We have spent New Year’s Eve at Disney World in Florida and at Disneyland in California in the past, so when we were thinking about what we wanted to do this year for New Year’s, we had pretty much decided on either Shanghai Disney or Tokyo Disney. We settled on Tokyo Disney… and then learned that for 2020, they decided to do something different for those who wanted to spend NYE at the park. You had to enter a lottery in August or get a reservation at one of the (super expensive) Disney hotels to get a ticket.

However, we found out that Tokyo Disney does do lots of special things to celebrate the New Year, but only for the super short time period of Jan. 1 through Jan. 5! So we decided to go to Tokyo Disneyland on Jan. 1 and Tokyo Disney Sea on Jan. 2.

New Year’s Greeting

The main special thing that happens only at New Year’s at Tokyo Disney is the New Year’s Greeting, which is basically a short parade in which Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, and Donald say Happy New Year in Japanese and English. They have this greeting at Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea, but we only watched it at Disneyland. The Disney Sea one takes place in the water of Mediterranean Harbor, which is sort of cool. But the most exciting thing about the greeting at both parks is that the characters wear kimonos — and this is the only time each year they do so!

New Year’s Food

Tokyo Disney has all sorts of interesting foods and snacks, including lots of limited-time offerings throughout the year. So it’s not surprising that they have a bunch of special New Year’s snacks! We tried a kinako (roasted soybean flour) churro, as well as a pudding thing (it wasn’t very sweet, so possibly tofu?) in a souvenir cup, but we weren’t big fans of either. Disneyland had special corn-soup-flavored popcorn, too, but the lines were too long!

Special Merchandise

It will probably come as no surprise to you that Tokyo Disney had TONS of special merchandise for New Year’s, and that we could not resist buying it! Since 2020 is the Year of the Rat, there were all sorts of cool Mickey Mouse/rat items! And there were lots of plus toys and other items featuring Mickey and Minnie in kimonos.

Giveaway!

***This giveaway has ended. Congratulations to Megan, the winner!***

And that leads me to the giveaway! Since I know not many people have the opportunity to spend New Year’s at Tokyo Disney, I bought a few extra items to give away here. The prize includes Baymax chopsticks, a super cute Mickey Mouse Year of the Rat kokeshi doll with a message inside, a set of kimono Minnie and Mickey pins, and some kind of soup or rice mix thing. I’ll also include a Tokyo Disneyland bag.

The photo below is what they had as the example of what the box makes, but the box is pretty light, so I don’t think it includes the rice. You’ll probably have to use Google translate to figure out the directions. And please be aware that whatever this is, it contains shellfish, so if you win and you’re allergic, just let me know and I can give it to someone else.

All you have to do to enter is subscribe to my blog emails (although you can also enter if you’re already subscribed), but there are a few ways to get additional entries as well!

This giveaway is not sponsored by anyone — I bought all these items myself and I will be paying for the shipping, so it’s open to everyone, as long as I can mail something to you through the US or Japanese postal service. Happy New Year!

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