Urayasu

Introduction

Urayasu is a city in Chiba Prefecture, Japan, and it is best known as the home of Tokyo Disney Resort, which opened in April 1983. The city is also the headquarters of The Oriental Land Company.

Before you go

Urayasu has two distinct sides, and knowing which one you want shapes your trip. The original settlement is a fishing village on Tokyo Bay, while the newer area, Shin-Urayasu, sits on reclaimed land adjoining Tokyo Disneyland. Shin-Urayasu was laid out with an American-inspired grid of wide streets, large sidewalks, palm trees and parks, and its buildings are tall, modern apartments, some with views over Tokyo Bay.

For orientation, the Urayasu Tourism Convention Association runs a Japanese-only guide site, and there is a sightseeing information point, Urayasu City Sightseeing Information Māre, at 1-2-1 Irifune near Shin-Urayasu station. As the association's site is in Japanese only, plan how you will bridge the language gap before you arrive.

Getting there

Urayasu sits just east of central Tokyo, and the source material for this guide offers no detail on how to reach it. No airports, rail lines, bus routes, or road connections are described, so nothing specific can be said about arriving by any particular means.

Getting around

How you get around Urayasu depends on which half of the city you are in. The newer reclaimed district of Shin-Urayasu was laid out with wide streets, large sidewalks, parks and palm trees, which makes it unusually pleasant and easy to walk. The resort area around Maihama is also designed with pedestrians in mind, and the Disney Resort Line connects its far-flung parts so you do not have to walk long distances between the parks and the gateway. The older part of the city, built around the original fishing village on the natural levee, is denser and less uniformly pedestrian-friendly, so plan on rail or taxis there.

Two main rail corridors and a dedicated resort line serve the city. The JR East Keiyō Line runs through Urayasu with stations at Maihama, Shin-Urayasu and Ichikawa-Shiohama; it is the line most visitors use, since Maihama serves the Disney Resort area and Shin-Urayasu serves the newer residential district. The Tokyo Metro Tōzai Line serves Urayasu Station and gives the city a direct metro connection into Tokyo, useful if your destination is on the subway network rather than the JR network. The Maihama Resort Line loops around the resort with stations at Resort Gateway, Tokyo Disneyland, Bayside and Tokyo DisneySea before returning to Resort Gateway, and is the practical way to hop between the parks, the hotels and the gateway. Buy single tickets at station machines or use a rechargeable IC card, which works across JR, Tokyo Metro and the resort line and saves you buying a ticket for every leg. Arriving from Tokyo, the Keiyō Line to Maihama is the simplest rail option for the resort area, while those staying in Shin-Urayasu should look for services stopping at Shin-Urayasu instead.

• Buses fill in gaps that rail does not cover, particularly within the residential districts and for connections to hotels and local destinations; treat them as a supplement to rail rather than a primary way to cross the city.
• The free shuttle for the Tokyo Disney Celebration Hotel, which sits outside the resort area in nearby Shin-Urayasu, takes about 15 minutes and is available to guests of that hotel.
• For long-distance travel, a direct overnight highway bus runs from Tokyo DisneySea to Universal Studios Japan in Osaka with no transfers, operated by Willer Express and JAMJAM LINER; it departs in the late evening and arrives the following morning, with fares varying widely by seat class, and booking is done through the operator's website. Journey times can be longer on weekends and holidays.
• Taxis are a reasonable choice for short trips, for reaching a hotel with luggage, or late at night when rail services have stopped, and are particularly handy around the resort area and between the station and your accommodation. They can be hailed on the street or picked up at taxi ranks near stations and major hotels.

Where to stay

Accommodation in Urayasu centres on the Tokyo Disney Resort, and your main choice is between staying inside the resort itself or at one of the surrounding official and partner properties. The Disney Hotels sit in the Maihama area and include the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, Hotel MiraCosta, the Disney Ambassador Hotel and the Tokyo Disney Celebration Hotel. Staying at one of these puts you directly within the resort's world, which suits travellers who want the parks to be the whole focus of the trip.

• Disney Hotels — the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, Hotel MiraCosta, Disney Ambassador Hotel and Tokyo Disney Celebration Hotel, all in Maihama.
• Tokyo Disney Resort Official Hotels — a further tier of accommodation affiliated with the resort.
• Tokyo Disney Resort Good Neighbor Hotels — partner hotels linked to the resort.

If you would rather keep some distance from the resort, the Official Hotels and Good Neighbor Hotels give you alternatives while still keeping you connected to the parks. All of these options are geared to the same purpose, so pick your tier according to how close you want to be to the Disney experience.

Food & drink

What to see and do

Urayasu's main draw is the Tokyo Disney Resort, which has its own dedicated article. Within the resort you'll find Tokyo Disneyland in Maihama and Tokyo DisneySea, also in Maihama.

For a quieter soak, head to Spa & Hotel Eurasia Maihama in Chidori, a spa and onsen option in the city.

When to go

Urayasu has a humid subtropical climate, so your timing mostly comes down to how you handle heat and rain. Summers are warm and humid, with temperatures peaking on average in August; that is the hottest stretch of the year, and heat and humidity will shape your daytime plans. Winters are cool with little to no snow, and January is the coldest month on average. Snow is rare, so winter weather is unlikely to disrupt a visit.

• August: the hottest and most humid period, when the heat is at its peak.
• January: the coldest month, though snowfall is light to nonexistent.
• September: the wettest month of the year, when rain is more likely than at any other time — plan for wet conditions if you visit then.

Three days in Urayasu

Day one: Arrive in Urayasu, a city in Chiba Prefecture on the shore of Tokyo Bay, and get your bearings around the station area before heading for the resort. The JR East Keiyō Line and the Tokyo Metro Tōzai Line both serve Urayasu Station, and the Maihama Resort Line, also known as the Disney Resort Line, connects the resort area; an IC card makes these transfers simple. Spend the afternoon at Tokyo Disneyland, the American-style park operated by The Oriental Land Company, and stay into the evening for the atmosphere around the resort.

Day two: Give the whole day to Tokyo DisneySea, the second of the two parks at Tokyo Disney Resort. Between visits, use the Disney Resort Line to move between the resort gateway and the bayfront, and take your time around the waterfront. In the evening, eat in the Irifune or Maihama area, where the concentration of resort dining makes an easy end to a long day on your feet.

Day three: Step away from the parks and see something of the city itself. Stop by the Urayasu City Sightseeing Information desk, run with the Urayasu Tourism Convention Association, for local orientation, then explore the Bayside district and the neighbourhoods along the water. If your visit falls in April, the season is mild and the city is busy with spring crowds, so plan around the parks and the rail lines accordingly. Finish with a meal of Japanese or other Asian cooking in the city before departing.