Before you go
Tokyo Attractions You Must Book in Advance (with Kids)
By the kyounoko team in Tokyo. We watch families arrive having assumed they can buy tickets here.
Last verified: August 2026 · booking rules checked against official sources
Three Tokyo attractions genuinely cannot be walked into: the Ghibli Museum, teamLab and the Disney parks. The Ghibli Museum is the one that decides your planning calendar — tickets for the following month go on sale at 10:00 Japan time on the 10th of each month, through Lawson Ticket only, and sell out. Almost everything else a family wants in Tokyo, including Ueno Zoo, the aquariums and every park, you can simply turn up to.
This is the thing visiting families get wrong most often, and it is not about money — it is about the calendar. A trip planned three weeks out can already be too late for one specific ticket, while everything else stays wide open. Below is which is which, and the rules that specifically catch out people travelling with small children.
We give the booking mechanism and no prices: fares and ticket prices change, and a guide that quotes them goes stale without anyone noticing. Release times and slot rules can change too — check the official site for your dates before you rely on this.
Ghibli Museum (Mitaka)
Book or miss it
- When.
- Tickets for the following month go on sale at 10:00 JST on the 10th of each month
- How.
- Advance reservation only, through Lawson Ticket — you cannot buy anything at the museum door. Entry is by timed slot.
- The bit that catches families out.
- The hardest ticket in Tokyo for families, and the one worth setting an alarm for. Resale is banned and the person who booked must be in the group, so buying from a third party is not a workaround. Arrive late for your slot and you may be refused entry — with a toddler, book a slot you can reach without a rush.
teamLab Planets / teamLab Borderless
Book or miss it
- When.
- Timed-entry tickets, released well ahead — book as soon as your dates are fixed
- How.
- Online only in practice, either direct or through a ticket platform. You pick a date and an entry window.
- The bit that catches families out.
- Popular slots go first at weekends and in school holidays. Both venues involve water or mirrored floors in places, so check the current guidance for babies and for what to wear before you commit to a slot.
Tokyo Disneyland / DisneySea
Book or miss it
- When.
- Date-specified tickets, on sale months ahead
- How.
- Online, for a specific date. Popular dates sell out entirely.
- The bit that catches families out.
- The ticket is only the start — the in-park systems for rides and restaurants also run on the app, on the day. With small children, decide in advance who is on the phone and who is on the toddler.
Sanrio Puroland
Book to skip the queue
- When.
- Date-designated tickets, released ahead of time
- How.
- Online, for a specific date. Indoor, so it does not depend on weather.
- The bit that catches families out.
- Peak days sell out, and it is a long trip out of central Tokyo — a wasted booking costs you most of a day. Confirm the date works around the nap before you buy.
Tokyo Skytree
Book to skip the queue
- When.
- Timed tickets available in advance; same-day entry usually possible but queued
- How.
- Book a time slot online, or queue on the day for the same-day counter.
- The bit that catches families out.
- The same-day queue is the thing to avoid with a toddler, not the cost. A booked slot turns a potential hour of standing into a walk-up.
Ueno Zoo, Sumida Aquarium and most city museums
Just turn up
- When.
- No advance booking needed in normal periods
- How.
- Turn up and buy at the gate.
- The bit that catches families out.
- These are your flexible days — the ones you move when a child wakes up ill or the weather turns. Build the trip so the bookable things are fixed points and these fill the gaps.
Plan the trip backwards from the 10th
The Ghibli Museum is the only attraction here with a fixed release moment rather than a rolling window, which makes it the anchor of the whole plan. Whichever 10th of the month falls about a month before your travel dates is the morning your itinerary has to already exist — you need to know which day you want and who is buying.
Everything else is a rolling booking, so the rule is simply “as soon as dates are fixed”. Booking early is not about availability alone: it is about getting the time slot you want, and with a one-to-four-year-old the slot decides whether the day works. A 10am entry and a 2pm entry are completely different days when the nap lands at one o’clock.
Keep at least half your days unbookable
This is the part most itineraries get wrong. With small children, something will go wrong on at least one day — a fever, a night of no sleep, rain that lasts. Timed tickets are the opposite of flexible, so a trip where every day has a slot in it is a trip where one bad night wastes money and creates an argument.
We plan the bookable things as fixed points and let walk-up days flow around them: a zoo, an aquarium, a park, a department-store afternoon. If you need somewhere to put the fixed points, our planning rules cover pacing, and the rainy-day guide covers what to swap in when the weather turns.
Common questions
Which Tokyo attractions need to be booked in advance?
The Ghibli Museum, teamLab and the Disney parks are the three you cannot reliably walk up to — all are advance, date- or time-specified tickets, and popular dates sell out. Sanrio Puroland and the Tokyo Skytree are worth booking to avoid a queue rather than because you will be turned away. Ueno Zoo, the aquariums and most city museums are walk-up in normal periods.
How do I get Ghibli Museum tickets?
Only through Lawson Ticket, in advance — nothing is sold at the museum itself. Tickets for the following month go on sale at 10:00 Japan time on the 10th of each month and sell out quickly, so you are effectively buying about a month ahead at a fixed moment. Resale is banned and the person who booked has to be in the group, so third-party tickets are not a way around it.
How far in advance should I book Tokyo attractions with kids?
Work backwards from the Ghibli Museum, because it is the only one with a fixed release moment: whichever 10th of the month covers your travel dates is the date your planning has to be finished by. Everything else — teamLab, Disney, Puroland — can be booked as soon as your dates are fixed, and the earlier you go the more choice of time slot you get, which matters when you are planning around a nap.
What happens if we are late for a timed entry slot in Japan?
Assume you will not get in. Timed entry in Japan is enforced more strictly than most visitors expect, and the Ghibli Museum in particular may refuse late arrivals. With a small child, choose a slot with an hour of slack around it rather than the one that fits your itinerary perfectly.
Can we still enjoy Tokyo with kids without booking anything?
Yes, easily. Ueno Zoo, the aquariums, the science museum, every park and the whole city of trains, konbini and conveyor-belt sushi need no reservation at all. The bookable attractions are a bonus layer, not the trip — and a family day built entirely on walk-ups is far less stressful when someone wakes up ill.
Outside the city too
The booking traps get worse beyond Tokyo: both Disney parks want date-specific tickets, the Anpanman Museum can sell out a month ahead on weekends, and the Doraemon museum sells only through Japanese convenience stores. Our day-trips guide has all twelve, rated per age.
Book the bookable things
Some links below are affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you. We only list things we would actually use — see our disclosure.
Tickets & tours (Klook)
Skip-the-line tickets and family experiences — teamLab, theme parks, day trips and more.
Browse experiences →Family hotels (Booking.com)
Filter for family rooms, cribs and step-free access near the station.
Find family hotels →Japan eSIM (Airalo)
Get online the moment you land — an eSIM installs before you fly, no pocket-wifi pickup counter.
Get a Japan eSIM →