2024 Ride Closure Calendar for Tokyo Disneyland & DisneySea
This Tokyo Disneyland & DisneySea ride refurbishment and closure calendar for 2024 lists temporary & permanent attraction, restaurant, and entertainment refurbishments so you know what won’t be operating before planning your visit. Additionally, we offer info about reimagining projects that are underway to enhance experiences around Japan’s Disney resort. (Updated May 15, 2024.)
While no one wants attraction closures during their visit, they are a necessary part of keeping Tokyo DisneySea and Disneyland in good condition. Routine maintenance, safety upgrades, and attraction improvements are all done during scheduled ride closures. Usually, there are only a handful of simultaneous closed rides, along with new attractions being built.
Having an idea of which attractions are closed is important, especially if there are must-do or headliner rides around which you want to plan your trip. Beyond that, we recommend consulting our 2024 Tokyo Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide for more comprehensive info. That covers everything from saving money on park tickets and hotels to where to eat, when to visit, and more.
Before we get to the calendar itself, let’s start with some good and bad news when it comes to Tokyo Disney Resort ‘temporarily’ closed park facilities. The good news is that, unlike the U.S. parks, Tokyo Disney Resort releases its ride refurbishment calendar for each half of the year well in advance. This allows visitors–even those traveling from abroad–to potentially plan around the downtime.
Accordingly, it’s common for TDR to post its closures for half of the year all at once, once around the holidays and then again in the late summer. From time to time, last minute closures do occur, but the schedule is usually released in bulk. Right now, the refurbishment calendar goes through Spring 2024, with some dates known beyond that. However, if you’re traveling in Summer 2024 or later, be aware that more likely will be added to the calendar between now and then.
The other good news is that Tokyo Disney Resort is spectacular at doing routine, overnight maintenance. The first time we visited Japan a decade ago, we were blown away by just how much better every attraction looked. This included attractions we thought looked totally fine at Walt Disney World and Disneyland.
I specifically remember riding Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin for the first time and being amazed at how crisp, sharp, and vibrant the attraction looked. (The ride vehicles also moved much smoother.) It was like going from standard definition to HD or 4K. Conversely, going from that version back to the Disneyland one made the ‘warts’ I had never noticed before suddenly much more obvious.
With routine maintenance going downhill at Walt Disney World and Disneyland and corners cut on upkeep, this difference is even starker. During our most recent visit to Tokyo Disney Resort this holiday season, everything looked spectacular. It was a very stark contrast to how many of the rides in the U.S. parks look and feel. (About the only “exception” to this is Haunted Mansion, which might be a little too well maintained at Tokyo Disneyland!)
The bad news is that Tokyo Disney Resort is about a year behind the U.S. parks in its phased reopening. If you feel this has been unnecessarily slow and belabored at Walt Disney World, well, it’s even worse at Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea. At least, for now.
The bulk of that is that theme parks in Japan had capacity constraints in place for longer and even to this day, there are health safety protocol imposed upon them. This has made the process more difficult and tedious. Fortunately, large strides were made in the lead-up to Tokyo Disneyland’s 40th Anniversary, but it’s not perfect.
Our hope and expectation is that the same happens ahead of the debut of Fantasy Springs at Tokyo DisneySea in June 2024. A lot of that will be dictated by staffing shortages, though, and the extent to which those are ongoing. We’d expect most of the discretionary cutbacks to end by then, though.
In addition to scheduled attraction refurbs, unscheduled downtime can also occur during a visit. This usually only occurs for a few hours at a time, so if you find an attraction is closed during your visit to Tokyo Disney Resort and it’s not listed below, it’s likely a temporary closure that will last a few hours. Check with nearby Cast Members to confirm.
Below is a schedule of refurbishments, when the closure starts, and when the refurbishment will conclude. To the extent that specific dates are not yet listed, those will be updated once TDR provides precise start and/or end dates. The following day will be when the attraction is scheduled to reopen.
Here are the closure schedules for Tokyo DisneySea and Tokyo Disneyland…
Tokyo Disneyland
Rides
- Swiss Family Treehouse – Reopening TBD
- Pooh’s Hunny Hunt – Now to May 24, 2024
- Big Thunder Mountain Railroad – Now to June 13, 2024
- The Happy Ride with Baymax – May 29 to June 10, 2024
- Mark Twain Riverboat – June 13-27, 2024
- Alice’s Tea Party – July 1 to September 10, 2024
- Cinderella’s Fairy Tale Hall – July 3-4, 2024
- Pirates of the Caribbean – July 5-31, 2024
- Dumbo the Flying Elephant – July 8-31, 2024
- Beaver Brothers Explorer Canoes – July 15 to September 1, 2024
- Space Mountain — Permanently closing at the end of the day on July 31, 2024
- Haunted Mansion — August 20 to September 18, 2024
- The Enchanted Tiki Room: Stitch Presents “Aloha E Komo Mai!” – October 10 to November 11, 2024
- Monsters, Inc. Ride & Go Seek – November 5-19, 2024
- Minnie’s House – November 12-13, 2024
- Pinocchio’s Daring Journey – November 29 to December 12, 2024
Parades, Shows & Characters
- Let’s Party Gras! – Reopening TBD
- Mickey’s Magical Music World – May 23 to June 5, 2024
- Disney Sky Full of Colors Fireworks – June 5; July 1 to September 18; October 4, 2024
- Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights — October 4, 2024
For international Disney fans, the notable closures on this list are Monsters Inc. Ride & Go Seek, Enchanted Tale of Beauty and the Beast, Pooh’s Hunny Hunt, and Splash Mountain. To a lesser extent, Peter Pan’s Flight and Big Thunder Mountain are also different from their domestic counterparts, but not sufficiently so that you should plan around their closures.
The first four on that list are major. To the point that we’d encourage you to shift your travel dates, if at all possible, so you don’t miss those attractions. All of those rides are either exclusive to Tokyo Disney Resort or unlike their counterparts in the U.S. parks to the point that they’re essentially new experiences.
Tokyo DisneySea
Rides
- Mermaid Lagoon Theater – Reopening TBD
- Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage – Now to September 24, 2024
- Flounder’s Flying Fish Coaster – July 19-30, 2024
- Scuttle’s Scooters – August 1-15, 2024
- DisneySea Electric Railway – September 4 to November 4, 2024
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – November 14 to December 13, 2024
- Aquatopia – November 14 to December 18, 2024
Entertainment
- Song of Mirage – Reopening TBD
- Believe! Sea of Dreams – July 5; September 27; October 18; November 1; November 11; November 22
- Disney Sky Full of Colors Fireworks – June 5; July 1 to September 18; September 27; October 18; November 1; November 11; November 22
Several of the most “important” attractions at Tokyo DisneySea are scheduled to be closed at various points in 2024. If at all possible, you should try not to miss 20k Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Indiana Jones Adventure.
Then there’s Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage, which is our #1 Disney attraction in the entire world (both of us!). Unfortunately, that one is going to be difficult to avoid, especially if you’re planning a visit for the opening of Fantasy Springs at Tokyo DisneySea in June 2024 or beyond.
Honestly, we’re a little scared about the closure of Sindbad’s Storybook Voyage. It’s coming at an odd time–when capacity will be needed due to the aforementioned opening of Fantasy Springs–and is just long enough for a reimagining to occur. We absolutely adore this attraction, and really hope it’s receiving TLC and not an IP injection of Disney characters!
Finally, both of these lists do not include many snack stands and retail locations that have not reopened in the past ~3 years following the closure of the parks. Most of these are relatively inconsequential and do not materially impact a visit in itself–they’re not “destination” dining or shopping.
However, they do slightly impact retail and restaurant capacity in aggregate. The end result is crowded shops and very long lines for dining options, especially at peak times. Accordingly, we recommend eating early or late–unless you want to wait 30+ minutes for a counter service restaurant.
Planning a trip to Tokyo Disney Resort? For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Tokyo Disneyland & DisneySea Trip Planning Guide! For more specifics, our TDR Hotel Rankings & Reviews page covers accommodations. Our Restaurant Reviews detail where to dine & snack. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money post. Our What to Pack for Disney post takes a unique look at clever items to take. Venturing elsewhere in Japan? Consult our Ultimate Guide to Kyoto, Japan and City Guide to Tokyo, Japan.
YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on the 2024 ride refurbishment calendar for Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea? Disappointed to see anything on this list–or still closed ~4 years after the parks reopened? If you’ve been to Tokyo Disneyland or Tokyo DisneySea, what did you think of attraction maintenance and upkeep? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Sinbad being under lengthy refurb is enough reason for me to hold off on any visits until October.
Yeah, that one is definitely a big blow–and especially crazy to me since it coincides with the opening of Fantasy Springs. You’d think they’d want it open to help absorb the crowds back there.
Does it mean that only in this date there will be no fireworks and electrical parade? What about rest of months? They add later? I’m planning to go there in April esspecially for this show, and it will be poinless when find out in march that this shows will be cancelled
Great to hear you guys have revisited! I’ll be eagerly awaiting updates. We’ll be there 31st Jan and 1st Feb, when lots will be closed. Although we’re disappointed (particularly about Indiana Jones, we’ve never visited California and so Japanese Indiana holds a special place for us!) we’ve visited twice before so have ridden everything. We are most exited to get back for the atmosphere and overall experience. Here’s hoping the pandemic hasn’t impacted the Japanese guests overall etiquette and love for Disney.
I hope Spring 2024 is a good time.
If that’s too early, then how’s Spring 2025?
It’s going to be part of my dream trip (3 weeks in Japan!)
Thanks for this we are planning our first trip there in Mid April! Of course abusing your site for tips and tricks!
Hearing that the Tokyo parks release their maintenance schedule so far in advance *thrills* me. I won’t make it next year but I am seriously looking at 2024 for a first trip and its so comforting to know I will be able to plan around the closures of any headliners that I care about. Why can’t the domestic parks do the same?