Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta is one of the four (soon to be five) Disney hotels in Tokyo.
My wife and I originally meant to try it out last year but both of us caught COVID and so had to reschedule. Luckily, things worked out well and we were able to stay at the hotel for a night earlier this year together with our daughter. Being the only hotel located directly in a park, at just over 500 dollars for the night, it was not cheap. It was well worth it, though.
Continue reading to see what the hotel was like.
Getting to the Hotel
With Hotel MiraCosta being more or less located in DisneySea (although primarily accessed from outside the park), to get to the hotel you simply need to head to the park.
The easiest way to do so is to either take one of the buses serving Tokyo Disney Resort out of Tokyo’s airports and other places or, like in our case, take the train to Maihama Station. From Maihama Station, you can take the Disney Resort Liner monorail to Tokyo DisneySea Station.
There is a well-signposted covered walkway connecting the station with the hotel. The walk takes just a couple of minutes.
Hotel/Park Gateway and Happy Entry
As mentioned earlier, Hotel MiraCosta borders Tokyo DisneySea.
Because of that, it also has a dedicated entrance to the park that is available exclusively to the hotel’s guests. The Hotel/Park Gateway as Hotel MiraCosta calls the entrance can be found on the hotel’s ground floor (it is accessible both by stairs from the lobby as well as by elevators).
Valid ticket holders staying at the hotel can use the dedicated entrance to (re)enter Tokyo DisneySea starting from one hour after the park’s regular opening. The entrance can be used in the other direction (i.e. for entering the hotel from the park) throughout the day.
Additionally, guests staying at the hotel also get Happy Entry passes.
These can be used to enter either Disneyland or DisneySea 15 minutes before regular opening. There is a dedicated security check for guests using Happy Entry passes which allows them to skip the regular line.
Check-in at Tokyo Disney Resort Welcome Center
While you can check in at the hotel directly, we decided to take advantage of the Tokyo Disney Resort Welcome Center located next to Maihama Station.
There, the staff checked us in, loaded our room keys into our phones, and handed us a variety of documents including the Happy Entry passes mentioned above and an “apology” (more like “make sure you don’t miss this out notices” for Disney fans) about potential noise from show rehearsals.
Stopping by the Welcome Center allowed us to head directly to our room once we arrived at the hotel. While you can check in at any time, the mobile key will not work until the room is ready (i.e. at or just before 3PM).
In case you plan to do some shopping at the Ikspiari mall near Maihama Station or head straight to one of the Disney parks, you might also want to leave your luggage at the Welcome Center. From there, it will be delivered to your room. Just keep in mind that even if you check in before 3PM, your luggage might not make it to you until 4PM or so.
Lobby & Facilities
Hotel MiraCosta is built in “Italian style” and, being part of Tokyo DisneySea, is marine-themed.
Stepping into the hotel, we were welcomed by a statue of a ship, which was the centerpiece of an impressive atrium lobby. The ship was surrounded by benches. Additional seating could be found throughout the lobby, especially along large columns surrounding its central part.
Like with other Disney hotels, the level of detail that could be seen in the lobby’s design (and throughout the rest of the hotel) was amazing.
In addition to the reception which we were able to skip on our arrival thanks to using the Welcome Center, there was also a bell desk in the lobby. That came in handy on the day of our departure when we needed to store our luggage before heading into DisneySea.
I briefly stopped by the reception desk at some point during our stay to pay for the stay. That way, we were able to use express check-out (via the room’s TV) when leaving.
Near the reception was also a small area marked “TELEPHONE” that, in addition to a payphone (yes, there are still many of those in Japan), also housed a foreign currency exchange machine and a number of “souvenir medal” vending machines.
Lastly, in a hallway extending out of the reception area that led to the hotel’s “Venice Side” were a smoking room, nursing room, and a “home delivery center” where one could ship packages.
There was also a desk with three chairs.
The lobby floor was also home to the hotel’s restaurants and on the first floor was a pool and spa. More about those later in the review, though.
Layout
Hotel MiraCosta offers several different room types ranging from “superior rooms” all the way to a variety of suites. While choosing the right one for you in that regard is important, arguably it is even more important to choose one with the right view. That’s because one of the main draws of Hotel MiraCosta is the ability to see into DisneySea.
Each of the hotel’s 502 rooms is located on one of the following three “sides,” each offering a view of a different part of the park:
- Porto Paradiso Side – These rooms are the most desirable as they offer a view of the Mediterranean Harbor and thus of the shows that take place there throughout the day.
- Venice Side – These rooms offer a view of the canals and the starting/ending point of the Venetian Gondolas attraction in the Venice-themed area of DisneySea.
- Tuscany Side – These rooms offer a view of the area just past DisneySea’s entrance including of the park’s signature globe fountain.
We stayed in a “superior room” on the Porto Paradiso Side. If you have a chance, I recommend staying in one of the rooms on that side of the hotel too.
In case they are all taken on your dates, choosing one of the other sides is fine, although I would also strongly consider staying at one of the other hotels like Tokyo Disneyland Hotel, Disney Ambassador Hotel, or even Hilton Tokyo Bay as in my opinion, the view of Porto Paradiso from your room is what makes Hotel MiraCosta Hotel Miracosta.
Porto Paradiso Side Superior Room
Hotel MiraCosta’s 502 rooms are spread across all five floors of the hotel. Once our room key was activated, we could see that we were assigned room number 4111, a superior room on Porto Paradiso Side’s fourth floor.
Heading to the room, I continued to be amazed by the amount of attention to detail put into everything from the floors to the walls. I liked the various Disney-themed illustrations that could be seen on hallway walls. In particular, with me being an aviation enthusiast, I liked an illustration of Mickey and Minnie flying.
I should also note that there were ice machines in the hallways and that in the morning, newspapers were available in the elevator halls. That said, they were all in Japanese.
In the room itself, there was a small entryway with a closet and a counter on the left side and a bathroom on the right side.
Mickey Mouse-themed single-use slippers were available in the closet in both adult and kids sizes.
The counter was home to a tea and coffee set. Above the counter was a mirror and under it was a small fridge with three complimentary bottles of water.
Entering the bathroom area, there was a single-sink vanity.
On the left side of that was the shower/bathroom and on the right side was the toilet.
There was a handheld shower and a large bathtub in the shower/bathroom. There were also shampoo, conditioner, and soap in refillable containers. The door leading to the shower/bathroom featured Mickey Mouse.
In addition to face and hand soap, a variety of single-use amenities was available on the vanity.
Those included Hotel MiraCosta-themed plastic cups and amenity kits in metal tins. Both of those made for great keepsakes to take home. There were also dental kits and washcloths.
Along the room’s main part’s left-side wall were a luggage rack, a TV stand, and a table with a single chair.
In one of the TV stand’s drawers were adult-size pajamas. Later on when I called the bell desk to see if it was possible to put the two beds in the room together next to a wall so that it would be easier for our daughter to sleep safely (it was), I was also asked if we wanted kids-sized pajamas for our daughter.
On the table were two tote bags – another great keepsake.
As mentioned above, the layout of our room changed slightly once the bell desk sent one of the staff members to move the beds around.
When we first arrived in the room, though, there were two semi-double beds along the right side of the room with a nightstand between them. In the nightstand drawer were some Disney postcards.
Lastly, in the very back of the room next to its window was a sofa chair with a small coffee table.
The window – or rather the view that it offered – was by far the highlight of the room. With the window starting almost at floor level, we spent most of our time in the room sitting on the floor by the window, looking inside DisneySea. The fact that the window was placed so low was also great as it allowed our daughter to look outside easily.
While we were not sure how good the view would be back when we were booking our room, we sure were not disappointed. We could see a good portion of the shows taking place in the Mediterranean Harbor fairly easily and it was also fun looking into the park after/before it closed/opened.
In fact, outside opening hours – i.e. when there were no people or music and when there was the occasional car driving around the park, it felt less like staying in a Disney theme park and more like staying somewhere in Italy.
Before continuing with the rest of the review, I also want to highlight the level of detail that could be seen throughout the room.
Everything from the framed artwork on the walls through the walls all the way to the bedding was on theme.
Dining
There are three restaurants in Hotel MiraCosta:
- Oceano: A Mediterranean-themed restaurant offering buffet breakfast and lunch and a la carte dinner. For some DisneySea shows, guests are allowed to go to a terrace that provides views similar to those I wrote about when I talked about the room we stayed in.
- Silk Road Garden: A Chinese a la carte restaurant open for lunch, tea time, and dinner. Unlike the other two restaurants on this list, it does not offer any views of DisneySea.
- BellaVista Lounge: An Italian restaurant/lounge offering buffet breakfast, as well as a selection of a la carte dishes during lunch and dinner time. It offers an unrivaled view of DisneySea’s Mediterranean Harbor and Mount Prometeus.
During our stay, we had breakfast at BellaVista Lounge and were lucky to score a table by the windows. Earlier in the year, we also had lunch at Oceano (you can reserve all three restaurants even if you are not staying at the hotel although guests get priority). I haven’t dined at Silk Road Garden yet.
Oceano Buffet Lunch
When my wife and I visited Oceano back in the summer, they had a Believe! Sea of Dreams-themed (Tokyo DisneySea’s show) lunch buffet. The price was 6,300 yen (approx. 45 dollars) per person on a weekday. The weekend price was slightly higher.
Both the selection and the quality of dishes were excellent.
To start with, there was a wide variety of bread and pastries, salads, and appetizers.
Then there was a vegetable soup and bouillabaisse.
The wide variety of hot dishes included everything from roasted spicy lamb and braised pork to seafood/sausage pilaf and pasta with tomato sauce.
There was also a counter where one of the restaurant’s staff members was serving roast beef.
Lastly, there was an excellent selection of desserts.
Of course, I tried almost all of them.
BellaVista Lounge Buffet Breakfast
The breakfast buffet at the BellaVista Lounge cost 4,800 yen (approx. 35 dollars) per person.
Seating mainly consisted of dining tables for four. With it being a lounge rather than a regular restaurant, there were also some sofas with coffee tables.
The four or so tables placed along the large windows overlooking the Mediterranean Harbor offered by far the best views. That said, many other tables offered limited views of DisneySea too. Those sitting away from the windows could, of course, also go and stand by the windows when something interesting like a show or a greeting was taking place.
As for the breakfast buffet, starting with drinks, there were pitchers with apple and orange juices, water, flavored sparkling water, and green smoothies.
Hot tea and coffee were served by the staff.
A good variety of cold dishes could be found on a large table in the middle of the lounge.
They ranged from octopus carpaccio and cold cuts through salad with a variety of dressings and cut fruits all the way to cereals and yogurt.
There was also a soup – clam chowder at the time of our visit.
Hot dishes were on a counter along one of the lounge’s the walls.
The variety of hot dishes was great. In fact, it would even make for a great lunch. There were eggs and grilled vegetables, mushroom pilaf, as well as a variety of meat and seafood dishes.
The counter was also home to a good selection of bread and pastries including Mickey Mouse-shaped apple and sweet potato danishes.
Lastly, there were mascarpone and ricotta cakes. The mascarpone and ricotta sauce was put on the cakes by one of the lounge’s staff and one could then top the cake off with one or more of the many different toppings available.
I would be lying if I said this wasn’t my favorite part of the breakfast buffet!
MickeyAngelo Gifts Store
Unlike the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel which had both a convenience store with drinks, food, etc. and a separate Disney gift shop, there was only one store – MickeyAngelo Gifts – in Hotel MiraCosta.
There were plenty of Disney items available to choose from. Those included both products otherwise only sold inside the parks, as well as products exclusive to Hotel MiraCosta. Unfortunately, Hotel MiraCosta magnets were out of stock and so I will have to stop by another time to get one for our collection.
Additionally, in the back of the store was a convenience store-like section with a limited but sufficient selection of drinks, snacks, and so on.
The store was open from 8AM to 10PM.
Pool and Spa
Lastly, there was also a pool and spa facility. Staying true to the theme of the hotel, it was named Terme Venezia.
It was on the first floor of the hotel and could only be accessed by “south elevators” located on the hotel’s “Venice Side.” The hallway leading from the lobby to the “south elevators” was nicely decorated and also had windows overlooking a part of DisneySea’s entrance area.
As for the pool and spa itself, I did not have time to visit it. That said, the pool and spa appear to be designed like (no surprise) an ancient Roman bathhouse. There is both an indoor area with a pool, hot tub, etc. and an outdoor area with a pool (only open in the summer).
Entering Terme Venezia is not free. Those aged 12 and over have to pay:
- 2,000 yen (approx. 15 dollars) to use the spa
- 3,000 yen (approx. 22 dollars) to use the spa and indoor pool during the off-season
- 4,000 yen (approx. 30 dollars)to use the spa and pools during the summer season
Those aged between four and 11 get a 50% discount and younger children can enter for free.
Tokyo DisneySea Hotel MiraCosta Summary
To be honest, before the stay, I wasn’t expecting the hotel to be that great compared to its price. After all, some of the other Disney hotels offer a better variety of character-themed rooms and arguably better facilities for a lower price.
That said, having stayed at the hotel, I changed my mind completely. I enjoyed the stay a lot and hope to stay at Hotel MiraCosta at least once every two years, ideally, once a year going forward. Good dining (especially at the BellaVista Lounge) and great views from the room (especially the ability to see into the park before its opening and after closing) made for an unforgettable experience.
