slickalick

Taking my 6 year old son on a quick 24 hour trip to Tokyo later this week as a pre-birthday trip. He is obsessed with trains and specifically the Tomy Plarail trains of which he has about 50!

Our aim this trip is to travel on 3 specific trains, the NEX from Narita, the W7 or E7 Hokuriku Shinkansen and the Keisei Skyliner back to Narita. We are staying at the Hilton Tokyo Bay as that's where I have a quick meeting during our visit.

I need your sage advice on whether the following is easily done;

1. We are arriving in Narita at 720pm and aim to catch the 844pm NEX to Tokyo Station (arriving Track 1 at 943pm) then catch the JR Keiyo Line Rapid to Maihama (departing Track 3 at 1004pm).

- is it realistic to clear customs/immigration and reach the train station with 50 mins. Bags will be priority tagged but will be in Y. Would there be enough time to stop by the JR East Office at the airport to pick up tickets for all the following as well?
- Is the platform change easily accomplishable during the time period - 20 mins with a tired 6 year old and 2 suitcases?

2. The next morning I want to take him to the Railway Museum in Saitama. Planning on catching the JR Keiyo Line Local from Maihama to Tokyo (arriving at 854am on Track 4) and then take the Shinkansen Kagayaki 507 to Omiya (departs at 920am from Track 22).

- Is the platform change realistic timing wise with a 26min gap. Guess it maybe rush hour during this time.
- The Kagayaki 507 seems like the train he wants to ride on. I would imagine train swaps are uncommon. He would be crushed if he didn't ride this model.
- Worth it for Green Class for a 30min ride?
- On the way back from Omiya to Tokyo are there any double-decker trains we could take - whether Shinkansen or not? Anticipate we will be done at the museum by around 2pm.

3. On the way back to Narita we plan to take the Keisei Skyliner from Keisei-Ueno. First Maihama to Hatchobori on the JR Keiyo Line Rapid arriving at 415pm then transferring to the Tokyo Metro Hibaya Line to Ueno departing Hatchobori at 424pm and arriving at Ueno at 434pm. I understand it's then a 10 min walk to the Skyliner Platform which should be fine as we plan to catch the 5pm Skyliner 49 to Narita.

- Based on the above, are the transfers at Hatchobori and Ueno realistic/easy within the timing?
- Is there a simpler way to get to Ueno that I may be overlooking?

Also, based on the above itinerary - do you think it would be worth getting a 3 day JR Tokyo Pass? I understand it may cover the Shinkansens and the trains to/from Maihama but wouldn't cover the NEX. My initial calculation says that I'd be better off buying the tickets individually but I may be wrong.

Thank you for your help and any other advice you can offer to make this a special trip for my son.