Tokyo Bay Maihama Hotel First Resort

Rooms and decor

The Tokyo Bay Maihama Hotel First Resort sits very close to Maihama Station — a 7-minute walk — which is handy if you are heading into Tokyo Station the next day. The brown-and-cream building runs 9 floors and opened in 1988, making it the oldest of the Disney hotels, but a 2017 refresh left the rooms and lobby looking current. The lobby leans into a cream-and-green resort style with small Disney-themed paintings, and the whole place reads as the lighter-on-the-wallet option among the upper-tier Disney hotels.

Food and amenities

Dinner happens at the Sun Garden Restaurant, an international buffet at about $24 a head — cheaper than the Sheraton's — with 50+ dishes spanning Japanese, Western and Chinese, plus made-to-order sushi, ramen and tempura stations and a dessert spread with ice cream, crepes and Mickey-shaped pancakes the kids go for. The indoor pool runs 20 metres and is open year-round — smaller than the Sheraton's or Hilton's, but clean and rarely crowded — while the 25-metre outdoor pool only opens July to September. There is no spa and no mini golf, but a Game Corner in the building keeps kids busy at about $0.70 a game.

Location and getting there

It is a 7-minute walk to Maihama Station, and from there Tokyo Station is about 15 minutes on the JR Keiyo Line. As a Disney Official Hotel you also get the free Disney Resort Cruiser shuttle to the parks. The Bay View rooms are the quiet trick here: at 6:30 in the morning on a clear day you can pick out a snow-capped Mt. Fuji roughly 80 km to the west from a floor-8 room (about $10 over a standard rate). That morning window is a November-to-February thing and only lands about 30% of days. After dark, Bay View looks out over Tokyo Bay in blue and gold, with the distant Disneyland fireworks at 20:30 — not as close as the Sheraton's park-side rooms, but you still catch them.

Things to know before booking

This is the oldest building of the Disney hotels (1988), so even after the 2017 refresh it is the most dated of the group. It also carries fewer facilities than the Sheraton — no spa, no mini golf — and there is no Happy 15 Entry, the early-park-access perk the deluxe Disney hotels include. The flip side is price: the Princess Room runs 36 sqm at about $223 a night, only roughly $20 over a standard room — the cheapest themed room in the Disney group, well under the Disneyland Hotel's Character Rooms (around $68 to $136 extra) and the Ambassador's Mickey Room (about $54 extra). One review describes a 5-year-old bouncing on the bed for half an hour straight.

Our take

The Tokyo Bay Maihama Hotel First Resort is the best-value Disney Official Hotel — from $166 a night, about $77 cheaper than the Sheraton and $49 cheaper than the Hilton, with 6 themed rooms for kids, a Bay View shot at Mt. Fuji and the full Disney Official perks (shuttle and Premier Access). It scores 8.7/10 across 8,500+ reviews. It is the pick for budget-minded families, for little girls who want the Princess Room, and for anyone after a Disney Official address in the $166 to $228 range who is happy to give up a few facilities to save.