teamLab Planets TOKYO with Kids — Review and Tips
Last Updated on December 20, 2024 by Kay
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In a follow-up to my review on teamLab Borderless, I thought I would also share my experience taking my daughter to teamLab Planets TOKYO and what I feel every parent should know when deciding whether or not to go.
Unlike Borderless, teamLab Planets is a temporary exhibition that will close in 2027 and is located all the way in Odaiba in Tokyo. So is it worth making the trek, especially with kids, knowing that this exhibition will be gone in a few years?
I’ll be upfront from the start and share that my five-year-old daughter and I both disliked teamLab Planets. At the moment, I would not recommend it to parents with young children for several reasons. Read on to find out why.
Table of Contents
Where is teamLab Planets Located?
teamLab Planets is located right in front of Shin-Toyosu Station in Odaiba, which is an artificial island in Tokyo Bay.
Although there isn’t much in the direct vicinity of teamLab Planets, if you take a short train ride, you’ll find various shopping malls such as LaLaport TOYOSU and AQUA CITY Odaiba.
Other kid-friendly places you can visit in Odaiba include:
- LEGOLAND Discovery Center (read my review of the Osaka location)
- KidZania (read my review of the Kobe location)
- MIRAIKAN
- Tokyo Water Science Museum
You can get to teamLab Planets by train, taxi (15 minutes from Tokyo Station), or a shuttle bus from GINZA SIX. Personally, I recommend taking the train because the roads in Tokyo can be quite congested.
How to Buy Tickets and Cost
It’s imperative that you purchase tickets for teamLab Planets before you go. Popular time slots in the morning will sell out about a month ahead of time but sometimes evening time slots will still be available the day before.
You cannot buy tickets at teamLab Planets.
The following sites sell tickets for teamLab Planets:
The price for adults ranges from 3600 yen to 4800 yen depending on when you go.
Children ages 13 to 17 cost 2700 to 3000 yen, ages 4-12 cost 1500 to 2000 yen, and ages three and under are free.
What to Know Before You Go
- Strollers are not allowed inside. There is an area outside where you can leave your stroller. Make sure to do this before lining up at the gate!
- Be prepared to take your shoes and socks off since there are areas where you walk and wade through water. Wear shorts or pants you can easily roll up.
- Some floors have mirrors so make sure you have shorts on if you’re wearing a skirt or dress.
- Bring a waterproof bag for your smartphone if you’re worried you might drop it into the water.
- If you are coming with a baby or small toddler, consider wearing them in a baby carrier since one area with water is about 30 centimeters deep.
- If your child is small and will be walking, make sure you have a change of clothing for them just in case, including underwear, or have them in swimwear underneath their clothes (but emphasize that they cannot swim in teamLab Planets, only walk!). There are changing rooms where you can change your child into dry clothes afterward. You can rent shorts from teamLab Planets as well but I don’t believe they have sizes for young kids.
- You don’t need to bring towels, teamLab Planets will provide as many as you need after you go through the wet areas.
- Some rooms are dark and might scare young children. Don’t let go of your child’s hand in these rooms.
- There is an area to breastfeed (ask the staff) as well as diaper changing tables in the bathrooms.
teamLab Planets Review
teamLab Planets is a unique museum that consists of several rooms where you can appreciate light, water, and nature as artworks and immerse yourself in the art using your body and senses.
We had tickets for 10:00 AM entry and similar to Borderless, I received a reminder email with the entry QR Code the day before our visit.
It was a little confusing when it came to figuring out where to line up. Despite there being a staff member who told us the general direction of the entrance, there were many line dividers stretching quite far so I was unsure exactly where to go. I feel like these line dividers should have been closed or the staff should have done a better job at explaining where to go so that people wouldn’t be walking far from the entrance for no reason. I saw many confused people like I was heading in the opposite direction.
Based on the number of people lining up to get inside, teamLab Planets seemed busier from the get-go than Borderless.
We entered the museum in groups and watched a video in a room about how to enjoy the museum before being asked to take off our shoes and head to the locker area.
I’m a germaphone so I wish there was a step where we could go after taking off our shoes. I really don’t like walking in my socks in an area where people wear shoes because my socks will get dirty, which will then transfer to the inside of my shoes.
But when seeing how several people disregarded the “Do not wear your shoes in the locker room!” signs, I guess this didn’t matter.
Note that the only lockers available have keys on them. I noticed many people didn’t realize this and kept trying to open closed lockers.
It was a bit of a struggle to hold my child’s shoes with mine and open a locker but somehow I managed. Once our belongings were in the locker (shoes, jackets, bags, etc), I took off our socks and placed them inside before closing the locker.
The only thing I kept with me was a small purse where I could keep my phone.
Unlike Borderless, teamLab Planets has a set route. There are signs everywhere so you’ll know where to go.
The first area (more of a path) consists of water, so make sure you roll up your pants and your child’s before going in! The water isn’t deep, it’s like a very shallow stream and feels nice.
(And as you can see, it’s dark so a little difficult to take photos, especially when there are people behind you and you don’t want to stop for too long and hold everyone up.)
The water at the beginning of the path lit up and a beautiful bright blue color, so it resembles a steam or river. After this, you have to go up an incline where water is streaming down like a waterfall (Waterfall of Light Particles at the Top of an Incline). Both rooms are dark and my five-year-old daughter was scared straight off the bat and clung to me while asking to go home.
After this, you can dry off in the next room using towels that teamLab Planets provides. Feel free to use as many as you need and then toss them in the USED TOWEL BOX!
Now, I’ll share my impressions of each room and what it was like to visit with my child.
Soft Black Hole
The first room (with a questionable name) has you cross a cushiony yet uneven surface. The room is dark so my daughter felt a little uneasy. She’s quite athletic but didn’t like this room, probably because the unstable floor worried her. It’s not bouncy and feels like you’re walking on cushion foam or sponges.
Younger kids might enjoy crawling on it, but be careful since other guests will be walking through this room and it’s quite small.
Drawing on the Water Surface
This room consisted of water around 30 centimeters deep. It was just past my daughter’s knees but since she was walking, the water ended up splashing on her pants and making her butt wet, which she didn’t like.
The colorful projections of Koi fish, which turn into flowers when you touch them (or they touch you), were quite lovely.
However, I couldn’t help but worry about the cleanliness of the water. From the smell, it was clear they used chlorine but since it was dark, I couldn’t see if anything unpleasant (hair, etc) was floating about.
My daughter was impressed with the fish and tried to catch them but she tired of it quite quickly. She also complained about the room after we left and made sure to tell me she never wanted to go back!
Since it’s dark in the room, it can also be hard to take photos.
Make sure to check out the small room in the corner (Ephemeral Crystallized Light) where you can see colorful water raining down from the ceiling. It’s very beautiful.
The Infinite Crystal Universe
This is almost exactly the same as the artwork at teamLab Borderless. There are dozens of light sculptures that change color.
If you download the teamLab app, you can cast “stars” into the cultures to make them change, but I didn’t do this.
I found this room quite crowded, especially compared to Borderless, and my daughter wanted to leave pretty quickly.
Floating in the Falling Universe of Flowers
This was my favorite room, as well as my daughter’s. You can lie down or sit and watch the projections of colorful flowers falling from the ceiling as if cascading down from the sky.
My daughter lay down on the floor and was absolutely enthralled. It’s almost like a planetarium but with flowers instead of stars. This was a nice place to spend some time and we enjoyed it. I found it hard to take photos, though (everything turned out blurry!).
Expanding Three-dimensional Existence in Transforming Space
This was another room that my daughter liked, although not as much as the previous room. There are many large egg-like spheres in the room, which you can push. When you touch them, they change color and the other spheres follow suit.
I saw many toddlers and even babies enjoying this area. It’s fun to push the spheres around for a bit but we quickly tired of it and moved on.
Garden
After you go out the exit, you’ll see the locker room again but don’t forget to visit the Garden areas!
The first area is called Floating Flower Garden where you can see flowers (mostly orchids) hanging from the ceiling. You can sit amongst the flowers and admire them from below, making you feel like you’re fully immersed in a 360 degree garden.
It’s lovely and smells wonderful so my daughter liked it, but it’s not very exciting for kids.
They only allow a few people to come into the room at a time and you have about five minutes in the room before you have to leave.
The second area is called Moss Garden of Resonating Microcosms and consists of ovoids.
These change color and glow when touched at night, so it’s far more interesting after sunset. I’m not sure if they do anything during the day, I didn’t see anyone touching them and we didn’t, either.
Vegan Ramen UZU Tokyo
There’s a vegan ramen restaurant just outside the entrance, which has ramen, desserts, and drinks. The restaurant is dark with white light projections. Unfortunately, children ages six and under cannot enter and it is closed until January 21st, 2025.
Overall Thoughts on Visiting teamLab Planets with Kids
Overall, teamLab Planets has elements of Borderless but at the moment is less interactive and not as fun in comparison. I think it’s unhygienic and I don’t think it’s worth traveling all the way to Odaiba to visit. You also can’t revisit rooms without having to go through the entire route again, which is annoying, although it is nice knowing that you won’t miss anything. We also only spent an hour here, so it was expensive for such a short time.
My daughter disliked Planets so much that she was worried when we arrived at Borderless and she saw the same teamLab logo, asking if we really had to go inside. Thankfully, she enjoyed her experience at Borderless.
Despite that we disliked it, Planets is more tactile than Borderless and appeals to different senses like touch and smell. And if you’re visiting from January 22nd, 2025, there will be some new areas that will likely appeal to younger kids.
Here are some videos showing what the new areas will be like:
I shared the videos above with my daughter, and even though she’s not a fan of Planets, she said she wants to go again (but only to those areas). I don’t blame her, it does look like a lot of fun for kids! My only concern is how crowded the rooms might get and whether people could bump into each other—but I suppose we’ll have to wait and see!