gordonsgrl

Anyway, what are some tips for optimizing a visit to Tokyo Disneyland?

1) At WDW, staying On Property provides great benefits--extra fast passes, extra magic hours, etc. With extra magic hours alone, depending on the season, you could potentially see more in the first hour (morning) than you could see in a day if arriving at the gate 30 mins before opening time staying off property--and that's real value.

Are there any compelling benefits to staying at a Tokyo Disney resort? Prices are exorbitant. And I see there's a highly rated, reasonably priced Sheraton on the Tokyo Disney monorail. Should we keep all our nights at the IC Strings or book, say, one night at the Sheraton?

2) How does the FastPass system work at Tokyo Disneyland? Is it digital or paper? Hate the new system at WDW. We used to be able to work all sorts of magic when the FastPass system was paper. Including the privilege of being able to hand over any FastPasses we weren't able to use to some deserving family.

3) For a visit to Tokyo Disneyland in late Sept, what should we expect as far as crowds? We could potentially go on a Tue, Wed, Thu, or Fri. Is any non-weekend day any better than any other?

4) Is leaving the IC Strings (Shinagawa Station) early in the AM and arriving at the gates 30 mins before opening a viable option vs. booking a hotel on the Disney monorail?

Any other tips on seeing Tokyo Disneyland in an efficient way so we don't consume too much time? After all, one typically doesn't come to Japan to go to Disney; even as enthusiastic as my wife and I are about WDW theme parks.

Here is a bit of my experience with TDR (by the way there are great sites in english out there devoted to TDR including a crowd forecast - a quick look shows that the last 2 weeks of September are very low in terms of crowds)

1. I always stay at the Hilton due to points but Sheraton is great alternative. These are affiliated with Disney and have a small store inside selling Disney merchandise. The Disney hotels are pricey and the benefit is 15 minutes early entry but since this time of year is lower attendance I wouldn't bother

2. Fastpasses are paper and work like they used to at WDW - At DisneySea the first fastpass to go is Toy Story Mania but it is also the same as at WDW so an easy skip. At Disneyland either Monsters Inc or Pooh's Hunny Hunt are the first to disappear. I would recommend going staying one night at the Sheraton - arrive and check-in around 4 and snag a 6pm twilight ticket to do Tokyo Disneyland - which is very much carved out to look like Anaheim. However, they have an amazing electrical light parade that is really worth it. You are going during Halloween and yes that means the Haunted Mansion is done up - but so is the rest of the park and you will really get to see the difference in the details. One of the things TDR does so much better is specialty merchandise and food for events. There will be lots of purple sweet potato and pumpkin food shaped in all sorts of cute halloween disney characters. On my first visit to Disney I was like you stopping in Tokyo on my way to somewhere else and I just did one night at Disneyland thinking I wanted to see the classic DL. I was so hooked that I came back again for a few days the next year on another stop over. Now I'm headed there for a week as my primary destination in just a few days

3. Weekday for sure will be even less crowded.

4. Getting to Maihama station and Disney from Tokyo is very confusing for first timers (I cried I was so frustrated - I guess I thought I would see signs for Disney helping me out). Again, take a look at an exploring TDR website where there are step by step directions to get there. For this reason I strongly urge you to go the day before and enjoy both parks - if you love WDW you will love TDR and might regret not seeing both. Like all the others posting here DisneySea is amazing!!! The lands are so well done and there are more headline attractions here. It will be Halloween and the atmosphere shows are so much fun as well as characters in costume. Check out the halloween mickey ears as well.

5. Efficiency: My best plan for you is to do DL with the starlight 6-10pm pass and ride Pooh's Hunny Hunt, HM (if it's your favorite), Thunder Mountain - really well done here, Monsters Inc is unique to the park but a bit underwhelming but if crowds are low you'll be able to do a lot more than you think. Watch the electric parade as it really is fun and I'd recommend eating at Camp Woodchuck (based on movie UP) or The Red Queen's Banquet hall - the theming and food are great. Then the next day get up early and do DisneySea. The Tower of Terror there has a wonderful backstory featuring an adventurer named Harrison Hightower because Twilight Zone didn't resonate. The volcano houses a steampunk jules verne set of attractions with Journey to the Center of the earth ride being the star attraction (grab a fast pass) although i'd also recommend the 20000 leagues as it isn't like the original at all. There is a 2 story aladdin ferris wheel in the med. harbor that is very unique and the area in front of the volcano houses a high end restaurant Magellan's that is wrapped around fortress exploration providing a high view over the park and fun nods to Leonardo Da Vinci. If you like to relax later in the day grab a drink at the Teddy Roosevelt Lounge which is on the second floor of the SS Columbia (yup a giant luxury liner in the park with views on the top deck of mt fuji on a clear day). Phew. Sorry, I could go on forever but as a Disney fan I don't want you to miss out. ENJOY!

gordonsgrl

The airport bus leaves roughly once per hour and bring you directly to the hotel. It is easy to see right after you exit customs in Tokyo (either Haneda or Narita) I recommend this service highly - it's cost effective and direct. Whether you go to the Sheraton or IC Strings.

moretimeoffguy

Thanks Gordonsgrl and all who've replied. I deeply appreciate the input. We've decided what to do in large part due to this thread.

1. Staying at the Hilton Tokyo Bay for two nights. Typically would use points, but got a super cash rate during a Flash Sale. Also forced a decision, as the rates were non-refundable. Glad TDR's version of Extra Magic Hours = only 15 mins early. We do like to stay On Property at WDW--mostly value or moderates with castmember discounts--due to the fact that we can do more in one hour of morning Extra Magic Hours than in the better part of a day.

2. Seeing Tokyo Disneyland the first night (Thu 9/28) using After Six tickets. Would grab a FP for Pooh's Hunny Hunt, but imagine those would be sold out. How can I check stand-by and single rider lines wait times? Will be at Tokyo DisneySea for rope drop the morning of Fri 9/29.

Considered staying longer in Kyoto the day of Thu 9/28 (only have one night there) and postponing DisneySea until the morning of Sat 9/30; but looking at crowd projections as suggested, Thu and Fri are around 40-50%, while Sat is expected to be in the 80's!

Sat 9/30 is the day we depart to Maui; flight's not until 7 pm. May head back into Tokyo that morning to see anything of interest on our list; luggage with us stored at a station somewhere. Ideally, we'd leave our luggage at the Hilton. But since the hotel seems so far away from everything else, I'm not sure. I've got to re-read what's been written in this thread about getting to / from TDR, Tokyo, and NRT. Open to more suggestions though about what to do on the morning of Sat 9/30 before we fly out. May be quite some time before we return to Japan.

The Halloween food and decorations sound great. :-) I'm all over anything Halloween, and do the best Halloween Yard Haunt in my neighborhood. Hope we're not locked out of HM in the evening--e.g. do they have a Mickey's Not So Scary? Never done the MNSO Party at WDW, so I'm not quite sure how that works, except that there's an upcharge.

My wife, MoreTimeOffGal, loves your plan and sends her thanks. :-) Monsters Inc I can skip. Wouldn't want to skip Pirates though; Dark Rides are my favorite. I was psyched to see there's a Blue Bayou restaurant there but didn't like the menu. The Secret Room sounded cool, though. I'll take a closer look at your choices.

Only been to Disneyland in Anaheim a few times--and Blue Bayou once--so that's a novelty. Been to WDW dozens of times, and will likely retire in the Orlando area. Always something new!

AlwaysAisle

On other post OP mentioned arriving at NRT 4 p.m. If OP are heading to Hilton Tokyo Bay then bus schedule departing NRT Terminal 1 is:

4:10 p.m., 5:10 p.m. and 6:10 p.m.

Highly doubt that OP will make 4:10 bus. 6:10 bus is the last bus to Tokyo Disney Resort area from NRT.

Just one more thing if you are taking a bus to Hilton Tokyo Bay from NRT. Bus will make stop at various hotels at Tokyo Disney Resorts and at the entrance of Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo Disney Sea. Hilton Tokyo Bay happen to be the last stop. Bus will stop at 10 locations in Tokyo Disney Resorts before reaching final stop of Hilton Tokyo Bay.

Don’t get warned when bus start making stops at various places but not at Hilton Tokyo Bay. Eventually bus will take you to Hilton Tokyo Bay. Hilton Tokyo Bay is 11th stop, last stop for the bus.

moretimeoffguy

Thanks AlwaysAisle, but I'm heading to IC Strings in Shinigawa upon arrival from NRT. That's for my first two nights. Then one night in Kyoto. Then two nights at Hilton Tokyo Bay.

AlwaysAisle

Well, then the bus to IC Strings departing NRT is:

5:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m., 8:00 p.m., and 9:00 p.m. (no 7:00 p.m. departure)

There are other buses heading to other hotels in Shinagawa station area. But IC Strings is located at east side of Shinagawa station, where all other hotels are located at west side of Shinagawa station. If you take other buses heading to Shinagawa area hotels, then you have to drag your luggage through Shinagawa station concourse (kind of bit large station) to get to east side.

mnbp

delete

OskiBear

Kind of depends on whether you want to bother heading back - if I recall, you'd have to not only head back to the Maihama Station, you'd need to monorail back to the Hilton just to get your bags.

There should be lockers at Maihama Station and/or Ikspiari.

Alternatively, if you're going into Tokyo, maybe take bags with you and store at Tokyo station? I've done this a few times and it's pretty handy for the last day of exploring.

moretimeoffguy

@AlwaysAisle, thanks for the bus times from NRT to IC Strings.

@OskiBear, yes, sounds good: If we go into Tokyo that day, we may as well bring our luggage with us and store wherever it makes sense for getting back to NRT; perhaps Tokyo station as you mentioned.

One thought is to hit Odaiba (?) and see the Miraikan National Museum of Emerging Science. Which station would make the most sense for storing luggage in that scenario? The Miraikan is closed on Tues--our Big Day in Tokyo. And my wife would really love to see the androids there, like the one reading newscasts.

OskiBear

If I'm not mistaken, you'd head to Odaiba via the Keiyo Line and transfer at Shin-Kiba to the Rinkai Line. The stations in that part of Odaiba are pretty close and it's an easy walk because they make a loop with the museum in the middle. I'm not sure about storage at the stations - I seem to recall the Rinkai and Yuikamome Line stations to be much smaller from a footprint and infrastructure standpoint.

Alternatively, there are two hotels nearby - the Grand Nikko and the Hilton Odaiba. If they are willing, perhaps they can store your luggage while you are visiting the museum?

The other thought is what you plan to do after the museum and how you plan to get to NRT. Would make sense to map it all out and leave luggage some place where you won't have to move them again or backtrack on your routing.

moretimeoffguy

Thanks OskiBear. Not sure what / where else we'd visit on Odaiba or Tokyo that half-way. Since time is of the essence, it's possible we'd skip both Obaida and more of Tokyo, and do yet a third day at Tokyo Disney Resort. Possibly arriving for rope drop at TDL; since Pooh's Honey Hunt fastpasses are going to be sold out in both of our current scenarios. Yes, being Saturday it would be crowded. But there'd be less we'd need to do and see. Then we could chill and take a bus back to Narita when ready.

It's too bad there's not an equivalent of Disney Springs at TDR. The Miraikan looks cool--and there's certainly other things to see on Odaiba. But it might be nice to enjoy and chill in the TDR area before our flight to Maui.

Still kills me that TDR has no equivalent of a Park Hopper--those have always been our Go To tix for WDW.

downinit

TDR's version of Downtown Disney is IKSPIARI. It is not quite as expansive, but offers numerous dining and shopping options, as well as two Disney stores. It is right next to the Maihama station, with easy access to the rest of Tokyo.

If you buy a 3+ day pass, you basically have a park hopper for both parks starting in the third day. It is just the first two days that you need to pick one park and stay there.

moretimeoffguy

Thanks downinit! Looks like a three story mall there, but at least something to pass the time / do last minute shopping.

Will definitely check out the 3+ day pass. Don't know if there are any savings on that one, but we may well want to be in the parks 3 separate days now that we've committed to being at Tokyo Hilton Bay for our last two nights in Japan. Would probably rather do all things Disney vs. heading from TDR all the way back into Tokyo for last minute sight-seeing on our last day in Japan. Then we could take a limo bus from TDR to NRT.

Shame I won't be able to use the JR pass for that; but then I may be returning the passes and book our Tokyo <> Kyoto tickets; many more Nozomi trains. Hikari seemed quite limited for early morning departures for Tokyo to Kyoto. Earliest Hikari was around 06:30 and doesn't arrive in Kyoto until 09:15. I'd rather take a 05 or 05:30 train to maximize my time there.

Don't know what hours most of the shrines and temples have, but Fushimi-Inari is open 24 hours a day from what I've read. May be a good first stop in Kyoto. Drop luggage at Kyoto Station, then take the subway to Fushimi-Inari; trying to beat the crowds as much as possible.

doombuggy

We don't get any discounts at Tokyo since it is owned by OLC. Been a CM for 21 years and heading to shanghai and Tokyo in October. We are going to be at TDR for 4 nights with a Monday checking/Friday check out. I am using DVC points to stay at the Ambassador.

doombuggy

I should also add that while it is difficult to find details on these parks, check out the DISBoards, Mice Chat, and The DIBB (that is a British one) as they do have sections on their message boards dedicated to these parks.


TDR Explorer is a great site too. Enjoy! We are looking forward to our trip and will be stopping off in Kyoto as well (we are going to 2 weeks, China and Japan).