allenaatan

Wow thank you for all the info folks! So many useful bits that will make our vacation :-::-::-::-::-:! I hope you will bear with a couple more follow ups:

1. New parameter: went ahead and booked the Hyatt Regency Shinjuku (King + complimentary extra bed so it's as close to the Hollywood twin as i can get) as i didn't want to get stuck w a 2nd choice if i waited. Looks like NYE is super super peak even for locals. So we're all travelling out of Shinjuku station it seems.

2. Gala Yuzawa looks great for what we plan to do: just play in the snow, ski lessons optional and the distance looks good. The snow monkey place looks interesting but for the distance and convenience i think we're good with Yuzawa.I assume the spa is traditional Japanese (nekkid?). Question though: Would we be able to do similar snow activity in the Fuji/Hakone area instead so we hit 2 birds?

3. Will do Osaka things for the one day free we have there and Kyoto from Tokyo instead. With this and Yuzawa planned, will a JR pass now be convenient?

4. This being peak travel time for locals, how good an idea is it for us to be travelling in and out of Tokyo? Will we have to pre-purchase train tickets to avoid running out of seats?

5. Any suggestions for me to pre-book in the Shinjuku are for family dinners around New Year's? I want to make sure we can eat and not have to do combine take-out on a holiday .

6. Transpo-wise: Pls correct me if i'm wrong but we do Shinkansen from Osaka to Tokyo Station then transfer to Maihama to get to Disney. From Maihama, Shinjuku (or the station below the Hyatt Regency) is also an easy transfer? Doing Takuhai all the way, of course!

Once again, thank you for all the input!

SQ319

No no no, you don't want to do Kyoto from Tokyo! Kyoto is over 2 hours from Tokyo on the Shinkansen Nozomi, but only 30 minutes on the JR from Osaka station! It doesn't make sense to do Kyoto from Tokyo, both time and cost wise!

If you want to do Kyoto, I would recommend cutting short one day in Tokyo and use it to do a day trip to Kyoto or Nara from Osaka instead. Between Kyoto and Nara, I think Nara is more doable as a day trip than Kyoto, because there is way too much to see in Kyoto, and doing Kyoto in 1 day is in my opinion, not doing this beautiful city any justice. With your young kids, Nara is more manageable with the 3 main temples and they will probably like the deers that roam throughout Nara Park. (The deers can be aggressive for food if you choose to buy the deer biscuits from the vendors there, so be careful).

Regarding your last question, the Shinkansen departs from the Shin-Osaka station, not Osaka station, so u will need to take the local JR to Shin Osaka station to transfer to the Shinkansen. You're right re transfer from Tokyo station to Maihama. From Maihama to Shinjuku, there are a few options -

(1) You can go back to Tokyo Station and take the Chuo Line (JR) to Shinjuku station or the Marunochi Line (Subway) to Nishi-Shinjuku station (Slightly nearer than Shinjuku station to the Hyatt)

(2) Take the bus from Tokyo Disney Resort to Shinjuku Station. This option is more direct, but it drops you further at Yoyogi station (far south of Shinjuku station), and to walk from the drop off point to the Hyatt Regency would be quite a trek. http://www.tokyodisneyresort.jp/en/access/bus/shinjuku/

abmj-jr

No, it is more like 2 hours 20 minutes from Tokyo Station to Kyoto. If you are going from Shinjuku, add 15 to 20 minutes for local trains to Tokyo or Shinagawa and take the shinkansen from there. Connecting at Shinagawa is easy. If you use Tokyo, add another 20 minutes.

As to the question of a JR Pass, the round trip Tokyo-Kyoto-Tokyo would make it pencil out but then you would be limited to Hikari shinkansens and add 20+ more minutes each way. At that time of year, I'd probably just spend the extra and not use a JR Pass so I could use the more frequent - and numerous - Nozomi trains. Hikari may be packed and difficult to get seats.

I agree with the above that a day trip from Tokyo to Kyoto is pretty much a wasted day as you will spend 6+ hours on trains and connections out of a short winter day. Kyoto is far better visited from Osaka as is Nara.

evergrn

Chances are low that there will be much of any snow piled up in Hakone even in winter. Around Mt.Fuji, there is Fuji Kodomo no Kuni where they roll out a snow play area with mostly manmade snow. But that place is not easily accessible like Yuzawa. Plus it most likely won't be winter wonderland like Yuzawa most certainly will be. So I still think Yuzawa Gala will be your best bet from the standpoint of facilities, ease of access and true winter scene.

SQ319

Yup, you're right. I must be thinking about the journey from Tokyo to the first stop after Shinagawa and Yokohama, which would usually be Nagoya. That journey is slightly over 90-100 minutes.

allenaatan

Based on sq319 and abmj-jr's comments, i will NOT be doing Kyoto from Tokyo. However, my dates are set as all hotels are booked and we are targeting to be in TDR for the 24th (my DD's Bday) and the 25th for Christmas decors.

Would a Nara OR Kyoto stopover on the way to Tokyo be feasible, transpo and time-wise?

abmj-jr

Difficult but possible. The shinkansen from Shin-Osaka to Tokyo goes through Kyoto. The problem is luggage. The few larger bag lockers at Kyoto Station are often full and most are size-limited. If you could forward luggage from your Osaka hotel to the hotel in Tokyo via "takkyubin" delivery and just keep a small backpack or hand bag of what you need for a couple of days, it would work better. Leave the small bag in a coin locker at Kyoto Station and have most of a day to see a little of the city before continuing to Tokyo in the late afternoon or evening.

If doing the above, I'd plan to bite the bullet on expense and use taxis to move from site to site, saving time and hassle. With a group of 9, you will need at least 2 large cabs or 3 smaller ones unless you can find the occasional van-cab. Perhaps a better suggestion would be a guided one-day visit with Doi Taxi. Doi-san has a van that should accommodate the whole group. If you do that, be sure to reserve ahead as his company is very small and quite popular. http://www3.ocn.ne.jp/~doitaxi/about_kyoto/index.html

allenaatan

Decided to do Kyoto on our first day in Osaka as we're not really into exploring Osaka further than Universal (i know: heathens!!!). Then Universal on the 2nd day, then straight to Tokyo without any further stops.

In contact with Doi too, thanks!