a peg light board that is so fun and creative!

Straight ahead you’ll see a clear glass wall and the Green Alien men right outside. Through some sliding glass doors you’ll be able to see them up close and take a small staircase up to Friends Square.

Both of the mini parks are absolutely adorable! Slinky Dog Park is literally the first thing you see when you take the pedestrian ramp to the hotel. The oversized toys are so cute and fun, and great for photo ops!

Friends Square is equally cute! It’s not set up like a board game, and is more so just like an open space with toy statues. Another awesome photo op area!

Now to the room. What a treasure trove of details! From the second you walk through the hallway, the wallpaper is covered in adorably drawn sketches of the different toy story characters. The room numbers are giant block numbers, and the carpet is so cute with character footprints (see if you can guess who they belong to!)

Zoomed out view of the Toy Story Hotel bedroom with two beds, star lights, and cloud wallpaper

TV that looks like an etch-a-sketch on top of a brown cabinet that looks like a wagon

Clock in the shape of a blue watch with Mickey Mouse in the center

Upon walking through the door of the room, we were immediately transported to Andy’s bedroom. The iconic Toy Story clouds fill the wallpaper throughout the room. The coat hangers in the hallway are pinned up with cute oversized push pins, and the posters throughout the room showcase different characters like Rex, Buzz, and Woody. The room ceiling lights are like the glow in the dark stars that kids used to put up in their room. The TV is one giant etch-a-sketch with a hidden extra bed designed to look like a stable (how cute and space-efficient!) Even the beds are dressed to look like Woody!

The restroom has one central room with a sink connected to two separate rooms, one for the toilet and one for the shower. The wallpaper inside is designed like a jigsaw puzzle, and the shower room as Wheezy singing with some bubbles around him (and a hidden Mickey!)

In addition to all of this, the room also provides some complimentary tea and coffee with Mickey shaped stir sticks!

Three pajama sets that are white with purple and green stripes to look like Buzz Lightyear

Wrapped house slippers with a Woody cartoon on the foot area

The bottom of the house slippers with the word ANDY written on the bottom in front of a Woody poster

And even better yet, Buzz Lightyear pajamas are provided as well! How cute! And are you ready for the very best part? "ANDY" house slippers!! The details here were absolutely impeccable. I still cannot get enough of it!

Extras

Toy Story hotel guide cover with Woody and Buzz on the front

Opened Toy Story hotel guide with scavenger hunt tasks in different sections

Toy Story hotel guide with a Sheriff sticker

As part of the hotel guide map, you can embark on a hotel scavenger hunt and become a sheriff by exploring the different offerings around the hotel and answering some questions! The journey starts off with a “Hey, Howdie, Hey” greeting to a hotel cast member. This is how you get your “sheriff-in-training” sticker! From there all you have to do is follow the different tasks on the hotel guide. It involves visiting the different parks and interacting with some of the decorations as well as some other fun things like setting up a wake-up call for the next morning! That was a particularly fun one since I don’t often set up a wake-up call. But this one is extra special because the next morning, you get a call from your favorite space commander ;)

After all the tasks are done, you’ll head back to a cast member, show them your completed guide, and become an official sheriff (with a sticker to prove it!).

Tips

So if I haven’t already made it sufficiently clear how much I love this hotel, let me just say it: I LOVE THIS HOTEL. By far one of the best experiences I’ve had at any hotel, bar none, and the attention to detail is just *chef’s kiss*.

But aside from absolutely loving everything about it, I also wanted to share some tips that might be helpful if you’re also planning a trip to Tokyo Disney Resort anytime in the future!

Tip 1: Make your reservation early and/or constantly check the Tokyo Disney website

If you’re new to Tokyo Disney resort, their website might be a bit more challenging to navigate when looking for bookings. You can book just the rooms, or you can book vacation packages. Be aware that the vacation packages are only for a maximum of 2 nights. Room reservations can be reserved for up to 5 nights. If you’d like to spend any more time there, you’ll need separate bookings.

Room reservations are available at 11:00AM JST (adjust to your local timezone to get the timing right!) three months before your stay. I was a month late for my reservation time so I had limited options when I checked. However, I stayed persistent, and woke up one random day to an availability at Toy Story Hotel for the exact night that I needed! So stay persistent, you never know when a spot will open up for you!

Tip 2: Have a backup hotel option

Sometimes things may not work out in your favor, and you just can’t get your ideal room. That’s okay! That’s why it’s good to have a backup just in case.

The hotels have a pretty generous cancellation policy, so it wouldn't hurt to book your backup while you still try to get your first choice, that way you still ensure you get something!

Tip 3: Buy your tickets at the hotel

Guests staying at a Disney Resort hotel are guaranteed tickets to the park on the days of their stay. This includes the date of check-in as well as the day of check-out. Yes, it adds one more thing that you need to do when you get to the hotel, but they’re very quick about it and saves you the hassle of finding a credit card that the Tokyo Disney Resort will take or purchasing from a third-party website. Plus you get the cute Disney character paper tickets ;)

Tip 4: Check in EARLY at the hotel

Tokyo Disney Resort offers a very nice service at Maihama Station (the subway station you’ll arrive at if you take the subway) known as the Welcome Center. It services every Disney Resort hotel except the Tokyo Celebration Hotel. There, you can check-in early, drop off your bags, and purchase tickets. However, they don’t open until 7:30AM. Depending on when you go the parks may open around 8:30AM - 9:00AM, but also might open well before their posted opening hours. On my trip, the posted opening time was 8:30AM, and the park opened at around 8:00AM. So if you wait until the Welcome Center opens to do all your check-in stuff and purchase park tickets, you will not make it in time for park opening, or you’ll behind an enormous line.

My recommendation: get to the resort as early as possible, go straight to your hotel, and do all the check-in business there. Toy Story Hotel’s guest services counter opened at 6:30AM. We arrived around 6:40AM, got everything done around 7:00AM, and were at the DisneySea turnstiles by 7:20AM. There were already significant lines, but it became much much longer shortly after we arrived.

Tip 5: Explore the facilities!

Yes, you are at the Disney parks most likely to visit the actual parks. But the hotels are just so special and filled with details that you’ll miss if you don’t take the time to enjoy them! Look for all the Easter eggs, appreciate the detailed decorations. We took a small part of the day to go around the hotel and just see what else was around. We got to see some pretty cute art and wonder at how they made it actually look like chalk on cardboard. It’s the little things that make it truly special!

Whether it's your first time or your 100th time visiting any Disney resort around the world, I hope it's a magical trip! And as always, if you have any questions, please ask away! I'm more than happy to answer and help however I can!