Even though COVID-19 in particular has made us all collectively wary of crowded places, there’s a part of all of us that wants to avoid crowded places when we visit a Disney park, or anywhere really. Fortunately, even though crowds are almost an inevitability at Tokyo Disney Resort, the Oriental Land Company has released a sort of helping hand to avoiding congestion at the resort’s most popular stores.

Not every store is listed, only the most popular ones. A full list of stores is available on the official Tokyo Disney Resort website, but in Japanese only. Among those stores include Grand Emporium and World Bazaar Confectionery at Tokyo Disneyland, where we noted social distancing problems near closing time a couple of weeks ago, and Emporio and McDuck’s Department Store at Tokyo DisneySea, among others.

Eligible store pages show charts similar to these, which show congestion on an hourly basis. On this chart for World Bazaar Confectionary at Tokyo Disneyland, the hours shown are 8am to 7pm. The Oriental Land Company is requesting that Guests try to shop at the beginning of the day or during other non-congested periods rather than at the end of the day, when most shops are packed. In all fairness, this is a fantastic idea, pandemic or not.

The page also lists alternative shopping choices. This page also represents World Bazaar Confectionery, and lists alternatives for where Guests can purchase their omiyage snacks on the way out of the park when stores are crowded.

Even though the pages are only in Japanese, the information is handy nonetheless for estimating when stores across Tokyo Disney Resort will be congested. After reading each chart, I found them to be pretty accurate even outside the pandemic based on my own experiences at these parks. Hopefully these are useful on your next visit to Tokyo Disney Resort!