Odaiba is the Tokyo district most likely to catch you out with an out-of-date guide, and we'd rather start with what's gone than have you plan around it.
Palette Town closed in August 2022 and has been cleared for redevelopment. That took the Daikanransha ferris wheel, Toyota's Mega Web and VenusFort with it. teamLab Borderless also left — it closed in Odaiba in 2022 and reopened in Azabudai Hills, in central Tokyo, in 2024. It is still very much worth seeing. It is just nowhere near Odaiba, and a number of guides have yet to catch up.
What remains is still a reasonable family day, provided you know what you're going for.
Getting there is half of it
Take the Yurikamome, the driverless elevated line that crosses the Rainbow Bridge. Sit at the very front, where the driver's cab would be, and you get a straight view down the track and out over the bay. With children this is not a means of transport, it's the first attraction of the day — and it costs the price of a train ticket.
Odaiba Seaside Park
An artificial beach with a view back across the water to the Rainbow Bridge and the Tokyo skyline, plus the small-scale Statue of Liberty replica everyone photographs.
Worth knowing: swimming is not permitted. It's a beach for walking, sitting and paddling at the edge, not a beach day. Bring that expectation and it's lovely; bring swimming costumes and it isn't.
DECKS Tokyo Beach
The most reliable wet-weather option in the district, and where most of the remaining indoor attractions have concentrated: LEGOLAND Discovery Center, a trick art museum, and small themed food floors. Best for children roughly four to ten.
Joypolis
SEGA's indoor amusement centre, also in DECKS — several floors of arcade machines, VR and a handful of genuine rides indoors. This is the one that works for teenagers, who tend to find the rest of Odaiba beneath them.
Miraikan
The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, and the most substantial thing on the island. Robotics, space, environmental science, with enough hands-on exhibits to hold a child and enough depth to hold an adult. If you only do one indoor thing in Odaiba, we'd make it this.
The Gundam statue
A life-size Unicorn Gundam stands outside DiverCity Tokyo Plaza and transforms on a published schedule through the day, with a light show after dark. Check the times before you walk over — arriving between transformations is a common and avoidable disappointment.
Our honest view
Odaiba is no longer the essential day out it was ten years ago, and on a short first trip to Tokyo we would not put it ahead of Asakusa, Shibuya or a day trip out of the city. Where it earns its place is on a longer stay, in bad weather, or with children who have run out of patience for temples — and the bay itself, seen from the train on the way over, is genuinely one of Tokyo's better views.
If you're travelling with children and want the days paced so nobody melts down at four in the afternoon, tell your Elite Tokyo Tours tour manager the ages you're bringing. We'll build the itinerary around attention spans and weather, with the indoor options held in reserve rather than planned on the day.
